16. Worst Nightmare

The one thing that RuQian was very bad at would be art. If she was told to draw a rabbit it would end up looking like a cat, a cat with a very questionable appearance. This was her weakest point, she could neither draw nor paint. Once her grandfather had asked her to draw his figure backlit, that way his features were not visible. RuQian did paint but it ended up being called modern art which no one could understand, not even her grandfather who was an arts enthusiast.

RuQian hated anything to do with art. This was the reason whenever she was angry in the past as a girl she used to destroy her grandfather's painting collections. Art used to be her worst nightmare until she died. But after being reborn she had the same nightmare every single night, of her dying, she was dying every night after her rebirth. However she distracted herself, she was not able to overcome that fear.

This was not as worse as during her depression but still each time she dreamt of her death, RuQian hyperventilated. After the same thing happened a few nights in a row she kept a paper bag by her bed. So compared to that, art would be her second worst nightmare.

In stark contrast to RuQian, Lan Xie was a very talented artist. Her grandfather even had a few of her paintings. Those were the only ones RuQian never had the heart to tear down but painting was not Lan Xie's dream. She always wanted to become a fashion designer. Even as she never had any business aptitude, she always wanted to own a fashion house. So she dreamt of collaborating with someone who had the business acumen to start her own fashion house.

"Hahhaha!!! Qian Qian you should check the mirror to see how your expression is right now. You look like you just saw a ghost. This was the same look you gave, when someone said Song Qiqi is a good actress."

"Hah! That was their fault. She is a great actress, if I had the chance I would dump them in a graveyard. And my idol is the best of the best."

"Hahaha how did your face become this pale just by seeing an empty easel Qian Qian?"

"I cannot paint. I hate painting. And even the paint smells weird. How much paper are they wasting? This is all fraud. We should sue the school for wasting our time with this stupid class." Lan Xie caught RuQian's arms as she was about to run out of the class.

"Qian Qian my stomach is hurting by laughing this hard. Can you at least change your expression a little? This is not a battle ground that you have to be this scared."

"If this was really a battle ground, would I have to worry this much? Wwaaaaaaahhhhhh..... let me go! I have to run out of here as fast as I can."

"Qian Qian stop acting like a child. This will be fun."

"What fun? Do you want to kill me? I can just barely look at paintings that are made by world famous people and even those paintings give me the creeps sometimes. You want me to sit here and paint? How can you say that? Are you even my friend?"

"Qian Qian are you really going to leave me here all alone?" Lan Xie started pouting with slight watery eyes. Ahh Lan Xie was using her power move.

"What do you mean by alone? Lan Xie DO NOT try to use your waterworks to get me to stay here. The whole class is here, you are not alone. Don't try to blackmail me."

"Qian Qian! Let me paint you. Every time I want to paint you, you get restless and run away. Let me paint you. Qian Qian what if I die in a few days? You will regret never letting me paint you."

"You are not going to die anytime soon."

"Qian Qian how would you know that? Do you know how to see the future?"

"Well not really..." But I do know most of the things that do happen RuQian thought to herself.

"Since you can't see the future let me paint you now. Ah? Pleeeeaaasseeeee Qian Qian....." Lan Xie wined.

RuQian had to relent as she could not think of any other comeback. She glared at Lan Xie so hard it was a surprise Lan Xie did not get a hole pierced through her face. Lan Xie started painting her friend while RuQian started fidgeting, wanting to leave the hall of doom. Her art teacher already knew how much RuQian hated art. At first she did try to persuade RuQian to paint but after hundreds or maybe thousands of failures she gave up.

After Lan Xie finished her painting the teacher stood in awe not knowing whether the model was more beautiful or if the painting was. She always knew Lan Xie was very talented but this was the first time Lan Xie had painted a person. Her paintings were always either of landscapes or abstract or just food sometimes but never a living being.

If Lan Xie ever chose painting as her career she would become very famous. Even RuQian who was standing beside her teacher had to do a double take after seeing the finished work. Lan Xie had perfectly captured RuQian's feelings of restlessness, nervousness, fear and even the little hope she had of being able to leave after a while was captured in her eyes and face. This kind of talent was not something a person could learn but they had to be born with.

"I am so happy that one of my dreams has finally come true." When the teacher heard Lan Xie's words she curiously asked, "Was your dream to paint a human being?"

"No miss! My dream was to paint my best friend. Whenever I see her face I wish to draw it out but I always wanted the first time I paint her to be professional rather than just a sketch. As you know she does not like even being near a canvas, so my small dream finally came true. I am so happy. Qian Qian what do you think of this? Do you like it? Do you want me to paint you another one from a different angle?"

As soon as RuQian heard Lan Xie's last question she ran out of the class as fast as she could.

"Waahh! If she ran like that during sports day she would definitely win the first place." Lan Xie said as she saw the shadow where RuQian was standing before.