I'm willing to be
that angel you love inside the fairytale
Spread up my hands
become the wings to protect you
You must believe
believe that we can be like in the fairytale
prosperity and happiness is the ending

— Fairy Tale, Guang Liang

2011

July

Xiao Yan was sure that Yong Qi dragged her out for archery lessons the next morning in an attempt to prove a point.

And even if by the end of the day, she was no more convinced that archery was actually a useful skill for anyone in the 21st century, she did have to admit she had fun, especially when Yong Qi convinced her to get on a horse for the first time. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time and she found she couldn't wait to be proficient enough to do more than just walk her horse around an enclosure. She wanted to race it over a flat meadow and feel the wind at her back, like they did on TV.

"I thought you might like horse-back riding," Yong Qi said as they walked back to the house. Palace. Whatever.

"I did. But I still can't get over the fact that you actually unironically learnt to shoot a bow and arrow," she told him, giggling.

"Would you be more impressed if I told you I can shoot a bow and arrow on horseback?"

"Probably," she said, shrugging, "but I still wouldn't see the point."

"Fair enough," he said, laughing, opening the door for her.

They wandered through the kitchen, the library, the indoor pool, several sitting rooms (because why have one when you could have…a dozen) without finding anyone else.

"I think we might be the only ones home," Yong Qi finally drew the conclusion. It was amazing how such a statement could technically be true in a home of a hundred rooms and dozen staffs.

"I know Zi Wei has a date, but where is everyone else?"

"Yong An is probably out, too. I think my parents might have engagements. Can't imagine where He Ke and Yong Yan are."

"Well, I need to shower and change into something less…horsey. See you for dinner?"

"Sure," he replied, distracted, as he was now pulling out his phone, probably to call and see where He Ke and Yong Yan were.

Having located the whereabouts of Yong Yan (he was spending the night at He Jing's), Yong Qi next went in search of He Ke and found her in her room, marathoning Next Top Model on her TV (with He Ke, it was always marathoning).

"Hello, Brother, you look disheveled. Did something happen with Xiao Yan that I should know about – or maybe I don't want to know about – or did you just fancy a roll down Longevity Hill?"

Yong Qi ignored his sister's nosiness and just said, "I took Xiao Yan riding. Off to clean up now. You coming down for dinner?"

"Nope," He Ke answered. "I'm set."

"Ke Ke, popcorn is not dinner."

He Ke rolled her eyes. "Thank you for your concern, big brother, but I thought you guys were out so I had dinner already. There's food which I so nicely left for you in the fridge, but it's just going to be you and Xiao Yan though."

"Right. Thanks."

He Ke gave him an obnoxious teasing smirk. "You wouldn't mind that at all, would you?"

"Never you mind," he answered, before closing the door of her room on her widening smile and heading for his own room.

Yong Qi heard the sound of Xiao Yan singing from the opened kitchen door before he even saw her. As he stood at the door, he found Xiao Yan with her back to him, singing along to what looked like He Ke's iPod on the kitchen counter.

"I'm willing to be that angel you love inside the fairytale," she sang, her hips swaying to the music. "Spread up my hands, become the wings to protect you."

Yong Qi found himself momentarily mesmerised. She was dressed simply in a t-shirt and jean shorts, and her hair was still slightly damp and loose around her shoulders and she took his breath away. He wasn't sure how long he stood there, but he couldn't take his eyes off her. He had to tell himself that it really wasn't a wise idea to overthink how her shorts were showing off her legs and how the t-shirt hugged her figure.

Just when he finally realised that perhaps he should make his presence known, there came a loud "Ding!" from the microwave. The words to Tong Hua on her lips trailed off as she turned towards it, but then yelped loudly when she caught sight of him standing there.

"You scared me!" she cried.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I just got down."

Either his face wasn't as red as it felt, or she had chosen to ignore it, because she simply walked towards the microwave and said, "He Ke is up in her room."

"I know," he said. "She said she's already eaten, though."

