Touched by an Angel

Chapter 5- Leave me Alone

Lei remained outside the art building after the class finished. Finally, after ten minutes, Shan Cai left the class room. She turned around the corner and dropped her books in shock as she saw Lei waiting for her. Lei bent down and helped her pick her things up.

She muttered a small thank you and started walking towards the library.

"I was wondering if you would have lunch with me?" asked Lei, recklessly ignoring an inner voice telling him that he was a stupid idiot.

"I'm not having lunch," replied Shancai emotionlessly. She brushed past Lei carelessly.

Lei frowned. He wasn't expecting this. Let's try the direct approach then, he thought.

Running to catch up with Shancai, he pulled her back on the arm.

She turned and shook him off angrily. "What's your problem!" she asked heatedly.

"That's what I was going to ask you," replied Lei calmly.

It was obviously not the answer she was expecting. She was lost for words for a few seconds, but then recovered immediately. "What's my problem!" she almost half shouted. "My problem?"

A few passing students threw a curious glance in her direction, but Shancai ignored them and went on. "I'll tell you. Let's think... Maybe because you keep following me everywhere I go?" she asked sarcastically.

"I just want to know you," replied Lei.

Shancai rolled her eyes.

"Ever the 'shao ye'... Have you ever thought that maybe I don't want to know you? Have you ever thought of that?" she asked him, her eyes boring into his with such confidence. "Or have you been so arrogant as to think that everyone wants to know you. Not everything, Hua Ze Lei shao ye, is about you!"

Lei was so shocked at her ferocity that it took him a few seconds to realise that Shancai had started walking forwards again, at a remarkable pace. Lei ran ahead and stepped in front of Shancai, blocking her path. At least he had gotten her talking, thought Lei. At least that's an improvement.

"I didn't think that," Lei told Shancai sternly.

Shancai tried to step away from him, but Lei blocked her. She turned right, only to be blocked by Lei again. Groaning, she said coldly, "Well I couldn't have guessed by the way you're acting."

Sarcastic, thought Lei to himself. "What do you have against me?" he pursued. "What have I done? I hardly know you but you seem to hate me!"

Shancai sighed. "I have nothing against you, okay? Is that what you want to hear? Are you happy now?"

"I know you don't mean that," said Lei.

Shancai closed her eyes briefly, and then snapped them open again. "You want to know?" she whispered icily. "It's because of who you are... You're Hua Ze Lei, you're part of F4. You're rich. You can have the world spin at your hand if you want. And who am I? I'm nobody. Just a common girl... a poor girl. I have nothing."

"What's wrong with being poor?" asked Lei.

"Nothing," replied Shancai in her icy tone. "If you don't go to Ying De, that is. In first year, do you know how much ridiculing I had to withstand? People mocking me, calling me names to horrible to repeat, teasing me, making fun of my clothes. That's what I had to go through. Did you? Of course not, you're Hua Ze Lei. You have money. You have power."

Before Lei could say anything else, Shancai went on.

"That's what I have learnt in my life. Money equals power and in a corrupted world like this, power is everything. Rich people like you, Hua Ze Lei shao ye, don't have to suffer life like us poor people. You have everything you want, and everything you don't want. No one dares to even be rude to you, let alone mock you."

"Yet you don't know how lucky you are, to be born to a rich family. You misuse that status, that power, that money. Instead of being kind and giving, you are... spoilt... rotten to the core. But no one dares to point that out to you. Why? Because they are afraid. But let me ask you something, Hua Ze Lei shao ye. Without your parents, where would you be? Without your money, where would you be? Worse than me. A lot worse."

Lei gaped. So much hatred and vengeance were sealed in Shancai. She was like a bottle of carbonated water, all shaken up and ready to explode when the lid was taken off. Lei had obviously just pulled the trigger in Shancai which released all those locked up emotions.

"So Hua Ze Lei shao ye, don't try to know me. Knowing me will make you realise how utterly useless you, all of you, are. And I don't think your fragile minds would be able to handle that shocking realisation."

Lei hurriedly replied before Shancai could walk away again. "Then help me."

Shancai snorted. "You flatter me."

"No really," insisted Lei. "I mean it. Show me how you want me to be."

"As if you would listen to me," said Shancai, waving her hand in the air.

"I will."

Shancai laughed. "There we go again. Thinking you're the centre of everything. Have you considered maybe I don't want to spend time with you? Have you ever thought about me? My feelings? No... feelings of little commoners don't matter in the eyes of the great Hua Ze Lei."

"I want to know you, Shancai, I want to help you."

"I don't need your help," replied Shancai coldly. "And even if I do, I will never take it. Leave me alone, Hua Ze Lei shao ye. Go back to people your status, and leave me be. I don't want to be anywhere near people like you."

Shancai started walking away again.

Lei ran and caught her by the arm again.

Shancai turned around and anger blazed in her eyes.

"Hua Ze Lei shao ye," she said, spitting each word out. "I have told you everything I needed to. I believe I have made myself perfectly clear. Do you want me to spell it out for you?"

"Shancai-"

"L-E-A-V-E M-E A-L-O-N-E! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"


A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Love all of your encouragements. Please keep them coming ; ).