[~Posted 8/18/21]
Kai got back to her dorm room and shut the door. Only now did she realize how hard her heart was pounding.
Breathe.
She'd just run up those three flights of stairs to their room. For no reason. Maybe, to deal with some of the strange energy possessing her whole body. Like electricity reaching all the way to her fingertips.
Their dorm room was cozy and quiet. Same as always. In the darkness, the pendant lamp cast a small glow throughout the room. Their mini-fridge hummed.
Did I imagine this whole day? she suddenly wondered.
She pushed their bedroom door ajar. Lilly was on the upper bunk with her eyes half closed, listening to music. Opening her eyes, Lilly's expression changed. She must have noticed the wild look on Kai's face, because she climbed down the bunk bed and ran up to Kai.
"Are you OK?" she asked, sounding eager and alarmed. "Did you meet the person this morning? I mean the person who took care of your plants?"
"Yes—" said Kai, hesitating.
"I was waiting all day for you to text me an update!" Lilly had been hunkered down at the library all day, studying for a econ midterm. "Wait..." she checked her phone. "Did I accidentally leave it on silent mode? No—"
Then she gazed back at Kai, who really was looking strangely giddy. Like a wide-eyed martian with a weird smile.
"Sorry I didn't text, I needed to tell you about it in person," said Kai.
Lilly added, "I was starting to worry—if this mystery person maybe .... murdered you?"
"No," Kai laughed. "Well—in a way."
"Uh oh," said Lilly, darkly.
"My expectations got murdered. Like, totally butchered. It was a bloodbath" Kai shook her head, in pretend grief.
They sat down together on Kai's lower bunk, side by side.
"So," Kai mused. "I'm still sorta confused—"
Lilly got to the point. "Who was it?"
Kai paused.
The silence grew. Kai almost didn't know how to cross the bridge. How to say the one word she needed to say.
Then she swallowed, and forced his name out of her mouth.
"Lukas."
It sounded so absurd.
Lilly's face was blank for a moment. Then she came to life. "Lukas? The famous Lukas Yukhei Shao?"
Kai nodded. Lilly looked completely stunned. She glanced up at Kai's Huw Richard's poster. The past few days, when Kai was trading sticky yellow-notes with this anonymous plant guardian, Kai jokingly told Lilly about her absurd thought. Her crazy idea that Huw Richards was a secret superhero, flying across the Atlantic Ocean to keep her plants alive.
It wasn't Huw, it wasn't Huw, Lilly's mind kept thinking.
Of course it wasn't.
Breaking the silence of their dorm, Kai's phone buzzed. She looked down and saw a message from Lukas.
Kai laughed. Why's he writing in all caps? He's like some grandpa learning to text. Also—
He was already so protective.
All I did was walk back from your car to my room. Across a GATED courtyard!
She texted back:
Kai smiled to herself. She really couldn't help teasing him!
You should write something else, she thought. Something gracious. But she needed to finish updating Lilly.
"Sorry. He was texting me just now," Kai told her roommate.
The shock on Lilly's face just grew.
Kai added, "So I guess he's liked me. For a while—" She felt so absurd saying it. It sounded like she was delusional—or bragging. But she had to explain to Lilly what was going on. Lilly needed to feel kept in the loop. Not like she'd been kept in the dark.
And all this was the truth!
Lukas likes me!
It was just—the truth.
Meanwhile Lilly instinctively reached up and felt Kai's forehead for a fever. She knew Kai wasn't someone who exaggerated or made things up, especially not when it came to guys.
Still, it was just so unbelievable.
Lilly said quietly, "So—there's lots of delusional girls around campus who think he likes them. Because he's so reserved. It's easy to imagine anything."
Kai laughed. "You're such a psychologist!"
"I mean it," Lilly was earnest. "People misread him—it's natural! They read intense emotions into his silence. Because he's like a blank slate."
"He's not a blank slate—" Kai said. "That's just how he is in public. With everyone watching every move. Would you ever say anything in public? If whatever you did ended up splashed all over everyone's Instagram and TikPics!?"
Kai was getting frustrated: I know it's hard to believe Lukas likes me. But come on, Lilly! You literally think there's a higher chance I had a mental breakdown?
