14 The Answer: It Remains Unknown

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Around twelve years ago, Yu Yan was sixteen.

When Yu Yan was ten, her mother had fled. Most of the protagonists in the transmigration novels that she read either had crappy families, none at all, or the occasional loving family that was always used against them / never seen again after the first chapter.

She didn't remember much about Ruan Lifei.

Hazy features, perhaps, and the odd remembrance of a self-preservationist statement, but Yu Yan wasn't good with faces. She could describe them, but if she didn't see them every day, it was hard to recall them.

Her mother had been the reason why Yu Yan had grown up the way she had: most people would call the current Yu Yan either a cynic or a practicalist, depending on whether they belonged to the former and latter.

Real life and fantasy were always different.

Real life was a shtty place, but Yu Yan had more or less accepted it.

Yu Yan had monetary support from Yu Yiming, so her life had been comfortable.

Sixteen years of being a rich heiress. Pretty, rich, and intelligent. Yu Yan had it all.

Except family of course, but she considered her current life satisfactory.

'Ah.'

The long limousine she had been riding in screeched to a halt.

School.

"Driver Lin, could you pick up some cake from the bakery and send it to the bungalow ah? The Orchard one? I'm staying there tonight," she said casually, slipping her phone into her uniform pocket.

Her chauffeur nodded. There was no need to ask which bakery, or which cake. After spending a long time with Yu Yan, he had already been accustomed to her likings.

"Alright. I'll ask Tang-jie to move your supplies."

"Okay. Thanks."

Contrary to popular belief, not all rich children were spoiled brats. Most of them were pampered, but Yu Yan had met more than a few decent ones. However, there was a certain hierarchy among them in the school she attended. If it was organized into a pyramid, Yu Yan would be lingering around the upper-second tier.

The first tier belonged to those deeply rooted in old money - as long as Yu Yan kept her head down, and didn't attract much attention, there wouldn't be any problems. Besides, although Yu Yan came from new money, Yu Enterprises was influential. Those 'ranked' below her usually didn't bother her, too.

Of course, Singapore had a fairly conservative society, but some youths were starting to have more liberal beliefs, like Yu Yan herself. However, crimes like assault and harassment among minors were prevalent. Yu Yan stepped in when she could, but she couldn't see everything that happened behind closed doors.

If she was religious, she would've prayed for those in the lower tiers.

Stepping into the school, Yu Yan unravelled her earphone strings and popped them into her ears.

"Ttogbalo bwa What's the situation~"

Silently humming along with the song, Yu Yan walked towards her first classroom. The school was fairly lax with most rules, since it was home to rich children, so as long as Yu Yan's grades didn't drop, there wouldn't be anything wrong.

Just as she was about to enter the classroom, she felt a shoulder bump into her.

Annoyed, Yu Yan plucked her earphones out and turned towards the figure who had brushed shoulders with her. He looked around fifteen, with wide eyes and long eyelashes.

'Tch.'

The classroom lull quieted. Even if Yu Yan kept to herself most of the time, she was still a second-tier heiress. That meant if she got angered, it would be messy.

"Uh, he doesn't understand Chinese, he's from Ko-" one of the youth's friends spoke up, but was interrupted by an elbow, and a whisper. "That's the Yu Yan, Ah-Li, Wooseok should handle it by myself, we can't go against the Yus…"

Yu Yan recognized the friends as third-fourth tier families.

'Aiii. I'm not even that notorious…'

Wooseok looked around, evidently confused.

But apparently he had offended someone that couldn't be offended.

"Sor-"

"What's your name?" Yu Yan said in fluent Korean.

She had entered an international school expecting communication from those with different nations, so she had learned a bit of the basics, and more.

The youth blinked, and his friends looked surprised.

"Kim Wooseok," he answered.

Yu Yan paused.

"Be careful next time," was her only reply. Cold, and brisk.

Kim Wooseok blinked again, and looked thankful, responding with a bow.

"Thank you very much," he replied, gratefully, "sorry again."