"Yeah, she came down a couple of minutes ago to get a drink," Xiao Yan said, pulling from the microwave a serving dish of noodles. "Anyway, apparently she was eager to get back to some TV show. She left her iPod and I asked her whether I could borrow it. She sort of waved her hand which I guessed meant yes. Dinner?"

As they started eating, he asked her what she wanted to do after dinner.

"I was thinking of seeing what it's like to watch a movie on one of your disgustingly HD TVs," she said cheerfully. "Wanna join me?"

"Aren't you sick of me already?" he half-joked.

"You're all right," she said, grinning.

"What do you want to watch?"

That simple question led to a debate that lasted through the remaining of their short dinner and while Yong Qi washed up.

(They paused their argument of movies when he took her bowl from her when they finished eating.

"Are you actually going to wash the bowls?" she asked playfully.

"I'm a little insulted that you think I don't know how."

"Not necessarily…I just figured you probably have a machine washer."

"We do, but there's no point when there's literally two bowls and two pairs of chopsticks to wash.")

"If you want to watch a movie, let's go into the Blue Room, that's where most of the DVDs are," he said, drying his hands on a towel.

"The Blue Room." she repeated with faint incredulity. "In the city, you name every single building some fancy shmancy poetic name, and out here, it's the Blue Room? Let me guess, it's the one with the blue wallpaper."

"Yes," Yong Qi said, laughing. "Don't ask me how the naming of the palaces work. I didn't name them."

They arrived at the room and he settled down on the enormous sofa while Xiao Yan went through what she called "their ridiculously sinful" collection of DVDs. He figured it would just be easier to let her pick the movies. She danced around the room, putting the DVD into the machine before bouncing over to join him on the couch.

14 Blades began playing.

"Full disclosure, I have very little actual interest in this as a movie," she said.

"Then why are we watching it?"

"Zhao Wei," she answered, as if that was a perfectly good reason to watch a movie you were otherwise not remotely interested in.

Chuckling softly, he realised that, to Xiao Yan, it was.

They fell asleep about midway through the second movie (keeping with the period fighting theme, it was Di Ren Jie).

A cramped arm woke Yong Qi up, and he found he couldn't have slept for very long, because the movie was still playing. He also found that as much as he wanted to raise his arms to stretch, it was currently impossible to do so because his arm was draped over the back of the sofa, and Xiao Yan, in her sleep, somehow had managed to shift and lean her head on his shoulder, which meant that his arm was now firmly wedged between her neck and the sofa.

If it didn't feel so painful, he would probably enjoy this more.

Even then, he didn't give in to the need to move him arm immediately. He froze, studying her from this angle. In the dim light of the movie being played, he felt his heart skip a beat as he took in the way her eyelashes rested so peacefully on her cheeks, which was itself so unfairly pretty and soft-looking. Only the wish to not wake her prevented him from leaning down to kiss her. Even then, he could see the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest as she slept, and he wondered if he should read something into the fact that she was comfortable and relaxed enough around him to fall asleep like this.

Before he could decide either way, his arm was begging to be relieved. There was probably little chance he could pull it out from under her neck without waking her, but he had to try. As gently as possible with an arm that more or less had lost all feeling, he eased away from her.

The movement did wake her. She startled awake, blinking and pushing stray hair out of her eyes.

Yong Qi massaged his shoulder and stretched.

"Did I – I fell asleep on you?" she asked. "I'm sorry!"

"It's fine," he said, smiling. He reached for his phone to check the time. Then, he looked up at her, grinning. "Happy birthday!"

"What?"

"It's your birthday," he said, turning the phone for her to see the time. It was just five minutes past midnight.

"Oh," she said, squinting against the light, which was even brighter in the darkness of the room. "How did you even know?"

"Zi Wei told me."

"Oh," she said again. There was a pause. "I never wished you happy birthday."

"Xiao Yan, my birthday was months ago."

"I know, but we knew each other. I didn't wish you happy birthday. I didn't know then, sorry."

