บท 11: Chapter 11: Coincidence

That night, after Qiao An meditated and read the whole book of romance novel she liked, she was able to get rid of the impure thought she had about Shen Jun Shan. The less interaction between them for about fortnight also helped in cleansing Qiao An's mind.

Without realising, it's been almost two months that Qiao An was staying in the same apartment complex as Amy Shen. Qiao An felt very comfortable in the apartment complex, especially during the weekend where she spent most of her time indoors. Amy Shen was not in her house, so Qiao An spent her time doing her usual thing.

The only thing she was uncomfortable with at this moment would be Wallance.

Qiao An never replied to his messages, but for some unknown reason, Wallance kept on sending her texts every day without fail. Since ignoring him was not working, Qiao An wanted to tell him to stop sending her messages as she won't go out and have lunch or dinner with him.

"I'm curious. Don't you have anything better to do?" Qiao An wanted to type some other sentences, but she thought that her backup sentences were too strong and it would make her appear rude. Since Wallance did nothing other than sending her tons of messages, she felt that she should be lenient towards him.

The reply was instant. As if Wallance had his phone with him while waiting for her response the whole time. "I'm busy, but I am willing to spend an hour for lunch with you. What do you say?"

Qiao An did not expect that kind of answer from Wallance. She heard from Amy Shen that her company with Wallance's company are partnering in a large-scale project in City L. The last week, as well as this week was a busy time for them. Amy couldn't even come for their manicure and pedicure night.

"No. I'm busy too. Please do your work diligently and stop sending me messages" Qiao An tried to tell Wallance in the nicest possible way. She hoped that he would understand her unwillingness and leave her alone.

Unknown to her, Wallance seemed to take her words the opposite way. He thought that Qiao An was considerate towards his busy life. "If let's say we meet again somewhere, would you have lunch with me? If you agree, I will stop sending you messages."

Qiao An was contemplating whether she should agree to that or not. Since she could not decide, she asked her three best friends in their group chat. Their group chat was called 'The Obscene'.

Qiao An had three best friends from her university days; Lei Xiao, Su Na and Yee Ling. Lei Xiao and Yee Ling were a year older than her while Su Na was a year younger. All of them were teachers, but they were teaching in different places.

Lei Xiao was an older sister figure amongst the four of them. Lei Xiao acted like their mother, and she was the most law-abiding citizen in the group.

Yee Ling was the crazy and active one. She has been everywhere in the world doing all sorts of things during the school break. Sometime Yee Ling will be volunteering in a third-world country, and someday Yee Ling will be travelling with her theatre committee doing some folk dance to promote our culture to the world. Sometimes she simply wanted to visit because she wanted to know how it feels to sleep in the tradition yurt of the Mongolian.

Meanwhile Su Na, the baby of the group was the one with the most obscene mind. Her mind was full of perverted things that Qiao An didn't know where did she learn all those things. Su Na could always turn even the most innocent things into something perverted.

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Qiao An: girls, I ask this guy to stop sending me messages, but he said that if I agree to have lunch with him if I ever bump into him in the future, he'll stop texting me. Should I say yes? Or no?

The replies were instant. As expected, Qiao An's friends never disappoint her.

Lei Xiao: Can he be trusted? If yes, then say yes.

Su Na: At first it will be a coincident meeting outside. Next time it will be meeting 'coincidently' inside the room.

Yee Ling: Go for it. You should try to meet new people. By the way, I am going to Cambodia next month. Does anyone want to join me?

Lei Xiao: Ah Ling is right. Go for it. But if you don't like him, then don't force yourself.

Lei Xiao: Can't go anywhere. I'm busy preparing for my wedding reception. Make sure all of you come; if not, our friendship ends here.

Su Na: An An, you should try going out with him. Maybe it will turn into something else.

Qiao An: Like what?

Su Na: Like the two of you might end up in the bedroom.

Yee Ling: SU NA! You perv!

Lei Xiao: PERV!

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Qiao An gave up. She didn't want to participate in the conversation anymore. She thought that the possibility of her bumping into Wallance might not be that high. So she replied yes to his message and true to his word earlier, Wallance did stop sending her messages. Qiao An felt relieved.

As Qiao An refused to interact with all sorts of people, she didn't think of what could be planned in Wallance's head.

Wallance had a broad smile after reading Qiao An's reply. As a man in the business, Wallance had thought about the risks and consequences before proposing something, and when he suggested something, he will make sure that he will gain benefit from it.

