When the window shattered, fragments of glass waltzed into the hallway, awaking the perpetrator. Before he could react, his face was met with white and blue sneakers as the man swung into the building.
For a single second that seemed to have dragged on forever, she felt blinded by the sudden brightness through the window. She was the type to enjoy the rain rather than the vicious rays of the sun; she was the type to huddle into the corner of her bedroom with the lights off and curtains closed; she was the type to hate the purity that glistened in front of her at that very moment.
So as the shattered glass sprinkled away, she did nothing but stare blankly at the familiar man entering from the first floor's window, his phone that had her contact on one hand.
The debris of the glass stopped once she was suddenly enveloped in darkness.
"Yue laoshi!"
With that, her vision was covered by the fabric of a jacket. She could no longer see the sun that defeated the harsh yet tranquil rain nor did she see what happened after the intruder was kicked in the face like a textbook example of a villain.
There was a male who had covered the glass from cutting her skin.
"Li Chenju xuesheng...?" She lifted an eyebrow, staring at the student who had miraculously appeared from behind her. Staring at the student in silence for a few seconds, her jaw dropped and she pushed herself to an appropriate distance where she could no longer feel the warmth emitting from the male student's body. "What are you doing here? I told you to stay under those desks with the other students––"
For the first time, she saw his face from under the hood. His skin was fair, clear and he had quite a high nose bridge. Furthermore, the eyes he hid under his hood was nothing like she could have imagined. They were a pair of soft, caramel eyes that showed no sign of malice, but rather, concern.
Her eyes then immediately shifted to the more important scene. The perpetrator lied on the floor motionless, the student named Xiaoqiu was already occupied with taking steady breaths. The other person whom she locked eyes with was a man with chocolate brown hair standing in front of the criminal, silently waiting for the police to make their way. Xuemei assumed that the police would have already been contacted once the emergency siren had sounded, after all.
It seemed like she was not the only one staring at the unknown man either; Chenju silently gazed at the sight that looked foreign.
Xuemei decided to walk closer to her cousin's customer.
"Guo Shufen, right?"
Her hickory eyes widened once she saw his entire face. It was the exact same from when she had helped out at one of Mingzhai's cosmetic stores, the one who asked for a certain gift set. That was the first comment she was about to mention the moment she opened her mouth, yet zipped it shut once she realised that she was wearing a surgical mask on that day and that it was highly unlikely that he would remember from the day before.
The said man turned his head to meet her, round eyes blinking in realisation. "Ah! So you're the one who contacted me. You see, I was already here by this morning because I was suuuper excited about today...but to think at the same moment there would be a crime occurring..."
This morning?
Xuemei looked up as if it would give her some kind of answer. Once everything clicked, her head jerked back to eye level and snapped her fingers. "Oh, so the crowd that I saw this morning with female students and teachers weren't about some fight –– it was actually you just 'waiting' there?"
"Yep! I was surprised with the message you sent me, though," he continued as he folded his arms. He then showed her the messages from his own phone. "What does this 'first floor', 'if you want your item, please show your excitement by entering the school in the fanciest tokusatsu way possible'? 'Cause of that I had to dramatically jump through the first-floor window by swinging with my full strength...but won't I go to jail for this?"
Xuemei stayed silent for a single second before her lips curled upwards, her eyes forming crescents. She let out a much kinder chuckle than the one she did before when intimidating the perpetrator. "Of course not. Rather, you'll probably win a community award given by the police as thanks for your courage and bravery. Here."
She removed what seemed like a fancy box from her jacket's pocket. "You don't have to pay. You being here was enough."
Although she said so, she mentally sighed with the thought: Although I don't know how Mingzhai will react once she realises that I didn't let him pay for the school's reasons...
"But––"
"No buts. Quickly, the police are already here," she interrupted, walking past him to where the sight of police cars was as they passed through the gates. On her way, she pulled the standing Chenju's sleeve with her brute strength, causing his feet to slide down the hallway followed along by his muffled 'wait', 'hold on' and 'you're pulling me too fast'.
***
Although it usually looked quite long in crime dramas, the witness accounts and recounting did not take as long as she had thought. Before she knew it, she was already stranded outside of the police station in between the two males. On her left was the silent Li Chenju who was on his phone after receiving a bunch of missed calls from his parents; on her right was Guo Shufen with sparkling eyes as he gazed at the limited edition lipstick at every possible angle.
Clutching the straps of her backpack, she turned to face the two of them. "I would part ways, but do you guys have any form of transport? I have my car, but..."
"It's fine, I usually travel by bus –– I need to get back to work now as well!" The older man replied as he flashed his phone that seemed to always be glued to his hands. Xuemei assumed he was just one of those young, internet-intensive adults who skim through social media almost every hour.
She then glanced at the student.
"I..." He began, looking down at his maroon shoes. "I can walk."
"Oh, that cannot do."
"What?"
Twirling a car key with her index finger, Xuemei pointed to a car that lit up at that exact moment. It was already out of school hours and Li Chenju was not just any student –– she was told recently by Li Cheng that they were siblings with different upbringings. If something ever happened to her colleague's own brother, she was sure her scumminess would not forgive her any more than already troubling those surrounding her.
Xuemei planned to regain all her good deeds in order for incidents like today to not occur ever again.