Lunch.... Date?!

Lunch had been a rather stressful moment for Wang Yu Xia in her middle school days. Her normal days included: eating in the girl's bathroom, spending the whole break in the school's library and playing around with her phone or hiding.

It was only during rare occasions that she took it upon herself to ACTUALLY have lunch with people. It wasn't that she was naturally shy, or just plain introverted, it was just that she felt that deep down something didn't let her fit in with the people around her. Most of her classmates came from wealthy families or nouveau riche -- including herself.

Despite this being the case, perhaps it was the abhorring of their sophisticated, uptight attitudes that were quite often filled with arrogance that made her rather reluctant to associate with these superficial people, or the fact that her economic status wasn't as high as that of her classmates that made her distance from them during it all.

Either way, this decision of hers didn't exactly go well for her. Soon after, she was labelled as the weak target. Like in any normal classroom there was always a predator looking for prey, it was usually the person deemed the quietest and most introverted. And sadly, Wang Yu Xia met all these prerequisites.

Throughout all of her middle school years, she was the target of mocking and bullying. Every day, Wang Yu Xia would see the disdain on the faces of her classmates as she did her best to survive. Some days, she would return home missing textbooks or entirely drenched. Defending herself would only make it worse, and it wasn't like she could say anything about it either, it's not like she had any proof.

Those were all dark times for Wang Yu Xia.

--Of course, that was all in the past.

Wang Yu Xia had experienced adulthood and been through some tough situations since then. She was confident. Bullying? Please. Have you ever experienced stressful situations at work? Having to meet deadlines… enduring your boss's temper… and praying to survive and not be fired?

'HA! You children have yet to experience the true unfairness of life!'

These memories flashed past Wang Yu Xia's head as lunch break began.

"Zane, let's go eat," she said in a rather confident tone.

Zane simply nodded in agreement as they went off to the cafeteria.

As they got to the cafeteria, a string of messages in English invaded Wang Yu Xia's field of vision, similar to that of a game screen.

[Host has successfully activated Lunch Date Event.]

[In activating this special event, Host has gained 20 exp.]

[Requirements to level up have been met. The host has advanced to level 2]

[Eros has gained +1 Love Point.]

[1 skill point available. Please upgrade a skill on the Skill Chart.]

What.

Lunch Date?!

Wang Yu Xia's eyes widened as her footsteps halted right in front of the cafeteria's door.

Zane, who had been walking behind her saw her suddenly stop, which puzzled him. Throughout the whole day, this strange friend of his had randomly been acting weird. For Zane, who was obviously a foreigner, he took this behaviour to be normal for the Chinese, and with this thinking, he brushed off her strange behaviour.

Meanwhile, Wang Yu Xia's mind was in chaos because of the horrible battle going on between her, Eros and the system. She was just about to lose it when the system's notification once again covered her vision.

[Lunch Date Event has officially started.

Target: Zane Harris.

Objective: Get to know Zane Harris, figure out why he is in China.]

Seeing the extra notifications, Wang Yu Xia was rather annoyed.

There is absolutely no way in hell she was going to do this. Hell No!

Just as she was about to turn around and leave the cafeteria, another message popped up.

[Reward: 100 Exp, 10 Friendship Points and 1 Special Ability.]

Seeing the words 'special ability', at first Wang Yu Xia chuckled as though it was a joke but seeing as the words were yet to disappear, her eyes grew serious as she asked Eros a question.

'Eros, what does it mean by special ability?'

Seeing her sudden change in attitude, Eros didn't hide anything.

"I think it means exactly as it says. According to the system, if you successfully complete the event, you will earn all of those rewards," he said rather enthusiastically.

Sigh.

As she realised that this was indeed for real, Wang Yu Xia had no choice but to complete the stupid event.

Shaking her head, she reluctantly went in.

Zane who was behind her had seen her behave weirdly again. Various thoughts ran through his head as he saw her reluctant look while entering the cafeteria.

'This Chinese girl sure is funny.' Zane thought, after which he chuckled lightly and followed after Wang Yu Xia.

As they entered the cafeteria, Wang Yu Xia soon spotted a familiar person at a table. Her eyes flickered for a moment before she went over to get her lunch pretending she hadn't seen anything.

Once Zane and Wang Yu Xia got their lunch, they sat down in one of the tables that were free. Usually, the tables in the cafeteria were just like picnic tables, able to fit around six people per table. Naturally, once they sat down, other students were coming over to snatch the leftover seats.

As they ate, Wang Yu Xia's heart went slightly erratic as she found herself nervous. In an attempt to calm herself, she shut her eyes, chanting in her mind: "We're just friends, we're just friends, we're just friends.." once she did this for a few times, she was able to calm herself down.

The reason she did this wasn't that she had fallen in love or anything like that. Wang Yu Xia genuinely considered this little boy Zane as her friend. Asking about his life was only natural, it was just that Wang Yu Xia was a socially awkward person. Her cold indifferent look only served as a mask to cover her nervousness when interacting with others.

If you truly analysed her reactions, you would understand that it wasn't that she was a cold person, instead, she was a naturally quiet person.

Like any other normally quiet person, she preferred to be alone and do things in her own way. Of course, this was the way she had been during her past life, to the point of shutting herself in her room for weeks during the holidays.

Socialising? Do I look like I have time?

What she did while hauled in her room… nobody knew.

This was the reason why she loathed herself so much. Perhaps all those stupid actions of hers from the past could be amended?

One thing was for certain though, although she was anxious with social interactions, she didn't lack courage. As long as she got used to it… maybe she could change herself? This way, she wouldn't make the same mistakes she did in her past life.

As she gathered her courage and became more determined, she opened her eyes and said.

"Brother Zane-- I can call you that right?"

Seeing her sudden change in address, Zane was rather startled but still nodded. As long as they were friends, he didn't mind how she called him. This cute Chinese girl was just getting more and more interesting.

Suddenly, a notification hit Wang Yu Xia.

[Subject Zane Harris has increased his interest for you. +5 exp.]

((ಠ▃ಠ)) WTF?!

Wang Yu Xia's eyebrows twitched slightly in annoyance for a moment before deciding to ignore it.

Zane who was sitting right in front of her saw her sudden change of expression and lifted his eyebrow feeling puzzled.

'Did I do something wrong…?'

These doubts were soon cleared with Wang Yu Xia's next words and expression. In Zane's mind, however, it just looked like she was fighting with herself before coming to a decision.

Finally, she looked straight at him with a smile on her face.

"So Brother Zane, how did you end up in China?"