{Yunhua's POV}
"Yunhua? Xiao Yun, you've been in your room ever since you got home. Is everything alright?"
Muqin's words were drowned out by the sound of drumming rain. I couldn't breathe, much less answer. I'm sorry, muqin…
"Let me know if you want to talk, okay? I'm here." Her footsteps faded.
I sat curled at my desk. I hadn't bothered to change out of my soaked uniform and I clutched my knees to my chest. My skirt hiked up, but I didn't pay it any mins. It's not like the bare walls cared that I was showing a little skin.
Guiying…
What had I been thinking? I'd been sitting by my window for so long that it was already dark outside. Well, darker than the storm, anyway. My hair looked awful. The black and teal strands clung to my cheek.
I'd originally picked teal because it was Guiying's favourite colour.
Now, I was half-regretting the choice…
My eyes were tired and grey. I swallowed and saw my reflection do the same in the window.
Pathetic.
The storm hammered the roof. The cold settled in my chest no matter how tightly I held myself or how many layers I wore when I thought about Guiying.
Of course she'd moved on.
Smart, pretty Guiying was easy to love.
Half the school had liked her at some point. Some girls even more obsessively than the boys.
Sometimes they'd been the worst. I—
"FUCK."
I tore my tie off, throwing it across the room. My fingers fumbled at my collar, ripping the buttons open as I shrugged off my blazer. I didn't breathe until I felt the familiar pressure of my choker and the cold metal of my earrings.
"...Phew." My legs finally moved. I slid into bed, pulling the blanket over my head. It was… better. My bare legs under my skirt felt like they weren't freezing anymore.
Muqin would scold me for skipping dinner, but I couldn't do it tonight.
Not after seeing Guiying like that.
- - -
Muqin didn't disturb me, but I couldn't seem to sleep that night, no matter what I tried.
The wet and clammy shirt kept me awake for the first couple of hours, but I didn't care to remove it. For the next few, my mind replayed the day on end and on end—maybe if Lisha had actually hit me, then maybe I wouldn't have ended up staying long enough to see Guiying.
Easy to love, smart, pretty Guiying…
Why did I even bother coming back? I was doing well overseas. I didn't have the most friends, but at least I was away from this and could focus. I could even make my way into the top five or ten students in the school.
I twisted and turned for a while before eventually I gave up sleeping and shrugged off my shirt before replacing it with an warm sweater from my closet.
The soaked through skirt I swapped out for a pair of sweatpants, and I walked back over to my desk after tossing them onto clotheshangers. I couldn't be bothered to change my underwear—I'd take a shower in the morning.
Sigh.
I collapsed in my chair.
This… wasn't good. Guiying, and… whoever that was, I mean.
Fuck… I really needed to get over this.
I laid my head down on the cold, smooth surface of my desk, idly pulling a mechanical pencil from my mug of pens and twirling it around.
There wasn't really anything I could do, really. I watched the metal flash as I twirled the pencil around and around between my fingers.
Eventually, it slipped from my hand and shot out, the tip slicing my hand and drawing blood before clattering onto the surface of my desk.
Fuck, fuck, fuck… At least the smarting pain might keep me from thinking about Guiying for the next bit… I grabbed a tissue and pressed it against my cut, the white paper quickly bleeding red as the droplets seeped through,
Ow, ow, ow…
Stupid Yunhua.
It was when I reached for my pencil that I realized the downpour had stopped.
I paused, my fingers half-extended through the tissue bandage.
The storm that had been raging for days on end had completely fizzled out, and not a trace remained—save for a few puddles and glistening raindrops rolling off of tree leaves.
Wow.
Perfect timing.
The world loves when I'm in pain so much that it decides it's too happy to throw a tantrum.
I slid open the window with a clack and felt the cool night air on my skin—actually, according to my clock it was already past midnight, so it'd be the morning air…
A faint breeze carried into my room, its hands combing through my hair and around my choker. A teal tasslet of my hair found itself wound around my ear, and moonlight broke through the sky, bathing me in a cold, silver glow.
I patted down the stray strands of hair.
"Yunhua…"
I jolted, almost stabbing myself with my pencil again. Did someone call my name? A flash of movement drew my attention. A figure with a pair of glowing cherry red eyes and midnight hair stood outside my front gate.
I blinked and looked again.
Nothing.
…I have to be hallucinating. What's going on? My cut was quickly forgotten and my heart began to beat harder against my ribcage as I leaned out the window. I stared at the gate once more.
"Yunhua…"
There was a flash of white fur and then nothing more.