I started my jog and while running, I fully appreciated the views that seem to exist so far away in my memories.
I remember every detail of every shop of all the streets that I walked by. I always knew that my memory is amazing but it's still shocking that everything I remembered years ago, is still the same.
After 12 minutes of running, I started feeling weak and dizzy so I decided that this is my limit for today. I quickly went to a public drinking fountain and refilled my water bottle and sat down on a bench for 5 minutes to catch my breath.
I was just about to stand up and start walking to school when a hand with a lollipop stretched out in front of me and blocked my eyesight.
I looked up and saw someone I never though I would meet again. In front of me stands the younger version of the only friend I ever had in my last life, Tao Rong. This boy standing before me, dressed in a No. 1 Middle School uniform, with raven black hair with cleanly shaved edges, firece black eyes and a silly smiling face, is someone who has gone through hell with me. Even when he was given a choice to either leave me and live happily by himself or loose everything, he simply scoffed and told them to scram. He never left me when I needed him and I often wondered how can someone like me be worthy of being his friend...
Tao Rong, is a young master of the Tao family, who in high society are a pretty highly regarded family since their catering business is known everywhere in China, and they are now developing and opening their restaurants in other Asian countries. Many people say that their business is blooming because the recipes they use are from their ancestors who were from a lineage of royal chefs that served the emperor.
This family however, could not withstand the attack of major forces behind the Lu family a couple of years later and collapsed. And this was all because of me...
One rainy day, I was starving in the streets and Tao Rong found me. He probably though I'm pitiful, so he brought me to one on his restaurants and fed me. We talked and quickly became friends. This day felt like one of the best moments ever since I failed to finish my college entrance examinations and I was overwhelmed with emotions, so I spilled everything about my life to him.
I probably just wanted someone to listen to my story, to get this out of my chest but when I looked up I realised that he starter crying...
"uwaaaaa... Xiao Weeeei! wawawaaaa...
How can you be so pitiful... These people are definitely not family, this is not how a family is supposed to treat each other. From now on, don't call them family, I will be your brother so you don't have to be worried. I will let you experience the warmth that a family should give you." He said as he choked between his sobs.
I was very grateful to find a brother like him. And my life actually got better thanks to his supoort, that is until the Lu's found out about him and decided to warn him to stay away from me. However my brother is someone who will never betray a family, and decided to ignore their warning. I begged him to just listen to them and sever all ties with me, but he didn't listen.
At that time, he only said "Xiao Wei, in life, brothers go through thick and thin together, I can't abandon you and think of my own wellbeing. I can't be this selfish."
The next time I heard about him was on his funeral...It was said that he was in a motorcycle accident, but I know that these people killed him. I knew and wanted to get revenge, but I also knew that this is impossible as my life itself, was on the brink of collapse...
As I look at the younger version of him in a daze, reminiscing about my past life, he grins, puts the lollipop in my hand, sits next to me and starts talking.
"I don't know why, but I feel like you have a lot on your plate brother. And I, as a kind soul that I am, will tell you one thing. Food will wash all your worries away"
I laugh and smile at him as I push my bangs up for a moment to get a clearer look at the younger, 16 year old version of my brother.
"Thanks, my name is Han Xue Wei, and yours?" I say as I look him in the eye
It is then that I realised that he is staring at me in a daze because his gaze is so intense ad it roams around my whole face that I feel my face gradually heating up.
I wave in front of him and say "Is there something on my face?"
"No, no, so sorry for staring but you are really handsome so I couldn't help but look a ²liitle longer. Ah! And my name is Tao Rong! You can call me Ah Rong since that's what my friends call me!" He scratches the back of his head to cover up his embarrasment and smiles sheepishly at me.
"So we're friends after just one meeting?" I laugh as I ask
"Of course! This young master here will let you on a secret. I am only friends with people who give off a 'good person' vibe and this is what I get from you! Oh by the way, this uniform..."
I cringe in my mind as this is exactly something that Tao Rong would say to a stranger and reply "Ah... I go to No. 30 Middle School"
"Isn't this place full of delinquents?! To be honest you don't look like one. You look more like the type who others would love to bully, you know. This is also why you need this brother here to protect you hahaha"
"Well, my goal for a high school is No. 1 High School, because my middle school is indeed a place full of bad people. I started rebelling and stopped studying and so I ended up in there. but I want to change! So I am now working hard and revising for a better future." I smile brightly at him as I think about the faces of those who I'm going to surprise when I attend No. 1 High school.
