Disclaimer: I don't own Dynasty Warriors or any of the characters. It and they belong to Koei. My OC, Xin Ying, belongs me.
Cold. It surrounded her and snaked around her, grappling her below like chains of liquid. Then, Zhen Ji resurfaced above the chlorine filled water, inhaling a deep breath. Meanwhile, the fat man of a coach lounged a couple feet away from the sparkling water.
"Try to be a little more graceful," he drawled, eyes flashing back to the mobile device in his hands, completely entranced.
Zhen Ji wretched her hair away from her face, watching her "instructor" with the utmost contempt and disgust. The smell of chlorine and lack of food was making her dizzy now, so she paddled to the side of the pool and pulled herself out.
"What'd ya think you're doing?" questioned the man, finally tearing his eyes away from the phone in his hands. Zhen Ji often longed to drop it into the pool, but unfortunately, Apple products costed a fortune, and she did not desire to nearly a thousand dollars for an iPhone 10.
Ironically, Zhen Ji wished that he would return his eyes to the flashing screen, for as soon as his eyes left the phone, they immediately went to her chest, then traveled down to her legs where the pool water trickled down to the ground. She stiffened, feeling violated and nude in front of him. The fact that her drenched swimming suit clung to her every curve didn't help.
"I'm done," she snapped, throwing her hands down in her growing temper and looking at the man in the eye. He was overweight, fat pooling over his pants and blubber under his neck and on his face. Zhen Ji could almost laugh at the irony that he was her diving instructor. Keyword: almost. "Look, I've been here for hours without food and without any valuable input from you," she said, placing a hand on each of his shoulders. "If I don't get out of here, I will not be a very pleasant lady," she continued, standing in front of him and whispering next to his ear, "So, if I am not in the best of moods, what will happen to your paycheck?"
He sat for a moment, speechless, and mouth gaping open like deranged goldfish. Zhen Ji didn't make use of empty threats often, but the man was too stupid to differentiate them. "Fine," he replied gruffly, eyes returning to the bewitching phone. "Get out of my sight."
Zhen Ji turned in satisfaction and began walking away, muttering something unintelligible under her breath. However, before she was out of earshot, her instructor called, "By the way, you should consider losing some weight. Your ass is getting big."
Then, she outwardly cursed.
"I hate him," Zhen Ji announced flatly, dropping into her cushion seat at the back of a Japanese styled café called "Kawaii." She slumped forward, nestling her head between her arms wearily, practically manifested the black cloud of gloominess over her head.
"What'd he do this time?" sniggered Gan Ning who sat next to her. "You know, I still have a hard time believing that the fat man is your diving instructor. I mean, it's Dong Zhuo for heaven's sake! Dong Zhuo!" He snickered, almost snorting out a mouthful of coffee. Crossing his legs, he managed to swallow the mouthful he already had.
"That's precisely it!" she almost screamed, taking Gan Ning by the shoulders and shaking him rather violently. "DONG ZHUO! WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD HIRE DONG ZHUO AS A DIVING COACH? I WOULDN'T HIRE HIM TO EVEN CLEAN MY KITCHEN FLOOR!"
"Calm your ass," replied Gan Ning, flashing an amused grin curling his hands around her wrists and removing them from his shoulders. Zhen Ji sighed, blindly grappling for a napkin from a napkin holder and tossing it on the random splotches of coffee on their table.
A bell at the front door jingled, and a few moments passed before a new couple entered the room. A young girl with midnight hair that tumbled just below her chest was followed by a boy with raven black hair and warm chocolate eyes. The girl was clad in a strapless white top and a black miniskirt while the boy had on a red flannel shirt and skinny jeans.
"Lu Xun!" called Gan Ning, raising his cup of coffee in greeting.
"Ning, you suck! I thought we were friends!" cried the girl, a joking grin evident on her face.
Gan Ning nodded, returning her grin with one of his own and lifting his cup in her direction. They came in, settling themselves in the seat in front of Zhen Ji and Gan Ning. Immediately after, another petite girl in pig tails scurried out with a cup in each of her hands.
