A soft breeze blew by as he scaled the roof to watch the sunset and sat in eep thoughts 'A new town, a new school, a new life.... I just hope I'll be able to hide my past from everyone here and I'll finally get a friend. The sun is becoming as dim as my soul.. I hope-'
"Linlin" A voice beckoned from below
He snapped out of his thoughts as he quickly climbed down while answering "I'm coming!"
When he got down, he patted the dust on his clothes and rushed into the house towards the dining table
A young girl with shoulder length bright ginger hair and dark brown eyes in an oversized hoodie and jean shorts was sitting on the table. She saw him and got up to sit on a chair "Where did you disappear to again?"
Qilin replied while changing to his indoor slippers "Nowhere, was just outside. Where's Dad?"
Yilao shrugged and picked one of the cookies in the middle of the table "He's the one cooking. He wanted to"
Qilin stood rooted to the spot in shock 'Why would Yilao let Dad cook again??'
She continued munching on the cookie "I know what you're thinking but it's not my fault the person who was supposed to be in the kitchen was outside doing who-knows-what and I was upstairs washing my hair so Dad took the opportunity to lock himself in the kitchen and make "food""
Qilin sighed and brought out his phone "So what do you want?"
Yilao tapped a finger on her chin "We're in a foreign country now so I have always wanted to try their pizza and add some enchiladas"
Qilin clicked it in "Okay, Yilao, Pizza and enchiladas. Me, Honey glazed ham and Hot chocolate, Mac and cheese, Jerk chicken and Licorice. Then for Dad, Dumplings and octopus noodles"
Yilao excitedly tapped the table "I want hot chocolate too!"
Qilin included it "Hot chocolate for Yilao too and the delivery will be here in twenty minutes"
Yilao glanced at the closed door of the kitchen and took another cookie "Dad definitely wouldn't be done by then, he needs another thirty minutes to finish almost burning down the kitchen"
Qilin sat down "We'll just wait for him even if the delivery does arrive before then"
Yilao squinted her eyes at Qilin and he raised an eyebrow "What? Can't wait ten minutes?"
Yilao replied "You know, if not for your naturally slim body, you wouldn't even be able to fit through the door anymore with your foodie lifestyle"
Qilin shrugged and took a cookie "Wow, lucky me"
Twenty five minutes later, the delivery guy arrived and Yilao collected it while Qilin paid the guy then closed the door
Yilao opened the package and assigned everyone's portions "The delivery guy took a while"
Qilin said "Five minutes is mild, these delivery guys aren't robots okay?"
Yilao nodded "Fine, I heard you. Can you go call Dad now, I'm hungry"
Qilin went to knock on the kitchen door "Dad, enough experimenting, we already ordered food and Yilao's hungry so come on out, let's eat"
The door opened and smoke seeped into the dining but Yilao was already aware as she wore a thick facemask to cover her nose and mouth
Qilin pinched his nose and watched as a man with black hair with a tint of gray and dark brown eyes step out of the kitchen coughing "I didn't burn anything, the soup dried up"
Qilin nodded "It's fine, I'll clean it up later. Food first"
Yanghu took off the apron and cleaned himself before approaching the dinning table "Hey, Xiaolao"
Yilao took off the nose mask and sniffed the air "Dad, you would be a really good cook if you knew how to cook"
Yanghu smiled as Qilin came to join them "Thank you Xiaolao"
Qilin started eating his ham as Yanghu asked "So, Linlin, which high school did you pick?"
Yilao pouted "Dad, you've mixed it up again! I'm the one starting high school, Linlin's starting college, okay?"
Yanghu held his forehead "Sorry, kiddos, my mind's just not up to it anymore"
Qilin said "It's alright, Dad. Yilao's is going to Summer Crest High School which is a ten minute cycling distance from home. I'm not going to be living on campus but my college is a bit far from here so I have to take the subway which is a twenty minute ride. We picked schools not far from home"
Yanghu nodded "My workplace is an hour and a twenty minutes away by bus. Will you guys be able to fit in?"
Qilin replied as Yilao was already munching on the pizza "Yilao would easily fit in since her friend Molly is here and they still keep in touch"
Yanghu exclaimed "Oh Molly Chan who moved here when Lao'er was still eight. She must be a big girl now. We should say hi to her parents sometime. Is their place far from here?"
Qilin nodded "It is an hour away from here by bus"
Yanghu sighed "Oh maybe some other time then. What about you? Will you be okay?"
At this question, even Yilao looked up with worry while Qilin waved his hand "I'll be fine, no one knows me here so nothing will happen"
Yilao said "Linlin, just be careful okay? I don't want you to go through that again"
Yanghu nodded "What your little sister said was right, I worry about that too"
Qilin looked at the ceiling and sighed 'Everything will be fine, right?'
