Night always came too fast. It was only seven but the sun was already completely gone from the sky. Arlan quickly put on his only jacket and slipped on his sneakers. He was a little late but that was because he had taken a nap and didn't set an alarm.
Why was the International Dorm building so far away from the building again? They were literally at the edge of the mountain that the school occupied. He groaned as he prepared to run uphill all the way to the other side of the campus. By the time that he jogged to the cafeteria's entrance he was already tired. He was actually used to walking long distances and running through mountains, but that doesn't mean he wanted to. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb89w5QQ6Sb
Arlan opened his phone and saw that it was right on time, but Wei-Ting wasn't there yet. So, he rushed for nothing? A little upset, he put his hands in his pockets and huffed. He thought he was running late but here was Wei-Ting not showing up at all.
"If you think I'm late I'm not."
He really should get used to all these scares. He really should, otherwise he might end up getting wheeled into a hospital. On his death tab would literally be: scared to death. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aMpuMeSnt
After jumping away from Wei-Ting, who was actually hiding at the back waiting for his arrival and the perfect time to scare him, Arlan pressed his fist to his heart and tried to get it to calm down. "Please, please, please stop doing that! It's not funny!" 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXonGJQXkpf
Wei-Ting finished laughing and wiped away a stray tear from his eyes. "Sorry, sorry! I couldn't help it!"
Arlan clicked his tongue and gave a small glare. People like this really annoyed him. At some point in their lives they might end up causing harm to people just because they thought an idea was funny. They'd call him too serious, but it was just a fact. They should be cautious otherwise they might cause an accidental death.
Wei-Ting stopped smiling when he noticed that Arlan wasn't laughing along with him. "Hey, I'm sorry. I won't do it again." he took a step closer and tried to place a hand on his shoulder, but Arlan, out of reflex, avoided it. The blue-haired boy's eyes widened by a fraction at the action.
Arlan cursed. Now it looks like he was sulking and just had bad manners! he really didn't mean to! He just didn't like being touched by people he wasn't comfortable with.
"S-sorry too..." he apologized quickly. "Aren't we here to eat? Let's go." dang it. Now things were awkward. He probably lost a lot of brownie points already. He was even the one that was going to pay for the food! Bad manners, Arlan! Bad!634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmAPwGkPZd
However, Wei-Ting didn't seem to mind it anymore and gave him a bright smile. "Sure! What do you want to eat?"
The two of them enter the cafeteria, a huge space filled with so many options you wouldn't know where to even start picking. It was dinner time so it was packed. However, it shouldn't be too hard to find two seats since everyone wanted to sit in big groups with all of their friends. Two seats seemed kind of lonely and only reserved for couples so most of the time it was empty.
"I'll eat anything!" Arlan exclaimed, eyes sparkling as they scanned the entire cafeteria.
With a laugh, Wei-ting nodded and said, "Okay. I'll go get us our food. You stay here and keep our seats occupied."
Arlan nodded, and with a wave, Wei-Ting went away to get food. Thank goodness he didn't have to get it himself. He was still in the middle of learning his Mandarin so he would definitely struggle trying to order something. Maybe Wei-Ting knew that and took the liberty of ordering for the both of them. Who knows. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf5UmwLwbQg
He was about to get his phone out so he could scroll through SNS while waiting, when he noticed that a group of Taiwanese students were quickly approaching him. One person from the group, a short girl waved hi and started speaking.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2Z8rOi5B2
In Chinese.
She was speaking too fast! He was sure he heard a word or two that he already studied, but she was speaking so fast he didn't have time to have everything processed in his head!
"I'm sorry," flustered, Arlan held up both of his hands in a timid gesture, "I don't know how to speaking Mandarin." goodness. Didn't he learn that phrase just a while ago? He literally took notes about it, even a deconstruction of the grammar structure! Why was it leaving him the moment that he needed it the most!?
The girl paused and starting laughing softly. She looked back at her group of friends, which consisted of mostly girls and started talking to them. It looked as if she was commenting on his behavior or explaining something. Arlan was afraid that it meant something weird. He couldn't understand anything!
Arlan looked around for any sign of Wei-Ting but he still wasn't near. He didn't know how to deal with these people and it didn't look like they were leaving any time soon.
Another girl sat at the seat that Wei-Ting was supposed to sit in and spoke to him again in Mandarin, but he still couldn't understand. It looked like they were teasing him. Can't they understand that he didn't speak their language fluently yet? Or were they doing this because he couldn't understand. He was starting to feel annoyed.
"I really don't understand what you guys are saying..." he tried to say.
Then, the other girl paused and nodded. Her eyes firm. "You're english good!" she tried to say. Oh, so she could understand him a little bit at least.
However, just when he was starting to feel relieved, the voice of the person he was looking for sounded from just behind him. This time though he wasn't that scared. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWMLWMcz6aU
Wei-Ting gently placed the tray of food intended or Arlan in front of him, but dropped his own tray harshly in front of the girl who was sitting in his seat. This shocked her into looking up at the blue-haired man.
