Chapter 1: The Origin of The Meet

2019-01-07 Monday, Weather: Snowy

The night is young, and the streets are as busy as usual. The stars in the sky are shining brightly, yet their light faded after time passes. In a recording room, an interviewer is interviewing a young lady.

"Welcome back to the daily night show! I am your host Yu Lan, and today we are interviewing the young yet successful artist of the year, Linna Keynote!" the host boasted with pride as the young artist noded her head with grace. She smiled as she give thanks for the support, but she did not say anything else.

"Say, my dearest guest of honor," the host said as she pressed a button from her remote control: "You have get so many high status awards for your artworks, and you are only at the age of 25! That is very impressive for you to achieve such good grades!"

"Thank you for your compliment. However, I still think that only one of my art is worthy for my awards." Linna answered as she tilted her head to the side, showing pride on her face. The crowd went wild and the host cotinued to dig in for more information: "Yes, yes! I have heard about this special art of yours, I think it was called 'The Shining Star'?"

"Yes, that is true." the artist replied with a warm smile.

"Why would you think that it is your pride in all of your artworks? I heard that that was your graduation art. Is there a story behind this piece of art?" the host continued to dig in for more stories to satisfy the roaring crowd.

Linna push herself to the back of the chair, and she looked up to the ceiling of the room. She smiled as she sat back to her normal position, and she said with a smile on her face: "Well, the whole story started at a special night of 2013, when the life of a normal college girl collapsed together with another college boy…"

2013-01-20 Friday, Weather: Rainy

"Urgh! I will never be able to get this piece of art done by the due date!" Linna complained as she stretched out on her seat. Her class was being assigned to complete an art titled'The Most Precious Thing'. However, it seems to be so complicated for this 19 years old.

"I hold so many things precious to my heart, and it is impossible for me to draw everything in just one paper!" the young girl complained as she threw another piece of paper into the bin, scratching her head with frustration.

"I told you, being an art student is difficult. It is much easier to attend a major such as hotel management, just like me." a young man sitting down next to her said as he picked up the paper that weren't ending up in the bin.

"I will tell mom and dad if you start talking trash about my major again, Leo. You know that well, right?" Linna said as she stood up to clean up her belongings. Leo stood straight, and he looked at Linna with disapproval.

"You won't go far with your major, Linna. It is…"

"I know, what you say is all for my sake. Yet, I am willing to take the consequence. I love my major, and you can't judge me for that."

"You should listen to me for just one time, Linna. I am your elder brother, and I have seen and felt more than you. Afterall, I am…"

"I know, I know. You are 22 years old now and you are about to graduate. Please, Leo. Just for one time, stop thinking that I am still too young to make my own decision. I am already 19."

"Stop interrupting me."

"Stop judging me."

"I am your brother. I know more than you."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"You should grow up already, Linna."

"I am telling you, I will tell mom and dad to whip your ass if you continue to talk about this."

"Fine."

The two set out of the classroom, and they walked toward the cold and quiet street. The night was dark, and there were stars shining brightly in the sky. Linna put her head up to see the stars, but the clouds covered the sky again without any mercy.

"It is dark again." Linna complained as she tied herself even tighter with her scarf. Leo did not even bother to look at the sky. He kicked the small stones on the pathway to the side of the street, paying no attention to his younger sister. Linna can't say anything, so she just sighed.

After a short walk, they both arrived infront of a house. Leo took out a pair of key and put one of the key into the keyhole. After two twists, the door is opened. Inside the house, an Asian lady who is wearing an apron around her waist is serving food to the table. A Western man sat close to the table, reading the newspaper that was being sent to their house in the morning.

"We are home." the two said as they took off their shoes and jacket on the porch.

"You are finally home." the Asian lady said as she prepared the drinks on to the table: "The food is ready, come and eat."

"Yes, mom." the two echoed together again, as they both pulled their chairs.

"Your mom have been looking at the clock for so many times. You guys are later than usual. Don't worry her, she almost called the cops." the Western man said as he sat down on his seat, holding up the chopsticks that was prepared for him.

"It is Linna's fault, dad." Leo replied as he shove some rice into his mouth.

"Shut up, Leo. If it is not because of you keep on lecturing me about my major, we would have come back earlier."

"It is your fault from the first place for you to be in the art major. I won't lecture you if you listened to me to join the same major as me from the very beginning."

"It is my own freedom to choose what I want, jerk. No one judged you when you chose your major, right? Leave me alone with my major."

"Because my major is more acceptable than yours, loser."

