Friday, the best day of the whole week. We had a math test on Wednesday, it had rationalizing denominators and numerators on it. We got it back today.

I got 91%.

All thanks, to Sara. I would have failed if she hadn't helped me.
Huh, I guess she's good for more than talking.

Since she helped me with my test, I guess I have to do something for her.

After school on the bus, I asked, "Are you doing anything when you go home? Do you have somewhere to be?"

She shook her head, "Why?"

"Just get off when I get off."

"Oookay." She agreed.

We passed both of our stops and got off on a street filled with jewelry stores, cafes, restaurants, and other little shops.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Just keep walking." I answered, leading her toh a shop filled with things like stuffed animals, key chains, and other disgustingly cute things.

"Pick something." I ordered. She gave me a confused look, "Wh-"

"Just pick something."

She creased her eyebrows but then walked to the key chains. After browsing through them, she came back with a star-shaped keychain.

I tried not to let my face giveaway the amusement I felt, I knew she'd pick that.

“Here you go." She handed it to me. I took it and went to the counter to pay for it. After paying for it, I led her outside.

"Turn around." I instructed. She furrowed her eyebrows and opened , "Wh-"

I didn't give her the chance to finish her 5W's questions and turned her around. I took the price tag and sticker off the keychain and attached it to her bag. Then I spun her around again.

She looked over her shoulder, "Why....?"

"It's yours."

"Why are you giving it to me?" She asked, scratching her head.

"For helping me." I answered, looking down and hoping my hair was covering my red ears.

She smiled, "It was no problem! That's what friends are for, right?"

Friends.... That word was foreign to me. I hadn't had a friend for a long time, I stopped trusting people after a while.

I looked up again, meeting her sparkling eyes.

I didn't confirm what she said.

But I didn't deny it either.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

Saturday morning I slept until 1:30.

That was some sleep.

I looked at my phone and found 14 missed calls.

What the heck? Who would call me? Sara wouldn't call 14 times, she's not that stupid.

I looked at who called and my face contorted into disgust. Why the hell was he calling me? Was I going to call back? No, never.

I put my phone away and went to the washroom to wash up. When I came out, I saw my phone ringing. I rolled my eyes, does this old man not understand?

I threw on a random shirt and looked at the phone again, debating whether I should pick it up or not. If I didn't, he would pester me all day. If I did, I could tell him off faster.

I picked the phone up and pressed 'answer', I put the phone against my ear but didn't say anything.

"Why didn't you pick up before?!" My father demanded.

I didn't reply.

"Answer me!" He commanded. No. I don't take orders from anyone.

Pause, "You're coming back to China."

I froze. Then I spoke, "No."

“What do you mean 'no'? You have no say in the decisions I make.”

"And you have no say in my life." I shot back.

"How dare you speak to me like that!" He said angrily. "You're coming back here; I don't care what you say. I've made my decision."

"Then come here and try to make me." I said and hung up. I looked at my phone once more before throwing it across the room, it hit a picture hanging on the wall and it shattered to pieces. Why did he want me back anyways? Probably to introduce me to some 20-year-old lady he met and was planning on marrying. Whatever, it doesn’t matter.

I wasn't leaving, I couldn't. He can't make me.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

He called me some more, but I put my phone on silent so my ringtone wouldn't bother me. Then he decided to text me.

'[Received 2:33] Your flight is tomorrow at 3:30. If you don't come, you are not my son.' And attached were my flight details.

I snorted and typed back, ‘[Sent 2:37] I never was. For a long time now.’

I turned my phone off after that and made myself lunch. When I sat down, a gust of loneliness came over me.

Suddenly, I wasn't hungry anymore.

I picked my phone up and turned it on to find a text, '[Received 2:40] My son, I only want what's best for you and you know that. I apologize for being so rash earlier, come to China and we'll sort everything out.'

