241 Sad & Extremely Lonely (1/2)

”Don't worry about me losing. I can afford to pay. What about you? How can a poor student like you manage to bet not such a small amount on one inconsequential bet after another?” he asked her curiously.

Samantha Li, a mixed breed child of an Irish mother and a Chinese father, who had inherited nothing from her mother's ancestors except their famous temper, smiled at him evilly. She was twenty five years old, too old to still be a college student but then that was a long story.

”By now you should know enough to not stress about me. Are YOU worried that you would lose yet again?” she taunted him.

Giving her a thumbs down, he slid off the stool, walked past her to take up the empty chair next to Wei on the opposite side.

”Hi, I am Michael. What's your name?” he nudged him and asked with a smile.

”F*** off,” Wei told him politely, without even looking at him.

Not taking offence to his choice of words, Michael tried again, ”you look sad and a tiny bit lonely. Would you like some company?”

Wei raised his head and stared at the guy.

”I am very sad and extremely lonely. So much so that I feel like killing someone with my bare hands just to feel some warmth. Would you like to volunteer?” he said, maintaining the soft tone.

There was something in the way that he had uttered those words that Samantha got off the stool and dragged her friend away, right that minute.

”What? Don't tell me that you got scared of that good looking guy's threat. You did realise that he is half my size,” he said in annoyance.

Michael was stoutly built, member of the Rowing club at the university and extremely confident about his 'core strength'.

”No, I got swayed by the truth of his words. Let's go somewhere else to fulfil our bet,” she coaxed him.

A couple of hours later

Wei had finally managed it. He had numbed any and every sensation in his body. At the moment, he wasn't capable of feeling any emotion. Stepping out of the pub, he swayed slightly but the Earth was still firm under his feet. He looked around for a cab and luckily found one with someone alighting from it.

”Hey, watch where you are going,” someone banged into him.