Chapter 14: An Unexpected Email
The Mei that’s sitting in front of Jesse looked tender and soft. Her cheeks were a peachy pink from the alcohol, her eyes were big and bright, focusing on the glass of water in front; and her fingers tightly inter locked around the glass like it’s her prisoner. She looked a little nervous, reminded Jesse of a little girl on her first date.
He wasn’t sure why he took her up here. He told himself it was not safe for her to be alone out there, but it is a completely safe neighborhood and only 8 o’clock at night with plenty of people walking around. He must have had too much beer, because when he whispered in her ear on stage, he felt electricity running through his hand from her back and his heart raced at 100 miles per hour.
“Thank you for bringing me up here.” Mei broke the silence, “it’s so much quieter.”
“You are welcome. I needed a break from Roy’s roaring and howling. It was killing me down there.”
What? I guess you just haven’t heard your own singing. Then Mei thought about herself and realized she probably wasn’t any better.
“I am glad you dragged me on stage, seriously, it was a liberating experience. So thank you.” Mei raised her water glass and looked at Jesse in the eyes. She meant every word.
Somehow Jesse found her gaze too bright to take in, he moved his attention to the painting on the wall behind Mei and almost as speaking to himself, murmured: “Sometimes it is good that you don’t take yourself so seriously.”
“Mr. B,” That’s what she calls him now, she always felt strange to call her boss by first name and his last name has too many syllables, “if you don’t mind me asking, why have you moved to Raleigh?” There it is; she finally asked him what had been on her mind since the DC trip.
Jesse was a little surprised at the question; he put his hands on the table and leaned forward. His face looked so vivid by the candle light that Mei wanted to reach out and touch it with her fingers.
“Mei, do you believe in God?” His eyes said he was not joking.
“No, I believe in evolution, if that’s what you mean.” Mei was wondering if he’s about to tell her God told him to move here.
“Ha Ha” he chuckled, “Well, even though that you came from monkeys, I guess I’ll still ask, do you believe in truth and goodness?”
Mei laughed and somehow pictured herself holding a banana, “Well, Mr. God created everything, most religions, and in my case, atheists believe in good and evil and people’s choices in life to side with one or the other.”
“Very well then, moving here was my choice to try to side with God, if that makes sense.”He was smiling, but Mei saw struggle and confusion in his eyes.
She wanted to ask why; she wanted to ask about Elaina; she wanted to ask what was it that he’s running away from; but all that came out was: “I am glad you made that choice, whatever it is, I hope God helps you to come out on top.”
“Hey, there you are! Hiding up here! We were all looking for you. they are about to announce the winner for the night, come on!” Their conversation was interrupted by a drunken Roy, peeking his head through the stairway door while trying to balance himself from falling off.
“We will be right there, don’t start without us!” Mei shrugged her shoulders at Jesse and stood up. Just as Mei was about to head for the stairs, she heard Jesse whispered from behind: “Do you know that you are the only one in the team that won’t call me Jesse?”
Mei’s heart skipped a beat; she fastened her steps and headed down like she didn’t hear his question.
Dan was in the shower this morning when he realized he has fallen in love with Mei. It all happened with him thinking about the bottomed out mortgage rate and how it would be a great opportunity to invest in a house. The current townhouse he lives in is a renter; he was in a hurry at the time to move out of his old house and didn’t carefully pick a good location. It wasn’t until after he recovered from the divorce trauma that he started thinking of buying a place of his own, and now seemed like perfect timing. As he thought about what neighborhood his new house would be in, somehow Mei showed up in his mental picture, planting a vegetable garden in the backyard and smiling. He could have sworn there were kids running around too, and it was all so beautiful and real that he could almost hear their laughter.
It seemed like every time they hang out they enjoyed each other’s company very much. They are both quiet and reserved people, and respected each other’s spaces. They enjoy the same kind of music and activities; they have never had a fight, not even an argument. Wait, maybe that’s the problem, they have not had any arguments during the couple of months that they’ve been seeing each other. Mei had always been polite and cheerful, which at first was great, but after a while it just made Dan feel like she had put up a wall in between them and not letting him through.
Dan thought maybe he wasn’t aggressive enough when it comes to relationships; he needed to show Mei he’s serious and willing to put in efforts. He thought maybe he should suggest a mini trip somewhere, maybe that would draw them closer.
When he finally made up his mind and started searching online for vacation spots, he saw an email popped up; it was from Mei and read: “Hi Dan, I was wondering if you’d like to come over on Saturday night for dinner? I will cook. J -- Mei.”
The smiley face in the email was a perfect match to the smile on Dan’s face when he read that email. Too bad that it didn’t last for long. Right beneath Mei’s email, he saw another email received at midnight yesterday. It was from an address that he had not seen for so long that it took him a second to realize who it belonged to.
His finger stayed on the mouse for a good minute before finally clicked to open the email. Like the subject line “Hi” the body was short and concise:
“Hello Dan,
How have you been? I hope all is well. It’s been a while; I apologize for disturbing you out of the blue. Whatever happened between us was all in the past now and I hope you would spare some time for a quick meeting this Saturday at Danny’s. Hopefully I will see you there at noon, for old time’s sake. – Sarah”
