Beijing, China

                                                                                                               September, 2017

Yu Yan's POV.

 

Waking up the next morning I opened my eyes slowly and remembered my new surroundings. Checking the time on my phone, my body stood up from the bed and I went to the bathroom to wash up myself. The water flowed down my body in the shower, hot steam surrounding the entire room.

After changing myself into some clothes I went to the kitchen to make a breakfast. As I cooked two eggs I realized I was home alone, "She must have gone to the work already."

Eating silently I decided to call Xu Jiagi via facetime. "Good morning my friend." I greeted when her face popped up in my cellphone.

"Good morning to you too. How is the new apartment? Is everything alright? Can you do me a house tour?" The black-haired girl asked me, sounding sleepy like she just woke up.

"It's good, very good I would say. The owner is a young girl, still older than me though, but the kind and a pretty type." Standing up from the chair I was just sitting on I showed Jiagi the whole apartment via camera.

"It's nice, did you managed to unpack everything yesterday?"

Nodding my head at her, I took a sip of my coffee and went to the terrace. Slipping on my slippers I opened the door and took out my cigarettes. "I finished it, I didn't have much stuff anyway. I'm going to hang up now, see you at the school tomorrow."

Jiagi told me goodbye before hanging up and I just sat there, on the terrace, enjoying the pleasant morning breeze as I inhaled the smoke into my lungs slowly. My eyes watched some birds flying around as finished the cig and stubbed out the end of it into an ashtray I brought here.

Stretching my tired body I headed for a shopping bag and left the house. Getting onto the motorbike I rode to a near shop so I could buy something to cook with. As I went through a supermarket and put everything I needed into the basket, my brain was filled with Keni. Her smiling face, her dumb expressions or her amazing tall figure. The best tenant I could wish for.

Checking if I had all of the stuff I needed I went to a cashier to pay for it. I put the groceries into the shopping bag and headed out of the store, noticing a nearby ice-cream stand. Never saying no to an ice-cream I paid for a chocolate flavored one and enjoyed the slightly cooling sweet flavor on my tongue. The ice-cream was almost eaten when I heard an old lady screaming for help. From what I saw, some guy stole the lady's purse and was running away with it in my direction. Feeling like a hero I knew from cartoons I went after him. My legs apparently didn't want me to be a hero as I stumbled over a trash can and fell down, bumping my head on it. Cursing underneath my breath, writhing in pain and holding my head protectively I saw a man catching the robber by his hood and putting him against a wall like a policeman. Apparently he was something like a policeman and helped the old lady, so I went to my motorbike, started its engine and rode off to the apartment.

Placing the food I bought into the refrigerator I could feel my head still hurting. I went to the bathroom to examine my face and as I was looking into the mirror I noticed a bruise on my cheek bone. Wanting to put some medicated ointment on in I searched for the first aid kit, but couldn't find any. Giving up, I lied down onto the couch in the Livingroom, starting the TV instead. The Penthouse was airing and as I was watching the show I could feel myself drift off to sleep.

"Hey, Yan. Wake up. Wake up!" Hearing a loud yelling in my right ear I fluttered my eyes open to see Keni watching me smugly. "Are you really sleeping in the afternoon? Do you have nothing else to do?" She chuckled before sitting down next to me. "So what did you do all day? Only slept?"

I smirked at her challenging tone, "No, I went shopping for some groceries and then I slept." Laughing slightly at my answer her stomach growled suddenly, "That's a very interesting schedule... So what are you cooking today?"

Chuckling at the hungry face she was making, my body sat up from the lying position, "I'm thinking about making Sichuan boiled fish, is it okay with you? Can you stand spicy food?

Keni gave me thumbs up before her gaze fell down onto my cheek. Eyes narrowing, her soft hand caressed the bruise on in. "What happened to your face? Are you kind of a gangster or something?"

I explained her the situation with the robber and the trashcan and as I expected she laughed at me for a bit.

