Lin had disappeared since she saw her last. Yue was busy with all her studies and dance training after class, so when she discovered the truth, that Lin was missing, it was only after several days.
Since Shao Xun required her to stay with him after class, rumors about something going on between them spread among the campus. All the girls kept their distance from her, including some of her good friends. She was totally isolated by her own gender. This made Yue even more angry with him. At first she only had to worry about the brother’s forgetfulness, but now she had to take care of the messed-up relationships with all the girls due to his unconcerned deeds. She wanted to find a friend to roast him, but Lin was missing.
“Yue, don’t be absentminded in my class,” Shao Xun, her teacher, called out to her, his brazenly smiling face appearing before her eyes again. She simply moved away from him with a step, to avoid another chance of being misunderstood by her classmates.
He was standing there awkwardly, watching her run away from him yet again as if it were habit and the action didn’t even need any thought. How he hoped she was not his student, but the most important question on his mind was why couldn’t he give up on her?
The sakura petals were falling like rain outside the window. It was spring again—a familiar season to her and the brother. But now he would not walk with her under the big trees to enjoy the rain. Only she kept the whole memory of their past.
“Stop!” he called. Everyone was staring at him quietly. Shao Xun, they all discovered, was in a bad mood. His eyebrows were twisting as he circled around the dance classroom.
“Let’s stop here today, since I have a homework for you,” he said, explaining his new arrangement.
All the students were disturbed by his sudden comment and murmured to each other. They’d never heard of a dance class having homework to hand in.
“My homework is very simple. When you get back to your dorm, smile in the mirror, and try to find out your best expression for the audience, and show it to me next time. I will check each of them, one by one.”
“Teacher Shao, do you want us to smile at you?” Someone laughed at him and some other girls became very excited upon hearing of this homework. “What an interesting arrangement. This is going to be a breeze!”
Yes, easy to everyone except Yue. She knew this idea was him using his power to force her again. How could she smile at him while under the greatest pressure of her entire life? She had to handle heavy study burdens, plus there was the difficulty about passing the dance exams, and finally, the relationship with the brother who disappeared without thinking of her?
He was staring at her, happy indeed over finding a way to see her smile with the help of a good excuse. Since she’d found his secret love, she had ran away from him many times, and refused his invitation for dinner. What’s more, she’d left his class with other students, obviously ignoring his order. It was torture to him, and he thought carefully about this situation and finally this idea came to his mind. It had to be a challenge for her.
Right at this moment, while he was thinking about his wonderful plan to fix their relationship, a beautiful song rang from his cell phone. He had asked all the students to turn off their phones, but he himself disobeyed this rule. Some of the students threw him despising gazes. He hurried to take the phone call, and the students started to prepare for leaving.
He took a look at Yue; she was calm toward his new trick, as if nothing in the world could get her attention. This reaction disappointed him; he had seen this expression on her face many times.
Yue was wondering where Lin was. Was she taking care of the younger brother of her ex? It was so weird that the boy left a younger brother to her before leaving her. Did he care about her feelings? Lin had a similar background to hers—they both had Japanese blood flowing in them, and they were good friends because of this. Though Lin looked bright and powerful, her heart was as soft as Yue’s. But she was keeping everything to herself, and only let others see her smile. Only Yue knew her sorrow of losing her ex. She had heard of their story; once they had been a good couple envied by the students in Sakura Academy. But he broke up with her and went to a place she knew nothing about, never to return. (More information about Lin’s story is in the title “Fight for Love.”)
She never cried about this, even in front of Yue, her best friend. She knew the pain was buried deeply in her heart. Yue appreciated her inner strength. Anyway, she herself could not step out of the shadow of losing the brother.
All the students were spreading out and leaving; Yue sat beside the door for a rest. Suddenly somebody touched her face. She looked up to see who the rascal was, and she happily saw Lin’s smile.
“Are the sakuras more beautiful than me? You were staring at them,” Lin started in her way of joking. Yue smiled at her, saying, “Yes, much better.” Her anxiety about not finding her waned.
Lin raised up her chin with two fingers, like a playboy in ancient times, and stared at her. Yue suddenly felt shy and her face turned red; she lowered her head. Yue said something to Lin in Japanese—something that wasn’t intended for the others to understand. It was not a good word, for Lin’s eyebrow rose up. Yue started to run from her, and she chased her out, leaving their laughs in the passageway.
Shao Xun was surprised by their games, and forgot that he was talking to someone on the phone. A bad feeling came to his mind. Was she smiling at someone else just now? A girl? He could not stop misreading their relationship. If they were lesbians, everything he could not understand had an answer. She had tried to commit suicide because her parents would not accept their relationship, and she covered it up by saying she was missing her hometown. The first time he saw her smile, a lovely smile, was in such a weird situation. How could he turn her back? But first things first—he did not think the girl he fell in love with batted for the other team.
He rushed out to chase her, but found she was gone. Some other students passed him under the warm sunshine of spring.
Yue was heading to her apartment with Lin. She was happy about having her best friend back. Though she liked to do some bad things to her, like telling her ghost stories at night until she cried to beg her stop, they were best friends. Lin always explained the reason she liked to torture her in that way was that she needed to feel the real her instead of a cold beauty mask.
Yue could not take this serious, because Lin was caring toward her and was like her sunshine, and a relative in a foreign country. She was taking care of her like an older sister.
And she heard her troubles caused by the younger brother of her ex on the way back. But Lin would not let her know the details about the younger brother. Yue thought she might be hiding her own embarrassments.
“I heard you and that teacher have a secret relationship. . . Is this rumor true?” Lin suddenly asked her.
“How could it be? Rumors are rumors,” Yue denied immediately.
“What a big rumor, that it could circle the campus again and again. . . ” Lin was dissatisfied with her answer. “Are you a fool? Why not keep your distance if you don’t like him?”
“Um. . . ” Yue smiled bitterly; her eyebrow was locked tightly. “How about . . . you come to stay with me for the whole training period?”
“That’s a good idea,” Lin agreed, but started to make fun of her a few minutes later. “How could a little teacher take my place to become your boyfriend?”
“Could you stop teasing me that way? So awkward. . . ” Yue did not know whether she should laugh or strike back.
Lin caught her by the waist and continued to poke fun at her. “You belong to me. Don’t think you can run away from me.”