*Plop*That was the sound that greeted Darren as soon as he knocked on Dylan"s door. Without waiting, he opened the door and what came before his eyes was a sight of his best friend lying on the ground with his legs tangled in sheets.
It really made him wonder how he actually came across this idiot who would fall down his bed even in his sleep. Dylan who was oblivious to his best friend"s criticism towards him was now rubbing his b.u.t.tock that was sore.
"Need a hand?"
Dylan looked up to see Darren standing before him with his hand extended towards him. Dylan sighed out as he held his hand and pulled himself up from the ground. However, instead of standing up, he chose to fall on his bed and close his eyes.
"Dazi, leave me alone. I really am not in the mood to entertain you. Being at your girlfriend"s beck and call for the past couple of days was enough of a torture for my poor soul. I really can"t take it anymore."
Darren could only frown at Dylan"s words. "What happened?"
Dylan put a pillow over his head. Only his m.u.f.fled voice could be heard, "Don"t ask me. Go and ask your precious girlfriend. And while you"re at it, please do ask why did she spend two nights in my room with me?!"
"What did you say?" Hearing that dangerously low voice of his best friend Dylan immediately cowered back and waved his hand.
"Not that I mind her disturbing me at all," Dylan was trying to find a way to placate him since Darren looked like he was very close to throwing a punch at his face.
Darren took a deep breath before he wounded his arm around Dylan"s neck dangerously and asked, "When I saw her earlier, she looked like she overworked herself or something. How much did you make her work?"
Dylan shook his head frantically as he tried to squirm his way out of Darren"s grip. But note the keyword, TRIED. Not like there was any chance for him to escape the deadlock. So, he gave up struggling to save up his energy as he said, "Bro, it"s more like she made me work for her." Darren frowned slightly while he continued, "For two nights straight, she didn"t let me sleep. You have no idea what I"ve been through because of her."
Darren loosened his grip around Dylan"s neck but his arm still lingered over his shoulder. "Tell me in detail about what happened."
Dylan rubbed his sleepy eyes and took the gla.s.s of water from his side table to take a sip before he began the story of his nightmare...
On the second night of his stay in Lin City...
It was half-past eleven when Dylan finally managed to close his eyes to sleep. His consciousness was about to cross over to the dreamland when suddenly.
*Knock! Knock! Knock!*
That impatient and annoying knocking at his door made him groan. What the h.e.l.l! He was just about to sleep? Why was someone disturbing him at this time of the night?
Although he was reluctant, he still dragged his body to open the door. It wasn"t like he didn"t try to ignore the knocking, but his uncalled guest was apparently very persistent so he had to give up. But when he opened the door, he saw Xiu standing before him sweating profusely.
"Xiu? What are you doing here? At this time... Are you okay?"
He visibly saw her expressions easing up as she pushed him aside and entered his room without waiting for the owner of the room to invite.
"Hey! I didn"t invite you to come inside!"
Xiu plopped down on his sofa and chirped in an unusually loud voice, "And you weren"t planning on inviting me inside that"s why I chose to invite myself in."
Dylan could only roll his eyes at her. "Whatever. But why are you here? And why are you sweating so much?"
"I"m feeling very hot and the AC in my room broke," answered Xiu while she picked up tissues from the box on the coffee table and wiped her face with it before running around to the mini-fridge and helping herself to cold water.
"Are you kidding me? Call the hotel management and change the room or something. Why are you here?"
Xiu rubbed her stomach as she added, "I"m hungry as well."
"Dumbo! Call the room service. Don"t be so stingy. Besides, I"m the one paying here."
"Are you trying to kick me out of your room?" questioned Xiu with narrowed eyes.
"Isn"t that obvious?" was Dylan"s straightforward reply.
Xiu sat cross-legged on the sofa and refused to budge as she said, "Then I"m not leaving! Even if you kick me out, I"m staying put!"
Seeing her acting so stubbornly, Dylan was losing his patience but he still gave in before sitting at the other sofa. Now that he paid attention he realized that she was barefoot. Did she come barefoot to his room? Why?
Before he could voice out, Xiu distracted him, "Oi! Call for some takeouts."
"What"s wrong with hotel"s service?" he retorted.
"Nothing. But I"m craving something different," answered Xiu.
Being the good brother-in-law that he was, he chose to listen to her. He asked someone to bring something for her to eat and even accompanied her while eating. She was awfully slow as she savored her food because now it was close to 2 in the morning. However, she was still not leaving.
"Let"s watch a movie," she suggested and without waiting for his reply, she turned on the tv and started shuffling through channels. "What kind of movies do you like?"
"I only liked movies when you used to act," Dylan didn"t realize that he had said his innermost thoughts out loud. But Xiu had heard him loud and clear. It made her smile genuinely at him.
"Okay, let"s reminisce the time I used to act then," said Xiu and without hesitation selected one of her movies.
Watching, talking about behind the scenes, or how the script was good and stuff like that, Dylan didn"t even realize how the night turned into day, and she finally left his room. He couldn"t catch any sleep but he was feeling really happy since he actually managed to watch one of his favorite movies with the person he admired the most.
The following night...
Dylan was yet again startled when he heard the door of his room being close. He sat up in bed and looked at the intruder who didn"t even bother this time and simply let herself in. She was sashaying in his room as if it was her own.
"Xiu! What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you? What do you want now?"
"I thought we had fun last night so shall we play some games tonight?" She even had the audacity to smile at him innocently while showing him the board game that she brought with herself.
"I want to sleep," announced Dylan and covered himself with the duvet.
"Aiyo... I thought I could finally count on a brother but apparently I was wrong. I was all alone as Chen Xiu and I"m all alone as Bai Xiu. What a cruel reality." She added a sniffle as a dramatic edge to her performance and it was all that she needed to pull Dylan out of his bed.
He sat with her in the same position as last night and started the game. He didn"t know why but she was really not like herself. He wanted to know what was up with her but she wasn"t willing to talk at all.
Sometime close to dawn, he fell asleep sitting on the sofa. And when he woke up, what he saw frightened the h.e.l.l out of him.
There, Xiu was sitting with her eyes right at his face. She didn"t even blink for a minute while she kept staring at him with a blank expression. That expression of hers really scared him. He had only seen her with either a smile; real or fake and something with her angry face but this blank expression was the first for him.
However, he was even more appalled when her lips curled up slightly. "Morning, sleeping beauty! Chop-chop now! We have a long day ahead." She leaned close to him as she wondered out loud, "Why do you look like you"ve seen a ghost?" She tapped her chin as she answered herself, "Well, I"m kinda like a ghost myself so I really can"t blame you for looking at me like that."
He only looked at her back while she silently left his room. It wouldn"t be wrong if Dylan actually said that she really gave him the illusion of a ghost with the way she was acting. She was the haunting ghost that didn"t let him rest at all. However, that was something he wouldn"t tell Darren. After all, his life was still quite dear to him.