Me After Meeting You

Besides Calvin and his mother, Amber didn’t know anyone else in the house, Nancy hadn’t come, and Ian was busy. Although his grandparents were somewhat close to her, their intimate way of interacting with her made Amber quite uncomfortable. With nothing else to do, she hid in a corner and started playing games on her phone.

She hadn’t played this game in a long time; it was a webgame called ‘Escape from the Apocalypse.’ The year that she graduated, she had given her account to Ruby and never logged in again. As she tried to start playing again, she found that Ruby had even changed her password.

Amber stared at her phone, dumb founded. Just as she was about to call Ruby to ask for the new password, Calvin suddenly walked in from behind the curtain. “How did you end up sitting here?”

Amber put her phone away again and smiled. “It’s quiet.” Seeing him, she asked, “Did you escape?”

Calvin could only laugh bitterly. “It seems like you always end up seeing my family’s unruliness and my difficult situations.”

Amber shook her head. “That’s not a big deal.” She changed the topic quickly as she said. “Your mother is looking younger and younger with each passing year. When you stand by her, you look more like her brother than her son.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Calvin smiled, but his jovial mask betrayed the underlying bitterness.

“Thank you. She remarried, and her new husband’s background is pretty good, these past years ….” He lowered his head, held his face with his hands, and pulled on it with both hands in anguish. “I’m sorry. My mother behaved quite rudely just now.”

“It’s alright. I didn’t feel like she was rude. “After thinking for a moment, she pulled two sweets out of her bag. “I only have these two left, but do you want them?”

“You ….” Calvin raised his head, and looked dazedly at the sweets in her hand. The colorful wrapping and the little squirrel with a smile so wide that one could see its teeth but not its eyes brought a comforting sense of familiarity to him.

In the past, he had owed her many a favor that he couldn’t return. All he could give back to her were sweets: ten little squirrels for a single dollar, cloyingly sweet.

He had found an excuse and said that, “Sweets are sweet. If you eat more sugar, you’ll find that life isn’t as hard anymore.”

From then on, she gladly took some of his sweets, and, slowly, developed her own habit of buying some wherever she went.

Amber said, “Yes, I’m still eating them. The more I eat, the more that I feel that your words back then held some truth to them.” She unwrapped the sweet and gave it to him. “What do you think?”

Calvin looked at the sweet, and felt his heart surge with emotion. “Amber, I ….”

“Calvin! Why are you here?” Calvin’s mother found him at that moment. Originally her face had been full of reproach, but she started smiling a bit when she noticed Amber’s presence. “Ah, Amber here too?”

She looked at the two of them somewhat sternly. “The two of you are already old classmates, so what are you doing here hiding from the gathering? Go outside, it’s solively! Young people should interact with others more.

As she said this, she pulled Calvin up, and also was about to pull Amber up too if Amber hadn’t avoided her hand. Amber then took out her phone again, and waved it as an excuse. “Mrs. Kenric, please don’t wait for me. I’ll head over once I make a call.”

Calvin’s mother said, “Alright, then we’ll be going first.” She turned around to look at Calvin, her gaze somewhat severe. Despite his unwillingness, Calvin could only be grudgingly follow her out.

Before he left, he looked at Amber again and said, “I’ll come find you again later. Will you wait for me?”

Amber smiled, but didn’t answer. She thought that perhaps Calvin’s mother didn’t want her to say yes. Evidently, as soon as she went out to catch a breath, she heard his mother lecturing him. “Why are you so impatient? What am I doing all this for? I only obtained this chance for you to be here after bothering your uncle for so long; why can’t you cherish it more?

If you don’t want me to plan out a path for you, then at least do more for yourself, like Trysta from last time. Her background and her groom’s background were both pretty good. Since you’re all old classmates, you definitely could have taken the chance to borrow some of her influence. But what did you do? You said that you were going to invite them out to eat, but you left the lunch halfway through you, what do you want me to say!”

“Mom, I don’t like this sort of behavior.”

“Then what do you like? That doctor Amber Camille? Son, you can reminisce about the past with her at any time, but why must you do it now? I heard that she was only a doctor, and even one from the psychiatry department at that. She won’t be able to help you one bit-what’s the point of sticking with her?” After saying this, she suddenly remembered something, and then looked critically at her son. “Don’t tell me that you like her.”

Calvin remained silent.

His mother could only sigh. “Regarding matters of love, I really shouldn’t be meddling with your life, but, Calvin, youhave to remember that love isn’t all there is to life, and it isn’t a necessity either. You’re still young. This is the best time to start and develop a foundation for your career, so I hope you’ll place more focus on that.

As you know, your uncle has his own children, so the resources that he can provide you with are limited. I also don’t want him to think that the two of us need his support to do well, so please make something out of yourself and live well for others to see. If you don’t want to use marriage as a tool for advancement, then at least find someone with the same mindset as you, who can help you out in your career. Calvin, I don’t want your life to be as tough as mine ….”

Amber didn’t keep listening. She put on a smile and turned around to enter the house once more.

***

Once she entered, she found that Nancy had arrived and was chatting happily with Ian’s family. As she came in, she heard her ask, “Ah, where’s your second grandson. Is he not here on this occasion?”

“Oh, don’t mention that little brat. Being the introvert that he is, he said that there were too many people, and I really ….” As Ian’s grandmother was talking, she spotted Amber and quickly smiled and waved at her. “Ah, Dr. Camille’s here! Quickly, come over.” She went forward and grabbed her hand, smiling a miably. “Ian’s father is here too, let me introduce the two of you.”

“….”

‘Could she refuse?’

Honestly, no. She couldn’t, because Ian’s grandmother had already called Ian’s father over. “Come, this is your son’s … um, friend, Amber. Isn’t she pretty?”

Amber was quite certain that the old lady had skipped over the word “girl,” but she couldn’t argue. Instead, she made her best attempt to smile at his father and greeted, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Axton.”

Ian’s father was about fifty years of age, large and tall. Ian looked somewhat similar to him, but younger and with more refined features.

Regardless, his father was certainly acharming silver fox.

His voice was especially nice, as it held the special charm of a man of his age. His gazelanded on Amber’s face as he smilingly greeted back, “I’ve heard of you. Nice to meet you.”

Amber smiled. Trying to act like a virtuousand dignified woman was tiring on her heart and soul, and she wished fervently that an angel would come and rescue her.

As if answering her plea, just as Amber was starting to feel out of it, her phone rang. It was the hospital.

Just like a pardoned convict, Amber felt like she had been freed as she excused herself from the crowd. At that point, she had already made her mind up to find an excuse to leave after taking the call. But once the call connected, the first thing she heard was Elly’s piercing screech. “Aaahh!! Aaahh!!”

Upon hearing her sudden scream that carried with it an uncontrollable fear, Amber jumped up in fright and quickly asked, “What’s wrong?”

The nurse anxiously replied, “Come quickly, Dr. Camille! Something happened, something happened to Elly! Come quickly!”