"Well, I never told you when it was, so you couldn't have known."

"As if it was hard to look it up," she said with a smile. "Happy belated birthday?"

He laughed.

"Anyway," she added, "today's not really my birthday. You know that, right?"

"On paper, it is," he said, shrugging. "And in lieu of knowing your actual birthday, it'll do."

She smiled. "Well, thanks."

"Your present is upstairs, by the way."

"You didn't have to get me a present," she protested.

"I wanted to," he said. Then, after a pause, he added, "You know we're having that big family gathering for Zi Wei's birthday day after tomorrow right? I'm pretty sure everyone will know it was your birthday too. So be prepared."

"If your family knows, it's because you told them," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but Zi Wei would, even if I did not," he said. "But it's pretty late and it's been a pretty action-packed day. We should both get some sleep if you want to be awake to enjoy your actually birthday."

He held out his hand to her and she took it. But in the dark and their current states of half-asleep, his hand did little of its job as a steadying factor. In the end, they both wobbled on their feet and ended up knocking foreheads.

"Ouch," she said, laughing, "sorry."

"No, my fault…" he said. And then his voice died in his throat as she lifted her head and he realised her face was mere inches from his.

They were close enough that he could feel her faint breath fanning his face.

Why didn't she pull away?

Why did she just stand there, effectively gazing up at him, her eyes impossibly wide in the glowing light of the TV? How he wished to know what was in her head at this very moment.

He could see and feel her breath quicken. Surely his breathing was just as erratic.

It really didn't help that her mouth had slightly parted, perhaps in her attempt to say something but could not decide what.

He wanted to close the gap between them, to learn what those lips tasted like, to lose himself in her.

Before he could, however, Xiao Yan gave a breathless gasp, as if finally realising the tension between. She pulled abruptly away and turned her head, so that now her face was in the shadows.

"Xiao Yan – " he started, but she barreled over him.

"I – You're right. Sleep. We should get some sleep. Good night!"

And with that hasty farewell, she turned and practically ran out of the room without even looking at him.

Yong Qi stood, frozen, for what seemed like an eternity before realising there was little he could do but reach for the remote to turn off the DVD player and the TV, before heading off to his room himself.

August

For Zi Wei's birthday, a picnic was held in the gardens, and everyone spread out with food and drink to mingle and chat in the soft late summer sun.

Yong Qi was perched on a boulder watching Xiao Yan, standing a little way away, talking animatedly to his father, when Zi Wei arrived and sat down next to him.

"Are you all right?"

"What?" he asked, startled, turning to her. Then, he smiled. "Yeah, sure, I'm fine."

"You just seem…a little quiet," she said thoughtfully.

Yong Qi shrugged. Zi Wei followed his gaze.

"Ah." There was a beat, when Zi Wei obviously waited for him to say something. When he didn't, she added, "Ke Ke told me that you two spent the day together the other day."

"We did."

"And? What did you do?"

Yong Qi shrugged. "I tried to teach her archery. And then we went horse-back riding. By the time we got back, it was dinner time and then we watched movies."

Zi Wei laughed. "You know, that sounds a lot like a date."

With anyone else, Yong Qi would probably have pointedly ignored this. But it was Zi Wei, and if he couldn't talk to Zi Wei about this, who could he really talk to?

"It occurred to me too, a lot later, that it was practically a date," he said. "But I don't think Xiao Yan necessarily sees it that way."

"Oh, no, I don't think she would," Zi Wei said. "But she can be extraordinarily oblivious sometimes…she sees what she wants to see until you spell it out to her."

"And…do you think I should?" he asked. "I mean, I don't want to make it weird between her and me, between us, between the two of you…"

Zi Wei smiled at his hinting hesitance. "Do you want me to tell you that she won't reject you?"

"Maybe. I don't know. Just tell me something."

"I can't tell you she would never reject you, Yong Qi," Zi Wei said gently.

"Oh."

