Chapter 23：In Doubt [1]

Xiao Ping supports her chin with a hand while staring at the monitor in front of her. Once in a while she blows her breath upward to her neatly bang.

"Xiao Ping," a voice softly calls. Xiao Ping turns to the voice and sees A Lin, her friends who will replace her task has arrived. "Haven't you prepared to leave ?" A Lin asks while putting her bag.

"Nope," Xiao Ping shortly answers. "You should be. It's late already," A Lin reminds her. Xiao Ping looks at the time on the monitor. It is 7 PM already.

"Wait a minute. I need to logout my email," finally Xiao Ping agrees to A Lin's advice. Xiao Ping presses the Refresh button and wait the page to be reload. When she saw nothing is changed in her inbox, Xiao Ping logging it out in disappointment. She then turns to A Lin and forces a smile. "I'm leaving," she says while standing up then grabs her bag under the table.

Xiao Ping pushes the filmed-glass door and slowly walks toward her bicycle. She squats down to open the lock of her bicycle, but then stops as she is caught in her thought.

"Haven't left yet ?"A voice greets her from behind. Xiao Ping turns her head around and smiles to see Yu Jin. She opens the lock then stands up. In silent, Xiao Ping rolls the lock's chain and keeps it in her bag.

"He hasn't replied, has he ?" Yu Jin makes a guess out of her gloomy act. Xiao Ping just nods. "He might be busy," Yu Jin cheers her up.

Xiao Ping sighs. With her hands on the bike handlebar she looks at Yu Jin. "I know he is busy. It usually takes him quite a time to reply my emails," she begins to tell her confusion. "So ?" Yu Jin asks.

"That's not the problem. It's just.. I went to his official website earlier. There was a clarification message to say that 'An incident towards Takeshi has replied a fan's email is purely a hoax. Takeshi has never replied a fan's email'," Xiao Ping explains then her expression becomes annoyed.

"Then.. who's the one who has been replying my emails ? You know that I was not making it up, Yu Jin. Those emails are real. I still keep them. But if Takeshi was not the one who wrote them, then who should it be ? And now Er Hua will mock me as a liar. But I am not !"

A tear drops from a corner of her eye. Yu Jin can only stares at her, he also confuses thus has no word to say. Xiao Ping quickly wipes her tear.

"Maybe.. maybe my heart was wrong. Maybe that person really was a fake and I has been hallucinating all this time," Xiao Ping then lets a mocking smile to herself. "I'm so stupid," she weakly says. Yu Jin immediately responds by holding both her shoulders.

"What are you talking about ? You are not stupid. Don't you ever think low of your self," Yu Jin snaps making Xiao Ping shocks and stares him in an instant.

"Every ones else may judge you low, but never yourself. Never doubt your self," Yu Jin advices in a gentle voice. Xiao Ping can not hold her emotion.

Yu Jin raises his eyebrows and nods a little, asking Xiao Ping to agree with his words. Xiao Ping smiles then nods. She smiles with a tear drops to her cheek. Yu Jin gropes his pant's pocket, searching for a handkerchief then gives it to her. Xiao Ping chuckles, shy to cry in front of that guy.

Yu Jin watches his watch. "Do you want me to treat you ice cream ?" Yu Jin asks. Still drying her tears, Xiao Ping nods. "But let me eat two instead," she asks.

"That's fine by me.. as long as you won't blame me if you have stomachache later," Yu Jin agrees through his laughter. They both walk on the sidewalk and stop to wait the crossing light to be green. Once it is green, Yu Jin walks a step then turns a round and stretches his hand. Xiao ping receives it. It hand tightly gripped near Yu Jin's wait, Xiao Ping follows his steps to across the street. Secretly Xiao Ping stares at Yu Jin's face, being grateful to have such a nice friend as him.

The rather spacious room is only illuminated by the dim light from the night lamp, but the owner is still wide awake. While his body is leaning back on a stack of pillows and both hands are crossing behind his head, Takeshi muses. Actually his body is really tired but his mind is still busy thinking of a problem that troubling his heart. A problem that only is thought when he is idle, just like in the moment.

It takes him for a while before his lips changes into a smile. Takeshi then closes his eyes in content. It seems that he has a solution for the problem.