Warning: Has not been beta'd. You have been warned!

Zhang Liyin is the most important person to Song Qian. Song Qian is Zhang Liyin’s best friend. Qianqian and Liyin are two of the more eye catching girls in form one grade two of one of Shandong’s better rated high schools.

This is how everyone knows them to be ever since they first met in freshman year.

Kris Wu is the ace of their high school’s basketball team. Kris Wu is the new transfer student; witty and humorous, easy going and exceptionally good looking. Kris Wu can be described as the boy of every school girl’s dream; a little unattainable, yet, close enough from their reach so that they can at least dream of having him.

The first time the three of them meet, the usually quiet and reserved Song Qian is not so quiet and the usually outgoing and playful Liyin becomes shy and awkward.

“Where did you say you’re from again?” Song Qian asks, eyes curved into a gentle angle as she smiles.

Kris feels his heart skip a beat. “Canada, but my mom is from Guangdong.”

“My cousin studied in Guangdong!” Song Qian exclaims, elbowing the silent girl beside her. “Liyin can speak a little bit of Cantonese, right?”

Liyin stutters over a few simple Cantonese terms, cheeks beet red, and sort of wants to curl into a small ball but Victoria tugs on her arm and forces her to sit straight.

“Your pronunciation is really good,” Kris encourages her, eyes glistening lightly.

From that moment on, Zhang Liyin swears on her life that she’ll only place Kris Wu in her heart. Unbeknownst to her, Song Qian had shared similar sentiments when Kris reached over the desk and took her hand.

“That’s a really pretty bracelet,” Kris comments casually, but his fingers tuck into her palm and he’s hesitant to let go even when Song Qian is already pulling away in embarrassment.

Song Qian smiles at him politely, hoping it doesn’t come out awkward, “it’s a friendship bracelet! Liyin has one, too.”

“Ah, really?” Kris chuckles, but he doesn’t appear to have any interest in Liyin’s half of the accessory.

The three of them, as well as another classmate, have been assigned the same lab table in their chemistry class. As time passes, Kris and Song Qian seem to grow closer and Liyin feels the gradual change in the two’s relationship.

Noticing that Liyin is slowly distancing herself from her, Song Qian approaches Liyin one day and asks,

“You like Kris, don’t you?”

Liyin nods lightly, eyes browsing through the veil of clouds hovering up in the sky. “I’m satisfied with just being beside him, though. You?”

“I do and I don’t.” Song Qian replies honestly.

Her friend laughs, biting down on her lips.

“If one day you weren’t allowed to like him anymore, what would you do?”

As though in deep though, Liyin’s eyebrows furrow and her lips thin. Finally, she says softly, “I’d probably go crazy, or I might cry myself to sleep every night until my feelings for him numb. It’s hard to say, Qianqian, because I don’t think that far ahead.”

Song Qian pats the back of Liyin’s head and teases her, “Why is our Liyin still like a little kid? You should start thinking about the future!”

Her teasing earns her a playful glare from the other girl. Liyin smoothens out her hair, her smile finding its place on her lips again. “Do you think we’ll still be friends ten years from now?”

“Even if it’s twenty years from now, we’ll still be friends.” Song Qian tells her confidently.

Liyin laughs. “How do you know?”

Humming for a moment in thought, Song Qian eventually organizes her response into a coherent set of words. “If I don’t even know where I am today, then how am I supposed to know what to expect tomorrow? Right now, the most important thing to me is our friendship, so, I can honestly say that at this very moment, even in twenty years, I still want to be friends with you.”

“What about Kris? Don’t you want to keep him too?” Liyin wants to know.

Reaching over and pinching Liyin’s cheek, Song Qian purses her lips. “If I have to lose you in order to have him then no! I’ve known you longer; how can I let a boy come in between us?”

Touched by Song Qian’s words, Liyin hugs the other girl tightly and sighs into Song Qian’s shoulder. She says, “but I really do like Kris, Qianqian. What do I do?”

“Keep trying,” Song Qian tells her. “If you try hard enough, then maybe one day you’ll succeed.”

From that day on, Song Qian maintains a healthy distance away from Kris. She rejects his advances and prevents anything ambiguous from happening between the two of them as best as she can.

Liyin is relieved by her efforts but as clueless as she is, she doesn’t really understand how none of this is coming to her advantage. When Liyin speaks to Kris, she still stutters over her words; when she looks him in the eyes, it is never longer than five seconds before she has to look away, blushing.

After a while, Kris realizes what is going on and decides to break off his relationship with both girls all together. Rather than giving in and being with the one he has no peculiar feelings for, he chooses to give up on the girl he likes that is constantly rejecting him.

