Chapter 7 Unexpected Visitor

Before renewing her contract with her employers, Janny Xu had returned to her secluded home town for two weeks to visit her aged parents, having missed them so much after spending several years in a strange city far from home. She had barely resumed work for a week when gossip in the office about her teammate's probable accident had somehow reached her ears. Up till now, nobody had bothered to find out what happened to their colleague who was missing in action. Janny found it appalling how certain people only cared about themselves and had only seemed to be concerned about her when it benefited themselves. In the past, when they worked together as a team, so many of these colleagues had invested in currying favour with Ying Xue, by treating her to bubble milk tea and snacks as well as gifting her with her favourite chocolates recurrently. Life in the working environment was so realistic that it saddened her.

The moment she knocked off work that day, she got into her vehicle and punched in the conference and Ying Xue's name into the search engine Yoogle. She ended up on the news page of their official paper which announced Ying Xue's auto accident, and it wrecked her to find out the truth behind her teammate's disappearance. For a while now, she had seen Ying Xue as her friend. They were also flatmates.

The conference her friend attended had been convened in another city whereby journeying from their city was less than an hour by plane, but varied between four and six hours by road. Very soon, in two weeks, their colleagues would be leaving for their bi-annual office trip to Jeju-Do, Korea. So hence, she took a few days of unpaid leave and immediately made her last-minute cancellations to their journey. Her colleagues were annoyed with her abrupt change in mind, but she prioritized getting to her friend as soon as possible. 

As they lived in the same flat, Janny initially felt a bit dubious that Ying Xue was still not home after leaving for the conference three weeks ago. The conference had only meant to proceed for merely five days. She had expected Ying Xue to remain in the city for a maximum of one week to satiate her curiosity in exploring places she had never been to before. Thus, she was puzzled and had called her continuously to confirm if she was safe and sound. Unfortunately, the frantic calls she had made to her friend were futile, because she had switched off her phone, or her calls were left unanswered after continuously ringing for some time. 

The very night, she packed a few days' worths of clothing and purchased a two-way ticket online for a bullet train to City N, where her friend was hospitalized. Though she was rather daunted by the thoughts of making a solo trip for the first time, she firmly finalized her decision to proceed with her travel plans. The reason was simply that she needed to know that her friend was alright after she had not answered her calls for a week! 

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At the subway station, a dainty girl in a striped grey jumper squeezed past the commuters and hurriedly boarded the train.

As expected, the carriage was bustling with a vast number of commuters travelling to the city and she struggled in locating an empty seat. The puerile and innocuous Janny was not used to the speedy and hectic life in City N. It was extremely distinct from the slow and peaceful life in City S! Janny ended up receiving a few pushes by the rushing passengers, before falling directly on a seat and bruising her bottom!

Hours later, Janny pulled on her long tresses and persevered after she was finally able to breathe. After a few stops, she disembarked from the train with a long face. Compared to the hours-long journey in the bullet train earlier, it was more of an ordeal to squeeze between the packed train of commuters! She likened it to a can of sardines, and sincerely hoped that she would not need to endure such torture ever again.

Unfortunately, the moment she was about to exit the station via a turnstile, she ran into trouble when she accidentally splashed her drink on a rushing man passing through the turnstile beside hers. What was worst was that her drink was not colourless, and left stains on the man's plain white shirt. As much as she had wanted to repay the man for staining his shirt, the man was rushing. 

"I didn't mean it. I don't understand how the bottle cap came undone," she tried to explain, but the man just ignored her and attempted to hail a taxi. By then, it had been evident to her he was running late.

She offered to pay for his ride instead. However, the man, with a cross look on his face, told her he was going to be late for his interview if she stalled him, and she had already dirtied the white shirt, so she had already ruined his first impression at the interview. 

"Where are you going?"

"Hospital Saint Marie," he answered in a miffed tone. 

"I'm going there too. We can share the ride."

"Whatever." He didn't seem very appreciative of her kindness. 

A taxi stopped in front of them. While en route to the hospital, she offered him a packet of wet wipes to clean his attire, and he grudgingly accepted.

"What's your name?" she asked enthusiastically. He glared at her but told her his name. "Tang Ying Huo."

She could not believe her ears. Was this smart-looking man no other than Ying Xue's younger brother, that she had often spoken of? But of all places, why was he having an interview at the hospital where his older sister was warded? Still, they had just met, and she couldn't possibly bombard him with more questions during their first meeting!

So she just replied, "My name is Janny Xu." He wasn't in the least interested, and something was bothering him, but as a stranger, it was not her call to ask or console him, lest he felt offended by her actions.

She dropped off at the female patients' ward and paid off the taxi driver. 

Ying Xue... Xue Xue... she thought to herself. I hope you are okay. She was a positive and happy-go-lucky young woman, a perfect specimen of a hopeless romantic and also possessing such an unrealistic character that no matter what, it just wouldn't have occurred to her that her good friend was amnesiac.

Getting to know this flatmate would be the next thing Chu Xin Ran had to do, and she was undoubtedly astounded when this unexpected visitor turned up outside her room door, after weeks of having no visitors but Jing Yue!