No one is ever too busy, it’s about priorities.

12^th May 2005

“Young Mistress Zhang.”

The servants in Lu mansion bowed their head and acknowledged the 14 year-old girl who just stepped into the house. She nodded her head at them before making her own way to Luhan’s room quickly. Although she wasn’t a frequent guest here, she came over often enough to know where Luhan sleeps in.

“I will bring you there.” One of the servants offered but Bixue shook her head. As she made her way up the stairs quickly, she wondered why did Luhan not come over. He had phoned her this morning saying he would be going over to her house in an hours time but it was already noon and Luhan was still nowhere in sight. Hence, she got her driver to drive her here instead.

“What kind of rubbish is this!!” Bixue’s hands froze just as she was about to knock the door. She was quite sure the bellow she just heard didn’t belong to Luhan.

“You are my son!! How can you go to a performing arts school!”

“Those type of school are for people with no future!”

“Who said there is no future? Look at those Jay Chou, S.H.E and 5566, they are all doing very well!” From where Bixue was, she could clearly hear Luhan screaming back at his father and she lowered her hand slowly. They had just receive their results this morning and they both had scored exceptionally well. Given their results and background, they could enter any school they wanted. And it wasn’t hard for Bixue to guess how their argument came about.

“Luhan you listen closely. You are not going to what that ridiculous performing arts school.” Mr Lu warned Luhan with his deep and scary voice like a Liutenant instructing a soldier.

“You are going to a foreign language school. China’s economy is growing and there would come a day where English and other languages are as important as Mandarin.”

Silence then enveloped the room behind the door that separated Bixue and the Lu father and son. She bit her lower lips worriedly as she began to worry about how Luhan would react when the door flung open and Mr Lu was standing right in front of her.

“M.. Mr Lu.” Bixue bowed politely, swallowing hard at her misconduct for eavesdropping their conversation. Mr Lu had always been fierce and stern and Bixue was very afraid of him since she was young.

“Uhm.” Nodding his head at the girl, Mr Lu bypassed her and walked away with a slip of paper in his hand. Bixue sighed loudly before entering the room.

Right before her, Luhan sat at the edge of the bed with his head buried in his head. His black hair was messy and ruffled, showing the frustrations he was withholding. Walking slowly towards him, Bixue squat down right in front of the boy, her face on the same level as his.

“Hey.” She called him softly and the boy wiped his face before looking up at her with a smile. But it still didn’t hide his red eyes that gave Bixue quite a shock. The only time she saw him cry was when they were 10 and he was desperate for her to talk so she wouldn’t be sent away. After the incident, she learnt from Chen-bo that Luhan wasn’t someone who cries easily and that only showed how much he valued their friendship.

Now that he was crying, it only proved how badly he wanted to enter the entertainment industry. And that was when Bixue realize how much this dream means to Luhan.

“Luhan..” She held his hand that was in front of him tightly, squeezing them gently. Through her smile, she hope she could cheer the boy up. “When there’s something you really want, fight for it, don’t ever give up no matter how hopeless it seems.”

“And when you lose hope, imagine yourself in 10 years from now, you’re gonna wish you gave it one more shot.”

“So follow your dreams. Not what your Mother or your Father wants you to do. Not what you think you should be doing but doing what you want to do. Sometimes following your heart may mean breaking someone else’s.”

“But the best things in life, they don’t come free.”

Giving him a confident nod, Bixue held his hand firmly. “No matter what you do, remember that I will always be by your side.”

-

“He’s here!”

“Who who?”

“That pretty boy is here again.”

“Oh I know! The one who always stand outside the school gate?”

“He is from another school but he comes here everyday.”

“Why are you complaining? Our school guys are so terrible to look at, he makes my day so much better!”

“Let’s go see him!”

Shaking her head lightly, Bixue bit her smile and fastened her footsteps out of the school gate. Just like what the girls said, the pretty boy was leaning on the wall outside the gates of Beijing Haidian Art Vocational School and she cocked her head at him.

“Wow, he sure is handsome!”

“I heard he is very popular in his school.”

“Given his good looks, of course he would be famous anywhere.”

“Oh my god, he is walking towards us!!”

Bixue had never doubted that Luhan is good looking. She loves his deer-like eyes that always sparkles whenever he talks. But as he grew older, he outgrew his short hair and kept a slightly longer hair that made his eyes stand out more than ever.

“Hey you.” Luhan walked towards Bixue with a wide grin.

“Did you wait for very long?” Bixue asked him. He waits for her outside her school gate everyday without fail. Even if it was pouring, Luhan would still hold a umbrella and wait for her patiently.

Shaking his head, Luhan comforted with a gentle smile. Although he needs to travel half an hour from his school to hers, and wait for another 45minutes for her to end school, he really didn’t mind.

“Woah he is the friend of the mute girl?!”

“Please don’t tell me he is the mute girl’s boyfriend.”

“She doesn’t seem to be able to get herself a good catch.”

From where Luhan and Bixue were, they could hear the girls’ conversation clearly and it made Luhan clench his fist in anger. He didn’t like how they were calling Bixue the mute girl. She has a name and she is definitely not mute. He was about to tell those girls off when Bixue held onto his hand and shook her head.

“I’m tired. Can we go?”

