Kris tags behind Lu Han, half a head taller than him and glancing around the cafeteria while holding onto his bowl of noodles. This is the first time he has been surrounded by so many Asian people and feeling lost since he was nine, wandering around the streets during Chinese New Year. He sees Amber and Henry already hitting it off with their home-stay partners, chatting and having lunch... happily.

Damn it.

They come to an entire halt as Lu Han places his food down on the table, Kris turning to stand by his side and to take his seat next to Lu Han.

And that was when Kris sees him.

Then, it was all happening too fast.

Kris felt as though his mind was about to explode from the sickening pace it was throbbing.



Zi Tao's heart was palpitating. It felt as though he would be going into a cardiovascular attack within seconds.

He doesn't know what this is, but it's excruciating.

Just because it doesn't make sense as to why this wannabe-white-asian-boy looks so familiar to him.

Terribly familiar.

He feels all his attention being drawn to this tall (185, 186, no?) pale boy in front of him. Zi Tao doesn't get why he's so intrigued by this exchange student. There's a dozen other exchange students who came along, but this guy stood out the most. His mind was in a blank state -- all he could see was a blur of emotions within himself and this overwhelming feeling seeping into his capillaries and blinding his ability to speak.

What were the English conversational starters Mr. Yuan had taught them back in grade one?

What was his own name again? Tao Zi? Or was it Zi Tao?



"So guys! Meet each other -- awkwardly -- if you must..." Lu Han mutters under his breath, "Kris, this is Zi Tao, my best friend! And Tao, this is Kris! He's Chinese and is able to speak Mandarin! Isn't that awesome?" he gushed while placing his food down and tugging Kris on the arm to sit right next to him.

Lu Han has a half-hearted smile clinging onto his lips, eyes widening as though something was wrong (not that it wasn't). Head turning back and forth between Zi Tao and the foreign exchange student, Lu Han hums lowly in his throat and went back to forcefully pushing rice into his mouth, "Mmm, thith ith good! Krith you thould eat thoo!" he mumbles, trying to break the intense staring competition the two were engaged in.

It was only at a certain point when Yi Xing walks by to settle beside Zi Tao, tapping his shoulder and passing him the forgotten cellphone he had left back in geography, that Zi Tao finally breaks the eye contact with Kris. Yi Xing and Zi Tao were engaged in a conversation soon after, talking about how hard Mr. Ma was drilling them for their upcoming quiz.

Just one problem -- Kris's attention had still lingered on Zi Tao's, and no matter what Lu Han said (or did), he just couldn't get Kris to talk to him. Puffing out a breath, Lu Han lets his hand snake over to Zi Tao's arm, pinching him hard.

"Ouch! Lu Han ge!" Zi Tao whined.

Lu Han giggles when Kris snaps out of his trance, now looking at him quizzically.

"You wouldn't stop staring at our beautiful little Tao here, so I decided to get your attention by pinching him... Though now thinking back, that was a little uncalled for..." Lu Han trails off, scratching the back of his head with his blunt nails.

"He wasn't staring at me..." Zi Tao murmurs, but even Yi Xing knew that the foreign student was doing so.

And the fact that even Yi Xing knows, shows that Kris wasn't letting himself be subtle.

Lu Han has a brow raised while pushing the rice in his bowl around with his chopsticks. Gulping down their food hard, both Lu Han and Yi Xing were sharing furtive glances at the other, looking at the blonde asian exchange student and their very own Zi Tao smiling and making eye contact -- obviously still in their own world.

"Girl," Lu Han mouths to Yi Xing, a finger pointed accusingly at Zi Tao.

Yi Xing only shakes his head whilst hitting Lu Han's hand to get him to keep his fingers to himself. "Let them be."




'Maybe it's because he's obviously asian, but he has blonde hair? As in, he's from Canada and we get it, like, is the trend for asians to not look like an Asian these days?' Zi Tao pondered while walking home.

Yi Xing had told him that the two of them (the exchange student and him, of course) were acting weird during lunch. They were sharing looks and smiles at one another, as though they understood what the other was thinking. That was funny, because Zi Tao didn't even know that they were doing so.



The breeze was cooling that afternoon, wushu classes didn't start till six so Zi Tao had decided to drop by the small temple just a street down from wushu hall. He needed to clear the mental state of his mind as well, the little meeting with Kris before was messing up his head.





"Zi Tao, always be yourself; express yourself well, have faith in yourself. You shall not go out to look for a successful personality and try to duplicate it."

"But why do you say so, Abbot Ma?" Zi Tao wondered.

"You have been sitting at the same spot near the pond for the past hour." Abbot Ma simply replied.

"So what has that got to do with being myself? And I guess... I just really wanted some inner peace."

"Zi Tao, tranquility from the outside brings inner peace, but if you are not the master of your mind, no matter how secluded or beautiful a place is, you will never find the comfort from within. Take these Koi fishes for example," he paused, only to continue when a ripple formed from the fallen dew of the leaves, "They have been in the same pond for the past twenty years. They have seen visitors come and go, older monks passing on to pay their dues with the Gautama Buddha. However, they are never once aggressive with the many people who try to catch them.

"Before you say anything, it is very true that fishes can get aggressive when stressed. Look at Sage," Abbot Ma pointed at the beautiful Koi fish wrapped in cream-metallic scales, majestic in all angles with its reflective skin.

"Sage is already sixty-four years old. It will turn sixty-five next autumn. Sage has been here since the building of this temple -- Old Abbot Hai found Sage while he was walking down the stream. It took him all five hours to extract it out of the sewage system. Sage was very aggressive in the early stages of being here --"

"You were here?"

"Ah, of course. I was a very young boy then. Younger than you, Zi Tao. I remember seeing Abbot Hai carrying a bucket of water with a very small fish. It was a ugly fish. I would come by everyday, just to watch the fish swim in the water with its cream-coloured scales. It would hide in that very corner, but there was once when I was so angry that I could not see the fish, I went to grab it. It jumped out and its tail hit me in the face. I was so embarrassed that I did not go back to school for two days until the mark had faded."

Zi Tao giggled, turning to look back at the Koi fishes.

"I had a thorough scolding by Master Bao, and my mother was so ashamed that she had sent me to the monastery to learn the Buddhist ways to reflect on my behavior. During the short month that I was here, I was enlightened by the Gautama Buddha, and I had decided to devote my life to praying to the almighty for nothing but inner peace and for the war to stop.

"I made a trip to the Shaolin Monastery in Henan, to pray to the Eighteen Arhats. I met Venerable Abbot Shi, where we would pray for ultimate peace around. There were visitors coming all around the world, monks training their martial arts daily, we hardly had any peace."

"And so? Abbot Ma, I don't get what you're trying to say. You're just like my Grandma, always talking in circles." Zi Tao whined.

Abbot Ma chuckled, subtly shaking his head. "Zi Tao, inner peace is not found from the outer world. Inner peace has to be cultivated from within."

"So I have to be a monk to find inner peace?"

"No, you silly boy. If you were to go for wushu classes with your current state of mind, you will be badly battered by Master Gu. Stay here and reflect on what I told you, I will talk to Master Gu myself to excuse you from classes."

"But Master Gu said he would be teaching us a new set of skills today! I can't miss out!"

"Oh yes you have to miss out. Take this as a command from the old Abbot. I want you to make sure you find inner peace no matter how long it takes."

Zi Tao watches as Abbot Ma walks away, stout figure waddling away back into the monastery.



-

Hello. I hope this does not disappoint. Venerable Abbot Shi is a real person in the Shaolin temple up at Henan, China.

Anyways, my tumblr is HERE. I give hints to curious readers :'D