He will come around

Yu Chen was still in this posture, knees digging into her chest, eyes open and staring into nothingness when Xi Hua knocked on her door, "Chen?"

She waited for some time but got no answer. Then Hua began to get worried, "Chen? Yu Chen!? Where could she have gone?"

When Yu Chen heard that Hua was assuming she was out, and something like last night could happen again, she said, "I'm in here."

Chen's voice sounded hoarse and she was taken aback at the sound of her own voice.

She cleared her throat as Xi Hua opened the door and walked in.

Seeing Chen in that condition, Hua was immediately worried and rushed upto her.

"Chen? Are you all right?! What happened!?!? Chen!?!?!?"

Yu Chen forced out a smile and said, "I'm fine."

Xi Hua slapped her forehead, "Don't ever say you're fine, looking like that. You know how fine is positioned? There's great! Then there's grand. Good. I'm all right. Not so good. Feeling shitty. Wouldn't mind if the sun exploded!! And then comes 'Fine'."

Hua made a motion of descending with her hands as she said this.

Despite herself, Yu Chen smiled upon hearing the analogy, "That sounds about right."

Xi Hua sunk onto the floor and patted the place beside her. Chen also climbed out of bed and sat down.

Xi Hua asked as she wrapped her arms around Chen, "What happened?"

Yu Chen buried her head in Hua's shoulder before telling her everything that had happened when she had gone out.

Hua was silent for a long time after she finished.

"Hua?" Yu Chen called out.

"Yeah." Xi Hua responded, still deep in thought.

Chen: "What are you thinking?"

Hua: "I'm trying to find out what is going on in the mind of Xia."

Chen: "Isn't it obvious? He's angry with me."

Hua: "Maybe. But I feel like there's something more to it."

"More?" Yu Chen was surprised. She pulled back from Hua's embrace and looked at her face.

Xi Hua shrugged, "I don't know. Woman's intuition, I guess. Anyway, he'll come around. I'm sure he will."

"What makes you so sure?" Yu Chen mumbled.

Xi Hua stroked Chen's head, "Because I saw what he was like during the seven years you weren't here. Come on now, up you get."

Hua helped Chen up and out of her room.

"I'll cook something for breakfast." Yu Chen said, untangling herself from Hua's embrace.

Xi Hua shook her head, "Nope. I'm not letting you go into the kitchen smelling like that. You need to take a shower. You stink!!!"

Yu Chen sniffed herself. That was about right, she stank.

Probably because of all the sweat from the morning run and the fact that she had not showered the night before.

Yu Chen was pushed towards the bathroom by Xi Hua, and by the time she came out, the latter had already prepared breakfast.

The two girls sat down for breakfast, Yu Chen still a bit gloomy and Xi Hua trying to cheer her up.

"Say Chen, want to go shopping today?" Hua asked.

"Shopping?" Yu Chen looked up.

Xi Hua nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, yeah. Zenghai promised to take me shopping. He has the day off today. We can buy pretty things, and he'll pay!!!"