Luhan knew Bixue didn’t like unneccessary attention so he nodded his head and walked away from the girls. And he knew by waiting for her outside the school gate like this, he was already giving her a lot of inconvenience. The boy knows that he is attracting a lot of attention from the other gender but now that they were studying in different schools, the amount of time they get to spend together was decreasing with the increasing school work they both had and Luhan didn’t like how they are drifting apart. The only thing he could do was to pick her up from school and take the public transport home together everyday. The one hour journey was precious for both of them.

“You are still not talking to your friends right?” Luhan asked and Bixue nodded her head but Luhan just looked at her, feeling slightly angry.

“You cant do this Xue, how are you going to make friends if you don’t talk to anyone?”

“I don’t need any friends, I can be on my own.” The girl told him stubbornly as they walked towards the bus stop. She didn’t like the friends in her school, and she goes to the school to pursue her dream of being an architect so she can design beautiful houses for people, not to make lasting friendship. She has Luhan and she didn’t need anyone else.

How would Luhan not know that Bixue is independent for her birth mother had passed away since she was young and her father re-marry another lady that wanted to send her to an orphanage. That was also why he refused to leave her alone because his heart ache to see a girl like her being forced to be so independent. Although she mentioned that her difficulty in speech was a medical condition that doctor cannot explain, Luhan had researched on it on his own and he firmly believes that it was a way Bixue created unknowingly to protect herself.

“There is no such thing as you don’t need friends.” Luhan reasoned with her. “What if something happens to you in school or when you are out? Who are you going to look for?”

“Nothing will happen to me.”

“Hard to say.” Luhan insisted his point as an idea struck him. “Today, you are going to start making friends.”

“W..What?” Bixue turned and look at him in shock.

Dragging her across the road, Luhan boarded the bus that was going back to his school. He had made up his mind to let Bixue take her first step by making friends with his close friends. The bunch of close friends he made since the start of school half a year ago were a bunch of crazy but supportive and loyal friends.

No matter how did Bixue protest and beg, Luhan didn’t give in to her and the girl can only trudge after him as they entered an eatery.

“What’s up guys!” Luhan greeted the bunch of friends happily. He knew that he would definitely find them at their usual hangout place.

“Luhan! I thought you went off already?” One of them asked.

“Yeah, didn’t you have to go pick your friend up?” Another friend of his added.

Nodding his head, Luhan then pointed to the figure behind him and the boys instinctively whistled and when they saw Bixue hiding behind him shyly.

“Woah, no wonder you always rush off after school!”

“Hahah, if I have such a pretty girlfriend, I would rush off too! Who wants to hang out with you guys?!”

“Stop it guys.” One of them with a slightly deeper voice interrupted. “Did you forget that Luhan mentioned that he has a friend that he grew up since young?”

A series of ooh and ahh could be heard from where Bixue was. Despite hiding behind Luhan, she could feel their stare.

“Try to talk to them. They are my friends, they wouldn’t harm you.” Luhan turned around and told Bixue softly, his hand patting her head gently. “You need to take the first step uhm?”

Then she felt herself being pushed forward a little and she felt everyone’s attention on her. Gulping nervously, Bixue struggled to open . She didn’t like to speak to strangers but she didn’t want Luhan to be teased for having a mute friend. It was fine if her reputation was stained but she didn’t want to put Luhan in a difficult spot especially when these friends are his new friends in the new school.

“Try. It’s not very hard.” Luhan mumbled encouragingly beside her ear and Bixue clenched her fist and took a deep breadth.

Biting her lower lips, she saw how Luhan nodded his head firmly from the corner of his eyes. She lifted her eyes to look at his friends that were giving her friendly smiles and she decided to give it a try. For the sake of Luhan.

“Hi.. I’m.. Bi..xue.” Although her voice was barely audible, the bunch of boys still managed to catch everything she said, thinking she was more of shy than struggling to talk.

Right when she finished, she saw one of them stood up right away and stuck his hand out. “I’m Cobby. They call me Lao Gao. Since you are Luhan’s best friend, you can call me Lao Gao too.”

Nodding her head shyly at the other boy, she was about to shake his hand when Luhan smacked it away.

“Don’t try to flirt with her.” He told Cobby teasingly and the bunch of boys went rowdy by teasing him instead.

“Not that hard right?” Luhan asked Bixue softly, his doe-like eyes twinkling at her again and she nodded. It was really not as difficult as she thought it would be. But, she knew she probably still wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone in her school. The people over there were not as friendly as his friends but Bixue decided to just keep quiet over it, not wanting to disappoint Luhan.

Ruffling her hair gently, the boy dragged her to sit beside him as he hooked his arms around her neck to bring her closer to him. “I’m proud of you Xue.”

“I shall reward you by buying your favourite dumplings for lunch!”

Can Luhan and Bixue hurry up grow up? LOL. I was planning the future chapters of this story and I'm like Omg I can't wait to write them so they need to grow up like soon!

Being a total idiot here, spazzing about my own characters but yeah. I love Bixue and Luhan! Hahaha. 

Just finished writing Mnem, hopefully I can begin writing the next chapter of BR tomorrow!

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement guys! I know you guys are reading it at least. Received the highest comments till date for this fic. Hahah. I will keep working hard don't worry!

Enjoy!