"I don't want to run away from the truth any longer," Jia Li answered Wei, devoid of any emotions.
"Do you know that you are killing me with your words? Why are you doing this? I am sorry that I brought up the topic today about us. I promise to never do it again. Just don't… don't say that you are walking out of my life," he didn't care any longer about his self-respect or anything else, as long as she didn't walk away.
He was begging her. His worst nightmare was coming true. How would he survive? Who would he survive for?
Jia Li's heart broke and shattered into a million shards. Those shards poked her conscience and she nearly took her words back. It had taken her an inhuman effort to say all this to Wei. But she also knew that this was the best gift that she could give him as his friend. She clenched her hands tightly till the nails dug into the palms and that pain muted the one in her heart.
Thankfully they had reached the banks of Little Venice.
Jia Li soaked in the features of this amazingly gorgeous man in front of her for the last time. She didn't know if she would ever get an opportunity to sit beside him in this lifetime. She kneeled in front of him and planted a kiss on his cheek. Running her palm on his other cheek, she resisted hugging him for the last time. She couldn't afford to go weak now. Getting up, she ruffled his hair and walked away without looking back.
Tears had started streaming down her cheeks but she didn't stop. Worried that she may run back into his arms any second, she walked even faster, uncaring that people around were noticing her tear stricken face .
Wei sat in a daze till the time the waterbus navigator came and shook his shoulder, gently. Apparently, he had called out his name enough times to catch his attention. He looked around, as if confirming the emptiness of the cabin before getting up on wobbly knees and stepping out.
Wei walked in a mindless haze for hours. By the time, his awareness returned, dusk had fallen and he stood in the middle of a busy street somewhere in Central London. People around him looked so cheerful and happy. So unfair. Why was he suffering so much? What had he done to deserve this?
An only child, a pair of indifferent parents, no true friends for this rich kid… hadn't life given him enough loneliness through his growing years? He had learnt to cope and live with his shallow life, even enjoy it to an extent. Then why, why had been she sent in his life when she wasn't meant to stay in it forever?
Miserable and dazed, he found himself in front of a street full watering holes.
"Thank you for the small mercies!! So now that I am feeling low, I should drown it in alcohol? Sure… your wish is my command," he looked up at the sky and spoke to whosoever was sitting up there, pulling the strings of his fate.
The first pub which he entered was a typical English drinking place. Sliding on the bar stool, he ordered a bottle of single malt. Nothing less than that would take him through the night.
Grimacing as the smooth, bitter liquid slid down his throat, he took notice of a guy and a woman come and sit next to him after a few drinks.
Giving them a vague cheers, he went back to his drinking.
"Me or you?" the woman asked her companion.
"I definitely think - me," the guy was sizing up Wei like a piece of delicious steak.
"100 pounds, he is into women," the woman challenged him to a bet.
Though they were talking sitting right next to him, Wei had tuned out their conversation. The painful screams of his heart were loud enough to drown every other noise.
"You are on. But I am the one who wants to ask him," the guy said, lips smacking.
"You do know that if you lose this, it would be your eighth straight loss," the dark haired woman tossed her hair and smirked.
Her friend, who swung both ways, was momentarily tempted to chuck the bet and invest the time in her, instead. But it was her demeanour which had made him resist attempting it, all through the three years that he had known her for. Sam was studying in the same university as him, both students of International Business and Economics. They had met during the final year of graduation and gone for their Masters in the same college.
Jet black eyes, matching the short pixie hair were framed on an angular face. Rosebud lips were puckered in a scowl, as if being able to read his sordid thoughts about her.