Should've Looked Out For You (Yuying)

"You said... I was wearing...layers and layers of clothes...?" Yuying repeats Tian Gou's words, only to trail off at the end because she's in sheer disbelief.

"Yup, that's right," Tian Gou confirms. Yuying could picture him nodding his head even though she couldn't see him. "You had, like, three jackets on or something. Or was it four...?"

Yuying's jaw drops onto the ground upon hearing this. The sweltering Singapore heat made it unbearable for one to wear a jacket, let alone three or four of them!

"What...what else happened?" Yuying asks warily as though she's bracing herself for what Tian Gou was about to say next.

"Oh, I saw you in front of the Chinese food stall," Tian Gou replies, "You bought a bowl of noodles. You seemed to be having some issues with your e-payment, so I stepped in and paid for you."

Yuying wasn't even surprised to hear that Tian Gou stepped in and paid for her. It was typical Tian Gou behaviour. After all, he's a really kind and helpful friend.

"I was having issues with my e-payment?" Yuying frowns, "What sort of issues?"

"I'm not sure," Tian Gou replies. Yuying pictures him shrugging at her, a confused expression on his face. "Actually, I don't know if it's just me or what, but you didn't seem like you were very familiar with your e-payment...?"

"Huh?" Yuying frowns even harder at this. This was probably the last thing that she'd thought someone would say about her.

After all, Yuying is always buying stuff online and pretty much lives on the Internet. She's a fanfic writer who has her works published on multiple online writing platforms, for crying out loud.

"Why do you say that?" Yuying asks Tian Gou. "Well," he hums, "I'm not quite sure since I saw you from a distance, but you didn't seem to understand the lady at the cashier."

"Since you were at the front of your line, and your food was ready and all," Tian Gou continues, "I figured that she must've been talking to you about the e-payment."

"Sure enough, I was right," Tian Gou continues, "I walked over and heard her telling you that our university only accepts e-payment now. You seemed confused, like you didn't know about it or something..."

"But I do...?!" Yuying protests before she could hold herself back, "I mean, I do know about it! It's not like the university had only recently implemented it or something..."

"Tell that to yourself yesterday," Tian Gou jokes, "I swear, you were so out of it. You kept, like, zoning out and stuff."

"I kept zoning out?" Yuying asks. She doesn't even sound as surprised as she'd sounded before.

After all, as absurd as it sounds, Yuying knows that it'd been someone else in her body the day before.

Someone who likes wearing layers and layers of clothing despite the scorching heat, some one who doesn't seem quite familiar with the concept of e-payments, and now, someone who seems to have the tendency to zone out...

Then again, it wasn't like Yuying could mock whoever had been in her body for constantly zoning out.

After all, Yuying had found herself zoning out quite a number of times when she'd been in that strange ancient Chinese universe.

Yuying figures it must be a coping mechanism or something, to process the shock of quite literally transcending realities and jumping right into a universe that'ss completely different from the one you're familiar with.

Yuying figures whoever had found themselves in her body must've found it hard to believe and had trouble processing the fact that they'd literally woken up in someone's body in an entirely foreign universe as well.

"Yeah, you seemed pretty out of it yesterday," Tian Gou elaborates, "After I paid for your food and found us a table to sit at, you suddenly, like, stopped dead in your tracks and started staring at the...food stalls or something."

"I did that?" Yuying furrows. "Yeah, you did," Tian Gou confirms, "I hadn't even realized you'd stopped following me. I'd been talking to you, thinking you were right behind me, only to realize you weren't when I got to our seat."

"There was this lady staring at me," Tian Gou continues, "She was looking at me like I'd grown a second head or something. She must've been freaked out to see me talking to the air, haha."

"Oh man," Yuying couldn't help but snicker slightly as she imagined how things must've played out in her head. "She probably thought you'd gone crazy or something. Perhaps she thought you were talking to yourself?"

"Yeah, probably," Tian Gou snorts, "I must've looked like a downright fool. It's seriously clownery 101."

"What were you even talking about, anyway?" Yuying asks. She wonders what Tian Gou could've been saying to 'her' as 'they' made their way back to their seat.

"I was saying that you looked pretty pale," Tian Gou replies, "And that you should take the herbal tea and lemon-flavored lozenges that I'd bought you more often so that you wouldn't fall sick."

