"Save the date," says the middle-age woman to his grandma who is now smiling.
"We will surely attend," his grandma says with a happy tone.
"Well, we shall be leaving now," the middle-age woman says as she gets up from her seat, followed by her daughter. "Bye, Ma!"
"Bye, Grandma!" the girl with shoulder lenght hair says.
The two women walks pass Xiaoliang and exits the house, not even bothering to look at Xiaoliang's face, and pretending as if he is invisible. She slams the door shut, making Xiaoliang to turn his head to see his grandma and Jianlong.
"What was that?" Xiaoliang ask with a confused tone.
"Oh, your Aunt Zhen came to visit in the afternoon. She gave me this invitation," his grandma says as she gives the invitation to him.
Xiaoliang grabs the invitation and reads it. It's a wedding invitation of his cousin, Xinyi, which will be held in 2 months coming.
Xiaoliang sighs before he puts the invitation on the table. It was unpleasant enough that Aunt Zhen and Xinyi had pretend that he was invisible earlier, and now he just figured out that he has to take and acompany his grandma to attend Xinyi's wedding in 2 months. He walks inside the bathroom to wash his hands as the thought of it still bothers him.
10 PM...
After cleaning himself up, Xiaoliang decides to go outside the house to smoke. At the end of the day, he could use some cigarettes to calm his hectic mind down. Xiaoliang walks pass the living room and opens the front door, revealing a peaceful night scenery.
Xiaoliang decides pull out one cigarette from the box in his pocket, before pulling out a lighter. He lights up the cigarette and takes a sip of it, slowly feeling a relaxing sensation. As much as his grandma used to advised him not to smoke too much, it had been a habit of him to take some cigarettes at the end of the day.
As his mind starts traveling around, Xiaoliang's face soon turns into a frustrated expression, remembering about the wedding he'll be attending. If one thing he wanted to avoid, is socialising with his relatives, since most of them hates him. Yet, as much as he wants to avoid meeting his relatives, he know he couldn't turn down his grandma's request of attending after all she did for him.
The next day...
At Huang University...
Junhao is walking to his locker. From a distance, he sees a familiar girl standing near his locker, as if she had been waiting for him. Junhao starts to smile upon seeing the girl and decides to run to his locker to see her.
"Hey, good morning, Baby!" Junhao says to the girl, Meiling.
Meiling turns her head to face Junhao who has a big smile on his face. She raise one of her eyebrow with a question look at the smiling boy.
"That's it? Just "good morning"? Nothing else?" Meiling ask.
"Well, yeah. What else?" Junhao ask as he opens his locker to look for his notebook.
Meiling puts her hands on her hips as she stares at the boy with a sharp look. She couldn't believe that the cheeky boy didn't have anything else to say.
"You better be serious, Junhao. Is that all you have to say?" Meiling ask.
Junhao closes his locker, before turning his head to face the mad girl standing in front of him.
"Ok, I think I forgot. What else did I need to say?" Junhao ask with curiousity and confusion.
Meiling cross her arms as she keeps her vision on Junhao, not moving even for a second.
"You didn't pick up my calls last night. Where have you been all night?" Meiling ask, still keeping her arms crossed.
"Ah, last night my phone was off. I already told you that I always turn off my phone when I go to bed," Junhao says.
"Were you with someone else?" Meiling ask. By the way she sounds, Junhao could really tell that the girl is obviously jealous.
"No way, Baby. I was asleep, nothing else," Junhao says.
Meiling turns her head away with a disappointed look. Junhao notice the girl looked disappointed, and decides to give her a tap on the shoulder in an attempt to cheer her up and make up for his action that seems to hurt her.
"Hey, are you ok?" Junhao ask.
"What do you think?" Meiling ask with a sad tone.
"Ok, I'm sorry, Baby," Junhao says. Suddenly, he turns Meiling around to face him. The two are now facing each other face to face, where their eyes got lost to one another.
"Next time, I'll be sure to call you before I go to bed, by that you won't be worried," Junhao says.
Suddenly, Junhao pulls Meiling closer to him and embraces her in his arms. The two starts to get lost in the hug, as Junhao could feel Meiling slowly letting a tear slip from her face, staining his white t-shirt.
"Don't forget to call me," Meiling says in a low tone.
"Yes, Baby. I won't forget," Junhao says, as he tightens the hug.
Meanwhile...
Xiaoliang is walking to his class, when he hears a sound of a female voice calling his name in a high tone. He turns around who could be slightly shouting his name, only to see an excited looking Yifei running towards him.
