The Love Score || Zhuo Zhi

86: Don't Act Like You Forgot

I bit my bottom lip, refraining myself from groaning out loud in exasperation. My hand clenched and unclenched nervously again. How did I get myself into this? Planning the groups with Jia Le most definitely did not involve being in the same group as Zhuo Zhi.

"Uhm..." I trailed off quietly. "I think we should go now."

Wordlessly, Zhuo Zhi nodded, the tension thick and overbearing. We walked a couple of metres side by side to get to the back of the queue for the Ferris wheel. A heavy silence had settled over us and I fidgeted with my fingers uncomfortably. Breathing normally had become a challenge, too; I was so nervous that I could hear my unsteady breaths even in an environment as lively and vibrant as an amusement park.

Damn those two bastards, Senior Jia Le and Bai Yang.

My fingers itched to remove the pinwheel hair clip from my hair. Zhuo Zhi probably thinks I look stupid. I resolutely decided that for the sake of Ai Qi, I would keep the pinwheel on, no matter how comical I might look to Zhuo Zhi.

I kept my gaze on the people in front of us in the queue, refusing to look anywhere else. Should I talk to him? But what should I say? What if what I say will sound like I'm being ridiculous to him?

Maybe I should stay silent. It'll be the better odds if I don't want to come off looking like a fool.

Oh well, what good is there in speaking to him? There are a ton of unspoken problems between us that are probably better left unsaid.

My foot awkwardly traced the outlines of each brick on the pavement as we stepped forward with every group boarding the next passenger cabin, still unspeaking. A deafening silence, I thought. A silence so unbearable that it makes my head feel like it's about to burst.

Hoping to get over the whole splitting-the-team thing, I quietly counted the number of groups left before it came to our turn. Two more families... one more...

A man with hair that reached his shoulders ushered us to come forward and told us to get ready for the next cabin. A cabin descended towards us and the doors slid open gently. A teenage boy younger than us stepped out of the cabin with three toddlers in tow, hurrying them away from the cabin quickly. The man immediately rushed us onto the cabin while it continued moving past the platform.

I scurried forward, in a hurry to get on before the doors shut. My foot slipped and I tripped on the floor of the cabin levelled above the platform. I gasped and flailed my arms around to keep my balance, stumbling into the cabin. I didn't fall, but I strangely felt something just hovering above my waist but not touching it. I whipped my head around to see Zhuo Zhi also stepping into the cabin behind me, his arm floating above my torso.

Did he place his arm there to grab me in case I fell?

My eyes connected with his when his head raised. A look of surprise flashed across his face when he realised that I had caught him red-handed. He yanked his arm back to his side faster than light and lowered his head, taking his seat on the bench on the right side of the cabin. "Be careful," Zhuo Zhi muttered, so softly that I had suspected it was my imagination if it weren't for the slight movement of his lips.

Or did he say it? Unsure, I awkwardly sat on the bench opposite Zhuo Zhi and placed my clammy hands on its surface by my sides. The doors had slid shut and the cabin was gradually moving along. I bowed my head, still reluctant to look at Zhuo Zhi.

A spark of excitement lit up in my chest when I realised the lucky cabin we had landed ourselves with-- the glass-floor cabin. The cabin was beginning to rise above the ground. The people below us shrank, their eyes gazing at the magnificent Ferris wheel in awe. Sun shone brightly through the glass windows and illuminated the cabin in a brilliant hue. The blue sky surrounded us wherever I looked, like wallpaper painted on the cabin's walls. And best of all, my feet were levitating above all below, making my breath hitch in my throat as I gazed at the glass floor, feeling a mix of astonishment and suspense and amazement.