7. 'Tears'

*Qin Shan POV

English class was easy. A prerequisite of attending school in the United States is that you have to have pretty good fluency in English. This was the reason why I went to 'english' school for three years after setting my sights on Yale. The English teacher encouraged, but did not push me to speak, but with the support from Huan, I decided that it was time to let go and do my best.

"Amongst the silence after the storm, the smalltown bride was nowhere near warm. Seeing the sun drops fade out of her sight, she accepted her fate with the creature of the night."

The passage I read made me think back to first class with the last mythological sighting being a vampire. My curiosity grew, 'such a coincidence.' A creature of the night, a vampires bride, these were all things that humans just came up with to make sense of unnatural things. Through my thoughts suddenly came Song Meng's voice "I will protect you." Why is he entering my thoughts now? Ugh, so confusing. I dismiss all thoughts of him from my mind and try to focus on the lesson that I already know.

After finishing her lecture, the teacher gave us free time to work on pronounciation of vocabulary and grammar. Huan and I partnered up to review the new information.

"Ugh, I wish I had taken English school with you back when we were highschoolers." She says, complaining. "This would be so much easier now then."

"I offered, but you didn't want to go with me, HuanHuan." I tease her.

The teacher started to play music through the room. American music. I don't really pay attention to the change until 'Don't Stop Believing' started to play. This was my moms favorite American song. It was also the last song she played on her 'spotify' app before the passed away.

I can't help it, tears begin to well up in my eyes and I say to Huan. "Stay here, I'll be right back." before getting a silent signal from the teacher that I can leave. As expected, all of them had been filled in with my story.

I run blindly outside into the main square, trying to get away from the world. I just want to find a place where I can cry, somewhere where others can't see me, can't hear me, can't know how much pain I'm going through. I keep running, I no longer can tell where I am on this massive campus. In my blurry vison, I can see an alleyway, between two buildings. I quickly run to there, plop down, and start sobbing. I miss my mom and dad so much. I know, though, that they would want me to be strong. But right now, all I can do is cry and try to drown my pain.

After maybe only two minutes, somebody comes and sits beside me. I am startled and try to quickly wipe away my tears as I try to see through the haze who it is.

"It's okay. You will be okay." A gentle male voice rings out. I freeze immediately because, my sixth sense tells me exactly who it is. Song Meng.

"I-I-I'm okay." I choke out, not willing to look him in the eyes. "This will pass, you don't need to see me like this right now." My words are getting stuck in my thoat and tears are still flowing down my cheeks. Surprisngly enough, he gets down to my level and wipes them with a small piece of cloth. Then after, he takes my petite figure, and hugs it to himself.

"I know that your dealing with pain right now and you don't need to keep it to yourself. Sometimes, letting all your emotions out or talking to somebody is better." The voice is gentle, I start to feel at ease. Tears stop completely flowing out of my eyes and my vision starts to clear. I lean into the hug, feeling more comforted than I have felt since before my parents passed.

"Thank you." I manage to whisper and wrap my arms around his waist. He stiffens at first, but then relaxes and cups my face in his palm.

"I told you that I would to my best to protect you. That means that you have to tell me when you're hurting, when you're in pain. Okay." I look him in the eyes, instantly blinded again. Why is he being so kind to me when I was a complete jerk to him earlier?

"Thank you." I repeat again and then begin to stand up, but he grabs my wrist. "Let me know, okay? We can talk about it together." He says, almost pleading me to comply.

"Okay." I whisper. Then I look up at him and smile. Maybe having someone who knows how I feel or has experienced something like it can help heal the holes in my heart.

Unexpectedly, he pulls me into one last embrace, and I accept it completely,

"Remember that I am here for you." He looks me in the eyes and for the first time, I see warmth exuding from the brown-black spheres.

"I understand." I say and then turn to leave "I feel better now, I will go back to class and we can talk later." I say as calmly as I can. In reality, my heart is beating out of my chest and I am fighting the urge to give him another smile.

Walking away from him and back to class, I look behind me, but he has vanished. Hmm... strange. But getting back Huan notices my puffy eyes and gives me a long hug.

"Why didn't you tell me how much you were hurting?" She asks softly.

To that I just smile apologetically, because I don't want to burden her with my pain. She is helping me so much already. More than she knows.

I will entrust Song Meng to help me heal and recuperate for the future. And hopefully, I can learn about his own scars and help him heal as well.