"Wait here." Ordered Keni, before going somewhere in the house and coming back with an ointment which she opened and rubbed it on my face carefully. "This should help with the swelling and the bruise should heal faster."

Sticking a patch on my hurt cheek, Keni tilted her head cutely before standing up, feeling proudly of her treatment. "Now you look like a gangster."

Witch a chuckle I stood up as well, "Good, now the kids are gonna be scared of me..."

Being rewarded with her sweet smile I went to the kitchen and started some preparations for today's dinner, "Are we going to cook for the both of us?" I asked her as I put a pan on the stove.

She put a finger below her chin, thinking. "I think it's up to you, but it would be nice to share the same meals together."

Smile creeped up my face, surprising even myself, "You are right, but I will be cooking most of the time if it's okay with you."

Keni furrowed her eyebrows slightly, looking hurt as she crossed her arms. "Are you saying that I am a bad cook? Only after one meal?"

My body tried not to laugh too much as my hand patted her head slightly, "Sorry to say this but yeah. If you want to I can teach you how to cook though."

Sighing in defeat, Keni admitted her bad cooking skills and began to cut some kinds of vegetables as I told her.

As we were eating a question popped up in my mind, "When are you leaving for work? And when are you coming back?"

Munching on her food, Keni swallowed, "I'm leaving around 8 o'clock and I come back no later than 4 pm. It depends on the choreography or on the work I have to do that day."

"You told me that you began to dance at the age of 7. Does it means you dance for nearly 20 years already?"

"Yes Yanzi, it means I dance almost 20 years already. But what about you, are you having some kind of artistic hobby?"

My head tilted on the side slightly, feeling taken aback with the sudden nickname, "Yanzi? Where that came from?"

Keni laughed a little, "It sound like Baozi, one of my favorite food. And even my cat is named Baozi."

"Really Keni? You gave me a nickname after a food and your cat?" I reciprocated the laugh she gave me and came back to her question. "Back to the topic. I like to draw and I think my dream is to have a drawing school for kids to help them get better and create some amazing paintings or drawings. But I like to sing and play on a guitar too. When I was younger, my mom made me to attend a lessons for that, which I didn't like at first, but after some time I started to like it or even love it."

Giving me another of her sweets smiles Keni finished her food and gulped down the rest of her water, then standing up to collect the dishes from the table, "You are having a school tomorrow right? We should wash the dishes and prepare for bed. Is it okay with you if I take a shower first?"

"Yeah and don't worry about the dishes I will wash them and you can do it tomorrow."

Nodding her head she thanked me and left to her room for some pajamas before I could hear a water running in the bathroom as I washed the dishes in the kitchen.

The next day was a school day so after eating my breakfast I got up on my motorbike and rode to the university.

"Good morning Xu Jiagi." I greeted my friend at the front gate of our school, smiling dumbly as I waved my hand in her face.

The girl slapped my hand lightly with a pouty lips and childish noises, "Are you trying to blow off my pretty face or what?"

I automatically cringed at her obvious response, knowing that she is the only one who could think of something this stupid. "If it's so easy to blow off your face, then how is your head on your body until today?"

After arguing for a few seconds we went inside the building and the classes for our last year started. I and Xu Jiagi had only three classes together and it happened to be math, economy and a Chinese language.

As I told you before, Jiagi is very bad at studying, that means I have to help her with tutoring most of the times. I mean she is pretty good with the Chinese language but that's it.

The first class was slow as , but god thank you for my smart brain. Luckily I have no problem with understanding math even if the mathematical example is the most difficult one. After the class was finally over I couldn't help but hear sighing behind me, knowing exactly who it was.

"Please, even dying would be more fun than this useless ..." the black-haired girl complained with a face full of despair and dumbness.

"I know Sunrui but we have to get through this. If we make it, then there is nothing stopping us in our amazing future and hopefully a rich life. Think of it I could be a model cause I am beautiful." Said Jiagi, patting her dumber friend on the shoulder as she was passing by.