Saddened and hung up over Kris, Liyin does her best to hide her anguish and tears. Yet, how could a friend as close as Song Qian not notice the dimmed lights in her eyes?

Song Qian asks, “Is he really that great?”

Liyin grips onto the sleeve of Song Qian’s shirt and nods. “No one can be better.”

Staring across the large track field over at Kris, who is running with a few other boys under their coach’s demand, Song Qian frowns. A part of her understands how Liyin is feeling, especially when she sees that blossoming smile on his radiant face. “There will be better.”

About a year passes and they are in their fourth and final year of high school.

Once again, the three are placed in the same class, seated at the same table.

“Long time no see,” Kris greets them. To be honest, the two girls are slightly surprised that he even remembers them, being that his popularity has only three folded ever since they last spoke in grade two.

Liyin, more matured than before, without the baby fat in her cheeks and her shoulder length hair now grown to the waist, nods at him and smiles. “It really has been a long time, right Qianqian?”

Nodding as well, Song Qian pulls out their calculus textbook and begins flipping through the pages.

“You’re still wearing the bracelets.”

When Song Qian glances up, she sees that Kris is pointing at the one on Liyin’s wrist and not her own. If she were to be entirely honest, only a little part of her is relieved.

“We’re friends for forever,” Liyin replies confidently, “of course we’re still wearing it!”

Kris laughs along, releasing Liyin’s wrist and starting up a rather casual and comfortable conversation with Liyin as Song Qian listens quietly. In the past year or so, Liyin has been working very hard to become the type of girl that she believes Kris likes.

Contraire, Song Qian simply hasn’t changed whatsoever. Aside from losing some baby fat of her own, she still ties her hair up into a neat ponytail, bangs dangling over her large eyes.

During the entire class, Kris and Song Qian do not exchange too many words. Perhaps this is the best scenario for the two of them, anyways.

“I have never seen someone so enthusiastic about shoving the guy they like into their best friends arms. Seriously, if you were a guy, I’d make sure to fall for every girl you do and then make sure that you know so that you can help me get her.”

“What are you talking about?” Song Qian rolls her eyes.

Minho, the South Korean exchange student that Song Qian only met a few months ago, clicks his tongue. “You know exactly what. Do you think you’re Mother Theresa or something?”

“You’re too noisy,” Song Qian warns him with a sharp stare.

“Fine, fine,” Minho shrugs.

From a short distance, Kris sees Song Qian approaching the basketball court and jogs out to meet her halfway. “What are you doing out here?”

“Is Liyin here?” Song Qian asks right away, glancing around.

Kris’s expression instantly dims and Minho’s sharp senses catch the fall of the corners of Kris’s lips. It is only moments later though that Kris displays a bright smile. “Liyin went to buy us some drinks. Did you need something?”

She shakes her head. “I just wanted to see if she wanted to go home together.”

“Ah,” Kris nods, wiping the sweat on his forehead with the towel hanging around his neck. “She said she was going to stay with us until we finish practicing. Do you want to wait?”

Minho apparently disagrees with the idea. “Liyin might have a boyfriend to see her home but Qian—“

“Oh, it’s okay,” Song Qian smiles, grabbing Minho by the wrist and pulling him a little closer. “Minho has a study group later this evening anyways so we won’t bother the two of you… and your… crew.”

Minho forces back a scoff. Smooth.

A heartbeat later Minho feels himself being dragged back towards the front of the school away from the court. He glances over his shoulder at Kris, who has already turned around and began walking back towards his teammates.

He says, “First love always hurts the most.”

“Like you would know,” Song Qian retorts.

Minho laughs. “I don’t have to experience it to know. I have eyes. I can see.”

However, Song Qian doesn’t realize that the one Minho is talking about isn’t her. In fact, the one Minho is inferring is far from what Song Qian believes.

Sometimes, that’s the sad part.

By the time college entrance exams roll around, Song Qian has already decided on being an elementary school teacher. Liyin, though, has decided to follow her dreams of pursuing a career in music.

“Can’t you teach music?” Song Qian asks with a small pout. “We’re going to end up heading towards different cities if we study different majors…”

Liyin pats Song Qian’s cheek in a pampering manner and smiles. “We can visit each other! Just think about how much fun that will be!”

Although she is unconvinced, Song Qian takes a deep breath and falls back into her seat. They are both studying for their exams in the library; textbooks sprawled all around the table.

The two of them really are entirely different types of people.

“I’m just worried about Kris…” Liyin suddenly says into the silence.

Victoria bites down on her lip, “In what aspect?”

“Do you think he’ll wait?” Liyin asks. “I mean, for me.”

“If he likes you then of course he will,” Song Qian tells her encouragingly.

