An Artist in Love

Chapter 10: Instant Friends

Cy's POV:

After taking a bath and changing in my dorm room, I headed straight to Lexi's dorm. 5:30 p.m. That leaves me with thirty minutes till I meet her younger brother. On my way out, I saw Chan Min, and with a cheerful smile, I greeted him. "Hey, where you off to?" he asked me. "Lexi's place." "LEXI'S PLACE?!" "Yeah, she said I'll meet her brother today." "When?!" "Today." "No, when'd she tell you that?" "Today. Earlier at lunch when you two were gone, we were talking and... stuff." "Oookkaaay. So bye then." I nodded as a reply and headed my way.

Lexi's POV:

Ten minutes to go till Zi and Cy arrive. I prepared dinner already and am now just waiting at the living room watching TV. Not long after, I heard a knock on the door. ZI! Or Cy! I opened the door and my brother was there. I gave him one big hug. "H-Hi sis!" he greeted me. I ushered him in my dorm room and we started to talk. It's been long since we've seen each other since he was at the other side of the school grounds and he always goes home early. "Sis, when are you coming home?" he asked me. "I don't know, Zi, I'm sorry. College life gets busier and busier, trust me!" I replied. He gave out a deep sigh then said, "You're the only family I've got and I barely see you." "You have uncle!" "You know that's not what I mean, sis." "I know," I said, somewhat saddened, "but there's nothing we can do. Just... look at uncle as both our parents." "Yeah, if he was actually home. He's been everywhere but the house. Art Exhibits, Competitions, and whatsoever."

"I'm sorry, Zi. I know it's hard for you. Don't worry, just one more year till you graduate and then we'll be in the same campus." "Yeah, then you'll graduate and leave me again." "I won't – Zi, don't think like this okay? I won't leave you." He fell silent. "Look," I said giving him a back hug as he sat at the couch, "Everything will be better for us, okay? It's starting to get better actually! At least we're at a nice school this time. That is, thanks to uncle." He sighed again. "I just want things the way they used to be," he told me. Zi's been having such a hard time coping up with the loss. It's been five years ever since that accident that our whole family was involved in and he still hasn't fully recovered yet.

I sat beside him again and we just both watched TV and exchanged stories. After about 20 minutes, Cy arrived. "Hi I'm Huang, Zi Lei but I go by the nickname Zi." "Oh, hey, Zi nice to meet you. I bought us all bubble tea! I'm sorry if the flavor you like isn't there, I had to take a guess," Cy told us. We all grabbed out own bubble tea and had dinner together. Cy was such a nice person. Although he was quiet and sometimes shy, he was still nice to hang around with. After dinner, we all played board games, hide and seek, and truth or dare. It was around 8:30 when Zi said he had to go because our guards were there already. I hugged him and said, "Bye Zi! I'll miss you again! Visit me more often, okay?" "Haha! Okay, sis, I will. I'll miss you too. Come home, please?" "Alright. I'll be home soon." We broke the hug and he left.

"You're really close with your brother," Cy stated. "Mhm. We had to be. Staying strong was our main goal and we only had each other so..."I told Cy. He simply nodded although it was evident that he was quite curious. He stayed a little while more and all we did was converse with the TV on and sing along to the songs played at the music channels. After dancing crazily as well, we sat at the couch and I said, "Hey, Cy!" He looked at me. "Best friends?" I asked, holding my hand out. We shook hands as if we just signed a contract and started dancing again. It's been a while since I had a best friend. That spot has been left vacant since my parents died. At around 9:30, he bid good bye and left for his dorm. I went straight to my bathroom, got myself cleaned up, and called it a day.

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