Time Through Time We Remain Untamed.

Chapter 15: THE START

     The holidays swiftly went by and it was soon time to go back to school. A lot had happened within that time between Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian. For Lan Zhan, it was a bittersweet Christmas. His father had finally announced his engagement to his unknown friend and officially introduced her to his two sons. Both Lan Zhan and Lan Xichen took to the news as best as they could accepting it but it didn't change the fact that a new presence would be around them from now on. It unnerved Lan Zhan to a point. He had long known of his father's intention and had no concrete objection to it; his mother had been gone for many years now but it unsettled him. He wouldn't exactly say that he was triggered but he had become more alert and kept more to himself with his new 'mother' around.

     Luckily, his stepmother was a person of great understanding and open mindedness. She was kind and patient with the Lan brothers and didn't insist on getting too close to them too fast. She also informed them that they could just call her auntie instead of mom so as not to make it awkward, much against Lan Qiren's wishes. She was quite different from his father in many ways but that was what made the two fit. All in all, the Lan family had hopefully become more acceptable in society's eyes with this union a fact his father wanted to achieve.

        On the other side of the town, there was a different story going on. Wuxian was in celebration. The finals exam results were out and he had passed with flying colors. He had placed 2nd in both his class and in the whole 4th year stream. His heart was beaming with joy. To be honest, he had been dreading to know his results and he wasn't at all helped by his scorning aunt who was wishing for his downfall but luckily everything had worked out well. His uncle was very proud so much so that he lifted his punishment, an added bonus for Wuxian that he could go and enjoy himself with his friends. It had been a trial but Wuxian had conquered and it felt great.

            January came by and soon it was back to school. A season of experiences, memories and friendships. It was going to be one heck of a year. The students rolled in slowly by slowly as the first week wasn't necessarily counted as part of the term. The first week was generally the students coming in to register, find their new classes, pick out new clubs and subjects and get settled before the academic term officially started. Wuxian announced his presence on the 3rd day with much excitement and joy. He was planning to enjoy this year and term as much as possible and to hopefully avoid trouble at all costs. He went through the whole process before finding his class to get properly acquainted. He found most of his last year classmates including Guangyao had been placed in other classes but his sister was still with him in their new classes.

        Wuxian took a seat on his assigned desk according to his admin number and was pleasantly surprised to find that his desk mate was still  unoccupied. It seemed that he was among the few who didn't have an assigned partner for the moment. He sat there, organising his new books and stationery and his thoughts slowly drifted to Lan Zhan. Had Lan Zhan reported back or not? Wuxian had seen in the papers about his father's engagement and all and he had thought about Lan Zhan over the holidays. There was soo much unknown stuff about the guy and Wuxian was ticked to know more. He smiled to himself as he recalled his plans to befriend Lan Zhan again and hoped they would be in the same class once more. This time he was not going to waste his opportunity and truly get to know him. He was also not going to get into any fights with him so as not to push him away and prayed that Lan Zhan would open up as well this time.

          Three days passed by and Lan Zhan was yet to show. Wuxian had gone through the time catching up with his other friends and just figuring things out during the first week. The bell rang signalling the beginning of lunch break and the 5th years headed out in shifts. Wuxian followed the crowd into the cafeteria and was pretty excited to enjoy the upgraded menu for the 5th and 6th years. He moved along the line with his food tray, piling as much as possible especially with the yellow plumps that were in season now which he absolutely adored. The menu for the day was glass and wheat noodles with soy based eggs, beef strips and an assortment of veggies. There were various fruit sidedishes and warm water/tea to choose from. Wuxian was quite satisfied. He scooped up his well filled tray and looked around for a table to sit when he saw the person he had been waiting for sitting all by himself at a particular table.