A/N: Watched this movie again recently. Fell in love with it again. Always took an interest to all of the supporting characters and loved the idea of trying to flesh them out some more. This is my attempt at doing so. Please leave a comment of what you think and I hope y'all would be interested to see me continue. Enjoy!

I wake up to the piercing rays of sun bleeding through the cracks in my curtains. I was hoping to sleep in a little today, especially after yesterday's grueling overtime lesson with my violin tutor that went hours past dusk into that time of night when I had no choice but to reluctantly call my father to pick me up, when I was then treated to a long car ride full of lectures about "independence" and how I'm "too old to be calling Daddy to be your chauffeur". I wanted so badly to point out to him that it was in fact because of Mom's insistence that, as an older girl now, I start be more cautious of strangers at night that prompted me to ask for a ride, but the hours of saying "Yes sir. You are right. I will practice the piece more" had left my voice too tired for the night.

I slowly rose out of bed, and quietly slipped into some fresh clothes before going downstairs to start some breakfast for the family. I looked out the window to see the clear skies (a rare occurrence in Beijing nowadays), and children and elderly alike starting to pour out into the local parks. As I finished setting the table and food, I decided that perhaps I would practice outside today to take advantage of the beautiful day. Perhaps I would even draw some inspiration from nature that could show me how to play those stupid pauses my tutor never seems to let up on...

Outside, the sun was shining, the wind was lightly blowing, making the air feel crisp and cool (all of which are also rare occurrences in Beijing). I put on some of my favorite violin symphonies from Bach, and tried to get myself into the zone. Before I could immerse myself into the music, I noticed a young boy confidently strutting onto the basketball courts. He was definitely a new face, and though I knew it was rude, I couldn't help but stare at his fascinating hairstyle and foreign behavior. In a sense, it was refreshing to see somebody who looked and acted different from the familiar faces that I had gotten to know around the park. He seemed to take notice of me too, shooting casual glances at my way as he and the other foreign boy that had moved here a few months prior began to challenge the local kids basketball group.

I'm not sure if perhaps my constant glances were distracting, or if perhaps diligent technique and practice are not as valued in American culture, but I couldn't help but laugh as the new kid confidently threw a shot from the three point line that sailed so high into the air, even my violin tutor would've been proud of the pause before the ball finally hit on the ground several feet past the bucket.

The game continued, and though the American kids lost (the new kid also losing a second time in ping pong to the park's resident ping pong master in a very amusing display), I liked the new kid's never ending confidence and will to keep playing. In China, it was common to see my peers shying away from anything they were worried they couldn't excel at. Too often, it was either you had to be the best, or you had to try a different hobby for fear of being laughed at or worse, criticized.

As I tried to get back to my practice session, I noticed the new kid slowly get up and approach me. I pretended to look down, and began to furiously try to recall my English lessons from school.

He spoke a few words to me attempting to break the ice, and before I could reply back, he continued

"Oh… forgot. No English".

And yet again before I could attempt to correct him, he continued with what I can only assume was meant to be a proper greeting in Chinese. I giggled, feeling bad for doing so, but also impressed that he was so brave in trying to speak to me in a language he must only have had a few minutes to practice at most.

Still though, I couldn't help but throw a quick jab at him: "What kind of greeting was that?"

"Oh… you speak English?"

I nodded, and then began to listen as he went on to talk a bit more before asking me: "What are you listening to?"

"Bach."

"Oh… Bach. Yeah they're cool I've heard of them before"

I felt confused for a moment as I was pretty sure I remembered "them" being a plural object for a noun, but he quickly moved on:

"Hey have you ever heard of this?"

And slowly a beat started playing from the cellphone that he had pulled out. Not wanting to be rude, I nodded my head along, though admittedly the foreign music did have a catchy hook to it.

The boy started dancing much to my amusement, but as the other park residents began to stare, I quickly changed the subject:

"Can I touch your hair?"

Of all of the thoughts that raced through my head in the past minute, I'm not sure why that's what I settled upon, but nevertheless the boy consented after some initial surprise.

The sun was shining, the wind was lightly blowing, and my decision to practice outside was starting to feel like a good one. How I wished it had stayed that way…

I awoke to the unpleasant sound of my cellphone blasting away on my bed stand next to my face. It was only 8:15 in the morning, approximately 2 hours too early to be rudely woken up on a Sunday, which was resting day from the soreness that practice always left me with after a week of relentless training.

I squinted my eyes at the caller ID to see who was responsible for committing this crime against my personal humanity: Zhuang

I exhaled a deep sigh and let the phone ring a few more times in petty revenge before answering:

"Hello?"

"Yooooo Liang! Glad you're up!"

"Yeah I can't say I share the same sentiment…"

"Don't be such a party pooper man. Look out the window! Do you see what a clear day it is? We gotta hit the park today man for sure!"

"What's there to do at the park? Can't we just like meet up later after lunch to play cards or something"

"What are you 80? You sound like my Grandpa: 'Oh I'm going to call up some friends to play mahjong and drink tea and talk about the cultural revolution'."

I silently laugh at Zhuang's impression of his Grandpa. He was always really good at mocking his elders much to the sharp dismay of his parents and other adults.

"Geez louise man you're 15! You should be feeling that youthful energy compelling you to go outside where you belong"

"Now who's the one who sounds 80…"

"Whatever dude. Just get dressed and meet me at the park at 9. I'm calling Cheng too."

"You know there's no way he's gonna spend his Sunday at the park unless it's to practice our Kung Fu some more"

"Leave that part to me. See ya there man. Don't be late!"

And with that, the call abruptly ended. I hold back a sigh of frustration as I check the time on my phone. 8:19. Looks like I would only have 41 minutes left to enjoy my Sunday.