They walked to the office parking lot. No words were coming out from anyone’s mouth. He just held onto her wrist. He is afraid of her running away once again, most especially because he didn’t know exactly whether he would still be able to catch up if it does persist again.

And then words formed in his mind, coming out ever so slowly from his mouth in a speech…

“So you think I gave up? So you think I’m human? Yes, I am. The only exemption from the matter is that I didn’t give up. I…I left 1 and a half months ago not because I wanted to hurt you, not that I even thought I’d hurt you, of course. You hadn’t gave a damn about me anyway 3 months ago.”

“Of course I did!” she exclaimed, shaking his hold away from her wrist as her hands crossed over her chest.

“But you weren’t openly admitting to your feelings then. Now, tell me it’s a fact.”

He then raises a brow, crosses one arm over his chest and posed one effective and teasing smug.

“But you knew all too well I just recently broke up with my boyfriend!” she exclaimed.

“Alright, that’s a given, what else?” he asked, urging her on, but it wasn’t soon long that he had to stop for she said something that made them revert back to the lobby.

--

They went to that train station once again walking. It was, after all, the place where they officially first met.

“Can you still remember where we first met?” he asked.

“Hm, lemme think,” she replied. “I met your face in billboards. That billboard where you‘re advertising a new release 180 laptop.”

It hadn’t even occurred to her, but he definitely noticed just how much she memorized of that billboard that even the version of the laptop stuck in her mind. Maybe even the way he posed, she memorized, but he knew too well he was a bit feeling now.

“Not that, silly,” he chuckled.

“I met you personally in your office when you interviewed me and got my resume,” she answered seriously this time.

“Wrong,” he said.

“I’m pretty sure that’s where we first met.”

“We first met in the train station,” he said. “You fainted on me at the time. Your brother chased me out of the train station, accusing me of being the cause of you fainting.”

“So that explains why I woke up on a bench inside the station. Why didn’t Arron tell me that?” she rose up a brow in question.

“I carried you when you fainted on me and put you on that bench,“ he recalled. “He must’ve forgotten.”

“Maybe,” she laughed. “My turn to ask.” she continued and waited for his nod signal to continue further. “Do you know the first time I felt terrified?”

“When?”

“When I was with Arron at the mall. We planned beforehand to fill our empty fridge on that very day until something occurred that made me terribly down to the core,” it was pretty obvious she was exaggerating things. “I saw this guy with rimmed glasses walking toward me. I didn’t know who it was at first. I felt terrified because I stared at him and he stared back at me until he caught my attention and talked to me. That was only the time I knew it was you. You thought I knew you with rimmed glasses, huh? Turns out I fooled you. And I thought at first the girl she pointed at was his girlfriend, so I actually felt even more terrified.”

“So…” he started. “What‘s your main point?”

“Main point?” she asked back.

“Why were you terrified of me?”

“Well, because my heart still wasn’t back whole at that time and you come around with who I thought was your girlfriend. Of course I felt terrified because I didn’t want my heart to break again. Not that I wouldn’t be happy with you having a girlfriend because I didn’t have you, so I didn’t really have to care, but my feelings for you started there. Main points is I was terrified I was falling in love once again.”

“Are you still terrified of me?”

“I guess.”

“Is there a way I could do to make that change?”

“I guess not.”

“But there is.”

“How?” she asked, a challenging tone at that.

“Speak out what‘s on your mind,” he answered. “A lot is better.”

“You’re taking too much advantage of this, aren’t you?” she asked suspiciously.

“I promise you won’t regret it,” he his lips, at its bottom half.

“Will it be okay to do anything before that?” she asked.

“Like what?”

“Like this,” and she slapped him hard.

“Are you insane?” he asked furiously.

“Yes, Ella Chen kind of insane,” she said. “So, what do you exactly want to know? Like what I felt when you were gone?”

“Keep going.”

And she glared before she could continue saying, “Of course I felt a bit pissed and I wasn’t really that stable. You’re brother actually gave me a before 30 days termination notice a week after you left. I just went to the company today because I needed to collect my stuff, not that I’d expect to meet you.”

“So Arron didn’t really tell you I was back?” he asked.

“Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed, putting the pieces together. Yes, those pieces that Arron got as information together. “It’s impossible that he had all those information leaked out from Charlene! So it’s because you’re already back that’s why he knew of all those. That a**hole of a brother I have and you…a-”

He kisses her.

“You really love ruining these kinds of speeches I conduct, mhmm?” she pauses for a while, withdrawing from him.

Absolutely, they couldn’t care less about the people around them who are definitely looking.

“Mhmm,” he says.

“I’m still terrified.”

“But you shouldn’t be, because you’re in love with only me,” he assured her.

“I have still a question,” she started and then stopped before continuing, “Do you know how many times you’ve kissed me?”

“There aren’t a lot,” he said. “I believe this is second.”

“You missed out on one,” she stuck a tongue out at him.

“First one was when I confessed to you,” he reminded. “So why three already? Don’t tell me I kissed your heart back to its full functionality?”

“What the hell?” she laughed. A full laugh, at that. “Are you trying to be funny? Of course it’s not about my heart returning to its full functionality. It’s that time at the villa. I think you were drunk back, but you kissed me. Arron and Hebe are witnesses to that, but I’m not sure if they saw it. Oh, even Jerry is a witness.”

Then she runs.

“Why are you running again?” he asked, still glued to that position she left him in.

“The train will leave us if you don’t hurry,” she replied.

By this time, Chun was already on the downslope staircase leading to the entrance of the train station and Ella was at the tip of that particular staircase.

They didn’t know why, but they felt like they needed to slow down. On his side, he felt a little braver as he skidded down a little faster toward Ella Chen. A hand of his he placed on top of her shoulder, then and quite obviously their faces were also millimeters apart.

“What are you doing?” she asked, backing away a little.

“I need to ask you something for official purposes,” he whispered. “Ella Chen, will you be my girlfriend?”

“Am I not yet?” she asked back. “The fact that you’re allowed to kiss me by my permission is a given that I’m yours yet.”

“But you rejected me the last time and two people kissing doesn’t mean they’re together,” he pouted.

She chuckled before she playfully pushed him back with a little bit of force and whispered, “Of course.” Obviously pertaining to her accepting him as her boyfriend.

--

Okay, so maybe it's too childish for your liking. I'm pertaining to the story, of course.

But you must know that I have My Sassy Girl American version as my inspiration for this. Yes, yes, the Korean version is a lot better but what was going in my mind was the American version.

I also pondered with so many songs for this. I was thinking of an alternate ending about a ball, but oh well...like...

He is We's All About Us
Sara Bareilles' Say You're Sorry

© Meng Rui Fan