18 Chapter 18: Distracted

Qiao An woke up the next morning with over 100 messages from 'The Obscene', her chat group with her best friends. She opened the group chat almost immediately, afraid that she missed out a lot since it was 100 messages.

Qiao An skimmed and scanned all the messages diligently. From there, she can conclude the whole that that; Lei Xiao posted her wedding invitation card in the group, asked them to dress up less pretty than her since they are the bridesmaid. Lei Xiao also told them to make themselves as attractive as they can without overshadowing her since her fiancé's best men are all gorgeous men.

While Qiao An dislikes talking to random people, she likes being pretty and looking good. Keeping in mind that she was getting older, she also wanted to start dating. It has been years since she broke up with her ex-boyfriend from university.

She felt that her life was in disarray now. She didn't want to talk to random guy but at the same time, she wanted to date. Qiao An wondered if she was destined to be with someone she already knows by now. She felt that it would be nice if she could date someone she knew, it will save her from going out and getting to know new people.

Getting approached by Wallance made her open her heart a little bit for love. Or maybe it wasn't Wallance. Maybe it was someone else. Someone like the guy who lives in the house right down to hers.

Since it's Sunday, Qiao An had a lot of time for herself. She took some time to organize her daily routine since she wanted to add a new routine to her existing routine. Qiao An pinched her tummy and decided that she needed to lose the extra inches around her tummy.

Therefore, Qiao An decided to include jogging as her daily routine up until the day of Lei Xiao's wedding which would be less than two months from now. Even though Qiao An dislikes exercising, she knew no other way to get rid of the extra inches. Jogging was the best she could do.

With that in mind, she reduced her reading time during the night and painfully added jogging to her evening slot. Since Qiao An was not an early bird, she could only force herself to go jogging during the evening.

Going for a run in the evening was a bit risky for Qiao An since there will be a lot of people around that time but after weighing the option of waking up extra early for jogging, Qiao An thought that bumping into people will be less torturous. At least, she could pretend to listen to music while running and ignored all the other people at the park. Qiao An was pleased with her plan.

On Sunday, Qiao An usually lazed around to reflect herself and then, she will go out to buy and stock up her groceries. While she lazed around, she looked back into the group messages. She thought that it must be a fun thing to do – giving wedding card to friends.

Qiao An felt nostalgic. She always knew that Lei Xiao will be the first among them to get married but having that thought of hers became a reality, she was somewhat amazed.

She typed into the group chat and received instant replies.

Qiao An: Congratulations Xiao Xiao. Muaah.

Qiao An: Xiao Xiao, Su Na and Ah Ling, please pay me up. This is my account number, XXXXXXXXXXXX.

Su Na:??? Did your family go bankrupt?

Yee Ling: Your family gives up on you? Go and find your brother Jin, act cute and call him 'oppa', he'll give you money.

Qiao An: Last 4 years, underneath the coconut tree, outside the library, we made a bet. I bet that Lei Xiao will be the one getting married first. We bet for 100 dollars. Dollars okay. Pay up now. Hurry up.

Lei Xiao: Thanks, my babe An An. I can give you discount. Just deduct the money from your red packet that you are going to give me. I want a big red packet.

Lei Xiao: I bet the second one to get married is An An. Come comrades, how much would you like to bet with me.

Yee Ling: Shouldn't it be me or Su Na? An An doesn't even like to talk to people. How could she find a man? Oh, by the way An An, the man from last time, how is he?

Su Na: Is he good in bed?

Seeing that the topic had shifted towards her, Qiao An did not feel like replying anymore. She was not in mood to share anything with her friends about the man they talked about.

Qiao An thought wandered to Wallance. She was really not interested in him. She felt that it was alright if he was a friend, but to have some other feeling other than that, Qiao An could not really imagine herself.

Previously, during her university days, there were a few people who confessed their love to Qiao An. Usually, she will picture herself with them. If she couldn't picture herself with them, then she'll reject them. Amongst all the boy men who professed their love to Qiao An, she could only picture herself with her ex-boyfriend.

Now, if she were to imagine herself with a man, then the man should be someone like…

As she was lying on the bed, Qiao An tried hard to picture herself with a man. To be honest, there weren't a lot of men she knew so she could only try to imagine herself with the men she was familiar with. Her ex-boyfriend, her male course mates from university, the cool single senior, Joel from her university, her single male colleagues from school, Wallance and Shen Jun Shan.

