"Mia?" I snap into reality when the man mumbles my name. My lips form into a smile when recognizing his voice.
"Chance?" I ask as he nods.
"Hi! What are you doing here? As far as I remember, you were in New York." I mumble as I give his bag.
"Well, I need to go back to Minnesota since my mother begged me to come home and have dinner with them as a reunion." He explains as he places his bag inside the basket of the bicycle.
Then, I glance down as my eyes widen when seeing his knees bleeding.
"Chance, your knees are injured!" I exclaim. He just smiles and shakes his head.
"You need to come with me so I could clean up your wounds." I offer while clasping my palm around his waist and tugs closer to follow me yet he's just standing on his position.
"It's just a scratch so don't worry. Thanks by the way for helping me." I shake my head as an answer and continue pulling him to come with me.
"Just come with me so I could clean your wounds. It's very risky if you stay that wound unsanitized." I explain. He sighs in defeat and nods.
"Great! Let's go." I exclaim while clapping.
"Do you have to do this? I mean it's very inconvenient to you that you helped me from picking the fruits on the grounds and now you'll clean my wounds." He utters as he follows me behind.
"Of course. You helped me when you almost hit me so I did the same." I say while gazing at him.
"I almost hit you in my car so I need to help you and at some point, it's my fault. It's a different scenario between you almost getting killed, to me, who helped me from picking all my fruits, and now, you will clean my wounds." He explains. I just pat his shoulder and don't even think to reply to his rants.
And when we reach the apartment building, I turn around with a smile on my face and announce, "Here we are." Then I point to the parking lot and add, "Just leave your bicycle beside the purple bicycle."
Then, he nods, parks his bicycle beside my bicycle and so I sign him to come with me upstairs and straight to my apartment.
As I unlock my door, my cat, Yang, who's lovingly greeted me with a mischievous meow at the entrance. "Hello, my lovely Yang! How are you? Have you eaten your food?" I ask Yang as I caress her face.
She replies with her cute voice.
"Get inside and make yourself comfortable," I tell Chance, who's just standing at the entrance.
"Oh, okay. Thank you." He mumbles as he takes out his shoes and goes inside the apartment.
"Just sit on the couch and wait for me. I'll just get the first aid kit at the bathroom." I mutter as I hurriedly stroll inside the bathroom to fetch the first aid kit.
And when I walk outside the bathroom, my head cocks on the side with bewilderment when Yang is resting on Chance's lap. And it's my first time seeing her very close to strangers. Usually, Yang doesn't want others to touch her body except for me and Yoongi.
"You two look so close," I utter while placing down the kit and sit beside Chance. He then glances at me, as his eyes glimmer when caressing Yang's body.
"She just came to me when I sat on the couch. She's really cute." He says.
"Wow, I'm amazed that Yang is resting on your lap. It's my first time seeing her like this. Perhaps, he likes you since she doesn't like others touching her." He hums as I take Yang out of his lap and place her on the floor so I could clean his wounds to his knees and elbows.
"Why do you have many wounds? What happened to you?" I implore while preparing the Povidone-iodide with the cotton. I put some on the cotton and start cleaning his wounds.
"The men wanted to get my money but I refused to give them any so they pushed me on the floor along with my bicycle, and the fruits fell on the ground." He explains what happened.
"Have you recognized their faces, who pushed you?"
"Yes but I choose to let that slide and move on." My eyes widen as my mouth gap, stunned.
"What?! Why?! You can report them to the police station." I exclaim yet he replies with a shrug. I roll my eyes, pressing the cotton too hard on his wounds which he winces in pain.
"That hurts! What was that for?" He asks me as he pulls his elbow away from me and blows his wounds to ease the pain.
"You just let it slide. You know you can report them but you didn't. You just made them repeat their action." I assert as I snatch his elbow to clean the wounds.
"I don't have time for them. I just want to get back home and have some rest." He murmurs. I snort at him and continue cleaning his wounds.
After cleaning his wounds, he stands up and grabs all his things as he's ready to leave out of my apartment but I stop him.
"Do you want to eat something?" I implore him while avoiding his eye contact.
"No, it's okay. You helped me too much."
"But I hear your stomach's growling so I know you are very hungry. Don't worry, I'm hungry too. I just want to invite you to eat with me. Is that okay?" He sighs and nods.
"Great! Just give me a minute to heat the food." He smiles and nods, crouching back to the couch and places Yang on his lap.
I step inside the kitchen to heat the food that I reserve for dinner but since I feel hungry, I just heat the food for lunch.
Afterward, I take out the food and serve it on the table. "Chance, the food is ready," I call him as I set up the utensils for both of us.
On the other hand, Chance sits in front of me, hesitant to eat the food that I served.
"What's the matter?" I ask. He just shakes his head as an answer, grabbing his utensils and begins eating his pasta and braised chicken. Then, I wait for his reaction yet he's continually eating his food.
"How was it?" I ask, he smiles and gives me a big thumbs up for the food.
"The food is great! I love how you perfectly cook the food." He praises as he continue eating his food.
"Thank you. I thought you didn't like the food so I'm very nervous when you didn't react to the food."
"You're fine."
After that, he says 'goodbye' to me when his mother calls him. I don't ask if there's any problem since it's his personal space and also, it's our second time meeting up by chance so it's insensitive for me to ask.
Then, I sit on the couch, having a little break but abruptly, the envelope given by Theo comes into my mind. And so, I grab my bag, searching for the envelope inside. When I find it, I crouch again and start opening the envelope.
"A letter?" I ask myself as I unfold the paper.
But before I proceed reading the letter, I hear my phone ringing so I get it and unlock my phone when seeing Theodore calls.
"Mia, where are you?" Theo asks from the other line.
"At the apartment. Why?"
"I thought you're getting back at the shop since you need to deposit the money at the bank." I groan when I forgot my main reason why I need to get back into the apartment.
"You forgot. Just get back at the shop so you could go to the bank before it closed."
"Okay. Thank you for reminding me." I hung up the phone.
I step inside my room to fetch the money and papers before leaving the apartment and go to the bank.