XII

WU ESTATE

“What do you mean she isn’t anywhere on your list? She can’t just transfer to a different school!”

Mrs. Wu stares out the window to see the gardeners she hired working dutifully. There hasn’t been a time where she sat back and relaxed herself, to think that a mere student can get away with this… if anyone were to discover that her step-daughter is no longer living in the estate, how will they view it?

“I’m sorry Madam Wu but we do not know the reason for her transfer.”

“Alright.”

Mrs. Wu tossed the phone aside and breathed in.

‘Where did you go?’

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S.H.I. ACADEMY

Dean put his arm around his friend and stared at him.

“My friend, why are you standing in front of the dance studio when you should be buying your lunch at the café?” His friend signals him to look forward; Dean turns his head to see the dance club practicing in the studio. “You crazy fool~ you shouldn’t be making a habit of peeking at―” The dance instructor walks out and everyone silenced themselves.

“We need a couple of male dance partners, who will like to join? Don’t worry, it’s only for today!”

Dean’s scoffs at the sight of every guy in the crowd who raised their hand. He turn to his side to see one of his best buddies jumping up and down, trying to catch the dance instructors attention. Seeing how excited he was, Dean stood back and scratches his head, he has never been one to poke his nose into other’s business but what his buddy was doing is so priceless. The thought of it was hilarious; Dean just covered his eyes and shook his head.

“Dean.”

Everyone stopped to look at Dean. Hearing the cheering stop, Dean open his eyes and steps back, surprised that everyone is looking at him.

“Because Blackie’s your gym teacher and since this school is so big, I heard you were a good dancer, want to help the girls out with their practice?”

Dean’s friend covered his mouth and raises his hand.

“He’ll love to! I’ll come with him. He is a little shy when it comes to admitting it! You know, it’s a guy thing~” Dean glared at him but he soon gave in to his friend’s silent request. “Sure, since he spoke so highly of me.”

“Great, come in!” The dance teacher said as she held the door open for the boys to come into the studio. Dean elbows his friend and glares at him. “You owe me.”

“Thanks man! You’re my lucky charm duddeee~” Dean shakes his head in disblief as he sat down on the floor and watches the dance instructor call everyone in. They sat down on the floor as at the teacher asked a couple of students to do a quick demonstration for the ones who were new. Half way through, Dean looks at his friend who nudged him happily, still dying from happiness.

“I wish I can dance like that.”

“Say… then why did you nominate yourself to come in here then?”

“Heey~ I was just supporting you!”

Dean heavily sighs as his friend stares back at the dance. “Okay, before we start, who is willing to give this dance a try?”

“You mean in front of… everyone?”

“Yes, where I am standing.” The teacher answered gracefully as every guy avoids eye contact. Dean looked over to his friend who began breaking out in cold sweat. “Would you like to try?”

Dean turns to his friend, curious to see how he was going to respond to the teacher. He smirked as karma finally made his way over to him; his friend looks over to Dean and telepathically pleads him to take his place.

“You owe me big time.” His friend turns to him with the happiest expression. “Reeeeaaaaalllllyyy?!?@??#”

Dean raises his hand. “I’ll try it out.”

Dean’s friend did the happy dance in his head and smiled happily, thanking him once more as Dean walk to the front of the class. He looks at the time and sighs, ‘would I have time to get lunch?’

“And you dance partner will be… Rainie, come up.”

Dean’s eye brow arched when he caught her stand up and made her way over to him, with her red-hair tired into a bun. There was a reason why girls call her the queen of beauty and guys automatically stand in line for her.

As Rainie stood in front of Dean, she narrows her gaze at him. “Whenever you guys are ready.”

When the teacher walks over to the sideline, “I’m ready.” Dean eyes widen as she felt her pull him along into the dance. He questioned her but she didn’t mind him, she wanted to get this demonstration over with so in less than a minute, she told everyone she was ready.

Was she trying to catch him off guard?

Is she looking forward to the infamous Dean Fujioka slip up?

He, too can play with her. After all, it takes two to tango.

He smoothly took the lead and did the dance according to the earlier demonstration. Everyone watched Dean with fascination. He isn’t part of their dance club but somehow, he manages to dance like he has been learning for months. In the dance instructor’s eyes, she can tell this boy was a quick learner. Everyone knows that a gentleman must take the lead.

‘HOW?’

Rainie’s eyes widen as she felt herself losing control. She caught his eyes light up and to follow, he flashed that charming smile that every girl who came across it, drools over.

