Second Arrangement

CHAPTER 8 - DINNER AND MOVIE

ELLIE

I was literally saved by the bell. I couldn't believe I said it out loud. I didn't want him to know that I've been keeping tabs on him while we were separated, but my stupid mouth had a mind on its own. Now he was suspicious that I kept tabs on him. Luckily he didn't bring it up in the conversation again. I was saved from further embarrassment.

"So, how's your day?" he tried to strike a conversation but once I told him how my day went, I went full mode blabbering. I paused midway when I realized that I was talking non stop.

"I'm talking too fast, ain't I?" I blushed in realization but he stopped me.
"Noooo," he quickly said. "It's okay. It shows that you're really passionate about your work. It's nothing bad."

"But you must be confused, I said lots of medical jargons. I bet you don't understand even half of it," I felt bad for thinking of him as my grandfather again. Ever since my grandfather died, I basically had no one else to share my daily life with.

He gave me a small smile, "Don't worry about it. Even if I don't understand it, the way you're telling me makes me feel like experiencing it myself. I'll pick up the jargons soon. Did you forget that I'm a language genius?" he wiggled his eyebrow jokingly to make me feel better.

"But it's medical jargons, not foreign language," I tried to argue.

"Medical jargons is just the same. It's just a language that you, doctors, use so learning about it is the same as learning a new language. I'll pick up in no time," he dismissed me and raised a finger to stop me from keep on arguing, so I closed my mouth.

We continued eating while talking about other lighter stuff. I let him tell me about his work that he did while he was in China. It was a different world than mine, but if we wanted to make this work, I should pay some interests to his world as well. Like what he did to me.

"Let me help you with the dishes," I quickly offered when we finished eating. I knew that he rarely cleaned. He relied so much on his cleaning aunty.

"I'll help you with it then," he quickly stood up and led the way to his kitchen. Together we worked in silence as I washed and he put away the dishes on the rack to dry. Five minutes later, we've already finished and I looked around awkwardly, unsure what to do.

"So, what do we do now?" I felt like asking the wrong question when I saw his mischievous face.

JACKSON

I really should take notes on those medical jargons if I wanted to keep up with her world. I cursed my brain for the low capacity. If only my memory for science stuff was as good as language stuff. But, medical jargons was just a language for doctors, so I could see it as foreign language, right? I could also see that she tried to pay more interest to my stories. Well, we did live in a different world, but mine was much more simpler than hers, but I appreciated her effort. I was almost jumping in joy when she offered to wash the dishes. I was running out of excuses to make her stay longer in my place, so her offering to do the dishes actually did me a favor.

"So, what do we do now?" she turned to face me after doing the dishes and I beamed at her question while she realized that she has just made a mistake.

"I have an idea," I tapped my chin, "But how late can you stay?" I didn't want to cut her resting time. She already had a busy schedule, so the least I could do was making sure that she was well-rested.

"I slept enough before dinner, so I'd probably can stay until 10," she replied.

I grabbed her wrist and dragged her back to the living room, "Let's watch a movie then. What kind of movie do you like?"