"But that doesn't mean you shouldn't ask her out," she added.

"Zi Wei! I don't think I want to pressure her – "

"Yong Qi," Zi Wei cut in, "I never said she doesn't like you, or that there was no chance of her liking you enough to want to enter a relationship with you. I'm just saying, Xiao Yan…she might be afraid of beginning a romantic relationship with anyone, so you need to be patient with her."

"And the reason for that?"

"Prior bad experience. Any details beyond that, I can't tell you. But Yong Qi, I do know that she does like you, a lot. You just have to try and persuade her that you're worth taking the leap."

"How?" he asked, disheartened. "Contrary to popular belief, there are more disadvantages to dating me than advantages. I am not unaware of that."

"Maybe you shouldn't start out thinking of it in those terms? You both like each other. It's obvious to anyone who looks in. That should be your starting point."

Yong Qi could only wish it were really just that simple.

"What are you going out here alone?" Yong Qi asked a couple of days later when he found her leaning against a bridge over a large lotus pond.

Xiao Yan turned to him. "Oh I'm not alone," she said. "Zi Wei wanted to take photos with the flowers. She's gone back into the house for the camera. She'll be out in a moment, I think."

Yong Qi nodded and came to stand next to her. "So, did you like your present?"

Xiao Yan smiled involuntarily and touched the base of her neck through her shirt, where a silver pendant in the shape of a bird rested, hanging from a simple silver chain. "Yes, I do. Thank you. It makes me feel kind of bad that my present for you isn't nearly as nice though," she added sheepishly.

"You shouldn't feel bad at all. I'm very touched that you thought to get me a present when my birthday was ages ago."

"You mean, I shouldn't feel bad that I gave you your present ridiculously late?" she asked, smiling archly.

"Well, you didn't know," he said. Then, with a laugh, he added, "I think it's amusing that in your card you said you didn't think I owned a t-shirt."

"Well, I didn't."

There were several beats of silence when both of them looked at the fragrant pink and white blooms with their fanning green leaves rising out of the muddy pond.

"Xiao Yan," Yong Qi began hesitantly, "about what happened the other day – "

"Nothing happened," Xiao Yan cut in firmly.

Yong Qi turned to look at her, but she was staring determinedly out in front of her, clearly unwilling to turn and look at him.

"Xiao Yan – "

This time, she did turn and gave him a most reluctant smile. "Really, Yong Qi, it's fine. We don't have to talk about it."

"What if I want to?" he asked.

"Well, I don't," she said shortly, turning away again, leaving him staring hopelessly at her.

Before Yong Qi could say anything else, sounds of footsteps approached, and Zi Wei appeared, camera in hand. Xiao Yan skipped immediately to her friend and grabbed her arm. "Come on, there's a really good angle over there…"

Zi Wei let herself be pulled away, but even as she followed Xiao Yan, she turned back and gave Yong Qi sympathetic questioning look. She clearly believed she had interrupted something. Yong Qi just forced back a sigh and gave her a vague wave that indicated she shouldn't worry about it. He stood there only for a moment longer, watching Xiao Yan and Zi Wei on the other side of the pond; Xiao Yan was determined to act like nothing awkward had happened at all. When it was clear that he had little chance to tell Xiao Yan exactly how he felt, he turned and returned to Yuan Ming Gong, his heart heavier than ever.

Perhaps Xiao Yan was right. There was nothing of note did happen, after all.

Xiao Yan's three weeks at Yuan Ming Yuan ended and she caught a ride back to university with Zi Wei, who dropped her off at the gate.

"It's not going to take that long to take you to the building, Xiao Yan," Zi Wei said as she slid out of the car.

"No, don't worry," Xiao Yan said, waving her hand. "You're late for…whatever it is you're late for. I can walk back to the dorm fine."

Zi Wei still looked apologetic, despite Xiao Yan's grin. "If you are sure," Zi Wei said. "I'll see you later."

