Take My Breath Away

Hearing the noise in the living room, Wesley looked at his watch to check the time. 'It's about time for dinner, ' he thought. He stood and told Megan, "Come and eat. You can do the rest after dinner."

"Okay,"

They walked out of the bedroom to find that Blair was nowhere to be found. The table was set, chock-full of various dishes. The smell reached Wesley's nostrils, and his stomach growled obligingly.

Megan jogged over to the table excitedly and said, "A six-course meal and soup. Man, I'm starved! Let's wash up, Uncle Wesley."

Wesley pondered for a while and said, "Wait a sec. I'll be back."

Then he turned and left the apartment. The smile on Megan's face vanished as she watched him leave.

Wesley rang the doorbell a few times, but Blair didn't come to the door. Anxious and impatient, he keyed in the password to her apartment and slipped inside.

The apartment was dark. It seemed no one was home. "Blair," he called. But no one answered.

He believed Blair wasn't home.

'She cooked dinner, but left my apartment. She didn't eat, she didn't even say goodbye. What the hell?'

Because he couldn't find Blair, Wesley grew anxious.

He took out his phone to call her, only to realize that he didn't have her number.

Blair had once tried to friend him on WeChat, but she changed her mind in the end.

Looking around her empty apartment, Wesley grew more irritated by the minute.

After leaving his place, instead of going back to her own apartment, Blair took the elevator, went downstairs and walked out of the apartment complex.

'Oops, I left the gift I bought for Wesley in the cabinet, ' she remembered, not long after she had left the building. 'Never mind. I'll grab it some other time.

If he finds it, then I won't have to go through the trouble to give it to him.'

Night had fallen. They were in deep winter, and you could see your breath in the air, but Blair only wore a thin coat. The cold wind chilled her to the bone. Roaming the streets, she had no destination in mind. She had to take a walk and try to make herself feel better.

Seeing Wesley again after so many days had put her in the best of moods.

But they were not alone. There was Megan. Blair couldn't stand that girl.

It bugged her, especially when Wesley had stayed so long in that bedroom alone with Megan. She wondered what they were doing in there, and her thoughts went into some ugly corners, tugging at her jealous side.

She couldn't concentrate, but she couldn't just knock on the door, either. That would be rude. She waited and waited for what seemed like forever, until she couldn't take it anymore. She had to get out of there. Out of sight, out of mind.

When Wesley finally found her, Blair was sitting in a snack bar near her apartment building, holding a piece of fishcake in her chopsticks. It was sodden, dripping dashi broth back into the bowl. As he got closer, he could see the bowl full of boiled eggs, daikon, and konjac on a bed of ramen noodles. Oden. She was shaking from the cold. Anxious to eat something to warm herself, she blew onto the food to cool it off as she repeatedly pulled her coat closer to her.

Either she was too cold or she was too hungry, she didn't wait for long enough before she put a piece of steaming fish tofu into her mouth.

So it wasn't surprising that her tongue got burned and she chewed in a hurry while covering her mouth.

After swallowing the fish tofu, she sipped some soup and let out a long sigh. Then she put her chopsticks in to grab another bite.

Yet before she could put the food in her mouth, someone held her wrist and pushed the oden away from her.

She looked up and saw Wesley, standing next to her with a grim face and tightened lips.

He was only wearing sweats. 'It's so cold outside, and he didn't bundle up. Is he looking for me? Did he leave in a hurry? Was he worried?'

"Why... why are you here?" asked Blair. The grimness on his face scared her a little.

He grabbed her frigid right hand without answering and pulled her to her feet.

He was going to lead her out of the snack bar. "Hey, I'm not done yet."

Wesley looked back at the steaming oden. He let go of her, picked up the bowl and poured all of it into his mouth. His cheeks bulged like a chipmunk while he chewed it up and swallowed it all. "Now you're done," he said.

Blair gaped at him. 'He ate from the same bowl as me. It's like a second-hand kiss. Haha.'

In the end, he even ate all the soup. After that, he showed her the empty disposable paper bowl, threw it into the bin and held her wrist, leading her out of the shop.

"There's a meal waiting for you at home, you know. Why did you eat my food?" she asked pitifully. That snack bar was locally famous, the food fantastic. She loved it, but had been too busy preparing for exams to come here. So she finally made it here today. However, she had only taken a single bite, and he ate the rest.

He didn't even let her have any soup.

Wesley meant to reply, but noticing she was only wearing a thin coat, he quickened his pace.

Blair had to jog to keep up with him. "Wait up. Let go of me. I want to walk on my own."

However, Wesley didn't stop. He led her into the building, still holding her wrist.

When they were waiting for the elevator, Blair leaned on the wall, panting. It was only then that Wesley spoke. "I invited you over to have dinner, not to cook."

Hearing this, somehow, she stopped. She massaged her aching wrist. "Oh," she responded.

But that was it. She said nothing else. Wesley was surprised by her silence.

Later, the elevator arrived, and the two of them walked in, one after the other.

On the sixteenth floor

Blair got out of the elevator and walked towards her apartment, but once again, Wesley gripped her wrist. He was trying to take her to his place.

Blair looked at his hand holding her wrist. Suddenly she put her right hand on it and said, "Wait a minute."

The softness of her hand made his heart flutter. "Go ahead. Go in."

"No, not before getting this straightened out." She didn't want to see the weird girl inside.

Realizing that it was inappropriate to hold each other by the wrist, Wesley withdrew his hand. "Go inside and eat."

"No, thanks. I already ate."

"What did you eat? You mean a piece of fish tofu? A mouthful of oden soup?" Wesley argued. His hands started doing the talking for him.

"Not just that. Before you got there, I also had some sausage." It was true. She had been so hungry that when she was standing in line for her order, she bought a sausage to ease her growling stomach.

Wesley's face turned gloomy again. "So you are telling me that you ate junk food for dinner?"

'Why is he so cranky? What a jerk.' "That's not junk food! It's comfort food." A smug smile spread across her face. "And you ate it too," Blair retorted.

"You coming in or not?"

"No. I'm going home." If Megan wasn't there, she would have gone inside his apartment without him inviting her. She hadn't seen much of him at all lately. She would seize any opportunity to be with him. But she drew the line at seeing him with another woman.

Wesley ran out of patience. Before Blair knew it, he squatted down and draped her over his shoulders in a fireman's carry.