The next week Monday, Yilao came down the stairs with her bag on her shoulder as she combed her hair then went to the entrance to wear her sneakers only to notice that no one was downstairs yet and looked at the time
Yilao held her forehead in exasperation as she yelled "Twenty minutes after seven and my school starts by eight, Dad has to be at work by nine and Linlin should already be on the subway by now! Am I the only one who wakes up early in this house!?"
Yanghu came rushing down the stairs with a crooked tie and a bed head then Yilao said "Dad adjust your tie and your hair. Where is Linlin?"
Yanghu replied as he adjusted his tie "Washing up"
Yilao rolled her eyes "He will never hurry up even if he was late. Linlin and his morning routine"
Yanghu smiled wryly as he looked in the mirror and fixed his hair "You know how your brother is, he cares more about his looks than anything else and it isn't his fault"
Yilao raised an eyebrow "I'm the girl"
Yanghu replied "He's older"
Yilao yelled at the stairs "I do hope you get married to a rich CEO so you could literally live in comfort!"
Qilin yelled back "I don't care!!"
Yanghu smiled at their bickering as Yilao yelled "Just get down here already or we'll leave you!"
Qilin yelled back "Everybody's got their own keys so why you guys still waiting!!"
Yilao stomped her feet "If we leave we know you won't go to school till afternoon or maybe not go at all!"
Qilin rolled his eyes as he gently brushed his hair while still in his towel "Fine, I'm almost done"
Yilao sighed in exasperation and Yanghu patted her head "Everything's gonna be fine"
Yilao shook her head and said "Linlin! Dad's gonna be late if you don't get down here in less than ten minutes!"
Ten minutes later, Qilin finally came down the stairs in a cream coloured hoodie with a bear imprint and black fitted jeans
Qilin was about to wear his cream sandals when Yanghu stopped him "Everyone's gonna know if you dress like this"
Qilin realized and pouted in frustration "But this is how I dress, guys dress like this here too, they won't know"
Yilao said "Then don't wear sandals, wear sneakers"
Qilin looked for a blue one to match the bear "All good?"
Yilao shook her head "Where did you even get a purple schoolbag? And it is a two strap type? Why?? Also most boys don't carry a schoolbag to college unless they're a geek and Linlin, we all know you ain't and besides that schoolbag looks like a girl's own"
Qilin replied "I purchased it online because it looked pretty okay"
Yilao collected it from him and took out his phone, house keys, a pen and a notebook "That's all you need"
Qilin gasped "What about my makeup kit, my slippers in case my feet get tired, my face cap if the sun is too hot, my scarf in case it's windy, my gloves in case I have to pick up something dirty or hot, my handkerchief to wipe the chair before I sit down, my-"
Yilao held a hand up "Okay enough, I don't want to know any more about the silly contents of your bag. We're all gonna be late if we keep standing here all day. Also, Linlin, act more manly at school please like just put on the face when you're seriously angry"
Qilin took a deep breath "I'll try"
Yilao added as she opened the door "Speak less too! Your feminine voice comes out when you talk too much. Do not walk like a model"
At Yilao's school, Yilao met Molly in the hallway and both reunited happily then Molly told her about the school, their classmates and all other stuff needed for her to get used to the school
At Qilin's school, his first class was by ten so he headed off to complete his registration, he finished around thirty minutes after nine so he decided to get something to eat at the cafeteria before heading off to the lecture hall
He was deeply focusing on the map so he wouldn't get lost when someone suddenly ran past and accidentally bumped against which threw him off balance and he fell on his butt "Ow!"
Qilin could almost start crying 'I didn't bring my handkerchief and my sanitizer. My butt hurts and my hand has touch the bare ground. So unfair'
As he was about to get up, someone coming from his front asked "Need some help?"
Qilin wanted to look up but thought against it 'No, from the angle he is standing, the sun is shining from behind his head so if I look up, I'll have to look up at the sun which would hurt my eyes and my sun shade glasses are not here so.'
Qilin stood up on his own and dusted his trousers and his hand too "Thanks for the offer-"
The guy asked "You just be new here?"
Qilin raised his head to look at the guy with curly strawberry blonde hair and crimson red eyes in a black knitted sweater and black corporate plans who stood at a height of 173cm 'Why do I suddenly feel so short?'
[Qilin is 160cm tall]
Qilin held his forehead and mumbled "I am short"
The guy asked "Am I bothering you?"
