They headed northeast first, mostly because their journey would include the biggest cities in China, starting from north to east, then from west to south, where everything would end in Kunming. They would pass the rice and corn fields at Yangtze and Huai River, flower fields in the planar regions and even the East China sea board before making a longer break in Shanghai for family visits.

Mei would have been lying if she were to say she wasn’t excited for this. On the contrary, when she had woken up that morning, she had felt slightly sick, having a weird feeling in her stomach. It had made her doubt whether or not what she was planning to do was the right decision. Maybe she was too reluctant, too shy, not self-confident enough to go on such a trip. In high school, she had heard her classmates speak of the adventures they were going to make once they graduated, the countries overseas that they wanted to visit just because they were seeking for some fun, adventure, and even a little danger, she thought.

Mei had never been a person who would think about these things or even play with the imagination of doing so. She was seeking a good, stress-free life, one where she didn’t have to fear where she’d sleep tomorrow.

But now, she was really sitting in a car with a boy she had encountered about two hours ago and was actually leaving her town, her family, to spend the rest of the summer with him. She nearly bursted out laughing, because the situation seemed so odd to her. And it was even odder that she didn’t feel that bad after getting in the car, though she still thought that this idea was crazy.

She inconspicuously turned her head to get a better view of Luhan from the corner of her eyes. His sight was fixated on the street and Mei had to admit that he had beautiful eyes. They were bright, inviting, shooting a welcoming aura at everyone and everything he looked at.

Overall, she had a good feeling with Luhan sitting there, because according to her wisdom and beliefs, the chemistry was all right. Though, there was something that was bothering her. Perhaps not exactly bothering, but something gave her an odd feeling and she knew that he felt the same way.

It was this strange silence lingering in the air—that kind where you don’t know what to say, you don’t know how or where to begin a conversation because you just don’t know the person.

It was essentially this awkward situation where you are introduced to a friend’s friend and suddenly meet him in the bus, both questioning whether to sit beside each other or just pretend you don’t see each other because you don’t know if there is a conversation in store. And if one of you two ultimately decides to take the place beside the other, an awkward stillness would follow right after you gathered the courage to say something, anything. “So...you like… stuff?” Really unpleasant.

Since their departure, both had only exchanged around five sentences with each other and those were just introductions. His name was Luhan, he was 22, went to college with her boyfriend, and lived about half an hour away from her.

Actually, Mei wanted to know more about him (they would be spending a few weeks with each other at the least), but she didn’t know where to begin. She, herself, was not a very talkative nor open person in the beginning, no matter how inviting those doe eyes of Luhan were. She really had the feeling that he had the same problem, or he just didn’t want to be disturbed by nonchalant conversation while driving.

Mei see-sawed in her seat and moved her head to the right to look out of the window. Due to morning traffic jams, they needed about two hours to leave Beijing city. But now, the last buildings in the suburbs passed by. She slightly lifted herself up a little, approached Luhan’s side, turned to the left, and looked out of the rear window.

In the distance, she could see some high buildings, but other than that, she saw… nothing.

“There is a better view from the highway.”

Mei moved her head and looked at Luhan’s profile, who quickly faced her to give her a cheerful smile. She was taken by surprise, because in the past hours, they had spent their time in complete quietness. She thought he was more concentrated on driving than interacting, yet she nodded as if they had been chatting since they drove off.

Moving back to her seat, Mei thought he would focus on his driving again with this serious, yet relaxed expression on his face, but Luhan proved her wrong.

“Hey,” he said after a while and surprised her again. “Do you want to take the shorter road via the new high-speed route or the older route?”

“What’s the difference?” she questioned, but to not sound stupid, she added, “Apart from the time.”

“If we take the older route, it would cost us the double amount of time, but the view is awesome, I can tell you.”

The fact that she could only see his profile made it difficult to analyze his facial expression and due to that, his feelings. However, she noticed how the corner of his lips curled up and how his eyes narrowed. Apparently, he had already decided which route he’d take as he was smiling like that, and she was completely with him.

“Let’s take the longer one then.”

The girl fell asleep as soon as he drove on the highway that they had decided to take. Luhan chuckled inwardly at the irony. She was sitting curled up in her seat, her head tilted to the right where a part of it rested on her shoulder and the other part leaned against the window (and he was glad that the street wasn’t that bumpy, otherwise she could have fallen forward).

When his friend had first asked him to take his girlfriend with him on his trip, he didn’t exactly know what to expect. Actually, Luhan had planned to travel around China by himself. Just him and his car.

Why? Because, like his journey, he didn’t know where to go—with himself, with his life. Stuck between university and a rather poorly paid part-time job, the best word which could describe his life was probably dull.

He didn’t have any aims or plans for the future. Truth be told, university and work were just things he needed to bridge before he had to figure out where the hell he wanted to go with his life. He was seeking adventure for his rather boring life—an