Me After Meeting You

After leaving La Marquesina, Amber returned home, took a bath and changed her clothes. After refreshing herself, she arrived at the hospital at 11 AM sharp. She had a lunch meeting and then for the rest of the afternoon, was on duty at the psychiatry division.

Nancy had sent her a few documents related to Ian. Nancy flipped through them briefly and found that the recorded information was quite straightforward, the Axton household was a family of merchants and businessmen, rich and affluent. Their family tree was simple, Ian’s father was an only son and Ian’s mother had died in his youth due to an accident. Thus, the Axton household, beyond Ian himself and his grandparents, consisted solely of his father and his younger brother Daren Axton.

Ian’s life was no different from that of an ordinary nouveau riche, whether in terms of his birth, education and grades, nothing was particularly prominent, good or bad.

He had left the country at eighteen before returning to Axton Group at twenty four to take charge of a project to build the country’s first aquatic sci-fi themed hotel, the Axton Grand Hotel. And finally, he formally took over at Axton Group at thirty years old.

The Axton family did not have a history of mental illness and the reason for and when Ian had been stricken by illness were both unclear. According to his family, Ian had been introverted from youth, but had displayed no unusual symptoms beyond being somewhat indifferent to others.

Even when Nancy had met him for the first time, she didn’t think that he was suffering from emotional detachment, only that his disposition was unusually calm.

Amber could empathize with her teacher’s ‘misdiagnosis.’ Many people in the modern world suffered from emotional detachment, only to varying degrees. From Ian’s behavior, Amber guessed that he already knew that he was suffering from such an illness and that it was also the real reason why Nancy had introduced her to him. Had he been pretending to treat their introduction as a blind date and then brought her to La Marquesina to embarrass her and force her retreat voluntarily?

Mm, he was a surprisingly logical patient, but his methods were overly simple and rough. Given his upbringing and decisiveness as a businessman, such a series of actions didn’t seem to suit his personality or habits. So, there must have been another reason why he would deliberately stage a one night stand besides not wanting treatment from her.

Amber was unable to even guess at what Ian’s other goals might be. She knew far too little about him, even after she had carefully perused the patient file that Nancy had sent her again.

She decided to let it be for now, disregarding the issue of whether Ian’s actions were premeditated or a result of his illness. She had no way of knowing that her next meeting with him would come so quickly.

***

On Saturday, Amber’s high school classmate, Trysta, got married.

Amber had studied medicine all the way up from the postgraduate level. Most of her classmates had long since gotten married and had children, and even delaying marriage till Trysta’s age was already considered late. As for Amber herself … according to a classmate of hers, she was destined to be a model example of someone who married late and had children even later.

This was because she had never expressed any interest in falling in love or finding a man.

Trysta’s wedding was at the city’s most luxurious double five star hotel. By the time Amber arrived, the wedding was just about to begin, with Trysta and her bridegroom standing at the door to welcome guests.

Amber smiled and walked forward, hugging her. “Congratulations on your marriage and may it last for a hundred years.”

“Thank you.” Trysta smiled, gaze sweeping over her face as she tersely commented, “You’re late.”

“A few things delayed me, but I’m not too late, right?” Amber said that as she turned toward the bridegroom. “Congratulations.”

Trysta’s bridegroom’s surname was Yuval, reportedly also the son of some company’s CEO and naturally a member of an affluent household. But Trysta herself was also outstanding with a good pedigree, good looks and good personal ability. The two were well matched in all respects.

The bridegroom, Frank Yuval, was very polite. He smiled and thanked her. “Thank you for keeping Tata company. It’s really helped abate her recent anxiety.”

Trysta had a slight phobia against marriage and Amber and a few other classmates had kept her company during a few rough times.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

Amber smiled, but Trysta clearly didn’t like his mentioning this matter and she poutingly complained, “Why would I worry? Should I be afraid that you won’t treat me well?”

Hearing this, the bridegroom responded somewhat begrudgingly, “Who else would I treat well except for you?”

Trysta poked him bashfully as her face radiated happiness and then grabbed Amber’s hand. “Let’s go. Sign in at the guestbook and then go upstairs. Silvia and the others are all waiting for you.”

Silvia’s full name was Silvia Smith. She was another one of Amber’s high school classmates and she was the one who’d said that Amber would be a model example of marrying late and having children even later.

Amber signed in and went upstairs, expecting to receive a warm hug from Silvia. But when she found her classmates’ table, no one, Silvia included, paid any attention to her.

Even Amber herself, when she saw the man sitting at the other end of the table, was slightly taken aback.

A male classmate noticed her first and subsequently waved at her. “Ah, Amber’s here.”

He motioned toward a seat by his side. “Sit here with us. We left a seat open just for you.”

The others at the table turned around, looking at her. Normally, they acted like lascivious wolves, but on this occasion, they were reserved and smiling. “You’re here, Amber?”

Silvia hissed at her, “Come join us instead. That’s a den of wolves, don’t go there.”

She hollered to the people at her table and finally cleared out a seat next to her for Amber. Amber had just sat down when she heard a mellow, gentle voice call out, “Long time no see, Amber.”