Me After Meeting You

Amber was somewhat speechless. Before she could even decide whether or not she was going to pick up the phone, Trysta had already answered it for her.

Ian’s cool voice could immediately be heard from the phone. “Where are you?”

Trysta answered for Amber. “Right outside Axton Hotel.”

Ian stilled for a moment. “Give her the phone.”

Trysta clicked her tongue in annoyance before turning away, uninterested.

Amber turned off the speakerphone setting, and answered with a “Hello?”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Ian directly said, “I’m free today.”

Amber wanted to smile, but her heart was still heavy from the recent events. She sighed. “We’re going to get some grilled fish. Do you want to join us?”

“Anything’s fine with me.”

And so, the two of them sat there, waiting for Ian. Trysta had already called up the others on her phone. Because today wasn’t a weekend, not many people were able to make it. Silvia was self-employed, however, so she came over right away.

Trysta didn’t give up despite the setbacks, and managed to wrangle up a few other people. It seemed as if it would be a lively gathering.

In the end, they were actually able to get a whole table of people. When Silvia saw that Ian was also present, she nudged Amber teasingly. “If you drag so many lightbulbs along behind you, aren’t you afraid that he’ll get angry?”

Amber sarcastically replied, “Are you going to leave if I’m afraid?”

“I will when I’m full.”

Amber nudged her back, and Silvia dodged away with a smile, and then went to bother Trysta. “What’s the matter today? You called me up so enthusiastically.”

Trysta cryptically answered, “I can’t tell you yet.”

Silvia stretched her hand out and rubbed Trysta’s stomach caringly. “It’s not that you have twins, is it?”

Trysta shook her head. Amber saw that Trysta’s expression seemed perfectly comfortable, and she consoled herself with the fact that Trysta seemed to have finally gotten over Frank now.

Her attention was still all focused on Trysta, so she naturally neglected Ian. However, he had a pretty strong presence, and even if he just sat there without speaking, no one would disregard him.

It was because he was too handsome, all right?

According to Silvia’s words, “He’d be able to get an extra bowl of rice just based on his looks.”

Besides his looks, there was another reason behind Ian’s strong presence. It wasn’t his conversing ability; rather, it was his ability to grill these small river fish that were about the size of a hand.

Compared to the others who were either horribly disfiguring their fish or just eating the ones prepared by the restaurant, only he was grilling them until they were perfectly golden-brown on both sides, the mouthwatering aroma spreading everywhere.

He didn’t eat the fish himself, and instead handed them over to Amber when he was done. Amber gave the first one that she received to Trysta, and she only kept the second one.

Silvia cheekily stretched out her hand from the side. “Your fish’s getting cold. If you don’t want to eat it, I will.”

Amber was currently conversing with Trysta, and didn’t think too much about Silvia’s words. She handed the fish over to the outstretched hand in front of her. But then, while she was talking with Trysta, the hand that was holding her face up felt a sudden sting of pain.

When Amber turned around, she saw that Ian was prodding it with a bamboo skewer meant for grilling fish.

Amber was speechless. ‘Did he have to be so childish?’

She silently lowered her hand, grabbed that skewer, and then grasped his hand. She could feel Ian’s fingers stiffen slightly as they fell into her palm, and then they very quickly relaxed, obediently allowing her to hold them.

Ian stopped grilling fish, sat by her side, propped up his jaw with his other hand, and started just looking at her. He looked until Amber felt like his gaze was about to burn a hole into that side of her face. Without any other choice, she turned around and asked, “Do you want to have some fish?”

His tone was cool. “Alright.”

Only then did Amber let go of his hand to help him grill some fish. Her technique wasn’t as good as his, but her posture was beautiful. She moved neither too slow nor too fast, and her fingers holding the skewer were long and white, very pleasing to look at.

In the end, she burned one side of the fish, and as she embarrassingly picked off the charred side with a red face, she asked, “Do you still want it?”

Ian nodded, so she delicately removed the intact meat, and in passing, also removed all of the bones. As she diligently worked on the fish, from Ian’s angle, he was looking at her drooping eyelashes, refined nose, and tightly pursed red lips.

The temperature in the grilled fish store was quite high, so she had long since removed her jacket, leaving on only a knitted dark blue crew neck that showed off a glimpse of her collarbone.

Despite the fact that she hadn’t put on any makeup or was wearing any accessories, she still looked elegant and sexy.

Arranged around her in a circle were her friends, talking and conversing without a care. Framed in the lively atmosphere, she was as pretty as a spring flower in full bloom, exuding a quiet joy that came from her vibrant blossoming.

Ian used to hate this sort of environment, but in this moment, he suddenly felt that it wasn’t too bad: staying by her side, socializing with friends along with her, going home together. Throughout it all, his heart felt warm and fuzzy.

Amber didn’t realize that Ian’s heart had softened, and she placed the fish on his plate. “Alright, try it. It should be ready.” He didn’t react, so she raised her head quizzically. “What’s the matter?”

He still didn’t answer, only lowering his head and using his chopsticks to silently eat the fish.

“Is it alright?” she asked as she leaned over, bringing her faint fragrance towards him.

Ian picked up some of the fish and held it in front of her mouth. Amber hesitated a little, but still ate it as her face blushed faintly.

Their intimate behavior didn’t go unnoticed by the people next to them. Amber’s classmates, unable to ignore it further, finally clapped the table raucously and said, “Hey, hey, hey! We’re all still here!”