First date was one of those events in life that should be memorable as it marked an exciting stage of youth. And she could not believe that she was going to be late for it! She knew she should have set an alarm or something to wake her up. Now she was late and could not run either because she was wearing a pair of two-inch high-heels. Running would likely get her face kiss the ground as she was not used to wearing heels. However, walking meant that she would definitely be late. Oh, such a dilemma for poor Xiaojie! First date was one of those events in life where the two parties should look their best so that they would give each other a long-lasting impression. First date was one of those events in life that could ultimately make or break a relationship.  She was one of those girls who believe these kinds of things about first date wholeheartedly.

“Huff, huff...” she panted after her long power-walk. It was fortunate that there wasn’t any obstacle on the way that would add another layer of challenge for her poor adaption to high heels. When she finally caught her breath, she lifted her head and saw in some distances away that he was standing near the gate of the amusement park. Excitement overtook her.  “Xiaojie!”  She waved at him.

Completely forgotten that she was wearing heels, she ran excitingly toward her boyfriend. It was about a week ago since his love confession to her at the nurse's office. Sometimes, she thought that must had been a dream and so she pinched herself to make sure it was real. Just then, one of her heels got stuck between some cracks on the ground. She was falling forward, “Ahhhh—!”

“Xiaojie!”  It was a good thing he spotted her and rushed to her rescue in time.  He sighed out in relief.  Sometimes, he thought she was a living hazard not only to herself but to others as well.  He recalled she was partly the reason why he had entered the rollerblading competition, of which had almost caused some permanent damages to his brain.

“Th-thank you...”  She blushed in embarrassment.  She had made a fool out of herself.  By the time she got a hold of herself from the embarrassment, she found him looking at her with a frown.  ‘Ah!  Did I mess up already?!’ she thought with panic.  “Hm...what’s wrong?”

“Why are you dressed this way?” he questioned.  Already, he could feel the surrounding erted glances at his adorable girlfriend.

“What’s wrong with the way I dressed?”  Confused, she glanced at her own attire.  She was wearing a white tank-top with a cute butterfly bow across the chest, a baby-blue knee-length skirt, and a nice pair of silver heels that Meimei had given to her as birthday present.

“You’re going to catch a cold, you silly.”  He then took off his outer checker-patterned T-shirt and stuffed it in her hands.  “Here, put this on.”

“Cold?” she recalled differently from the weather forecast this morning. “But Xiaojie, I watched the weather forecast, it’ll be around thirty-seven degrees today...”

“Well, the weather forecast is wrong.  Just shut up and wear it.”  He knew the excuse was beyond lame, but it would be more than enough to handle her. 

“Okay...” she tried to hide her disappointment. She thought she could have charmed him with the way she dressed today. However, all he gave her was a disapproving look.

“Hey, why don’t we have lunch first?” he suggested.  “I’m starving.”

Suddenly she recalled and apologized in almost a ninety-degree bow, “I’m so sorry, Xiaojie!  If I didn’t arrive so late, you wouldn’t have to starve yourself waiting for me. I’m sorry for being such an inconsiderate girlfriend.”

He was a bit dumbfounded at her sudden apology. What she said was an exaggeration of his real situation. Although, he did arrive before her, he only arrived about five minutes earlier. In fact, before he arrived, he was thinking up of excuses frantically because he thought he was going to be an-hour late. Thus, the reason he was starved was not because he was waiting an hour for her, but because Yatou had taken the responsibility to cook breakfast for them when Wangzi was nowhere to be found. He had to save himself from getting poisoned after all. He felt guilty that she was so apologetic. “Hey, it wasn’t your fault, okay? So don’t be like that.” He held her hands and smiled. “Besides, it’s my honour to wait for such a cute girlfriend.”

She blushed.  His words could easily cause butterflies to dance in her stomach.

“But if you really want to be a good girlfriend...”  He leaned closer to her ear.

Her body quickly heated up and her heart beat wildly, anticipating what he was about to say.  ‘No, don’t think too far again! We’re both are still in high school,’ she warned herself inwardly.  She knew she shouldn’t have listened in on the upperclassmen’s conversations with her friends.

“You will choose what we eat!” He pinched her face. Phew, he thought he was going to say something regrettable.

“Huh?” She was snapped out of her thoughts by a sudden realization of pain on her face.

“Come on, Xiaojie, choose what we eat,”  he said.  “We don’t have all day.”

“Hm...”  She was never good at making decision.  Just then, she saw a little boy walked by with an ice-cream in his hand.  Finally, she happily announced, “ice-cream sundae!”

His mouth hung wide open. “Ice-cream sundae?”

“Is that a bad choice?” she meekly asked.

“Eh...No, no.  It’s a great…and interesting choice.”  He forced a smile on.  He settled that his stomach was a worthy price to pay to keep his girlfriend happy.  At least, it was still ten times better than Yatou’s cooking skills.  However, he kept in mind to never attempt to leave important decisions in her hands again.

