River ▷ Meteor Garden

The Man I Onced Loved:Part 2

"Again" the instructor repeated.

Kiara kept her posture straight and pointed her toes, right now she was in dance rehearsals. She refused to look in the mirrors that reflected her teenage self that was sweating and on the point of collapsing to the ground.

"5,6,7,8–"

Kiara followed the choreography to a Chris Brown song, making sure her body demonstrated the rhythm that was running in her bones, and charisma, that the song made her feel.

"Stop!"

The instructor along with Kiara looked to the doorway to see her Father, and his personal assistant staring at her. Kiara chest heaving up and down she instantly looked down to the ground before bowing,"Hello, Father" she greeted,

"How is she doing?" Her father asked, ignoring her presence.

"She's doing excellent. Best student I could possibly have" the instructor phrased, as Kiara felt a smile come on her face.

"Father!" Kiara looked up seeing Jia come into the room with her school uniform on. Her Dad looked at her with his cold stone expression fading,"Hello Jia."

There it was, that burning feeling that Kiara felt. The jealousy that her Father would notice Jia's presence but not hers?

"How was your studies?"

"Fantastic as always" she replied, with no smile on her face. She always knew the right words to please their father. It was rare for her to ever lash out on their Dad, unlike Kiara. Maybe that's why her Father favored Jia more. Because she acted more ladylike.

There goes the word again, ladylike.

"Prepare Mei for her martial arts class" she heard her Father say to a maid that so happened to come into the dance room.

"Can't I eat for a bit?" Kiara blurted out causing everyone to look at her. She ignored Jia's warning look,"I've been at this all day Father, it's almost 9 p.m. Can't I have a break please?"

She knew she was asking little in other eyes, but this was a lot, in her fathers eyes.

Her Dad walked into the room, toward her. Kiara suddenly felt like a child again, that she began to feel nervous. She looked down to her shoes avoiding his eyes,"Tell me, daughter, how did your day went? What did all your instructors say?"

Kiara licked her lower lip,"They said I did great. They said I've been doing much better than the last two months."

Her Dad nodded,"What about your cello class?"

Damn it, Kiara cussed in her head.

"She said I've having a bit of difficulty in getting the low notes on time. That my hand can't seem to stop moving so fast" she admitted.

What was her Dad going to do now? Throw her to a dark closet? Or force her to run around the house for an hour?

"Until you become the perfectionist others know you can be then my answer is no. Get back to your schedule. You should've known my answer before asking me" he scolded.

Kiara nodded, feeling her eyes water up. Her Dad walked away along with everyone else, leaving the dance room all to herself.

.....

"You don't understand Nick I can't just sneak out" Kiara snapped into her phone.

During her martial arts class she managed to sneak away for a bit. She had her phone in her hand just as Nick her bestfriend who was also her crush called her.

"Well then tell me the last time you've had a break"

Kiara bit her lower lip.

"Exactly."

She scoffed,"You think I don't want to? My Father has me doing classes 24/7 I barely get enough sleep or food." The worse part was that her Mother never bothered to check up on her cause of her work.

Jia would managed to sneak some food into her room like at 1 in the morning but Kiara would be too tired to even eat the damn food.

"Come on when are you going to learn to live a little? If you get in trouble at least you'll remember what it was like to have a good time. Tell you what I'll help you sneak out and if your Dad gets pissed I'll drop you off and explain to him that my aunt forced you to come and eat at our place"

It was tempting but Kiara knew her father would scold her for letting Nicks aunt take her away.

"I don't know Nick.."

"Kiara, you know you want to. I'll let you in on a little secret. Tonight there's gonna be street racing, you know you've dreamed of doing that. And they're betting it on cash"

Suddenly Kiara felt excitement run through her veins. She glanced around sighing,"Fine, pick me up at my house. I'll find a way to sneak out."

Kiara hung up the call and decided to walk back into the room looking to her instructor who was fixing her hair into a ponytail,"Miss my Dad just called me. He said he wants me to head to another class."

She eyed her suspiciously,"You sure?"

Do it, Mei, or else you won't have the taste of freedom,"Yeah, my sister Jia told him to call me."

She shrugged,"alright if you say so."

Kiara felt so much relief. She grabbed her bag and hurried out the door.

...

When Kiara made it back to her room, she changed into a black long sleeve turtle neck with a mini grey skirt. Kiara put her medium length hair into two high buns. She did a bit of her makeup before looking down to her balcony.

There she saw Nick with a ladder?

"Nick, what's with the ladder?" She whispered yelled.

"You'd be an idiot to walk out through the front door" he winked, setting up the ladder. When the ladder reached her balcony Kiara looked back at her room. She made sure to turn off the lights and put pillows under her sheets to replicate her body.

"Okay, here goes nothing" she muttered, she put her foot on the step of the ladder and adjusted her body to the ladder before tightly gripping onto it.

"Climb down" Nick whispered yelled.

Kiara nodded, releasing a shaky breath. She gently put her foot down the steps of the ladder and continued that process til she reached the bottom.

Nick grabbed her by the hips of her waist causing Kiara's breath to slightly hitch. She turned to look at him over her shoulder. They were so close to each other, Kiara wished she could touch and kiss his lips, to get this crush that she's had on him over with but it was a impossible dream to accomplish.

"Ready to go?" He questioned.

Kiara, Starr's at his lips for a second before liking away to get rid of any dirty thoughts,"Yeah lets do this."