Suying burst out laughing, curling her toes inside her sneakers and erupting in mini butterflies and bubbles inside that Dee might like her. For real. That this wasn’t just some casual chase for him.
“That so didn’t happen.” Dee turned and smiled at her, leading her into the dark car park, and the second man patted her on the shoulder.
“It totally did.”
He ducked away as Dee swung his bag at his head and jogged off toward a parked car. Burly followed, and Dee seemed to step in that direction, too.
“I’m a gentleman, and Jules is a lady.” He scolded them in a very obvious joking manner and then turned his attention back to her and nodded towards the car park where she had said she parked.
“Shall we?”
They walked hand in hand as he let her guide the way, and she couldn’t stop glancing down at where they were joined. Slightly tightening her fingers in his hot, strong hand that completely enveloped hers, and she liked how it felt. His touch was weirdly familiar and felt safe, and it did crazy things to her heart rate and blood pressure. Tightening her stomach and making her feel antsy.
No man had ever held her hand, and she found it the sexiest thing ever and somehow unique a sensation. Holding Yue’s tiny hand or either of her friends was a completely different feeling. She was smiling to herself and experiencing all those things she had read about in teen magazines forever ago. The insane, energetic internal bubbling of liking someone.
Could she sound any more like a virgin if she tried?
Or like a 1750s wench who found herself alone with a man despite the moral implications.
She wanted to melt into a puddle and slide away.
He found her incredibly cute and couldn’t help himself. It had been love at first sight for him, and he had genuinely spent the last week hanging out like a sad gym poser, waiting for her to show up. He had given up hope until he saw her at the desk; that was the only prompt he needed from her.
His green light to chase her shamelessly.
He had this insane feeling of impulsiveness, like he had to act fast and grab on whenever he was around her. Something in his gut made him feel he shouldn’t let her escape. Even though he had never felt this way, he was trusting his instincts and not questioning them. She felt like a girl so good to be true that she would slide through his fingers and into nothingness if he didn’t put the speed on and capture her fast. He didn’t know why, but there was a weird urgency as though time with her was limited. He couldn’t explain it.
“I like it,” Suying mumbled so quietly it was non-existent, and the heat in her face flushed further. She couldn’t look him in the eye. Self-confidence was a weird thing in that she could have a lot of it in her working life, yet none in love. It was beyond her comprehension. She liked it because he was the complete opposite of her loser self, who had never been able to approach men.
If he hadn’t talked to her and asked her out, she would have liked him from afar for however long she kept running into him. That was the reality of all her previous crushes.
“Do you really want to go play pool, or would you rather go somewhere alone?” Dee leaned in, trying to read her and gauge what kind of approach he should take. He was normally good at evaluating people and adjusting accordingly, but she was a bit of a mystery to him. She didn’t pick up on obvious clues, and neither did she give clear signals.
She looked like a confident and pulled-together doctor. Pretty enough to warrant the attention of men, yet she seemed painfully awkward whenever he turned casual chat to something flirty or completely missed it and misread it. He had picked up clues that she didn’t think he had meant for her to show up at all and wasn’t sure he was serious about a date.
It had made him wonder if she didn’t date much, and yet this almost childish shyness had made her all the more attractive to him. He was so used to girls being pushy and throwing themselves his way, yet this one needed constant coaxing. He had to convince her with an effort that he was interested in her.
Oh my god – she had never kissed anyone, and what if he tried and she made a fool of herself? Or did something weird that grossed him out?
Looking at him and how confident he was, she knew he must have kissed many girls. He would know right away.
“No? Why do you look so scared all of a sudden? D’you think I might do something awful to you?” He joked, melting at her obvious nervousness at being alone and summarizing she most definitely didn’t date much. She had all the signs of a girl who probably went through puberty focused on her studies and sports, and guy friends treated her as undateable.
He had seen it before in his friendship groups. The girl who was dedicated to what she wanted to do with her life and spent time on her sports and studies, not fashion and makeup, was often overlooked. College was worse if they didn’t openly pursue boys and dressed up to compete with campus beauties. He assumed that when she qualified as a doctor and lifted her head to look around the dating pool, most men had shelved her as unattractive as a prospective wife. Married to a demanding career and still hadn’t mastered the art of dressing up to fit into the expected beauty standards.
To him, she was beautiful. Perfect as she was. Seeing her the first time dressed in scrubs and her hair tied back, free of makeup, and lost in concentration while she looked around. Something about her screamed out to him. A dedicated smart girl who was natural and straightforward and knew how to follow her passions.
He had followed her and deliberately walked into her just to initiate conversation.
Dee laughed, finding her amusing and painfully adorable.