42 Chapter 42: Joel

Qiao An woke up quite early because of her throbbing head.

Maybe she was not destined to drink an alcoholic drink. Her alcohol tolerance was so low, it was pathetic.

She walked to her living room and saw that there was a glass of water on the coffee table. She never left a glass of water on her coffee table overnight. Qiao An tried to recall what happened last night.

Qiao An remembered that she drank two glasses of wine, and Shen Jun Shan supported her in her house. Then, she remembered blowing into Shen Jun Shan's neck, and Shen Jun Shen kissed her hands.

Why would Shen Jun Shan kiss the back of her hand?

Qiao An was not that drunk until she could not remember anything last. She could remember a fragment of what happened last night. But she could not just remember why Shen Jun Shan would kiss her hand.

The more Qiao An thought about it, the more she was getting redder in embarrassment. After all, it was not every day that she would think about someone kissing her, even if it was just the back of her hand.

Since she was not ready to face Shen Jun Shan yet, Qiao An decided to go out to work fifteen minutes earlier to her routine. This would be a glitch in her system of schedule, but it was a sacrifice she needed to make in order not to bump into the Shen siblings early this morning.

As Qiao An went down, she went into the corner where she usually feeds the two stray kittens who lived below the stairs near the corner. She kept calling for the white and tabby kittens, but they never came.

Without her realizing, someone was taking a picture of her silently at the back. The figure approached Qiao An silently from the rear.

"Aha! It was you. I knew someone is feeding the strays. Now I have solid evidence, I will report this to the management. Young lady, you know that what you are doing now is against the rule of the residence complex, right?" The figure snapped around ten photos before putting his phone away in his pocket.

The figure stopped behind Qiao An as Qiao An turned herself to see the owner of the voice.

"Eh???" The man stepped back. "Qiao An?"

Qiao An turned around to see a familiar face. A smile formed on her face. "Senior!" Qiao An almost shouted.

"Now, when I think about it, only a crazy cat person like you would be willing to feed the strays diligently. How are you? You lost so much weight since the last time I saw you." The man came closer and stood beside Qiao An.

A smile still formed on Qiao An's lips. She was so glad to see Joel. "I'm fine."

Joel was her senior back in university. Even though Qiao An rarely made friends in university, she did make some good friends. One of them is Joel.

The reason why Qiao An became a friend with her senior, Joel, would be because the Short Skirt Group and Joel were in the same group during their theatre class. As students majoring in the English Language, they were obliged to take a theatre class. Joel happened to be repeating a semester and he ended up in the same group as Qiao An and her best friends.

The number of men in the English Language studies course can be counted by using two hands. Not to mention, all of them were mostly taken and in a relationship. Having a good-looking senior who was single at that time to be in the same group as them, almost everyone envied the Short Skirt Group at that time.

Joel is a handsome man. He was quite tall, maybe around 178cm or something since when Qiao An walked beside him, she reached slightly over his shoulder. Joel is very kind and considerate towards her. He was always helping her cope with her anxiety whenever she had to perform her role.

It could be Qiao An's imagination but sometimes, she felt that Joel was interested in her. Joel had been treating her especially kind. Like when they had group discussion, Joel always sat beside her-always attentive to her needs. But it could be just an imagination, though. Joel might treat her like how he treated other girls out there. Who knew?

But it was also Qiao An's secret that her friend, Yee Ling, was crushing, or if not, was in love with Joel at that time.

Nobody said anything, but Qiao An knew because she had been observing everyone quietly.

There were times in the past where Qiao An might have a little crush on Joel. Handsome, kind, and always looking out for her – it would be a lie if Qiao An said that her heart was not moved even a bit.

But at the same time, Qiao An did not want to get in Yee Ling's way of crushing on Joel. That was why Qiao An decided not to dwell on why Joel gave the impression that he was interested in her and decided to focus on someone else.

From there, she met a guy who became her first boyfriend at that time.

"I stayed here for over three years. Never once did I saw your face here. Are you new here? Young lady, give me your number."

Joel and Qiao An conversed for a bit when Qiao An remembered that she needed to go before the Shen siblings came down. Both of them said goodbye to each other and promised to keep in touch.

Having bumped into Joel made Qiao An forgot about her awkwardness with Shen Jun Shan. She felt as if she needed to post something to the Obscene chat group.

Qiao An: Guess who I met this morning?

Su Na: Wow! Did you meet someone?

Yee Ling: You went out? Wow! I can't believe you met people.

Lei Xiao: Your ex-boyfriend?

Qiao An: Don't jinx me, you soothsayer. You know how almost everything you say comes true.

Su Na: The handsome guy last time?

Yee Ling: I'm not playing anymore. Tell us quickly; I have class in 15 minutes.

Qiao An: Joel.

Lei Xiao: Our senior? The one who likes you?

Everyone was silent.

Nobody replied after that message. Even Qiao An did not know how to respond to that one. Lei Xiao is such a conversation killer.

Qiao An did not know why Lei Xiao would say so, especially with Yee Ling in the group, but she was not about to find out. She was going to play it cool until someone else brought up a new topic to bury what Lei Xiao said earlier.

As Qiao An was marking the students' essay, her phone vibrated. She thought that it could be a continuation of her previous chat with the Obscene group, but she was wrong.

"This is Joel. Want to have dinner together later? We should catch up." The sender was a string of numbers Qiao An could not recognize. After reading the text, she saved Joel's number in her phone.

These few days, Qiao An has been having dinner with Shen Jun Shan. Now that Joel asked her out for dinner, Qiao An felt as if she was doing something terrible – as if she was cheating on someone.

"Okay." Even though she felt guilty, Qiao An said yes anyway.

Joel sent a few texts saying that he will wait for Qiao An in the parking lot, and they are going for dinner together.

It had been a few years since she last saw Joel. The last time Qiao An saw him would be the day after their theatre recital ended. Qiao An and her friends went to return the costume they rented and met Joel there, but Joel never said anything to them.

Having to see someone after a long time, Qiao An cannot help but feel excited about it.