"Good afternoon, Da Qiao!" sang Xin Ying, eyes sparkling with mirth before snatching one of the cups from Da Qiao.
"You look happy today," murmured Da Qiao with a smile. She untied her apron and hung it over a nearby chair. They sat in a small booth near the door, and Da Qiao pulled up a chair near the table. The café was empty for its resting hours, leaving the group of colleagues alone to their privacy.
"The photo shoot didn't turn out to be a disaster like I thought it would be, and we're going out later tonight to a movie," replied Xin Ying, tugging on Lu Xun's hand.
At the mention of a photo shoot, Zhen Ji promptly groaned and dropped her head back into her nest of arms on the table. Their eyes bored at her curiously, except Gan Ning's. Instead, he began shuddering with laughs, causing the table to shake and slosh coffee and tea onto the table.
"Ning!" reprimanded Da Qiao, immediately retrieving a rag to clean up the spilled liquids. Gan Ning offered her a sheepish grin.
"What's wrong?" asked Lu Xun, concern lacing his voice, tugging uncomfortably on the collar of his shirt.
"I just remembered that I have a photo shoot after," said Zhen Ji, her arms muffling her sentence slightly. She wanted to skip it, faking an excuse, but she knew that they would know what she was up to. "And the stupid diving instructor made me pissed off today."
"Doesn't he always?" pointed out Xin Ying. "Honestly though, the irony of having a—"
"Fat, lazy, and good-for-nothing man as a diving coach is inane?" supplied Gan Ning. Xin Ying shook her head with a grin. "Not exactly, but close enough," she admitted with an unabashed smile.
Da Qiao pushed a porcelain cup towards Zhen Ji, its contents had steam dancing above it. It smelled heavenly, the aroma wafting out like a tender seduction. "Have some. It should calm you down."
"Oh, and he called me fat," announced Zhen Ji, causing Xin Ying to splutter out chrysanthemum tea in a fit of coughing. Lu Xun patted her back gently but did not even try to hide the amused glint in his eyes.
"He—" wheezed Xin Ying, turning a bit red in the face and shooting Da Qiao and apologetic look while she wiped off the tea on the table.
"Called you fat?" finished Lu Xun, mentally estimating Dong Zhuo's weight and stifling a grin at the thought. They probably could all picture it extremely well, and the ludicrous thought brought both disbelief and a round of chortles to the group. Their shrieks of laughter became louder when the diver quoted what Dong Zhuo had said before she stormed to the showers. Zhen Ji felt grateful that Lu Xun and Da Qiao managed to hold reins to their amusement.
Xin Ying held up a hand, pausing to take a deep breath before leaning forward with her elbows on the table and her chin tucked into her hands. Even Da Qiao seemed interested in what was going on. "Explain to me again why he's a diving instructor, and why he's your diving instructor," inquired Xin Ying, peering at Zhen Ji questioningly.
"I don't even know," she replied, exasperation dripping from her words. "Just to keep tabs on me, I guess. I don't even think I win those competitions by my own terms. They probably bribe the judges." They nodded sympathetically, and Xin Ying looked repulsed.
Meanwhile, Gan Ning looked as though he just remembered something and whipped out a magazine and slapped it on the middle of the table. "Look what I found at 7 Eleven on my way here." On the front of the glossy cover was a picture of a girl with midnight locks tumbling down her shoulders clad in a scarlet two piece; the elastic fabric accentuated the graceful curves of her body. She had her arms stretched out behind her, around the neck of a boy with raven black hair who was taller than her, in such a way that she bared her neck to him. Like the girl, the boy wore swimming attire, only his torso was deprived of all clothing, and he only had swimming trunks on.
"Made the front cover, I see." Gan Ning grinned cheekily and watched in satisfaction as Xin Ying and Lu Xun flushed scarlet, a color similar to the former's bathing suit.
