55 Down the Memory Lane 5 (1/2)
It was still raining when they arrived at Joann's place but the rain had lightened somewhat.
Xu Jing's car rolled to a stop before the apartment building Joann stayed in at the time. The building was old and the walls were stained from long exposure to the ravages of nature. In fact, it looked like the weathered building was about to crumble under the weight of the rain.
It did not look luxurious and was even less impressive on the inside but it was the only place Joann could afford at the time.
When Xu Jing parked his car by the roadside, Joann very naturally reached for the door. However, she was stopped by Xu Jing who yelled out an urgent, ”Wait!”
Joann turned back to look at him and saw the young man reaching behind his chair as if in search of something. His arm moved around until he eventually settled on the thing he was looking for. It was an umbrella.
”Let me.” Xu Jing said gentlemanly as he opened the door on the driver's side. He opened the umbrella, closed the door and walked around the front of the car to the passenger side. He pulled the door back and held it open for Joann, saying, ”Come, I do not want you to get wet in the rain.”
Xu Jing stood right next to the passenger door and snuggled the stem of the umbrella in the crook of his neck as he extended his hand towards Joann. Joann accepted it gracefully and bent her head low as she crawled out from the car.
After she stood upright, she lifted her head to say thank you. It was then that the young man's face suddenly appeared before her eyes. She failed to gauge the distance as she got out and found herself standing closer to Xu Jing than she expected.
The man was looking into her eyes and stood there as if transfixed. This was the first time Joann had taken a look at Xu Jing's face at such a close distance. The man's cheekbones were higher than she remembered and she noticed a fire burning in his eyes that was normally hidden behind his laid back attitude. She also noted the slight dimple just above the left corner of his lips as if carved there from the perpetual smile that seemed to hang on the young man's face.
Then, Joann saw water from the umbrella slid down on one side before falling down on Xu Jing's hair and sliding down his back. She moved her eyes upwards and realized the man had tipped the umbrella towards her to shield her from the rain, thus exposing half of his body to the weather.
An indescribable sense of warmth flowed through the veins of her body and everything felt right. Joann thought about it and realized she could have done much worse than this young man standing before her so why not him?
She stood on tip-toe and leaned her face towards Xu Jing. With the rain falling around them, they shared their first kiss under the umbrella in front of Joann's old apartment… and the rest as they say, was history.
…