I stood up from my seat, trying to pull up Sunrui who was pretending to be dead, "C'mon we have to go." I said to her.

She didn't respond of course so I raised my voice at her. "I said we have to go you blockhead!"

At this she stood up in a flash of light, grabbed her things and ran to the door as she screamed, "Help! Yu Yan is so scary! She is trying to kill me!"

"If you will continue to scream like that I will definitely kill you and bury you in the mountains where no one can find your body."

Sunrui opened , staring at me with terror in her eyes and then ran away somewhere down the hall.

During our launch break we always sat together - Me, Jiagi, Sunrui and Daimeng. These three girls were my only friends, but I didn't dislike it because they were there for me when I needed them the most.

Just for you to know, Jiagi and Daimeng were neighbors and they knew each other since kindergarten. Daimeng was taking care of the younger girl all the time, because the older girl was more mature and smarter than most of the kids. Then there was Sunrui, the clumsy kid - she ate sand, climbed trees and fell down afterwards, played with big rocks and then cried when her foot or hand ended up under it. These three began to be friends in elementary school and unfortunately I didn't know them until college.

"So Yu Yan, how is it going? Do you want me to sue your housemate or are you on a good terms?" Joked Daimeng, the lawyer and the smartass of our group.

Giving her thumbs up I casually continued to munch on my food.

Probably thinking about what Daimeng meant, Sunrui made her stupid 'I don't get it' face. "Can you sue her when she is the right owner of the apartment and Yu Yan is just a sublet there?"

Laugh escaped Xu Jiagi lips, ending up choking on her own food. Daimeng just slapped the dying girl's back, frustration evident on her face. "Yes Sunrui, you can sue anybody if you want to and Jiagi, how can you choke on your food every single time?"

The blue-faced Jiagi pouted and drank some water before finally swallowing it. "Do you think I do it on a purpose?"

Finishing our launch, we all went to our separated classes and before I knew it, it was finally over.

On my way home, I stopped at one of my favorite cafés to buy something to drink for me and Keni, but as I got inside the apartment I was met with a huge mess everywhere. Clothes and random stuff were lying on the floor, drawers were out and a little whining could be heard from Keni's room. Tiptoeing its way I poked my head inside slightly, only to see the tall girl looking for something frustratingly.

I knocked on the door lightly, going inside her room, "What are you doing? Why is the apartment looking like a bomb exploded in here?"

"Oh, hi Yu Yan. I lost my car keys. Did you see it today?"

Today's memory flashed through my head, but nothing about seeing the keys. "Sorry, I don't think I did... Should I look outside or did you already searched there?"

Shaking her head as a no, Keni thanked me for helping her and continued her searching. I grabbed a jacket before opening the door leading outside. Fishing the lighter from my pocket, I lighted a cigarette and put it in my mouth as my eyes scanned the frond-yard slowly.

Looking everywhere for an hour, Keni suddenly shouted, "Yanzi! My friend just called me that I have left my keys at her place."

Sighing as I went inside, I tilted my head in a confusion, "Then how did you drive home?"

Keni was grabbing her purse with a relief on her face while she answered.

"Lingzi lives just a few houses from us. I walked there... Sorry for this mess... I will clean everything up after I pick up my keys."

When there was only me in the apartment I decided to at least make a simple dinner, knowing that even If I tried hard, I wouldn't be able to find the things I needed for cooking.

As I was serving the food, the taller girl worked surprisingly hard to clean up the whole apartment. Feeling a little bad, I told her to stop now and eat. She thanked me shyly while she finished off the rest and joined me for dinner.

Looking at her still eating as I washed the dishes, I decided to a bit, "Do you like cleaning?"

She swallowed, furrowing her eyebrows in dislike, "Of course not! But I made the mess so I had to clean it, but I wish it would just disappear on its own."

I smirked a little at her behavior, "You are just a big baby aren't you? You should man up Zeng Keni."