"Come again?"

"Try me."

"Now now, the dinner table is not a place for both of you to fight. Just keep calm and eat your food." the woman said as she gave both of them each a piece of meat for them to chew on.

"You are too nice to them, May. They should both get some whipping." the man said as he looked sternly at the two children of his. The two right away kept quiet without any opposing ideas.

"My my, this is genetic reason, Ban. They are just like you. Very bold and lively in any situation." May smiled as she gave another piece of meat to her husband: "That is why I love you."

"You are right, May. But they might need a little bit of calmness, just like you. They are just too lively." Ban said as he accepted the meat from his wife: "They need to be more like you."

The two kids just kept quiet, watching their parents expressing their love to each other. They looked at each other with no clue, yet they also decided to just keep quiet. They know that their parents are unstoppable when they are both like that.

After a short while, the dinner table is filled with empty plates. Linna stood up from her seat to clean up the table, and then Ban called out to her: "Darling, please bring your dad his beer in the fridge. And bring your mother's tea, too."

"Ok, dad." Linna walked toward the fridge, taking out the wanted drinks. After handing the drinks, May pulled Linna aside: "How is everything going, dear? Are you used to the study in the states?"

"I am doing completely fine, mom. I spoke English with you and dad even when I was in China. And I only speak most of my Chinese and Cantonese with Leo. Language and study are all good for me, mom. No worries." Linna assured her mom with a smile, which made her mom sighed with relief.

"I was scared that you won't be able to adapt to the environment. Seems that I worried for nothing." May said as she stroked her daughter's hand: "How is your homework doing? I know that you have been doing well so far."

"She is not doing so good." Leo said as he get a drink of beer from Ban's mug.

"Keep quiet, Leo." Linna turned her head toward Leo, with anger in her eyes.

"Is that true for what your brother said?" Ban asked with suspect. Linna can't lie, so she just answered quietly: "I don't have any ideas for the new homework. I need a good rest."

"Then go have a good rest. Tomorrow is Saturday, so you can go and have a longer time to rest." May said as she smiled towards Linna: "As your mother, I am always proud of you, and that's the same for your dad and brother. Whatever decision you make, we will always support you."

Ban and Leo kept quiet all the time, but they also agreed with what May said. Linna smiled, as she took out all of the dishes from the table: "Well, it seems to me that someone would be staying up late playing 'Starry Night'!"

"Don't sleep too late. You still have work tomorrow." Ban said as he stood up from his seat to give his daughter a pat on the head.

"I will remind her, dad." Leo said as he give a cheeky smile to his sister, which started to give an ugly face to him.

After cleaning up and putting away things, Linna walked up the stairs into her own bedroom. She sat down infront of her computer, and opened a can of orange juice while logging into her game. After minutes, she finally logged into her favorite online game: Starry Night.

The game is very popular among college students, and there are many proffesionals in the game. Linna is one of them. She load up all of her weapons with no problem and can finish any missions without any obstacles. She is like the God of this game.

"Well, I do have to look at my mission board." Linna said as she put on her earphone that is connected to the computer. Her game profile is a assassin, which makes her fast in doing things.

Arriving at the mission board, she met up with a swordman, which was stading infront of the mission board.

"You are late as usual, flying bunnies." the swordman complained with no tone in his sound. He has been calling Linna by her online nickname all this time.

"Sorry, stone head. I am also very busy." Linna said as she faced toward the mission board, searching for jobs with good payments.

"Stop calling me stone head, my name is dark lotus."

"Like I care."

"Whatever than, I give up." dark lotus said as he pointed out a mission to Linna, taking her attention to the mission.

"This is a good one, high payment, and very easy for us." dark lotus complimented as he observed his partner's reaction. He was relieved that Linna was actually satisfied with it, especially for a picky person like her.

"This is a great mission, stone head! Never knew that you are inteligent." she replied him with a nudge on the shoulder.

"But the mission only starts tomorrow afternoon at 3p.m.. We will have to register first." he replied again, without any tone.

"Fine than. I am very tired, too. I have work tomorrow, so I will have to sleep first. Please help me with the registration! Good night!"

"Wait!" but before he could say anything, Linna have already logged out. Dark lotus sighed, but he still finished the registration for himself and his partner, flying bunnies.

At the other side of the computer, a young man took off his headphones with a long sigh. He stood up from his seat, and stretched out his body. He kept quiet looking at his computer for a while, and he finally smiled while looking at his computer.

"I can't wait to work with you again, flying bunnies."