HIGHSCHOOL, 2012.
"You Called me ma?" LinYing stood right outside the teacher's office, a book in her hands and a smile on her face. She looked youthful in her high school attire along with her prettily done ponytail that danced behind her.
"Oh sure, Come in" The Lady who sat in her office offered.
LinYing walked into the office and approached the teacher who showed her some papers "Look" She started "His results are even worse than last time and they keep getting worse"
LinYing calmly looked at the terrible result paper bearing a familiar name.
"What am I going to do about him now? He won't even listen to me and I can't even get through his father as well. He's literally the opposite of you in everything, you're perfect and he... He has a lot of work to do. It'd be great if he was a little bit like you"
LinYing wasn't sure why their teacher had called to tell her her problems. But she listened anyways waiting for her to get to her point. And she did
"And recently I've heard that the two of you have gotten really close lately as seatmates. So I was wondering, if you could be his tutor" The teacher finally arrived at her point as LinYing glared at her in shock.
"Huh? Close? Tutor?"
Perhaps Only LinYing knew how Impossible that was going to be.
PRESENT, 2024.
The plates fell off her hands and shattered on the ground. She was pretty sure that She had grabbed enough attention from people in the restaurant. All eyes had fallen on her, people had begun mumbling over her clumsy mistakes.
It didn't take long before the owner of the restaurant where she Worked part-time stormed out to the open where she was "serving" food. He glared at her.
He was clearly angry and wasn't going to let it slide like that. "I'm sorry about the commotion, I'm sorry " He apologised to the crowd who were already looking. And then stared at her "Follow me"
She didn't pick up the pieces of shattered plates and scattered meals on the floor, but followed him into his office. She was pretty sure she knew what was coming next. Her fate was already sealed at this moment.
"You're fired "
She wasn't too shocked when she heard him say that after inviting her to his office. It was already high time he ran out of patience with her. And trying to excuse her clumsy mistakes of poorly serving the customers wasn't going to solve anything even though she had valid reasons.
She had misplaced orders, annoyed key customers and broke a couple of plates and stuff. She knew it was pretty unprofessional of her.
The owner had warned her for the umpteenth time. Yet She had proceeded to cause another mess. She was beyond redemption.
And at this point it wouldn't help matters explaining to him that she had 10 jobs to keep up with all day long, which had led to her fatigue and distractions. So she kindly accepted her fate as always and left.
She had lost another job today. Leaving her with 5.
*****
It hit Cheng LinYing at the age of 30 that the only thing that she had achieved in life was getting straight As in high school. That is if it could be counted as a life achievement
Struggling to get a job and make ends meet for herself and her family had become her reality at the age of 30. The once-promising nerdy high school who nailed all subjects in As and excelled in all academic fields, winning the hearts of all teachers, had ended up ' begging ' for jobs on the street.
It was a life that she never saw coming. One that she never thought would ever come her way. One that she believed was only reserved for lazy ones who didn't work hard enough to be the best out there. That had become the reality that she was holding onto. Because everything now depended on it.
******
It wasn't the first time she was fired from a job. Just that morning she was sacked from her previous work for almost burning down the restaurant. And the other she lost at a washing house for ruining a Key customer's suit.
But like always she'd always proceed to seek for more job openings to apply for. It was a Neverending cycle. Applying, working, getting sacked and applying again. For over a year now, It never ended.
And that was because she knew she had her parents at home. They had become her responsibility, and she knew she had to give them the best. Even though it'd break her apart someday, she had to work as though the world was ending tomorrow.
LinYing had decided to apply at a close by coffee Shop that needed a cashier. It was a pretty decent shop that offered a nice pay. Even though she wasn't sure she'd get it, there was no harm in trying. And so she headed towards the shop.
It was a fancy yellow coffee shop down the street. One that had it's colour catchy enough to bring anyone there for a sip every morning. No wonder it had people coming in and out at frequent intervals.
Pulling the door open to step in, LinYing had that one person stand before her. That one person she didn't wish to cross paths with anytime soon.
_He YuFen_
The two Ladies stood opposite each other. Staring at themselves in shock. LinYing knew who she was, and she obviously knew who LinYing was.
YuFen was a friend of LinYing back in high school. And they had parted ways for years after school. And this was pretty much their first meeting after LinYing had returned to the country. And having returned, she didn't wish to meet anyone she knew. Especially not someone like YuFen whom she was close to. She didn't have the courage to meet her again. And she didn't think she would have. But here she was, standing Opposite her.
YuFen was dressed in a chic manner. Classy cooperate dress and her hair tied backwards in a ponytail. She had her red heels to compliment lips. She was looking rich as she was. While LinYing who could clearly see the difference shrunk within herself.
She was as plain as possible. A casual green shirt, blue jeans and Snickers. Her long black hair was left loose. She wasn't on make-up.. she couldn't remember the last time she had one on..
"LinYing...." YuFen was the first to speak. She sounded excited, shocked and confused at the same time.
LinYing wanted to shrink away. She wanted to disappear, but it was pretty much too late.
"What are you doing here....?" YuFen asked further. "Weren't you In the US?"
LinYing had no answer to that. She just wanted to leave. And she did turn to leave. But YuFen ran to block her way.
"LinYing....what happened? Why are you here...why are you like this... What...?" She had lots of questions that she couldn't bring herself to comprehend.
LinYing didn't want to answer any of them. But she also couldn't bring herself to leave like that.
"Let's talk inside..." YuFen offered after noticing her reluctance to answer any of her questions.
= EXTRA SCENE =
LinYing sat close to the window of the bus that night while she looked out into the starry night. It was a beautiful scene before her. And for the first time in a few days she was going home to rest. She didn't have any night shifts to fill.
She turned on her phone as she casually scrolled through her phone. She had searched up BLUE SEA ENTERTAINMENT and stared at their CEO for a while. It was YuFen.
She scrolled through some photos of YuFen from a company event she had attended recently. And found herself subconsciously smiling. It was better this way, observing from afar without any intention of meeting her anytime soon.
The bus had stopped at a stop and she casually looked out the window. The advertisement board by the bus stop had caught her attention. It was the face of a familiar guy she knew.
The face of Gu ShenMing whom the world now considers as one of the top Idols in the industry. The same ShenMing she knew was her Nemesis in Highschool.