He thought that Jia Li could be an a.s.set in the future meets. But where was she?She came running back, with a couple of shopping bags in her hands. Hui looked at her in askance. He had been waiting patiently outside the restaurant, post settling the bill and she had gone gallivanting?
"Did you go shopping at this hour, Ms. Lin?" he asked with displeasure.
She looked at him sheepishly and replied, "I know that we have eaten a sumptuous meal but five hours is a long time for me to digest that food and feel hungry again. Since we had consumed the snacks in the morning, I just picked up few…"
Hui threw back his head and laughed. Jia Li looked at him in surprise. Was this the first time that she had seen the Boss laugh? Did this mean that he wasn"t angry with her as he had been a few seconds ago? Gosh, the man was completely unpredictable.
The car was parked a few metres away. Hui took one bag from Jia Li"s hands, wordlessly and walked towards it. While driving down to York in the morning, the car had been nearly silent but now, Hui switched on the radio.
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen flooded the car and before he knew it, his co-pa.s.senger was crooning along.
"She has a gorgeous voice," he realised after listening to her effortlessly matching the lyrics and the tempo of the songs.
For Hui, the next couple of hours zipped past, wrapped in Ms. Lin"s honeyed voice. She looked to be in a happy mood today unlike her usual polite, restrained behaviour. She seemed to have let go of some of her inhibitions tonight. And surprisingly, he was enjoying it! Or was it not surprising anymore?
Jia Li was feeling light hearted. The elegant comfort of the car, scrumptious food in her belly and fantastic songs on the radio…what more could a person ask for! She had subconsciously started humming along when her favourite band came alive on the radio and before she knew it, she was singing already. The near stranger sitting besides her didn"t seem to mind or at least hadn"t verbalised it yet. So, she decided to go with the flow until stopped.
Jia Li had started to feel drowsy now. Her throat felt soar after singing nonstop for the past two hours. She stole a peek at Ying Hui who was the picture of concentration. Comforted by the sight, she adjusted her sitting position. Tucking one leg under her thighs, she s.h.i.+fted sideways so that she could look outside though there wasn"t much to see at this time in the night.
"I am going to shut my eyes for two minutes," she thought to herself.
Hui had been pondering over a difficult mathematical formula for the past fifteen minutes. With her voice no longer accompanying the singers on the radio, he had s.h.i.+fted his gaze slightly to find out the reason. The usually poised, Ms. Lin was fast asleep, her mouth slightly agape and her head lolling precariously on one side. Before he realised it, he had reached out to recline her seat.
She sighed and snuggled deeper into the seat. Hui straightened up immediately, acutely conscious of his unprecedented behaviour. He focussed his mind on a tough maths problem and found himself relaxing.
"This probably wasn"t a great idea," he thought to himself, unsure whether he was referring to returning back tonight or his reaction to this woman in close proximity.
It had been almost 45 minutes since the car had been quiet. With her sleeping peacefully next to him, he had shut the music, not willing to disturb her. Now, he found himself drowsy and extremely tired. They were still a couple of hours away from London. For a second, he was tempted to wake Ms. Lin up and ask her to keep him company. But the next moment, he was horrified at his own behaviour.
"What is wrong with my head today?" lost in such thoughts he completely missed the sign of the road curving ahead sharply.
Bang!!
The car tried to absorb the shock of skidding and hitting into a tree at high speed. Ying Hui felt his bones rattle deep inside. The air bags deployed automatically, pus.h.i.+ng into his face. He struggled to get the door open and come out.
Oh s.h.i.+t! Lin Jia Li.
He ran on unsteady legs to the other side of the car. The door was jammed against the tree trunk. Though the air bag had opened on the other side as well but Jia Li"s seat had been reclined so she had felt the full brunt of the hit. Her neck was at an unnatural angle and she was moaning softly in pain. Hui took in mouthful of breaths to calm himself down and dialled the emergency services.