I can see the surprise and joy in his eyes as he shyly smiles and says "I'm telling you meeting you and my impulse to befriend you is fate! This is a sign from Buddha that we are destined to be best friends! I will go to No. 1 High School as it is affiliated with my middle school haha! So, you should do your best your exams in 3 months so that we can be best friends that go to the same school!"
"En, I will do my best. I promise you that if we get to meet in No. 1 High School then I will officially become your brother!" I laugh out loud and start walking away as I wave at him.
I leisurely walk towards my school as I think that this meeting with Tao Rong must have indeed been a work of fate. I already decided that in this life, I will not let him and his family get hurt like in my past life. I will fight for those who are willing to fight for me...
As soon as I reached my school, I got stopped by the entrance for a routine check, which is a normal thing in this school as many delinquents like to carry weapons and metal detectors are not always 100% true as there are many tricks one can do to hide their weapons.
After the routine body and bag search, I speedily walk to my classroom since I took my time to slowly walk after meeting with Tao Rong and didn't pay attention to time and now when I did, I realised that we only have 5 minutes left until morning self study at 7:30 starts!
I open the door to my classroom and walk to my seat at the back of the classroom without looking around. After I sit down and sigh in relief, I hear those around me whispering to each other.
"Hey, did something happened to our class loser today? Why does he look kind of different?" Whispers one of the girls next to me
"Yeah, but I don't know what changed, it's more like his bearing changed and not his looks. He looks kind of intimidating" Replies the other girl
"Are you fucking stupid? Him? Intimidating? I can beat his ass 10 times and he will not be able to lift a finger at me. How is this intimidating?!" Said one of the boys sitting in front in the girls and with every sentence, his voice got louder, to the point that everyone in the classroom heard it. He then turns around and looks at me, wanting to day something more but is interrupted by the sound of the classroom door opening and the sight of the teacher.
"Okay, in this morning self study I will give you some time to memorise poems on pages 116 and 120 in your Chinese textbooks." says the teacher and then mumbles to himself as he walks towards his desks and buries his head in a pile of exams "Not like anyone will actually do it anyway..."
This boy that just got agitated because of me is called Ron Xun. He is very athletic, has money and power since his father owns a small finance firm and thus, was chosen as our class leader since no one dares to oppose him.
Well, no one but me. This is also why he hates my guts and bullies me every time he has a chance. To be honest, now I realise how stupid and naive I was to just put up with all this bullshit, where I could have easily retaliated in many ways if I actually used my head to think.
However now that I look at these people around me, I realise that they are still children so even the way they behave is childish. In my past life, I was subjected to bullying and being outcasted by the whole classroom of delinquents. In this life however, this is exactly what I need since there won't be many people trying to disturb me from cramming for the next 3 months.
The teacher on the podium is called Teacher Rong. As my homeroom teacher, he is actually one of the only teachers in this school that treat me sincerely and thinks of me as a student and not as an eyesore. He is also my counselor whom I trust and so I talk with him about my life from time to time so he has some general knowledge about my situation with my relatives. He has always been there for me, but I never realised how ungrateful I was to those who wanted to help me until I was already in a place of no return and that was when I started regretting the choices I made in my life.
Teacher Rong tried to talk to me about starting revising and getting better scores so that I can show my 'family' that I am no pushover, but I simply disregarded his kindness when he came to me with revision materials and threw them away. It was only later that I realised that he made them all by hand, in order to make my revision process smoother and make me more accustomed to it than to the textbooks.
From what I know, he still hasn't given me these materials yet, so I can at least prevent him being hurt by me. I promise that in this life, I will do everything I can to show him my appreciation and make him proud of me. This kind of teacher deserves my utmost respect!
I started reading and quickly memorised the poems.
'I still have 20 minutes left.. I should make a list of how I'm going to start revising. But how should I start? How should I organise everything? There are so many subjects and every subject has modules. How am I supposed to know what are the basics that I need to study first and what is more complicated?'
When I realised that I have no idea how to start since there is so much materials I need to revise, I sat these 20 minutes in a peaceful daze and stopped thinking about everything to relax for the last time as the next 3 months will be filled with hardships!
'I will go to teacher Rong at break time, and ask him for a private counselling session so I can ask for help with my revision.' I smiled to myself as I though about my future...