11 Burned Once, Never Twice

"1 million, was it?" Yu Yan asked after school. Ting Hua nodded, absent mindedly. She was lost in her head, pondering how to solve the problem she was currently having. At least, she was trying, Ting Hua was still struggling to move through the feeling of hopelessness.

"Hello?" Yu Yan waved her hand in front of Ting Hua to try to bring her back to reality. Ting Hua didn't reply, and the silence stretched between them. Yu Yan decided not to interrupt her, just walking beside her in silence.

When they were ready to part ways, Yu Yan stuffed a check in Ting Hua's hands. She received the check in a daze, not even looking at it. She smiled before she left, as if to say that it was ok. By now, it was obvious. It was easy to see, wasn't it? That that was the last time Yu Yan had saw her ever again.

"We are destined to walk a lonely road," that was what her mother had always told her, and she told her again when she told her mother of this.

"It's safer that way," she continued to lecture her.

"But you have father, don't you?" I asked back when I was young, large curious eyes that questioned everything they see and ears wide open hoping to catch any drop of information. She already moved on from that incident, as if it never happened.

She merely smiled gently, "I'm afraid you might not be able to withstand the path it takes to walk with someone." Luck plays a large part in your life, even if many don't believe in its existence. Without luck, no matter how skilled or talented you are, you may never feel the shine of a spotlight raining down on you. Feel the love you always chased after. Nature operated on chances, even if many denied its existence.

Yu Yan didn't feel like crying back then, perhaps it was because she never fully accepted her. In this case, it was good that she was much too guarded to let anyone in her heart. But was it, really? If she wasn't as guarded, would she live a life full of happiness, or betrayal?

"Besides, even if you think you've finally found someone you can spend the rest of your time with, you never know when you might drift apart," she sighed and her eyes became unsteady for a brief moment.

'Cover your ears, and smile' she remembered a person tell her as they covered her ears when they passed through the doors where shouting could be heard. She remembered, it was her mother and father who were shouting at each other. She couldn't remember why, but she never heard them yell at each other ever again. Now it seems that it wasn't that they never shouted at each other since then, it was just that she never heard them yell at each other since that time.

Yu Yan just stayed silent, letting her mother drift off to somewhere. It wasn't until a maid came in to tell her about a phone call when Yu Nuan snapped back to the present.

"Go to sleep sweetheart," she said before leaving the room. She turned off the lights as she left, creating the illusion that Yu Yan was surrounded by endless darkness. No one to turn to, no light to follow. With this, Yu Yan just closed her eyes, watching the grey shapes that faded in and out of view until she fell asleep.

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Yu Yan opened her closed eyes. Time sure passes by quickly. It was already 10:00 in the evening. She could call herself lucky, her past wasn't as bad as many others. So who was she to complain?

She quickly got ready for school. Yu Yan stared at herself in the mirror for a few seconds before letting out a pure, sweet smile that surely reached her eyes.

She hurried off to the subway, passing by a girl that drew everyone's attention with her powerful aura and her beauty. Yu Yan's eyes widened, when she saw her. She really was beautiful, even more beautiful than her. She was like those immortals the books she read described. Her flowing black hair reached all the way to her waist, making her long and slender legs even longer.

As if noticing her gaze, the girl smiled at her. Her peach blossom eyes sparkling in amusement, and she felt her heart pick up speed. Yu Yan quickly tore her eyes away, she didn't know why, but the day ahead didn't seem as dreary.

"We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone." - Orson Welles