Xiao Yan watched Zi Wei pull away before shouldering her holdall and heading towards her building. It was late summer, so there were not yet many people on campus, except the few who still lived on campus over the summer or chose to come back early. Xiao Yan nodded and smiled to the few people she knew as they passed.

Then, suddenly, someone bumped into her bag and spilled coffee all over it.

Xiao Yan jumped to the side to avoid it, but it was too late. The only good thing was that the hot coffee avoided spilling on her, so she was not burnt.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" the person who bumped into her cried.

To say that Xiao Yan did not appreciate this tone was an understatement. If the girl had been nicer, Xiao Yan would have simply smiled and apologised. As it was, she only said sullenly and accusingly, "You bumped into me."

"I did not!" the girl cried, her eyes flashing indignantly. She was slightly taller than Xiao Yan, but she acted as if she was looking down at Xiao Yan from a foot up.

Xiao Yan sniffed. "Whatever," she muttered, then added sarcastically, "Sorry you spilled your coffee."

Then, she walked away, leaving the girl to stare sourly after her.

When Xiao Yan arrived in her room, she found that what had been formerly Zi Wei's side of the room was now filled with some other girl's things. Obviously her roommate had moved in, and hadn't bothered to properly put her things away yet. If it were Zi Wei in Xiao Yan's place, the mess would probably have driven her insane. Xiao Yan, however, did not particularly mind it, as long as the mess didn't spill over to their shared spaces or into her side of the room.

It took Xiao Yan a very short time to unpack. She was only gone for three weeks, after all, and there was no laundry to do. Though she didn't ask, the staff at Yuan Ming Gong had ensured that all her clothes were washed and ironed to perfection before she packed to leave the palace. Now, the only cleaning Xiao Yan had to do was to take a small wash cloth to rub the coffee from her bag.

Several hours later, she was checking her school email when her door banged open.

Xiao Yan put the laptop aside and stood up, ready to meet her roommate.

That was when the girl walked into the room.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, staring at Xiao Yan accusingly. "How did you get in here?"

"What are you doing here?" Xiao Yan asked of the girl who had spilled coffee on her bag earlier.

"I live here!"

Xiao Yan narrowed her eyes. Of all the luck in the world! "Since when?" she asked.

"Since yesterday."

"Oh."

For a moment, the two of them stood at an impasse, staring at each other, both feeling beyond annoyed.

"You haven't answered my question. Who are you?" the girl asked.

Xiao Yan heaved an enormous sigh and shrugged. "I'm your roommate. Apparently."

"You're the roommate?" the girl asked, looking like she just heard someone had died. "What rotten luck."

"Thanks," Xiao Yan said sarcastically before throwing herself back on her bed again.

The girl just stared at her for a moment longer, before walking to her side of the room and fiddled with her possessions.

It was as if they were both daring each other to speak first.

Finally, Xiao Yan got sick of the stretched silence and asked, "So do you have a name?"

"Sai Ya," she said grudgingly. "You?"

"Xiao Yan."

Everything was quiet between the two of them again, but now, the girl – Sai Ya – no longer looked annoyed. If anything, she was staring at Xiao Yan with something like intrigue.

"What?" Xiao Yan demanded after a while.

"So what's up with you?" Sai Ya asked with genuine curiosity.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I spoke to some of our neighbours last night. When I told them I was staying in this room, they all went mysterious or giggly. Apparently the girl who lived in this room is famous or something? Is that you?"

"No," Xiao Yan replied shortly. She would have been reluctant to gossip about Zi Wei even if her roommate had been pleasant, let alone this.

"Oh, so it was the girl who lived with you before me?" Sai Ya persisted.

Xiao Yan shrugged noncommittally. Sai Ya apparently recognised that she was being blown off, because she let out a huff breath.

"Fine," she muttered, "suit yourself."

She went back to rummaging through her things, while Xiao Yan turned back to her laptop.

It was apparently going to be a long semester.