Lilly's arms were crossed, and she sighed: "I just—worry about you. I don't want you to get hurt. He likes you—I believe it. Just tell me one thing. How you know this? So I can sleep easy. Did he say something? Are you 100% sure?"
Kai sighed. "Well, he... we kissed—"
This whole thing was so embarrassing.
Lilly's eyes looked like they'd pop out of her face. She turned pale, and then bright red.
Grabbing Kai's arm, she shrieked: "WHAT?"
Kai just nodded. She herself was feeling dazed. But somehow her own voice, in the distance of her head, was sounding like today was just a 100% totally normal day: Waking up. Brushing her teeth. Getting kissed by the one guy worshipped by everyone on campus.
"It was actually a nice night." Kai said, "He took me up to this scenic spot, past campus. And then we drove to dinner. He paid for it."
"You drove?" For some reason that detail suddenly made it all feel real to Lilly. "What's his car like?"
"Nice. Not too showy. Black Subaru Forester. It's... very clean inside."
"—Is that enough evidence?" Kai finished.
Lilly was just shaking her head. Her head was spinning with the same questions that'd been cycling through Kai's brain all day.
Then Lilly remembered. "The psychology experiment—" she breathed, wide eyed. "Did that experiment work its magic? It made HIM fall for you too?" Her face suddenly looked like she was witnessing a religious miracle.
Kai's brow furrowed into confusion. "I'm not sure. He keeps saying the experiment had nothing to do with it. But—"
Lost in thought, Kai stood up and began fishing her ID and keys out from the pockets of her jeans, and clinking them down on the nightstand next to her bunk bed.
Should I worry? she wondered. Will I always have to worry—that he was hoodwinked into falling for me?
Is THAT why he's saying the experiment had no power over him? she reflected, a bit more wildly. He doesn't want me to worry!
"But—"
Meanwhile Lilly Zhao, the resident budding psychologist, was thinking hard: "But even if the psychology experiment brought you together? That doesn't mean everyone's feelings are fake."
Standing up, Lilly paced around like she was Sherlock solving a case. And she continued, "I read in the news: there was this firefighter who saved this woman from a burning apartment. And then—they fell in love. You can't tell me their love's fake, right?"
"Right," Kai said. She grabbed her shower caddy and got her toothbrush and toothpaste, getting ready to head to the bathroom.
"Anyway, I don't understand a lot of it," Kai added. "But I'm meeting him again tomorrow morning." She slid her feet into her turquoise flip-flops.
"Tomorrow morning? So soon?" Lilly said accusingly: "Kai. Did anyone ever teach you how to play hard to get? At least, like, for one week?"
"It was his idea. To meet tomorrow. Up on the roof, by our plants."
"Our plants?" Lilly asked. "OUR plants?"
"Yeah. Our plants."
"You two have shared custody?"
"Hehehe," Kai said, grimacing.
"Someone shoot me now," said Lilly. She flopped backward onto Kai's bed, and lay flat on her back with her hand on her forehead. The world was just too much!
. . * * * * . . . . . .
. . . . * * * * . . . .
. . . . . . * * * * . .
That night Kai lay in bed. Lilly's words from earlier turned around in her head like laundry drying. Am I really supposed to play hard to get? But— but— it feels to me like we already known each other. And it seems like... he feels the same way, too—
In the darkness, Lilly's voice drifted down. "You still awake?"
"Yeah."
Lilly's voice: "You need to go to sleep now. You need to get beauty rest."
"Beauty rest?" Kai groaned.
Lilly's voice continued. "If you're really going to date Lukas Shao, you're bringing honor to Gaffigan Entryway E. You're going to be like... like a village beauty who goes to the capital city and captures the heart of a prince. This could change the fortunes of our whole village."
Lilly giggled in the dark. "We're relying on your beauty, now."
"Oh my gosh Lilly," Kai said. "It's not like that. At all. We're not in medieval times, ok!? This isn't feudal China."
Lilly's words were making her nervous, unnecessarily.
You're just going to meet him tomorrow morning and garden a bit, together. Kai told herself. But then she saw her phone was flashing.
Four messages! From—Lukas:
And Lilly says I'm not playing hard to get? This guy just sent me four messages at midnight? And "my girl?"
She wrote back
Then she rolled over and tried to fall asleep, pushing away the tingle of anticipation and anxiety in the pit of her stomach.
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🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱
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