Suspicions have a mind of their own. They whisper their tales in a person’s mind and like a believer, that person begins to follow the tales of suspicion unknowingly. Then our mind nourishes those suspicions by feeding them with his own conjectures. In the end, those suspicions become the reality for the mind.

  Even in sleep, Xu Mey was thinking about Ye Jie and Dr. Zhu Chen. Even if they had a slight juxtapose with their features or manners, Xu Mey’s mind wouldn’t have been running a marathon faster than Usain Bolt. Due to frustration, Xu Mey couldn’t sleep well. She was wide awake at the break of dawn.

  Standing before the glass window, her eyes were gazing at the mighty sun that was fighting a battle with the darkness. And eventually, the sun lost the battle not from darkness, instead, from the dark clouds that came to hide it behind them. Her one arm was crossed in front of her chest and the other arm’s elbow was using it as a support. While Xu Mey was chewing on the nail of her thumb.

  It was an old habit to chew her nails whenever she was frustrated or had plenty to think about. ’I need an answer or I’ll definitely lose my mind.’ She thought as she felt a splitting headache coming on. Her ankle was stitched with a huge bandage around it and she could feel the pain rising up in her entire leg making it harder for her to stand.

  When she couldn’t bear the pain anymore, she dropped down at the swivel chair placed right beside the window. She started tapping her fingers at the contemporary glass coffee table beside the chair. While she held one of the cushions in her lap.

  ’There is only one person who can help me at this time.’ She sat straight nodding to herself. She picked up her cellphone and kept chewing her bottom lip not knowing whether to make the call or not.

  Finally deciding on taking the bullet, she dialed a number. The bell rang for 5 seconds before she heard a feminine voice from the other side, "Hello!" Xu Mey frowned.

  "Sensei?" She asked with doubt.

  "Aish!" She heard before a cough was heard and she heard the familiar languid yet alluring voice. "Is it my lucky day or what? My Mey-Ai is calling on her own accord." Xu Mey rolled her eyes. "But my dear disciple forgot that this Sensei doesn’t like skeptical students."

  Xu Mey was worried about this attitude of her Sensei. ’Can you ever let something slip your mind for a second?’ She really wanted to say it but she didn’t. It was not the time to bicker.

  "Who was the girl?" She asked thinking about the most pleasant voice she had ever heard earlier.

  "What girl?" Came the reply, making her scowl.

  "The one who answered your phone." She enunciated each word through gritted teeth.

  There was silence for a moment at the other end. "That was my girlfriend." The languid voice replied with ease.

  "You have a girlfriend, Sensei?" Xu Mey asked with indecision.

  "This handsome young lord has ladies lining up for him. What do you take this lord as? Humph!" The lazy voice harrumphed but it was done with such perfection that Xu Mey couldn’t even roll her eyes at his narcissism. "Come to the point now." She heard after a second.

  Xu Mey cleared her throat trying to ease her parched throat. "Do you think doppelgangers exist?" She asked not mustering up the courage to ask her absurd question.

  After a pause, the reply came, "Why? Found your own doppelganger?"

  "No, Sensei!" She replied with slight irritation. "I found my husband’s doppelganger. But the thing is, that doppelganger is old enough to be my husband’s father."

  A silence prevailed. Xu Mey couldn’t hear anything for the other end for a long time making her frown. She thought the connection was cut and was about to say, ’Hello!’ when she heard the same languid voice again. "There are things that are not yours to touch my dear disciple. I pretty much can guess the content of your suspicions but for the time being, let those tales stay as just that; tales. Don’t divulge yourself into unknown waters. Especially when those waters have nothing to do with your territory."

  "Once in a while, can you please speak human, Sensei?" Xu Mey was already frustrated and with the way her Sensei was rolling words made her want to punch him in the face. But even if her Sensei was standing right before her, she knew she wouldn’t be able to even touch his hair.

  "Don’t get involved unless you are sure about what answer you want. Sometimes, when the suspicions turn into reality, they hurt worse than when they were just suspicions." She heard the reply but the tone in which the words were said seemed a bit off to her. The languidness was swapped with a tinge of concern and anger.

  "I’ll keep that in mind." Xu Mey replied in all seriousness.

  "Damn you, big dummy!!!" Xu Mey heard a distant but extremely familiar voice from her Sensei’s side. The voice seemed like Ye Jie’s. Xu Mey shook her head instantly at her own absurd thought. What could he be doing there? He’s in Tokyo. Am I missing him that much that I’ve started to hallucinate now?

  "Who was that?" Before Xu Mey could stop, the words escaped her mouth. There was some shuffling at the other end.

  "Huh? What? Oh, that? That was…… My girlfriend’s best friend. Yes, yes that was her best friend." She heard the hurried voice as if he wanted to clear something immediately.

  "By the way, I always thought your voice was the most pleasant one in this world but today, I realized that your girlfriend’s voice is even better than yours. It’s like her voice can enchant anyone in a second. She must be beautiful." Xu Mey speculated.

  "Have you seen this lord? If this lord is so handsome than obviously his standards for a partner are also very high." There was a bit of muffled laugh in the voice.

  "Tsk…… Tsk…… You and your narcissism." Xu Mey lamented while clicking her tongue.

  "Mey-Ai, it’s not called narcissism. It’s called living with optimism. Just because you and the world say that I’m not good enough doesn’t mean I should ignore what my heart and mind said to me. We are the only ones who know how much we have put in improving ourselves not the world. So, it’s only right that it’s our own self that we should listen to instead of the gossips around us." There was a pause. "Let’s talk again if the life gave us a chance to." The call was hunged up.