Imperfect Desires

165 Can You Wait For Me?

On the brown leather wallet were carved two Chinese characters which read as... "Little King."

Xiu couldn't bring herself to look away as she stared intently at those words without blinking. As if remembering something, she opened the wallet and looked at Darren's id card.

"Regan Darren Salvay..." when she read his full name her eyes couldn't believe it.

"What's with the wallet? And what do you mean by that 'little king' written on it?" a distant voice rang in her mind.

"Regan means little king, duh!" she had replied feeling proud of herself for knowing that.

"Regan also means regal," he reminded her.

With an ugly look on her face, she said, "Same thing. Don't spoil my mood by correcting me. As for why I sent it... Mm... I always wanted to send gifts to a friend but I never had any before. You better use that. Or else I'll hunt you even as a ghost!"

"A Goddess haunting a King? That's a story, I'd like to hear," he had joked back making her stomp her foot in annoyance.

Xiu's dazed eyes regained the focus when Nora's voice entered her ears, "Xiu, although I know you avoid medicines, I still think you should take pain killers. You look so pale that it is scaring me now."

Xiu looked at her absent-mindedly and ended up laughing out. Nora raised her brows in surprise at her and before she could ask her what's wrong, she saw a couple of tears trickling down Xiu's face. "Xiu, what's going on? You're scaring me. Are you that hurt after seeing that photo? Why are you acting so weird?"

Xiu wiped the tears with the sleeve of her shirt and got up. Nora was left stumped while Xiu almost ran towards the door. As she pulled open the door, she was again surprised to see that Darren was standing outside the door but he seemed like he was about to turn around. But hearing the sound of the door, he stopped in his track and looked at Xiu.

Darren looked at her sheepishly while he tried to come up with an excuse, "I was... Well..."

Xiu didn't give him a chance to complete his words as she hugged him tightly. Darren didn't know why she was being like that but he didn't ask either. He silently stroked her hair. And in his embrace, for the first time in five years, Xiu felt like someone was hers. She always reminded herself that all the love she was receiving was originally for the real owner of this body but Darren was someone from her previous life.

Earlier, she had deliberately avoided accepting that Darren was the same person she knew. Even though she could clearly remember seeing him with Dylan. But she still chose to ignore those facts.

However, now she couldn't do so. That wallet was chosen by her, she especially customized it for the first friend she ever had. The reason why she knew him as Regan was because she purposely tried to avoid attachments and that's why she never asked him about his personal life. Attachments never did any good to her but in the end, she still got attached to a friend she never saw.

"I missed you," she said softly against his chest.

"Sweets, we literally met just a few hours ago," said Darren with a perplexed look.

"We did," she replied as she pulled away from him and looked at his face as she wondered, 'But I still missed you. You're the only person I really wanted to apologize to in my life.' Seeing his face, tears had brimmed in her eyes again. 'Gosh! I can't believe you're my little king. I really want to tell you who I am but if I did, will you really believe me?'

Seeing the tears swimming in her eyes, Darren held her face in his hands and asked, "Sweets, you okay? What's going on?" Xiu shook her head at him.

"Nothing, it must be my stupid hormones acting up again," she blamed all her emotional changes on her hormones. She didn't want to scare him away by talking about something as bizarre as reincarnation. Moreover, she didn't feel like the time was right for all that. "Oh, what are you doing here at this time?"

"Umm... I think I forgot something of mine at your place," replied Darren.

Xiu pulled out the wallet from her back pocket and asked, "Are you talking about this wallet?"

Darren's eyes brightened as he took the wallet from her hand and his eyes closed briefly as if in relief to see something precious. Darren heaved a sigh of relief as he thought to himself, 'Thank God, it was here.' He had turned his entire apartment upside down while looking for his wallet. He even went to the parking lot to search for it but couldn't find it.

He had wanted to look for it at Xiu's place but was hesitating since it wasn't polite to disturb them so late. That's why he had been contemplating outside her door for a long while now. Surprisingly, she ended up opening the door.

"You can check if anything's missing," said Xiu jokingly to lighten the mood.

Darren smiled at her rather sadly as he said, "Nothing is more important than the wallet itself." Xiu's eyes widened when she understood his meaning and a giddiness took over her heart. She so yearned to say out the truth but held herself back.

She needed to plan that confession for another day. For now, she wasn't ready to face her previous self. Because in her mind, if she accepted her previous self again, she thought she'd be pulled back in that life of endless pain and loneliness.

He knocked on her temple and said, "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"If I slept now, I won't be able to wake up for the office," replied Xiu.

"I already told Dylan that you won't be coming to the office. Go inside and take rest. He won't bother you." Xiu's heart warmed at this gesture. "Oh, and my flight is in two hours. I won't be seeing you for a week or so."

Xiu nodded at him and took his hand in her own as she said, "I'll be waiting for you." Darren smiled at her words and she took a pause before saying, "Can you wait for me?"

"What do you mean?" he questioned finding her words really strange.

"I mean, I'm not ready. I need time. Don't ask for what. Just know that I want you to give me a little bit of time and I'll tell you everything," said Xiu with an earnest look.

Darren was really confused but the way her eyes glanced at him, really forced him to drop all the questions that had popped up in his mind. Besides, didn't she say she'd tell him? He'd just believe in her words and have patience for now.Please go to