Half Of You

4. Gratitude

4.

Monday morning and Luhan was expected to attend school again. His mind however, was preoccupied by the forest and the voice.

He repeatedly cursed himself for making it scatter from him and taking its voice with it. His fear was he'd never hear the singing again.

Together, he and his friends walked to school early that Monday morning, joking loosely with one another on the way.

Luhan had also seen her again.

The so called bā miàn.

Scarface.

Except he didn't see her face or her scar.

Dressed in the usual dark shades, she had her hood up and slid through the gates of the school unnoticed.

But Luhan noticed her.

Seriously, who the hell was this girl? He asked himself.

-

In class, Luhan did little to hide his boredom. He had agreed to come to school with his friends to see them. Not to learn with them.

The algebra on the blackboard looked foreign to him as he fought to keep himself listening to the lecture.

He kept himself awake with thoughts of the strange girl in the corner of the room, mentally picturing himself trying to pull the hoodie from her and part her hair so her face was on show to him. He found this thought funny as he imagined himself boldly bounding across the room to her and invading her space.

As he smiled to himself and faced forward, a noise forced him to quickly look back at the strange girl.

She was coughing.

And violently so.

Her body shook as she inhaled to let out another jagged cough.

She bent to retrieve a tissue from her bag and her hair moved slightly with the movement. A quick flash of her pale skin caught Luhans attention again. He watched intently as she covered her mouth to cough into the tissue. She then pulled the tissue back and Luhan saw it with wide eyes.

Blood.

His senses sparked and he immediately raised his hand.

"Lǎoshī!" Luhan shouted to get the teachers attention.

"Lǎoshī!" He repeated to the teachers turned back.

"Yes?" He replied, finally turning round.

Luhan pointed to the girl in the corner. "She is coughing up blood." He spoke and the teachers face remained unresponsive. There was no emotion on his face as he glanced at the girl and waved dismissively at her.

"You know what to do." He said to her, sighing heavily as though irritated by her disruptiveness. The girl nodded and stood up, bowing as she fled quickly from the room.

Luhan was confused. What did he mean "you know what to do"? And why hadn't anyone else bothered to react? He glanced at his friends and shot them a look.

"It happens often." Shuang explained to him quickly, bowing her head solemnly.

She coughs up blood often? Luhan wanted to ask but the girl returning to the room cut him off.

He watched as she bowed to the teacher and then bowed to the class.

"Wo hen baoqian" she apologised and walked to her seat.

The same girl from before, Lanying, scoffed and shot her a dirty look.

"Wo hen baoqian" she repeated in a mock attempt at the girls unmistakable sombre voice. "That's all she ever says. This useless "sorrysorry"girl." She tutted.

Once again, Luhan found himself both mad and outraged.

"Leave her alone." He whispered dangerously. He had sat back last time, he sure wasn't going to now.

Lanying turned around to face him. "Hm? Oppa did you say something?" She asked a fake clueless expression plastered on her face.

Luhan glared at her. "I said leave her alone." He repeated, pointing at the girl in the corner and glaring at Lanying.

Lanying laughed dryly. "Ohh you mean bā miàn?" She glanced at the girl. " I would but..." she threw Luhan a stupid attempt to pull off a cute expression, cupping her hand over mouth she whispered loudly. "..oppa she's so pitiful. Besides, I'm doing her a favour by giving her thick skin to handle harsher criticism."

Luhan was speechless. This was her excuse?

"Are you kidding me?" He said, too stunned to be angry.

"Mmhm." She nodded her head, grinning at him. "It's kindness right?"

Again a big slap of shock hit Luhan hard across the face.

He blinked at her. Kindness? "Are you actually kidding me?" He repeated, wanting confirmation.

"Yes, silly." The stupid girl giggled.

Wow. Luhan had never been so taken aback by such a airhead.

"This person- this girl." He gestured to the girl across the room. "Has feelings. Has that ever crosses your thick skull?" He snapped.

The class "oooooh'd" and watched the exchange of words between them intently, all at the edge of their seats. Luhan had just slit Lanyings ego, hard.

Her smile faltered as she noticed everyone's reaction around her.

She looked back at Luhan and smiled confidently. "Feelings?" She scoffed. "Oppa, look at her. She's nothing to you or anybody else." She whined in a high pitched voice, sending Luhan half deaf.

"She's a waste of space and oxygen." She finally snapped.

"She's far better than you at keeping herself to herself." Luhan snarled.

Lanying then lost it.

"What's what supposed to mean?" She snapped furiously, her cheeks flaming.

"You know exactly what I mean." Luhan now had the upper hand. Lanying was the one feeling victimised. And he felt great to have been the one making her feel this way. "Keep your mouth shut about other people and worry about yourself." He snarled.

Lanying bolted up.

"Say sorry!" She yelled at him. "Apologise now." She snapped.

Luhan crossed his arms. "No." He replied, looking at his fingernails.

"That's enough. That's enough." The teacher chose that moment to intervene. Wrongly so. But his timing was in luhans favour, leaving him with the upperhand.

"No. Tell him to apologise." Lanying wasn't playing cute anymore as she glared angrily at Luhan, blind rage in her eyes.

"I can't do that. What he says is his business." Lanyigs face dropped. "Now sit." The teacher commanded authoritatively.

Lanying let out a growl of frustration and plopped back down on her seat.

Luhan exhaled and uncrossed his arms, smirking to himself.

He then remembered the girl and his eyes darted to the corner of the room to see her reaction.

What he got was nothing. The girl sat in the same position, her face staring straight ahead. Luhan had blindly expected at least some sort of recognition. He prayed she'd look in his direction and at least nod. At least give him something.

But she didn't.

The lesson resumed and the girl paid him no attention.

-

Xia-Mei's mind was screaming at her.

"Turn to him and say thanks!"

She forced herself to ignore the burning need to turn to the boy and show gratitude and focussed her will on paying attention in class.

This was the law. She was to never speak nor acknowledge people. She was taboo. The curse everyone ran from. The plague.

However never had she been so compelled to acknowledge a person. Her head tilted slightly in the direction of the boy who stuck up for her. In that moment she felt purely rebellious. She was breaking the rule. Showing emotion. Intrigue.

She spied on him from behind the thick mask of her hair, eyeing him back in secret as he watched her intently.

They were indirectly staring at one another. But she was the only one aware of this.

She was concealing herself as she glanced back, watching as he sighed and looked away.

He was disappointed in her.

"I can see you." She wanted to say.

"Thank you for that." She wanted to part her hair for a short second and reveal her face of gratitude to him.

But she couldn't.

Because she was cursed.

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A/N:

Veeeeery quickly

Don't worry, this isn't a fantasy fanfic.

She isn't cursed.

But she might think she is.

Ahh and I've finally unveiled the girl.

I'm in love with her name.

I don't even know if its a real name.

I took the name "Xia" which I loved and researched that it meant "sunrise" or "glow of sunrise" and at first wanted it to be her name solely. But I wanted to add something else and I've always loved the name "mei" meaning beautiful.

So but 2 and 2 together and we get 4.

Joke we get Xia-Mei.

Together, Xia-mei meant beautiful summer or red sky(sunrise I think) and that's the name I love.

Anyway, thanks for reading ^^

Ah saranghaeyoooo yo