Chapter 2: Mesmerized
Kelisse roused from her sound sleep. She zonked out after satiating. The resplendence of the dawn was witnessed by her very eyes that she only sees in pictures and movies through the seamless window of her hotel room. The glory of the sunrise... She was bedazzled by that awe-inspiring sight she considered a miracle. ...was added to the beauty of the panorama. She finally got up and walked towards the window then there she stretched her body until she totally saw the emergence of the sun. "Good morning to me." she mumbled. When already contented with the view, she headed to the bathroom to fix herself up.
The cool morning breeze greeted her chubby cheeks. She decided to have a heavy breakfast by the terrace. She took her time staying there for three hours making an organize list of her places-to-go. Thanks to the hotel's free Wi-Fi for she's only using a phone that's of an old model which is fortunately a Wi-Fi capable one.
......
Looking snazzy on a plain pale yellow long sleeve shirt with a plaid scarf, denim skinny jeans and white go-go boots, she sped down the building excitedly ready for her trip. She's also geared with black framed pair of glasses, a digicam on one hand, and a not so small body bag. "Beautiful day!" she shouted on her mind as she stood by the main entrance of the hotel. The sun's shining not harshly so it was favorable for her to enjoy the walking. To visit the Jade Buddha Temple was first on her list followed by Shanghai Museum, People's Square, and Shanghai Xin Tian Di respectively. When the sun was already on its highest, she stopped at Yuyuan Garden, where she had her late lunch. Next to her destination list was the Nanjing Road to shop for cheap souvenirs and some presents for family and friends. She sees to it to avoid asking people. Scared that she might freeze to death due to her lack of knowledge in Mandarin for she only knows a couple of phrases such as "Ni hao ma" and "Wo ai ni". And the truth is, she's actually afraid to interact with others. She's of antisocial type that she would rather stay at home, alone. She may be a bit aloof but she managed to have five friends whom she can chat with whenever she wants to but only thru exchanging of text messages which is not bad at all. Friends from the past years of school, she had lost track with and communication but at least they are friends in some social networking site though not the type of friends whom she can share her rants, problems, and even her joy.
The funny thing the five have most in common is that they are all hopeless romantic and still have the tag status of NBSB under their names, well, except for Novelle who's currently working abroad. She's the only one who has an experience being in a relationship when she was in college, but then, it ended in just a short period of time.
After hours of shopping, her terminus for the day is the cafe fronting the Huangpu River, the main branch of the cafe she's targeting of having a franchise. Arriving there at the peak of rush hour, it's lucky that she found a table and it's the only one vacant. She laid the paper bags properly under the small round table. While waiting for her orders to be served, she searched her mp4 player inside her body bag, brought it out and put on its earphones. Moments later, her milk tea and a slice of black forest were already set on the table. As she's taking her time relishing with that sweet snack, she brought out another stuff which is a mini-notebook. Then after flipping several pages, she started to draw a design of sweet baked bread-like food.
Engrossed in her music player and sketching, she felt something landed on her back that made her to stand up abruptly. Her specs that was directly hit by the notebook that she accidentally thrown in the air, and a gadget fell on the ground.
"Oh! Sorry to startle you! I didn't know that there's this thing in your ears." she heard someone apologized and saw him stooped down picking the scattered things. Some of the people were looking at them but went back to their businesses when found out nothing's wrong.
Kelisse was speechless and motionless for seconds. After recovering from her silly reaction, she tittered.
"Are you okay?" the man asked.
She nodded with a sheepish smile.
"Sorry." he uttered again with guilt.
"Ahh... I-it's nothing, i-it's okay. I, I wasn't paying attention that's why." she finally managed to say.
"Do you have a heart problem?" he sounded worried.
Her forehead furrowed, "W-what? I-I'm sorry but w-what are you s-saying?"
"Oh, I mean a literal heart problem." he clarified.
"Ah." she then let out an amused laugh. "No, no. Don't worry."
Hearing her laugh made the dandy to calm. He sighed in relief. "I was just going to ask if I could share the table with you." he explained.
"Ahh! Sure, no problem, sorry."
The guy smiled and handed the notebook, pencil and the player back to her.
"Thank you." she said coyly.
"Thanks too..." then he smiled at her.
Embarrassed, she forced a final sip on her cup and rose to leave.
......
There's still no call nor email coming from LimeLite at the moment. Pouting as she closed her email then put down the handy phone on bed. Instead of wearing a long face, she reached for the side table to get her digicam and started to look at the images she had taken in the past days. No matter how much she wanted to upload all the photos at that time, she just couldn't so she has to wait until she got back to Manila.
......
On her third day, she woke up almost lunchtime. She realized that the itinerary she had made has caused her extreme tiredness. She again checked her email, still no sign from LimeLite. She sighed. Rather than wasting her time waiting, she decided to busy herself back to her travelling pleasure. For that day, she only listed two spots for her strolling, the Art Gallery along East Nanjing Road and the Acrobatic Theatre. "There may be any other places to see nearby I guess." she thought. She stood by the mirror checking her outfit. Compared from what she wore yesterday, she dressed differently, an ivory-hued long sleeves frock which only like two inches above her knees and a nude colored warm leggings underneath then matched to a brown ankle-length boots with bow on each side to complete the style. For tonight she will watch an acrobatic show as stated on her list, she wanted to be a bit semi-formal. "I've always wanted to dress like this and I could never do this in the Philippines so better enjoy myself."
......
Kelisse pitied herself when most of the people have companion alongside, some were in groups, and others were dating. She smiled at the thought of having a date with someone. "Nah! Unlikely to happen." brushing the thoughts off.
The show has set out and from the time it started, the acrobats performed with full of grace. They left the audience awestruck with their every breath-taking tricks and moves.
"Woah!" Kelisse was clapping elatedly every time she's amused. She shifted randomly on her side. The seats were still vacant that made her mood suddenly change. "I wish those five and even my family were here too." she sighed.
......
"Hey I've been trying to contact you? Where have you been?"
...
"Signal-free area?"
...
"I see."
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"Ah, anyway, what's going up there?"
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"Oh, no notifications yet."
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"Relax, it's just been two days, maybe they are still weighing the things. We have to wait, be patient bro. Call me as soon as you already have the news or if ever you're the one they'll contact."
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"Yes, I'll just send him."
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"I know."
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"All right then." Brett disconnected the call.
......
Before Kelisse head back to the hotel, she stayed again for a while by the river. She's really fascinated with its awesome view. It's luck again that the cafe wasn't crowded. It's a seldom occurrence because according to her research, this place is always jam-packed. "Hmm... Maybe because it's already late." she thought. She ordered again what she had eaten last time. The slice went half so as the milk tea when her gaze directed to a guy who's just sitting on the other table right next to hers. "Why do I feel like I already saw him somewhere?" her brows creased as she grabbed the cup and for a moment she was like being mesmerized. "Anyway, he's kind of charming."
Good thing she had already shifted back her gaze on her phone when the lad looked her way. He felt as if someone was watching him. He straightened his back then looked in front where he felt it. Only the girl in off-white dress was in that area, busy typing on her cell phone. "I thought somebody was watching me." he ran his fingers through his hair and carried on browsing on his Mac tablet anyway.
......
12/15/16
03/03/18