Flower among the thorns

Lesson 4

YuXin

"Yah, Liu YuXin, how dare you switch off your phone! Do you know how worried we were? Where exactly are you at right now??" Xue Er hollered from the other end of the line. I pulled my phone away to avoid my ear from going deaf, waiting for her complains to stop before I could reply.

"Ahh, I'm sorry.. I'm in Reitsu Academy now, it's a long story.. Please don't be mad Xue Er I know it's my fault.." I begged. Her wrath was not something I want to experience early in the morning.

"What are you doing in Reitsu?" YuYan's voice boomed from the phone and I kept silent. Shit, another volcano is about to erupt. "Ah forget it, we will come over to your school later in the afternoon. You better keep your phone on if not.."

"Okay okay, I will see you later." Ugh, another fire for me to extinguish later. "I've heard it," Fan Cheng Cheng stood behind me with a sly smirk. "W-what did you hear?" my voice shook in panic.

"You are talking to your girlfriend isn't it?" he gave me a gentle shove smiling playfully. "Ah, yeah yeah.. Let's go to class before we're late," I heaved a sigh of relief. Good thing he didn't hear something amiss.

The teacher started his lecture on the logarithms and I could feel my eyelids becoming heavy as his voice droned on in the back. I shook my head and forced myself to sit up straight, concentrating on the textbook. After struggling internally, my fatigue finally won as I felt my eyes closing.

Kun

Yuxi's head started to tilt towards me and rested on my shoulder just as the teacher dismissed the class for our lunch break. I looked at Yuxi's face that was inches from mine, my face scrunched up in puzzlement. Just how tired is this guy? I wanted to shift away but seeing his serene face made me stop.

"Kun, you want to go to the cafeteria to get some food?" Zhen Ting turned around and faced me, chuckling out loud in amusement as he saw Yuxi sleeping on my shoulder. "Was the lesson that boring he slept through it?"

Xiao Gui walked over with a cheeky grin and pinched Yuxi's cheek and the latter groaned softly, wincing in pain. The sound made my heart drop and I felt an unknown sense of anger towards Xiao Gui and stared at him coldly. He, however, did not seemed to notice and continued to pinch Yuxi and I proceeded to swat his hand away hard. "Stop it, " I warned. Xiao Gui gulped down the lump on his throat and apologised quickly, "Sorry Yuxi, I just wanted to have some fun..." Yuxi shook his head as he cradled his cheek tenderly and replied, "It's okay, I know it's a joke." Yuxi looked at Xiao Gui with his eyes curved into a smile and the latter immediately looked away with a blush on his face. Don't tell me Xiao Gui is interested in guys.

Ignoring his antics, I turned to Yuxi. "Is your cheek alright? Let me have a look." I cradled his cheek carefully examining the redness. My heart started to thump wildly as I caught the stare from his big doe eyes. I quickly turned away avoiding his eye contact. "It.. Should be fine." Why am I acting like Xiao Gui now?

"Yah, if it's not fine your girlfriend would take good care of you anyway," Cheng Cheng chided and all eyes stared at Yuxi who had a sheepish look. "Uhh, huh.. " so that girl who called was his girlfriend.

YuXin

Xue Er: we're waiting for you at the school gate.

Shaking: Yeah, there's a line of girls here too. What's the occasion?

Yuxin: I'll be right there.

I kept my phone in my pocket and looked to my left," Cai Xukun, I'm going off first."

As I made my way to the gate, I took a deep breath in to brace myself for the interrogation. As soon as I stepped out of school, I noticed the three girls standing at the back of the crowd, the striking red hair of Xue Er stood out from the rest.

" Liu Yu -" Yuyan clamped her hand on Xue Er's mouth as Shaking pulled my hand towards them. The other girls from other schools had a look of disbelief. Dragging Xue Er away, Yuyan muttered softly under her breath, "Not here."

Leading us to a more secluded area, YuYan loosen my grip on Xue Er and Xue Er looked at me with a piercing glare. "What happened to your long hair??" she whined loudly. "Are you sure that's the question of importance right now?" Shaking look at Xue Er with a frown. "Mei mei, what are you doing in a boy's school? Where's your brother?"

"He uhh ran away from home.. And my mom insisted on me taking his place while we try to find him back. We can't afford to pay the full amount for this school.."

"I'm going to peel off Yuxi's skin once he's back,"Yuyan gritted her teeth in anger, cracking her fingers. She turned to me and held my hands tightly,"What about lodging? Are you staying with another guy?" I nodded my head slowly and added, "but he's always not around and he's kind to me so I think it should be okay."

"Definitely not okay! You can only stay with me!" Xue Er hugged me with her pincer tight grip as I tried to pry her off gently.

Yibo

"The new guy just got pulled away by three girls to the other area just now."

"You mean the new petite looking guy? He has such a soft feature that I can't differentiate him from a guy or girl."

"Yeah, I know right. I wonder if he's safe with the girls."

The chatter of the girls standing outside filled the area and I overhead the conversation that was going on. New guy, are they talking about Liu Yuxi?

"Where did they go?" I asked a random girl and her face started to blush furiously while pointing at a direction. Shit, I hope I'm fast enough. My heart filled with anxiousness as I thought about Yuxi being trapped in a precarious situation. He looks so dense and helpless to fend off any attack.

True enough, I spotted him being hugged by a girl with red hair as he struggled to get away from her. Running towards them, I pulled them apart and wrapped my arm around Yuxi's shoulder protectively. "Are you alright?" He looked at me with a daze-like expression as he struggled to speak and I started to lead him away.

The long hair girl started yelling, "Yah! How dare you place your hands on him! Liu Yu-" she was cut off by the girl in black hair and I glanced at Yuxi who was looking back at them and said, "Ignore them," as I led him back to the dorm.