Take Me Back To Paddington (SERIES)

Chapter 20 - The Call

I had my hands preparing the table for lunch since I decided not to get food delivery. Even though it was my day off and I should take a break from cooking, I really needed to distract myself from the things that happened in the morning earlier. The more I had free time with nothing to do rather than watching the TV, the more I would think about everything Natalie had told me.

So instead of sitting on the couch and zoning out, it was better to spend my free time in the kitchen. At least I could come out with something.

As I settled at the dining table and was about to take the second bite of the yakitori chicken I cooked for myself, my attention had gone to the ringing noise next to my teacup.

"Hello?"

I answered after seconds of staring at the unknown number that was flashing on my phone screen.

"Hello. Hi!"

"Hi?" I frowned to the excited, nervous sounding voice that I couldn't recognise yet.

"Hi. Is this Chae?"

"Yes, speaking. Who's this?"

"It's Lisa"

I had been sailing on the rough sea of emotions with bestial waves smacking my boat, taking me to its spiral storm in the middle of the blue ground rather than to the delicate hue of gold shore. I had given up my strength to the beastly force, no longer capable of paddling away and taking a different path to save my life. But if those stories of finding your own self, or even God, in the middle of the sea were actually happened to people, then I just might have experienced mine. Because I had found a miracle upon my death; my Lisa, and I dropped the anchor.

"Detective Lisa?!" I exclaimed, which made her chuckle a little.

"Yeah. That's me"

Getting up from the chair, I cupped my mouth with disbelief hunting for my peace.

"You got my note!"

Yes. That was what surprised me. The fact that Natalie still gave the paper to Lisa even though I just rejected her feelings towards me was something worth to address. But receiving a call from the woman I had been waiting for was the most shocking, of course. Because I didn't expect her to after those failed attempts she had made.

"I got your number, actually"

"Oh about that, I didn't know if you would come today"

"I'm glad I did"

"You do?" I was getting shy by every word that came out from her mouth.

"Yeah. I wouldn't have gotten your number if I didn't"

I didn't know how to respond to that, thinking if Lisa just teased me about how hard it was for her to get my number previously. Or if she really was thankful to come by the stall today and get what she had been asking for; a chance to get close to me. I couldn't tell which one since her voice was so attractively distracting.

"I'm glad you called" I muttered low, unsure if she could hear me since the anchor that I dropped was pulling my heart down with it.

"Me too even though I wasn't sure if it's the right time?"

"That's fine. I'm doing nothing currently"

"Really?"

"Yeah. Anyway, what were you doing in Camden on Saturday?"