Yu Yan waved him off, and took a seat just as the chattering returned to the classroom. Most of the people here craved fights and arguments like they were watching dramas. All of them were forced to wear uniforms, but piercings and the occasional bracelet were considered alright. As such, many of them contorted their arms in unusual angles to show off their latest purchased piece.

Usually, Yu Yan was in a window seat near the back row, but today she saw the usually-empty seat next to her occupied...by another student. He looked new, with smooth pale skin and curved yet sharp features. Dark hair covered stone-like eyes, which contained a trace of mirth. Like a statue that could, surprisingly, move at times. An impassive, beautiful statue that was staring at her. Yu Yan could hear him muttering to himself.

"Blue? Huh. Strange."

Yu Yan's mouth quirked out of its own volition as she tilted her head.

He was still staring.

He had no accessories that could suggest his status, but it wasn't if Yu Yan would treat him any differently either way. Yu Yan moved towards her seat, took out her earphones, and was about to sit when the statue moved his lips.

"You have nice music taste."

A melodious voice. Low, yet high. A contradiction, of sorts.

He was referring to the song display flashing on the screen of Yu Yan's phone, where she'd forgotten to pause autoplay. An obscure song, yet one of Yu Yan's favorites.

The lull quieted down once again. Yu Yan could practically feel the eyes of various sixteen-year-olds boring into her back, waiting to see her reaction.

'Snakes, the whole lot of them…'

"Thanks," she replied, not letting any particular emotion show on her face except a small smile. After sitting down, she put one of her earphones back in, and, after cleaning it with a tissue in case he was a germaphobe, offered the other bud to the statue.

Slight surprise could be seen in his eyes, but he accepted, and, after the class saw there wasn't going to be any face-slapping today, returned to their activities.

He outstretched a hand towards Yu Yan.

Surprisingly, the hand was like porcelain, with long, thin fingers belonging to the label Yu Yan had named 'artist hands.' Piano players, painters, musicians in general, really, or typists, tended to have those delicate, yet strong hands. Yu Yan accepted, slipping her own into his. She, too, had artist hands, from occasionally piano playing. His hand was dry, yet warm.

"Zhao Renjun," he offered.

Yu Yan smiled.

"Yu Yan."

After exchanging a meaningful conversation, and song recommendations, Yu Yan had found somewhat of a friend. The teacher had introduced him as a potential idol trainee, to which Yu Yan was surprised. She'd pegged him as more of the art type, but she could see how his graceful limbs would be suited for dancing, and his voice for singing.

"Renjun's grown up with music," the teacher had added, to which Zhao Renjun had reacted. It was tiny, but Yu Yan could see his shoulders stiffened.

'Ah. So he isn't doing what he wants to?' Yu Yan guessed.

Pity was something Yu Yan didn't dish out easily. To her, it was basically condemning someone to their situation. Understanding, or at least attempting to, was something she could do. And Yu Yan understood being forced or groomed to take a mantle or do something unwillingly.

The rest of the day, Zhao Renjun and Yu Yan had bonded, in a weird way.

She had questioned him, "You look like the type of person who does art. Why are you doing music?"

"I dabble in both," was his stoic reply.

It was evident he didn't want her to press further, so she didn't.

They had eaten lunch together, and had faced trouble together.

When Yu Yan had placed a bit of her chicken in Renjun's lunch box, his vegetable-filled diet dishes looking almost forlorn, she had heard a voice.

"Ah, Yanyan, haven't you only met him for a day?"

Yu Yan sighed internally.

Everyone had at least that one annoying person you can't get rid of no matter what, that leech who keeps sticking to your ankle stubbornly...for Yu Yan, that leech was Liu Yaxi.

Yu Yan could tolerate the fact that Liu Yaxi mooched off her even though Liu Corporation was almost as big as Yu Enterprises and pretty well-off. Hell, she could even tolerate Liu Yaxi name-dropping every sentence in their one-sided conversations, or picking on the other girls in her class. As long as it didn't cross Yu Yan's lines, she really didn't give a sht.

