Chapter 13

The Blockage

“Lena” Kris called out as soon as he reached outside the venue. “Lena” He called again, finally gaining Lena’s attention and Kris finally manage to get hold of her.

Lena looked up to Kris and slowly pulls her hands away from Kris.

“Where are you going?” Kris asks, “Are you going home? I’ll drive you” Kris continued.

“It’s fine, I’ll just take the taxi” Lena turned to her side, trying to avoid Kris.

“Lena? Please, let me drive you home” Kris almost pleaded with Lena.

“It’s okay, it’s fine” Lena immediately walked out fast as she heard the door behind her opened. Kris ran trying to catch up but Lena was already inside the taxi. “I’m fine Yi Fan” She manages to say as she closed the door.

Kris felt it then, Lena trying to close up her feelings. “We’ll talk to her Kris” Someone says from behind him, he turns around to see Tina, Min, Trish and Alex behind him.

“Don’t worry” Min said to assure Kris and smiled.

“It happens, once in a while, Lena doesn’t like it” Before Tina could finish her sentence, Kris manages to finish it for her.

“When people make comments about her” Kris continued and nodded, “I know”.

“It’s not just that, sometimes she shuts us out too” Min commented, “We are still trying to figure her out Kris, give her time”

“Yeah, take it easy” Alex now gave his encouragement and patted Kris’ back.

Kris could only nod and sighed upon hearing what they had to say. He wanted to figure out Lena, he wanted to know what was happening.

Two days after the event, Kris tried calling Lena. He called her once during lunch time but could only reach her voicemail. He called her again after four in the afternoon, still he reached her voicemail. He called her again at exactly half past seven. He reached her voicemail again.

Kris was trying to decide whether to drop by her house but decided to give Lena more time. He decided tomorrow, if she doesn’t pick up the phone tomorrow, he’ll drop by her house.

To Kris’ surprise, she answered her phone the next day when he called her during lunch hour, when he expected the call to go into voice mail again.

“Hello” He finally hears Lena voice again.

“Lena?” He asks, trying to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming.

“Yeah?” She answers again.

“I called you yesterday but you didn’t pick up the phone” Kris immediately asked for an answer.

“I’m sorry, I left my phone yesterday and when you last call, I was in the kitchen” Lena answered sincerely. She was upset with herself when she found out she left her phone on top of her table.

Kris nodded as if Lena could see him, being thankful that Lena was not avoiding him. “I’m sorry, I should have called you back but” Lena stopped before she gave her reason; but she was afraid.

“It’s okay; I was just worried about you” Kris now tried to comfort Lena from feeling guilty.

“I’m okay, don’t worry” Lena said to ease Kris’ from his feelings.

“Have you eaten lunch?” Kris now asks Lena, he immediately looks towards his watch. He had time but what worried him was Lena; does she have the time to grab lunch or was he already late.

“No, I was about to grab something” Lena explained that she had an hour before her lunch break ends and she had a class immediately after.

“Can I come with you? Where are you planning on getting lunch?” Kris asks, wanting to see Lena as soon as he can.

“I’m grabbing some sandwich a few blocks away from school” Lena explained where the Subway franchise was situated just a few minutes away.

When Kris arrived in the franchise, Lena was already in line with the queue; Kris waved as soon as he matched eyes with Lena. She smiled and nodded and he immediately walked towards her while bowing his head to the other patrons out of courtesy.

“Hey” Kris say when he reached her and Lena replied with a subtle hey. “I haven’t eaten this for a long time, I never realized how much I miss this” Kris commented.

Lena could only smile towards his comments. “I thought I wouldn’t get obsess with sandwich, but I did. After a few trial and errors” Lena now commented.

It was finally their turn and it surprised the two of them regarding the choices they made. It was almost similar; the only difference was Lena had asked for extra pickle on her Roasted Beef while Kris asked for extra mustard on his Roasted Beef.

Kris grabs the tray from Lena and pointed to a seat near the windows. Lena followed and sat in the inner seat.

“I hope you don’t mind coming all the way here for lunch” Lena said to Kris after she took her first bite.

“It’s okay, I understand, you can’t go somewhere far from the school” Kris convinced Lena. “Do you always come here for lunch?” Kris asks.

“Not really, the food in the cafeteria is good but we get sick of it once in a while” Lena explains, both now taking a bite as Kris nodded towards Lena.

“Len?” Kris called out slowly to gain her attention. Lena looked up towards him and showed him that she was listening. “Are you okay? I mean, after the reunion” Kris now slowly tried to bring up his main concern.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it” Lena answered and shook her head a little, barely noticeable.

“You could tell me if the situation is uncomfortable, you know that, don’t you?” Kris asked Lena and looked at her with worry.

Lena only smiled towards Kris, afraid of saying anything because for most of the time, Lena never feels at ease when it comes to talking about her feelings.

“Maybe not everything, not every single thing, just the little things?” Kris continued again, he wanted Lena to know how he feels.

“Yeah” was the only response Kris manage to get from Lena and Kris can’t help but be a little relieved and sad over her reply.

As Kris and Lena finished their food and drink, standing up to leave the franchise, they heard a knock on the window. Lena turns to see one of the girls they saw from the reunion. Lena could feel all the blood rushing in towards her face. Their friend was now giving the ‘caught you’ look towards both Lena and Kris.

Kris and Lena now had no other choice but to go out the door and confront their friend. Kris immediately looks over towards Lena. He could see she was trying her best to ignore their friends taunting look.

“Hey!” Their friend said to both of them. Kris raised his hands to wave with the intention of greeting their friends and keeping the conversation short. “You two should have just admitted that you were going out!” She continued as she approached them closer.

Kris remained silent and look towards Lena again to see her reaction. Lena was with her poker face on. “It’s good to see both of you here, you do look good together” She continued making those comments again and this time Lena felt like running away as fast as she could.

“See you around” Lena manage to say and look towards both Kris and their friend. She bowed and turned towards her work place. Kris instantly followed suit after saying his farewell towards their friend.

“Len, wait up!” Kris called out and manages to grab onto Lena’s wrist.

“My work place is just a few minutes away, don’t worry about it Yi Fan” Lena burst out not knowing why she decided on saying those words when Kris only told her to wait up.

“Its fine, I’ll walk you over” Kris said again, he wanted to walk with Lena, spend more time with her but most importantly, he wanted Lena to know that he is willing to listen but he could see, Lena was still not ready. She was still scared with what other people had think and chooses to ignore their comments. She still chooses to block away everything from her feelings. Lena still finds it hard to accept other’s meaningless comment.