(All of the speech that has underscores between it is in Chinese. Translations will be given in the following chapters)

A similar story was published on my alt account. This is a revised version.

The sepia sky, the quiet mumble of the pedestrians that turned into a sweet, melancholy tune and the sugary smell of the pastries across the street was Paris… or at least that was what Mei thought. Suddenly, a sharp voice, one that could cut through the toughest of metal, called her. "_Wake up!_" the voice called. It was her mother. Still laying in her comfortable, cloud-like cocoon, she absentmindedly mumbled a few words, which could be barely recognised as "_more minutes_". Although her picturesque dream had now faded away from her mind, she still wanted to drift off to a distant land. Unfortunately, this would mean that a thesaurus of words would be shot down her ear faster than a bullet train. Reluctantly, Mei slowly slid out her cocoon, for the last time. With a need to find something that could jolt her awake in the next hour, she checked her phone. She groaned again. It was 1am, way earlier than when she had to go. But she still had to go.

Carefully, she walked across her cluttered, haphazard room, as she struggled to find her way through the empty darkness to find a light. "_Why do I have to do this?_" She thought as she finally edged close enough to the light switch that she could flick it. CLICK! A blinding light filled the entire room, highlighting the plethora of boxes scattered throughout the entire room. It took a while for her watercolour eyes to adjust to the illuminating light, but afterwards she sighed. Quickly, Mei looked around her room, inspecting every single box that had been scattered around until she had finally picked up a small piece of paper. Breathing a sigh of relief, she read the paper, which read '' _Shanghai to Paris Boarding time: 8:35 Departure: 9:35_' After reading it, she felt her heart sink a bit. She had lived in Shanghai for a long time, but time had gone faster than a hummingbird's wings for her, and the realisation that she would be in a new place soon had only now sunk in. But, now she noticed something.

On her pearly-white bed, 2 earrings were placed neatly on there. She hadn't put it there. Her mother hadn't put it there. Who did? Upon closer inspection,she noticed a strange pattern on them. They were scarlet red, with 5 petite spots on each of the 2 earrings, seemingly mimicking a ladybug. Even though she should have told her mother… she didn't. She was somewhat mesmerised by the intricate details of it, which seemed so perfectly painted that only a machine could replicate it. Suddenly, she snapped back to reality. It had been 15 minutes.

Quickly, she started to try and tame her deep blue hair, which were like ocean waves, while also trying to find all of the things she needed. A few minutes later, she dashed down the uncomfortable stairs, her hairbrush tangled into her hair. Downstairs, a quaint restaurant laid in her view, with illuminating lanterns, that could light up an entire city. To accompany it, the delightful smells of the food served filled her with a sense of calmness and familiarity. With it, wooden tables that had been laid with aromatic flowers and ancient looking scrolls had been dispersed around the small restaurant. Illuminated by the lanterns, her mother quietly waved, signalling for Mei to come forward. She was almost an exact replica of her, except for Mei being staggeringly taller and her mother having a chubbier face. On her mother's face, she frowned. "_Why are you always so late?_" She exclaimed. Although Mei had an elephant sized urge to make her mother realise that they were too early, she didn't want to risk it. "_...Have you packed everything?_" Her mother asked, "_Your uncle is waiting for us._" Mei just nodded.

Outside, Mei glanced at the beautiful buildings around her, that would soon become a fuzzy memory once she would go to Paris.

"_Do I?_" Mei asked in a tired voice.

"_Do you want to not help your father?_" her mother replied.

Mei sighed. With nothing to say, she sat down in the red but slightly old car, which was always pristine since her mother would wash it everyday. For a few minutes, silence roamed the empty streets of Shanghai, which had been scarcely littered with newspapers from 2 months ago. Then, the car started.

The sound was like an explosion in a desert, yet it would have been more quiet than a pin dropping. For the next few hours, a petite, red dot could be seen in some windows, dashing fast enough that it couldn't be identified. Inside of it, Mei swiftly put on some comfortable headphones, and randomly chose an audiobook from the thousands that laid on the tiny, slightly cracked phone sitting on her lap. Very quickly, she noticed the peculiarity of the audiobook, titled 'Mysteries of The Stars'. "Ever wondered why the skies are so colourful?" She heard from her headphones, in a soothing voice, which she thought would be a better fit for reading lullabies. Although, that simple statement did make her look outside of the car window, which had been letting in a soft, cool breeze. In the sky, a plethora of colours were spread across the sky, seemingly stitched together. A scarlet red, a midnight black and a porcelain white were one of the many colours there. It seemed completely normal to her, but she had never seen anyone explain. For the next few hours, she was delighted by the many theories that the wonderful woman on her phone screen had been blathering about. Finally, she saw a gigantic airport in front of her, which towered over her. For some reason, she had a million feelings all at the same time. She felt like a smoothie mixed with all of the wrong ingredients, but she still had to go…

Once inside of the pristine, white airport, which was somehow filled with thousands of people, Mei felt a bit better, but it was only a smidget better."_This is why I wanted to come here early!_" Mei's mother exclaimed, who was about to erupt like a volcano. Mei didn't hear that. Instead, she glanced over at the petite purse that she had sewed before and opened it. In it, the spectacular earrings laid in her sight, with a velvet red aura surrounding it, shining brighter than the fluorescent lights above her. Should she put it on? For a few seconds, she contemplated it. She did feel a strange connection to it, but it could be a warning… Suddenly, she realised that her mother had left her stranded. Like a cheetah, she dotted around the place, trying to find any blue-haired woman that could be her mother. Thankfully, she was just putting the luggage away.

A few hours later, after they had gone through all of the necessary things, Mei and her mother could finally go on the plane. Inside, it was stuffy but she could sleep through all of it. As she sat down on the pearly-white, uncomfortable seats, a professional voice lathered the plane. "_Please may everyone buckle their seatbelts as we are preparing for liftoff_"the pilot commanded over the telecom, as the blue-haired family could finally sit down, and go to the place of sweet, picturesque dreams, Paris.

At least 12 hours later, which had dragged on for an eternity, they had finally arrived in Paris…but something was wrong. The sky was not warm and sepia, but a deep blue, with the usual vibrant splatters in the air submerging it. The mumble of the citizens was not quiet, but like a herd of elephants roaming around. Although, the sugary smell of pastries was still there, giving the almost empty airport a sense of comfortability. Quietly, Mei took out her slightly cracked, pastel blue phone. It was 1pm. Or maybe it wasn't. Her phone was always giving times that were an hour late or early. It could have been the small crack on the phone after she dropped it on the pavement, or the fact that she hadn't updated it for a while. But that was fine.

(Had to edit this part)