Fragments

Tit for Tat

Daoming Si felt somewhat foolish as scores of beady eyes fixed upon him, hope or curiosity clear as day in every pair he deigned to meet.

Despite the signature glare that shadowed his aquiline features, the youngest Daoming still shifted rather nervously as he forced his way unceremoniously through the gawping mass. His friends were hot on his heel as the reverent crowd parted like the Red Sea, but he could still feel the the eyes boring into him, attempting to peer into the soul he tirelessly tried to pretend he didn't possess. If Ah Si felt like being perfectly honest, it made his teeth feel on edge. Reigning as monarch amongst the student body of Mingde had both its pros and cons, he supposed. On the one hand, nobody could command the attention of a room like Daoming Si; his face opened doors and his fierce personality and fearsome reputation took care of the rest. On the other hand, however.... the downside was that he had to deal with the constant, unsolicited attention like an exotic zoo animal in a barnyard of commoners. It was unpalatable on occasion; whist it was true he was something of a preening peacock, there was only one peahen whose feathers he wanted to ruffle!

Therefore, the blind admiration was as irritating as it was undeniably flattering, and sometimes it was an outright inconvenience! This was ringing true currently; the Daoming heir was garnering more female attention than he wished, and the giggles were slicing into him painfully - why was it most females were obnoxiously loud, a horde of jibbering, uncivilised monkeys? Ah Si's trademark scowl darkened drastically, his face as cold as ice when a long haired girl suddenly stepped into his path, her features set into a stiff mask of determination. The tall boy was forced to skid awkwardly to a stop or plough right into her; judging by the insane sparkle in her eyes and the smirk just touching her lips, Ah Si would wager the empty headed girl had been hoping for the latter. Not even in her wildest dreams!

The strange female looked vaguely familiar, but try as he might, the heir simply could not place her. Although he wasn't trying particularly hard, truth be told. She wasn't Dong Shancai, and therefore, she was woefully insignificant to Daoming Si. It may be callous but it was undoubtedly true; ever since Ah Si had first laid eyes on the woman of his dreams, every other girl had faded irreversibly into the background. Shancai was captivating, she was scintillating and she was also the only girl he had ever desired - sometimes, the longing was almost painful, it was so intense. He had tried to outrun his unruly feelings, but Shancai's voice echoed in every beat of his heart and her face was carved indelibly into every single one of his brain cells - there simply was not room for another in his life. It had been game over from the moment Ah Si and the tiny girl had collided. One glance from her endless eyes had been all it had taken for him to lose himself in her. Before Daoming Si could even comprehend what was happening, he was trying out the sound of his surname with the syllables Shancai in order to test the weight on his tongue. He was in way over his spiked head, drowning in the endless ocean of Dong Shancai. The love he held in his heart was beautifully bittersweet, obliterating all thoughts of warding off his own wayward emotions. Daoming Si wasn't ashamed to admit to himself that he didn't want to fight it either. The nameless girl's chances had withered before they had ever even blossomed; she would never, ever in any lifetime be able to hold a candle to Dong Shancai.

How heartbreakingly devastating for her Daoming Si thought to himself arrogantly as the girl flashed him a simpering smile, a collage of fluttering false eyelashes and artificially pink lipstick. It did absolutely nothing for him - his mind was fogged with the heady scent of jasmine and the memory of impossibly long, sooty eyelashes. The campus prince suspected that this girl's vacuous giggles were her usual modus operandi for ensnaring her prey, a dance she performed to dazzle her victims in a display of glittering teeth and eye catching colours. The nameless interloper was precisely like a poisonous plant; gaudy and ostentatious but full of hidden inner venom. What a pity that the foolish girl didn't realise Daoming Si was immune to all of her supposed "charms". What a pity she didn't realise she was as about as deep as a puddle of water and not even half as interesting. Why was it that these girls even thought they had a shot to begin with? It wasn't exactly like Ah Si had been girl crazy and approachable to begin with, but he had found the perfect antidote to his loneliness; he didn't need those girls, her just needed her. Ironically, the pity for him was that Shancai stubbornly liked to pretend that he didn't exist. Ah Si was the proverbial thorn in her side, and he didn't like it one bit. The Daoming heir was working fastidiously on changing her perception of him, but it wasn't all plain sailing. Unfortunately for him, Shancai was quite possibly the most evasive enigma he had ever encountered in all his twenty two years of life. He loved it as much as he despised it - he didn't know which way was up with the infuriating little woman!