Ep. 2

Chunhua left the campus grounds, following a road that led to the nearby university boarding houses. They were all dorms with some having five floors. 

Chunhua made her way through a large, three-story building where she headed towards her apartment.

"Hey!" she greeted as she walked into her housing area. Purple walls decorated with notes met her view along with a clean dining area. Opposite it was the kitchen, and there was also a small hallway that led to the bathroom and the bedrooms. Overall, the dorm wasn't big, but it was spacious enough for her and her friend.

"Hey," her roommate greeted as she made her way out of the small kitchen.

Her name was Changying. She had straight blonde hair, and her skin was a shade lighter than Jialin's tanned brown skin. She was around the same age as Chunhua, and they had been friends ever since she joined college on the previous year. Changying was a sophomore, and she was pursuing a career in business.

"How was class today?" Changying questioned as she made her way towards the couch in the room. Jialin groaned in response.

"Oh," her friend frowned as she made herself comfortable. "You too?"

Jialin looked at Changying in question before asking: "What?"

"You too were given projects to do, right?"

Chunhua wondered if her friend could read her mind.

"How did you know?"

Changying waved her hand nonchalantly. "I hear most of the juniors are assigned projects as soon as they start their academic year."

"Oh," Jialin said.

"Anyway," Changying continued as she faced her with a grin. "What were you told to do?"

Chunhua went to speak, but then she turned to reach for her form. She took it out of her bag and handed it to her roommate.

"Whoa!" Changying exclaimed as she examined the document.

"I know," Jialin sighed.

"No. I mean, you are given options?"

"You aren't?" replied Chunhua. Changying gave her an incredulous look.

"You lucky bitch!" she exclaimed. "So which one did you pick?"

"Changying, I just got it like an hour ago. I still have a lot to think about."

Chunhua's roommate shrugged her shoulders.

"Being your roommate, I know you're talking crap. We both know which project you will pick," she said, eyeing a pencil drawing of a deer pinned on the wall beside her. "Okay. Take all the time you need. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a couple of things to do."

"Bye," Chunhua waved as she saw her friend leave the dorm. After the door had locked with a click, she turned to look at her document.

Changying was right. Jialin knew what she wanted to do, but then she was scared of the choice. What if she messed up in the middle of it? The project could cost her college credits, and she needed them if she wanted to have a good graduation certificate.

She eyed the other options and sighed. She reached for a pencil on the table in front of her and made a cross on one of the options.

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

"Okay, class!" Mr. Wang shouted. "I have given you enough time to pick what you want to do for your projects."

It had only been a day, but Jialin was not complaining.

"Now, would you please handout your forms?"

The room was immediately filled with murmurs as everyone went to grab their papers.

"Pass them along to the people in front of you," the professor continued. After grasping her form, Jialin waited for the people behind her to give her their forms. Then she proceeded to give them to the person in front of her.

About a minute later, the professor had stacked everyone's forms.

"Okay. Now..."

To everyone's surprise, the lecturer turned his attention to another subject. They were expecting him to sort out issues with the project first, but it looked like that was not going to happen. It was apparent that the class would go on as usual.

Time passed, and soon, ten minutes were left until the end of the class. The professor had ended his lecture to sort out the filled forms.

"These are the groups I have formed according to the choices everyone had ticked."

'What?' Jialin thought, feeling surprised by the speed with which his professor had grouped everyone according to their project's choices.

In an instant, he started calling out names. Jialin's ears perked up as she waited to hear her name.

"Brian is with Lucy and George..." Mr. Wang continued. An eternity seemed to have passed before she heard her name.

"Chunhua Jialin..." the lecturer trailed off. Chunhua felt worried by the tone of his voice.

"Wow. This is a surprise!" The professor stated, turning to look at Chunhua. Jialin thought she was the only one who had made the selection for her project. She relaxed in her seat, but when she noticed the professor turning to look at someone else, she tensed in dread.

It didn't take long for Chunhua to realize that she had been partnered with someone else. She didn't know who, and as a result, she found herself clenching her fingers in anticipation.

"Well, Chunhua, you are going to do your project with Zhang Wei."