Me After Meeting You

The next day, Calvin didn’t end up seeing her. He called her early and said that something urgent had come up, and that he had to immediately depart for a business trip.

And so, Amber stayed at her parent’s home and accompanied her parents for the day. In the morning, after she woke up at five in the morning, she helped them out with the business. In the bitter winter wind, Amber cozied up in the small kitchen with her family as they steamed buns, made beancurd, simmered porridge, and wrapped dumplings and potstickers.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

Amber wasn’t used to so much kitchenwork, and she even cut herself by accident. Her father felt very apologetic and even said, “Ah, stop working. Go to the side and rest. You can just talk with us.”

Amber didn’t listen to him. Instead, she took out a bandage, wrapped it around her wound, and continued to work. Because she had some extra time, she even carved some carrots into flowers, steamed them inside a pot, and then used them to garnish some dishes when they were ready. Later in the morning, when customers started coming in, they saw the decorations and said, “Ah, is your little Dr. Camille back now?”

Amber’s parents were particularly proud as they replied, “Yes, she’s here.”

And then when the sun reached its zenith, their neighbors started waking up as well. An old lady who had trouble walking even came over to find Amber “Dr. Camille, can you help me out? I feel uncomfortable in this region.”

And then, “Dr. Camille, I can’t sleep well. Can you take a look and tell me why?”

For the rest of the morning, Amber served dishes for her parents, helped her neighbors with their minor illnesses, and exchanged pleasantries with the other customers.

***

At the same time, as Calvin and Melody were getting ready to board a plane to a distant part of the country, Ian exited the airport. Billy and Ansell personally went to fetch him. When they met up, Ansell exclaimed, “You’re finally back! My old man told me that I’d better bring you to this event, or else.”

The event they were talking about was no more than a boring business event. Ian wasn’t interested in it at all, and hadn’t planned on attending. However, he didn’t expect that they still hadn’t given up on the matter.

His expression turned cold. Although he got in the car, he didn’t say a single word.

The atmosphere in the car froze up, and Ansell kept glancing at Billy. Seeing how pitiful he was, Billy relented. He turned to Ian with a smile and said, “Ansell also invited Dr. Camille. Are you sure you don’t want to go, Ian?”

Ian raised his head and directly looked at him. Although he still didn’t say a word, Billy and Ansell both felt the tension in the air dissipate, allowing them to breathe a lot more easily.

The two of them looked at each other without saying anything more. Meanwhile, the car drove straight to the Axton Hotel. Ian didn’t go home frequently, ever since the hotel opened for business, he had permanently reserved a suite in it for himself. And from then on, he’d called Axton Hotel his home.

***

After they arrived, the first thing Ian did was wash his face and change his clothes, as was habitual. While he washed up, Billy and Ansell waited for him in another room. As they walked in, Ansell surreptitiously asked, “When did you invite Dr. Camille? I didn’t know about that.”

“I didn’t!” Billy groaned and yelled at him. “Call her now! Boss Axton clearly doesn’t want to go, and the only reason he’s willing to go now is because of Dr. Camille. If he doesn’t see her there, then you’re screwed.”

Ansell was speechless. He picked up his phone and was about to call Amber when he realized something. “I don’t have her phone number.” He looked hopefully at Billy and tentatively asked, “Do you have it?”

“… Damn, I don’t have it either!”

The two of them were flustered, and used every trick they could think of to get her number. Eventually, they managed to do so from a friend’s friend’s friend’s brother’s sister in law.

Once they got her number, Ansell asked, “What should we say? As a doctor, she probably wouldn’t want to attend a business event like that, would she?” And they weren’t even Ian, so they didn’t have any reason to randomly invite her.

“Of course we can’t say it directly.” Billy gave Ansell a supercilious look. “We have to invite her in a round about fashion so that she’ll come.”

Ansell unashamedly asked, “How?”

“For example, if we said that you were crazy.”

“….”

But after thinking about it for a moment, he realized that Billy wasn’t cursing him, and he didn’t think it too difficult to pretend to be crazy. So, he planned out a little skit with Billy and let Billy make the call.

Billy was a decent actor, starting to scream and yell as if he’d been possessed as soon as the call connected. “Dr. Camille, I’m Billy, Ian’s friend. I need help! Please come quickly! Come quickly!”

It was very loud on Amber’s end. Through the noise, they seemed to hear her ask, “What’s the matter?”

“Someone suddenly went crazy over here, and he’s going around hitting and smashing things. It’s truly frightening!” As Billy said this, he made a hand signal and Ansell began making a ruckus in the room. However, the carpet was so thick that smashing furniture against the floor seemed to have no effect. Ansell had no choice but to strangle himself as he shouted, “Aaah!”

Very satisfied with Ansell’s performance, Billy put the phone closer to Ansell’s mouth in an attempt to make the choking sound clearer.

They heard nothing from Amber for a while, as if she were trying to carefully listen and figure out just what was going on. Just as Billy and Ansell were winking at each other in celebration of their impending success, they heard Amber’s gentle and pleasant voice once again. “What kind of livestock are you slaughtering over there, a chicken or a duck? How festive.”

“….”