The One Who Listens

Step 3: Believe

Warning:Inaccurate Exposure therapy.Not the actual way. Written from a TV show scene.Not to be used as a reference.AND not to be tried.

Hua Cheng reached a bit early for his next session. Waiting for three days felt like three years and he just couldn't wait anymore, though he had to, in the car he rented for the day, in the parking lot at the back of the hospital and stare at the digit clock on the dashboard. He had enough in his bank account to buy the car if he wanted to, but the money wasn't his, it was his parents' and he stubbornly refused to use it more than the bare necessity. Once upon a time, he had taken interest in the stock market and earned a fortune once a while, which again he never had the urge to spend. Until yesterday.

His phone chimed with a new notification.

Gege: "Does San Lang like mangoes?"

Hua Cheng left his assignment, an arbitrary cityscape, and dived into his bed where the phone was, screen up. And answered:

Me: "I have never had a mango, gege..."

Gege: typing...

typing...

typing...

typing...

typing...

typing...

Hua Cheng could literally imagine Xie Lian typing and backspacing multiple times to come up with the least judgemental answer. Hua Cheng wasn't surprised though. Mango was a common fruit. He had seen the fruit before but never had one. And Hua Cheng really did not know why. After quite a while, his mobile buzzed with a new message:

"There is a mango orchard a few miles out of the city. But how do we get there?"

***

"San Lang, you should have called me. I would have come down sooner." Xie Lian puffed as he sank further into the leather seat. They had driven out of the city and hit the highway. Xie Lian rustled through his backpack and listed the things he was carrying,

"A knife, a box of tissues, paper plates, plastic gloves." He sighed, "Yes, I did not forget anything."

"Gege, are we going to have a picnic sort of thing?" Hua Cheng drummed his fingers on the wheels

"No San Lang. We are gonna feast on mangoes." Xie Lian said enthusiastically.

"What if I don't like them?" Hua Cheng did not wish to be a killjoy.

"We will think about that if you don't like them." Xie Lian concluded.

"Alright." Hua Cheng nodded.

"So what did Yin Yu say?" Xie Lian looked at Hua Cheng, noting his expressions.

"He checked if I had a fever or not." Hua Cheng barked a laugh.

"It must have been a shock for him..." Xie Lian smiled. He was glad it worked.

"Must be so. Anyway we baked a cake together, today." Hua Cheng added.

"Oh my!" The psych exclaimed.

"And He Xuan ran away with half of it." He said, making a disgusted face.

Xie Lian went pfft.

"So we were left with half of it." Hua Cheng continued.

"Did you enjoy it?" Xie Lian asked back.

"It tasted the same as store bought... maybe a bit more buttery, I dropped the entire slab of it in there." He did not drop it. It slipped in there. Not one slab but two...