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CHEN MEI XING
my eyes widened as i heard my childhood friend's name come out of her mouth. i glanced at jinghua, i turn to justin and gave him the same look i gave her. he was facing jinghua, shaking his head lightly.
"huang minghao? you two have a connection to huang minghao?" the excitement in my voice rises.
"yes," jinghua says in a firm tone, looking at justin with a glare. "we do." i smile widely, happy to find out about my past.
"you, me, and minghao were all chi-" the bell rings, cutting off jinghua's sentence.
i groan, "let's meet up after school and we'll talk at my house," i turn to my side and notice justin quietly stalking off. "you too, justin." he freezes, nodding awkwardly before slowly inching towards his classroom.
"i'll see you then, mei." she winks at me, turning around and walking away with a smirk, leaving me dumbfounded. mei? she has a nickname for me too, just like justin. i walk into the classroom and sat down on my assigned seat.
"t'day class, we'll be-" the teacher's voice began to fade as i began to ponder deeply. how does jinghua know minghao? how does she know me? what if what that student said about me, justin, and jinghua was true? these were all questions that had to wait until the end of school.
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the last school bell rings and i practically ran out of my last period class. i pushed past dozens of my classmates, they gave me dirty looks and sneers in return. i finally get out of the school and waited for the two of them by the gates. i nervously tapped my foot the longer that i waited for them which wasn't very long.
they both exited the school, side by side, arguing with each other. i sigh, bringing my fingers up to pinch the bridge of my nose. they both finally walked towards me, one of them beaming and the other unhappy.
"what's wrong, justin?" i tilted my head to the side, beginning to walk towards the direction of my house. they both followed me.
"nothing." justin snapped, folding his arms on the top of his chest and started walking faster than me. i glanced at jinghua who was jumping up and down energetically. basically, the opposite of justin as of right now.
we finally get to my house, i stuck my house key into the lock and twisted. i hear a click and i twist the doorknob, opening the front door. "come in." i gesture for them to walk in.
i walk into my bedroom, slipping off my shoes and hung my bag. i sat on the top of my bed, waiting for them to come in. after a long time, justin and jinghua walk into the room awkwardly. i laugh while walking towards them and pushing them into my room.
justin walks around my room curiously before stopping at the front of my mirror. he stand there in awe. jinghua and i walk towards him, looking at what caused him to freeze. it was the picture of me and minghao taped at the top of my mirror.
"you still have this photo?" justin croaked out, he sounded as if he was on the verge of tears.
"someone mailed me this, my mom apparently threw away my copy of this photo. the only other person who had this copy was my best frie-" i got cut off by justin giving me an aggressive hug.
i froze, unsure of what do until i felt something wet dripping on my shoulder. i wrapped my arms around his body, trying to comfort him.
"justin, are you okay?" i asked him but all he did in reply was squeeze me tighter. justin finally pulled away, wiping away the tears that have fallen from his cheeks. he gave jinghua a nod who in return gave a nod back.
"mei, we're gonna tell you about you're childhood." jinghua plops herself down on my bed, crossing her legs and looked at me seriously. there she goes again with that ridiculously familiar nickname.
i sit across from her but justin decides to stand around awkwardly. i scoot over to the side and gesture for justin to sit beside me. smiling, he gladly takes the seat beside me. jinghua sighs as if she's nervous to tell me.
"you, me, and minghao. we were all childhood friends. i wasn't as close to you like minghao but i was the second best. whenever you weren't with minghao, you were with me. whether you two got into a fight and you were ignoring each other, you'd use me as a rebound," jinghua chuckles at the thought of me and minghao verbally fighting.
"you were competitive, stubborn, and vicious. you would't take anybody's shit, not even minghao's when you two used to play fight each other." jinghua took my hand as if comforting me, i give her a small smile.
"you took things as a joke while minghao worried over every single dangerous thing you did." jinghua continues as a growing pain in my head began to grow.
"but besides all that, you were extremely kind to other people. i'm guessing you already heard of you're accident from your parents?" i nod, trying to ignore the aching in my head. justin held my free hand in his, raising his eyebrows as if he was asking if i was okay mentally. i nodded with a pained smile, i turned to look at jinghua with the same look.
"all right, so after the accident i tried to help you get your memory back. i had to do it alone since minghao wasn't here to help me," she looks over at justin with a sneer while justin narrowed his eyes at her.
"but it was like you were brainwashed, there wasn't anything i could do. i tried to talk to you about things before the accident but you were completely closed off. you told me to leave you alone, i think." jinghua looked hurt as she said this.
i immediately felt guilty, "i'm sorry for doing that. i felt overwhelmed by all the attention that was given to me by the other students and i couldn't handle another person talking to me about my condition. every single time someone asked me what i remembered last, i gave them the same answer." i felt my mind being filled up with all these thoughts from the past.
i shook it off, "i'm guessing you moved shortly after?" jinghua nods.
i turned to look at justin, "what's this got to do with you?" i ask him confusedly.
justin chews on his lip before looking me in the eye, "because i'm huang minghao."
