Painting with Light (1)

Filled with anticipation, Yuelin and Aoning headed to the first floor only to find the studio that housed both the photography and videography clubs was closed.

Aoning frowned and commented, "What a pity."

The two girls wandered shortly in the maze-like corridor.

Aoning's attention suddenly turned to a bunch of juniors who sat not far from where she stood and made a move to approach them. "Hey, does Room 106 has been locked all this time?"

A young guy who was busily drawing on an A4 sketchbook looked up at Aoning's question.

Several of his friends also paused what they were doing and silently regarded Aoning with the kind of reverence reserved for seniors from their juniors.

The young guy spoke. "I think it was open for awhile until some seniors left just now and locked the room."

"Any chance they will come back soon?" Aoning asked again. Maybe those 'seniors' went out for a short afternoon break or something?

The young guy shared a look with his friends and returned his gaze to Aoning. "We don't know for sure."

"Ah, I see. Thank y-"

Yuelin elbowed Aoning lightly.

"Ouch! Tha..thank you guys. Good luck with your works."

The group of juniors went back to their sketching.

Another jab landed on Aoning's left arm.

Slightly grimacing, Aoning whirled her attention to Yuelin who elbowed her side once again, albeit less lightly this time.

"What is it?" She asked in an exasperated tone.

Yuelin's eyes were not on Aoning, but on a certain direction in the distance. "A moment ago when you were talking, one guy appeared. He hurriedly opened the door and entered the room. The 106th room."

Irritation fled in a flash. "What! For real?"

Yuelin nodded.

"Is it Senior Cheng?"

Yuelin was silent for two seconds and shook her head. "I don't really see his face because he moved pretty fast but he was a bit shorter compared to Senior Cheng's figure I think."

"Then, what are we waiting for? Come, come." Aoning dragged Yuelin to the front of Room 106.

The door looked the same from when Yuelin and Aoning discovered it locked before. But when Yuelin tried to pull the handle, the latch actually gave and offered her a glimpse of the dark room.

Aoning nearly squealed. She peeked her head at the opening Yuelin created.

A pair of eyes, so close to Aoning's face, greeted her from the dark.

"AAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

Aoning quickly jumped back to Yuelin's side without ceasing her scream, while the owner of the eyes stepped forward.

The light revealed the face of a guy in his early twenties. He gave an amused smile at Aoning's reaction. When the man's gaze shifted to Yuelin, a flash of recognition and surprise crossed his eyes.

"Well, well. Look who's here."

The seemingly sweet, kind Aoning actually swore. "Xiao Jun! You devil! You almost scared me to death!"

"Still as jumpy as ever," Xiao Jun couldn't help but playfully teased. He then returned his gaze to Yuelin and greeted her warmly. "Hey Yuelin! Last time I saw you, you were still resting at the hospital. I'm glad your health is finally recovering. You look a lot better now, thank God!"

Facing such welcome from someone she never met before, but this someone must be some kind of friend to the old Yuelin...

Yuelin tried to answer politely and shyly murmured a thank you.

For a moment, no one spoke.

Aoning's mind went blank, while Xiao Jun's booming laugh suddenly cut through the silence.

"Hahahaha... Yuelin, your answer was just so... what's the word? Refined? I think you even get the sound and the tone right. Like those rich, noble ladies from the aristocratic family. Did you watch a lot of historical drama in the hospital?" Xiao Jun continued grinning ear to ear.

Yuelin was stunned at the 'noble ladies' reference and quickly murmured, "I apologize..."

Aoning finally realized that Xiao Jun didn't know about Yuelin's current situation. She was going to explain when Xiao Jun-

"Just a little bit advice, I hope you don't mind me saying this, Aoning. But maybe you can learn a lot from Yuelin on how to be..." Xiao Jun whispered the last part of the sentence. "..how to be more lady-like."

Xiao Jun exploded in another bout of laughter seeing Aoning's peeved expression.

Yuelin could picture the smoke gathering around Aoning's head.

Step by step, Aoning advanced further into the room and cornered the grinning man.

Aoning opened her mouth and emphasized each word in a no non-sense voice. "This lady is very sorry then, because this lady does, in fact, really mind!"

Xiao Jun easily surrended. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm just kidding Aoning! You are the most well-mannered woman I have ever known. You are smart, elegant, beautiful..." he rambled on.

Aoning shamelessly accepted the praises and agreed with Xiao Jun's words. "Yes, yes, yes. This beautiful woman is feeling merciful so I will forgive you."

Turned out Xiao Jun, who was in the same year with Yueling and Aoning, was once a member of videography club. He was sort of 'retired' now since he, as well as Aoning and Yuelin, would be entering the fourth year and have to focus more on their thesis.

Not long ago though, Xiao Jun managed to join Senior Chen's studio startup along with his fellow classmate, Lu Qiu.

"Anyway, what are you two doing here?" Xiao Jun asked.

"Yuelin and I want to take a look at the studio," Aoning replied.

Xiao Jun face-palmed his forehead. "Originally, I only returned to pick up my phone. No one is around right now, but I have the studio key here. Do you need something?"

Yuelin took a step forward and braved herself to say, "We want to see around the studio for a bit. Perhaps you can accompany us?"

Xiao Jun shrugged. "Sure, don't be so formal with me though. At least for you, Yuelin. We have always been pals! However, there is nothing new to show here. It's same old as usual."

Yuelin didn't have to turn around to feel Aoning's glare at Xiao Jun.

As Xiao Jun guided them over the studio, almost all the time he kept chattering from how the last semester was going until how his team just got what can be considered a big project since the job was coming from a prestigious and well-known company.

Aoning could't believe it at first.

"No way! The Golden Oracle as in that 'Golden Oracle'?"

"I swear I'm not lying! Senior Shijin received the email himself. He asked us to help rechecking it so many times until we are sure it was true. I can send you a screenshot!"

Aoning shook her head. "No need. I'm sure it was all thanks to Senior Cheng, Senior Shijin, and Lu Qiu's hard works."

"Hey! I'm part of the team too. The portfolio we sent also included my best shoot. You can't simply dismiss my effort like that!"

"Pfftt... Of course, I can."

Xiao Jun suddenly turned to Yuelin. "Yuelin, don't you want to say anything? After all, you are one of the people who helped me select the photo for the submission."

Yuelin blinked. "Huh?"

"-What!?" Aoning exclaimed.

Xiao Jun somehow avoided Aoning's eyes and focused on Yuelin instead. "You saw and chose the photo yourself. You remember, don't you? That photo..."

At Xiao Jun's persistent probing, no one noticed Aoning's sudden worried expression except Yuelin.

Aoning wanted to share about Yuelin's current condition to Xiao Jun but Yuelin silently shook her head.

"You must have worked hard, Xiao Jun." Yuelin softly remarked. She mouthed the word 'later' to Aoning and indeed, later did they explain it to the guy after their mini tour was finished.

It was truly a sight to see Xiao Jun's shocked face. Aoning had quite a great time savoring it