Strawberry Milk Candy

Prologue

The July sun shimmered in the afternoon sky, bright as it can be; along with it, the heat of the summer. The asphalt of the empty highway blazed with heat, and a warm breeze wafted along the greenery of its surroundings. The leaves on the trees whispered the sound of goodbye. No wind blew, silence bestowed along the empty highway, only to be broken by the thundering of wheels of a bus driving by. The lonely bus drove, its wheels roaring along the soundless road; it had just left the Bifengxia Panda Resort and was now heading back for the Chengdu main city. Within the bus, people rested in their seats. There were children of all ages, some happy and excited to be back home, and some not so eager.

A little girl sat in her seat, expressionlessly looking out the window at the fast passing mountains and trees outside, her mind restless and her stomach churning with unease. This was it, the seven-day summer camp trip in Ya'an was over, she would have to part ways with her friends and be back home in an hour. She didn't know whether to feel happy to be back home, or to be sad that she would have to part ways with them, particularly a boy named Yuan Mingyu. Arystia turned her head to look at him, he was sitting beside her, crunching on a bag of tomato flavored chips he had bought at the resort, watching the movie that was playing on the small TV hanging from the roof. She sighed, her heart shuddered, it was making her increasingly sad thinking of how she has to say goodbye to Mingyu, likely to never see him again, in less than an hour.

"What's wrong?" Mingyu suddenly asked. She turned and saw him looking at her curiously.

"Oh, it's nothing. Can I have some of your chips?" She asked, grabbing a handful from the tiny bag after Mingyu yes.

"Hey! Give some back, I barely have any left!" He complained, playfully nudging her shoulder.

"In your dreams Yuan Mingyu! You told me to grab some, so I'm not returning a crumb!" She teased, looking up at the small TV above them that was playing a silent movie with Chinese subtitles. She sulked a little, having been raised in England since she was an infant, she never had the chance to learn to read and to write Chinese, despite her half Chinese heritage. The movie seemed to be interesting, but she could only understand what was going on with the help of others. Arystia rested her head on Mingyu's shoulder, it flinched a little at the sudden contact.

"Say, can you help me translate what they're saying? You know how bad my Chinese it." She said.

"Gosh, every time, you're so difficult." Mingyu sighed, his cheeks becoming a light tint of pink. He began translating the subtitles quietly so it wouldn't disturb the rest of the bus while also handing her his bag of chips to share. It wasn't too long until Arystia fell silent on Mingyu's shoulder; he looked down to find her already asleep, her mouth slightly parted and moving according to her breathing.

"Woah, Mingyu and Arystia sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." The chanting of a little boy sounded behind Mingyu. He turned to look at the person behind him and saw his friend Zhuo Jin standing on his chair towering over them, with a wide smirk on his face that showed his gossipy thoughts.

"Oh come on, stop it. Arystia and I are just friends." Mingyu retorted, his cheeks slightly red.

"Bruh, it's not just me, literally everybody ships you two, and you know that. I can't help it, I mean, she literally kissed you in front of everybody, and your face was red like a tomato, how can I not?" Zhuo Jin replied, his smirk growing wider as he sees Mingyu's face grow red at the mention of the event.

"Hey! Stop smiling, she's the youngest member in the summer camp, she doesn't know any better!" He retorted, turning his back against Zhuo Jin, refusing to listen to anything else that he said.