Xiao Yan had originally been worried that it would be living hell to be shut up in a tiny room with Sai Ya for a roommate for a whole semester, but it turned out that they saw each other but rarely. Sai Ya seemed to treat the room more like a pit stop, coming in only to change clothes and pick things up. Five out of seven nights of the week, she didn't come home, or if she did, she came home after Xiao Yan had gone to sleep and left before she woke.

Xiao Yan wondered whether Sai Ya was avoiding their room and face to face meetings because she truly didn't want to spend time with Xiao Yan, or that really was just her life style. Either way, it almost felt like Xiao Yan was back to no roommate at all, which under the circumstances, served her just fine. It was clear that Zi Wei being the world's best roommate had been a stroke of luck; that luck had ran out and she got stuck with Sai Ya instead.

September

One day, Xiao Yan was walking to the bus stop from work when she spied a girl her age, or a couple of years older, walking towards her. Her head was bowed and she was walking rapidly, obviously trying to shake off the guy who was trailing behind her. The guy was speaking and though Xiao Yan was still too far away to hear what he was saying, she could tell by the girl's stiff, defensive posture that the attention was entirely unwelcome.

Xiao Yan's own defenses came up and told her that they did not know each other, and the guy was following the girl despite her wishes. She obviously desperately wanted to get rid of him, but didn't feel safe enough to confront him as she was alone. It was not very late, but the street they were in was not very crowded. The few people who were milling around didn't seem to see anything wrong or otherwise were unwilling to interfere.

Making up her mind in a split second, Xiao Yan plastered a wide smile on her face and approached the girl deliberately.

"Oh my gosh, is that you, Mei Qiao Lian?" Xiao Yan asked brightly, making up a name on the spot and taking the girl by both her hands. "I haven't seen you in ages! How are you?"

Both the girl and her stalker stopped walking. Facing the guy, Xiao Yan could see him looking, shocked and a little angry, between Xiao Yan and "Qiao Lian". "Qiao Lian" only looked surprised for a tiny second, before engulfing Xiao Yan in an enthusiastic hug that she was sure wasn't only to act the part of greeting a long-absent friend.

"It's so good to see you as well!" "Qiao Lian" gushed.

For a few minutes, the two of them focused totally on each other, putting up an act of being old friends meeting again after a long time apart, improvising conversations off the top of their heads.

The stalker lingered around them for a few moments, before realising that Xiao Yan wasn't about to walk off any time soon. He scowled and stormed off, crossing the street and disappearing into a dark alley.

They waited few moments longer before dropping the act.

"Thank you," the girl said with a rushing breath of relief. "I wasn't sure what I would have done if he had followed me much longer."

"It's no problem," Xiao Yan said. "You looked like you needed the help."

"I did. I was having dinner with a friend and we had to go separate ways. I was just walking when he just turned up out of nowhere. I'm Cai Lian, by the way, so your 'nickname' wasn't far off. Thank you again for your help."

"Don't mention it," Xiao Yan said. "I'm Xiao Yan. Are you walking for much longer?"

"Well, I was actually supposed to get on a bus a few minutes down, but I didn't dare stop and wait for the bus. I was afraid he'd get on the bus with me, so I just kept walking."

"Oh, I'm going to that stop, too," Xiao Yan said. "Come on, let's go together."

"Would you mind? Thank you so much."

"No, not at all."

"Honestly, I haven't been living in Beijing for a while. I didn't realise something like this could happen," Cai Lian said as they made their way to the bus stop.

"It can happen anywhere there are jerks like him, I think," Xiao Yan said.

"Yes, well, after nearly seven years overseas, this wasn't exactly what I imagined what would happen on the second I am back in the home country," Cai Lian said with a shaky laugh.

"You've been living overseas?"

"Yes, America. I'm just back visiting family for few weeks."

They spoke easily about inconsequential things until Cai Lian's bus – which turned out to be a different bus to the one Xiao Yan was catching – arrived. With a few last words of reassurance, they parted company, neither expecting to ever see each other again.