"Oh, speaking of which!" Tian Gou suddenly exclaims from the other end, "Did you receive the new box of herbal tea that I'd sent to your home?"

"I knew it was you," Yuying murmurs under her breath as she glances at the box of herbal tea sitting on her bed from the corner of her eye.

"Who else could it be?" Tian Gou jokes from the other end of the line.

Tian Gou sounds slightly more cheery than he'd sounded before. He's pleased that Yuying acknowledged him, that she knew he was the one who'd bought her the box of herbal tea.

"I got you a new box of herbal tea because I was worried that you'd already finished the previous box that I'd sent you," Tian Gou explains excitedly.

"I mean, why else would you look so unwell yesterday?" Tian Gou asks rhetorically, "You must've already finished the previous box I'd sent. You were too shy to tell me to get you another one, weren't you?"

"U-Umm, yeah," Yuying stammers in response, "Sure." She doesn't have the heart to tell Tian Gou that she (and Jiawen) aren't even halfway through the earlier box of herbal tea that he'd sent her, let alone tell him that she didn't actually like the tea.

Yuying still remembers how she and Jiawen decided to try the tea one day after leaving the box sitting there for a while.

Yuying had taken just one sip of the tea before contorting her face. She'd then sprinted right out of the room and into the common toilet so that she could split it out.

Yuying also remembers how Sarah from a few doors had just so happened to be washing her hands at the sink when she'd made her sudden ungraceful entrance.

Yuying remembers how Sarah had widened her eyes, trying her best not to irk in disgust but failing to do. She'd then quickly dried her hands off at the sink before darting out of the common toilet.

Yuying supposes Sarah's impression of her hasn't improved ever since. Not after Jiawen had told her how the latter had allegedly found her washing her hands at the toilet bowl.

Anyway, that was besides the point. The point is, Yuying ended up hating the herbal tea that Tian Gou had especially bought her. Jiawen, on the other hand, loved it.

As such, Yuying shifted the box of herbal tea over to Jiawen's side and told her that she was giving it to her.

However, Jiawen didn't get the chance to drink the herbal tea often as she was often out for classes, or doing group projects and class assignments with her fellow business friends.

As such, this explained why Jiawen (and Yuying) weren't even halfway through the box of herbal tea that Tian Gou had previously given the latter.

"Yuying," Tian Gou chides fondly, "Just tell me if you're all out of the herbal tea next time, okay? You don't have to be shy with me."

"After all, you know that I'm always here for you." Tian Gou reassures. His voice sounded so genuine and sincere that even he himself was moved.

Tian Gou didn't say it out loud, but he secretly hoped that Yuying could feel and sense it as well. However, unfortunately for Tian Gou, Yuying doesn't feel the same way.

"Thank you, Tian Gou," Yuying says simply, "You're a really great friend."

Yuying couldn't see it, but Tian Gou's face falls from the other end of the line.

"R-Right," Tian Gou stutters awkwardly, not knowing what else he should say in response, "Friend..."

"Anyway," Yuying says before Tian Gou could dwell on it any longer, "What happened after that?"

"O-Oh, right," Tian Gou replies, momentarily remembering what they'd been discussing.

Tian Gou needs to reconfigure his brain since they'd digressed and started talking about the box of herbal tea that he'd sent Yuying.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Tian Gou says, "You seemed pretty out of it the whole time. I don't know if it was just me, but your eyes were, like, slightly glazed over or something."

"Mmm-hmm," Yuying hums in response, "Go on, I'm listening."

"And then," Tian Gou continues, "Professor Williams calls you and tells you that it's time for your research assistantship."

"Okay," Yuying nods even though Tian Gou couldn't even see her, "What happened after that?"

"I offered to walk you to the Humanities Building, and..." Tian Gou suddenly pauses.

"Tian Gou?" Yuying asks, "What's wrong."

Tian Gou remains silent for a moment before he lets out a deep sigh. "I never should've left you there alone," he laments.

"I should've told Professor Williams that you weren't up for it, or asked her if I could stay with you throughout the research assistantship...after all, you were clearly unwell..."

Tian Gou sighs again.

"I should've looked out for you more."