Wizard of Oz || Zuo Hang✓

Twenty

The next day, Yanni showed up in a good coat of makeup. Zuo was kind of disappointed, but probably her mom didn't let her leave the house like that. Zuo couldn't stop thinking about how Yanni had such a strange relationship with her mother. Perhaps that's how girls were with their moms, but he couldn't think of any reason why a mom would force her child to wear makeup every day to school.

When Zhixin saw Yanni walking in through the door, he quickly got up from his desk and walked over to her. Zuo's heart clenched in jealousy for a moment before he reminded himself that there was nothing between him and Yanni. In fact, Zhixin had every reason to welcome his girlfriend.

'Yanni you're back,' Zhixin announced excitedly and checked her wrist. 'How are you feeling? I'm so sorry you missed school all because of something I caused.' He attempted to grab her wrist in his hand but she pulled away lightly.

'I didn't skip school because of you, I had other issues.' She assured him.

'So you're all better now?' a small smile appeared on Zhixin's face.

'Yeah but...we're still on a break aren't we?' She gritted her teeth, and a disappointed look replaced Zhixin's former smile. 'It's not that you're the problem this time, but I have so much to deal with that I don't think our relationship can really work.'

'Were you gonna do this if we didn't have that altercation in the cafeteria? Which wasn't my fault by the way.'

'Well...I don't know.'

Before their conversation could continue, the literature teacher walked in with her books. Zhixin frowned and went to sit on his desk, then Yanni went to take her seat as well. Zuo watched her, she looked very bother, and he doubted if she was bothered because of her relationship issues are something deeper.

Yanni suddenly turned around in her seat, finding Zuo's eyes on her. He felt embarrassed and almost looked away before Yanni smiled and gave him a wave. He smiled back and waved at her as well.

...

After school, Yanni was taking a math book from her locker. It had been long since she studied it, but she was hoping to do so soon so that she could catch up. It had been a while since she seriously studied.

Before she could close her locker, she was surprised when Zhixin slammed her locker shut. She turned around slowly, and his features seemed angry.

'Do you mind explaining to me why you actually just decided to speak to Zuo that day?' Zhixin spoke, his voice harsh enough to bring a slight shiver down Yanni's spine.

'Are you still thinking about that? I'm over it.' She hugged her book to her chest as if it would protect her from Zhixin's anger.

'The cause of everything was Zuo and I'm trying to understand why you did that. You and Zuo haven't spoken in years. Just tell me okay?'

'How is this even Zuo's fault?' Yanni slightly chuckled in disbelief. For all she knew, it was his fault.

'Just answer my question.'

'Well if you have to know,' she succumbed to his request and decided to explain. 'I just felt bad about how Zuo was there for me when we were younger and I'm unfortunately not there for him. So I told the chatbot and he said maybe I had the wrong idea, maybe Zuo doesn't even think that way. And after I talked to Zuo, I found out he really doesn't feel that way and he doesn't feel betrayed.'

Zhixin chuckled with scepticism. 'Really? You and that Chatbot again. Do you even know who manufactured it? Is it a commercial success? Does it even give good advice when all it's starting is arguments?'

'You're the one starting arguments, don't blame Prince Charming.'

'Prince Charming!?' Zhixin rolled his eyes. 'Anyway, something fishy is going on here. And I'm going to find out. This chatbot is a bit weird.'

'Yeah whatever, I need to go now.' Yanni replied and walked away from the scene. All Zhixin could think about was how his girlfriend became so reliant on this chatbot and how weird it was for a computer to come up with such logic on personal matters.