Play vs Play

CHAPTER 9: MOVEMENT

"Feeling alright madam?" A nurse put a cup of green tea in front of Mrs. Low.

"Yes, much better." Mrs. Low smiled as the nurse walked off.

Kian knew he was supposed to be happy but somehow or rather, he wanted to stay just a little longer. He eyed the bed with drawn curtains right beside the ward's doors. Its now or never.

"Mummy, I'm going for a while ya?" Kian said standing up. He looked over at his mother.

"Ok, dear," She takes her reading tablet from the bedside table, putting it into her bag. "I'll let you know when we are going."

Kian nods. He slowly starts walking over to the bed. As he approaches, a million things popped up in his head. Will she recognize me? Am I doing the right thing? Should I get some water? Where should I sit? He didn't even answer any of them before he finally reached the curtains. He looked around not knowing what to do at that point and noticed the bed next door was empty. He takes the chair belonging to that bed section and slowly sits down in front of the curtain.

"H-Hello?" He calls out. No response. Maybe she's sleeping. "You awake?"

There was a sound of shuffling and then a voice. "Mm?"

Kian felt his face heat up as he tried to calm himself down. "Ergh, h-hi. It's the guy from last night."

There was some silence before the girl responds again. "Oh, hi."

Kian felt like his thoughts were moving too slowly, his mind was blank on what to say next.

"Thank you by the way." The voice cracked a little as she finished her sentence.

Holy crap that's cute. He shook his head and concentrated on the conversation. "Ah, no problem. I was on the way out anyway."

"Yea..." The girl responded. Silence again.

Kian's thoughts were still slow. Was this really her? It could just be some random girl and he was definitely going to cringe if it was. He looked down at his hands, balled up together and quite cold due to the air conditioning in the ward. Kian decided he just needs to get the thought out before he embarrasses himself further.

"Um, we've met before you know." He finally spoke up. He retracted a bit physically waiting, for the confusion to start.

"I know," The girl said which made him feel an electric shock through his body. "Your face hasn't changed since the arcade."

"Y-you remember?" He sat up straight, not believing his ears.

"Heh, yeah, you were terrible."

Kian drooped his head down. "Please, don't remind me."

"But then again, you managed to beat me in the end. To me that was a massive feat."

Kian looked at the curtain in front of him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I kind of play that game competitively. Normally, when I play that game outside of competitions, people just give up after I beat them a few times. Sometimes, it seemed like I was hogging the whole machine to myself."

Kian leaned back in the chair. Bloody hell she's that good?

"But then I went to the arcade to try the machines over there before a competition. And...I met you."

"Well, there wasn't really anybody else playing the machine."

"It wasn't whether you were playing or not, it was the fact you kept playing even after I started."

Kian couldn't see himself but he definitely thinks he was blushing at that moment.

"I mean, you kept racing to your final coins and I think if I beat you in that last race, you would've gone for more coins."