"Xiaoliang!" Yifei stops in her steps as she reaches Xiaoliang, who is now looking at her with a confused look.
"What is it?" Xiaoliang ask.
"Well, I just practiced my drawing skills last night. So far, this has been my greatest drawing. Would you like to see it?" Yifei ask.
"Umm..sure," Xiaoliang says.
Yifei pulls out her sketchbook from her bag. She opens the book and shows Xiaoliang a drawing of a familiar looking boy. To Xiaoliang's surprise, the boy in the drawing pretty much resembles him.
"Wow, great drawing," Xiaoliang says while admiring the details of the drawing.
"Can you guess who is he?" Yifei ask.
Xiaoliang continue to stare at the drawing, studying every small details. He is really fascinated by the piece of art.
"Me?" Xiaoliang ask.
"Yup, this is you, and I made this for you," Yifei says.
Xiaoliang forms a small smile. "Thanks, Yifei."
"You're welcome. Well, I have to go to class. Bye!" Yifei says, before she runs off to head to her class, leaving Xiaoliang to stand still with the drawing in his hand.
A few hours later...
At the cafeteria...
Mingyu's POV...
Today I'm lucky enough that I actually found an empty table to have lunch. Though I enjoy being alone almost every time, today actually feels a bit different. Well, having lunch alone is great. I never like to socialise in the first place. Yet, today I start to wonder where Xiaoliang might be. I haven't seen him in the cafeteria for a while. I hope he's not skipping lunch, though it's hard to believe that since there's no sign of him. Come to think of it, why did I even thought about him just now? No, I gotta brush these thoughts away. I have enough to think about already that it makes my head hurt.
As I continue to eat my egg porridge, a guy suddenly comes up to my table. I turn my head up to see him standing in front of my table, looking all confident. He throws a flirtatious smirk at me, in which I turn my head down, not even bothering what sort of nonsense he'll be saying.
"I wonder why a girl like you is all alone," the guy, Liqiang, says with a flirtatious tone.
I didn't bother to answer him and just continue with my porridge. I have enough problems to deal with, I don't want to add any more unnecessary dramas.
"Being quiet I see?" Liqiang starts to lean closer to me. Suddenly he puts his hand on my chin, making me remove it.
"Don't touch me," I say with a cold tone.
"Woah, rude!" Liqiang blurts out in disbelief.
"Don't touch people without their concern," I say.
"Come on, Wang Mingyu. Deep down I know you've been mad to get a taste of me. So why are you avoiding me?" Liqiang cross his arms
Did he just say that out of fury or is he really an idiot? He actually thinks I want to get a taste of his stupid mouth? Damn, is this guy really that dumb?
Nevertheless, I finish my porridge and quickly get up from my seat. I face him one last time to say what I need to say to this jerk.
"Get a life and stop bothering people," I say, before walking out of the cafeteria. Finally I am free from that jerk.
At the library...
Xiaoliang's POV...
Not having an appetite or in the mood to socialise, I decided to skip lunch today and just hangout at the library. I decided to continue reading about Business Management, since that's what I'll be learning for the next few years. My grandma literally worked hard just to get me to study here, so when I finally decided what major I would like to take, I didn't want to take it for granted. I'm gonna work hard for it and pay back her hard work and efforts.
"Excuse me, is anybody sitting here?"
Just as I continue reading, a familiar female voice suddenly tinkles through my ears. I turn my head up to see a girl holding a pyschology book. She's Wang Mingyu.
"Sure," I answer.
Hearing that, Mingyu pulls out a chair near me and places her book and bag on the table. She sits down and starts reading the book. From the way she reads, she looks really fascinated and interested in pyschology.
"Pyschology?" I ask her a random question all of a sudden.
"Yes," she answers, still keeping her vision on the book. "What about you?"
"Business Management," I answer. "If I'm not mistaken, we're in the same class, right?"
She turns her head to see me with mixed looks. As I start to study her face, I start to remember seeing her a few times sitting in the back part of the class.
"Yes," she answers. "I'm also in Business Management."
"I see," I say.
Somehow, I just keep trying to find random topics to throw at her. Funny since I was never one who loves to socialise in the first place, but sharing the same table with her now actually makes me more curious about her. It's not everyday I get to see an anxious girl reading about pyschology and taking business management. She seems, different from other girls.
"I didn't see you in the cafeteria earlier. Did you skip lunch today?" she ask me, all of a sudden, which made me a bit surprised. How did this girl notice that I wasn't even there? I mean, with the amount of people in the cafeteria, why would she even have thought about me in the crowd?
