FORBIDDEN IDENTITY

AT FIRST SIGHT

The morning sun was already above the horizon and shining on the downtown skyline as Ryan left his house. He avoided looking at Mei's house as he left the gate. Ryan was always conscious of the isolation Mei was forced to endure and didn't want to give Ming any reason to be suspicious of Mei's contact with outsiders. As he walked on the sidewalk towards the gold line station, he kept his focus ahead of him. Ryan expected Mei to catch up to him a few moments later at the station. Walking towards the gold line, Ryan thoughts were on the beautiful girl that stole his heart on first sight. He decided to follow Mei's advice and finally start talking to her. Every second of the day, Ryan thought about her. He needed to know to her one way or another. So, today was the day. As soon as he saw her, Ryan was going to talked to her.

Ryan arrived at the Metro rail station and stood in front of the large map display. The display provided cover for Ryan and Mei to talk to each other without being seen. Ryan always expected Mei to appear from the left and join him at the display. Ten minutes and there was no sign of Mei. The train would be arriving in another five minutes. Mei was always already here by this time, so Ryan began to worry. The arrival of the North bound train was announced, and Mei still wasn't here. She was going to miss it. Ryan knew Mei hated being home, so she would never willingly miss school for anything. Something must have happened to her.

The train arrived, before entering, Ryan looked to the left one more time to see if Mei was on her way, she wasn't. Ryan boarded the train and took a seat near the back where he usually sat with Mei. This time, he sat alone. All Ryan could do was stare out the window as the train travelled over the bridge. Rail tracks and large warehouses in the distance slowly moved out of sight as the train exited the bridge. Ryan looked to the empty seat to the right of him. Where was Mei? Ryan thoughts were no longer dominated by the beautiful woman who stole his heart at first sight. His thoughts were now focused on Mei.

Mei was like the sister Ryan never had. Ryan grew up as an only child. The only other people he interacted with were friends from school. He did not come a large family or had much contact with relatives. Ryan was raised by single mother with little contact from his father. What Ryan lacked in family, he made for with the connections he made away from home. Ryan come to view the friends he had like a second family. After high school, a lot of Ryan friends left Los Angeles to pursue careers and education in other parts of California. Ryan was one of the people in his circle of friends to remain in East LA after high school.

When the time came to apply for colleges, Ryan wanted a campus that was far away but still within reach of home. He applied to several colleges outside of Los Angeles County. Orange County College was the first to accept him. Ryan didn't know much about the college but when he learned it was in Orange County, it seems like the best choice. It was far away but easy to get travel too using the train.

After he started the college, Ryan learned Orange County College had one of the best business programs in the countries. As a business major, Ryan realized he made the best choice. However, Ryan never felt like he fit in. The only interactions he had were classmates during group projects. Other than that, Ryan mostly kept to himself. Since Ryan had little contact with his high school friends and no friends at his current campus, he began to feel isolated and alone...until he met Mei. The moment he met Mei, Ryan wasn't alone anymore. Mei opened up to Ryan in a way no one had before. Mei revealed her true self, not some false public persona. In return, she got to know who Ryan really was inside. Mei didn't just want to only hear was positive and dismiss anything about Ryan's life that was negative. She was interested in every aspect of Ryan's life. No one had ever wanted to know Ryan so deeply before.

As time went on, Ryan got know how much Mei suffered. He learned about the forced isolation, the horrible treatment Mei received at the hands of her mother and older sister. However, Mei never showed any anger or bitterness. Mei always had a smile on her face and was very upbeat. Ryan never understood how Mei could have such a positive personality while surrounded by so much darkness. Mei became of source of inspiration for Ryan. It took a lot of strength to survive day after day in Mei's hostile environment at home.