It's widely known that the more forbidden something is, the more desirable and attractive it becomes.
Li Jun was tense: tense and miserable, to be quite honest, it has been almost a week he has seen Li Na.
How hard could it be? He only saw his professor three times a week anyway, so technically it was only five hours he'd be missing. Big. Deal. He sighed. Yeah, it was a big deal. They'd had their last session last week Wednesday in her office and already he could feel an uncomfortable sensation of wanting and emptiness curl within his stomach at the thought of not seeing her. He has not felt such longing since the death of his first girlfriend.
Dammit.
His friend Chen Guang was looking at him through his laptop wondering what was wrong with Li Jun, for he has been frowning and quiet for some time. "Hey! Are you okay?" he asked, curiously. "You look like someone pissed in your garden."
Li Jun sits up from his hunched position. "Nothing, I'm good.
"Don't lie," Guang sneered. "You have been quiet for some time and I can see your hand shaking, have you taken your medicine? Hmm? When was the last time you went for a therapy session?"
Feeling angry Li Jun rolled his eyes in frustration "don't ask me such questions. I'm okay and I don't need to be monitored all the time".
"Look, I'm getting off the phone, I'll contact you tomorrow." Li Jun snapped, cutting off the video call.
His life, perhaps, could be described as a series of wrong turns, but he did not want to dwell on the past.
He started reading the latest report about the ongoing project on his iPad to distract himself while his driver was driving the black sleek Porsche through a thunderstorm in the middle of rush hour in downtown Taipei. Consequently, he told the driver to turn left rather than right onto the school gate to check if Li Na was around.
This meant that he was headed in the direction of Li Na's departmental building. There was no possibility of a U-turn on road during rush hour, and there was so much traffic his driver had a difficult time pulling over so that he could make a right turn and turn around. This was how he came upon a very wet and pathetic-looking Professor Li Na, standing miserably down the street as if she were a poor and homeless person, and how in a fit of shock and delight he came to invite her into his car.
"I'm sorry, Li Jun. I'm ruining your chair," she offered tiredly.
Li Jun's fingers tightened on the Ipad he was reading. "Don't worry about the chair, what happened? Where's your car," he asked, moving close to her with concern and longing on his face.
"It was not working so I parked it at the school." She said wearily.
Li Na exhaled toward the passenger window. She slowly turned her head to look outside and drew her lower lip roughly between her teeth.
Li Jun cursed under his breath, he wanted to move close to her kiss away her worries. Even beneath the tangle of wet, dark hair, she was pretty, a brown-eyed beauty in skirt and sandals
"Let me take you to your apartment." He softened his voice, so much so that Li Na could barely hear him.
"It seems that anytime I'm feeling down you're always there to take me back to my apartment "she smiled resignedly.
He told the driver the direction to her house and shortly the driver pulled the car in front of the high-rise building.
"Thank you," she murmured, and in a flash, she dove for the door handle to make her escape. "Wait," he commanded, reaching into the backseat to retrieve a large, black umbrella. She waited and was surprised to see Li Jun walk around the car to open the door for her (for she had not experienced such behavior from even her so-called ex), and wait with an open umbrella while she exited the car, and walk her up the sidewalk and the front steps of her building.
"Thank you," she said again as she pulled on her bag zip, trying to open it so she could find her keys to her apartment while walking towards the elevator.
Li Jun watched as she struggled with the zipper, then watched her face as she grew very frustrated and upset over the fact that the zipper wouldn't open.
Without saying a word, he grabbed the bag out of her hands and shoved the now closed umbrella at the driver who was watching them curiously.
He opened the zipper and held the bag out, inviting her to stick her hand inside to retrieve her keys. She found the keys, but she was distressed and her hands were shaking, so she dropped them. When she picked them up her hands were shaking so badly she had trouble locating the correct key on her key ring.
Seeing her lose focus and worried, Li Jun took the key ring away from her gently and began trying keys in the lock. When he'd successfully opened the door, he allowed her to enter before returning her keys. She took the bag from him and murmured her thanks. "You look too tired and worn out," he announced, following her through the hallway. "I'll walk you to your apartment. Okay."
Nodding at him she allowed him to follow her into the apartment. Then, she smiled up at him, comforted by his presence, and politely asked if he would like a cup of tea.
Despite being surprised by her invitation, Li Jun found himself standing in her apartment before he had the opportunity to consider whether it was a good idea. As he looked around the large and cozy apartment, he quickly concluded that it wasn't for he felt at home in her apartment.
"Li Jun give me your coat, let me hang it" Li Na's slightly cheerful little voice distracted him.
"Where would you put it? Let me hang it there myself" he said as he looked around her apartment, that was set up perfectly with books lined in a shelf attached to the wall, rows of potted flowers and plant lined at the window ledge, an overstuffed loveseat on the other, pack of old newspapers at the side of a small round table and a treadmill that faced the terrace glass-paned doors...
The Professor watched him look around her apartment curiously and showed him where to hang his black coat.
"Will you call your driver to come in, to take some tea because of the weather?" Li Na asked watching him hang his coat up carefully on a hook that was attached to the back of her door while she hastily placed her bag on the small round table.
"There is no need for me to call him; I've sent him back to the office. I will call for him when you are well-rested"
"Okay! seat down and feel comfortable. I'll make you some tea."
Li Jun walked to the Loveseat chair in her apartment and sat down, watching her walk into the kitchen to make some tea.
He noticed that she had not changed her cloth as water keep streaming off her and her cloth her sticking to her body, then he began to notice the clothes that were under the water, and then he began to notice what was under her clothes because it was cold…and he hastily and somewhat huskily suggested that she forego making tea to dry herself.
Once again her head tipped down, and she flushed before going into the bathroom and grabbing a towel.
She emerged a few seconds later with a purple towel wrapped around her upper body over her wet clothes and a second towel in her hand. She moved as if she was going to crawl across the floor to clean up the trail of water she'd scattered from the door to the center of the room, but Li Jun stood up and stopped her. "Allow me," he said. "You should change into some dry clothes before you catch a cold."
"And fall sick," she added, more to herself than to him as she disappeared into her closet.
Li Jun smirked at the image of her flushed face as he cleaned the water from the worn and scratched hardwood.
A few minutes later he realized that Li Na has not come out of her bedroom since he had told her to change her clothes. Feeling anxious, he realized that soft sobs were heard coming from the bedroom which clued him into her location and tore at his heart. Why did she affect me so much? He wondered even as he hesitantly headed for her bedroom.