SHEN JUN SHAN.

Last night.

He called me a 'beautiful girl'.

Suddenly, Qiao An sprang up and sat straight. She touched her heart. Damn it. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought of Shen Jun Shan. She had already imagined herself with Shen Jun Shan for a few times. This could not continue any longer.

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Shen Jun Shan went to the park just outside of his apartment complex area to jog but he never imagined that he will bump into someone he knew there.

His eyes followed the movement of Qiao An and before he knew it, his body seemed to move itself towards Qiao An.

Qiao An was wearing a black shirt with black yoga pants. Shen Jun Shan remembered how back in university, Qiao An and her friends used to wear black. He stopped near the playground and watched Qiao An from afar.

Shen Jun Shan contemplated whether to continue watching Qiao An or to catch up with her. At the end, Shen Jun Shan jogged towards Qiao An.

Qiao An was happy that the park was not crowded with people. She was also happy that nobody tried to start conversation with her, so she did not have to worry about replying those people. Qiao An was having a good run when someone called her name.

Qiao An turned her head to see Shen Jun Shan, who was trying to catch up with her. She bumped into Shen Jun Shan a few times in the parking lot while he was in his workout outfit, but she knew nothing about his exercise routine. Qiao An thought that if she knew beforehand, she'll not come to this park.

Previously, Qiao An would try her best to avoid him but since they were kind of friend now, Qiao An nodded her head towards him and continued doing her own things. Qiao An thought she got rid of Shen Jun Shan when suddenly Shen Jun Shan was jogging beside her.

Qiao An said nothing and Shen Jun Shan was quiet too but having someone to jog beside you was quite distracting. Especially if that someone is good looking and looks even better while exercising and sweating. Qiao An tried not to look at Shen Jun Shan but her heart seemed to beat faster all of sudden because of their close proximity.

When her heart could not take it anymore, Qiao An stopped and looked at the culprit beside her who also stopped as if he was following her every move.

"Can you not jog beside me?" Qiao An was panting.

"Why?" Shen Jun Shan stopped too.

"You are distracting me" The words came out from Qiao An's mouth without her realizing it. By the time she realized that it sounded suspicious, it was too late.

"Why? But I didn't do anything. I did not speak. I am just running my own pace. How did I distract you?" Shen Jun Shan wanted to know for real. To be honest, Qiao An distracted him too for a reason only he knew so he wanted to know if Qiao An felt distracted for the same reason.

Qiao An was speechless. Of course, what Shen Jun Shan said was true. Why did she get so distracted with Shen Jun Shan beside her?

"Well, this place is huge. You can run ahead of me. Or you can run over there" Qiao An pointed to the opposite side of her track.

A smile crept up to Shen Jun Shan's lips.

"But I like it here. This route. It just happens that I also like running exactly beside you. This park is a public place. Am I not allowed to run wherever I want?" Shen Jun Shan acted like a petty man. He found it cute when Qiao An tried so hard to get rid of him.

Qiao An could not find a word to refute him so she sighed and continue her exercise but this time she was walking instead of jogging. She was hoping that Shen Jun Shan will continue his jog and leave her alone. To her annoyance, Shen Jun Shan started walking beside her. She threw him a mean look.

"What? Am I not allowed to walk? I am tired too" Shen Jun Shan was having fun teasing Qiao An.

Qiao An said nothing but she suddenly started to jog, leaving Shen Jun Shan behind her. But Shen Jun Shan still follow her. After a while, Qiao An walked and Shen Jun Shan was still beside her. Unable to hide her annoyance, Qiao An turned to Shen Jun Shan, giving him her most fierce look.

"May I know why are you doing this? You are doing this on purpose to distract me, right?" Qiao An was not angry, she just felt annoyed.

Unable to hide her satisfaction, Shen Jun Shan laughed openly in front of Qiao An. Qiao An frowned but that did not stop Shen Jun Shan from laughing. After a while, he stopped laughing and looked at Qiao An seriously.

"An An, you are so cute when you are angry".

Qiao An felt that trying to talk to Shen Jun Shan will make her even more annoyed so she walked away.

"Also, I cannot leave a beautiful girl alone. You know, recreational park can be dangerous sometimes". Shen Jun Shan spoke loudly for Qiao An to hear.

Qiao An stopped in her track. Her heart seemed to stop beating at the mention of a beautiful girl. Then, she sprinted away from Shen Jun Shan.

That Shen Jun Shan. Damn him.