A Chance Encounter Part2
803 Words
Avyanna. That was her name.
After she answered the question, Kairus' brow furrowed slightly as he stared at her, as if processing the response he had just heard.
"No last name?" he asked, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Avyanna Smith," she replied, unsure if she should reveal her full name.
"Are you American?" Avyanna noticed the slight raise of his eyebrow, as if he was scrutinizing her answer.
She bit her finger, feeling like she was being interrogated in an investigation room. What was happening to her? Why did she feel nervous?
"French, Spanish, and American," she finally said.
Kairus nodded slightly, as if storing the information in his mind. "Oh… by the way, I’m Kairus Chu."
As he spoke, he carefully placed two cups of iced Americano on the table.
The coffee for take-out was ready, so Avyanna immediately stood up. She knew she was already taking up his time. He should have been home and resting by now, but here he was, accommodating her as the last customer of the night.
"Thanks for the accommodation. You should be resting," she said with a slight smile before she started walking out of the coffee shop.
As she walked away, she heard him let out a soft sigh before muttering under his breath, "Finally, I caught up with you… I’ve been waiting for so long."
She paused for a moment. She knew he had said something, but she pretended not to hear it. Slowly, she turned back, but instead of asking, she simply gave him a wave and a smile.
As she stepped out of the coffee shop, she couldn’t help but think about his words. What did he mean? And why did it feel like there was something different in the way he said it?
The whole night, she felt a mix of happiness and confusion. Kristof’s words kept playing in her mind over and over again.
It wasn’t as if her thoughts about Kairus were bothering her too much, so she continued working on her project.
By ten in the evening, she was done, so she decided to check her social media accounts. To be honest, she had never been interested in social media before. It was only today that she opened i********:, Weibo, and WeChat accounts—just those, nothing more.
As soon as she turned on her WiFi, notifications flooded the screen of her iPad. She grabbed her phone, took a selfie, and posted it on i********:. At the same time, she updated the information on her account.
While she was busy fixing her profile, she suddenly received a message on WeChat. She ignored it for the moment, wanting to finish uploading her profile picture and setting her nickname on Weibo first.
Reading Chinese characters wasn’t a problem for her anymore since she had learned them when she was young. She had taken Chinese language classes when she was just nine years old.
Her eyes were almost dropping from exhaustion when suddenly, a call came through. Too tired to check who it was, she answered without looking.
"Hey… You’re still awake?"
She forced her eyes open and was shocked to see who was calling—Kairus Chu.
"Yeah... still awake! I thought you were already asleep," she answered, trying to mask the sleepiness in her voice.
"It’s late! Kairus, why are you still up?!" a woman’s voice yelled in the background.
Kairus just laughed before saying something Avyanna didn’t fully understand. From the way he spoke, it seemed like he assumed she didn’t understand Mandarin.
"I think you should sleep now. I’m going to bed too, by the way," she said before quickly ending the video call.
She didn’t even bother turning off her WiFi and just lay down. However, because of the nonstop notifications, she couldn’t fall asleep right away.
Moments later, another call came in. She didn’t need to check to know who it was—she already knew.
"You’re still awake! That’s good, Avyanna!" the person on the other line greeted excitedly.
"I was about to sleep, but you called, you annoying Japanese!" she snapped at Rin.
"Oh, come on… Not too long ago, you were dying to call me! What happened to the old Avyanna?" Rin teased with a grin.
"I woke up, okay? So, what are you up to? And mind your own business! I don’t need your pity, but look at my eyebags—they’re huge!" Avyanna complained, rubbing the area under her eyes.
"Oh, so you finally opened i********:. Wow, you have a lot of followers! Are you a celebrity or something?" Rin teased while checking her profile.
"I’m the daughter of a mafia boss. If you want to stay alive, turn off that video chat, or I’ll have you killed!" Avyanna joked before shoving her iPad under her bed.
- Writer
