Ep. 1

The sound of multiple gunshots had Miss. Chunhua Jialin opening her eyes and flinching in fear as she looked around the room. Her beating heart slowed its pace when she realized where she was, and a relieved sigh escaped her lips.

'It was just a dream,' she thought, observing her surroundings.

"...your computer is a machine, and it needs to be checked regularly. It is important that you take these measures..."

The professor droned on with the lecture, motioning with his hands to keep himself focused.

Chunhua Jialin wondered how much of the class she had missed while she had been asleep. It was a good thing she had her phone's recording app switched on or else she would have missed what her professor was saying. 

She turned to the computer that was switched on in front of her, but with the way things were going, it did not look like she would use it. In fact, she was starting to zone out once again.

To force herself to stay awake, Jialin decided to look at the other students in the room. Just like her, they were seated on the comfortable leather chairs. Some had their elbows on the smooth, maple furniture, tables as they listened to Mr. Wang's words.

The large room was made up of cream walls. The tall glass windows that were on the right that offered the view of the campus environs had been obstructed by large, gray curtains, forcing everyone to use the ceiling bulbs as a source of light in the room.

Chunhua looked back at her professor, but then her eyes moved to the large white space behind him that would usually be used when he had a projector. Chunhua wished that he did have a projector. The room would have been darkened with the only source of light coming from the projected screen, and that way, she wouldn't worry about Mr. Wang spotting her dozing off.

She started playing with a strand of her long and black, curly hair as she swallowed back a yawn. For some reason, her professor was going through the measures of maintaining a computer. They had already done that during freshman year, and so it was confusing to have to go through it again.

As Mr. Wang kept talking, Jialin scoped out the class again. It was full, and most of the familiar faces she was used to seeing were present. Her eyes landed on a hunched form at her far right. The person pushed his blonde hair off of his forehead. Just as he was turning to face her, Chunhua quickly fixed her gaze back to her professor.

"Alright! Now to the main point of today's class: I know that you have all been wondering what this semester has in store for you," the lecturer said. "You are juniors now, and apart from the usual classes, you will all be doing a project."

In an instant, groans of boredom sounded in the room.

"I have no idea why you are not excited about this. You are not freshmen anymore, and so you will have to participate in such projects in the coming years."

The professor then proceeded to hand out printed papers to someone at the front. Afterward, the papers were being circulated to everyone in the room. Once a copy reached Chunhua's desk, her eyes widened in surprise.

It was a form. Apart from requesting her name and admission number, it had a list of projects that included:

❒ Software programming

❒ Computer building and installation

❒ Motion graphics

"Those are the choices you have to select the project you will do for this semester. Some of them will be due before Zhangtmas, and so you should all be done by then."

More groans followed afterward.

"I doubt any one of you would want me to explain what the choices entail for you to do," Mr. Wang stated. Jialin looked at her paper again, and she looked confused as to how to reply.

"You have until tomorrow to choose what you will do. After making your selections, I will give you the guidelines for them."

The students rose to leave the room.

"I'm not done yet," the professor stated. "If you do not feel like you can do any of the choices I have given you, or if you want to pitch another idea for your project, feel free to consult me."

Everyone waited as the lecturer started to pack his suitcase. He turned to face the class, surprised that everyone wasn't moving.

"You can leave now," he said, and the students went to exit the class.

*********** ******************** ******************* ****************** *************

Chunhua's heart was beating fast as she walked through the hallways of her university. Along the way, she passed a couple of people whom she greeted as she headed towards the exit of the building. Her mind was still focused on the project assignment, and she did not know if she should worry or dance in happiness. 

It had been two years ever since she had joined the University of Xi’an Jiaotong to pursue a Bachelor's degree in IT. She had expected college to be harder and more different from high school. In a way, it was, but she had gotten used to it. Moreover, she had not been having doubts about the course she had picked like a couple of people she knew from home.

She loved the university, more so because of the privacy. She used to be among the populars in her former high school, and it got tiring towards the end. Being in a place where people did not care about 'being cool' made her feel relieved and comfortable in doing what she wanted.

Jialin looked at the form sticking out of her course units' book for her junior year before quickly looking back up. The sudden talk of projects had caught her off-guard. Sure, she had seen them coming. In fact, she had expected them to come when she was a sophomore. She had been anxiously waiting for them, but now that they had been announced, she felt unsure.

"Oomph!" came a sound when Jialin collided with someone. She accidentally caught a quick whiff of some men's cologne as she adjusted the backpack on her back as she shifted to face the person.

"I'm sorry--" Jialin stopped herself from speaking further when she noticed whom she had accidentally bumped into.

"It's okay," the guy said, equally tense as she was before he turned to walk away.

Jialin stood still, her mind blank for a moment as she watched him walk farther into the university hallways. Once he was out of view, she started cursing at herself for not watching where she was going.

She soon resumed her walk towards the university gates.