“WELL DONE! Now let’s practice. Everyone pair up, boy to girl.” She instructed as she walk over to Dean and Rainie to see them let each other go as fast as if they were holding a hot potato.

“Mr. Fujioka, if you would like to join our dance club, feel free to.” The dance instructor stated as Rainie’s eyes widen. ‘There’s no way he will join… is he thinking of accepting the offer?’ She was about to tell him not to take the offer but she got cut off when one of her dance mate came over to them.

“Will you be my partner?” She was as soft as a flower. Rainie rolls her eyes at the sound of her voice; it irks her because some girls just don’t know how to speak in their normal voices.

Dean scratches his head and laughs, as he held his hand out for her.

Seeing how these two were practically flirting with each other, so she turns around to see another surprise was waiting for her from behind. He stood there, fidgeting with his hands while Rainie stares at him. If she could remember clearly, this boy is in her class, the quiet guy who always sat at the front of the class.

“Rainie… can I… can you… dance with me…?”

Dean looks over to his friend who mustered up the courage to ask her for a dance. He knows that she isn’t the ice queen that she hoped she was, so when he saw her accept his hand for a dance, a smile pranced on his face. His friend wasn’t the best dancer but in his eyes, he could see her try to ease his tension. The boy who only sat in the front of the class is finally starting to open up to numerous possibilities.

Dean smiles as he looks at the girl who has been dancing with him.

“Should we go for another round?”

“Yes, please!”

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S.H.I ACADEMY

As Reen pace back and forth, she looked over to her friends who were eating their box of macaroons. They managed to sneak past their school’s security offices to come to Sheng Ying Academy. At first, she didn’t want to sit around, listening to her literature teacher talk on and on about whatever she planned for today so she got the girls to sneak away from their last period.

*DING*

Reen jumped at the sudden sound of the school bell, her heart beat faster. In less than five seconds, she could hear students coming out and in a minute, a crowd of students came out. Reen touched her heart and tried to ease herself but the more time ticked away, the more nervous she got. Her friends laugh at her silly actions.

“Silly, don’t worry about it. He’ll come out and when he does, we’ll let him know you came for―”

“Shh!” Reen covered her two best friends’ mouth and when she let go, they just burst out laughing.

“Hey, who are these chicks from?”

“They don’t look like they are from here…”

“I don’t know who they are but there uniforms are super cool!”

“I wonder which school they g―OMO! That uniform… can it be from that school? You know, that super fancy rich school?!”

Reen took out her mirror and takes a look at her complexion.

“Does my blush look off to you?” Reen look over to her friends who are talking to themselves. “Heeeyy~ Help me out here! How do I explain to him? I’m going to look like a stalker!”

“Well Reen… You are practically a stalker… Seeing how we are standing here…”

“HEY!” Reen shouted out as they giggled. “Hao la~ We knew you were going to react like this so we thought of a couple of ideas.”

Her friend smiled, lifting her pointer finger. “First, declare you love him.” Reen glares at her.

Her second finger came up. “Ask him on a date!” Reen caressed her cheeks, smiling hopelessly.

Then her third finger came up. “Since this weekend is the long break, why don’t we go on an outing? You know, get to know them more.” Reen eyes widen as she remembered that this weekend was the long break. They just had their tests and the board of education decided to give everyone a break!

“Ahh it completely slipped out of my mind! Aww, I was planning on going to Paris for the long weekend!~”

“You could still go to Paris for the long weekend… or you can stay in Taiwan and go on an outing.”

Reen stares at her friends as her friends suddenly flash a great big smile. “Incoming~” They turned Reen’s head to see the group of boys that helped them out yesterday. “So which game are you playing Miss. Reen?”

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Calvin looks over at Jiro who did a couple of jumps to celebrate the days end.

“YEAH MAN, TESTS ARE DONE! LONG WEEKEND, HERE WE COME!”

He followed his line of sight to see a group of girls standing by the gate. Jiro abruptly stops only to have Calvin bumped into him instead.

“Surprise surprise, I wonder what they are here for?”

“They must’ve fell in love with our very own hero~” Jiro sang as he dodged Calvin’s punch.

It’s going to take more than that to spoil his fun. So without hesitating any longer, he adjusted his backpack and walks over to the girls.

“What brings you ladies here?”

“I wanted to thank you guys again for saving me.”

