2 Chapter 2: Dinner

Qiao An thought that she wouldn't be seeing the siblings a lot, but she was wrong. Since that day, Qiao An will be seeing them a lot.

It was Monday, and Qiao An came out of the house to go to work. She is working as an English teacher in one of the high school in City L. When she went down to the first floor; she saw the closed door of D1006, so Qiao An walked calmly.

Qiao An was an awkward person when it comes to a stranger. Every day before she went down, she was hoping that nobody will come out of their houses. If they did, then Qiao An needs to smile to them, and she was not very good in social interaction.

Qiao An was genuinely happy until she heard the knob turning. She wanted to run down the stairs, but before she gets to do that, Amy Shen came out from the house and greeted her.

"Hi, Qiao An. Good morning. Are you going to work?" Amy Shen is always a bundle of sunshine. Qiao An aspired to be this kind of person, but she is just hopeless.

"Yes," Qiao An didn't know what to say or whether she should explain more.

"Where are you working? Our workplace might be close. We could have lunch together" Amy Shen was so adamant about hanging out with Qiao An.

Qiao An wanted to say that she doesn't want to have lunch outside of her school, but she didn't say that out loud. "In YY High School. You?"

Amy Shen was slightly disappointed. Qiao An didn't know why, but suddenly she feels terrible for making someone's disappointed.

"My brother and I…" Amy Shen was talking when Shen Jun Shan came out from the house, so she paused and pointed at her brother. "My brother and I opened a small construction firm here. Our office is in the middle of the town. That would be half an hour away from your workplace. What are you teaching?"

Qiao An didn't feel like continuing the conversation. Without realising, she kept on looking at her watch. Qiao An is very particular about her time. She was trying so hard to keep a very ordered existence of things in her life.

Shen Jun Shan noticed that Qiao An kept on looking at her watch.

"Let's go down. Qiao An needs to go to work. Why are you delaying her?" Shen Jun Shan gave his sister a disapproving look. He knew that his sister was friendly, but she shouldn't make people late to work.

Upon arriving at the parking garage, Shen Jun Shan realised that his car and Qiao An's car were parked side by side. When he and his sister came yesterday, he saw an unfamiliar vehicle parked in the parking lot beside his.

It was nothing actually, but he was curious as of who is the owner of the car with a lot of Pokemon plushies inside?

The three of them were about to enter their car when Amy suddenly invited Qiao An for dinner.

"Qiao An, let's have dinner at my house together later today. We can catch up with each other. It will be fun."

Qiao An did not manage to say anything in reply to Amy Shen because right after she invited Qiao An, she waved her goodbye and entered Shen Jun Shan's car.

Qiao An entered her car too. She was quite troubled about the invitation. She didn't want to go, but since she did not manage to decline, she felt as if she was obliged to go. While driving to YY High School, Qiao An kept on thinking about how she could get away from that.

For that, Qiao An even asked her students on how to decline people's invitation politely as not to hurt their feeling. Her students laugh at her reasoning as they knew that their teacher was a socially awkward person towards a stranger.

While on her way back from work, Qiao An decided that she will pretend to forget about the invitation. She smiled and patted her shoulder. She felt that she was so smart.

But things will not always go her ways. While she was on her way up, she could see that the door to D1006 was ajar. So, Qiao An tried to tiptoe and walked pass the door silently, but her high-heels click-clack down the stairs just now gave her away.

Amy Shen came out of the house. She was smiling happily at Qiao An. "I'm afraid that you will forget about our dinner. I didn't get your phone number so I couldn't call you. I left the door ajar so that I can catch you outside. Come inside".

Now that Qiao An had nowhere to run, she had to have dinner with Amy Shen. She smiled politely and entered the house. Up until this point, Qiao An was still thinking of how to get away from that situation. Qiao An was thinking that maybe she could go back to her house, saying that she wanted to change her clothes and then pretending that she was asleep or something.

Amy Shen asked Qiao An to sit on the sofa, and Qiao An obediently sits down much to her annoyance of herself. Shen Jun Shan came and hesitated before sitting down on the chairs the opposite of Qiao An.

Shen Jun Shan is the same as his sister. They can make friend easily. He noticed that Qiao An seemed awkward, so he tried to make her comfortable by chatting.

"What subject are you teaching at YY High School?" Shen Jun Shan was truly curious about Qiao An. He heard a lot about Qiao An from his sister.

"English" Qiao An's answer was simple.

"Wow! You must be very good with words. I'm just curious. Is reading your hobby?" Shen Jun Shan knew some people who studied language back in his university days and they all have one similarity – their hobby is reading or anything related to art.

Upon hearing the word reading, Qiao An perked up and nodded her head enthusiastically. "Yes, how do you know?"

Since yesterday, Shen Jun Shan realised that Qiao An never replied by using more than three words. Now she was using five words to speak to him, Shen Jun Shan felt quite amazed. They talked for a moment until Amy Shen called them up for dinner.

When Amy Shen saw both Qiao An and her brother came to the dining table, Qiao An looked happier than when she entered their house. Amy Shen wondered why.

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Ten years ago.

Amy Shen was huffing and puffing when she entered her house. Her brother behind her was curious.

"Why are you so furious? Someone talked bad about you?" Shen Jun Shan flopped on the sofa next to his sister.

"I got 88, the highest mark in my class for mathematics" Amy Shen took out her test paper from her bag and showed it to her brother.

"Wow! That's great. But why are you unhappy?" Shen Jun Shan was one of the top 10 students for his grade too, and he knew that 88 was quite high.

"You know how Mrs Wong is also teaching class 1, right? Qiao An got 95. Ugh… Why is she so smart? I really want to ask her about her tips for studying"

Shen Jun Shan was trying to recall about the girl named Qiao An. He heard the name a few times uttered by his junior, but he didn't know how she looked like.

"Then go ask her. The end of the problem" Shen Jun Shan stood up walked to the kitchen when he heard his sister sighed loudly.

"I want to, but she doesn't really talk to other people" Amy Shen continued sighing for a long time.

Shen Jun Shan didn't know who Qiao An was, but that girl might be good if his sister kept on praising her. For some reasons, he wanted to meet that girl.