The next day, Katie heard the news: Dong Shancai had given Daoming Si a kick to the face that morning. It was all that everyone on campus would talk about. There were hundreds of comments on social media about it. Phones were pinging notifications all along the corridors, the cafeteria, the courtyard, every where.
But Katie didn't have time to stop for any of it. She had dance practice before and after lunch, three hours each time, that day. By the time she was finished at about 4pm that Thursday, she was exhausted and ready to go to bed without dinner. Her dance instructors at Ming De were insanely hardcore - they didn't care for muscle fatigue, cramps or rest. It was six whole hours of ballet today - she swore she could not feel her legs. She was surprised she could walk at all.
Oh great, only another hour of commuting home, she thought to herself, dreading the public transport. As she walked out the doors of the building, she was greeted by two men in suits. "Miss Wu, please come with us," one of them said. "Master Daoming Si wants to meet with you." Katie was about to refuse politely, then realised she was in no condition to make a run for it. "Please come this way." She followed them to a black Mercedes and slid into the backseat.
It must have been about 20 minutes before she arrived at a huge mansion. She was ushered in then she followed a well-dressed middle-aged man further into the house. Katie was trying to make out a mental map of the place in case she had to escape but it was massive inside with many corridors and rooms, the map in her head was all messed up. She gave up. She would just jump out the first window she saw if she had to.
She was subsequently shoved into a room and standing in the middle of the room was Shancai. She was dolled up - her hair, her make up, her dress, her shoes. "Hi," she said with a small wave with a few fingers. She seemed embarrassed to be seen in this situation. "How are you here?" But she looked adorable, like a doll.
Katie shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. I was kidnapped here." She saw a comfy couch. "But my legs are killing me after dance practice so I'm just going to take this seat here …" she was about to plant her bottom onto the expensive-looking upholstery when the door burst open and she sprung up again.
Daoming Si. Ouch, both her quadricep muscles hurt. When he saw her, he looked surprised. He turned to the middle-aged man. "Why isn't she dressed up like the other one?" He pointed at Katie.
"She just arrived. We didn't have time to prepare her." He must be the head of housekeeping, or whatever it was that wealthy people could afford to have at their beck and call.
Shancai stormed up to him and got straight to the point. "Why did you bring me here?" She stopped. "I mean, us. Why did you bring us here?" He ignored her and walked across the room to land himself a seat quite comfortably. Darn him, Katie thought, feeling sorry for her muscles.
"You're both here because one of you …" he wagged his long thin finger at the both of them lazily. "… could be my next girlfriend."
"Excuse me," Katie interrupted. "What?"
He stifled a laugh like he thought the girls were stupid. "If you're obedient, I'll let one of you be my girlfriend." Katie's jaw dropped. "The perks are great. No matter where I go, you can stand within a metre radius of my presence. When I eat, you can sit with me. More importantly, you can look me up anytime you want to be with me. I can take you to and fro from campus once a week. I'll provide you with good food on campus. I can help with homework if you need. We can go to the best restaurant in Shanghai on your birthday. When we play games, I'll do my best to let you win. We'll take an overseas trip once a year together. And for Shancai, of course, I can replace your broken mobile phone in a heartbeat."
The most deafening pause ensued the room. "So who would like to have the honour?" He asked confidently.
The girls looked at each other in disbelief and Katie was first to break the silence. "Look, I've had enough of crazy for a week, but this really tops the cake," she said. "Daoming Si, what you've said was absolutely absurd on two counts. One, thanks for offering to help me with homework but what do you know about dance history. Or dance, for that matter. Two, I have no desire to be associated with a narcissist like you. Not lunch. Not travelling. Not anything." His face fell, looking both confused and furious at the same time. "Thanks, but no thanks." She tightened her grip on the strap of her gym bag. "I have to get home." She glanced at Shancai on the way out. "Good luck." She mouthed to her.
As she walked away, leaving Shancai in the jaws of Daoming Si, she heard Shancai telling him to take his crazy talk elsewhere and return her change of clothes. She smiled to herself and kept on walking out of the mansion. Bed without dinner sounded amazing.
