Chapter-8: Making Friends

"Yes, yes. We will do that. But Mu Gege why don't you eat lunch with us?" Xin Yi asked.

"Yes, Gege, won't you eat with us?" Shen Yu also asked with a pout.

"I have work to do, you guys go ahead and eat. I will take you to a good restaurant for dinner, ok?" Mu Chen said with a smile.

"Okay!" Both Xin Yi and Shen Yu chirped at the same time.

"Alright, then I will be leaving," Mu Chen stood up from the bed patted both their heads, and left the room.

Feng Xin Yi looked at Cao Shen Yu, "So, did you speak with your roommate? Is he good?"

Shen Yu shrugged, "I saw him but he just dropped his luggage in the room and was running out when I was going in. Hope he is good."

"Don't worry, if he isn't good you can come sleep here," Xin Yi offered.

While they were talking, Xiao Bo wiped his tears and got up. He washed his tear-stained face for the second time,

>>>Xiao Bo, now that Xin Yi is your roommate Mu G- I mean Young Master Wang would come here frequently and you can't hide every time.

Xiao Bo slapped his cheeks to compose himself,

>>>But I don't want to see him...

Xiao Bo's eyes teared up again. He wanted to stay strong but when he heard Mu Chen's voice his heart ached and his tears wouldn't stop.

He loved the elder so much and now he was so scared of him to the point that just by hearing his voice his body started trembling in fear non-stop.

"Xiao Xiao, come out. I am so hungry," Xin Yi knocked on the door.

Xiao Bo washed his tears again, breathed in, and breathed out several times to calm himself down, and then opened the door with a smile that couldn't reach his eyes.

"What were you doing inside, huh? You took so much time, come here," Xin Yi dragged him out holding his hand.

Shen Yu got up from his bed and smiled at Xiao Bo who was looking like a wet poodle.

Xin Yi handed him a cloth to wipe his face off. Xiao Bo took it cleaned his face and then snuck a glance at Shen Yu.

>>>Cao Shen Yu... isn't he the maternal cousin of Mu Chen? And also the one who got into trouble because of me and got expelled from the University...

Xiao Bo bowed to him looking guilty.

Cause the men of Song Yi Ming thought Cao Shen Yu was Feng Xin Yi and they molested him thinking that would teach him a lesson and warn him not to approach Wang Mu Chen.

The video was spread and Shen Yu was blamed, and insulted. He was expelled from the University for getting involved in heinous acts.

When in fact Shen Yu was the victim who was gang raped by the men and was broken. Later, Xiao Bo heard that Shen Yu committed suicide. This was known to Mu Chen at his grandparents' funeral.

Wang Mu Chen was already thinking about how to kill Xiao Bo and this news made him madder than before, that was why he tortured Xiao Bo instead of killing him in one go.

But was Xiao Bo involved in Shen Yu's incident? No...in fact Xiao Bo found Shen Yu had the same interests as him so he wanted to be friends with him but the other never talked with him as he knew he was causing trouble to his Gege- Mu Chen and Shaozi- Xin Yi.

Xiao Bo felt extremely guilty when he knew what happened to Shen Yu and cried for months. He never again tried to approach anyone to make friends.

"Xiao Xiao, this is Shen Yu, he is our neighbour and classmate, and Yu-Er this is Xiao Bo, my cute roommate," Xin Yi introduced each other.

They both shook hands, "Xiao Bo is indeed cute as you said Xin Yi," Shen Yu commented.

"I know right, see how cute he is, I want to squeeze his cheeks so much."

Xin Yi was already squeezing his cheeks when he said that.

"I wanna do it too," Shen Yu stepped forward and squished his cheeks.

"Er... you both," Xiao Bo smiled at them awkwardly not knowing how to ask them to stop without offending them.

"Ah, sorry," Xin Yi and Shen Yu backed off seeing him getting uncomfortable.

Xiao Bo nodded looking down embarrassed. He couldn't believe they found him cute and squishable cause he never thought he was cute, not to mention he never thought he was good looking.

He had a very low self-esteem when it came to his looks cause his Father would always call him ugly and hideous so he thought it was the truth.

If we hear something continuously for a longer period we would start to believe that was the truth. Which was happened with Xiao Bo. He believed his Father's words despite having otherwordly looks that could take one's breath away.

That was also one of the reasons why Xiao Bo never confessed his love for Mu Chen even though he loved him so deeply. He would just stay far away and admire him but never dared to talk with him.

But his Father had to ruin everything and made Xiao Bo approach Mu Chen unwillingly. Only Xiao Bo knew how much his heart ached every time Mu Chen looked at him with disdainful eyes.

