I went to a trip with my mom today. She had two tickets to go to a flower show in San Diego with her Cantonese Students Association folks. I went along.

We were on a bus for perhaps two hours. It was rather uninteresting for me since I did not know anybody there besides my mother, who was very much engaged in conversations with other people during the whole trip. There were about 20 people on our bus. Among which, 1/3 were teenagers, kids, and babies. It was difficult to find anybody to talk to.

There was a family sitting behind our seats. I had a light chat with a male member of the family. He came with his parents and brother. We exchanged some nonsense laughters about nothing, and talked about our cells.

While I was trying to get attention from my mom, he asked for my phone number.

I smiled to myself, and said without turning back, “Sorry, I don’t give out phone numbers.”

He (pause for 20 seconds): “I was just going to send you some text messages to annoy you.” He grinned.

I stopped talking to him because my mom finally had a chance to talk to me. He tried to get my attention from behind a few times, but I avoided him entirely.

Finally he leaned over from behind.

He: “I am in fifth grade. What grade are you in?”

I: …

I: “I graduated from university two years ago.” I tried to show the kindest and most sincere smile I could possibly manage.

He: …

I quite enjoyed that moment of stunning him and shutting him off. I sat there with a satisfactory smile on my face, getting ready to sleep.

“So what’s your number?” His head showed up from above, with an innocent smile on his face.

I: … o_O’

P.S. Did I mention that he could talk to me from above ONLY because he was STANDING on his seat, which was not safe to do in a moving vehicle, while I was sitting down properly in my seat like a lady with invisible seat belt buckled up? That 9 year old is NOT taller than me, I can assure you that…