Vivian nodded and offered her hand. I stretched my elbow out and escorted her out, ignoring the murmurs that spread like a ripple throughout the crowd of astounded former third year students.
"Why does Li Tian Xing know such a foreign beauty?!"
"Who is she? She looks like a celebrity. A supermodel? An actress?"
"So beautiful…"
"Ugh! It should have been me, not him! It's not fair!" One guy fell to his knees and pounded the ground, his eyes shut in frustration.
"Who…who are you?!" Hui Zhang blurted out, dashing forward to stop us and jabbing a finger in Vivian's direction. His eyes darted from her to me and back to her. "You are not a student from our high school, are you? Are you…Li Tian Xing's acquaintance?"
"Acquaintance? Are you joking?" Vivian threw her head back and laughed before tightening her grip on my elbow. "Do we look like simple acquaintances to you? Our relationship is deeper and more intimate than that."
"Intimate?!"
"Um…I wouldn't go that far," I muttered, but Vivian merely giggled and held a hand to her mouth daintily.
"Why wouldn't you, Tian Xing? Haven't we been joined on an intimate level? Just as I have become a part of you, you have also become an indispensable part of me."
"Oi, phrasing!" I knew that she was referring to that time when we were mentally linked and shared each other's memories, but she obviously said that on purpose to mislead the audience. Already, there were gasps from my former schoolmates as they stared at us with wide eyes.
"They have already gone that far!?"
"Are they engaged, then? Is that foreign beauty Li Tian Xing's fiancée?"
"How is a loser like Li Tian Xing able to get such a beautiful woman before me!? This isn't fair!"
It had nothing to do with Vivian being beautiful or not. Seriously, dude, just…look in the mirror and reflect on your own behavior before complaining that you can't get a girlfriend.
"You…you…you…!" Hui Zhang spluttered, pointing accusingly at me. His face had turned bright red. "How…indecent!"
"Oh? What are you talking about? I was talking about sharing memories." Vivian cocked her head mischievously. "Just what exactly were you imagining?"
"No, I…" Hui Zhang was unable to reply. But Vivian twisted the knife deeper.
"Besides, who are you? How is it any of your business what kind of relationship I have with Tian Xing?"
"We are his friends," Huang Xiang Jun said shamelessly. I couldn't help but gape at her in disbelief. Did she really say that after that insult?
However, Vivian wasn't fooled. Instead, she chuckled and shook her head.
"Friends, huh? Do friends humiliate each other on stage and in front of so many people? Do friends look down on the other party? Is that how the people of Hua Xia define friends? If so, I must say that I have a very different understanding of friends than you do."
"I…I…" Now Huang Xiang Jun was tongue-tied. On the other hand, Hui Zhang was outraged.
"What are you talking about? You don't know anything, how dare you throw such accusations around?"
Was he…serious? He wasn't being delusional, was he? Did he forget everything that he had done to me over the last few minutes, or was he pretending because he believed that Vivian didn't witness it?
"Do you take me for a fool?" Vivian asked coldly. She turned around and pointed at the broken bottle on the floor, the juice having stained the carpet. "I had specially arranged for a bottle of grape juice harvested from the personal vinery of a friend I have in the royal family in the Nordic regions to be flown over for this occasion, and asked Tian Xing to share it with his friends. And what did you do? You mocked him for bringing a single cheap bottle of low-grade fruit juice. Did you think I wouldn't hear you just because I was outside the ballroom when you were practically shouting at the top of your voice?"
She shook her head in disgust and folded her arms.
"And I didn't think I would see the day where juice personally brewed by a member of the Nordic royal family would be derided as 'low-grade' and 'cheap.' You really opened my eyes. I'll let Prince Haakon know. Actually, I already sent him a message regarding this." She held up her smartphone and waved it. "He's really passionate about the passion fruits that he grows in his backyard. I wonder how he'll react when he watches the video of you taking a bottle of the juice he personally brewed and smashing it in public. I can only hope this doesn't turn into an international issue, but Haakon isn't that petty. But even he will not let such a slight pass."
Hui Zhang turned absolutely pale and stumbled backward, trembling uncontrollably. Everyone in the ballroom was staring at him silently, while a few had the temerity to film and stream the entire thing online. I could already imagine the title of their recordings. Getting his face slapped or something along the lines of that.
"Oh, and thank you very much." Vivian turned to a stunned and silent Huang Xiang Jun before beaming brightly. "I'm glad you didn't choose Tian Xing. He is my soulmate, after all, and I would be troubled if you thought you could use him as a backup. Not that he would have confessed to you…I don't know why you had that idea. He even told you he didn't harbor any romantic feelings for you, didn't he? That's because he already has me."
…soulmate? But I decided to play along because it was hilarious seeing everybody's reactions. Huang Xiang Jun, in particular, looked like a ghost. I wouldn't be surprised if she fainted anytime now. She certainly appeared like she was about to keel over. Behind Vivian and me, our former schoolmates continued to chitter and whisper to each other.
"And she was so confident too…"
"Why was she so uppity? Did she think every guy will love her forever? It's been a known fact that she and Hui Zhang have been romantically involved for months now. Why wouldn't he have moved on?"
