"We're back," Yaorui smiled chillingly.
For some reason, she felt like a villain that had just returned from the dead.
It felt good.
She strides towards her friends with a warmer smile than the one she presented before.
It was still cold outside, so everyone wore their puffy school jackets and their winter accessories.
"Nice to have you back!" Sheng Rong exclaimed.
"We stopped by the dorm earlier by the way, it's a mess," Gebao butted in and announced the bad news.
"Looks like we have some winter cleaning to do," Yaorui sighed in disappointment.
While they were greeting each other again, Zhang Wenshi and Long Ao caught up with the boys.
Wenshi never had any experience with making friends of the same gender. Her only friends as a child were her brother and the butler's son.
They first greeted the Ten Ten's before moving on to the group of rowdy boys behind them.
It was a rather large group of friends. All of them together could fill up about two tables. (24 seats in total)
When everyone had filed back into the warmth of the school, people immediately began to question them. Many of them had the same purpose in mind, to be acknowledged by some of the school's biggest idols.
Though not many people participated in this, many of the ones wanting to establish connections for any future plans were a big part.
It took quite a while for all of them to break apart from the crowd.
They had managed to find a hiding place where the crowd would definitely not look for them.
Where?
The only place no student would dare to enter alone.
*Might be gruesome to some people!*
*YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!*
According to school legend, a group of soon to be graduates entered the room and disappeared for months, and when they were finally found again by the gate. They were sickly and undeniably starved.
One of them had hypothermia despite the summer heat, and another suffered from schizophrenia (insanity).
A few of them were missing limbs and showcased psychotic tendencies. Later on, it was found that these graduates were cannibals, they had eaten their friends and attempted to eat the doctors and nurses caring for them at the asylum. There were some cases of eating themselves as well.
*It's over now*
Long story short: People entered the room, disappeared for months, and returned insane.
But only a few people knew what the room actually contained.
Those graduates? Well, no one knows what actually happened.
Now you get an idea about how they ended up insane.
Anyways, the room was actually a lounging room for top students that also doubled as an ideal space for studying.
The day before the summer break began, she and her friends were rounded up by some older students and brought to the luxurious room.
(This was last year meaning in their first year)
Over the years, the lounge had changed drastically. The difference between the before and after of the room was beyond believable.
There was a particular wall in the lounge that never changed, they liked to call it The Wall of Honours.
It's cheesy, but what could she do? She wasn't even alive when they had decided on the name!
Also, it is literally a Wall honouring the past generations that occupied the room.
Every group of passing graduates take a group photo together and then hang it on the wall in a wooden frame that everyone had some part in making.
It was a tradition left by the first generations of graduates.
Underneath each picture frame were golden plaques with the students' names carved into it.
Next year, her oldest brother Shen Hui and his "fiance," Fanlong, would be following that tradition as they leave.
If she was correct, Ran Jiexu does not know the of the particular room yet. According to her photographic memory, he was a C grade student last year.
"What the fvck is this place?!" It seems like that her guess was correct. "This place is freaking AWESOME! How come I never knew of this place?!"
"Because you were a C grade student last year you dimwit," Mu Jian Nu rolled his eyes and made himself comfortable on the spacious couch, grabbing a can of pop on the way.
Looking over back at Ran Jiexu, one could see that he had begun to sulk, "If I had known that this the prize last year, then I would have definitely gotten a hundred percent on the final exams!" Gebao moved to comfort him while the others, including herself, made themselves comfortable in the sitting area.
They relaxed for a bit before they all took out their laptops to begin their lessons for the day. They figured that taking the video classes would be better than being late to class.
And so for the rest of the day, they stayed in the lounge room and did their schoolwork together.
Mu Jian Nu, Ran Jiexu and Gebao cooked while everyone else made themselves useful by cleaning up the mess they made.
After a very satisfying dinner, they all returned to the dorms with smiles etched onto their faces.
When Yaorui, Sheng Rong and Gebao finally returned to their dorm, they were greeted with a pile of luggage. Luggage that was undoubtedly theirs.
They groaned at the amount of work they had to do tonight.
Sheng Rong started her workout playlist as Gebao and Yaorui began to clean and unpack.
It took five hours for them to finish, and an extra hour for them to climb into their beds and fall asleep.
Tomorrow, everything would be back to normal.
____________
Meanwhile...
Samuel sat in his surprisingly comfortable hospital bed with her phone in hand. He stared at the screen and waited for his future queen's daily call.
It was 2:00 am already, and not even a single text was sent through by her to his phone.
Their last conversation was before she boarded the plane.
"She's probably just tired," He comforted himself.
That night he tossed and turned till dawn, his arms missing the feel of his loved one and his mind missing the sound of her voice.
In his hand, he held a crystal worth billions. It glowed and pulsed as if alive.
It's rugged edges, and blue lustre shone throw the space between Samuel's fingers.
Li Anshi stood by the door. The sun had just started waking once more, coating her in a golden light.
She watched as the mysterious blue light glowed and shone brighter. Just as the sun revealed it's full shape, the light shone so brightly it turned her vision white.
When Li Anshi regained her vision and composure, spots littered her field of view and the blue crystal gone.
Samuel's hand laid spread out, his fingers curled once more, as if remembering something before uncurling once more.
In his palm was the shadow of what was a rugged crystal that had glowed brighter than a star.
_____________
While Yaorui waited for her class to begin, she studied her notes and patiently sipped her water bottle.
Beside her was her backpack, a gift from Samuel that she cherishes from the bottom of her heart. She had texted him earlier that morning apologizing for not contacting him the yesterday.
While she focused on her studies, a luminescent blue crystal formed onto the key chain attached to her backpack.
It shone once more before fading, hiding itself in plain view.