Fan Fiction |
by sUm^MeR
~
“Is this yours?” he enquired.
She focused her eyes on his palm, barely clutching a clay eraser, which had been discolored from too much use.
“I saw it slipped down from there,” he pointed at her sling bag.
She stood there, with eyes locked to her eraser, mesmerized in a great disbelief that he would spot such a barely visible piece of shapeless clay on the ground, and even bother to pick it up and gave it back to her—who’s pretty much a stranger to him.
Nodding faintly, her fingers snatched the clay eraser from him, and for one mere second, she hesitated... , not knowing of what she should do to show a gratitude to a stranger. Should she make an eye contact first? Should she smile when saying thanks?
Luckily, he made everything easier by turning around and quickly left in silence even before she had a chance to sort out her mind.
She lifted up her head and smiled delightfully as her eyes locked to watch his back walking away.
“Thanks.” she whispered to him from afar, hoping that he received her silent gratitude.
While she was still staring at his backview, Xiao Zhu suddenly turned his head around and caught her frozen in her foolish smile. He quickly tapped Jay’s shoulder and whispered something on his ear with a giggle.
Jay responded by poking Xiao Zhu’s upper arm and shook his head as he exclaimed the word, “Pi lar ni. (you’re talking non sense)”
Hmm,... what were they talking about? she couldn’t help wondering.
Shortly after, his friends waved him goodbye and scurried ahead of him, letting him walking alone. Meanwhile, she was still standing there, at the exact position, staring blankly as though she was charmed by some magical spell to keep staring at his back figure.
It was when he suddenly turned his head around and caught her red in the hand, staring at him while smiling to herself, that the 'magical spell' finally broke.
She was startled and went red on the cheeks. Her eyes quickly fluttered to the ground like someone who’s frantically searching for her lost body part. She really felt like a total idiot.
Run Jo, before you make a fool out of yourself!
And without thinking twice, she ran away.
***
Weeks had passed, but her shadow seemed to have really disappeared from the basketball court. Tired, Jay finally decided to just forget about her. After all, he never really meant to know her in the first place if it wasn’t for those sketches.
But funny indeed,...
Just when he was thinking of forgetting her,
Fate decided to let them meet again...
It was the end of spring term, and the university planned to gather all second year students for camping during spring break. He wasn’t even interested to come along if Xiao Zhu didn’t beg him for a company. They've been friends since junior high, and Jay knew this “piggy” too well already. If he didn’t say yes immediately, Xiao Zhu would start making some stupid plans in order to make him join the trip.
Therefore, he agreed to him...
"With one condition, don't you dare to ignore me there!"
The moment he said this, Xiao Zhu jumped up and down excitedly and made a pledge that he would always stay close to him during the camping.
But it was quite stupid of him to believe in Xiao Zhu so easily. For what did he do the moment he spotted an empty seat beside Gillian, the prettiest girl in the university?
Now take a wild guess….
Right, he bopped enthusiastically like an energizer bunny and landed his rear beside her without feeling any tidbit of guilt.
What a bestfriend..., Jay thought bitterly.
“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be sitting with me?” Jay glared at XiaoZhu, while that piggy only stared back at him with a stupid grin. XiaoZhu clasped his hand, and mouthed the word ‘please’, pleading Jay to understand his situation.
Sighing exasperatedly, Jay shook his head and randomly took a seat beside some she-stranger.
Later on, he realized that perhaps he should thank Xiao Zhu for being a self-centered “little piggy” who liked to take advantage of his bestfriend…. because if that 'piggy' never forced him to come along or if he never selfishly chose to sit beside Gillian,
He might never find her.
***
At first, the main reason she went camping was because she knew Mr Jin was joining to supervise.
In the bus, she was saving the empty seat beside her, in a hope that Mr. Jin, would sit on it. But the whole plan was ruined when suddenly some male student dropped his ass beside her without even bothered to ask if the seat was already taken.
She was quite annoyed. Glaring at him didn’t seem to work since he was busy shooting murderous look to XiaoZhu. Exasperated, she heaved a loud sigh, hoping that she would notice her annoyance to have him sitting there.
He heard her sigh and turned around.
And there she found… Jay Chou, sitting next to her.
They were staring at each other for at least ten seconds, before he cocked one of his brows and sort of... smiled,
“Hey,” he greeted her and she was left dumbfounded, simply not knowing how to respond to his friendliness.
She pulled her lips into a faint smile and “hey” him back awkwardly. At that time, she had a chance to spread her view to everyone in the bus, and just realized that the girls were staring at her with.... envy.
This was what people called ironic.
All of other girls were saving their seat, hoping to have this Mr. Popular sitting next to them, while she, the only one who never wished him to sit beside her, was on the other hand, granted with this ‘luck’ to be stuck with him for the next three hours of travel time.
Three hours. It was surely too long for her to be sitting next to a stranger.