“Really?” She grinned brightly. She grabbed his arm and cheerfully announced, “let’s go!”

After they sat at a table by the window, she immediately dug into her ice-cream sundae.

He smiled at the ice-cream smeared around the corners of her lips.  She was just like a kid sometimes.  “You dummy, don’t rush through your sundae or else you’ll get a brain freeze.  And also, clean the ice-cream off your mouth.”

“Hmm...here?”

“No, a little to the left.”

“Here...?”

“A little bit more the left...no, right...” He started to wonder how frustrating this creature can be. He took a napkin and wiped the last bit of ice-cream off for her instead. “Here, you silly.”

She couldn’t help but stared at him. He really was everything she imagined him to be, kind and gentle, just like a knight in shining armour.

He started to feel awkward that she stared at him like that, without blinking.  “It’s clean now.  Stop staring.”

“Xiaojie...”

“What?”

“You’re so cool.”  She smiled dreamily—he was like everything she imagined him to be.

He blushed.  Damn, she managed to catch him off guard.  He cleared his throat, “okay, where do you want to go now?  What about...the Hellevator!”

“Merry-go-round!”

They both have announced their suggestions at the same time.

“Merry-go-rounds are for kids.  Let’s go to the Hellevator, it’ll be fun,” he tried to persuade her.

“Well...um...”  Hellevator?  She really didn’t like the sound of that.  However, seeing how he seemed to be excited about it, she didn’t want to disappoint him either.   She smiled. “Sure.”

Although they were only lining up for the ride, she was already feeling sick.  All she saw was people getting seated at this machine that resembled an elevator.  Then, the elevator would start to move up and down rapidly through a long distance of height, with people screaming at the top of their lungs.  She had to hold on the side rail to keep herself balanced at the inhuman sight of the ride.  When she glanced at him, she could see the excitement twinkled in his eyes as he looked at the ride.

 ‘You need to get a hold of yourself, Xiaojie. It’s only a one-minute ride, you can survive!’ she encouraged herself mentally.

“Xiaojie, it’s almost...” his voice trailed off when he saw Xiaojie(g)’s pale face. How did she suddenly look so pale?  “Xiaojie, are you okay?”

“Huh?” was her response.

Finally, instead of getting onto the Hellevator, he decided buy some mineral water and sat at a nearby bench with her.  He felt like a fool for not taking notice of her fear of the Hellevator earlier.  He handed one of the mineral bottles to her.   “Hey Xiaojie, next time tell me if you don’t like something,” he told her.

“Sorry, I’m such a coward.”  She still felt bad since she knew he had been looking forward to the ride.  She felt so incompetent as his girlfriend.  She wished that she was braver.

He poked her shoulder. “Look here.”

She burst out laughing immediately after seeing his clown expression.

“There, this suits you more,” he commented after seeing her smile again. After a moment, he got up and extended his hand to her. “Okay, I got it. It’s time for a pop quiz.”

She was confused at his words.  Nevertheless, she wholeheartedly trusted him and so, she took his hand.

“Rollerblading?”  She looked at him for explanation.

“Yep, I figure this is one activity that we can both do.”  He beamed at his own brilliant suggestion.

“But I’m still not good at rollerblading,” she recalled her endless failures at this sport.

“But I taught you so many times already. Come on, have some confidence in yourself, Xiaojie.” He already wore his rollerblades, now circling around her. “Besides, you owe me one.”

“I did?” she asked innocently.

“Who taught you rollerblading when no one in class would teach you?”  He continued to circle her.  “Who went to the rollerblading competition so that you didn't need to go?”

Guilt was starting to take presence in her

Suddenly, he stopped right in front of her and poked her forehead lightly.  “And who got into the hospital because of you?”

“Sorr—”

He placed two fingers on her lips.  “No more apologies.  Get on these rollerblades.”

Although, she was not part of the brightest bunch, she knew that she still had a long way to go in the mastery of this sport. She was right when gravity mercilessly pulled her back. She screamed.

“Stop screaming already or else people will think that I’m bullying you.” He caught her from behind.

“Thanks.”  She was glad that he was here.  She secretly smiled because what they were doing right now brought back memories of their first encounter and interactions.  She used to think it was an unlucky draw that she got picked to represent the class in rollerblading.  Of course that thought of herself being unlucky had completely vanished now.  Thanks to that draw, she was able to have all those rollerblading practice sessions with him.  Thanks to that draw, she fell in love with him.

He noticed there was a change in her energy level.  “Hm, why are you so enthusiastic all of sudden?”

She shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I just suddenly want to rollerblade really well.  Xiaojie, are you going to keep teaching me until I know how to rollerblade as well as you?”

“I—Waah, hide!”  He grabbed her hand and clumsily made it behind the corner of the change room building.

When she finally managed to adjust her balance, she asked, “What happened, Xiaojie?”