“Wow, this is a pretty big thank you since you’ve come all the way here to say it!” Jiro called out as Calvin and Wu Chun stood beside him. “So I just wanted to―Wait, I thought there were 4 of you, where did he go?”

Wu Chun smiled as he shrugs. “Oh Aaron? He’ll come out soon.”

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Mei Mei linked her arm with Gui and smiled happily.

“What are your plans for the weekend Gui?”

“I don’t know, I’m usually stay at home and find something to do...why?”

“Dean hasn’t asked you?”

“Asked me about what?”

“There is a charity event that our parents are throwing to help save cancer patients. It’s a black tie event so I was wondering if you’ll attend it.” Gui laughs, Mei Mei doesn’t know how much she dislikes going to these types of formal parties. “If you are asking this, I can see why Dean didn’t ask me about this event. You see Mei Mei… I don’t like going to formal parties... and since you brought up Dean, he is probably making a script for himself to convince me to go.”

“Aw why? You get to dress up and wear pretty dresses!”

“Sorry Mei Mei... but I really want to sit this one out.”

“Not even this beautiful face can convince you to go~?”

Gui smiles at the pout and shakes her head. “Sorry, Mei Mei.”

Gui looks forward and instantly found Aaron walking in front of her.

“It’s fine… I’ll just have to help Dean with his script.” Mei Mei muttered to herself as she looks at Gui. Then she turns her attention to her line of sight, catching Aaron walking over to his group of friends. Mei Mei smiles as she turns her attention back to Gui who was looking at the textbook in her hands.

Just then, Gui felt a slight push from behind.

“What gives?” Sheng Yi slightly raised his tone of voice to see Gui and Mei Mei turn around to see him. “OH SHENG YI, WE ARE SO SORRY!” Mei Mei calls out as she pulls Gui to the side. “Gui… are you okay? Sheng Yi bumped into you.”

Sheng Yi scratched his head and looks away, pretending to be preoccupied.

“What are you doing? How childish are you?” Ah Wei shook his head. “Seriously, you treat even girls as guys. How do you expect to get yourself a girl?”

Ah Wei look over to the girls and Mei Mei instantly brightened up. “Forgive him? It has been a long day and he gets pretty loud when he’s tired.” Mei Mei nods happily while Gui look over to Sheng Yi who looked over at her. He quietly mouthed ‘sorry’ to her and Gui smiled.

“So, any plans for the long weekend?”

“My father is hosting a charity event for cancer patients, what about you Ah Wei?”

“Oh right, my parents are invited to the event as well. We are just hanging out, like usual. Probably play soccer for a bit.”

“That sounds like a fun weekend.”

“Does it?”

Unknowingly, Ah Wei and Mei Mei began walking off, immersed in talking within themselves that they had forgotten about Sheng Yi and Gui. Sheng Yi was about to call him back but Gui laughed.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? How can it be nothing? You are laughing at something.”

“I can’t laugh?”

“That’s not… what I mean…”

Gui and Sheng Yi follow them from behind.

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Aaron walks over to his friends and right then, he notices the girl Calvin helped out yesterday at the café.

“Hi, we just dropped by to say thank you once more.” Aaron smiles as he looks at the friends. “And we were just talking what we were planning to do with our long weekend and the idea of going on an outing came up!”

“An outing?”

“Yeah, remember how we use to go on those things when we were little?”

“So how about it Aaron? Want to go?”

Seeing how Aaron was thinking about it, Jiro cut in.

“Then we asked ourselves why don’t we expand our horizon and ask the ladies if they wanted to join since they are planning on going on an outing as well.” Jiro said to Aaron who looks over at Reen. “Yes, we haven’t gone anywhere in so long so this will be a good way to meet new friends and to thank you guys for helping me out.”

“So you in bro?”

Aaron laughs as he nods.

“Then it’s settled, we will go as a group!”

Then one of Reen’s friends noticed someone who she knows. “AH WEI?!” Hearing his name call out, Ah Wei stops and looks over at the girl. “IT IS YOU!” She ran over to hug him. Mei Mei eyes widen as she stared blankly at them.

“What are you doing here?”

“We just stopped by because Reen wanted to thank her savior.”

“Oh...?” Ah Wei flicks her on the head. “Oh I almost forgot, stop making your parents worried! Your parents called mine and told me that if I ever see you, I will have to sent you straight to them.”

“Yo Ah Wei, who’s the girl?” Fabien asks as he walks over with William catching up with from behind him shortly after. Ah Wei looks over and smiles brightly, “everyone, meet my cousin!”

