Echoes of Unrequited Love

Chapter 73

Jason called again, but suddenly there was a different voice on the line.

“Yeah, I’m at Gate 3, would you mind helping me out, sir.”

“Xaviera?” came the surprised voice through the receiver, “It’s me, Darren.”

To my total shock, the person who was helping my flustered uncle find the entrance to the mall turned out to be Darren.

A short while later, when we met up, Jason, with a grateful look, told me, “He was the one who helped. The guy’s awesome.”

Darren listened to him finish his choppy sentences without caring about his stuttering and said with a gentle smile. “Sir, you’re pretty amazing yourself, but next time, remember to check the floor number, okay?”

I explained to Jason, “Darren and I are classmates.”

Jason’s face lit up with surprise and he happily said, “Really? That’s… that’s fate for you.”

Darren told me he was there to take his cousin shopping and had bumped into my lost uncle in the parking garage.

Jason had gotten stuck on the basement level.

“Xaviera, he helped me out. Let’s–let’s treat

immediately checked with Darren, who said with a chuckle. “You know, I am actually kind of hungry. So, uncle Jason, I’ll gracefully accept

1

went into a local

epitome of tact, asking my uncle for his opinion with every dish he ordered, and even thoughtfully ordered a cup of

honest smile, starting off a bit stiff but

was that instinctive inferiority complex that can surface when a common man meets someone of higher status, but

was really touched

to get a coat for my dear mother as

at me if

Chapter 73

meal, the three of us headed to the women’s clothing section.

my aunt among the

like a young man in love. “She’ll

aunt was 49 this year, but to Jason, she was forever young and

nose. “Let’s go with this

going to try

was Darren