My Beloved Model

"Beautiful!"

"You really surpassed your mother! If you were to dress up as a boy…"

"You'll surpass your father as well!"

"Hahaha!"

"Thank you, everyone." I love modelling.

Gasp!

Lan Ying's eyes snapped open. Her beautiful black eyes were filled with odium.

…

"I hate modelling," Lan Ying said coldly as she propped her chin onto the back of her hand.

"Why? Being a model is sooooo cooool~"

'The girls around me are acting like idiots' was what Lan Ying thought.

"Wasn't you a model before, Lan Ying?" a girl asked.

"I was," she replied, "...and I hated it."

"..." They all looked at Lan Ying as some pursed their lips. "Then why did you even model?"

Gazing off into space, Lan Ying said nothing. The girls were expecting an answer but Lan Ying's friend, Rong Yue shooed them off.

"Ying Ying, you still…" Rong Yue's voice trailed off as she saw Lan Ying's face became cold.

Ding Dong

"Yay~"

"Finally!

"School's over!"

Walking on the street, she questioned, "Ying Ying, I know you used to love modelling, why is it that you hate it now?"

Bluntly put, she parted her mouth to say: "Not just modelling. I loathe the whole entertainment industry."

Sitting on a chair at an outdoor cafe table, a young man with glasses was drinking coffee. Hearing the passing by girl's words, his ears twitched. Lifting his head, his gaze landed on Lan Ying. 'Loathe…'

Rong Yue said, "Why are you wearing glasses when you don't need them?"

The brows on Lan Ying's countenance quirked into a direction. Her face was saying: "Do you even need to ask?"

Sweat rolling down her forehead as she shook her head. "No no...hehe…"

She was wearing glasses to dim her outstanding visage that would attract a throng of badgering modelling companies.

"Oh, how is it going with your job?" Rong Yue queried curiously.

"Not so good."

"Hmm?" Raised her brows, she commented, "Did you got scolded again?"

Sighing, Lan Ying shook her head, "No, I didn't get scold"

"Then it's fine, isn't it?" Rong Yue said as she looked into one of the stores on the street. Signalling that she wanted to go into the place, the two girls went into the outdoor cafe.

On their way into the cafe, Lan Ying glanced at the place and responded with something that made Rong Yue speechless. "Yea, it's fine. I only got fired."

"..." The corner of Rong Yue's mouth twitched slightly. "What else are there that you can do without mess up and got fired!?"

Sitting down, she ordered a mocha frappuccino for herself and a matcha frappuccino for Lan Ying.

"...I don't know." Staring at the ground, Lan Ying said in a low voice.

The glasses young man was eavesdropping on their conversation in curiosity, even though it was an ill-mannered thing to do. But, it wasn't intentional either - they were sitting in the neighbouring table.

"So are you going to go search for another place to work?"

"Mm-hmm."

Lifting her head, Lan Ying saw on the big screen of a building an advertisement photo. There was a young female model beaming a pure school girl's smile. She was wearing top branch clothes, the style of teenage girls.

Noticing her friend's gaze, Rong Yue turned to see what Lan Ying was gazing at. "Isn't that Mu Qing?"

Lan Ying's eyes were swaying between contempt and acknowledgement. Mu Qing's smile improved but it was still giving her the impression of seeing a fake smile more than genuine. "Her smile is still hollow."

"Well, her career is to smile."

"But it still seemed too sham to me."

Rong Yue brushed the talk about the model off and changed the topic to her romance talks about boys. Lan Ying sat there and watched her friend blabbering about her love life. After chit-chatting, they split to go home.

"Bye."

Unbeknownst to her, Lan Ying was being followed as she was walking home. Passing by a few old apartments she arrived at her living place. The place wasn't looking too great.

Stepping to her door, Lan Ying saw a paper sticking to it. The paper said:

"You have not pay the rent for 3 months already. Pack your things and leave or they will be thrown out tomorrow."

"..." Guessed like she would need to sleep in some corner of the street or the park tonight...or more than just tonight. Opened the door, she walked inside with the paper in her hand.

Note: For some unknown reasons, he trailed her.

Looking at the door as it closed through his lensless glasses, the young man slightly smirked. His smirk was funny to look at as it seemed to say: Seriously?

"So this impoverished girl was their daughter, it seems."

…

Slumped herself onto a bench with her bag; Lan Ying wasn't wearing her school uniform anymore. If people wear to see her like this with a uniform on...it would be troublesome. 'Ugh...why is it that I can't do anything?'

All her jobs, she was fired for being too poor in skills or messing up the place by making a havoc.

Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind, close to her ear. "Hey-"

"Wahhhhhh~!"

Swiftly turned her head around to look. Lan Ying saw a guy wearing fake glasses was smiling at her. "Who are you?"

"Me?" he raised his brows and said smilingly, "I'm Zi Ming. Your new colleague."

"Huh?" she stared at the Zi Ming blankly. Colleague? Zi Ming, the actor that got the Best Performance Award!?

"You're in need of money, right?" Zi Ming went around and sat down on the bench. "A model's income is a lot."

Lan Ying examined the guy and looked away, "I have no interest in modelling."

Zi Ming: "Then acting?"

Lan Ying: "No."

Zi Ming: "Singing?"

Lan Ying: "No."

Zi Ming: "Hosting?"

Lan Ying: "No."

"..."

"Wait, what?" Her eyes widened as she turned her head to stare at him.

"Hosting, you know, the emcee." Zi Ming said.

"Uhm…" Lan Ying's right eyebrows jerked faintly. "No."

"Hahaha!" he laughed.

She watched him laugh with dazed eyes. 'Such a beautiful person exist…' Lan Ying forgot that she was one of those people, and she existed right now.

"Come on, just a few photo shoots." His laughter died down quite a bit. "Just enough for you to not sleep in the park."

"...Why is it that the famous actor, Zi Ming wasting his time talking to a homeless girl?" she asked as she looked at him with a peculiar gaze.

He stopped laughing and his line of sight drifted off to somewhere of the park. "Who knows?"

Lan Ying stared at him for a bit before she also turned to look at the trees while considering her choices. 'Well...not all companies are bad…' And, she needed money.

The wind blew, the trees swung back and fore, and the birds flew; the sounds were relaxing.

"Okay, I will be a model."