It's SWEET and BITTER - Episode (9)

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          ''Do you still like me?'' Those 5 words echoes on and on in my head, never seeming to end. I turned to look at him. His face was serious, eyes shining with a desire for answers. ''What?''

          ''That day, at your house's void deck. Before the incident. You said that you liked me, right?'' I was immediately brought back to the time when we were at the void deck of my house, where I confessed. I nodded my head, but after a moment, I realized something, ''You... your memory is back!'' He gave me a gentle smile and said, ''Yes, they've came back to me, all thanks to the care that you have been giving me while I didn't have them.'' I felt my cheeks' temperature rises a little, so I looked down. He continued, ''The day the incident happened, I was on the way back home from school too. Then I saw you, looking at your phone. I decided to go up and talk to you because after a fortnight of not talking with you, I realized that I missed you, I actually have feelings for you. When I made up my mind, I started walking towards you. That's when I saw the blue Mitsubishi Lancer.'' So that was what happened... Tears started flowing down my cheeks. I covered my face with my hands and let myself cried. ''Sorry... Sorry for implicating you... You weren't supposed to be the one getting hit by that car... Sorry...'' 

          I felt a pair of strong arms on my shoulders, pulling me into an embrace. One hand was stroking my back. ''It's not your fault. I did it on my own will. I only knew I had to protect you. That's all.'' I continued crying in his arms. When I felt better, I left his arms, and that was when he repeat his question again, "Do you still like me?" I nodded my head silently. "Be my girlfriend, will you?" It was soft, but I was sure that I had not just imagined that. I looked at him and not long later, tears start to flow again.

          He cupped my face in his hands and used his thumbs to wipe away my tears. I stared at him. "Will you?" I nodded, profusely. He smiled and we hugged. Tears flowed once again, but this time, it was tears of happiness. It was a dream come true for me. "Thank you", I said. He corrected me, "No, thank YOU." 

         My Christmas, no, OUR christmas, ended with a happy ending. It was once bitter, but now, it's sweet. I love him, and I am sure that after all this that has happened, my love for him will only become more and more. Thank you Eugene, for making my dream come true. I love you for ever more.

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And that brings an end to my first story, "It's SWEET and BITTER"! Thank you for being such patient readers! Do look forward to the next story! It will however take some time to come as studies are getting more and more busy. Please continue to be patient and support me! Thank you! :D

It's SWEET and BITTER - Episode (8)

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          But I never had the chance to test my hypothesis, because not long later my end year examinations came while he had to prepare for his 'O' Levels so we didn't meet as much as before. By the time we finally met again, I have long forgotten about the hypothesis I made.

          I wanted to meet him, badly. I didn't meet him much in the end even though exams were over, he had his own personal life to live too. I decided to ask him out on Christmas. 

          ''Yo.''

          ''Sup! It's been a long time!'' 

          ''Yeah exactly. I wanted to ask you, are you free on Christmas Day?''

          ''Christmas... Yes I'm on leave that day."
          "On leave? You're working now?"
          "Yeah, didn't you know?"
          "Now I know. I'll tell you where and when to go again when I've made up my mind!"
          "OK, but can we watch Thor? The part two of the movie is out."
          "OK sure why not. After that we'll go have dinner."
          "OK!"

          Christmas Day finally came. Everywhere is decorated with Christmas lights and decorations. It was so beautiful. As planned, we went to watch the movie he wanted to and then went for dinner. After dinner, we decided to walk back home from where we were. On the way, we talked and laughed, and even took pictures together! I was feeling so happy. We came to this big Christmas Tree and as usual, we took a picture with it together, with the help of a passer-by of course. Then, we sat on a nearby bench and chatted, enjoying the cool night breeze.
"Do you have any wish for Christmas?"
"Me?"
"Yeah of course!"
"Do people even wish for things during Christmas?"
"Not sure! But we can always create our own tradition!"
"Well if that's the case, then maybe for now I'll just wish for luck for my exams next year. It's my turn having 'O' levels next year as we all know. How about you?"
"I wish to be able to be together with the person I like for as long as possible."
I was stunned for a while. "You have someone that you like?"
"Yes of course."
Oh. He has someone that he likes already. I wonder who. "How is she like?"
"She's a very nice girl. Good girl. Smart girl. Caring girl. She cared for me when I was sick. She was there for me when I had no idea what the hell was happening around me. Always there, no matter when.
Oh oh. "One thing good is that she likes me too! Well if she haven't change her heart, that is."
Oh oh oh. "Really? In that case what are you waiting for? Ask her the question!" What in the world am I saying?
"But like I said I'm not even sure if she still likes me or not."
"It's OK just be initiative and ask! At least you stand a chance when you ask! You are a man!" I feel like crying.
"Oh? So what should I say to her?"
"How about confirming with her first if she still likes you or not?"
"OK I see what you mean."

