Tapping her foot impatiently, Xiaoyi lazily thumbed through the magazine. Why is it that receptions always have magazines eight months out of date? She thought absentmindedly.

"You may go in now Xiaoyi " the sectary said to her with a reassuring smile.

Like she needed any reassurance. She walked through the oak paneled door leading into the principal's office to see the principal himself sitting behind his desk.

"Hello Miss Zhong, would you please take a seat?" he asked, gesturing to the chair in front of the desk.

I sat down without a word studying my surroundings. The office was quite lavishly furnished with dark oak furniture and I wondered whether this was all at his own expense or whether he had splurged the school fees on decorating his office.

"Miss Zhong, I am Mr. Stuart, your principal and I would like to welcome you to Royal College. Now I know this must be hard for you, changing schools and all but the students here are all very friendly and it won't be long until you make friends" he said.

I diverted my attention back towards him and suppressed the need to roll my eyes.

"Now I don't think there's much more to say for the time being. You may head off to class now; my sectary will give you your timetable. If you have any concerns at all, please feel free to come to me any time" He finished.

"Thank-you" I said politely and pasted a smile onto my face. I exited the office and received my timetable from the sectary. I glanced at the clock briefly and figured I should head off to homeroom.

Atian's POV

"Yo man, how was your summer?" William asked me.

I shrugged, "Okay I suppose" I responded while staring off into space.

"So have you heard about the new girl yet?" Senyao questioned when he slid into the seat next to me.

"No. Why? What year is she in?" William replied.

"Apparently she's in our really hot" Senyao answered.

"Really? Well I'll be the judge of that" I said bored.

"You know you should-" Willaim began but was cut off when the classroom door opened and the teacher stepped inside.

"Good morning class and welcome back to another year of school. I trust you all had a good summer. My name's Ms. Carmel and I'll be your homeroom teacher for the rest of the year. Today I'd like to introduce you to a new student. I hope that you all make her feel welcomed. Miss Zhong, will you please come in?" the teacher said.

"Now we'll see whether the rumors are true or not" William whispered.

The door open halfway and a slimly built girl entered the room. Instantly the boys erupted into whistles and catcalls.

It was obvious that the rumors were true, I grudgingly admitted to myself. The girl had straight glossy red shiny hair which was waist length and the uniform, which was composed of was a white jacket with indigo stripe on the border and indigo high waist skirt.Her eyes which were aqua and consisted of baby blue with flecks of emerald green and stood out boldly. Her legs seemed to go on forever and her complexion was smooth.

"Miss Zhong, would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?" Ms. Carmel asked and the girl shrugged indifferently.

"My name's Xiaoyi Zhong and I'm from Russia. I moved here since my father transferred for his business." She said.

"Does anybody have any questions for Xiaoyi?" Ms Carmel asked.

While Xiaoyi was bombarded with questions, I studied the way in which she stood and held herself. She stood straight, her posture indicated that she was quite confident and she seemed to hold herself quite well considering the fact that she was in a whole new school and country. She stood like she was a royal.

"Now let's see, we'll need somebody to show you around Xiaoyi." Ms. Carmel said and gazed around the classroom. When I felt her eyes land on me, I looked up expectantly. "Atian will you be so kind as to show Miss Zhong here around the school?" Ms Carmel asked sweetly.

"Sure" I said ignoring the envious looks on all other guys faces.

"Great well why don't you show her to locker? It's." She said and consulted her list. "Locker #223. And unless I'm mistaken, yours is #225 Atian. Right next to hers. Convenient huh?" she confirmed. "Well off you go! Have fun!" She said chirpily and waved her hand towards the door.

Sighing, I got up and exited the classroom. I looked over my shoulder to make sure that Xiaoyi was following. Sure enough she was behind me, glancing about the hallway.

"So what class do you have next?" I asked her, feeling the need to make conversation.

"Chemistry" She replied.

"With Mr. Wang?" I enquired lifting an eyebrow.

"Yeah. What do you have next?" she asked.

"Same as you." I responded and came to a stop in front of a bank of lockers. She studied them for a moment, spun her combo and began piling books into it.

I turned towards my locker. Now what was my combo again? Oh right, 21, 9, 44. I twisted the lock and tugged down. Nothing. I tried again. Nothing once more. I growled in frustration. Okay, third time's the charm. Nothing. I hit the locker with my fist and the sound echoed throughout the hallway.

"Want some help?" a voice asked sweetly.

I turned to find Xiaoyi leaning casually against the locker observing me with a thoughtful look in her eyes. I grunted and stepped aside. She looked at me expectantly.

