A shoulder to lean on (Part 2)

School started for both Eleo and Adrian. As usual, a greeting from Oriana at the entrance of the school before Estella dragged Eleo towards their class. After the first day of school ended, at night, Eleo got a video call from his brother who was eagerly waiting to chat about his first day at school in Hong Kong. Mrs. Horus placed Adrian in one of the famous international schools in Hong Kong. Adrian talked about his school for about two hours until Mrs. Horus came to remind him about his bedtime and also talked to Eleo for a few minutes before ending the call.

Eleo was laying on his bed staring at the dark sky, recalling his first day of primary school. The memories from his earlier conversation with Adrian struck his mind where Adrian mentioned an American Chinese girl in his class who ignored other empty places and purposely sat beside him. He told Eleo that the girl was watching him at the entrance of the school and wanted to be friends with him. She also continuously chatted with him until the teacher warned them. Eleo remembered the old days with Oriana and her endless talking, even though he wasn't interested in a topic. Despite the hectic day, Eleo was able to sleep with a sweet smile on his face after remembering his childhood memories.

Following the next day onwards, even though knew Eleo wouldn't join her team for discussion, Oriana still made efforts to ask him if he wanted to join her group. Eleo didn't feel irritated by her and politely declined all her requests. Oriana who didn't want Eleo to feel left out at any moment, cautiously watched over him in case he might be left alone and she can accompany him. She was watching over him till the end of the first semester and then the holidays began. She decided to join the dance academy as she had some free time. She also messaged Eleo whether he was interested to join the practice but he declined it.

On the first day of the holidays, Oriana sat at the corner of the dance studio while waiting for the instructor, Miss Fiona. After a while, she heard Estella's voice at the entrance of the studio. Oriana saw Eleo and Estella entering the studio at the same time. Eleo smiled at Oriana and sat beside her and asked Estella to sit with them as well.

Oriana asked Eleo, "I thought you were not joining this time?"

Eleo replied, "At first I planned not to join, but then I texted Estella whether she was interested in this dance and she agreed to join."

Estella added, "Actually I want him to accompany me to this academy. So I made him join with me. Right, Eleo?" and laughed.

Eleo also laughed with her and stated, "Yeah and I don't have anything to do other than studying."

While they were talking Miss. Fiona came into the studio, looking delighted to meet Eleo and Oriana again. She brought them into the practice room and made Eleo and Oriana dance previous dance steps. Both of them took some time to recall and started to dance in front of Miss Fiona and Estella.

Miss Fiona said "Since both of you managed to dance well in the last dance lessons, we can move on to the advanced level after practicing the previous lessons one more time. As for this new girl, you need to attend the basic course first."

After hearing that Estella needed to attend a separate class, Eleo quickly told Miss. Fiona, "Sorry, Miss Fiona but I will attend the same class with Estella. I didn't practice my dances properly at home and forgot most of the steps as well."

Miss Fiona was stunned for a moment and decided to let Eleo join the basic course with Estella. Eleo did that because he was the one who invited Estella to join this academy and felt guilty to let her practice alone without any friends. Estella felt relief with Eleo joining her as she thought he really forgot his dance steps. As for Oriana, Eleo's actions didn't affect her as she came alone without expecting Eleo to join her. She also knew that she wouldn't be the only one dancing as she had already been there before. She also thought Eleo's decision was not wrong as both Eleo and Estella have similar personalities where both of them will take a longer time to mingle with people around them. It's better for them to stay together at a new place as a company for each other.

For the next two years, both Oriana and Eleo developed their own circle of friends. However, Oriana frequently kept an eye on Eleo whereas he spent most of his time with Estella and his other friends. On the other hand, Adrian would also call both Oriana and Eleo once in a while and would complain about his parents and his new friend Tiffany Zhou. Mr. and Mrs. Horus always focused on their new project and attended multiple meetings so they seldom spent time with Adrian. While Tiffany, his American Chinese deskmate who constantly bothered him somehow ended up as his friend. They often spent time together since both their parents were always busy with their business. Adrian would call Oriana and Eleo to tell them about his stories. Both of them often cheered him up and motivated him as well.