𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈; Hua Ze Lei

𝑰𝑰.

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When they made their way to meet up with Mr. Bobbit, who was a guest speaker at Ming De University that day, the five students where immediately crowded by girls, wanting to take photos. Si, who went ahead, wearing his all to well known poker face, just kept going without caring about anyone of the people surrounding them. Same with the other three boys, besides them not having the poker face. The four boys were the complete opposite of Mai, as she smiled kindly at everyone, with whom she made eye contact and apologised to those she collided with. Because of all the girls, it took them a lot longer to get through to Mr. Bobbit than thought. As he was also surrounded by people wanting to talk to him, as well as his bodyguards. After greeting everyone, Mr. Bobbit immediately began to deep talk with the boys about their business course and stuff Mai had a hart time following. From time to time she only threw a small comment into the conversation.

Suddenly one of the bodyguards pushed down a younger girl, that, from what it looked like, wanted to attack the guest speaker. Mai tried to gaze over the shoulder of the bodyguard standing in front of her, to get a good view on the girl. And for a split second, she could see her face. The girl locked lost. When Mai saw that, she knew, it was a missunderstanding. Suddenly someone accidentally pushed her backwards right into Lei, who could just in time catch her before she could fall on the floor. This incident was a total mess.
Half of the people surrounding the group looked at the bodyguards who still pushed down the girl and looked at each other with raised eyebrows, considering what to do next. The other half starred at Mai and Lei, who still had his arms slung around her body as if he had to protect her, both being lost in each other's eyes and looking like they were searching for something.
Mai straightened herself and mumbled a small "Thank you..." She was the first one to let go. She suddenly felt uncomfortable in the situation. Between all the people and Lei. Trying to get through the crowd, she stroked her hair behind her ears. What she didn't knew was, that Lei was softly looking after her. His eyes following every move of her. The expression in his eyes looking almost a bit longingly.

Leaving the crowd of people behind her, Mai took a deep breath and stopped. Leaning against the wall of the building, she closed her eyes. Listening to the sound of the students passing by and enjoying the small breeze blowing through her hair, which slowly calmed her. She was thankful for every second she could spend on this planet. A beautiful piece of art. Still deeply sunken in her thoughts, Mai began to smile again. Sometimes she wondered what people would think of her, only seeing her happy and always smiley side of life. Obviously that isn't always the case. However, others often forget that, when they see someone always being happy in public.
Mai knew that out of personal experience. Being in recovery from her illness, she would wonder too, how some people could always be happy and never sad. Back then, she was searching for that place in herself, longing for it. And a couple of years ago, she finally found it, enjoying it to the fullest. Always.

After taking in another deep breath, she looked down at her outfit, straightening her dress and her blazer. Then she went to her first class that day, fashion.
A topic she was very passionate about. She loved combining clothes, seeing and exploring the brand new stuff and setting trends herself. Expressing herself through clothes. She was very thankful that she made it in the fashion business and already got herself a name, especially because it was her passion.
Coming into the room, a lot of people kindly welcomed her. Mai being Mai, she obviously smiled thankfully at everyone, greeting them back.
Finding a free seat, she sat down next to a nice and beautiful looking girl.
"Hi! I'm Mai." She beamed at the girl, who looked a bit surprised at her.
"Äh... I know. I'm Lue Anh." She looked a bit overwhelmed, as if she was scared to say something wrong.
"Nice to meet you Anh. I hope you don't mind me sitting next to you?" Mai kindly responded.
"No! No, that's fine." The girl now returned Mai's smile, being a bit more confident.
"Don't be scared." Mai laughed. "You can talk to me, like you do to everyone else."
"Yeah, okay!" The girl responded, even more confidently now.
Mai was the "new one" in this course, apart from everyone already knowing her because of F4. As she took a break from uni, she now studied a year longer than her friends.
"I hope we can be friends, you're the first one I now know in this class." Mai smiled at the girl, who returned it.
"Dao Ming Mai!" A girl two rows before her, turned around and called out her name. Mai had never seen her before and her sense of styling wasn't that pretty to Mai. The tons of makeup on her face, coming on top. "Why are you sitting next to that loner girl? Come and sit with us!" Mai's eyes wandered from the girl to her two friends, sitting next to her. Both of them looking exactly the same. Tons of makeup and slinky clothes. No trace of a sense for fashion.
She looked to her right, seeing Anh looking fearfully and sad.
Mai raised her eyebrows at the unknown girl and her friends. "No, I'm sorry. I prefer sitting with people, that respect others. Even if I'm part of the loner club because of that." She fired back at the girl, giving her a fake smile.
The girl looked over at her friends, then again at Mai and turned around after.
"If she would take of the ten kilograms of makeup on her face and dress herself in clothes that cover her body, she could look quite beautiful." Mai whispered at Anh, leaning over to her.
The girl grinned at her new friend, holding back a laugh.

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