When everyone said their hello’s, Ah Wei’s cousin turn her attention to him. “Anyways, since our parents are going out this weekend for this charity event, want to hang out with me and my friends? We are going on a small outing!”

Ah Wei looks over to Aaron, Calvin, Jiro and Wu Chun and in a sense; he knew who was included in this outing.

“Shall I? It would be a good way to practice together since we haven’t done it in a long time.”

Seeing how Ah Wei indirectly invited himself to the outing, Mei Mei raised her hands up. “If you don’t mind, I’ll come too!” She calls out as she raised Gui’s hand as well. Jiro nods, “That’s great! Transfer student, you are coming along with us! Yay! This outing is going to be fun!”

‘Transfer student?’

Aaron looks over at Gui.

Gui glares at Mei Mei, telepathically telling her that she won’t go but Mei Mei just smiles.

Reen eyes widen when she found herself standing in front of her dear stepsister.

‘WU YING JIE?!?!?!?’

All of the sudden, she found herself touching her stomach. Was it butterflies or was it something else? From where she was standing, she can see the look Aaron was giving her. That look… those pair of eyes… is he in love with her?

“The more the merrier right?”

‘That voice?’ Gui eyes widen when she turn to look at the girl standing in front of her. Two girls, the fate they share was something no one can understand. Her heart leaped from the memory she wanted to seal away. The last time she saw Reen as when she came in with the invitation to Prime Minister Qiu’s party. That was the last time the two saw each other… ‘Why are you here Reen?’

“Then I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning!”

“YEAH, I CAN’T WAIT!”

Everyone happily cheered as Sheng Yi turn to his friends who were busy talking about which food to bring along.

Sheng Yi stuffs his hands into his pockets, realizing that he is stuck in this outing with his friends and with the people he wanted to avoid.

Ah Wei walks over to Mei Mei who locked her arms with Gui. ‘Out of all the people… why does it have to be you Reen…?’

Jiro, Wu Chun and Calvin exchanged numbers with everyone it the group while Aaron smiles.

Reen’s friends cheered happily while Reen realizes that the one person who can stop her happiness is none other than her step-sister.

‘ Why… why did you choose to appear now… why does it have to be you? … Why now…’

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The Next Morning

Gui carried her bags that she was going to take along with her out in the living room. Just when she was about to go walk into her room to grab her other bag, she found Aaron’s textbook lying on the table. ‘Right… I forgot to give this to him…’

She picked up the textbook and sighs. ‘I know, I’ll return it right now!’

She grabs her keys from the counter and walks out just in time to see him walking into the elevator. ‘AARON!’ She was too late; the elevator doors closed on her so she opened the door and made her way down using the staircase. She runs out of the complex to see him walking away, she stops for a moment to look down to see herself wearing sneakers and so, she ran after him.

Without thinking, where was he going?

Without thinking, she follows him.

“AARON! YOU TEXTBOO―!” Gui’s eyes widen when she lost her balance when the ground beneath her began to move. She anticipated the fall but she felt something strong instead. Curious, she opens her eye. ‘OH MY GOD!’ she looks up to see Aaron holding her. ‘OH… MY… GOD…!!!!!!’

Gui stood up and looks around her, they were on a bus! “WAIT WHAT?! WHERE IS THIS GOING?!” The bus driver smiles happily as everyone on the bus answered her question.

“JIUFEN!”

Then she looks back at Aaron who burst into a laugh, “looks like you are going to Jiufen.”

“WHA―” Gui was about to walk over to the bus driver to stop the bus but Aaron pulls her back. “Want to come with me?”

In his mind, he knew that there was no way the bus driver was going to delay their arrival time so he led her to the seats. “Here, sit down.”

“JIUFEN?!” Gui’s eyes widen as she look over to Aaron. “I want to give this back to you before you―”

As the bus drives further away from Taipei, she remembers her bags back home and groans. “I didn’t bring my bags! What am I going to do!??!?!?” Aaron shrugs as he looks out the window. “I’ll call Jiro and let them know that you will be joining them later.”

Gui crosses her arms and looks over to him.

“Hey Aaron…” She asks in a whisper. “Why are you going to Jiufen?”

He leans in and responded in a whisper too, “you’ll see.”

The bus was moving through traffic and before she knew it, replacing the city sky scrapers with rows and rows of soil, greenery and plain land. ‘This is official… I am officially out of the city.’