DAHLIA - Xu Minghao

Chapter 12 - If Comfort Was a Person

"We go and shout, shout, shout when we're together,
Stay, stay, stay, you make it better."

***

A little after eleven o'clock, Meilin, Jihoon, Jisoo and Junhui left the practice room, being the last ones to do so. On their way home, they laughed a lot, and Meilin and Jihoon sung a new song they were working on. Jisoo wanted to name it 'Cherry', even though the lyrics — which were about a certain person — had nothing to do with cherries. Jisoo simply claimed that the song reminded him of the fruit.

At home, it was dead quiet. Meilin was surprised to see that even the older members were already sleeping. The four of them made sure to get ready for bed quickly. Meilin waited ten minutes, until she was certain Junhui was asleep, before she quietly climbed out of bed. Jeonghan — who would stay in her room until her friends went back to Beijing — stirred, and Meilin froze. But the light sleeper didn't wake up, so she kept walking, and gently closed the door behind her. She tip-toed past Jihoon and Seokmin, who were sleeping in the living room.

Lihua was already in the kitchen, in her fluffy pajamas, with a bag beside her. She looked up when Meilin whispered a greeting.

"Hi darling," Lihua whispered back, "I forgot to give you this." She handed over the bag. "Open it quickly, while it's still your birthday." Meilin didn't need to be told twice, and ripped it open. Inside, she found two, fluffy blankets. Meilin grinned, holding them to her chest. One was beige, the other light gray. "Yen said you had blanket shortage here, so I bought these for you." Lihua said softly. Meilin smiled at her friend and passed her one.

     "They're perfect, thank you." She pulled Lihua to the front door. "Put on your shoes, the rooftop awaits us. Lihua smiled and put on her shoes and coat, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders. Together, the girls made their way to the roof. It was freezing, but with their coats and blankets it was bearable.

Meilin sat down on the floor, leaning against the low wall that signified the edge of the roof. Lihua sat down on top of the wall, allowing Meilin to lean her head against her legs, stroking her hair softly.

"Seventeen years ago today, it was snowing." Meilin said.

Lihua chuckled, turning her eyes to the shy, seeing the moon shine brightly, not a cloud in sight. "Right... you were born on the first day of snow. I nearly forgot how obsessed you were with that." Meilin smiled, leaning against Lihua just a bit more.

"I wonder when the first snow will be this year. I hope I have a good day that day. To have a bad day on the first day of snow just ruins all of winter." She said, staring at the moon with a dreamy look in her eyes. No clouds in the sky meant no snow. Normally, Meilin hated any type of precipitation, but if the temperatures were low enough for it to turn into snow, she loved it.

"Enough about snow, though." Meilin said cheerfully. "We came here to talk about you. How have you and Romeo been?" Lihua just sighed, turning her eyes down.

That was the biggest difference between Daiyu and Lihua. Whereas Daiyu liked to pretend her problems did not exist, and refused to talk about them even if she was asked to, Lihua faced them, and did so alone. But if she was asked the right question, at the right moment, by the right person, she opened up and talked.

"I noticed that Chao liked Yen about a year ago, right before you left. Honestly, I tried to convince myself it didn't affect me, but of course it did, who am I kidding. So I tried to be happy for him, since he found someone he genuinely liked. After you left, it didn't take long before your sister confessed to me and Yu that she liked him, so I tried to be supportive. But I knew I had to move on if I didn't want my heart to be broken even more. I even talked to other guys, but nothing seemed to help. So instead, I just kept my distance; I limited physical contact with him, and I picked Daiyu for all partnered projects." Lihua sighed. "I had a little something with my next-door neighbor over summer, though. I think it helped a little. I've been doing better this year than last year." The girl smiled down at Meilin, patting the younger girl's head. "And you? How's it going for you?" Lihua asked, pulling Meilin's blanket tighter around her shoulders.