“From your expression it looks like you’re going to scold me for thinking too much again, right?” She quickly saw through his gloomy thoughts,”I know, I won’t take your kind words as evidence of your affection for me, will I?”
Why did he feel that there seemed to be a little mockery in her words? He pursed his lips unhappily.
“Come on, don’t be angry.” She smiled sweetly. “Let’s go for a walk after dinner.”
“I don’t have time to walk with you.” After paying his own bill, he walked out of the restaurant with her, stressing that he was a busy man, “I’m going back.”
“What for?”
“To write my thesis.”
She didn’t say anything, but she still gazed at him with such a happy look in her eyes.
His chest tightened, and he felt inexplicably embarrassed,”Why are you looking at me like that?” It was obvious that she was making fun of him due to his lack of interest in life.
“Close your eyes first.” She didn’t answer his question, but whispered softly.
He stared at her in disbelief.
“Just close your eyes.” The voice was soft as silk, but it was like a tough silk wrapped around his neck and he couldn’t breathe. He gave her a hard stare, convincing himself that he wasn’t being talked into it, but was just going along the ride to see what she was up to.
“Now, follow me and roll your eyes, turn left, turn right, turn clockwise, turn counter clockwise again, close, open…”
Does she think he’s an idiot? He stared at her, “What the hell are you doing?”
“This is an eye relaxation exercise.” She curled her lips up guiltlessly.
“You’ve been reading all day, your eyes must be tired, right?”
Even if he was too tired to open his eyes, it wasn’t her business. He snorted.
“Let’s go.” Ignoring his displeased expression, she tugged at his sleeve and pulled him across the street to a small park. She climbed up very neatly and easily onto the cube-shaped iron frame that stood in the middle of the park, “Come on up!”
She sat on the highest point and waved to him.
He followed up and sat next to her, declaring discreetly, “Just ten minutes.”
He only gave himself ten minutes to waste on a woman whom he was unlikely to cross paths with. He dared to bet that in the near future, she would leave in disappointment like those female classmates who were dazzled by his aura of a top medical student.
“Look at the sky.” She pointed her head up, humming in a good mood. Her two slender legs dangling charmingly like waves in the air.
“What do you see?”
“Nothing, no stars, no moon.” He knew he was being rather uninteresting. Then again, even schoolgirls don’t do that trick anymore, so what kind of outdated romance was she pulling?
“You’re really boring.” She tilted her face, her starry eyes shining brightly in the dull night air. “Have you ever been in love?”
“Of course I have.”
“How many girlfriends have you had?”
“Two or three, I think.”
“Was it two or three?” She asked.
Doesn’t it matter? She found it hard to imagine someone who couldn’t even count the number of girlfriends he’d had… had he really been paying attention?
Mo Chuan Ya pondered,”What did you do when you were dating?”
“Eat and read.”
“Read a book?”
“In the library.” He explained impatiently. At that time, he had to work and study, and he was very busy. How could he spend time with his girlfriend?
“That’s it?” Mo Chuan Ya couldn’t believe it. It was really hard to imagine this type of relationship.
“Occasionally, we’d have s3x,” he added.
She caught her breath and her cheeks instantly heated up,”Oh.”
“What? Did that scare you?” He looked at her with a smirk, his dark eyes shining.
Was this a retort to her previous banter? Does he also know how to play that kind of trick? Mo Chuan Ya smiled, her chest melting with sweetness, and she was moved by this little new revelation.
“Dai Xingren, what is your dream?” She suddenly wanted to ask.
“What do you mean?” He was puzzled.
“You are now R2[1], right? You are still training in various departments of the hospital. Have you ever thought about what kind of specialist you want to become in the future?”
“Cardiovascular surgery.” He didn’t hesitate and said without missing a beat.
“Why cardiovascular?” She wondered. “I’ve heard it’s a very busy department. Patients are often fine one minute and then change the next, it feels like a ticking time bomb.” She said, “Most people will stay away from this kind of work, right?”
