1 1.A New 'Tomodachi'

"Please God, please help me today..." was his everyday prayer.

Every day before entering the uni building, Mark made sure to pray to god, wishing not to meet Gu Ren, the only hooligan of the school. Today was another ordinary day, like any other day.

How did he land in this situation?

No one knows.

Being a Half American-Indian boy, Mark had spent most of his childhood in America. He had come to China in hopes of studying in a good college. Keeping the Indian economic mentality at bay, his father chose a college that would provide him with the best scholarship, but this had come with a large price to pay.

Not knowing Mandarin, he had trouble to find good places to eat, to buy books or even his groceries...

Besides that, he was a victim of bullying at college. Mark had many factors to become subjected to bullying. He was overweight, had a very timid outward appearance but most of all, he was not 'beautiful' like his other classmates. With all that in place, he was successful in grabbing the attention of the uni's only hooligan, Gu Ren a.k.a 'The Boss'.

Today was an unusual day when his prayers were interrupted by a passerby.

A boy, about his age, passed by him. His movement was swift and momentary, but Mark's eyes stood fixated upon him. His raven black hair flew along the breeze. His arms were gleaming through his half-sleeved shirt. His eyes were a perfect shade of brown, which reminded him of his favorite mocha. His mind was brimming with emotions, not of joy, as you'd expect but with anger.

MARK HATED BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!

Not only hated but despised them. He knew that beautiful people could get anything on the tips of their fingers. All they had to do was flip their hair and all girls would swoon over them.

Suddenly, his focus was snapped by the oncoming danger.

"Hey, fat brownie...where are you off to?" Gu Ren yelled across the hallway, proceeding towards him.

"Umm...I am off to class...I have...umm work to do."Mark stuttered, bowing his head. His heart-rate was increasing. Beads of sweat began to form around his temples.

"What about today's share of bullying? Do you want it now or after class?"He asked, pushing Mark to the wall. Mark had no stamina to speak. He stressed his throat to the best of its ability and spoke up.

"Can you do it after class? I have many people's notes to complete."

Sensing danger, Mark tried to run off but his sprinting was nothing compared to title-winning athletes.

The Boss grabbed him by the nape of his neck."Where are you running off to brown bear? You actually thought I was gonna listen to you?"

By this time he was completely surrounded by agile and strong people who had blood-shot eyes. Mark decided to shut his eyes and leave everything to god.

"What are you trying to do? Move out of my way, Bakayarou!"Mark heard an angelic voice.

"Where is our Japanese geisha going off to?" the boss asked.

"I am heading somewhere you can't go to." He replied."Now move away before I take action."

"Well, you can if you want to."The boss replied.

All the while his eyes were shut, he trusted his sense of hearing. He could constantly hear the air being slashed as perfect fist-punches landed upon its targets.

Not long after, Mark heard the sound of people groaning in pain. He thought he might have caused trouble to the stranger.

"I am really sorry for all the trouble I caused. Are you fine? Did they hit you badly?"

"Everything is fine here." The person said with assurance.

He opened his eyes. The sight was worth to behold. In front of him, laid defeated delinquents and among them, stood the beautiful human. There were countless bruises on his gleaming arm. His hair was dripping with sweat. He seemed more beautiful than before. His long arm stretched out towards Mark.

Mark felt confused. He got up and rushed past the beautiful human. He ran across the building, dashing people along the way, finally stopping at the school terrace.

From the terrace, he looked down at the beautiful human, who was fazed and was trying to comprehend what happened a minute ago. He saw something gleaming and picked it.

"it's my ring!" Mark exclaimed as he saw the stranger pick up his ring. "It's my family's only souvenir I was safeguarded to and I could not even protect it ."I am actually very stupid"!

"Anyway, why did I even run? I had not committed a mistake and on top of that I lost the family ring...how stupid of me? but why did the stranger help me?"He thought to himself.

Truly a question to be asked. Before today, many people saw Mark's state but no one helped him. They passed by the place as if nothing happened and ignored the situation. If so, then why did this stranger go out of his way and help him? Could this beautiful human become Mark's very first friend?