The incident on the first day of school had helped in bringing Pu YunJi and Qin XiuTing closer. For the whole of that week, although they were still quiet around each other, they were no longer so awkward. Of course, that does not means that Pu YunJi did not drive up his joker antics, and that Qin XiuTing did not revert back to her cold, official, serious demeanour once in a while.However, both of them understood that this was just what the other person is like, and that old habits died hard. It goes without saying that both of them sometimes get irritated by the other as their personalities greatly differ. One was an energetic puppy who does not mind making a fool out of himself to please the other. While the other was almost like a stone, cold and hard, until she remembers to smile once in a while, and is comfortable in that moment to break out of her zone.
Another side effect from after the incident was that, their lunch table in now always relatively crowded and noisy. This, of course, was not a big issue to Pu YunJi as he loves getting attention, and which man would not like to have many pretty girls surrounding him. However, this made Qin XiuTing rather uncomfortable as she is long used to eating along and does not know how to interact with others. Hence most of the time, she will just chose stay silent, her mind far away.
Pu YunJi, seeing this will usually try his best to include Qin XiuTing or try to shoo the rest away. But for all that, it is easier said than done. This was because most of the people crowding their table are either pretty, flirtatious girls who wanted a chance to be with Pu YunJi, or quiet and nerdy boys who sits down and occasionally stare way too long at Qin XiuTing.
Conversations at the table somewhat goes on like this --
"YunJi ge ~ You see my new hair cut, do you like it? And my dress? And and my manicure?"
"YunYun-ssi![1] I heard you were from a band, perform a song for us, pretty please ~?"
"Pssh, why does my dearest YunJi needs to sing for you? You aren"t that special anyways.."
"Hey XiuTing! Did you know I was a star?" Pu YunJi will then try to boast to Qin XiuTing, "Do you want to hear me sing a song?"
However, Qin XiuTing will usually be s.p.a.ced out and not answer and a disappointed look will flash over YunJi"s face before disappearing quickly and then his usual mischievous, impish face will be back.
The other girls, seeing Pu YunJi giving his attention to Qin XiuTing, without any reactions from her, will start being mad and a little jealous. After all, here they were, giving him all of their attention, but his focus was on someone else who was not even in the situation. Especially after one of them scorned the other for not being special enough for Pu YunJi to sing for her!
"Ya, Qin bookworm, do you not think you are a tad too rude? YunJi Ge asked you a question, do you not think it is basic courtesy to reply?!" One of the girls burst out.
At this point of time, all of the guys who were at the table for Qin XiuTing will slowly turn their head to stare at the girl instead. The girl who burst out, seeing so many pair of eyes staring at her through their lenses, felt really uncomfortable and shuffled to the back of the crowd.
Qin XiuTing, in that moment, will break out of her trance, and seeing so many girls look at her, will feel fl.u.s.tered and turn to Pu YunJi with a panicked and confused look.
"They are waiting for your reply to my question." YunJi will nicely inform her.
"Oh.." XiuTing will nod as if she understands, then ask, "What was your question?"
Smiling widely, YunJi will reply, "Do you want to hear me sing a song?"
Baffled, XiuTing said, "Huh? Is that not up to you? Please, do as you wish!"
Laughing now, YunJi replied, "Sure sure, officer Qin", before getting up to give her a mock salute[2] and then standing on the table to perform a short song, be it a ballad[3] or a rock tune.
On one such day, Yang YingYing decided to join in the fun.
"Huh, so many people. What are they doing?"
Yang YingYing has been noticing an increasing stream of people flocking to the table which for the pa.s.s many many months, has only been occupied by a single girl, quietly eating from her packed lunch box, a book in front of her. Whereas, Wu YongKang"s table, which will usually be the table most filled in the canteen is currently empty. Even YongKang himself did not appear in the canteen anymore. Curiosity piked, she turned to one of her girlfriends[4] sitting beside her and asked about whats up.
"It seems the bookworm-ish girl and her new hot-shot friend is getting rather popular recently. The kids [5] tend to flock towards them now."
"Is that so? Hmm.. Oh yah, so do you know what that new guy"s name is?"
After Wu YongKang b.u.t.t in on their conversation the other time, Yang YingYing has never gotten round to getting his name.
"Yeah ~ Why, YingYing jie, are you interested in this Pu YunJi? Hehe~"
"Pu YunJi, is it? Hmm.. Cute name.. Even cuter face, yeah I might have a thing or two for this cute newbie junior."
With that sentence and a semi-bashful smile atop her usually arrogance-filled face, she stood up and made her way towards the noisy and festive table. Behind her, flock a group of girls with not much idea what their leader is up to now.
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[1] YunYun is a nickname one of the girls decided to give Pu YunJi because she thinks it is cute and she wanted to be different so he would notice her. The "ssi" is because that girl is recently into the Korean Hallyu-wave, and decided to input some of its culture into her daily live, trying to show that she is both cute and cultured at the same time. (Hehe!!)
[2] Okays, I think some of you might not get what is going on here. Basically, because Qin XiuTing"s "Please, do as you wish!" sounded very formal to Pu YunJi, he decided to be formal to her too, in a joking manner, treating her as an officer.
[3] Ballad is a kind of a light, simple song, especially one of sentimental or romantic character. Typically a slow song with a soothing melody.
[4] Not literally a girl she i dating, but rather a close friend of hers who is a girl, in her clique.
[5] Because they see themselves as the "mini-G.o.ddesses" of the school, they regard everyone else as below them and as kids.
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