Looking at all the documents on his temporary table in Shen Jun Shan's company, he felt satisfied for the first time. He purposely rested and ignored the mountain of files in front of him. If he was not mistaken, Shen Jun Shan mentioned that Qiao An lived in the same apartment building with him. If he went to Shen Jun Shan's house, there was a huge possibility that he will meet Qiao An there right?

Wallance felt that he was so lucky to know such information. He smiled and did nothing until it was half an hour after five. Wallance stood up and went to Shen Jun Shan's office.

"Jun Shan, I'm sick of ordering takeout. Can we eat homecooked food today?" Wallance and Shen Jun Shan were roommates back in the university so he knew that Shen Jun Shan could cook.

Shen Jun Shan stopped looking at the file in his hands and looked up to Wallance. Something was amiss, but he couldn't pinpoint the exact matter. Shen Jun Shan was bored with eating out too, so he agreed. Shen Jun Shan informed Amy Shen about it, and even though his sister was not happy for the fact that Wallance will come over to their house, she was delighted to go back early.

Wallance drove his car to the apartment complex where Shen Jun Shan lived. It was not his first time going there, so he knew the way. Wallance hoped that he could bump into Qiao An there.

When they arrived in the parking lot, Wallance parked his car in the empty parking lot beside Shen Jun Shan's car. As Amy Shen went out of the car, she already had a dissatisfied look on her face. "You need to park somewhere else. That's An An parking lot."

Since the car was not in the parking lot, Wallance knew that Qiao An was not around. He was disappointed. He moved his car in the next vacant parking lot. Wallance went up to Shen Jun Shan's house with a heavy heart.

Saturday supposed to be Qiao An's day to laze around doing nothing but at the moment, Qiao An was outside in the coffee shop where she and Amy Shen had their coffee last time. Jin wanted to meet her to check up on her. Qiao An was used to this.

Even though Jin was her stepbrother, he has always been protective of her. He was even more protective of her compared to her biological mother. Qiao An knew how it feels to worry about someone else. Therefore, even though Jin could be overwhelming sometimes, Qiao An tried her best to accommodate her only brother.

Other than to check up on her, Jin has other reason in mind. He came to remind Qiao An about the charity dinner organised by their parents in the upcoming week. Not many people knew about Qiao An being the stepdaughter of the owner of Tang Properties, one of the biggest real estate company in the country. It was mainly because Qiao An never show herself in media and her family respected her decision to anonymous. Even so, she still needed to attend such a party and dinner to show her support for her family.

Jin also told Qiao An that his girlfriend would come along too so he hoped that Qiao An could befriend with his girlfriend, Cleo. Qiao An nodded to convey her understanding. After an hour of speaking, Jin finally let his sister go back.

As the clock showed a quarter after eight, Wallance excused himself to go home. He wanted to stay longer in case Qiao An will be back, but the look Amy Shen gave her made him rethink of his plan. It was a mystery to him of why Amy Shen seemed to hate him for no reason. In the end, he decided to go back home.

As he reached the ground floor, he saw a car moving towards the parking lot. His heart raced suddenly as he hoped the person who drove the vehicle was Qiao An. He couldn't stop smiling when he saw Qiao An went out of the car.

Wallance hid behind the wall so that Qiao An couldn't see him. He took a peek and saw that Qiao An was inspecting his car that parked right beside her car. Wallance came out from his hiding place and went towards his car.

"Excuse me, miss. Why are you looking at my car? Is there any problem?" Wallance looked at Qiao An and feigned a surprise. "Oh my, Miss Qiao An. How come it's you?"

Qiao An was surprised, of course, but she did not show it to her face. She had a suspicion that it wasn't coincident. "I thought this car belongs to D3006. It turns out that it's only you" Qiao An only looked at Wallance for a few seconds, and she averted her eyes. She turned around to walk away from Wallance, but she stopped in her track when she heard the next sentences came out from Wallance.

"So, I guess...lunch tomorrow? I'll text you the address. See you tomorrow" A sound of the door being closed sounded after that.

Qiao An froze as she remembered the deal with Wallance, but she did not turn around. She saw a movie a few years back. According to the male lead of the film, if the girl turned around to look at him before he drove away, it means that the girl was interested in him. Since Qiao An was not interested in Wallance, of course, she will not turn around.

She walked up to her house and sat on the sofa dejectedly. How could thing turn out this way? Qiao An was sitting calmly, and all her energy depleted after meeting Wallance. She didn't want to go and have lunch with him.

After half an hour whining inside her heart and remembering the group chat, she decided to go with it.