I scoffed; he thinks he can trick me again. Dad, oh my bad, Mr. Wu, I may have fallen for your tricks before, but not anymore.

I didn't reply to his text and scrolled through my phone, passing time. Then I saw Sara in my contacts. I stared at her name and number. After two minutes of staring, my thumb started to move towards her number to call her.

Right when I was going to press it, my dad's ID came up and so did the two options: 'answer' and 'ignore'.

Of course, I pressed 'ignore'.

I wasted no time after that and pressed Sara's number. 2 rings and she picked up.

"Hello?"

"What do you mean 'hello?'. Do you not have my number saved?! How can you not save my number?!" I demanded.

“Oh, oops.” She said. “I didn't know I had your number.”

"How do you think I called you last time?"

"......... Oh yeah."

I chuckled, idiot.

"Anywho, why'd you call? Do you need more help?" She asked. I paused; I didn't know the answer to that. Why did I call?

"Hello? Kris?"

I blinked back into reality and said, "Where are you?"

This time she paused, "I'm, uh. Just, you know, here and there."

I rolled my eyes, "What kind of an answer is that?"

"......I'm near the hospital bus stop."

"Stay there, I'm coming." I said and hung up. I picked up my jacket and keys and headed out the door.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

I got off the bus at the hospital and saw Sara removing something from her wrist and throwing it in the trash, an unreadable expression on her face. Why's she near the hospital anyway?

My question instantly flew to the back of my mind when she heard my footsteps and looked up. She waved and gave me a heart-warming smile.

I nodded in reply and she walked up to me, "Why'd you call me here?"

I didn't know the answer to that either so I just said, "Follow me."

"How come you never tell me where we're going and just tell me to follow you?" She asked as we walked.

"You'll find out when we get there."

"But why can't you tell me now?"

"Because." I said simply. I really didn't know why, maybe because I liked the element of surprise. Or I didn't want her to leave just in case she didn't want to go to the place I was taking her.

Obviously, it was the first option. Why does it matter to me if she wants to stay where I'm taking her? Pssshhhh.

She made a face and we continued walking, "Can you at least tell me how long until we get there?"

"Couple minutes, we're almost there." I replied.

I led her into a beautiful garden I had discovered on one of my nightly walks. It was called 'Starry Garden' and when I looked around; I knew I had to bring Sara here. We stood outside the entrance of it. I nodded to her, "Go in."

She walked in and instantly her eyes widened in excitement and she began looking around immediately. I could see how much she loved flowers and nature, I knew she would. They suited her personality.

"Come," I took her hand and led her to the back of the garden. When we reached what I wanted to show her I dropped her hand and she looked around, amazed.

"Wowww....."

There was a giant outline of a star made with small rocks, and inside were various flowers. Around that whole area were nicely decorated flowers placed near statues and the bushes.

I felt happy seeing her enjoying the scenery.

"This place is beautiful!" She exclaimed, twirling around. I watched her in amusement as she looked at all the different flowers.

"Why'd you bring me here?" She asked, not walking around anymore.

I shrugged and sat on the rock outline of the star, "It reminded me of you. I thought you’d like it."

She nodded and opened to say something else, when her phone rang. She looked at the ID and I saw the hesitation on her face as she picked up. I furrowed my eyebrows, who’s calling her that causes that look on her face?

"H-Hello?" She said, right after she did she pulled the phone away from her ear. My frown deepened, who's yelling at her?

"O-Okay, I'll be there in 15 minutes." She said and hung up.

"Who was that?" I asked immediately, standing up.

"My dad." She said quietly, she looked at me, "I have to go now. Thanks for bringing me here, Kris. Let's come again for sure." She started to walk past me but I grabbed her wrist lightly, but firmly. Her dad yelling at her and demanding for her to come home? I don’t want to think of what would happen when she got home.

"Don't go." I said. "What if he hurts you like last time?"

She pulled away slowly, "Don't worry." She said and then quickly walked away.

