“We weren’t supposed to meet again,” Selina muttered.

“I know,” Chun told then waited to see what Selina would do next.

“You owe me…big time,” Selina told.

Selina sat at the table nervously gripping her sweaty hands under the table as Mrs. Wu took a seat at the table. Chun’s mother smiled at Selina and Selina nervously returned the smile.

“So what do you think of Chun?” Mrs. Wu questioned.

Selina turned to look at Chun.

“Mom,” Chun complained.

“Um…well if you look at him from far away you can only see his muscles bulging out…but close up he’s handsome I guess,” Selina told.

“Isn’t that right?” asked Mrs. Wu. “I’ve been telling him to stop toning those muscles up. Not all girls like muscles right?”

Selina found herself laughing, “He does have a girly face.”

“Oh my…I think he got that from me,” Mrs. Wu told, “but he’s gotten very popular with the girls in college because of that.”

“You should thank your mother Chun,” Selina said as his name rolled off her tongue.

Chun sat there feeling defeated. He hadn’t thought that Selina would get along with his mother…immediately. Chun sat there feeling left out for the rest of dinner. Mrs. Wu invited Selina out back as the maid came to collect the dishes. Selina turned to watch as the door closed then turned back to the flower beds in front of her. There were every kind of flower growing there.

“It’s so pretty,” Selina told.

Mrs. Wu smiled as she headed toward the swinging chair in front of the flower beds.

“It’s relaxing out here isn’t it?” asked Mrs. Wu.

Selina glanced out at the fields of flowers.

“It’s very sweet out here,” Selina told.

“Flowers are beautiful things that grow on the earth,” Mrs. Wu said. “Whenever I felt down I’d just take a look at these beautiful creatures and cheer up a minute later.”

Selina nodded.

“Chun is lonely person if he seems cold at times,” Mrs. Wu told. “I brought him and his brother up after his father left us.”

Selina remained silent wondering if she should comment or not.

“He left?” Selina instead repeated.

Mrs. Wu smiled not turning to her, “He had a heart attack when Chun was 8. It was a tragic incident that scarred our hearts. He struggled growing up to become the man of the house.”

Selina made no motion whatsoever to speak.

“He’s been hurt a lot so if you don’t mind be the happy part that he’s missed out on,” Mrs. Wu told. “Well that’s my time for today.”

Selina turned to look at Mrs. Wu as she got up from the chair swing. Suddenly she looked ten years older as Selina saw the dark eye bags below her eyes. They smiled at each other and Selina watched as Chun’s mother entered the house. Turning around Selina glanced over the flowers and took a seat swinging lightly as she felt the air rush through her hair.

“Don’t take advantage of my mom,” Chun’s voice suddenly popped up.

Selina turned to see him take a seat next to her. Scooting near the edge away from him Chun began to move the swing back and forth with his long legs.

“So where’s your brother? Introduce me,” Selina suggested breaking the silence.

Selina turned to look at Chun who had a hard solid expression on his face. He was silent causing her to feel awkward.

“Did I say something wrong?” Selina asked. “Well if you don’t want to then forget I ever opened my mouth.”

Without turning to look at her Chun said, “He’s dead.”

The happy light in her eyes disappeared. So she did say something wrong. Was this one of the many hurts Chun had that Mrs. Wu had spoken of?

“I’m sorry,” Selina apologized.

Chun wanted to turn to her and smile showing her that it was alright, but he couldn’t do it. Memories flashed back through his mind haunting him once more. Selina glanced to see that he was gripping his hands tightly making his knuckles turn white.

“I used to think he was annoying. He bugged me all the time and once I wished silently to myself that he’d be dead. I didn’t think it would really happen,” Chun told. “We’d gone on a camping trip after high school graduation. That was one of the happiest memories I have. Before returning home he complained of blurry vision and that his arms were sore so he made me drive. I was angry and drove stupidly then a cat appeared out of nowhere. We crashed into an oncoming car and I lost him.”

By then Selina had already become speechless. What was she to say? How would she know if her comments would hurt him or offend him? It would be better to stay silent. Though Chun kept his face turned away from her, from the side she could see his eyes become watery. Silence dominated the atmosphere and Selina turned away pretending she hadn’t noticed anything and just stared at the flowers urging for some cheerfulness to come.

An hour later Chun held the door open for her. Selina stopped halfway down the steps and looked up at him.

“This means I should invite you over to my house for dinner then,” Selina told.

“Excuse me?” Chun asked.

“Coming over to your house to have dinner with you means you should come over to mine and have dinner,” Selina told.

“Do I have to?” Chun questioned.

“Well you could do as little as that,” Selina pointed out.

“I guess so…” Chun told.

“Alright then it’s all set,” Selina told and turned around waving as she walked off.

*-*-*-*-*-*-

A week later the elevator doors opened and Selina shuffled her feet into the office. She turned a sharp angle and headed down the hallway slowly. She stopped by a door to find that it was left slightly open. It was two hours after she’d left from work but something in her had made her walk all the way back to the office. Selina poked her head in as she clutched onto her purse. Inside she found Jiro working on some papers. He looked up as she stared at him. Selina laughed nervously and quickly walked in scratching the back of her head so she had something to do. Jiro smiled at her making her feel like melting all over again. It’d been a week since she’d seen him so she hadn’t been able to talk to him about Chun and all.

“What are you doing back?” Jiro questioned.

“Well…uh…I have a question to ask,” Selina said. “Is it ok to ask?”

Jiro nodded, “Go ahead.”

Selina laughed feeling her question was a bit stupid and out of the blue, but she couldn’t help it. She needed Chun’s number in order to get in contact with him after realizing she hadn’t told him where she lived.

“Um…well…I have to contact Chun…but you see…I don’t have a way to do that…” Selina started off unsure how to put the words in sequence.

Jiro watched her with a curious smile on his face the whole time which also distracted her line of concentration.

Selina turned away and laughed, “How should I put it?”

“You want his number?” asked Jiro.

Selina turned back to him and nodded quickly, “But you know we aren’t dating or anything…Chun just made the rest up…don’t believe him.”

Jiro chuckled quietly, “Why are you explaining that to me? It should be Chun’s business if he’s dating you or not.”

Selina looked at the piece of paper Jiro was using to scribble down Chun’s number.

“Thanks,” Selina said taking it from him.

“I forgot to ask how was dinner last week?” Jiro questioned. “You weren’t angry were you?”