The couple walked towards Feng Qi and Jun Yang. Cindy kept herself glued to the young man next to her like there was an adhesive binding them together. It was the man who greeted Feng Qi and Jun Yang. "Hey, fellas," he said.
Both Jun Yang and Feng Qi knew the young man, Qin Xing. They were from the same school, Xing Ming Academy but the man was from a different class. And it was common knowledge that Cindy and Qin Xing was a couple. That was quite hard to miss with the way they went around school spreading dogfood to anyone within their vicinity. Their close friends had jokingly complained that their eyes were going to melt from the way the lovebirds carried themselves but that did not seem to slow their track down at all.
And today, it seemed there would be no different.
After some pleasantries were exchanged between the guys, Cindy finally decided it was time to extricate herself from her boyfriend to explain his presence there, "I asked Qin Xing to come with me to the outing. I thought we can make this into a date. I hope you won't mind."
Cindy was smiling brightly when she said that. She paused and turned her head up to look into her boyfriend's eyes and smiled. Qin Xing responded with a smile of his own.
Jun Yang pretended to not notice their behavior, even though he found the couple to be quite sweet and carried on in a kind voice, "Of course not, the more the merrier."
Feng Qi was only there for Jun Yang and he could not care less about the others, so all he did was shrug. Furthermore, the couple-y activities did not really bother him, other than the fact that he also felt like doing them with Jun Yang as well. But the latter had already warned him of it earlier… At that moment, Feng Qi felt the stung of regret for agreeing so soon. O well, there was always next time.
Cindy curled her hand around her boyfriend's arm and then looked around. "By the way, where is Pei Ling? Hasn't she arrived yet?"
Speak of the devil and she shall come. Not long after Cindy asked that question, they saw a girl walking through the crowd. Pei Ling's presence set herself apart from the commoners. She carried herself with the dignity and grace of a refined young lady, of course, the young woman's beauty also helped quite a bit.
As she strode past, she tended to grab the passerby's attention and they would involuntarily take a step back for her to pass even though Pei Ling did not technically ask for it. However, whenever they did that, Pei Ling made sure to nod her head in thanks. That was how her mother had taught her, to always show appreciation to those who offered their help… even though Pei Ling herself did not really understand why she should be cautious of the feeling of these strangers who in her mind, were beneath them. Still, it was a habit that had been instilled in her since she was young and that was hard to undo.
"Good morning, everyone. Sorry for keeping you waiting," Pei Ling apologized because it was not the right thing to do, not because she felt sorry about it.
Cindy then explained Qin Xing's appearance to Pei Ling and the latter responded, "Of course, I don't mind. Let's not just stand here. We should head into the park."
The group moved to the ticket booth together. Cindy and Qin Xing purchased their tickets and they walked ahead. When it came the turn for the other three, things were a bit complicated due to the promise that Pei Ling had made Feng Qi.
Jun Yang considered just buying the tickets for all three of them, because he was afraid this might be a point of contention between the two but Pei Ling was standing before him in line. As he was about to tap Pei Ling on her shoulder to discuss this issue, Pei Ling had already made her purchase and she turned around to hand the extra ticket to Feng Qi.
Feng Qi accepted the ticket with a smile. "Thank you for your generosity." The young man did not lace his thanks with sarcasm nor did he prostrate himself before Pei Ling for her kindness. His response was… neutral.
Pei Ling naturally responded with grace. "You are welcome. After all, the ticket does not cost that much." In a smaller voice, she added, "I've lost more by accident."
Even though Pei Ling probably did not mean for Jun Yang to hear that comment, he did. He frowned at the words' implication. They were not directly insulting but they could be read as a hit at Feng Qi's paucity, in terms of wealth.
Due to the ambiguity of the statement, Jun Yang was not sure how he should feel. In that situation, he felt the best solution as to refer directly to the person involved. He turned to Feng Qi and the young man looked positively unfazed. Well, since Feng Qi was not affected, then Jun Yang figured it was fine for him to let it slide.
After Jun Yang got his own ticket, they got into the park to catch up to Cindy and Qin Xing.
On the surface, they looked perfectly normal, a group of young people going to the theme park to enjoy a free weekend but internally, each of them harbored their own intentions and purposes.
Pei Ling stood in the middle and she had Jun Yang and Feng Qi to her left and Qin Xing and Cindy to her right. Feng Qi was generally amused at the things inside the park, like Pei Ling implied, with his living condition, if he had extra money he was not going to spend on a theme park ticket so he did not have the chance to come here often. He was busy taking in the sights.
Jun Yang was mostly walking silently, keeping his thoughts to himself. The couple, Cindy and Qin Xing was caught in a bubble of their own.
After walking for some time, Pei Ling used her elbow to nudge Cindy surreptitiously. Cindy turned away from her boyfriend and she caught the look from Pei Ling's eyes. Then she remembered, she was given a mission that day.
Apropos to nothing, Cindy said, "Hey, guys, how about we go and try out the roller-coaster?"
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