"What?" I grumbled.

"I'm going to need to know your combo if I'm going to open this for you" she said tapping her perfectly manicured finger against my locker.

I sighed. "21, 9, 44" I answered reluctantly.

She twirled the lock, tugged down and it obediently opened with a click. "Voila" she said triumphantly.

I merely glared.

"What? Don't glare at me like that. It's not nice you know. Oh and don't worry, I won't break into your locker" Xiaoyi said playfully.

"Gee thanks" I said sarcastically.

"No problem" she replied back. "Now let's go to Chem." She said and began to skip off down the hall.

"Umm, Xiaoyi?" I said smirking. "The Chem room is that way" I said pointing in the opposite direction.

"Oh right. Thanks" she said sheepishly. "Now what would I do without you Atain?" she asked with a wink.

I scowled. Was she always like this?

Xiaoyi's POV

After following Atain down the hallway to the bio room and entering it, I hesitated for a fraction of a second at the doorway. Where to sit? I pondered and bit my lip lightly.

"Hey Xiaoyi. Over here" a guy with red hair called out. I vaguely remembered him from homeroom. As I headed towards him, I noticed Atian sitting next to him.

"Oi Atian, move down a seat will you?" another guy with a light blue hair asked him.

Muttering something underneath his breath, Atain reluctantly moved down a seat. I slid into the seat between Atain and the blue haired guy.

"Thanks Atain" I said, curving my lips into a smile and winking at him once more. Atain merely scowled before opening up his textbook. I turned around to face the red haired boy who had called me over before.

"Hi, I'm William" he said with a smile.

"I'm Xiaoyi" I said, returning the smile.

"Don't forget about me" the guy with the blue hair sitting next to Atain said. "I'm Senyao" he said and extended his hand to me. I reached my hand thinking that he wanted to shake hands but instead he gently held my hand and raised them up to his lips. I smirked. This guy was cute, but he's so smooth that he glides.

"Charmed I'm sure" I said rolling my eyes.

"Cut it with the Prince Charming act Senyao" Atian muttered.

"Hey, not my fault you know. Can't help myself if there's a pretty girl in front of my. I don't know how you manage. But the again, you go for guys right?" Senyao said jokingly.

"Ha, ha, very funny. Like I haven't heard that one before" Atian replied dryly.

I glanced at Atian and from the bored expression on his face, I concluded that this was a normal routine. The teacher entered the room and said that we were to be doing pracs today and to pair up. Senyao had already turned to William despite his protests that he wanted to work with me. I turned to Atian who shrugged and said that he'd get the equipment and that I was to get a bench. I followed Senyao who seemed to be getting a bench too and sat at the one next to him.

"So how do you like Japan so far?" he asked me when I sat down.

"It's very different from Russia." I said after I thought for a moment.

"Is different bad or good?" he asked.

"Well it's good I suppose" I replied.

"So do you-"

"Oi lazy ***! Stop chatting up Xiaoyi and get some test tubes" William called out across the room interrupting Senyao.

Senyao shrugged and smiled apologetically at me before getting up.

"Do you know what we're doing?" Atian asked surprising me.

"Huh? Oh yeah. Do you have the sheet?" I answered.

"Here" he said and ****** the sheet towards me.

I skimmed through it. "Yeah, this is pretty basic stuff." I replied.

"Good. Now since I got the equipment, you can do the prac" Atian said.

"What?" I asked.

"You heard me" he said.

I scowled. I am not doing this all by myself I thought.

"Atian please help me?" I asked him.

"No. You're just the woman so you should do the work." He responded.

"Just the woman?" I said becoming mad. "What the hell is your problem?"

"You" he said smartly.

"You don't even know me! Now you better help me or else I'm not going to do anything"

"Really? Do you want to get a F for this prac?" he said.

"I couldn't care less! I've already done this course in Russia and received first class honours for it. So a F wouldn't really matter!" I retorted with a smirk.

Now it was Atian's turn to scowl.

Just then, the teacher walked by.

"Having any problems?" he asked when he saw the look on Atian's face.

"None at all sir." I said chirpily. "Atian was just about to boil the mixture, right Atian?" I said sweetly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever" he muttered and began to mix the chemicals together.

"You know you are such a brat" he grumbled the moment the teacher had left our bench.

"Damn right I am! And a cute one at that!" I responded.

"Well I for one don't think you're cute" he said after he set the chemicals to boil.

"Aww, Atian, you've hurt my feelings" I said pouting. "Don't you love me Atian?"

"No I do not love you." he said.

"Why ever not?" I said batting my eyelashes at him.

