To String Together ( Huaze Lei )

Kiss & Tell

Faye Calinao

Three days had passed since the evening it happened. It has been since then since I've been avoiding Lei on purpose. I had nothing to say to him and wanted the feeling I shouldn't be feeling after he told me he loves Jing. I did not want to fall for whatever games he was playing with my feelings. Why would he tell me he had a liking towards me if he had feelings for someone else? Why would he let himself kiss me if he wasn't going to pursue a path with me? How could he possibly think it was okay to kiss me and think I wouldn't want to kiss him again?

Lei had almost identical class schedules. Pretending he wasn't there made avoiding him impossible. I knew Lei would stare at me from his seat and I'd pretend I was listening to the Professor in hopes he wouldn't approach me. I used the practice room during lunch time and denied Ximen's invitation to go to the bridge room to hangout.

"Faye," Ximen spoke lightly as he tried to get my attention. I looked up from my notebook and looked past him to see Meizuo standing close behind. Both of them looked down at me with an expression of concern. That has been their expression towards me since Monday. "Did you have lunch today?"

"Not yet," I spoke lightly and turned to my music I had sitting beside my notebook. I sat in the library getting ahead in my school work and going over sections for my solo.

"Faye..." Hearing a sigh from Ximen meant he needed to figure out the problem. Ximen only knew Lei and I were in an argument. Meizuo hasn't been able to ask me, because Ximen has always been around and wasn't going to tell him. "It's five in the evening and you haven't had breakfast this morning. We are going to eat. What do you want to eat?"

"I'm not sure." I was feeling a bit dizzy now that I thought about it.

"What are you in the mood for?"

"Hot Pot sounds good," I spoke lightly and began packing my things.

"That sounds good," I heard Meizuo speak.

"We can go to the one in the centre," Ximen spoke. "Are there any last minute things you need to buy before our flight?" I hum in response. I put the last of my things into my bag before standing and putting my bag on.

"I have to get my cello." Both Meizuo and Ximen nodded. The two parted slightly and they allowed me to walk through as we made our way out of the library.

"Faye." Meizuo says and puts an arm around our shoulder. We began making our way over to the music building. I turned to look at him to seem already looking down at me with a smile. "What will the three of us be doing for our date tomorrow evening? What should Ximen and I plan for you?" I smile to myself remembering that Ximen and Meizuo wanted to have a date night.

"We're in the mood for anything you're up for. We're up for it," Ximen commented.

"I'd like to have a romantic dinner," I smiled as I began thinking of the things we can do. "We're going to dress up."

"I've got that covered," Meizuo smiled.

"After dinner, we should go on a walk on the beach and look at the stars! When we get back we should bake chocolate chip cookies and end the night cuddling and start a tv show." The thought of what we will be doing was something I looked forward to. Ximen looked down at me and smiled.

"We'll make it happen Faye," Ximen says.

"Just for you Faye," Meizuo squeezed me slightly. We walked up the wall of steps leading to the music building at the top. It took a few minutes to walk up the stairs before we reached the music building. Ximen held the door open for me and I thanked him before entering. Meizuo continued to have his arm around my shoulder and some of the students nearby looked up in my direction. I smiled sheepishly as I led the three of us towards the stairs.

"Ximen!" Both Meizuo and I turned to see who was calling Ximen. I spotted Senior Li Mei approaching up. Ximen turned to us for a brief moment.

"You two go ahead," Ximen says. "I'll be here when you come down." I nod as Meizuo and I start up the stairs making our way to the fifth floor. I knew Meizuo was thinking about monday evening when I took a glance towards him. Once we reached the fourth floor, I let out a small sigh deciding to tell Meizuo, because I knew he wouldn't tell Ximen. Ximen would only be over protective and would possibly end a friendship if he knew.

"Lei... kissed me," I say quietly. Meizuo abruptly stopped making me step back slightly from his arm around my shoulder. I saw his expression shocked from what I've just told him. I leaned against the railing of the fourth floor and Meizuo faced me.

"He kissed you?" Meizuo asks, making sure he heard me right. I nod.

"I-I really liked it Meizuo. In the moment I felt happy and I felt bubbly. He said he wanted to kiss me . I wanted more," I wavered.

"I didn't realize Lei was into you so quickly. Just Saturday he..."

"I know. I really thought the reason he came out on the balcony was to clear things and maybe... give me a chance." My emotions were all mixed.

"Then why are you and Lei not on good terms? If this is the case, then why were you upset when you both came back in? I thought you wanted this?" I crossed my arms and bit the inside of my lip remembering the night clearly. The feeling of having a heavy heart return and I immediately felt saddened at the thought when Lei told me he loved her. His kiss meant more than just a kiss. He knew I liked him. I wanted that moment to be special and it felt painful when he took a happy moment away from me. "Faye?" I sighed stressfully and combed my hair with my fingers.

"He told me he loves Jing... I can't believe he would do that to me then tell me he loves her," I spoke sadly. A frown fell upon Meizuo's face.

"He did what? I can't believe he'd do that to you. How could he do that to you! I knew he loved Jing, but to know he's directly playing with your feelings isn't right!" Meizuo sounded angry. After a moment, he began looking around. "Where is he?" I knew he was currently in one of the practice rooms. Meizuo caught me looking in the direction of the practice room and made his way towards the practice rooms. He was too quick before I could react and panicked slightly thinking he would hurt Lei and get into trouble.

"Meizuo!" I pleaded trying to catch up to him. His long legs gave him an advantage as he peeked into each window as he continued down the hall. Once he reached the last room where I knew Lei would be in, Meizuo barged in without knocking and went right in. The sound of the piano came to a sudden halt and I could hear Meizuo yelling. I began running trying to get there as fast as I could. As I turned the corner and entered the room, I saw Meizuo gripping Lei by his sweater and looked like he was about to hit him. I felt light headed with all of this going on. "Meizuo please!" I begged. Lei looked towards me confused before looking towards his friend. "Please don't hurt him Meizuo."

"Why shouldn't I?" Meizuo demanded and the stress signals of my brain were telling me I needed to calm down.

"Don't hurt him," I spoke again. This time my voice quivered and for a moment I blinked a few times squinting as I swayed one way before bringing a hand to the door frame to stable myself.

"Faye?" Lei asked. He sounded concerned. "Meizuo! Let go!"  He said something about me going to faint. The swirling around my head hadn't stopped. I'm not sure when the room began spinning and when I felt like my body was shutting down, I felt a pair of arms wrap around me as we fell to our knees. The last thing I could remember was Lei telling Meizuo to get help, before... nothing.

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I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I'm currently waiting for the next episode of True Beauty to air 💞

Next update: Wednesday