Qilin shook his head as he looked at the time realizing he won't be able to get food before class anymore "No but I have a class now"
Qilin looked at the cafeteria and sighed then walked away quickly
The blonde guy looked at the cafeteria behind him and the dejected boy walking away as fast as he could then raised an eyebrow
Another guy with a light brown wolf cut and black eyes wearing an orange sleeveless jacket with black ripped jeans standing at a height of 167cm tapped the blonde guy's shoulder "Devon, what are you doing standing here instead of chasing the woman of your dreams?"
Devon replied "Luke, that was a boy though"
Luke scratched his head awkwardly "But he looks like a girl from behind though. I mean, look at that fluffy black purple hair, his brown eyes have a little sparkle to it too. Everything about him makes him seem like a girl"
Devon rolled his eyes "Still a boy though"
Luke grinned "What if he is actually a girl pretending to be a boy so as to not attract attention?"
Devon squinted his eyes and said "Luke, order a takeout now"
Luke looked at him in confusion "We already ate today"
Devon smirked "I have my reasons"
Luke caught on and excitedly went into the cafeteria
Qilin got to his class on time and sat somewhere in the third row, he looked around and there weren't even up to fifty people in the class then he glanced at the time on his phone 'this is already five minutes after ten, the lecturer isn't here and I thought there were like a hundred and something offering this same course so there should be about two hundred people here but this is unexpected'
A few minutes later, the lecturer came in and started the lecture then within thirty minutes, the lecture hall was almost full but Qilin didn't notice as he was listening to the lecturer
After the lecturer left and people started leaving, Qilin finally raised his head 'Oh? When did all these people arrive?'
The girl with dark blue hair tied up in a ponytail reaching her back and black eyes dressed in a blue short sleeve crop top and white fluffy petticoat skirt with a probable height of 157cm beside him tapped him on the shoulder "I have been curious since the beginning of the lecture, are you a girl or a boy?"
Her friend beside her with shoulder length ginger orange hair and blue eyes wearing glasses dressed in a black short sleeve blouse and a blue jean cargo skirt with a probable height of 162cm pulled her hair "You weren't even here from the beginning of the lecture now stop bothering another student and let's go eat, Gaeul"
Ga Eul held her hair and dragged it back from her friend "Maddie, stop pulling my hair though, it's not fair. I was just asking a question"
Qilin was puzzled by the two but snapped out of it and replied "I'm a boy"
Madison was astounded and excitedly said "But you're so pretty, you're not American, are you?"
Qilin smiled slightly "No, I'm Chinese. We moved here a week ago"
Ga Eul butted in "What's your name? I'm Yeong Ga Eul and this is Madison Bells. You can call me Gaeul and her Maddie"
Qilin replied "My name is Fang Qilin but people call me Qilin or Linlin"
Ga Eul happily said "Linlin, nice to meet you"
Madison asked "What's your skincare routine?"
Qilin was shocked "How did you know I have a skincare routine?"
Ga Eul giggled "She's an expert in these stuff"
Madison knocked her head "Says the person whose parents own a skincare product company. You didn't listen to Uncle and Aunt when they tried to teach you"
Qilin asked curiously "You two are related?"
Madison nodded "We're cousins. Our Mothers are sisters in the same age range so they got married the same time"
Ga Eul said with fervour "My English name is Autumn. Do you have one?"
Qilin shook his head and Madison said "It's the translation of your Chinese name not including your surname"
Ga Eul brought out her teddy bear iPad "I'll search it up... Err, there it is"
Madison and Qilin leaned in to see what she found as Ga Eul read it out "Qilin means a mythological beast blah blah blah... Ahh this is it, It is Kirin in English"
Madison scrunched up her face "Kirin isn't a name of a person. It's an ancient beast. Gaeul, search up Linlin instead"
Gaeul searched that up and read it out " Linlin means Beauty of a tinkling bell? Heh, Linlin, your English name is Beauty"
Madison smiled with glee "It suits you so well"
Ga Eul excitedly asked "Can we call you Beauty?"
Qilin wanted to be called that but then remembered and shook his head "No people will see me as a girl"
Madison nodded "That's true though. He already looks like a girl and if we go around calling him that. No one would believe that he's a boy unless he strips"
Ga Eul sighed in dejection "But it would be a good fit"
Madison and Qilin looked at each other then Qilin said "I'm hungry though, didn't eat anything since morning"
Madison got the idea "Damn, that lecture was for a whole two hours and we have another by two. If we don't go eat now, we'll never get any food till evening"
At the mention of food, Ga Eul jumped out of her seat "Let's go have some food!!"
So the three of them headed towards the cafeteria together and when they entered, Qilin was mesmerized by the different sections on the passage
Madison chuckled when she saw Qilin's expression and explained "There are a variety of meals to choose from, Fast Food, Brunch, Desserts, Vegetarian, Meat lovers-"
Ga Eul excitedly ran to a shop named Shimmer Shine "And Candied Fruits"