Nina was breathless with anticipation.
She didn't know why she was so excited. She seemed to remember seeing his face before. However, John had never shown his face in front of her. He was always hidden behind that mask. She wondered why she thought she knew what he looked like.
Besides, she always felt that the mask John wore had something to do with the holes in her memory. Those holes would be filled if he took off the mask.
She felt familiar with him. She knew how he'd react if she told him something, the things he did when he thought no one was watching, even the pattern of his footfalls. She seemed to have heard his footsteps many times in her dreams.
He drove her crazy. She told everyone she hated him. But for some reason she was drawn to him at the same time.
Nina's loving gaze was what John looked forward to. And seeing her like that gave his heart a tingle. 'Who says she's forgotten me? She looks at me the same way she did in the past.'
He took off his mask.
"What? You wear two masks?" Nina saw that John wore two black masks and the corner of her mouth twitched. "I can't believe it."
Cali raised her head in confusion. "Eh? Sean, how will you eat?"
John ignored her.
Cali looked down sulkily and pursed her lips.
John never talked to her. She really envied Nina. The princess could even tease him.
"Cali, just ignore him. Whether he eats or not is not our business." Now thoroughly annoyed, Nina dug into her food.
Cali took a bite without thinking about it, and caught a glimpse of the chopsticks in John's hand. She raised an eyebrow. "Sean?"
Nina also raised her head, put a glass of fruit juice to her lips and watched him quietly.
He had a mask on. How on earth was he going to eat?
John picked up a piece of fish with his chopsticks. Cali frowned and worried if he was so pissed off by Nina that he went crazy.
Nina kept on sipping her fruit juice. She didn't take her eyes off him. Would he finally take off the mask to eat?
She saw John put the piece of fish near his mouth, then a crease in the mask became a crack. It widened. He popped the fish in his mouth through that slit in his mask.
Nina couldn't see his lips, only his pearly-white teeth.
The princess giggled a little bit. It was funny.
And because she was drinking, she choked on her juice. Fortunately for her pride, only a little juice spewed out. The rest of her pride fled as she starting coughing uncontrollably. Her face was as red as the evening glow in the sky.
As a servant, Cali had learnt to stay calm no matter what. When she saw John's trick, her eyes widened.
When Nina started choking, she stood up, walked over to her, and patted her on the back.
"You okay, Your Highness?"
She looked at Nina carefully. Nina's face was red, so Cali directed one of the servants to call the doctor.
"I...I...I don't..." Nina coughed violently.
In a panic, John stood up and said, "Let's go." He was going to drive her to the hospital.
But he still wore the mask, and the crack in the mask moved with his mouth. Nina started giggling again, causing her to cough even more violently. "Ahem! You...you..."
"Cut it out. You'll just keep choking." John reached out to hug her.
Nina shook off his hand and said, "You...you shut up!"
John, startled by her words, opened his mouth a bit. The mask followed suit, and she could see his teeth again.
It was funnier than a frog with its mouth open.
"Shut up! Stop talking!" Nina shouted at him. She slowly stopped coughing, but her face was still red.
"Feeling better?" Noting that Nina had stopped coughing, Cali went to pour a glass of water. "Drink this. It might help."
Nina took it and took a sip, finally calming down.
She had never seen something like John's mask before. It made her feel like laughing every time she thought of it.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: You Are The Apple of My Eyes