          I decided to remain quiet. He too kept quiet for a while. We enjoyed the scenery in silence. After some time, he asked, "Do you still like me?"
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It's SWEET and BITTER - Episode (7)

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         He was finally back in school.  We agreed to walk back home together everyday after school. Today was the same as any other day. We were walking our usual way home. He goes on on his  story about how he's unable to catch up with his studies.

          We came to the place where the incident happened again. "Ow..." he said. For the past few days, his head has been aching whenever we came to this area. Is he getting back his memory? I often wondered. I looked at him as he clutched his head. Soon. He will get it back soon.

          The green man lighted up and we proceeded to cross the road. A fast approaching car came screeching to a stop as soon as he realized the light was red and he had to stop. "Ah!" He screamed as he bend down. "Why what's wrong you okay?" I asked. The sound must have made his headache even more intense. "Come on, get to the other side first," I said as I helped him up to get to the other side of the road. "Take a deep breath." I instructed him. He squeezed his eyes tight. Suddenly, he opened them wide. He looked up at me. He stare at me for what seemed like a century, then smiled and said, "I'm alright. Let's go." Seeing that he's really alright, I decided to listen to him and continue our way home.

          Some time later, I started to doubt whether he was really okay. He seemed to have changed. From the childish him to a matured him, just like his old self. It was as if he regained his memory. I didn't know how to put words in, he just seemed to be, a different person again. Even though he still acts childish and all, but I could feel. It wasn't like the other time when he was really like a childish person, where that childishness came from the bottom of his heart. The childishness that he gives recently, it feels more of like an act. I began to wonder if he has really regained his memory. I decided to find a chance and test my hypothesis.

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It's SWEET and BITTER - Episode (6)

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          Eugene was discharged from the hospital one week later. I decided that there was no point in me going to fetch him since his family will definitely be fetching him, and that me being there would only be extra so I decided to just stay at home and wait for news of him being back home to arrive.

          I was reading a book when my mobile rang. The screen displayed his name. "Why didn't you come along and fetch me?" he asked, as soon as I answered the call. "I was expecting you, you know." I had no idea what to say. I didn't expect him to be waiting for me. "I thought that there wasn't any reason why I should turn up, since your parents would be fetching you anyway." "But it's the day that I'm finally discharged from the hospital!" he protested. "I was really hoping that you would turn up." he said, as he became softer than before. Upon hearing that, I felt like as if my whole body melted. "Alright, I'm sorry for not turning up. You should have told me that you wanted me to turn up. That way I would have definitely shown up." He remained silence. "Okay, how about this. I'll come over and visit you tomorrow, okay? In the mean time, you should have some rest. After all you just came back from the hospital."
"Promise?"
"Yes promise. The one who goes against their words will owe the other three packets of ice cream, agree?"
He sounded like he was grinning. Happily, he replied, "Agreed!"

          His parents were away at work, while his brothers had their own commitments. He was the one who opened the door for me when I rang the doorbell. "You came!' he smiled.
"Like I promised! I wouldn't want to treat you to three packets of ice cream anyway, since you just returned from the hospital!" As I entered the house, I asked, "Have you eaten your lunch yet?" He shook his head.
"How about I cook for you?" He immediately nodded his head. He was like a five-years-old kid! I couldn't help but laugh at him.

          I decided to cook him some porridge as he is still on the verge of recovering. As I was busy working away in the kitchen, he was always peeking from behind. After some time he finally settled down, since the porridge was ready to be eaten. He begin to eat. "Is it nice?" I asked cautiously. He nodded his head vigorously without uttering a word, since he was busy swallowing the porridge literally! I smiled at him. He was so cute in his current state.

          Maybe it might not be a bad thing after all that he isn't remembering the past. Maybe things were meant to be this way, from this second onwards. Maybe it was all, destined.
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It's SWEET and BITTER - Episode (5)

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          What's going on? Why can't he remember me? "Doctor! Doctor! What's going on? Why don't he remember me?" The doctor finally came out of the ward after checking on Eugene. "Well, it appears that the concussion has caused him to have traumatic amnesia." "Traumatic amnesia?" The doctor nodded his head. "Yes. It occurs when the patient receives a hard blow to their head as a result from a car accident. The lose of memory is temporary though, but how long it will last... will have to depend on the patient himself."

