A few minutes more, after giving up that Ella/Chun wasn’t going to show up any minute now, someone and somebody decided to call somebody and someone.

“I’ll walk you home,” Chun offered, guiding Ella out of the restaurant.

“I can walk on my own,” she forced out a smile, trying to treat him much better. She thought that her pessimistic attitude toward him won’t work, so she immediately quit it.

And before they could continue their little chat, Ella’s cell phone rang, all of a sudden.

“Of all times, why must you bother me when, in fact, I was on the verge of escaping from this guy,” she whispered to herself and pressed the green button afterwards.

“Hello,” she answered, in a moderate voice. She didn’t bother looking at who was calling, and so she really didn’t care.

But there was no answer. Only the crashing and the throwing of particular stuff that she heard on the other line.

“Hello,” she chanted. “What’s going on?” she asked, parting a few inches away from her phone just in case someone shouts.

--

And so, as soon as Ella reached the intersection road, she run to a few more twists and turns and finally… got back home.

Ella noticed that Chun was still trailing behind her, and she was pissed off.

She was a couple of meters away from her home, yes, but that didn’t stop her from thinking that it didn’t look exactly like her home, and the garden didn’t really look like her garden. The garden in the very front part of her house had so many lamps, not to forget the cables that hugged every bush there was. And there were countless of every little bit of everything there was. It’s a good thing that the cables didn’t fire up, though, for she assumes that those were just plugged out from the plug forcefully.

And upon noticing that he, Chun was still following her, “Why are you still following me?”

“I told you before the reason, why?” he retaliated and smirked, looking at what she previously was looking at, but didn’t notice his dear friend Jiro just yet being smashed by a chair.

“Before? It was just like lately,” she said in frustration.

“It was still before,” he laughed.

And she glanced again… She saw Hebe on the side, near the front door. She saw Selina and an unknown guy having an argument as she, Selina threw him a chair. She thought it was over exaggeration, but considering how Selina is… she wouldn’t think twice.

“Okay,” she pursed her lips. “Stop it with the essays and help me calm those monkeys,” she pointed at Jiro and Selina.

And so, because she thought that what she, Selina’s doing is going overboard, she immediately ran between them with Chun trailing behind her.

“Wei, wait!” Chun said in exclamation, stopping midway. “Are my eyes deceiving me? Is that yellow monkey haired boy that your friend is torturing my dear friend Jiro?”

“You know him?” Ella enquired. “Then, what’s he doing here?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Chun retaliated. “It’s not like I ever know of him seeing someone out recently. Meaning, he’s never told us.”

--

“Why did you even still follow me back home, you monkey!” Selina exclaimed, hands over her hips after tiring out herself for all the forceful efforts.

“Come on!” Jiro exclaimed. “It was just the stupid bashing Lee Hom thing. It’s not like you’ll die after you knew that I’m that person who’s been irritating you. And who started the topic about Lee Hom, anyway?”

“Get out, get out, and get out!” Selina yelled, and stomped back home, slamming the door shut, as Hebe jumped to her feet.

“What happened?” Ella, upon stepping in on the scene with Chun, enquired and looked at Hebe who looked clueless about what was happening.

“I just wanted to visit you and found out that Selina’s here,” Hebe replied. “I don’t even know him,” she pointed at Jiro and immediately glanced at the guy who she assumes is with Ella.

“Chun, man!” Jiro exclaimed, and ran to Chun, gripping on his arms. “Why are you here?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Chun retaliated and looked at Jiro in irritation.

“Well, it’s your fault for escaping earlier in the morning,” Jiro argued.

“I’ve met her, anyway. So, what’s the big deal?”

Hebe, in Ella’s presence just followed Selina back at Ella’s home sweet home. Ella, on the other hand waited until the two guys outside her house finally stopped their own little conversation.

“So, what are you gonna do now?” Ella enquired, swinging open the door to her house and sighed, knowing that there was just too much work to be done on the garden.

“He’s gonna go home,” Chun pointed at Jiro. “And if you’d like, I’ll help you clear up your garden.”

And Jiro walked away, but…

“Wait, wait, wait!” Ella caught up to him. “I assume that it’s because of you that my house is a mess, so where do you think you’re going? Plus, I don’t see any injuries, so help us with those.” She pointed out at the messy garden and walked toward it with Chun and Jiro.

They started working.

“You need help with that?” Out of the blue, Chun asked Ella as he stood behind her, untangling the random cables hugging the bushes.

“Are you serious?” Ella enquired and looked back at Chun who was staring at him. “Even a five-year-old could do this.”

But she didn’t receive a reply as he leaned in toward her. She didn’t know why he was, but she just let him do his thing.

“It’s been just a couple of minutes since we started clearing your garden up and yet your hair’s full of leaves,” he said in concern, fixing her hair.

“Yeah, right,” she whispered, losing the ability to breathe with him a couple of inches away from her. “Oh!” she enthusiastically tried saying, getting herself back to reality. “If you’d want to help me out, get my friend named Hebe to help us here.”

He nodded, and a small smile appeared on her face, thinking that if he was a child, he is an innocent one who’s easy to be fooled by the likes of her. But no! She was just thinking that perhaps… he’s a kindhearted one. Along with that did she get her breathing senses back and sighed.

--

That night, as Ella was so tired, she immediately rushed to the string of clothes at the backyard and got a pair of clothes that were somehow dry already. She went to the bathroom, and changed. After she got out, only Selina, Hebe, and Chun were to be seen, but she didn’t mind.

Maybe Jiro was threatened, so he went home, but that didn’t matter anymore.

Immediately losing the ability to walk, Ella then shoved herself on the couch to sleep. Selina and Hebe called her to dinner for a couple of times, but they didn’t receive a reply. Only then when they went to the living room did they find Ella sound asleep and a tall man, who Hebe assumes is him that she’s met a couple of hours ago watching on her.

“Chun, dinner’s ready. Since Ella’s asleep, do you mind eating with us?” Hebe enquired.

“Nah,” he replied. “It’s past 8, I need to also work something out.”

“Oh, okay,” Hebe smiled, and greeted him goodbye. “I wouldn’t be able to walk you out is fine?”

He just nodded and sat for a while beside Ella who was sound asleep. Looking at her, he couldn’t help but to chuckle, remembering all the things that happened for the day. He wondered why when she’s sleeping, she looked real peaceful, but in reality, when she’s awake, she’d always have a sharp tongue to talk back at him.

When he finally got the signal from his watch that he needed to go, he looked around first, trying to find a blanket. And when he did, he wrapped Ella with it and went.

--

Hm, I mainly just entitled this chapter ‘The Others’, because it really isn’t much of your expected encounters or interactions.