Under One Umbrella

Wong Ha Jung

He took the towel that Lydia offered him with a quiet thanks and an embarrassed, shallow bow. Scrubbing off the leftover mud from his face, Wong Ha Jung felt absurdly grateful that the action gave him an excuse to simply be quiet and figure out how to not act like a nervous wreck in the woman's presence. The feeling of being back in elementary school was an uncomfortable familiarity that he couldn't quite shake. It was a little like having an old skin that wouldn't shed properly.

The counselor scrubbed at his face harder before using his hands to try and comb some of the clumps of mud out of his hair. "Ah, things have been a little slow," he said, smiling softly. "Not too many people have been coming by. I guess I should be kind of happy because it might mean that people are doing fine without me. But I worry a little that it just shows that people are uncomfortable with scheduling appointments." Actually, that was kind of an understatement. He worried about that a lot.

"It'll get better," Wong Ha Jung said with a small, helpless shrug. He folded up the now muddied towel a few times and made a second attempt at cleaning up his clothes. It was hardly effective and now that he was somewhere dry, the muck on everything was starting to feel cold and slimy on his skin. "I guess I just need to give it more time."

Wong Ha Jung

"Truth be told, the thought never really crossed my mind. I suppose it should have," he said sheepishly, following Lydia a little while keeping a fair distance away from the stalls. He didn't know a lot about animals so he was reluctant to come any closer. He just didn't want to be a bother, and going on what had already happened that day, the man thought that there was a fair chance he'd go and embarrass himself all over again. The thought of it made him blush again, so it was probably a good thing that Lydia was facing away from him.

"Ah, it's a little odd, actually," Wong Ha Jung said with a soft laugh. "Getting used to the differences between schools, I mean." Was there anything he could do besides just stand there awkwardly? He wondered. It seemed wrong to be doing nothing while Lydia was doing work. "I'm not too used to seeing students so infrequently. Back at the other school, I was mainly a psychology teacher so I'd see the same people every other day."

"But, no, posters are a good idea." Even though it honestly made him feel a little nervous, too. It was probably just from being new. He'd get over it soon enough. Catching the woman's aside, he asked, "Ah, if you do that, would you like any help with putting up yours after you're done?"

Wong Ha Jung

"Ah, yes, that's exactly it," he said with a quiet sigh. He liked people, he really did, but he always worried about how to interact with them. Now with the number of total strangers that were infrequently dropping in, it took some time to sort out how to go about it all. As Lydia pointed out, he couldn't force anybody to make an appointment. So it felt a lot like if he didn't get it right the first time, he wouldn't get a second shot. Ah, no pressure at all or anything, right?

But the counselor smiled to himself, saying loud enough for the woman to hear, "I do like this job, though." There shouldn't be any misunderstanding about that, even if he was starting to miss teaching. Teaching was just a more definite area; it was okay to have certain expectations there. The parameters were clear enough that they could easily be made to fit. I guess that kind of makes me a coward then, huh? Well, at least he was trying something a little different? People were always telling him to and at least this one wasn't bad at all.

Still would like to get back to teaching some time, he thought wistfully. Comfort zone aside, there was just something about it that he really enjoyed. Maybe he could get back to that in the future...

As Lydia went up to the door of the stall, Wong Ha Jung came to stand directly in front of it, so there was maybe a foot of space between the two of them. When she asked him if he had ever ridden a horse, he blinked at the question for a moment.

"No, I'm certain that I haven't. Actually, this is probably the closest I've ever been to a horse in my life," Wong Ha Jung added after a bit of thought. He laughed sheepishly. "I'm not too much of an outdoors person. I kind of just, ah, walk around a lot?" Which sounded really lame. Really lame. He shouldn't have even said it, actually. It was just... embarrassing.

Wong Ha Jung

He looked once at that grin on Lydia's face, actually close enough to see it with clarity this time, and immediately felt strange. Oh, Wong Ha Jung thought dumbly. Oh, that's nice. He didn't think he was having anxiety or anything, but the sensations in his chest and his head were similar to that in many aspects. Oh. He almost didn't even hear her words, and just stood there blinking at how clear things were in that one moment, and how they made him feel so small.

I'm being an idiot now the man thought -it was nothing new- and smiled as Lydia turned away. "Ah, if you think so," he answered, laughing lightly. "I'm clumsy, though, if that's okay. Sometimes I have this tendency to fall down things. It might cause you a bit of trouble. But if you don't mind, I suppose I could try when you have the time."

When she was done with everything, Wong Ha Jung took his umbrella back from her. "I like being useful," he told her with a cheerful shrug. "And, ah, all things considered, I am a little fond of storms, actually." He tilted his head in a self conscious way, blushing because it was getting cold in his soaked clothes and that was probably obvious.

Still, he opened the umbrella and took a step out of the cover of the stables. "Shall we, then?"

Wong Ha Jung

He kept glancing in Lydia's direction for some reason, feeling terribly embarrassed as he did so, like he was intruding on something that he didn't have any right to. It wasn't like he was being overtly obvious about it; she was talking to him after all. It was perfectly natural and appropriate and everything. He just. He liked being around Lydia. Wong Ha Jung liked being around people in general but he was starting to find increasingly that he liked being around Lydia specifically. She was nice and energetic. And cute. Isn't that just a little shallow of me? he fretted. I think it maybe is. I should stop.

When a crack of lightning caused Lydia to jump, the man instinctively put a hand on her shoulder. The touch was light and only lasted for a couple of seconds before Wong Ha Jung remembered himself and let go. The hand went over his mouth instead, to help hide his blush a little. He had already had one to start with but that sound she had made was ridiculously cute, which made him think that there was something wrong with him. Not that he didn't understand what it was like to have a crush or anything; he actually got them quite often but most of them were quite minor and never got off the ground. For the most part, he was worrying over the fact that he might be simply latching onto the first person in his age group to actually have a conversation with him.

"O-oh, I'm glad you're okay!" he said, gesturing slightly with his hand out of anxiousness. "It sounds like that would have been pretty painful." Which was a completely obvious fact and he was already mentally kicking himself for saying it. "I've always liked summer storms for some reason. I guess that's kind of strange since Hong Kong's a harbor but I think that they're beautiful during the afternoons when the sun's still out." The man shrugged with a sheepish smile. "They're not for everybody, I know, and sometimes they can be awful but I still like watching them. It's kind of nice being out in them when the rain's warm, too, but ah. I guess the students wouldn't take me seriously if I did that anymore."

Which was a shame but Wong Ha Jung supposed that he could go back his apartment and stand out in front of it whenever he wanted to. Although, he wondered what people think of him now with all the mud on him. Oh dear. It really was kind of uncomfortable and it was unfortunate that he hadn't thought to keep a change of clothes in his office. But well, hindsight was twenty-twenty after all.

He didn't embarrass himself any more as they got back to the school, and neither did he say any more uselessly obvious things. But he also couldn't stop touching his face, just constantly checking to see if the blush gone away yet. The counselor didn't really think he could tell either way but it was a decent placebo. He thought that he could feel the start of butterflies, too.

I'm such a loser.

But that was life, he supposed.