          "I'm Ailee, your... childhood friend. We sort of grew up together. You're 16 years old this year. I'm a year younger than you, so I'm 15. You have one elder and one younger brother. We both study in the same school together - Clementi Woods Secondary. You're in Basketball." He asked for me to give him a self-introduction. "I remember. I remember my family. But not you, why?"  I shrugged my shoulders, "Well, the doctor said that it will cause you to lose some of your memory, but not all." I paused to look at him, he had a puzzled look on his face. "Don't give yourself too much stress, you just had a surgery after all." "Eugene!" We both turned. It was his family. "Oh thank goodness you're OK! Thank you Ailee for accompanying him." "Don't mention it. It's getting late, I'll get going then, since you are here." I turned to look at him, he was staring at me. "Bye." I said, and left. I couldn't stay in there any longer. It was all because of me that he's in there, and worse still, he lost his memory.

          I visited him at the hospital three days later. He was looking better. He asked for me to accompany him to the gardens. "Were we very close?" He asked out of the blue. "What?" "Was our relationship very close? I can't really remember, but I kind of dreamt that we always went home together, and I thought that that could probably be the past." I stared at him with wide eyes. Does that mean that he will remember what he has forgotten soon enough? "Well, kind of? I think we weren't very close, but neither were we very stranger to each other." He looked down, like a little boy who was disappointed because his mum didn't allow him to have ice cream. "What do we usually do then? Apart from walking home together?" I thought for a moment. Yes, there indeed was. "You remember the time where we went in late for school? We decided to walk to school since we were already late, rather than the usual routine of taking the bus. We even went to eat at the hawker for breakfast! We even did our detention work together after school!" He smiled, "I don't remember, but from what you said, I believed we had lots of fun on that day right? I didn't know we were so naughty." "Now you know." He was smiling. I liked it when he smiled like that, the dimple on his right cheek would show.

          "Actually," I started, "It might not be such a bad thing after all that you forgot the past." He looked at me, with his face tilt at an angle. I laughed and continued, "Well, we once had an argument, or disagreement you could say, that lasted for years. It might not be such a bad thing that you forgot about it." He was shocked. "Really?" I nodded. "I'm surprised, really. I thought that we had such a close relationship that such things wouldn't happen." I laughed, he had this really kiddy look on his face. "You make it sound as if we were a couple in the middle of a relationship." He was sterned for a moment. "Couple, you say... Relationships... We... ah!" He was grabbing his head, he was in pain. "Stop! It's alright OK, no one's scolding you for losing your memory. Take your time, it's alright. You have plenty of time, now that you're safe and sound." He loosen his grabs and looked at me. Seeing my reassuring expression, he smiled and let go of his head and enjoyed the evening sky.
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Hi! As promised, here comes my summary for my next story! The title will be: "My Tenant Boyfriend!" , "我的租客男朋友！" .

English: "Xiao Xuan's married, I've got to find a new tenant quick! If not I'll have to pay for the whole house! Well actually it's not that I can't afford it, I just want to have more to spend on!" When a hot and handsome guy returns from overseas and decides to be independent and rents one of her rooms, sparks starts to fly. But will everything go on smoothly like they had wished for?

Chinese: ”晓萱结婚了，我得赶紧找个人把空房给租出去！其实我也不是没那个本事还整个家的费用，我只是想省多点钱留给自己去花！“ 当刚从国外回国的帅气男子准备学习独立而跟她租房时，他们俩开始擦出火花。但一切真能如他们所愿顺利地开花结果吗？

Please do stay tune and continue to read It's SWEET and BITTER and wait for the next story! Thank you!! :D

It's SWEET and BITTER - Episode (4)

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          Eugene remained where he was. Did he just hear what he thought he had heard? Ailee... just confessed right? He started walking back home, thinking about what she had said. 

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          It's been a fortnight since I confessed to Eugene. Ever since the confession, we haven't met or talked at all. I used up all the courage I had to confess to him that there was none left afterwards for me to be initiative and be the first one to contact him. But neither did he contact me. I haven't seen him in school either, so we didn't really had the chance to talk. 

          On the Friday of the second week, the last school day of the week, I had CCA until 6pm. After CCA, I was making my way home. I took out my phone and stared at it. No messages, no calls. Nothing. Nothing from him. I opened up his contact, thinking if I should start a conversation with him. I felt tired though, I always had to be the one that's initiative. Never him once.

          I was struggling inside, whether to be the initiative one this time round. Should I? Or should I not? Just when I was trying to make up my mind I heard someone call my name.

          "Ailee!" Who called me? Before I could turn around to look at who it was, a pair of hands came pushing me and I fell to the floor. What just happened? I turned around. There was a blue Mitsubishi Lancer, with a terrified driver inside. Behind the blue Mitsubishi, lay a person who was unconscious and bleeding profusely. I ran towards him and shook him hard. "Wake up, wake up. You can't sleep. Wake up. Wake up! EUGENE WAKE UP!!!"