"Yeah! And he even found a much better girlfriend overseas!"
It wasn't as if Vivian was my girlfriend…never mind. Let's keep this farce up because it was fun slapping Hui Zhang and Huang Xiang Jun's faces.
"Hang on…"
This time, this was Liu Zhi Yong. He was staring at Vivian before returning his wide eyes in my direction, his mouth flapping open like a goldfish.
"W…what happened to that other beautiful lady? Your…your senior?"
"Yes? Are you looking for me?"
As one, the audience turned to stare at the entrance to the ballroom. Lin Xue was leaning against the doorframe, her arms folded and one foot raised against the hinge. She turned to glare at Liu Zhi Yong, who blinked and pointed wordlessly.
"Y…you…you are here too!"
"Of course." Lin Xue brushed her long hair back. "I'm serving as their chauffeur today. Did you think a princess like her highness Vivian wouldn't need someone to drive her around."
"P…princess?!"
There was an uproar in the ballroom as all the previous high school students were flustered upon hearing her made up identity. Then again, Vivian was technically a princess in the Holy Terran Empire. The Blade Dance Princess, but apparently, she had a noble status forty thousand years ago. There was no reason to revoke her nobility or whatever.
"Shall we go, the both of you?" Lin Xue spun her car keys with her fingers. I recognized the keys to the hi-tech company car that was pretty much Lin Xue's in all but name only. "The engine is still running."
"This can't be possible!" Hui Zhang raged. Lin Xue paused and turned to him, flashing her uniform jacket as she did so and displaying the emblem of Chao University.
"Oh, it's you. I recall you making some remarks about our Chao University for Special People. something about disabilities and special needs? A no-name university that you haven't heard of before? I don't blame you, but are you sure you don't know our university?"
"What are you talking about?" Hui Zhang snapped. Lin Xue smiled and pointed to the emblem on her uniform again, which was printed over her breast pocket in vivid lines of gold.
"I see. Perhaps you are not familiar with the name 'Chao University' because that's the shortened, bastardized form we use for our institution in the mainland for convenience's sake. But maybe you have heard of Caliban Chao University in the United Kingdom?"
"Caliban Chao University? The United Kingdom?" Hui Zhang blinked, but I could see recognition in his features. He looked visibly shaken, but he clamped his mouth shut, forcing himself to stay silent. "I don't…"
"Caliban Chao University?" Someone from the audience echoed. "You're kidding! Isn't it that UK university that's super prestigious and notorious for being super selective about their students?! They only accept students with special abilities! They are a privately funded institution that's attended by rich kids, nobles and royalty! I heard that they have their very own offshore island that's considered their private territory…that's where their university is located!"
"Ah, I know! The graduates of that university usually become global superstars!"
Whatever pride and dignity that Hui Zhang had were crumbling and he sank, visibly defeated. Lin Xue wasn't done, however. She smiled mercilessly and continued twisting the knife deeper.
"Oh, wait…Hui Zhang, was it? I remember you. Didn't you send an application to our Caliban Chao University? We received your Gao Kao grades last night, but I believe we also sent you an immediate rejection because you didn't fit the other non-academic requirements of our institution. Having you heard our renowned institution today, I'm glad we didn't accept your application. In fact, I've already shared the recording of your words with the director earlier."
She held up her smartphone and displayed a video call. An elderly man with a beard, mustache, glasses and a venerable expression was sitting at a desk and watching the situation impassively. He had a small smile as he brought up a bunch of documents that had Hui Zhang's photograph attached to it.
"We did suspect that your personality wouldn't be a good match for our college, but I am still glad that we had gotten to confirm it." He then nodded toward Lin Xue. "I suppose that's enough. I'm a little busy at the moment, so I'll hang up for now, but thanks for sending me video evidence."
"Not at all, Director." Lin Xue smirked as she tapped the red button to end the call. She turned to a shaking Hui Zhang who had fallen to his knees, and shrugged. "Hey, you did this to yourself. Don't be surprised if you're blacklisted from all the other European and Mei Country universities you applied to."
Hui Zhang began blubbering incoherently in a language that I had never heard of before. Okay, calling those blabbering a "language" was a bit of a stretch. The guy's mind had clearly shut down.
"Let's go," Lin Xue said flicking her car keys toward our direction. "I don't want to waste any more time here."
"Shall we?" Vivian took my elbow and allowed me to escort her out of the ballroom. As we followed Lin Xue to her hi-tech car, she leaned in to whisper to me. "Aren't you at least going to say goodbye to your friends?"
She was referring to Liu Zhi Yong. I closed my eyes and shook my head slightly. Even without looking back at him, I could picture his current position. Guilt and regret written all over his face, yet he was aware that he couldn't approach me now. If he tried to reach out and amend our friendship, I would totally lose all respect for him.
He wasn't so shameless that he would cling onto me like a parasite when he discovered my relationship with Vivian or the true identity of the university I was enrolling in right after he betrayed me to Hui Zhang's insidious schemes. I might have felt betrayed, but I still knew his character well enough to know he wasn't a total loss. Even so, I kept my eyes ahead.
"No need. I have new friends. Best to continue moving forward."
With that, we left my ex high school schoolmates behind to exit the hotel lobby and into the cool night.