"You're late," growled Bai Long Qiang as I hurried into biology. He stood up and let me get into the seat closest to the window.
"I am," I agreed. "Apparently, your fiancé is worried that I might develop feelings for you," I continued with a smirk as I quickly got my work out of my bag.
The teacher was now discussing the correct ways to make slides, and his back was to the classroom as he quickly wrote on the board. The smell of onions in the room was almost overpowering, and I knew exactly what we were going to be working with when it came to making our own slides.
I wrinkled my nose, but otherwise, I quickly got to copying things down.
"Fiancé?" demanded Bai Long Qiang under his breath as he gave me his undivided attention. "I don't have a fiancé."
"Then you might want to inform Ye Mei Hui about that. She seems to think that after a little talk with the Elders, you will be locked up for her. Something about the wedding happening after you come back from basic training."
I was trying to be nonchalant about it, but I was having a hard time keeping my pencil steady.
Taking in a deep breath, I closed my eyes in order to calm myself down. In either body, Bai Long Qiang was not suitable. Whether I was ten years older than him or he was nine years older than me, it was wrong.
So why did it hurt so much to think that he had a fiancé out there, one who clearly hated me?
"I don't have to worry about that," he assured me, taking my hand that was gripping the pencil. "We don't do arranged marriages in our family."
I scoffed at that idea, trying to push down the little bit of hope and joy in my chest at his words.
"I have come to the realization that most people who go to this school will be arranged with someone else," I rebutted. And it was true. There were more girls engaged in my classes than there were not. It was almost like the feudal era was still alive and well in the upper-crust families of Country K.
"Not us. The Bai family is special. Not a single one of us has had an arranged marriage for the past 130 years. In fact, there was only one time where it had happened, and both were so miserable the wife ended up killing her husband before killing herself. We don't do well in arranged marriages."
I looked at him from the corner of my eye, wondering why his words meant so much.
I hadn't had a boyfriend back in Canada… back in my previous life…, and I was pretty sure that I was asexual. I would much rather be at work, learning a language, or writing a journal article than go out on a date.
Hell, even cutting out one of my eyeballs seemed more enjoyable than that.
So why was I so upset at the idea this boy beside me belonged to someone else?
I shook my head, pushing the thoughts and feelings to the back of my mind while I concentrated on the teacher.
I wasn't lying when I said that I had too much to do before I even considered dating… I wasn't looking for a boyfriend. But maybe a boy who was a friend was just what the doctor ordered.
----
For the most part, the biology teacher was my favorite teacher, hands down. He made the subject fun and engaging, and I could have spent the entire day just listening to him speak.
But there were other times that I just had to shake my head.
Like now. The teacher, in his infinite wisdom, had given each and every member of the class a scalpel in order to be able to cut a thin enough section of the onion for our slides.
I love scalpels; in fact, I don't think I have ever felt so calm and in control since I woke up in this world until this moment.
But it was a surgical tool, not something for 15-year-old jocks to be play-fighting with. Seriously, there were two guys in the back row who were using them like swords, dueling it out.
I turned to Bai Long Qiang and saw that he was holding it like he would a regular knife, his entire hand wrapped around the thin handle as he tried to saw his way through the bulb.
"You are doing it wrong," I huffed, gently taking the knife away from him before he could get hurt… or hurt someone else.
"It's a knife; how am I doing it wrong?" he asked, turning his attention to me and how I was holding the scalpel.
"A scalpel is much more than just a knife. It can be the difference between life and death," I explained. I held up my hand so he could see it. "This is what is referred to as an overhand grip. As you can see, my index finger is located on the spine of the blade. This allows me to put more pressure on the scalpel."
I quickly sliced off a thin section of the onion in front of me, refusing to cry at the sulfur released.
"The blade is detachable, so too much pressure might cause it to snap, leading to injury." I held up the scalpel and showed him where it was attached to the handle. I quickly made another incision, and another sliver of onion fell off and onto our table.
"There is also a pencil grip for when you need to be more delicate, but you shouldn't have to worry about that until we get to dissecting frogs. If we even do that here." I changed my grip and let him see that, too.
"Okay, let's see if I got this," he said, picking up the 11 blade and holding it in an overhand grip. "Like this?" he asked, turning to look at me.
"Perfect," I nodded.
----
The rest of the day went smoothly, and I said goodbye to Bai Long Qiang from the top of the steps leading to the visitor parking lot.
I hadn't seen Dad's car, so I decided to walk down and wait for him in the parking lot itself. There were a lot of older trees offering shade, and I needed some fresh air to get rid of the onion smell that seemed to cling to me.
I hopped down the steps and made my way toward the back section of the lot. Hopefully, Dad would be able to see me here just fine.
I put my bag down by my feet and leaned against a tree, thinking about today.
I never even knew that someone had come up behind me until I felt my head explode, and darkness swallowed me up.