Hiraeth ; Meteor Garden 2018

Chapter 2

Meizuo

Shanghai, China

Ming De University, Bridge Club Room

"I'm so tired".I sighed as I leaned my head on the wall I was sitting behind. Classes had just ended and we just met up with our professor to explain our graduation project. I typed up the remaining data onto my laptop while Ximen was reading the outline for the other materials. Lei was practicing for his recital while Ah Si was doing God knows what.

"Hey. Where is Ah Si? We could really use his help right now. This is his idea." I asked Ximen while I was typing frustratedly.

"Probably off annoying that girl who flying kicked him the other day.. What was her name again? Dong Shancai?" He answered smugly. I laughed and shook my head, knowing that was what he was probably doing.

After a few minutes, Ximen's phone beeped. He stopped reading and opened his phone. He smiled and read the text message he got.

"Who's that? New girlfriend? Date?" I asked teasingly. He shook his head and scoffed at me.

"Me? A girlfriend? No way. I don't do girlfriends or relationships remember?" he answered.

"Then who is that?" I asked.

"Jing. She's coming back tomorrow." he said happily.

"Really? Does Lei know? He's gonna be so excited! And- wait. Only Jing is coming back? What about-" I asked as my excitement slowly died down as Ximen only mentioned Jing.

"Don't worry. Your precious princess is coming home as well." he answered with a teasing smile.

"Hey! She is not my precious princess! You make it sound like she's my girlfriend!" I answered defensively. Ximen laughed.

"Is she not? If she's not then why do you sound like this: "How is Shuijing? Is she eating well? She's gotten so much prettier! Who's that guy with her?"" He added as he imitated my voice.

"I do not talk like that! She's my best friend and I haven't seen or talked to her in 3 years. I've only seen her pictures on the news or in tabloids. It's only natural for me to be curious" I said.

"Yeah yeah, whatever Meizuo." He answered dismissively.

"So is she really coming back too?" I asked, hopefully. He smiled sadly.

"No. She's not. Jing just said she's going but she didn't mention anything about Shuijing. Sorry, buddy." He said and my smile dropped.

"O-oh I see." I answered, disheartened.

I haven't seen her in 3 years and she's not coming back with Jing? That's disappointing. I frowned and Ximen placed a hand on my shoulder.

"You miss her huh?" he asked.

"Yeah. I miss her so much. I miss her laugh and the times we spent together. You remember that time she dared us to wear Zhuang jiejie's underwear? She took hundreds of photos of us and had them framed." I laughed at the memory and so did Ximen.

"It was fun until Zhuang jie found us. She wasn't sure if she was gonna get mad or laugh at us and then she called our parents." He answered.

"Yeah, I had a hard time explaining to my dad that it was just for fun and that I wasn't interested in wearing those or dressing up as a girl." I answered, my laughter subsiding.

"Oh really? You haven't had a date for a while? Is it because you've finally realized you're in love with me?" he added, giving me a seductive smile. I decided to play along. I grabbed both his hands and clasped them together with mine.