Xiao Yan and Yong Qi never spoke of that night again.

After a few weeks, it was as if really nothing had happened between them.

They probably would have carried on like that for much longer, if it were not for a certain meeting, barely a week into the new school year.

They were back to sharing the same table in their old spot in the library, and were sitting opposite each other, each engrossed in their own laptops, when a surprised voice called out.

"Yong Qi?"

They both looked up at the person who had interrupted them, and recognition dawned on both their faces.

"What are you doing here?" both Xiao Yan and Yong Qi asked. Then, they turned, looking at each other, bewildered. "You know her?" they both asked each other, again together.

Cai Lian laughed, sitting down on a vacant chair. "So it would seem."

"How?" Yong Qi asked, frowning.

"Xiao Yan here got me out of quite a bit of trouble a few days ago," Cai Lian explained, smiling at Yong Qi. Then, turning to Xiao Yan, she added, "Yong Qi and I went to school together."

There was something about the brief, odd expression that passed through Yong Qi's face that told Xiao Yan their acquaintance went deeper than just being school friends, but she didn't press for details.

"What are you doing here?" Yong Qi asked.

"I'm back for a few weeks, visiting," Cai Lian said. "You know Ying Er?" She waited for Yong Qi to acknowledge that he did. When he just looked confused, she continued, "She's my cousin. Anyway, she asked me to meet her somewhere on this floor but she's not picking up her phone. I was just looking for her but haven't found her. Found you, though."

"Oh," Yong Qi said, apparently not knowing what else to say. Clearing his throat, he managed to add, "What did you mean, Xiao Yan got you out of trouble?"

Cai Lian started to tell Yong Qi about their accidental meeting, while Xiao Yan tried to tell her that it wasn't anything remarkable. She didn't know what made her feel more flustered, the fact that Cai Lian was tell this as some grand act of heroic, or the strange smile Yong Qi was directing at her.

Thankfully, before Cai Lian could really get into gushing mode, her phone rang. She pulled it out from the pocket of her fancy-looking blazer and said apologetically, "Sorry, I have to go. It's Ying Er." She stood up and smiled at Yong Qi. "Maybe I'll see you around?"

He smiled back. "Yes."

With a wave at Xiao Yan, Cai Lian fairly danced away, leaving Yong Qi to stare after her.

Something like annoyance rose in Xiao Yan at the sight of Yong Qi unable to look away from her retreating form like that, even if the expression on his face was simply one of confusion.

When Cai Lian was gone, Yong Qi shook himself out of his stupor and gave Xiao Yan a smile that she found she couldn't sincerely return. He didn't seem to notice, however, as he only asked, "Want to get lunch?"

"Uh – no, I can't," she lied. "I told my roommate I would have lunch with her."

Nothing could be further from the truth. So far, Sai Ya had yet to indicate that she wanted anything more than the glance-nod-'bye' dynamic they currently had between them, let alone do something as conductive to friendship as having lunch together.

"Oh." He looked disappointed. Xiao Yan tried not to notice this. "Maybe some other time."

"Yeah," she said faintly, giving him a tight smile. Then, hastily gathering up her things, she had never left their spot in the library in more of a hurry.

A/N: I honestly did not mean to fake-name Cai Lian after Melinda May, but uh, it happened? I seriously just picked a name out of thin air, didn't really realise why it sounds so familiar until about a month later…at that point it was basically, "why not?".

Tianlu – I agree with your comment at Zi Wei and how her story is an overload of angst. It's a lot toned down here, partly because in modern time her problems are either erased or not so serious (*coughQingErcough*) but also partly because I can't write Zi Wei's version of angst.

As for Meng Yue, she's not very interesting in the sense that she was only mentioned in the last chapter because that was One Big Chapter of Foreshadowing. Beyond that, I don't have the time or space to really dwell on Yong An and his girlfriend, because they're a whole other story, and Xiao Yan and Yong Qi are dumb enough already :D