At that point Arlan was just purely impressed with Wei-Ting speaking. It didn't sound like Mandarin though. Perhaps it was the local dialect? So he was able to speak three languages. Wow, that was something. But, there was something wrong with the tone that he was using when speaking to the girls. If he didn't know any better he would say that it sounded like he was speaking to the in a rude way. Maybe it was just the way they pronounced their words?
After Wei-Ting spoke, the girls got up looking annoyed and left with a huff. Arlan felt a drop of sweat drip down from his forehead. He really hoped that he didn't say anything that insulted them. It didn't look like they meant him any harm when they were talking to him. They even complimented his English. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSdrIux0eun
"What did you say to them?" he asked while accepting the chopsticks that Wei-Ting was offering him with a smile.
"Oh, nothing much. I told them that we were going to eat now and they should probably find their own table because they wouldn't be able to fit here." Wei-Ting sat down comfortable and separated his wooden chopsticks so that he could start chewing on the noodles that he bought.
Okay, maybe it would be best not to inquire further. Arlan focused his attention to something more important: the food. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBA09LxpOn7
Wei-Ting really knew how to pick! On his tray was a sizzling steak with vegetables at the side, two sausages, and a sunny-side up egg! It was a full course. Although, he was disappointed with the lack of rice, but it was still delicious either way! For his drink, he got bubble-tea.
"You see like the type who wouldn't like a lot of sugar in his bubble-tea so I got the lowest amount of sugar." Wei-Ting's words were a little muffled because he was talking while munching on his noodles, but Arlan could understand either way.
"You're guess was right. I don't like sweet things all that much." with sparkling eyes, Arlan begins to do dig in immediately without any delay.
The whole time that Arlan was eating, sometimes fast and sometimes slowly, Wei-Ting was watching him calmly while eating his noodles and occasionally sipping on his sprite. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡscvzIQ1bIN
"I guess I chose right with the food too. It looks like you like it."
"I do! It tastes delicious!" Arlan tried to eat slowly so that he would be able to taste the flavor more and savor it, but he couldn't control himself and sometimes would start eating faster. "It would taste a lot more delicious though if there was rice."634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFux2XZFYUZ
"Oh?"
"Yeah. In my country we always ate rice. Rice was everywhere..." Arlan swallowed and looked up as if in serious thought. "I thought that there would be lots of rice here too since it was a country in Asia, but I was shocked when I saw that rice wasn't always on the menu."
Wei-Ting laughed and then slurped on the remains of his gigantic bowl of noodles. "I should get you something that has rice on it next time then"634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZTQsCneBS
Arlan paused and looked at the other. So there was going to be a next time? That means that Wei-Ting expected the two of them to hang out together again. That was a good thing. He didn't take what he did just before entering the cafeteria to heart and forgot about it. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANwaVZfuUK
"Arlan, what's your favorite food?" Wei-Ting suddenly asked out of the blue as he set his empty bowl aside so he could sip on his sprite slowly.
Swallowing the last remains of the egg, Arlan licked his lips to get the stray sauce and answered, "My favorite food is called sinigang."
Wei-Ting blinked at the unfamiliar name. "What's that?"
"It's a delicacy from my country! It's very delicious! It tastes so sour that it makes you shiver! The soup is the best part! Then the vegetables and meat mixed into the pot is what completes it! I can't describe it to you completely." Arlan took another bite of the steak and said, "How about you, what's your favorite food?" 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCKyvwsA36
The taller man shrugged. "I don't have one. I eat whatever." what a bland answer. Almost everyone had a favorite food, and if they didn't have one the usual reason would usually be because they couldn't choose among all the good foods that were available. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfpu5hZphg
After Arlan finished eating his food, like Wei-Ting, he took to sipping on his bubble-tea slowly.
"Sinigang must be super yummy if you like it more than steak."
Arlan nodded furiously and said with fierce eyes, "It's one of the best food ever. If you every visit my country you definitely have to eat it!" he sighed and began to daydream. "When my mother or my grandmother makes sinigang it's absolutely heavenly. They make the best ones. They don't use the fast food packs to make the soup taste like it is and use the original ingredients! So much love is filled in the sinigang that they make." Arlan really wanted to eat sinigang again. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnhN3DKULjX
He really wanted to see his family again too.
Wei-Ting noticed the change in his mood. "You should let me taste sinigang someday. So I can understand what you're talking about."
"I know the ingredients for it so I can cook a batch for you!" but then he bit his lip and looked uncertain. "I don't think I would make it taste as good as how my mother and grandmother makes it though..."
"It's okay. I'm sure it'll still be delicious." Wei-Ting smiled and sipped the last remains of his sprite.
With that topic over, the two of them continued chatting away for the rest of the night about the most random topics.
Arlan found out that Wei-Ting dyed his hair blue because he was bored. A very strange reason to start dying your hair, but he accepted it anyway. He also learned that Wei-Ting wasn't a morning person, but he he suspects that's because he doesn't get much sleep in the first place. Wei-Ting also likes the color yellow, or in his words, gold.
