Imperfect Desires

112 W For Sweets

Settling in the backseat of the car, Darren saw Xiu curled up in a corner with her head lying against the window. Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be sleeping peacefully as the street lights fell on half of her face to illuminate it in a dreamy way. There was a rare calmness on her face which Darren usually didn't find.

'She was like a little queen

with a tornado of emotions left unseen.

With the burden of unheard shadows of sweet sounds,

she was trudging the path to heaven like a may queen.

Her defying pain was left unfelt

It touched the bottom of her soul

Just to open her whole.

Ah! She was indeed a little queen.

A chaos we called madness

And a recipe of a beautiful disaster.'

Darren stared at her face illuminated by the street lights for a little longer before extending his arm and with his hand on the side of her face, he placed her head on his shoulder. As he was brushing her hair away from her face, he heard her voice, "Hate to break it to you but I'm not sleeping."

Xiu was about to lift her head when he pushed her head back on his shoulder and said, "You could have pretended that you're sleeping."

"I could but I didn't want to lie," replied Xiu sincerely. Finding a comfortable position, she added, "I'm just super tired. My weekend lazy self has gone through a pure agony today. I find it cruel rather than complacent."

Darren smiled at her answer and with his hand gestured for the driver to start their journey. "If you had mentioned the name of your boss, I'd have made sure that he would never even dare to call you out on Saturday."

Xiu found his support sweeter than any word. "Mr. McSpicy, as much as I loved those words, let me be clear. My professional and personal life have a clear line. It's like a tightrope I'm dancing on but I still enjoy it this way."

Darren didn't say anything in response since he didn't know how to. After all, what she said made sense. He never mixed his professional life with his personal one, how could he ask her to do something that was against his own principles and conscious?

"I'm gonna be honest with you about one thing," said Xiu when she didn't hear anything from him.

"About what?" asked Darren looking into her eyes.

"I literally have no darn clue about relationships. There. I just said it! Phew! The cat's finally out of the bag. It is liberating," Xiu felt good after she voiced that out. Previously, she had been only in a single relationship but looking back, all she realized was that only she was the one putting effort into that relationship if one could call it that. So, in fact, she really didn't know how relationships actually worked.

"Sweets, do you think everyone in a relationship knows what they're getting into?" Xiu blinked at him with a frown. "No, silly. But people still take the chance. Do you know why?" Xiu had a thoughtful look but then she ended up shaking her head. Darren tapped the space between her forehead and said, "They are willing to take the chance because a relationship is always between two complete idiots who have no clue what they are looking for. But all they have is a simple thought that they will figure it out... Together."

"Ohhh..." Xiu had a look of enlightenment as she bobbed her head up and down in slow motion. After a moment she said, "If we are figuring out stuff then I think I should let you know." Darren raised his brow at her inquisitively and she continued, "I'm a very private person. If you want to know something please ask since if you won't ask, I won't tell. I believe I'll be burdening people with my own problems if I talked first."

Darren opened his mouth to say something when she placed her head on his shoulder and continued her babbling, "Also, I'm lazy as you had been informed. So, my weekends are often spent deciding whether to just keep sleeping or take a shower? In the end, of course, I shower but just to make it seem like I did something productive. But then I again go back to sleep. Because there is no compromise on sleep."

Just like that Xiu continued to talk about almost all the useless things she could think of. Her voice grew softer and softer as her whole day's tiredness was wearing her down now. But she didn't stop talking even now as she said, "Just think that today wasn't our first day at all. I don't want to start dating on a bad note. Today could be described as the worst first day of dating in the history of dating."

Darren chuckled at her words and said, "I'm not sure. I mean, I really find this day... Memorable. I think I'll never get to see another dating which started at the police station."

Xiu hit his arm but since she was half asleep, her hands didn't have much strength at all. "Memorable? What was so memorable about it?" She rubbed her eyes to keep herself awake for a little longer.

"I don't know about you Sweets. But..." he tapped the tip of her nose making her scrunch it up. "It was memorable for me since you called me for help. You didn't call anyone but your boyfriend. I'm gonna sound really crazy but I actually felt happy to know that you looked for me in time of need."

"Okay. You officially sound crazy," said Xiu as she closed her eyes again.

"I know," said Darren softly and added, "Do you know I learned a new thing about you today?"

"Really? What's that?" Xiu asked with her eyes tightly shut.

"I learned you're a combination of three 'W'," stated Darren making Xiu's eyes open as she stared at him in confusion.

"Three W?"

Darren nodded before elaborating, "Wild, weird and wondrous."

Xiu pressed her lips together and stayed quiet in response. That compliment sounded better than anything she had ever heard in her two lives. With a sweet and content smile on her face, she finally fell in deep slumber.

And...

That's why she missed the words Darren whispered close to her ear, "Besides, Sweets. Who said our first day has ended?"Please go to