I didn't listen to what she said.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

I went home by myself, wondering what had awaited Sara when she got home. I hope she was all right.

For the sake of my education, of course.

I didn’t feel like making any food so I ordered pizza. I took my phone out to order it and found some more missed calls (from my ‘dad’) and a text.

‘Come to China, we’ll talk this out.’

I scoffed and dialed the pizza place’s number. Come to China, we’ll talk this out, who does he think he is? What if I don’t want to talk things out with that useless old man?

I ordered the pizza and waited for it to arrive when I got another text. From Sara.

‘[Received at 7:34] I told you there was nothing to worry about~ I’m alive and in one piece (:’

Her response made me laugh and I typed back:

‘[Sent at 7:34] Nice to know…… what did he want?’

She replied quickly:

‘[Received at 7:35] Just wanted me to come home……..’

Her response did not satisfy me, but I didn’t push it. Then another question came to my mind.

‘[Sent at 7:36] You said your dad didn’t work, I thought he owned the bookstore I work at.’

This time she didn’t reply as fast.

‘[Received at 7:40] My stepdad does.’

I froze, I did not expect that…… I guess she forgot to mention it before……..

‘[Sent at 7:42] Ahhh, I see. Do you get along with him?’

Talk about awkward situation. She replied faster this time:

‘[Received at 7:45] My mom and him have been married for a couple of months now. He takes good care of her and my sister. That’s all I need. I don’t talk to him that often though…..’

At that moment, the pizza guy came with my pizza. I thanked him, paid and went back to my phone. How to reply…..

‘[Sent at 7:47] Well, that’s good. Have you eaten yet?’

‘[Received at 7:48] Yuppp, you?’

‘[Sent at 7:48] In the process.’

‘[Received at 7:49] Okay, I’ll leave you to it then. I’m going to go clean up a bit and then go to sleep. Good night~’

I grew a bit disappointed, but then scolded myself for wanting to talk to her.

‘[Sent at 7:50] Kay, night.’

I finished my dinner and thought about Sara. I don't think I will ever admit this out loud, but she is on the line that seperates 'friends' from 'strangers' on my scale. And not many people were on the 'friend' side. She was very close to it and I think she'll make it to the friend side..... I hope so. I don't know, she's just so different from everyone I've met. She has a different way of looking at things, a positive side. She has a contagious happy aura that passes on to everyone around her. 

Oh, who are you kidding Kris. She is definetely on your friend side.

Shut up, conscience .

I went to sleep early as well, dreaming of flowers, stars, and an unpleasant face.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

I woke up the next morning to the enormous pile of homework that I had delayed for the whole weekend.

I sighed after I finished my breakfast. Time to get cracking on all that work. I started on my homework and didn’t stop for 4 consecutive hours.

I stretched at the end of those long four hours, it was 5:30. I finished almost all my homework. All that I had left to do were some practice questions for math and review for an English test.

I didn’t feel like cooking today either, so I ordered Chinese food. I haven’t had that for a while.

I waited for about half an hour before the doorbell rang. Surprised, I got off the couch and stopped watching TV. Normally, they took around 45 minutes to deliver.

When I opened the door, I did not see a sleezy-looking delivery boy.

I saw the unpleasant face of my father.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello all~!

I'm sorry, it's been a while huh?

But I'm trying D:

Hope ya'll are enjoying the story (: (look at me, acting all cowboy girl-like)

Oh and just one more thing I hope you guys have noticed. Kris has not smiled in this fic, laughed/chuckled/smirked, yes. But he hasn't actually smiled a genuine smile. Just thought I'd bring that to your attention (:

For those that have subscribed to Paradise? Yea..... NO, 19 people voted as of now and 17 of those were for me being on hiatus for a while. So that's what I'm doing~! I hope that was obvious..... If you haven't voted, go vote~!

Kay, that's all. BYEBYEE~!!

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