Do You Know How? 1

During lunch, Alan received a text reminder from his friend about the dinner he had promised to attend. Slightly disappointed, he reluctantly replied to the message saying he remembered. In fact, if the friend hadn't contacted him, he would have forgotten.

"Sorry, I can't accompany you after lunch. I have a meeting with a friend." Alan sighed and placed his phone screen flat against the table cloth.

"Oh, it's alright. I was about to tell you I can't stay with you for dinner. I have to visit Lily's place and retrieve a package I ordered." She smiled and placed more food into her bowl. Observing her expression for several seconds, he exhaled softly. He thought she might have said it to make him feel better.

'Looking at how she's acting, she does have plans after this. Good thing she isn't angry.' He thought as he picked up his fork and devoured some vegetables. After they had finished lunch, Alan walked her to the nearest train station. He stood by the emergency exit and waited for her to walk downstairs to the platform.

A minute or two later, she texted him, "The train just arrived. I'm getting on now. See you next time." Smiling at the last line, she typed, he replied with a happy kitten sticker. Putting his phone in his pocket, he exited the station.

On the other end, Ginny kept refreshing Alan's chat. When she saw his response, a laugh escaped her mouth, making her block her lips immediately. Rolling her eyes left and right, she confirmed her laugh hadn't interrupted anyone.

Recalling their meal, Ginny's heart began pounding like drums at a festival. Her mind blanked out as she remembered his warm palms holding her shoulders. The nervous feeling that zapped throughout her body when they held hands made her chest tighten; it was suffocating.

This was the first time she felt this way towards a male. With the nonexistent experience she had with dating, she started comparing Alan to male classmates from school. She mumbled lowly and chewed on her lower lip at certain times.

She said, "This doesn't feel right. I've worked on projects and assignments with guys before. Sometimes our hands would accidentally touch, but I never had such reaction. Could it be the warm temperature? It was pretty sunny earlier. Maybe hand sweat?"

There were many question marks, yet none of the reasons she had in mind seemed to fit logically. She tried conveying this odd sensation to Lily, but none of the words in her dictionary matched with what she wanted to express.

Pushing her lower lip outwards, the wrinkled flesh between her brows shaded a deep crease. "I've never been as frustrated by my behavior! How come I couldn't describe it to Lily through messages? Sigh, what's this ant crawling through bloodstream feeling? And it's only when I'm around him that makes me super tingle ughh!"

Rubbing the back of her head, she realized half an hour had passed already. "I'm getting off the next stop. Damn, where did my time go? It feels like I'm going to school all over again. Either sleeping on the train or rushing assignment. Argh, whatever. I'll talk to Lily tonight and see what's wrong with me. Stop thinking about it or you'll miss your stop, Ginny."

Slapping her cheeks lightly, she wore her shoulder bag and stepped out of the train. Within fifteen minutes, she went to Starbucks and purchased two drinks. After that, she went straight to Lily's place. As usual, she ordered her green tea soy latte drink and a dragon fruit tea for Lily.

- Lily's living room -

Supporting her head on her palms, Lily's gaze shifted from Ginny's expression to the drinks on the table. She checked her phone and made sure she had the right date in mind. Then, Lily checked the Starbucks app to see if there were any special deals. None.

"What are you looking at? Drink it. The fruit tea is yours." Ginny took the fruit tea out of the bag and placed it in front of Lily. Under her suspicious stare, Ginny lowered her head to her latte.

Stabbing the straw into the fruit tea, Lily stirred while observing Ginny. Finally, she spoke, "Ginny, what's wrong with you today? Did you get a promotion or encounter something troublesome?"

"I surrender, my queen. Nothing could get away from your X-ray vision. I have something I don't know where to start... No..No... It should be how to even start describing to you." Ginny stuttered her broken sentences as the volume of her voice lowered.

"Ay, don't scare me. Is everything alright? If you don't know where to start, then start with who this is related to. Is it your boss? Friend? Classmate?" Lily started sectioning categories of various relationships for Ginny to choose from.

Tilting her head sideways, Ginny sucked her lower lip again. "Fri..end? I think..."

"You think? My lady, do I know this person?" Lily has never seen her this hesitant in her responses before. Therefore, the first thought she had in mind was someone bullying Ginny.

"You do, but not really." Ginny thought about it carefully. Lily only met Alan a few times during the hospital stay.

"Who is it? What happened? Did someone take advantage of you?" Lily grabbed Ginny's shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"Lin Que's friend, Alan. Nobody took advantage of me. It's just that I felt very weird today when I was with him earlier." Hearing Ginny clarify the situation, Lily calmed down and started sipping her drink.

"What about him? Didn't you guys go on a date last time?" Lily remembered Ginny mentioning having lunch with him before.

"That was a regular lunch meal. Actually, I'm not even sure if I'm overthinking the situation. So, today.." She started explaining the stalker situation that led to today's day with Alan. Her words became smoother as she relaxed and let words flow out of her mind. Lily's eyes sparked with interest at some point of the story.

When Ginny was finished with her adventurous day, Lily leaned forward to tease her. "Nothing is wrong with you. You are just..."

"Just what?"

"You are just falling in love with him. Actually, you might like him already. Let's not use the word, love, yet. Just liking him is fine. It has nothing to do with the weather being freezing cold or spicy hot. Nothing to do with your palms being sweaty or dry. Your body is reacting to the person you like." She sipped her fruit tea and leaned back on the chair.

"I..I like him?" Ginny stopped rotating her drink midway and put it back on the table as she processed this thought.