"Because I don't want to" he responded.

"Whatever you say, Atian" I said and giggled at the annoyed look on his face. He was quite handsome. No wonder so many girls ran behind him most of the time. The most attractive feature for me was his golden hair. They shone when the light fell on them. and his red eyes. They were hypnotic for sure.

Atian's POV

After finishing up the practical I consulted my timetable and found that I had music next. Great. I really hope we don't have Mrs. Soya again this year. She was enthusiastic about teaching and music. Suddenly, I felt a hand slip into mine. I looked down and found Xiaoyi standing next to me, her hand in mine. I pulled my hand away from hers.

"What are you trying to do?" I snapped extremely annoyed.

"Holding your hand" she replied innocently.

"Well don't" I said.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because I don't want you to" I grumbled, pushing past other students.

"Is that your answer for everything?" she said curiously. "Oh and where's the music room?" she continued without giving me a chance to answer.

"You have music now?" I said scowling.

"Yep." she said.

Great. Another class with her.

"Well unfortunately I've got music too, so just come with me okay?" I muttered.

"Great! Another class together" she said chirpily.

I groaned inwardly and began to climb the stairs. Where the hell was William anyway? Maybe he could take her wherever she needed to go. When we reached the music room, she gazed around with interest.

"The music facilities here are much better than those in Russia" she commented as she went over to the white grand piano in the corner.

I glanced around. Just my luck. We were the first ones to arrive. I heard a soft melodic tune and I turned towards the piano. I studied her for a moment. She was really good.

"What is that piece? I've never heard it before." I asked her out of curiosity. Since I was a child, I had been exposed to many musical pieces as I had to attend formal functions with my parents.

"I composed it myself" she said as her fingers continued to glide across the keys effortlessly.

I shook my head and turned to stare out the window. Finally William and Senyao entered and sat down.

"Wow, she's really something" Senyao said appreciatively.

"Guys, I think I'm in love" William said dreamily.

"Yeah right. How many times have we heard you say that?" I enquired.

"Well this time is different. Xiaoyi is different from all the other girls I've dated" William answered.

"Really? In what ways am I different?" a voice behind them said. We turned around to see Xiaoyi looking expectantly at William.

"Well, are you going to answer me or not William?" she said.

"Umm." William mumbled.

But luckily for William, Mrs. Soya came into the room.

"Okay students!" She said clapping her hands together once. "Now Mia has volunteered to be perform the musical item today. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that each and every one of you will have to perform at least once this year or else you will not be able to receive full marks for this class. Although if you wish to you may choose not to perform and take the risks of having to satisfactory complete all the other set task. But it is my recommendation that you all perform in case you do not score as well as you would like to in the assessment tasks." She advised.

I sighed. Like I really cared about what she advised. Anyway it was quite unlikely that I would do so badly in all the other assessments. So unless I absolutely had to, there was no way in hell I was going to perform.

Mia got up from her seat and made her way- rather clumsily as she walked into a music stand, to the piano. I noticed that she slouched down slightly probably because she was never taught proper posture and etiquette. Mia then began to play, quite badly. Those who didn't even know anything about music would even realize this. I groaned and felt like covering my ears with my hands. I was fairly sure this was a Beethoven piece, I was sure if he was probably rolling over in his grave, although it could very be some other piece as it was hard to distinguish.

"Err, thank-you Mia for that Beethoven piece" Mrs. Soya said looking quite sorry that she had gotten Mia to perform.

"Thank-you. And Mrs. Soya, it was Richard Clayderman's Ballat Port Adelane" Mia said quite put off and curtsied. Man she couldn't even curtsy properly. How pathetic.

"So Mia, are you in grade six piano then?" Xiaoyi suddenly asked.

"Well, not exactly" Mia replied hesitantly.

"Oh. I wasn't really sure whether you were grade six or not since you didn't play that piece particularly well" Xiaoyi casually commented.

"Excuse me? I can't believe you actually have the nerve to criticize my piano playing! I'd like to see you do better!" Mia said outraged.

"Fine then. If you insist" Xiaoyi said lightly and stood up. "Miss, would you mind?" she asked Mrs. Soya politely.

"Not at all. Please go ahead" Mrs. Soya replied.

"Thank-you" Xiaoyi said. She then proceeded to play the same song that Mia had been playing moments before, but it was flawless and it was easily apparent that she had made no mistakes. And I could actually tell that it was Richard Clayderman and not Beethoven. When she had finished she stood up and gracefully curtsied. Thunderous applause sounded throughout the room and she paused by Mia's desk before returning to her seat.

