14 Chapter 14: A cupid emerged

"Are you sure you never saw me at Z University? Because I saw you – An An of the Short Skirt Group" Shen Jun Shan meant nothing by it. He was trying to trigger Qiao An's memories of the past.

Amy Shen attended a private University in City K, and Shen Jun Shan attended Z University. So, she did not know anything related to a group in Z University. "What group are you in An An? Are you in a girl group back in university day?"

Shen Jun Shan was eager to tell the story. "Back in our university, An was in a group called…"

Qiao An stood up abruptly and went over to Shen Jun Shan who was sitting the opposite of her. She took the cake from Shen Jun Shan's plate and shoved a mouthful of cake into his mouth. "Eat this. It's good" Then she continued pushing another spoonful of cake until Shen Jun Shan couldn't take it anymore.

Shen Jun Shan didn't get to chew his food, and Qiao An kept on stuffing the cake inside his mouth. He could only stare at Qiao An whose face a bit red. Was she embarrassed?

Qiao An ate the remaining cake from Shen Jun Shan's plate, and after everything was gone, she brought the plate to the sink.

Shen Jun Shan chewed the cake slowly with much difficulty and while his eyes were on Qiao An. Amy Shen looked at her brother with much curiosity. What had happened at university?

Qiao An came back a while later and put a glass of warm water in front of Shen Jun Shan. "That cursed name… Can we not talk about it? So embarrassing" Qiao An looked at Shen Jun Shan as if she'll pour the warm water to his face if he ever disagrees. Shen Jun Shan nodded his head, so Qiao An sat in her seat.

"My friends at Z University are pretty. Even now, they get even prettier. We always use a knee-length skirt to go lecture, and for some reason, people kept on calling us the Short Skirt Group. It wasn't even THAT short. Its only to this level" Qiao An pointed to her knee.

Qiao An continued telling the Shen siblings about her life in the university. She seemed happy to talk about the old times. The redness in Qiao Ans face earlier gradually fade as she told the Shen siblings about her life.

"You have a lot of admirers from my faculty. Do you know that? Even my good friends had a crush on you" Shen Jun Shan looked at the smiling woman in front of him. Indeed, it's true. Qiao An is more enchanting when she smiles.

Shen Jun Shan's heart seemed to beat faster than usual. Shen Jun Shan looked at his wristwatch. It's almost eight, but his heart refused to leave the house. He wanted to talk more with Qiao An.

So, all the talks about you… Is it true?" Shen Jun Shan mentioned all the things he heard about the Short Skirt Group and especially about Qiao An. Amy Shen looked bummed that her brothers tried to monopolise the conversation, but she was curious too, so she listened attentively.

"About Yee Ling and Su Na, it's all true. They were an expert in turning people off. Lei Xiao's fiance is a Taekwondo athlete, not Karate. About me, I don't have a bodybuilder boyfriend. He's just a fitness junkie at that time" Qiao An looked at the time. It was eight.

Shen Jun Shan got the clue. He was a bit disappointed but the figured out that he needed to leave. So, Shen Jun Shan excused himself and went out of the house.

"Jun Shan"

Suddenly, Shen Jun Shan heard his name being called by Qiao An. He stopped and turned around.

Qiao An was standing at the door with a small plate. On the plate was a slice of cake bigger than the previous one given to him. Qiao An held out the cake towards him.

"I'm sorry that I feed you cake forcefully just now. I don't mean to do that, but I'm not ready for you to reveal my past self to Amy. Please accept this cake as a token of apology" Qiao An waited for Shen Jun Shan to take the cake, but Shen Jun Shan did not have the intention to do so.

"Jun Shan, did you drive a Bumblebee in university?" Qiao An was hesitant to ask. "With a beautiful girl. She has long hair, and she can play the piano well?"

Shen Jun Shan nodded. He couldn't muster a word to answer Qiao An. He was enchanted by the fact that Qiao An called him 'Jun Shan'.

"I see" Qiao An paused. It seemed as if she wanted to ask more but opted not to do so. She pushed the cake in front of Shen Jun Shan and took his hand. Qiao An made Shen Jun Shan grabbed the plate. "Take this. Enjoy". Qiao An waved to him, smiled and then closed the door in Shen Jun Shan's face.

Shen Jun Shan looked at the cake on the plate in his hand. He was not really into sweets, but for some reason, he started to like cake. Qiao An grabbed his hand. So, were they close now? Normal friends of different gender don't touch each other's hand casually, right?

