mental note to self | meteor garden [REVAMPING]

03 | 夜

Perhaps she had grown a little too attached to the rooftop.

She had gone there almost everyday since the first time, favoring it over the coffeeshop or cafeteria. (It helped cut down her spending!) Occasionally, she would even go there to study instead of the library.

She would read, eat, nap, do coursework, or whatever she felt like doing at the time.

Huaze Lei was there a lot too, doing... Lei things.

Conversation was sparse between them but neither of them were even remotely chatty so it worked out. Funnily enough, Yuxin felt that not saying anything had somehow improved their companionship.

He seemed to appreciate her not trying to get him to talk, like most people did when faced with the prolonged silences that were common in his presence. She, in turn, enjoyed having someone whom she didn't have to talk to. He was someone who didn't need spoken words to communicate.

It was refreshing.

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She had bought some haw flakes from a nice old lady's store that morning. They were round and a dusty red color and when she bit into them she could almost feel her late grandfather smiling at her.

Lei arrived at the rooftop to find her happily munching on her favorite childhood candy.

As was courtesy, she offered him some, albeit a bit reluctantly.

He glanced at her, shook his head, and went back to staring into the distance.

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A bad score on a test she'd stayed up late studying for had dampened her mood the whole day. She could picture the look on her parents' faces, disappointed but trying to be encouraging; she could imagine them telling her that wallowing would get her nowhere. But the terrible test score combined with the stress of a rather challenging paper to be submitted within the next twenty-four hours, having unhelpful groupmates for another important project, all on top of numerous minor assignments proved to be too much for even a Liu to handle. 

Rather than ignoring her turbulent thoughts, tucking them in the dark crevices between her ribs and forging on as she had grown used to doing in the past, she'd gone to the rooftop to escape for a bit. Get some air. But before she knew it there was a pressure building in her chest and a lump forming in her throat and a burning behind her eyes.

She didn't have enough energy to do a handstand.

She was horrified when she heard someone approaching, hurriedly wiping her tears away. Liu Yuxin never cried in front of other people.

She tried her damndest not to let tears fall, internally wincing every time a pathetic-sounding sniffle escaped her. Unfortunately, she was the type of person who couldn't stop crying until they had gotten everything out. She settled for looking down at her hands and letting her hair cover her face.

Through vision blurred by the moisture in her eyes, she saw a pair of white sneakers. The owner crouched in front of her, hand offering a handkerchief.

It was clean and white, with black trimming and a name stitched on the bottom in elegant script. Huaze Lei.

It probably cost more than the best meal at the cafeteria.

She could take it; it wasn't like she couldn't afford to have it washed, or even replace it. However, her own hankie was just sitting a few feet away in her handbag, and she didn't like using other people's things.