“My brothers are here,” he answered.  He couldn’t let his brothers see them now.  If his brothers found out that he was dating this silly Xiaojie, they would definitely make fun of him and spread the news around the school.  He didn’t want both of them to end up like the other public couples who were chased by the paparazzi-like student body.  Ouquan, Wangzi, and Xiaoyu all have complained one time or another that their relationships seemed to lack privacy ever since their relationships have been publicized.

“Oh no, what should we do?” she panicked. He had told her early on that they should keep their relationship a secret since not only would people be too nosy, but that publicizing their relationship might also trigger jealousy in her friends who didn’t have a boyfriend yet.

He suddenly turned around and embraced her.  He whispered, “keep your head down until they’re gone.”

She did as he said and buried her head in his chest.  She hoped that her heart wouldn’t beat so fast.  ‘Huh?  I think I can hear his heartbeats.’  Without a second delayed, she buried her head more against his chest in hope to hear his heartbeats clearly.  She blushed.  Somehow, she thought his heartbeats were going as rapidly as her own.  Though, of course, she knew the rapid heartbeats were probably due to his brothers’ sudden presence here at the amusement park.  However, even for a moment, she would gladly pretend that all of his heartbeats belonged to her only.

He noticed her shifting closer to him. ‘, why is she getting so close?’ he thought. He was already having enough trouble trying to suppress his impulse as it was—her getting even closer was definitely not helping it. The embrace was so close, he was certain, that he could literally feel all of her body. He could smell the peach-favour shampoo lingering in her hair, the smoothness of her neck and shoulders, her soft lips that seemed to touch ever so lightly on his shirt, and…He gulped—he could definitely feel her chest. If the situation were to stay this way any longer, he could not guarantee what he might do. Pushing for the last bit of his will power, he managed to utter, “u-um…are…they…gone…yet…?”

“Huh? Let me check.” She tiptoed to look over his shoulder. “They’re gone.”

With that said, he quickly let go of the embrace.

There was an awkward silence between them.  He pretended to cough to break up the silence.  “Um…let’s get rid of these blades.  I’ll bring you home.”

“O—Xiaojie!”  Her eyes widened as she pointed her finger at his nose.  “B-blood!”

“What?”  He was confused on what she was referring to until he touched his nose.  ‘, a nosebleed!’  He quickly covered his nose and came up with an excuse, “I think the heat from the sun is getting to me.  Just wait for me at the gate!”  He rushed toward a nearby washroom.

As they both walked down her neighbourhood, he couldn’t help but felt he had made this date disastrous. If only he didn’t pick the amusement park, maybe their date would last longer and even better today. He stole a glance at her. Strange, she hadn’t said a word since they left the amusement park.

‘Why isn’t he saying anything?’ she wondered. Guilt surged through her again. She knew she would screw up on their first date. He must be thinking that she was boring now. In fact, she noticed he didn’t really laugh at all during their date.

“Sorry.”

She looked up to him, confused at his apology.

“Sorry that our date turned out this way,” he finally said.

“Oh no!”  She shook her head.  “It was my fault.  I should have been a more considerate girlfriend.  If only I was braver, then you’d probably have more fun.”

“Damn it, why are you apologizing when I am the one apologizing?  I thought I told you no more apologies from you today.”  Her apologies would get on his nerves sometimes.

“Sorr—” she quickly covered when he sent her a glare.  “Um…well, you don’t need to apologize too, Xiaojie.  I really had fun today.  You were really patient with me.  I knew you wanted to go on the Hellevator, but you can’t because of me.”

“I—”

“No, please let me finish, Xiaojie.” She placed her hand over his mouth, then quickly removed it. “As I say, you wanted to go on the Hellevator, but you can’t because of me. Instead, you suggested we go rollerblading. Because of rollerblading, I get to listen to your heartbeats today. I really like the sound of your heartbeats because it sounded so close to my own. So, for that, I would like to say thank you. It was the best date ever.” She put out two thumbs up for him.

He blushed and could not hide his smile. So that was why she suddenly got close to him? To listen to his heartbeats? He reckoned that there was still a lot to unravel about her. In fact, he was beginning to feel a bit shameful that all he thought about at the time were indecent thoughts of her.

“Oh yeah, rollerblading was really fun today!  I didn’t fall even once, but that was mainly because you were there to catch me.  Can you promise me that you will always be there to teach me rollerblading until I can beat you?”  She put out her pinky finger for sign of promise.

“I can promise to teach you, but I can’t guarantee that you can ever beat me at rollerblading,” he played along and completed the pinky promise.

“Thank you, Xiaojie.” She tiptoed and kissed his cheek. Before he could react, she was already at her door, waving goodbye. “See you at school on Monday!”

When he reached to touch the spot where she had kissed him, he noticed some blood on his finger.  He muttered, “, nosebleed again.”

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End of Story No. 2