But what she despised about the leech named Yaxi was that she pretended to be a good person.

That was what she hated.

Yu Yan could be blunt. She could be two-faced, deceitful, cold, teasing, selfish, or playful, and sometimes all at once. But she never thought herself a good person. Her moral lines and zones were all things she had established to keep herself sane, or her definition of 'human,' in a sense. She felt that it was something she had to do. But never in her life did she think of herself as 'good.'

The one pet peeve she had was when people acted superior to others simply because they saw themselves as 'good.'

Liu Yaxi was one of those people.

Innocent-eyed, the girl continued, "He might be a bad person ah. You should be careful, Yanyan. Some of the new kids, they might not be like me…"

Zhao Renjun blinked.

Yu Yan smiled, knowing what she was implying.

Tilting her head, she put on a fake friendly tone, "Oh, Yaxi, Renjun's parents are one of Yu Enterprises' business partners. I met him a few months ago, but he just recently transferred here, so don't worry."

'Got you.'

If Liu Yaxi pressed further, that would mean indirectly questioning the validity of Yu Enterprises. She wasn't stupid, so the leech backed off.

"Alright then, Yanyan." She looked somewhat hurt, even though Yu Yan knew the leech knew exactly what she was doing. The leech had labeled herself one of Yu Yan's closest friends - even though Yu Yan had no real ones. In private, Yu Yan had heard Liu Yaxi justify to herself all the deeds she had done, as if it made her any better.

"Alright then." Yu Yan blinked. "Goodbye."

Ignoring her, Yu Yan continued placing another piece of chicken on Zhao Renjun's lettuce. Albeit childishly, she arranged them in the form of a smile. After she heard Liu Yaxi's reluctant footsteps, Yu Yan relaxed.

"I can't eat too much fatty meat," the statue said after a while.

Yu Yan pouted. "It's only three strips lah, shouldn't be any problem. It's from one of the best restaurants in the city."

The statue frowned slightly, but continued eating.

A comfortable silence.

Even though they had only met each other for a day, Yu Yan felt a connection. It was as if they had known each other for years.

"She called you YanYan?" He finally asked.

Yu Yan joked, "would you like to call me YanYan then? Or Ah-Yan? Or 'Yan'er, the light of my life'?"

Zhao Renjun didn't reply, only placing lettuce on top of Yu Yan's meat.

"You have too many faces," he responded, stonily.

"What, do you want me to revert back to my Ice Queen one?" she asked, teasing, just as she chewed the lettuce.

The statue met Yu Yan's eyes, and said, lightly, "Aren't they all you?"

As if Yu Yan had been struck by lightning, she widened her eyes, surprised.

'Aren't they...all you?'

At sixteen, Yu Yan's two-facedness had been what helped her survive. Sometimes the maids that were employed, the chauffeurs, the nannies, even the butlers, were all watching her every move.

'Aren't they all you?'

Several of them were employed by her relatives, who had paid them to report her weaknesses. So, she had painstakingly crafted and put on many masks, so many that the young Yu Yan didn't even know who was behind it.

'Aren't they all you?'

It was a mechanism designed to both survive and cope, something that had gradually become a part of her personality?

But 'aren't they all you' had opened up another train of thought, a train that Yu Yan made a mental note to follow later.

"I guess so," she said simply, after a period of ruminating over his sentence.

After school had ended, she had waved goodbye.

Yu Yan had planned to ask him to go to a small restaurant the next day, but when she had arrived, he was gone. Apparently, the school hadn't been a good fit for him.

She had been a bit hurt.

Being abandoned yet again was another pang in her heart.

But Yu Yan wasn't stupid enough to go chasing after a stranger, in the name of true friendship or anything like that. Perhaps, in the future, if she saw him again, she would contact him; but a small day in a sixteen-year-old's life wasn't worth it.

She would likely never meet him again.

Or so she thought.