Me After Meeting You

“Long time no see.”

Amber’s heart thumped. She sucked in a slight breath and looked directly at him.

“Do you still remember me?”

“Of course.”

“Calvin makes it sound as if Amber’s memory is quite poor, despite her being one of the top students in our class. She scored full marks on history and geography just by studying casually!”

“Calvin’s a top student himself. Remember when they were hailed as the peerless duo?”

Amber was struck speechless upon hearing these comments. “Was there anyone in our class who wasn’t good at studying?”

“Not half as good as you!”

Everyone began reminiscing about old times. Amber didn’t join in and instead pulled at Silvia’s hand to get her attention. “Why are you all acting like this today?”

She was quite unsettled by how well behaved everyone was acting.

Silvia looked at Amber, her face clearly indicating that she’d remain single for the rest of her life if she remained this clueless. “My male idol is here, how long has it been since I last saw him? I have to leave him with a good impression.”

Soon, Amber received a text. She looked at her phone and found that it was from Silvia, who was … sitting next to her. “This is something that only happens in dramas, right? Having a reunion with my crush after a long period of separation, followed by us discovering a blazing passion for each other and ultimately reconciling, right?”

Amber ducked her head. Silvia covered her face with a teacup, smiling at her devilishly.

Amber coughed lightly when she heard someone ask, “Calvin, were you abroad all these years?”

“Yes.”

“All this time? Were you studying over there?”

“No, I studied for a few years and then worked for a few years after that.”

“Oh, work, huh? What business? Given your capabilities, definitely a Fortune company.”

Calvin smiling, replied, “Unfortunately not. But before I returned, I quit my job.”

“Quit … you’re not planning on returning?”

“No. My mom’s health is deteriorating and I need to stay here to take good care of her.”

Upon hearing this exchange, Amber smiled. At this point, Calvin suddenly looked toward her, asking, “I heard that you’re now Dr. Amber Camille?”

Amber nodded.

“Wonderful, you really did manage to fulfill your dreams.”

Amber’s eyelashes trembled as she recalled the past. He had once asked her, “Amber, what are your dreams?”

“To become a doctor.”

“Why?”

“Because of my grandma.” Amber’s parents operated a diner and worked late hours, so Amber and her elder brother had been brought up by their grandmother. Amber’s grandmother was a classic housewife, she kind, gentle and maidenly. However, she had led an unlucky life by marrying a man as cantankerous and bad tempered as her grandfather.

While she was in middle school, her grandmother had gone mad from the oppressive, long term mental strain. From then on, Amber’s dreams were to become a doctor and in particular, a psychiatrist.

Calvin was very envious of her clear answer. His high school life had been very difficult, their third year in particular. During that period of time, he would constantly ask her, “What’s the purpose of studying so hard? What can we do even if we get into a good university?”

He used to be clad in gloom and despair.

***

Now, he probably wouldn’t ask the same type of question. Amber didn’t know how to answer his question either. Luckily, there were other classmates around ready to interject themselves into the conversation. “Right, Calvin if your mother’s not doing too well, you should talk to Amber! She works at Presbiterian Hospital and helping you expedite her treatment shouldn’t be too inconvenient for her.”

Presbiterian was one of the best hospitals in the south and it was famed for how difficult it was to have an appointment there.

Calvin asked, “Would you be willing to do that?”

Given her classmates’ reassurances, Amber could only reply, “Ah, it’s not a problem, but I work in the psychiatry department and don’t really know any other people from the other departments. So, I’m not sure how much help I can be.”

Her classmates, again reiterated, “It can’t be worse than we outsiders trying to help, right?”

Amber remained silent. The topic quickly fizzled out, because the wedding had begun in earnest. The marriage officiant stood on stage, dressed entirely in white. As the wedding march started to play, Trysta’s father slowly walked her down the aisle.

Everyone took out their phones to take pictures, even Amber. When she later looked over the photos she had taken, she couldn’t help but notice that Calvin was in all of them.

At that point, he had been looking at the stage, so only half his face appeared in the photos. Her photography skills were terrible, but in one photo she had managed to capture his aesthetic. His face was particularly clear, slender and neat, with an arched nose and a head tilted slightly upwards, his aura was not one of breathtaking beauty, but rather of his own refined charm. She had always thought that Calvin had a scholarly air about him.

Silvia turned around, having shot enough pictures and Amber quickly turned her phone off. Silvia held up hers and smiled at Amber. “Look, I secretly took so many photos of my male idol. Handsome, isn’t he?”

Amber smiled. “Quite handsome indeed.”

A nearby female classmate overheard their conversation and also turned around. “Where, where?”

The two females gathered together to look at their crushes, chatting the whole time, right until the bride was about to toss her bouquet into the air.

Before Trysta threw her bouquet, she called her single classmates to the front, her crisp and melodious voice emitting from a microphone, “Good luck, sisters. Snatch my bouquet and quickly get married yourselves, it’ll be hard to find bridesmaids if you keep holding out.”Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

Everyone laughed, including Amber. Trysta stood on her tiptoes and suddenly threw her bouquet into the air.

The girls squeezed together to try to catch the bouquet, pushing Amber aside. In the mayhem, she stepped on something, throwing her body off balance.

“Be careful.” A pair of steady, strong arms caught her.

Amber turned around and saw that Calvin was standing only a few steps behind her, the backs of his hands supporting her back.

She suddenly recalled the fitness checkups from her school days. Her health hadn’t been so good then and she would get dizzy whenever she had to have her blood drawn, so he had always stood at her back. Whenever she turned around, she would see him.

Till now, Amber still kept the note he had given her in her bookshelf. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll always be with you.”

But, in truth he wasn’t. After graduating, he had gone abroad without even leaving her a single message.

Amber took a few steps back and was about to thank him when a girl caught the bride’s bouquet. None of her single classmates had been able to snatch it and funnily enough, the bouquet had landed in the lap of a girl who hadn’t wanted to catch it at all.

Everyone sat back down. Silvia sighed dejectedly and said, “It looks like we won’t be able to get married. What should we do?” She leaned against Amber’s shoulders, pretending to cry, but her gaze was always directed at Calvin. “My male idol, do you have a girlfriend yet?”