Zhen Ji pulled the cover to closer to her and couldn't help the furtive grin creeping up to her lips. She shook her head at the irony that dawned to her. "We're all models for clothing companies, yet it seems that we're wearing less and less fabric." Xin Ying nodded vigorously and pointed an accusing finger at Zhen Ji.
"This is all your company's fault. We form this alliance of sorts, and your designers force us into skimpy clothing," raged Xin Ying, though her playfulness was still present. "Do you know how hard it was to walk without showing my ass to the world? It's why I had to make him walk behind me!" She jabbed a thumb in Lu Xun's direction.
Da Qiao spoke quietly. "I would say that the clothes for that magazine cover were for the summer swimming suit designs, but Xin Ying, why didn't you switch out your clothes after your shoot? I highly doubt six inch heels are comfortable."
"It's that Wei designer. He wanted to make all the Wu models wear their clothes out to promote sales, but you wouldn't believe all the people I had to fend off getting the both of us here." Lu Xun shuddered, reliving the painful five minute walk, attacked by flashing cameras and magazine writers. All their eyes started onto Zhen Ji, not in an accusing way, but in a way that asked her whether the fiasco was really necessary.
"Trust me," she replied and looked at Xin Ying. "That's not the worst of it. The next thing you know, they'll have you in lingerie." She shivered at the thought, and Xin Ying looked even more revolted than before. Lu Xun did not look happy. "In fact, I'm surprised that they didn't have Lian Shi do a bikini model competition to boost our clothing line's fame. But, Sun Jian would have them burned alive before that would happen," she assured them. "So, you guys don't need to worry." Lu Xun looked relieved and most likely felt a rush of gratitude for the CEO of the Wu Clothing Line.
"I suppose you're the only one getting lucky with this summer collaboration project?" Lu Xun looked at Gan Ning. Gan Ning looked pleased with himself, leaning back into his booth as if nothing mattered in the world. He had managed to escape the Wei designer's merciless hands….for now.
"Yep." He popped the "p." "Even Ling Tong's not safe; they photoshopped his mole off."
"Photoshop: introducing the only way to get a flawless body and complexion," muttered Xin Ying.
A pregnant pause ensued before Xin Ying quirked up. "Hey, Da Qiao! Since Xun and I are going out tonight, wanna come? You can bring Sun Ce and maybe Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao!" As Xin Ying and Da Qiao discussed their plans, Gan Ning began another conversation.
"You know, I heard the Shu clothing line is starting to invest in medicine," he whispered conspiratorially.
"Hospitals?" guessed Lu Xun dubiously.
Gan Ning nodded. All the clothing lines designed clothing, but each company also had something else they worked on. For example, Wei managed close to fifty hotels in the city and collaborated with cosmetic companies. Wu owned a chain of restaurants in almost every district. Shu was a new clothing company, but its business was booming as they contracted many new but highly talented models.
"I thought they were into handbags," Zhen Ji said with furrowed brows. "Are they giving up on that?"
Gan Ning shrugged. "I doubt it. I think they're taking in more business. Did you also hear about their new model?"
Suddenly, a beeping sound came from Zhen Ji's leather handbag. She inwardly groaned before glancing at a new text with dread clouding her eyes.
"What's up?" asked Gan Ning as she stood and scooted out of the booth.
"Photo shoot," she said shortly, without turning around. She moved to the exit of the café but not before someone hurled a question regarding the whereabouts of her entourage.
"I left them back by the pool," she called. "They were being too annoying!"
Hey all, it's Sakura! All right, so I decided to rewrite this story. At the time I was writing this, I didn't have the plot right, and the quality was horrible. This time, I'm changing up the storyline, so give me some feedback on how you like it. And if you're interested in the story of my OC, Xin Ying, check out my other story, The Assassin and the Strategist. Thanks for reading, and please give this a review, favorite, and follow. To the readers of the former Beautiful Death, Beautiful Dive, thanks for bearing with me!