She felt extremely uncomfortable during the time. She was not the type of person who liked to initiate conversation, and also not the type that liked to sit next to a person in a complete silence like this. A little bit contradicting, huh? But hey, she never denied that she was a complicated person.
As one hour passed by, she felt herself started fidgeting—just like a smoker who was in serious need of her nicotine. She was never good at sitting still while doing nothing. Her fingers would become squirmy, as they longed to sketch something.
She quickly grabbed her sling bag to get her sketchbook and her drawing pencil out, when all of a sudden… she felt a slight tap on her shoulder. At first, she thought it was her hallucinating, but then she felt it for the second time. This time, it was much harder that she quickly turned her head to shoot him another glare.
However, she was unable to get angry. Instead, she felt like laughing.
The tap was apparently coming from his head, bumping into her shoulder as he was sleeping soundly like a baby. She nudged his head with her shoulder, but she still couldn't wake him up. His head kept falling back to her shoulder, as though it served as a fluffy cushion to him.
Great. not only he had stolen this empty seat, but now he had stolen her space by leaning on her shoulder.
She kept staring at his sleeping face, and she thought of something mischevious. His sleeping expression was so babyish cute and funny. When else would she ever get the chance to sketch Mr. Popular’s sleeping face other than right now?
She quickly flipped her sketchbook open and started making some random scratches with her pencil. It only took about ten minutes for her to finish the whole sketch. After some light touch-ups, she observed the sketch and smiled in satisfaction. She slipped her sketchbook back to her bag and slid the window open to let the breezing wind blowing through through face.
Smiling mischievously, she wondered what his reaction would be if he knew she exploited his sleeping face as her object of laughter.
***
Prickles. He felt prickles on his face.
That second, he was awakened from his sleep and tried to figure out what was happening. He opened his sleepy eyes, and his vision was covered by strands of dark brown hair blown by the wind that gusted through the bus window.
He was sitting still for a moment, indulged in the sweet smell of Freesia emanating from those strands of hair. It was such a bizarre feeling to sense some sort of tingles as this stranger’s hair dancing against his face.
He somehow... enjoyed it.
But he didn’t want to let this weird moment last longer, so he extended his arm behind her back and slid the window close without prior notice.
Her shoulder slightly jerked in shock, as she quickly turned to him. He was expecting to see her annoyed expression, but what he spotted was...
A smiling face...
“Zao (Morning),” she said with a restrained smile, as though she was trying not to laugh out loud.
“Xiao Shen Me (What are you smiling at)?” his forehead furrowed, shooting her a suspicious look.
“Mei you, ar (Nothing),” She shook her head and started chuckling. “Jiu Shi... Xing Qing Hen Hao (Just having a real good mood).”
Weird, he didn’t think there was anything funny that's worth a laugh, but watching her looking so cheery; a subtle smile had unconsciously crept up his face.
He somehow found her a little familiar.
“Have we met before?” he squinted in inquisitiveness. Two years in the university, they should’ve bumped into each other, shouldn’t they? Or was it him who never really paid attention?
“Maybe...” she shrugged with a secretive smile plastered on her face.
A maybe and a shrug? What did she mean by all those? Not that he’s over-confident, but he assumed all second year students usually knew who he was.
“Uhm, by the way, my name is...” he was about to introduce himself, when she suddenly cut off.
“Jay Chou,... zhi dao le (I already know).” She smirked, “Shui bu ren shi ni? (Who doesn’t know you)?”
He felt his ego soared so high over hearing her last sentence and he couldn’t help smiling.
“Well, do YOU have a name?”
Her smile faded a little when she bit her lower lip. She seemed hesitated to answer his question for a moment, but then... she pulled an uneasy smile across her face.
“Jo,”
“Jo?” he was a little suspicious. Her name sounded too uncommon for a girl, and the way she hesitated for a while... it all made him thought that she wasn’t telling him her real name... or was it just him who’s overly distrustful?
“Yes,... J-O... Jo.” She nodded with a childlike smile. “What? You don’t like my name?”
“Oh no..., it’s just...”
“Different? Unusual? Atypical?” She pulled her lips into a lopsided sneer. “That’s me.”
This girl barely talked at all, but when she talked... she sounded so arrogant and yet naive. She described herself as different, unusual, and atypical.
Perhaps, that’s what made him start to take a notice of her.
A girl as mysterious and as simple as her name....
Jo...
~
Zhi Yang de Tian Mi Rang Wo Kai Shi
(This kind of Sweetness Made me Start to...)
Xiang Xin Ming Yun Gan Xie Di Xin Yin Li
(Believe in Fate, Wanted to thank the world’s gravity...)
Rang Wo Peng Dao Ni
(To let me stumble upon you)
:: Ke Ai Nü Ren (Adorable Woman) ~ Jay Chou ::
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Posted :
09/25/04
Edited:
10/11/04