Take My Breathe Away

C11: Carlos Huo, I Love You

Carlos and Debbie shared cold glances towards one another. Belatedly, he passed the trophy and the prize on to her. According to the program, he would take the hand of the prizewinner and give it a firm shake.        
   

When Debbie had taken the trophy and the prize with her left hand, she offered the other for him to shake. Carlos looked at her little hand for barely a second, and then rejected it.    

He looked at Debbie and mentioned with a low voice, "Your hands are filthy."    

Those four words alone were enough to offend her.    

Thankfully, not a soul heard them. The crowd had eyes on Carlos as he was a dignitary. Everyone was stupefied as they spotted him decline to shake Debbie's hand. They all speculated on it.    

'If it were only him and me here, I'd drag him to the Civil Affairs Department to get the divorce certificate and beat the hell out of him!' Debbie clenched her fists indignantly. Anger made itself evident on her face. She despised the man so much.    

With hundreds and thousands of eyes that watched them, she could only swallow the utter humiliation.    

Amidst the whole duration of the awarding, Carlos had his back facing against the camera, so only the ones on stage saw what he had done.    

How Debbie wished she could throw the trophy and the prize into the trash bin. The mere thought that it had been infected by Carlos' germs disgusted her. Again, she could only do this in her imagination.    

Event officially done, Debbie and her friends returned to the university.    

Setting foot in the entrance, they were stopped by Gail, who asked Debbie to keep her end of the deal.    

Intending for the second option which was to lock Curtis in his office, Debbie recalled what the disrespectful Carlos had done. 'If he happens to see me confess my love to him, he'd probably get so pissed! Oh my God, I actually kind of want to see how he'd react to it now!' she thought to herself in glee.    

Momentarily mulling over her decision, Debbie wore a cunning smile and walked her way to one of the groves located in the university with her friends tagging along.    

Fortunately, it was a weekend and there were few students on the campus. The grove was covered in silence. Debbie turned to her friends and gestured for them to wait until she finished. Then she went deep into the grove and found an old tree. Standing across the tree, she mustered the loudest voice she could and yelled, "Carlos Huo, I love you. Carlos Huo, I love you..."    

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The agreement was for her to repeat it ten times; Debbie did just that.    

At the tenth, she screamed, causing the birds that rested in the tree to take to the air.    

Effortlessly accomplishing the task, Debbie patted herself against her chest to calm down. What she didn't expect was for a man to appear behind the tree and when she recognized who he was, she was flabbergasted.    

The man was Curtis! 'Oh my God…' Debbie became pale. 'Why is Mr. Lu here?!' she wondered to herself. Flustered, Debbie started to sweat.    

'Holy crap! This is so humiliating! He might tell Carlos about this! I-I have to make a run for it!' Burying her face in her hands, Debbie pivoted and then sprinted to depart from the grove.    

"Tomboy, where are you going?" Dixon asked, muddled. "Do you have a bear chasing you?"    

Approaching a halt, Debbie stopped upon sighting Dixon. She swiveled, her eyes scanning the area. No signs of Curtis were found. 'I guess he failed to recognize me, ' Debbie thought and sighed in relief. 'Although, I already saw him before. I think it was back in the Dean's office.'