When it was time for the cafeteria to close and Arlan had already finished drinking his bubble-tea, Wei-Ting offered to walk him back to the international dorm.
"You really don't have to... the dorm is way on the other end of the campus." Arlan said embarrassed. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1fZYwvVb8
"Nah, it's okay. This way our conversation will be able to last longer."
A soft smile came upon the shorter's lips. Wei-Ting probably has a girlfriend. It wouldn't be a surprise. He has a way with words and he wasn't that bad looking either.
"Maybe I should dye my hair too." Arlan said to make a topic for their conversation.
Wei-Ting raised a brow. "Do you want to dye your hair? Why do you want to start dying it so suddenly?"
"Well, it's not like dying your hair is forbidden here. Also, a lot of people seems to like doing it. You dyed your hair too, so I want to maybe try it?"
With his hands in his pockets, Wei-Ting took big, slow steps forward with his long legs. "You don't have to dye your hair if you don't really want to you." he glanced at him from the corner of his eyes and said, "Your hair already looks good as it is."
With that sudden compliment, Arlan wasn't sure what to answer. He could only turn slightly red. It was already dark so he was sure it wouldn't be clear. So, he decided to change the topic. "So, you know I live in the international student's dorm. How about you? Where's your dorm room?"
"I live up there." Wei-Ting pointed at the building that was at the very top of the mountain. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrX3WangBCi
That building... was the most expensive dorm room offered by the university.
"You live there!?" Arlan was shocked! He didn't expect that he would meet someone who was actually living there.
"It's not much though. I have the enter dorm to myself, but it gets kind of lonely." not much? You can't even call it a dorm anymore! It's a flat that the school rents out to students. One student can get one flat each as long as they pay for it. Wei-Ting's family must be very well-off if they are able to afford something like that!634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZllWjdv7Bn
While Arlan was busy calculating all the expenses one would need in order to survive will renting that flat, he didn't realize that the two of them had already arrived at the international student's dorm building gate. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGIAuHOeamj
"We're here. I guess this is goodbye then." Wei-Ting said while rubbing the back of his neck. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlsykFtABGl
Arlan blinked and snapped out of his trance, the numbers leaving his head. "Oh yeah. Bye bye." he dug into his pocket for the card to open the gate and gave Wei-Ting a short wave goodbye. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiGHFlnktyX
The wind was already cold enough as it is, and it felt as if the air was wet with dewdrops. Even the ground looked like it was rained on even though there was no sign of a single drop of water. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMigOOvBH4
"Good luck on your first day as a college student tomorrow." Oh right. It was the first day of school tomorrow. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡecwvyTFRG4
Remember to always give everyone a smile. That's my secret!634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgOOYGu1N6
His mother's voice rang through his head, and fond memories came flooding in. Arlan looked Wei-Ting in the eyes and made sure to give him the brightest smile he could offer. "Thanks, Wei-Ting. Thank you for the food too. Let's eat together again sometime!" 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gBwvLF2to
It wasn't a second later when the other returned his smile with one of his own. "Yes! We should!" 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkp7V5YwWA0
With one more final wave, the two of them separated. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8btmVaBXO
Arlan closed the door behind him as he entered the dorm room. His dorm mates hadn't shown up yet. Maybe they were outside partying or something since it was their last day of freedom. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqFJNbMySQa
He sat down on his desk and turned on his desk light. In one day he had created a friend. That was a good thing, and it was a friend who spoke Mandarin too. Maybe the next time he meets Wei-Ting he could get him to teach him more, or at least let him practice speaking Mandarin with him. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYykJfEc0ci
Come to think of it, did the two of them ever exchanged SNS? 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrV0r6oHIv
Nope, they didn't. Right now, Arlan didn't have any means of communicating with Wei-Ting. Who knew when the next time they would be able to meet would be. Would he have to wait for another coincidence before he go to see Wei-Ting again? Well, he didn't have to worry about that. At least he knew what department he was in. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2aEHJNMK3L
Let fate be the one to give them another food trip.634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxv3Qlosg9l
Not that he was just thinking about the food or anything, no, that was absurd. Hahahahahahahahah. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMkdiAhvoc
It was one of the things. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxmBog1Ugl
Getting rid of other unnecessary thoughts, Arlan took out his backpack and began preparing for the day that would come tomorrow. He was scared and excited at the same time. He didn't know what to expect. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRGvSXsXyk
All he knew that right now he was ready to fight for anything! He will study hard and make sure that he would be able to keep his scholarship up. 634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9CJLyCSwbU
He can do this!634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjbJ4PnGCU
634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJY2EcPe6AY
A/N:634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfFFxbOfFjp
I can't believe that I made 3k words in less than two hours. The writing gods were surely with me. It was to make up for the 7k words that I fell behind on, I guess. Now I only have write 4k. Turning into 6k tomorrow... Goodness, I should really keep writing!634Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrAHkyz1E4g
