Before you walked into the room, you could already hear the ruckus and commotion inside. As soon as you walked into the brightly lit room, everyone was small groups chattering and gossiping away. Unaware, of anything special, you tip toed slightly to look for your best friend, Hana. Suddenly, someone grabbed you by the arm and pulled you towards the corner of the noisy room. It was Hana.

You smiled and greeted her “HEYY!! but why did you drag me to this corner?”

“Haven’t you heard?”

“Heard what?”

“There’s a new transfer student”

“And? There’s like a gazillion students at this uni. What would one transfer student make any difference?” you questioned curiously.

“Yeah but he’s joined the Hong Kong Cultural Association (HKCA) and he’s from Hong Kong too. Oh and he can speak english too because he went to an International school. He’s 20 years old and is a fencer. He also won at the Youth Olympics. Oh did I mention he was hoooot!”

“Wow, did you stalk him or something?” I said surprised at all the information she’s gathered already.

“Well, you know me? Connections help” she boasted as she flicked her hair. “He’s over there talking to Rita”

You eyed over subtly but obviously it was too late, he had caught you looking at him. He smiled slightly and nodded and you in return you smiled, hoping he wouldn’t be able to see your rose red cheeks burning from embarrassment.

Rita who was in the middle of making conversation with Jackson looked over at you too. She seemed ecstatic to see you and waved for you to go over to them.

“Ah crap Rita wants me to go over”

“Why not? Its about everyone’s dream right now” Hana said and gave you a little push of encouragement.

You dragged your feet, walking towards Rita and Jackson weaving through the groups of people.

“Hey, Miya. You’ve probably heard by now but I wanted to formally introduce you to Jackson. He’s a transfer student from Hong Kong.”

“Hi, I’m Miya. Nice to meet you.”

“Hi, nice to meet you too” he said as he flashed a goofy smile.

Just as you were about to turn around, Rita stopped you by saying “I want you to show him around the uni. Take him to and fro from his classes and all the usual stuff. Is that okay?”

“Um.. I guess so. But why me? Are we doing the same course or something?”

“Actually no, Jackson’s a performing arts student majoring in dance”

“Oh.. But I’m a fashion design major..”

“Yeah, I know” she chirped, “ But i checked your timetable and both of you seem to have a pretty similar schedule so everything should be work out just fine. Well, I’ll leave you two to it. It’ll also be nice if you could show him around Sydney as well since he doesn’t have any friends or relatives here.”

“Err.. sure.. No problem” you replied trying to sound okay with it.

After Rita left, the both of you looked at each other amongst the awkward silence.

He decided to break the silence by saying “do you have any free time after?”

“Yeah sure. Do you want me to show you around?”

“Yeah maybe we could do a bit of sightseeing and then dinner?” he sheepishly said as he rubbed the back of his neck, staring down at this nikes.

Wait, what? Rewind just a sec. Did he just ask me out? You thought.

“I don’t see why not” you replied with a smile.