Damn, Xiaoliang, are you overthinking that she was looking for you? You better get these thoughts away before they affect your studies.
"Yes," I answer casually. It's not like it's a big deal that I skipped lunch.
Slowly, Mingyu puts her book down on the table. Suddenly she opens her bag and grabs a lunch box. She hands me the lunch box, making me look at her with a puzzled look.
"Here, have this," she says as she hands me the lunch box. She's literally giving me her lunch box?
"No, thank you," I say, still wondering why is she handing me her lunch box. When I said I skipped lunch, I didn't mean for her to give me her lunch box. I was just trying to answer her curiousity with honesty.
"You need energy to focus on your next class," she says. Slowly, she starts to open the lunch box, revealing two steamed buns inside, along with some sunflower seeds.
"Mingyu, thanks, but I'm good. I'm not in the mood to have lunch, that's why I skipped," I say honestly. "Besides, these are yours. Did you also skip lunch?"
"I brought these from home just incase I didn't feel like eating in the cafeteria. But well, I already ate, so here," she says.
"Mingyu, thanks, but I'll skip this one," I say.
Mingyu sighs. She puts the lid of the lunch box on the table.
"Just grab a bun, I don't want to debate," she says, in a more serious tone.
"Woah, it's ok. You can have your bun and I can read a book," I say casually.
Again, she sighs, looking a bit agitated suddenly. After seeing this girl for a few times, I actually noticed how she often gets agitated and anxious even at the littlest things. Damn, I might never knew what's been going on with her life, but I could tell that what she's been through is not much easier than mine.
"Just please grab a bun already," she says.
I sigh. For an anxious girl, she's kind of stubborn. Well, I can't debate with that.
"Fine," I say. By that, I grab a bun from the lunch box. I take a bite of it, and turns out it's black beans steamed bun.
Mingyu slowly forms a small smile at me. She places the lunch box back on the table. At least she's smiling now.
"So, how is it?" Mingyu ask.
"Good, thank you," I say with a casual tone.
The girl smiles at me. "I'm glad you liked it. My momma always makes buns to pass the time."
"Oh really? This is really good," I say. True, the bun tasted amazing.
Suddenly, I notice Mingyu's smile slowly fades away. She's now slightly frowing. Did she just thought about something? Was it because we were talking about the bun her mom made? Not wanting to make the situation more uncomfortable, I decided to stay silent.
A few hours later...
After college...
Mingyu's POV...
As I walk through the hallway along with Yifei, we happen to see Xiaoliang closing his locker from a distance.
"Ah look, it's Xiaoliang," Yifei says as her smile suddenly gets bigger upon seeing the quiet boy. I've come to notice how the cheerful girl always looks so happy when she sees him.
Yifei walks over to Xiaoliang, in which I followed her. She taps his shoulder silently, making him turn around to face us.
"Hey, you girls going home?" he ask, with his signature gentle tone.
"Yeah, but I thought I'd come up to you just to see how you are doing. I didn't see you in the cafeteria today," Yifei says with concern in her voice.
"I was at the library," Xiaoliang replies in a casual tone.
"Ah, did you skip your lunch? You know it's not good to skip your lunch," Yifei says.
Xiaoliang slowly forms a small smile on his lips. His eyes gaze down with a shy look, before moving his gaze to me, making me feel awkward all of a sudden as I feel butterflies going crazy inside my stomach.
"I had lunch at the library," he says, while still having his gaze at me.
"Ah, alright. Glad to hear that you didn't skip lunch," Yifei says, before eventually glancing at my direction, making me feel more awkward with the situation.
"Well, I'll be going. Bye!" Xiaoliang says, before he walks away from me and Yifei.
After Xiaoliang left, Yifei and I continue to walk to the exit. The tension became awkward after I saw Xiaoliang gazed at me with a smile. I feel stupid for having to experience those butterflies and feeling all weird.
2 hours later...
At The Jade Bowl...
"Table 15!" the chef says from the kitchen as he hands Xiaoliang table 15's orders.
Xiaoliang walks out of the kitchen with his hands full. He reaches table 15 and serves the orders.
"Enjoy," Xiaoliang says, before he rushes off back to the kitchen.
"Xiaoliang! Table 20 wants to take orders. You go get them now," says the feisty manager. The man is known for his sarcastic attitude, and can sometimes be a pain in the head for the staffs.
"Ok," Xiaoliang says. He rushes off to table 20 to take their orders.
To be continue...