"Oh and by the way Mia, it's called Ballad Pour Adaline" she stated calmly.

Xiaoyi's POV

"Come on Atian" I said as I tugged his hand, maneuvering through the crowd towards our lockers. "I'm hungry"

I twirled my lock and stacked my books inside and turned to face Atian. He was still fumbling with his lock. Sighing, I reached over his shoulder and opened it for him.

"Hopeless, utterly hopeless" I said, standing on my tip toes and ruffling up his golden hair. He scowled and headed outside. I reluctantly followed him when he headed towards William, Senyao and group of guys and girls. It was one thing to follow him in class, but another thing to do it at lunch. Sure it was fun annoying the hell out of him but I always prided myself for being independent. So I came to an abrupt halt behind him and gazed around.

"Are you coming or not?" Atain said gruffly appearing in my line of vision.

"Yeah okay" I said shrugging.

"You know I only asked you to come over since if you didn't William would complain that I lost you" he explained.

He came to a stop in front of the group of people. "Hey" he said and sat down between William and Senyao. I stood awkwardly for a moment but then an idea formed in my mind. I took a step and quickly sat on Atian's lap. For a moment he was so surprised and shocked that he didn't say anything at all. But then.

"What are you doing?" he snapped.

"Sitting on your lap" I said as though it couldn't be any more obvious. He sighed in frustration and ran his hand through his hair.

"Yeah, I realized that but why are you sitting on my lap?" he said obviously trying not to get mad.

"Because I want to" I replied simply and took a bite out of my wrap.

"Well could you please get off" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Nope" I said and returned to my lunch.

"I suppose I'll have to remove you by force" he threatened and made a move to get up. But before he could William yanked him back down.

"What are you doing?" Atian snapped.

"What am I doing? What are you doing?" William responded. "If you get up you could hurt her. And you of all people should know it's not cool to hurt girls"

Atian glared and retreated into stony silence.

Suddenly the group's attention zeroed in on me.

"So are you the new girl?" one guy said.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Well then, the rumors are certainly true then" he said.

"Oh really?" I said arching one eyebrow. "And what exactly are those rumors saying?"

"That you're hot" he responded and the group laughed.

"So are you Atian's new girlfriend?" a pink haired girl asked. I smirked.

"Of course" I said lightly. I felt Atian's muscles tighten.

"She is not my girlfriend Mariah" he said coldly as I giggled.

"Then why are you allowing her to sit in your lap? Last time Mia tried to do that you shoved her off straight away." Mariah said.

"That's because Mia isn't a girl" he replied and everybody laughed.

"Aww you're so cute. Come and sit in my lap" Senyao said. "I don't know why Kai doesn't want you"

I twisted around to see Kai's expressionless face. "Well since you're not much fun at the moment, I'm going to go sit on Senyao's lap But don't worry, I still love you Atian" I whispered in his ear and he scowled.

"Good riddance" he muttered.

"Sheesh" I said. "I'm only trying to be nice" I got up and sat on Senyao's lap instead. He wrapped his arms around me and I leaned against him.

"So what class do you have next?" he asked.

"Umm, Geography I think" I replied.

"Good. That means you're not in my class." Atian said. "Since you're in all my other classes, I'll get a break for once"

I pouted. "Atian that hurt my feelings. You know I might just change out of Geography into your history class just to spite you" I said and stuck my tongue out at him.

"Don't you dare" he growled. "I want at least one class of peace without you in it"

"Okay, okay. I was only kidding. You don't have to take everything too seriously" I replied.

"What, as opposed to you who takes nothing seriously?" he said.

"I do take some things seriously" I protested as the bell rang signaling the end of lunch.

At the end of the day, I went back to my locker to retrieve a few books and saw Atian fumbling with his lock once again.

"You should try having some patience, it might help" I said as I opened his lock. "I don't know how you managed to open it in the past years"

Atian merely grunted in reply. I waited until he had finished then tugged at his shirt.

"Come one, walk me outside." I said.

"No" he said flatly and turned away.

"Please" I pleaded. "Look you're going out to the car park and so am I. So we can walk together"

He didn't say anything but I walked beside him anyway. When we reached the parking lot, he came to a stop at a black convertible.

"Nice care" I said lightly. "But I think I still like mine better"

"And what kind of car do you have?" he asked smirking. I could tell that he thought nobody in school had a car better than his. Boy was he in for a surprise.

"That one" I said and pointing at the silver convertible in the lot across from his. He looked at it.

"Very nice" was his only comment before climbing into his car.

"Bye Atian" I called.

Episodes will be updated everyday.