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The girls were in the middle of waiting for their nails to dry. Qiao An had a book opened in front of her and Amy looked at Qiao An while plotting something.

"An An, where are you going this Saturday? Are you free? I need your help" Amy had an idea.

Qiao An put her corner bookmark on the page she was currently reading. "I'm not free. Why?" Qiao An looked at Amy Shen. "But if you need help and it's urgent, I can consider helping".

Amy Shen saw the ray of hope for her being a cupid for once.

"You see… our company received an invitation to a charity dinner organised by Tang Properties. I was supposed to go there with my brother, but I have something very, very important to do that time. I can't tell you what it is for now, but my brother needs someone to accompany him to the dinner as his partner" Amy Shen put on a sad expression hoping that Qiao An will pity her.

"What a coincidence. I'm going there too. I guess Jun Shan, and I can go together" Qiao An did not think much about being the partner for Shen Jun Shan or not since she needed to be there with or without any partner.

Qiao An had been attending the charity dinner organised by her stepfather alone for the past years. Since she wanted to be anonymous, she rarely interacted with people. People thought of her as one of the guests and not the stepdaughter of the Tang Properties owner.

Just because Qiao An doesn't like to talk to people regularly, it did not mean that she wanted to be alone all the time. Surrounded by strangers, she didn't know made Qiao An felt extra lonely. Sometimes, Qiao An craved to talk to someone she knew so having Shen Jun Shan, someone she knew, will be her cure for her loneliness.

When Amy Shen told her brother that Qiao An would accompany him to the dinner, Shen Jun Shan had his suspicion. "Sis, don't do something unnecessary".

But Amy Shen didn't explain anything. She let Shen Jun Shan think whatever he wanted to.

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Six years ago.

Su Na was driving her old Toyota to the Faculty of Engineering, where they are going to sit for their Syntax paper. Qiao An sat beside her since she was the i-Navigator. Meanwhile, Lei Xiao and Yee Ling sat at the back

"My cousin told me something interesting last night" Yee Ling started talking all of a sudden. All eyes on her except for Su Na who had to drive safely but her eyes were looking at Yee Ling from the rearview mirror.

"My cousin is studying software engineering at the Faculty of Engineering. He told me that we are quite famous there. Guess what they call us."

Su Na, Lei Xiao and Qiao An tried to guess, but to no avail, all of them were wrong. Yee Ling had a broad smile on her face.

"We are called the Short Skirt Group. So tacky. But we are quite famous. No wonder people asked for my number. I thought they ask for my number because they want to invite me to join a pyramid scheme."

All of them had a hearty laughed. Su Na parked her car in one of the vacant parking spots. All of them went out of the car and walked towards the Building A where the cafeteria was.

All four of the girls were in their second year of university. They came to the Engineering faculty for a few times before this, so they knew the location of certain vital places like the cafeteria and classes.

"Ah, my idol!" Su Na shouted suddenly when she saw a yellow car coming towards their direction. "I begged my dad to give me a Bumblebee, but he gave me his old Toyota instead."

The other three looked at Su Na, the ungrateful child, before admiring the approaching yellow car themselves. The transformer was a hot stuff everyone's talking about. Having a Volkswagen Bettle in yellow would make him or her famous instantly.

"You know what people said? If you have a car, you will become attractive automatically. Like me? I'm the goddess here. You all are minor side concubines. And the owner of the Bumblebee is the majesty, my king. If he likes me, I am going to like him back ten times" Su Na took the lead as if she was the leader of the group.

"I guess you are too late, dear Imperial Concubine Su. The majesty is taken. That is our Empress" Qiao An pointed towards the car in a not-so-obvious way. Su Na -who was shocked, looked at the approaching car intently. From a distance, they could see a girl was sitting on the front passenger's seat.

The Bumblebee stopped not far from Su Na's old Toyota. The four girls turned around and pretended to walk towards the old Toyota.

A beautiful lady came out of the car. She had long black hair, and she had a beautiful smile. A handsome man came out of the vehicle as well.

"So… Chloe is our Empress. Let's give up" Yee Ling stopped them in their tracks. "We are no match for a sizzling hot babe like Chloe. Come, my friends. Let's head to the canteen to nurse our fragile concubine's heart".

Qiao An wanted to walk towards the direction of the cafeteria, but someone pulled her hand. Qiao An turned around.

"An An, isn't that the guy that you said you are familiar with last time? Is that his girlfriend?" Su Na still did not want to give up.

"He looked like someone from my previous school. That's all." Qiao An walked away before Su Na could ask her any more question.