Childhood Friends

When they reached the entrance of the dorm, they saw Li Mei and Xi Mian walking out from the exit door.

After spotting them, XiXi called out, "Hey LiLi and Mian Mian. Where are you girls going?"

Mian was talking to Lili when she heard XiXi calling her out.

Walking towards them, she said, "It already time for lunch. We are going to cafeteria to grab some food. Are you two joining us?"

Mo Hua instantly replied, "No, you girls carry on. I don't have appetite to eat anything today."

Sensing that Mo Hua's mood was sour, all three girls decided to cheer her up in their usual way.

Whenever one of them was upset, other three would take that person to respective favourite place and spend entire day together.

For XiXi, the place was to go to swimming arena as she was very good and passionate swimmer.

For Li Mei, it was going to amusement park and ride all the rides in the park.

For Xi Mian, it was going to street food stalls and try out all the delicacies there.

And finally, for Mo Hua it was going to game arcade and play all the games to heart's content.

But common final step to bring their mood to normal again was to eat lot of ice-cream later.

LiLi was the first one to pull Mo Hua towards the exit gate of dormitory. With confused face, Mo Hua asked," Hey where are you dragging me? I don't want to eat. I am not hungry."

Mian Mian put her arm around Mo Hua's shoulder and said, "We are going to King's Arcadia."

Mo Hua was stunned by her friends. She thought,' Wow, how can they instantly guess I was upset. They must really care for me... I should not make things difficult for people who care about me.'

After thinking a lot, she said," Hey girls, wait, let's not go okay! Don't worry I am not upset anymore. Let's go and have lunch directly."

She knew they had midterm exams approaching soon. They need to prepare for their exam and all her friends were very serious when it came to exams. She didn't want to be a reason for everyone's distraction.

XiXi giggled, "OH My, Queen Mo Hua don't be so humble now. You should have thought that before frowning in front of us. Now let's not waste time anymore."

All three of them dragged Mo Hua to hail the cab outside University.

------

Yan Xuan was rushing outside the Sports building, to catch hold of Mo Hua but was stopped by Rong Chi and other fellow mates.

"Woah, did Deng Tia kissed you?"

"Hey, why did you hide that you are friends with Deng Tia?"

Yan Xuan was getting irritated by their questions.

"Xuan, the incident on the podium..." Rong Chi was also confused by the incident he witnessed. His friend was never associated with any girl before then how could Deng Tia out of nowhere give him a peck?

His words were cut short by Yan Xuan. Gesturing towards the fellow swimmers, he said," Handle all these crap questions. I will head out first."

Yan Xuan dashed past Rong Chi. When he came out of the building, bright light blinded his eyesight for a moment. He stabilised his eyes to the light and then started searching for Mo Hua.

….

Deng Tia was surprised by Yan Xuan's reaction. She never expected him to react this way.

'Why did he do that?'

'Why was he so shocked?'

'It's not like we don't know each other.'

Deng Tia's mind was completely occupied by several thought. So, she didn't pay attention to the commotion caused by her little act.

For her, Yan Xuan was her childhood friend and she liked him since then so giving him a peck on his cheek was not a big deal.

When Mr. Deng saw the commotion, he was slightly angry but when he saw his daughter's expression was when she looked at Yan Xuan, his anger dissipated.

Mr. Deng dotted on Deng Tia as she was his only daughter. After she gave birth to Deng Tia, his wife passed away immediately. So, Mr Deng raised her all by himself fearing that bringing stepmother will make Deng Tia feel insecure.

Yan Xuan's parents were best friends with Deng family so when Mrs. Deng passed away, they helped Mr. Deng to raise Deng Tia.

But when Mr. Deng saw Yan Xuan's reaction today, his expressions turned gloomy again. He decided to have a good talk with Xuan, as he always wanted Deng Tia to get what she wished for.

He saw Deng Tia standing blankly near the podium, jerking of the gloomy expressions, he came closer to her.

Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he lovingly glanced at her and said," Don't worry. I will talk to him. Now let's go."

Deng Tia gently nodded her head while a sweet smile replaced her previous sad expressions. She knew her father would never disappoint her. So, she started walking towards exit ignoring all the criticising gazes on her.

...

Mo Hua was in already in better mood by the time they reached King's Arcadia. Her friends were dotting on her like she was a small kid and, on their way, here, they bought her many types of candies and a beautiful gaming mousepad.

She smiled at her three best friends and said," Girls, let's head back to dorm okay? You already helped me cheer up, so I am in very good mood. We don't need to go and waste money in Arcadia."

Xi Mian abruptly shouted," No. Rule is rule. We can't go back."

Looking at each other, Li Mei, XiXi and Mo Hua started giggling.

With sly smile Xi Mian said, "We are already here let's play for a while and eat something nice before heading back."

After hearing what Xi Mian said, their gentle giggle broke into a loud laughter.

They knew she wanted to eat from the street stall located few blocks away from here. As this place was very far from their university, they only visited when Mo Hua was angry. But for Xi Mian, it was her favourite place for which sometimes she would purposely make Mo Hua angry.

Seeing her best friends laughing at her, Xi Mian felt embarrassed and with a pout on her face, she started walking towards the Arcadia.

Mo Hua walked with fast pace and reached Xi Mian. Throwing her arm on Xi Mian's shoulders, she said, "Okay we will stop… umm.." controlling her laughter she continued," Lets's go inside."