“I know it’s not easy to be a cardiovascular surgeon.” He looked away. “But that’s what I have decided since long ago.”
She gazed at his sombre profile, sensing that he was hiding a reason he didn’t want to talk about, but she thoughtfully refrained from asking. “That’s why you admire Professor Xiong Jianming so much, isn’t it? Because he’s one of the top cardiovascular surgeons in Taiwan.”
“That’s just one of the reasons.”
“Another reason is that he’s well educated, clinically experienced, friendly to his patients, never accepts private payments, and has been to third world countries to practice medicine on a voluntary basis. You want to be just like him, right?”
“How do you know all that?” He was annoyed. “You’ve been investigating me?”
“I’m a journalist.” She chuckled softly.
He glared at her, her smile too sweet, her eyes too open for him to chastise her rudely, “What’s your name?”
“Finally, you’re interested?” She gave him a pouting wink, “I thought you’d never ask.”
“Say it.”
Mo, Chuan, Ya. Dai Xingren almost gritted his teeth and branded these three words in his heart. He didn’t realise it, but this was the first time he wanted to remember a girl’s name so seriously.
For him, his name was originally just a meaningless symbol. His brain library was already too full of medical knowledge to accommodate unimportant names. But at that moment, he was struggling to carve out a shelf exclusively for her in what little space there was.
“Mo Chuan Ya,” he muttered.
Seeing that he looked serious, Mo Chuan Ya couldn’t help but be amused. He didn’t think she was some kind of virus that had to be strictly defined, did he?
“Let’s go!” She raised her voice briskly.
“what?”
“Didn’t you say ten minutes? It’s already up.”
He was startled, but he didn’t expect that she would remind him of the time. He was embarrassed and an indescribable irritation ran through his chest, both at her, and at himself.
He straightened his scowling face and hurriedly jumped off the three dimensional cubical grid frame.
She also climbed down with him, and because she was trying to hurry, she almost fell when she landed on her heels.
He immediately stretched out his arms to support her,”Be careful!” He scolded in a low voice.
“I’m sorry.” Mo Chuan Ya raised her face in his arms to meet his stern eyes, and suddenly let out a sweet smile.
“What are you smiling for?” He was annoyed.
“Nothing, I just wanted to ……” she tried to straighten her lips, but she couldn’t keep the smile from escaping. “I used to read novels and watch TV shows where if the heroine fell into the hero’s arms then the hero and heroine would definitely have their hearts jumping and feel a strange feeling. …… Whenever I see this kind of plot, I think it’s so clichéd. How can anyone be so easily moved? And why does the heroine fall down when she has nothing to do and the hero is sure to save her, it feels …… so fake.”
She choked and laughed, and the jade hand clung to his hardened chest.
“Don’t laugh!” He suddenly rebuked her sharply.
“Huh?” She raised her eyes in surprise.
“You laugh too much, even at the smallest things. How can there be so much to laugh about in life?” He accused her sternly, his dark eyes shining with a subtle sparkle.
She stared into his eyes in a daze, her soul seeming to dive into the cold pool, her heart fluttering again and again with the flickering waves of light.
“From now on, you are not allowed to laugh like this.” He straightened her up, loosened his arms, and she felt a warmth go away with him, and a chill ran down her back. Her whole body was hot and cold, ice and fire mingling as her heart pounded fiercely against her chest.
How awful …… What was this feeling? She shuddered as she withdrew her hands from his chest, and the moment she left, she was also surprised to find that his chest was much stronger than she had imagined, and his physique seemed …… to be very good.
It was awful… she was feeling terribly awful!
She was so lost that even she couldn’t figure out what she was afraid of. She felt so panicked, so terrified, and more confused than ever.
It’s over.
In that moment of disorientation, Mo Chuan Ya woke up, as if in a dream, to the fact that this was a heartbeat.
A crucial and telling heartbeat!
[1] The R2 year is a transition year, one in which the resident physician becomes independent with respect to their ability to take on responsibilities as scholars, educators, administrators, supervisors and family doctors.