Familiar

When they arrived and chained their bikes on a rack across the café, the place was practically empty and exuded a rustic atmosphere that felt like she had traveled back in time to the 1900s.

"Not bad, right? I heard this place opened yesterday. Not a lot of people have caught on yet so I wanted to take you here before it got crowded."

Shi Fen led her to a seat next to the window.

The seats were upholstered with velvet making it comfortable to sit on, Jiang Shen was tempted to relax on the chair and even sleep on it.

"Why did you bring the ukulele?"

Jiang Shen frowned when she saw his back.

Shi Fen sat down opposite her and pulled out the ukulele from his bag.

"Oh this— I wanted to hear you play music. Let me see your skill."

"Why? So you'd make fun of me?"

"I would never!"

Jiang Shen snorted. "Yeah right, liar."

"Just play a song. Anything you know. Please?"

Shi Fen clasped his hands together and pleaded.

"If I do play, will you treat me to a drink and snack?"

He nodded hastily.

"Of course I will. If you want i'll go order right now. Black tea and a cream roll right? I think they have that on the menu."

Shi Fen stood up and went up to the counter to order. Jiang Shen recalled her Second Aunt saying that the cream rolls would be dessert for dinner. Just imagining the soft roll with the taste of cream made her stomach grumble.

When Shi Fen came back, he sat down again and gestured for her to play.

"Just don't laugh, okay?"

"I promise I won't."

She narrowed her eyes but grabbed the ukulele. Taking a deep breathe, she began to strum softly. The notes were clear and the tune was a famous song by her favorite artist.

When she finished, Shi Fen looked at her with pleasant surprise.

"Look who's multitalented!"

Jiang Shen turned a little red but nodded.

"The chords were a bit complex but somehow I managed to get the hang of it. I'll have to improve more if I want to master the basics."

Shi Fen shook his head.

"Why do you insist mastering the basics of every instrument you play? You're gonna forget it all by the time you master all the instruments in the world."

"It's not like I plan to master every instrument in the world. I just want to be good at my hobbies. You know they help me relieve stress."

Jiang Shen frowned, she fiddled with her earlobe.

"Okay, I know. I'm sorry. You just seemed out of it recently."

Shi Fen grabbed the ukulele and played a few strings.

"Don't worry. The rest of the family are out of town. I'm free to do whatever I want for the rest of summer break."

Then, an employee arrived and set down their drinks with a plate of banana bread and slice of cake. The door chimed open and in entered three tall boys dressed casually.

Since Jiang Shen sat with her back to the door, she remained oblivious to the new customers and occupied herself drinking the cold black tea.

"I thought you said there were cream rolls?"

"Turns out they're only available in the afternoon. They also have lunches, want to hang out here for the rest of the day? After all, it's quite hot outside."

The temperature of the city turned up and despite being resistant to the heat, Jiang Shen could also feel herself starting to sweat buckets.

"Sure. We can talk about your plans on wooing a certain girl?"

Shi Fen immediately turned red and looked away in another direction.

"Who's wooing who?"

He met gazes with the boy who had just entered with two of his friends. He looked polite and gentle with a great temperament. He was like a scholar in ancient times. A small smile decorated his face as he smiled at him.

Such a gaze that seemed to assess him from head to toe made him shiver. Shi Fen hurriedly looked away.

"The great and super friendly Shi Fen, known across the campus as a boy with great relationships with other students regardless of departments, trying to woo the gentle beauty of the Fine Arts department through humor. What a sight for sore eyes," Jiang Shen said as she smiled secretively while continuing to drink her tea.

The statement made Shi Fen blush even further, from his neck to his ears, he looked like a tomato.

"I—I'm not," He spluttered out like a fish out of water.

Jiang Shen set down her drink and tied up her hair into a ponytail. It was really too hot that despite the air conditioning in the place, it wasn't sufficient enough yet to make her comfortable.

"Then why are you blushing?" She asked with a cheeky smile.

"Stop teasing me, I beg you."

Shi Fen rubbed his temples and drank his milktea trying to cool down. He was like a computer that had overheated from the amount of words to process.

"Why? This is quite fun if you think about it!"

Jiang Shen laughed.

"Then if you don't stop—" Shi Fen wanted to catch her off guard. "— I guess i'll have to tell you how the smart gentleman of the STEM department is doing nowadays, hm?"

Jiang Shen stopped laughing and her face was as dark as a pot. The mood turned solemn and suddenly Shi Fen found it hard to breathe. Just as he was about to say sorry, Jiang Shen turned to normal and smack his head.

"Okay, I deserve that."

"Good that you do."

...

The newly transferred boy from the Hua Institute had been invited by his fellow friends to hang out at a new café in sixth avenue. He had lived overseas for six years before returning to his homeland.

Everything had turned unfamiliar and thus he didn't refuse to hang out with his friends to familiarize himself with the city.

When he arrived at the café, the girl he had met during his registration at the Institute was with a boy.

Although he had not developed an interest for anything that he deemed unimportant, the girl looked strangely familiar to him even when he was quite sure that they had never met.