12 A Lousy Friend

For the most part, she had been successful with her choice of avoiding Hua Zhao. He also seemed to have given up and hadn't approached her at all for the entire day. 

"Well, that was good…" She mumbled to herself as she took her seat in the front row. 

It seemed like everybody around her was conversing with one another, especially with their professor running late. 

But she was alright.

Chan Lee really didn't need somebody befriending her out of pity. Now that she assessed things today, she had Mei to be her friend.

That was good.

It was a blessing.

After the morning run, they had a meal together at the cafeteria and chatted about a variety of things. It was different, far different from hanging out with Xue or Han Jing. She felt her lips twitch into a smile. She had appreciated Mei's presence until now—

A certain individual plopped down beside her without a word. Not a single query of whether or not the seat was taken—nobody did—just sitting down.

She recognized him immediately. "A-ah, it's you." She blurted out, it was the man she had bumped into during the jog earlier.

The man turned to her with a brow raised but nodded, "Indeed." He then looked away and said nothing else.

She stared at him unsurely. 'Why are you sitting with me? There are other seats around the other rows?' She wanted to ask why…but she didn't want to be seen as presumptuous that he sat here because of her. If you looked at things right now, it was clear that he didn't want to talk to her.

But what if he was just shy? "Are you a transferee?" She asked.

"Hmm…" He let her question hang in the air for a couple of moments. "Yes, I am."

"That's nice," Chan Lee smiled. "That's why I haven't seen you before." Despite the number of students in the university, someone like him would have clearly stood out. Even right now, she could feel the gaze of onlookers on his back.

"Well I have..." His low voice brought her attention back to him. "Seen you."

She blinked. "W-what?"

"At the morning jog earlier, I've seen you." He chuckled.

Chan Lee managed a smile, "Right." He joked quite lamely, it was a bit of a letdown from what she assumed to be a cold, handsome man. Now he appeared to be a bit of a quiet but odd man. But people had their eccentricities.

"An interesting caricature by the way." 

"Excuse me?"

He motioned to her neck. Chan Lee reached for her pendant, touching the cold stone. "O-oh this, well it's a trinket that somebody got me from the market. So it isn't special or anything, but I like it."

Yes she really did like it. Even though the person who had given it to her made her feel uneasy… it was a nice gift. And it was a waste to not use it nor was she someone who'd throw it away.

"I see." 

He didn't say anything else, and for the first time in what seemed to be forever. She was the one who was more eager to continue this conversation. "I'm Chan Lee by the way, who are you?"

"Call me Kit."

"Are you a foreigner by some chance?" She continued in what now felt to be a barrage of questions on a man who probably preferred that she stayed silent.

She knew that look on his face, it was something she was too familiar with. His short replies were an easy indicator as well of a man who'd prefer to be left alone.

He raised a brow at her. "Hmm?"

"Your hair color looks quite natural." She felt her cheeks heat up, she couldn't hold her tongue. It was as if she wanted to converse with this attractive stranger and couldn't look away. But if she has to be honest, it wasn't his broad shoulders or handsome face that mesmerized her. It was his hair. 

"It is." He answered as he pushed back some of it behind an ear. The majority of his hair was pulled up into a lazy bun, but the fringes framed his face and accentuated his jaw. She had never seen someone with such luxurious hair...

She felt her lips tug up, "Oh that's—" 

"Good evening class!" Their professor bursted from the front door and into the classroom. "Apologies for being late, let's start immediately!" The magic in the air dissipating as their conversation was brought to a screeching halt.

The man, Kit, immediately turned away from her to pay attention to their teacher now in front.

He was probably relieved with this.

She knew she had been asking a bit too invasive questions to a stranger she had just met today. She felt a wave of disappointment washed over her.

It was probably because he was quiet and she wanted him to open up a bit.

...And probably because he did look handsome. She massaged her forehead, was she really shallow? 

The lecture proved to be some kind of challenge.

Concentrating was a difficult task and it was because of the man beside her. He was… distracting to say the least. He hadn't been loud or anything of that sort, quiet even. But he had that intensity around him that kept her feeling...nervous? Shy?

Though if she were to be honest, everybody else had been eyeing him too while the teacher didn't even bat an eye with a new student popping up.

It was probably because their professor didn't bother memorizing their names or faces.

After a gruesome hour, the lecture soon came to an end as their teacher dismissed them. People soon woke up and the classroom soon filled with the  hubbub of students eager to leave.

Kit was one of them, standing up before she could even say a word. "Do send my regards to my old friend."

"Oh sure…" She nodded until his words were processed. "W-what? I don't know what you're trying to say. Is that an idiomatic expression? A slang?" 

Finally a smile broke out of the man's blank features, "I think you know very well who I mean. It's that lousy rabbit, Miss Human."

"R-rabbit?" She choked.

His eyes glinted at her, "I'll take my leave." The man soon strolled away. 

She stood frozen before his figure soon disappeared with the sea of students. Electricity soon coursed through her veins as she managed to take a step forward. She needed to—

"Chan Lee!" Zhao's voice rang throughout the room, his footsteps stopping behind her. "What did that man say? Are you okay?" 

She stayed silent for a moment before turning to look at Zhao. He had been several rows in the back but immediately crossed over to her side… he really was an idiot. She noticed the look of one of his companions. A pretty girl with long hair and fair skin, she didn't know her name—but she didn't look happy.

"Lee? Are you alright?" He waved a hand on her face. "Are you petrified?"

She swatted his hand away, "It's funny that you only decided to talk to me now that some other guy approached me?" She wasn't making any sense, it shouldn't be a big deal to her. Who cared if this man ignored her.

"You're making it sound weird, Lee." Zhao scratched the back of his neck, averting their gaze.

"Why are you worrying about me? He only talked to me briefly." She should be running after that Kit by now or heading back to Xue. But here she was, acting like some girlfriend berating her boyfriend.

"He… he's just a bit odd. Like creepy. I don't like him." He muttered glumly.

"Now there's no need to be judging about other people." She scolded him despite her racing heartbeats. The rabbit? How did that man know the rabbit? He had called her human, as if he wasn't—an old friend of the rabbit. An old friend of Xue.

They must have been like a thousand years old.

"My bad, I thought he was making you uncomfortable." Zhao spoke up again, distracting her from her thoughts. "So I wanted to make sure you were okay, even though last night…"

"It wasn't as uncomfortable like that." She muttered and shook her head. Why did that Kit leave? If his name was even actually Kit. Not that it mattered. Who called an old friend lousy? Why didn't they want to see Xue? 

"What?"

"I didn't mean it." How did he even know? "I need to get home now," She stared at Zhao, not really sure why she was even saying that. She was delaying each moment she hung around with him. 

"Okay, I'll see you." He nodded.

A few seconds passed between them.

"R-right." She grabbed her things and scampered out the room, pushing through people in the halls. Had she been waiting for him to say he wanted to accompany her? She didn't have any time for this.