"Let's go to the cafeteria, I am so hungry."

Xin Yi linked his arms with Xiao Bo on his left side.

Shen Yu also took the chance and linked his arms with Xiao Bo on his right side. As soon as Shen Yu saw Xiao Bo, he was mesmerized by his looks. So, although he was pretty shy he wanted to be friends with Xiao Bo no matter what.

Song Xiao Bo blinked his eyes cause in his past life he could never imagine this scene. His heart got all giddy. He smiled a little and nodded.

"Let's go."

The three of them walked out of the Novice Pavilion hand-in-hand.

Everyone was staring at them cause those three were the perfect example of the idiom 'Fishes sinking and birds falling' meaning they were too pretty that fishes forgot to swim and birds forgot to fly.

Especially, the middle one was bewitching to the eyes just like a russian matryoshka doll.

Shen Yu and Xiao Bo felt small because of the stares. They both gripped each other tight and looked down while walking.

Feng Xin Yi noticed his both friends who were getting uncomfortable by the passersby's looks, so he glared at all of them.

"You both look up and walk straight with confidence if not they will come to bully us."

Both of them looked at Xin Yi who was unfazed by those unscrupulous stares cause he was used to them and by those experiences he also knew how to deal with them.

Seeing his assured look they both held their heads high and walked with confidence.

The other students stopped in their tracks as their breaths were taken away by the three flower boys.

The three of them reached the cafeteria and found an empty place.

"You both sit here, I will go get the food if not our table will be taken away by others," Xin Yi stood up, "What do you guys want?"

"I want stir-fried tofu with rice," Shen Yu raved.

Xiao Bo was hesitant and was lost in thoughts as he didn't know what to order.

He never came to the cafeteria in his past life forget about ordering something he didn't the names of the food that were served.

Due to Song Yi Ming's control over his diet he never dared to eat anything other his Father gave him which were only some greens.

Which was also the reason why Xiao Bo's body was only bones with just enough nutrition to live.

"I... want the s-same."

Xiao Bo clasped his hands nervously.

Shen Yu smiled hearing it, "We have the same taste in food."

"That's why you both are too thin. You both should eat meat to get some muscles, what will you do if there is a storm, huh? You both will get blown away for sure."

Xin Yi scolded them like a mother bird upset with its chicks for not eating enough protein.

Xiao Bo looked down wondering if he could eat meat and Shen Yu pouted.

Seeing them like children who were got caught doing a mischief, Xin Yi sighed outwardly.

"Alright, for today, tofu. From tomorrow you both will eat some meat, okay?"

They both looked up with smiles on their faces, "Okay!"

Xin Yi shook his head and left the table understanding that he would be playing the role of a mother bird in the group from now on.

Shen Yu then looked at Xiao Bo with a smile, "Um... do you watch anime?"

He wanted to find common ground with him so that they could get more comfortable with each other.

Xiao Bo's eyes lit up. The only way to escape reality and heal his broken soul was watching anime in his phone as it was the only thing his Father and his bodyguards didn't cared to stop.

"Yes, I do."

That was it to spark their conversation. They started chatting about their favorite anime series and anime movies.

"Are you watching One Piece's 16th season airing now?" Shen Yu asked excitedly.

Xiao Bo suddenly remembered that this was 2013 and he was from 2023 who had watched all the animes aired.

He paused for a second contemplating on how to answer then with a eye-lit smile,

"Yes, and I love it so much," Xiao Bo replied cheerfully.

"And they are saying 'Attack of Titans' will air in April and I am very excited to watch it," Shen Yu clapped his hands excitedly.

"What, you too are waiting for it? Me too."

Xiao Bo acted cheerful to continue their talk even though he had already watched it and knew everything about the plot.

>>>I have already watched all of them still it's good that I have someone to talk to about all this.

>>>Demon Slayer won't be released till 2019, and I was watching the sixth episode of season 3. Uff, I have to wait ten more years to watch the seventh episode, gah~

That was a nightmare to every anime otaku including Xiao Bo but he couldn't do anything but wait patiently.

They started chatting about all the anime they watched and what was going to be happening in the future episodes.

Cause Xiao Bo already knew what would happen in the next season so he told them about it to him that it was just his theory without letting Shen Yu doubt him much.

Xin Yi was bringing the plates and Xiao Bo saw it, "I will go help him, wait here."

Xiao Bo ran to Xin Yi to help him when he was hit by a man's shoulder, he bowed "Sorry."

"Look where you are going," The person's tone was irritated.

Xiao Bo was frozen on the spot as he heard the voice, he looked up and his eyes widened, his spine trembled as he backed off in terror.

*****