191 Off Balance

Hey my gorgeous readers...

Hope life has been treating you kindly. I am loving the daily interaction with you all through the comments. My day starts and ends with those:))

You know that Jia Li and I have been working non-stop for the past couple of months. We are looking to take a small travel break from May 25th till June 8th.

During this time, there will be regular uploads but I will be putting up one chapter instead of two. Really hoping for your support on this. Please bear with me as I recharge my batteries!!!

Hugs & More...

Chapter

They were sitting together at the lab. Eric had dropped in, to discuss a few pending issues with Hui. Post their shop talk, Eric told him about Jia Li's conversation with Roger Dunce's colleagues. That's when Hui reacted in such a volatile manner.

"Really? Hui, the mathematician is saying this? Isn't it you who has always drilled it in me that there exists a plausible reasoning for everything. So how is it that the rules are different every time Jia Li and her actions come into play? Do you dislike her so much that you are ready to counter your own long standing arguments?" his voice was filled with disbelief.

Hui looked away for a moment, digesting & processing Eric's observation. In a rare moment of candidness, he spoke up after few minutes of introspection.

"She makes me feel off-balance. I cannot explain it. Maybe what you said is correct but somehow I feel the urge to keep my guard up against her. Before you launch a trail of accusations at my door, I want to go on record and say that it is not because of something that she has said or done. This is my instinctive reaction which has nothing to do with her behaviour. Actually... forget it. I don't think I am making much sense to myself, let alone you," he said ruefully.

Eric looked at him in amazement. Not only was today the first time that Ying Hui had spoken about emotions, but also the only instant where he had sounded unsure. If Eric was reading it correctly, Hui was labelling his attraction towards Jia Li as 'wariness'. It was his heart asking him to be cautious. Since Hui always operated with his mind, he didn't recognise the language of his heart.

"Wait, did this mean that Hui already liked Jia Li?" Eric was startled as he reached that conclusion.

Hui looked at Eric and asked, "are you not feeling well? You look green around the edges. Do you want to sit down for a moment?"

Eric complied without protest. His mind was suddenly trying to trace the previous events where Hui had behaved out of character around Jia Li. The data was simply too much for him to process in one go. But one thing was totally confirmed. Hui was clearly not indifferent towards or unaware of Jia Li, as he had mistakenly assumed all this while.

Damn! The day suddenly got more interesting.

"Just let Ms. Lin know that she is not to meddle in my business. I will take care of the journalist's issue, if need be. She is to restrict her concerns to the work assigned to her. If she thinks that she doesn't have enough work, ask her to come see me," he told Eric brusquely.

The dilemma in front of Eric now, was - whether to aid Hui in recognising his heart's or let it tumble and progress naturally. He remained lost in thought all the way back to office from the lab. In the end, he reached the conclusion that it was better to let Hui figure it out, should he choose to.

Having said that, it wouldn't hurt anyone if he created a little conducive environment for Hui to recognise and explore the demands of his heart. The first opportunity was coming up in a fortnight. Hui had been invited to present a lecture at one of the colleges located few hours away from London. There was nothing special about the invite. He had been asked to do the same for various prestigious universities and colleges from across the world previously but he usually declined them.

But Hui could have never refused this one, for two reasons. One, he was the trustee and financier of this college, and this was the first batch which was going to graduate since he had started the institute three years ago. Secondly, there had been a peculiar pre-condition attached to this college's admission. As per Hui's instructions, the students who were going to be accepted in here, would find themselves a steady job at Earthly Matters Ltd. But only if they contributed their first two years, post their graduation into doing pro-bono work towards conservation of resources around the world. This could be in fields like education, waste management, inventions or any other way that could benefit the planet.

The project was extremely close to Hui's heart and when the dean had asked him to address the students who were going to graduate for the first time since the college's conception, he had readily agreed.

Eric had consented to accompany him on this overnight trip at that time. Now all he had to do was figure out a way to send Jia Li instead of going himself. For a person with his skills, he didn't think it would be a tough task!