Touched by an Angel

Chapter 7- Finally Friends

Lei ripped out another page from his rapidly diminishing sketchbook. Taking another glance at his watch, he groaned and wondered how on earth he was supposed to complete his homework. He was the only one in the library- Ying De students weren't particularly fond of the studious atmosphere. There was ten more minutes of lunch and he had art first up. That and he didn't have any inspiration whatsoever for a pencil sketch of a non-moving object, 'capturing the moment', as the annoyingly boring art teacher had instructed.

"Doing some last minute homework, are we?" asked a soft voice from behind. Spinning around in shock, Lei suddenly realized that somebody was standing behind him. He had been too busy trying to draw something half decent to notice.

But that wasn't all. The person was Shan Cai, and it seemed for the first time, she was actually talking properly to Lei.

She smiled down at him and after glancing at his rough sketch lines and balls of crumpled paper on the floor, said, "I guess you're not having any luck?"

Lei shook his head. "What did you draw?"

Shan Cai grinned. "I'm not going to tell you. Do you want some help?" she added.

"Yeah, that'd be great," replied Lei gratefully.

Shan Cai dragged over a chair and sat down next to him. "Now, what kind of mood do you want to capture?"


At the end of the art lesson, Shan Cai waited for Lei to pack up his things and walked out with him, to Lei's surprise. She walked out alongside him and after a moment's hesitation, she began.

"Thank you for what you did yesterday. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't come along. I'm sorry about what I said to you the other day. I shouldn't throw accusations at people; it was very immature of me. It wasn't fair to you."

Lei shook his head. "It's okay. I understand."

Shan Cai shook her head firmly. "No, you don't. I was wrong. I'm really sorry. Could you find it in your heart to forgive me? I would really like to get to know you."

Lei stood, dumbfound. A smile crept up his face. "Sure, if you'll promise me something."

Shan Cai frowned. "What?" she asked, innocence lighting up in her face.

Lei grinned. "You owe me something," he replied, shifting his hands so that his books won't fall out. "I don't know what yet, but when I think of something, I'll tell you. You have to promise me that you'll do it."

Shan Cai grinned and nodded. "You're a strange one Hua Ze Lei. But sure, I'll promise, as long as it is in my power, I'll do it."

"I'm hungry now," said Lei, a smile creeping up his face again. "That completely boring art class took out a lot of energy. Let's go have some food."

"But we just had lunch!" complained Shancai.

Lei grinned and didn't reply, instead, he pushed her along into the cafeteria.


Lei looked forwards to his next art class immensely. He had a great afternoon yesterday with Shan Cai. They talked and acted as if they had known each other for years, not mere days. He hadn't had so much fun since Jing had left him. In the time he spent with Shan Cai, he had even managed to forget the pain of Jing leaving him.

But one thing he noted was that Shan Cai rarely really laughed. She would occasionally give a sad knowing smile but she would never truly laugh her heart out. Lei hadn't been able to do that for a long time as well. But he hoped that as time went along, both he and Shan Cai could learn to be happy once again.

Lei stepped in the classroom and to his surprise, Shan Cai wasn't there yet. He sat where he normally would and waited, his mind replaying the events of yesterday afternoon. The more time he spent with Shan Cai the more he seemed to be thinking of her. There was something about her that attracted his attention like nothing else.

Lei was never one to go and start a conversation with girls, in fact, the only person he ever dated was Jing. He even shocked himself by being so persevering with Shan Cai. He never imagined himself caring so much about someone. And even now he didn't know why exactly he cared about Shan Cai. All the excuses he told himself before didn't seem to be real. But Lei had given up on asking reasons for all his actions because experience had taught him to rely on instinct rather than logic.

And his persistence with Shan Cai had been rewarded. He had another new friend; one that he sensed would understand him better than F4 and possibly even Jing. Yesterday he had been tempted to introduce Shan Cai to F3, but he didn't. He still didn't know why. It was partly because he was worried the way F3 would react to having a 'commoner' as a friend and also the way Shan Cai would react to them.

But it extended beyond that as well. Somehow he wanted to keep Shan Cai a secret. A nice secret, something only he knew about, something which he didn't have to share with F4. In a way, he was being selfish. He was afraid that if Shan Cai knew the rest of F4, she would find him boring and leave him for them instead. So he didn't introduce them.

Shan Cai would be his secret.

For now at least.


A/N: really crappy short chapter I know... But i swear it will get better. It's sort of a resting point before everything starts getting tense again. And if you noticed, there's sort of a basis of a problem already.

Please review and support me!!! I'll try to update soon.

Mega thanks to those who reviewed... you know who you are. Love you all!!!

Amy