Yet, that is the very answer that Liyin feared hearing the most. They fall into silence again, Song Qian catching a glimpse of the now disrupted Liyin; her friend can’t focus long enough to read an entire page anymore.

“Are you… suspecting something of him?” Song Qian asks.

Liyin shakes her head, “No, of course not.”

“If you say so,” Song Qian purses her lips, “but if you ever want to talk, you know I’m here for you.”

Glancing up at her, Liyin nods and gives Song Qian a reassuring smile.

In college, Song Qian’s English professor decides to give her an English name for convenience purposes. Her English name is now Victoria and that is the name she chooses to go by amongst her new peers; it’s like a new start, she tells herself—a whole new beginning.

“Hello?”

“It’s me, Qia—I mean Victoria.”

“If you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend again, I’m going to start charging by the hour.” Minho jokes. After looking at the clock he grimaces and adds, “And I’m doubling the fee for after midnight overtime.”

Victoria rolls her eyes. “Didn’t you say you have a friend here in Nanjing? Would they happen to know where the closest bookstore that’s still open is?”

“Are you already torturing yourself? The term only just started,” Minho mocks in disbelief. However, he puts Victoria on speaker and searches through his contact book for his friend’s number. “You owe me one.”

“I’ll buy dinner when you visit.”

After sending out the text, Minho nods to himself, falling back into his bed again. “How’s Nanjing?”

“Cold,” Victoria says, “not bad though. I like it.”

Seconds later Minho receives a response. Him and his friend exchange a few more messages before he asks Victoria, “Do you know where the old temple by the university is?”

“Maybe.”

Minho sighs. “I’ll give him your number. He said he’ll meet you there. Don’t worry, Luhan’s a really nice guy.”

“You’re the best!” Victoria exclaims.

“Be careful! There’s also m—”

She smiles and hurries out the door. “I will. Good night!”

About five minutes after Victoria is out on the streets, she gets a phone call from a foreign number.

“Hello?”

“Hello, I’m Luhan, Minho’s friend. Are you Song Qian?”

“Yes,” Victoria replies, “I’m on my way to the temple.”

“Can you find it? Do you want us to come find you?” Luhan asks sweetly.

Us? Victoria wonders. “Ah, no, it’s alright. I should be there soon. Sorry to bother you so late.”

“No problem,” the boy on the other end laughs, “we were out anyways.”

Is he with his girlfriend? That would make her feel horrible for ruining their date. “I’m sorry; I’ll be there in five minutes!”

“Give me a call back if you really can’t find it. My number is on the caller ID right?” Luhan tells her.

“It is, I’ll call you if I need help,” she promises.

Around ten minutes later she finally finds her way to the temple. The entire search was a little nerve wrecking and she guesses the two guys now standing before her can tell because their eyes are slightly widened and they’re staring at her quite firmly.

“Do you want my jacket? Your face is really red and it’s really cold!” One of the two boys offers. She recognizes the voice to be the same as the one over the phone.

She shakes her head. “Oh no, it’s okay! It was just a little… interesting finding my way here.”

In other words, she was probably scared stiff walking around such a large area this late into the night. The boy pouts, probably feeling bad that she had to go through all of that, and then remembers the friend standing beside him.

“This is Changmin, Minho’s cousin.”

Victoria smiles awkwardly at him. There are definitely some resemblances if she does say so herself. “Nice to meet you.”

“We didn’t think Minho would be able to find such a pretty girlfriend!” Luhan laughs.

“Oh, we’re not—“

“Don’t be shy,” Luhan winks at her. “Nothing to be shy about, Minho’s a good kid.”

Feeling helpless, Victoria just shrugs and smiles at them. Luhan and Changmin then begin showing her the way, hopping into Changmin’s car not too far down the street. The streets are busier than Victoria had expected them to be at this hour.

“How do you like Nanjing so far?” Luhan suddenly asks, turning around to face her from the passenger’s seat.

“It’s a nice place,” she replies honestly, “it’s really different from Shandong, but it’s still nice.”

Luhan smiles warmly. “Changmin has some family that is in Shandong, too, aside from Minho. You two might even have some friends or family in common, right Changmin?”

“Mhm,” Changmin lazily agrees.

Victoria doesn’t quite know what to make of the duo. The rest of the ride doesn’t change much and Victoria comes to realize that despite being very talkative Luhan is a very conservative person and despite being very quiet Changmin is a very considerate individual.

Somehow, she feels like she’ll be able to accustom to Nanjing a lot better than she first believed.

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A/N: It's been a while since I last wrote a Changmin/Victoria. Changmin had a pretty good votage on the poll I put up, woo! I don't intend for this fic to be very angsty but we'll see, since it's still in the works. Hopefully you guys like it! ^____^ ♥Xue