Katie hadn't seen Daoming Si or Shancai for a few days after that incident. She had been diligently making an effort to not be late for classes again after a few warnings for disrupting class or dance practice last week. Today's class after lunch was cancelled because the lecturer was ill so she decided she would spend it in the cafeteria and enjoy an actual meal, not just yoghurt and snacks.
When she walked in, the first people she noticed were Daoming Si and his posse sitting in a corner booth. There was also a girl in the group Katie hadn't seen before but she seemed very familiar with the boys. Daoming Si was preoccupied so Katie decided she would quickly get food and slide into a window booth, out of sight. She didn't want to be disturbed today.
She ordered fish and chips, and an orange juice. As Katie was making payment, she saw Shancai and her friend, a boy, walk in. She seemed agitated and flustered. "Hey," Katie greeted in a low voice. "Are you okay?"
Shancai literally just noticed her there and was surprised. "Katie," she said. "I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm just …" she darted her gaze in Daoming Si's direction and Katie sneaked a peek. Daoming Si was looking their way now and he didn't look happy. "I'm just going to go somewhere else to eat. Sorry, Katie." She took her tray and spun around to walk away but collided with a big burly student instead. She fell onto the ground and rubbed her right wrist.
"What the …" the student said rudely. "Watch where you're going, stupid." And he stormed off to the men's room.
Katie scoffed in disbelief. The amount of manners around her was unbelievably non-existent. There were rich bullies like Daoming Si and there were regular bullies like Dickhead over there. What kind of institution was this? Bully U?
In that split second before she could get down to help Shancai, Daoming Si had already made his way over to them and stooped down to meet Shancai at eye level. "So is this what you meant by being with Chen Qinghe? I hope you are 100, 1000 or even 10,000 times happier with him than with me." He words cut deep. Katie suspected she had missed a few memos between Daoming Si and Shancai over the past few days.
Then Huaze Lei appeared and promptly helped Shancai to her feet. "That's enough," he said without emotion. "Are you done picking on her?" He took her hand and was about to lead her away when Daoming Si grabbed the other hand.
"Lei," Daoming Si said. "You can't possibly like this crazy girl." Huaze Lei didn't say anything. "If you're my friend, let go."
"No." And Daoming Si reluctantly released the hand he was holding while still fuming. Huaze Lei took Shancai out of the cafeteria with the girl, who was with them at the booth, following behind.
Katie had had enough of his bullshit. "Daoming Si," she almost yelled and grabbed a fistful of the collar of his white coat. "Come over here." Before he could react, she had dragged him haphazardly out onto the lawn of the campus courtyard. She released him and copped another one of his murderous looks. She ignored him.
"What gives?" he growled and straightened out his collar and coat.
"I don't know what's happened between you and Shancai in the past few days and honestly, I don't care because it's irrelevant to your behaviour." She looked him square in the eye. "But that …" she pointed at the cafeteria. "… was the worst way you could treat a girl: publicly humiliating her. If she even had a slither of good feelings for you, it's all gone now."
Daoming Si laughed. "I just reminded her what she told me, which was that she was happier with her lame friend, Qinghe, than to having anything to do with me. I was just proving a point."
"Oh grow up!" Katie practically shrieked in exasperation and waved her hands frantically in his face. That seemed to surprise him. "Don't be so immature. What are you, seven years old?" She glared him square in the eye again. "Listen to me. If you want to make this right and stand a chance at all with Shancai, and to prove you have some decency as a gentleman, go apologise to her and stop aggravating her."
He didn't respond as if defeated. "If she doesn't like me, there's always you."
It was Katie's turn to be surprised. "Daoming Si," she started in the calmest voice she could muster but she was boiling on the inside. This man-child was beyond hopeless. Honest, but hopeless. "I'm going to make this clear, twice. I'm not interested in you or your girlfriend offer. You're not my type." She looked him up and down once again. "Definitely NOT my type. Besides, girls don't like to know they are second choice to someone else. I suggest you stay focussed and make things right."
She started walking off back to the cafeteria. Now there's only 20 minutes left to gobble down her food. Great.