9 Heartbeat

Her smile did not reach her eyes. It was simple yet apologetic with a hint of shyness.

Looking at that smile, Amir's face showed an expression of shock. In an instant, he was charmed by her smile. Beautiful, simply marvelous.

It was the first time he had ever seen her smile. Her smile was natural. It was more of an apologetic smile. It was like she was telling him, ' am sorry I didn't mean to startle you with my words just now.' But to Amir who had never seen her smile, it was truly too beautiful a dream.

For the first time, he felt his heart skip a beat. Her cold and expressionless face bloomed with that one simple smile. Though it was an apologetic smile but there was a bit of a young girl's shyness.

How could a simple smile be so beautiful?

Indeed, Liat was a beautiful girl with heart shape face and small pink lips. With a smile on her ever-expressionless face, it gave her a new look. Truly beautiful.

With a smile, she looked at Amir then looked down at her drink and took a sip. By the time she lifted her head again her smile was gone and was replaced with her usual coldness. It was like an illusion. Did she smile or was his mind playing games with him. Either way, he saw her smile and that was it.

"I take it back," after a long while Amir said. "other people shouldn't see you smile or you might get stolen from me."

Liat just ignored what he said and placed a fruit in her mouth and chewed on it slowly. After she was done eating she looked at Amir and said to him, " your father is only doing this to ensure your safety, you know." She stood up ready to go.

" do you want to be a man who can't defend himself? If you can't defend yourself how will you protect the ones you love? Your wife and kids will have to depend on you. Do you want to fail them and disgrace your family? Do you want to fail as a man?" she did not wait for him to react and left him sitting there in a haze.

He only came back to his senses when he heard the door closing. He looked at the closed door and thought about her last words. Thinking of what she said, her smiling face came to his mind.

With just the thought of her, his heart raced fast. He could not understand why the thought of her made his heart race. It's not the first time he had thought of her but why was his reaction different this time.

He sat in that position thinking of her till he felt his skin itchy. He was very sensitive to sweat and would rush to take a bath after training. Sweat would give him this irritation every time. His father would tease him, saying he was as delicate as a flower. And to his father, every female was a flower.

Since he couldn't stand the itchiness, he went up the stairs to have his bath. After having his bath and dressing up in black pants and a white shirt. He walked into his room barefoot. He loved to walk without shoes on. He loved to feel the floor on his feet.

In his room, he loved to sit by the window. There was a chair just below the window where he loved to sit and enjoy the outside view. The chair was 0.6 meters wide and 1 meter long with armrests on both ends of the seat.

He sat there in silence looking outside and thinking about what happened earlier. Just the thought of her would make his heart beat faster. What was wrong with him today?

After sending the visitors away, Adelio came to check on his son.

When he walked into his son's room, he saw his son sitting by the window lost in his thoughts. He didn't even hear his father walk it.

Looking at his son, Adelio felt sorry and thought that maybe he was too hard on his son. Amir looked like a lost soul. Sitting there quietly, looking into nothingness, confused and uncertain. Maybe he should have waited for the young lady to go before reprimanding his son.

Thinking this, Adelio sat by his son's side waiting for him to get back to his senses.