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          The red light of the operation theatre turned off. The doctor and two nurses came out of the operation theatre. I jumped out of my seat and asked the doctor, "How's Eugene? Is he OK?" The doctor took off his mask and said, "Yes he's OK. He suffered a head concussion though. When he's awake we'll have to do another detailed check to make sure there's no after effects. You can visit him in his ward." Thank God he's OK! "Thank you Doctor!" 

          I walked to his ward, he was already lying in there. He had a bandage on his head. I sat in the chair beside his bed and took his hand in mine. Tears started swelling up in my eyes. Too much to hold, the tears started falling down. "Thank God you're OK. I wouldn't have known what to do if you weren't." Then I remembered, he's lying here now all because of me. "Why did you push me away? If you didn't you wouldn't have been the one lying down here. Why? I rather it was me who have been knocked down! Please wake up soon, please! I need to apologize to you, I must!"

          Unknowingly, I fell asleep. It was a long and tiring day after all. In my dreams, the scenario of the accident replayed itself. "Eugene!" I woke up, startled. Looking around, I realize I was still in the hospital, and he was still in his sleep. Tightening the grab around his hand, tears started flowing again. Just then, I felt a movement. His fingers twitched. I looked up. His fingers were really twitching. Slowly, his eyelids start to open. "Eugene! Eugene! You're finally awake! Are you OK? Do you feel pain or anything?" He looked at his surroundings, and then at me. He spoke softly, "Where am I?" paused for a while and continued, "Who are you?"

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Hi! Sorry for not updating for so long! Here's 2 chapters for you guys! Hope you enjoyed! 

Also, I have an announcement to make. Shortly after "It's SWEET and BITTER", a new story will be coming up! However, I've decided to publish the story in Chinese. Sorry to those who can't understand Chinese but the decision has been made! If you are really keen, leave a comment to me or something. If there are a lot of readers who wants the next story in English, I'll do a translation after the Chinese version one is completed! A summary of the story will be posted when Episode (5) of "It's SWEET and BITTER" is posted. Sorry for the inconvenience caused but I hope that you will still continue to support me! Thank you! :D

It's SWEET and BITTER - Episode (3)

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          After completing his PSLE, Eugene went on to Clementi Woods Secondary. I aimed for Commonwealth Secondary, which had a much higher aggregate score. I didn't want to enter Clementi Woods as I didn't want to face him if I ever bump into him while walking in school. Sadly, I didn't achieve what I had to achieve to enter Commonwealth Secondary and the only school I could enroll into was Clementi Woods Secondary.

          For 2 years when I was in Clementi Woods, I had obviously by past him quite a number of times in school. But, we didn't talk to each other. However, I sent him a friend request on Facebook, and he actually accepted! I was so happy I think I was jumping! I have made some best friends by then, and I told them about Eugene. 

          At the end of Secondary 2, I couldn't take it anymore. I decided, if he won't make the initiative, then I will. So I sent him a Facebook message and strike a conversation with him. And he replied! Afterwards, I told him what was really going on in my mind back then and cleared up the misunderstanding between us. Now, we are finally friends again! I even asked for his phone number and he actually gave it to me!

          We talked a lot. He resumed his position as a brother and a friend to me in my heart. Sometimes, we even have lunch together. Slowly, we were back to how close we were in the past.

          I realized though, that when we were together, I would be so happy that I could go on being in a good mood for days. Later on, I realized that, I've fallen for him again. 

          "Hey. Why are you so quiet today? You usually have a lot to talk." He asked me one day after school when we were on the way home together. "Who bullied you? Tell me, Brother will settle it for you." I turned to look at him. I stare into his eyes for a moment, and smiled. "Nothing. No one bullied me, the moment they find out I'm your sister they back away immediately, they don't even have the chance to touch me a bit at all, how can they bully me?" He grinned. I like it when he grins, it shows his dimple. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke again. "If that's the case, why are you so quiet today? It's unlike your usual self, you know."  What should I say? I... can't possibly tell him that I like him, can I? "Is it something that I can't know of? If that's the case then never mind. I won't force you." I look up, we were reaching home soon. 

          "Well actually it's nothing much. It's just that I realized..." I turned to face him. He had a blur look on his face, like a little boy trying to understand what his teacher is trying to teach. "I realized that I... developed a crush for you again."

          His eyes turned wide. As if nothing happened, I continued on. "I liked you once back then, before the misunderstanding. And now, it came back again." I ended with shrug. Like nothing happened, I smiled and said. "I've reached. Thanks for the company! See you around!" 

          I turned and ran towards the lift. Just when I was about to press the lift button, I ran back to him again. "You don't have to mind my feelings you know. Really. I don't mind if it isn't reciprocated, I just thought that well, maybe you should know after all. We can always continue on as before. This will be the last time I ever show my feelings for you as an admirer, I promise you. The next time we meet, I'll be back to being your sister again." I smiled at him, and walked back towards the lift.

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