I wove through the late afternoon traffic until I arrived home. I went up to my room and found my mother going through my wardrobe.

"Hello Atian" she said warmly.

"Hi Mom. Umm, what are you doing?" I asked.

"I am seeing if you have anything to wear for the next week" she replied.

"Why? Where are we going?" I asked lazily.

"We're attending a formal function." She answered, flicking past my shirts.

"What's it for this time?" I said not bothering to cover the annoyance in my voice.

"A very important business man has moved to Japan. Don't think that you can get out of this either. So how was your first day back?" she finished sweetly.

"Annoying" I replied.

"Really? Why?" she asked.

"There's this new 's really..annoying" I said trying to find the words to describe Xiaoyi.

My mother sighed. "Just don't get into any fights with her okay?" she asked. "Oh and your father's arrived back today, so wash up before you come down to dinner please" she said before leaving my room.

I flopped down onto my king-sized bed and closed my eyes briefly. Great, Daddy dearest was back home. That would mean attending more formal functions and having tense "family dinners." Ever since I was a baby, my father was always flying overseas, thus I never got to see him much. And when he did come home, he would usually criticize me about every little thing.

I got up went and took a quick shower before going downstairs for dinner. I absolutely dreaded having dinner when my father was home. He'd interrogate me about everything, how I was going in school, who were my friends and whether or not they were acceptable to him.

When I arrived at the dining room I stood behind my chair, opposite to my mom's and waited till my father arrived and sat down before sitting.

After a few tense minutes in which the only sound that could be heard was the clinking of silverware, mum asked dad how his trip was.

"Fine" was his curt answer before he turned to me. "What have you been doing while I was gone Atian?"

"Studying" I said flatly avoiding his eyes.

"You better be. If you don't get into Tokyo University, you'll have to go overseas" he said.

"Don't worry. He'll get in" Mom assured him.

A few more minutes passed by in silence.

"We'll be having company for dinner tomorrow night. So I expect you to be on your best behavior Atian." My father warned me.

"Don't worry I will" I replied dully.

"Who's coming?" my mother asked.

"Mr. Li Zhong" my father responded shortly. "He has just recently moved to Japan and we must welcome him for he is a most important business man. There will of course be a formal function to be held in his honor but I thought that it would be best if we invited him to our house for dinner first. I believe he has a daughter your age Atian and it is expected that you will socialize with her"

I nearly rolled my eyes at him but managed not to as it would only aggravate him.

"She would be of equal social status to you so don't you dare do anything to offend her in any way as it quite possible that it could result in the business ties between our companies to be severed." He stated seriously as he stood up.

"It is also said that she is quite beautiful" he commented over his shoulder as he left the room.

I scowled at his retreating figure. Like I care whether she was beautiful or not. All of my father's business partner/ client's daughters were all snobs, beautiful or not.

The next day at school passed and I found that Xiaoyi was also in my maths class. I found this surprising as I was in the accelerated class with not many other people. I hated to admit that she was quite clever since she busy annoying me throughout the entire class but still managed to immediately correctly answer a question by the teacher on the spot when it was evident that she had done no work whatsoever.

When the end of the day finally came, I thought that I'd rather go through it again than go back home and have dinner with my father and that Mr. Li guy. But then I was sure that my father would kill me since it would leave a bad impression if I was not present.

When I arrived home, there was a black limo at the front of the driveway. Great that Mr. Li guy was probably already here. He must've been really rich as there wasn't many other people besides us who owned a limo. I shrugged and went around the back instead. I managed to avoid the lounge since my father always had guest there and went up to my room quietly. I saw some clothes laid out on the bed, grabbed them and took a shower. When I had finished and was just about to turn on my computer the intercom next to my door crackled to life.

"Atian dear, dinner's ready. Make sure you're presentable okay?" Mom said.

When I reached the dining room, my father and a tall man were already seated. I slid into my spot and smiled politely at the other man.

"Mr. Zhong, allow me to introduce you to my son Atian" my father said smoothly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Zhong" I said.

"I'm glad to hear that" he replied and extended his hand towards me.

"You have a strong grip" he said when he shook my hand. I could already tell that he was nothing like my father who was a cold, calculating man.

"Thank-you sir" I replied giving him a genuine smile.

"Tell me Atian, how old are you?" he asked.

"I'm 17 Mr. Zhong" I answered looking for my mother out of the corner of my eye.

"Ahh, excellent. You are the same age as my daughter" he said warmly. "But unfortunately, she could not come to dinner tonight for she had prior engagements"

"Well then, Atian will just have to wait until next week to meet her" my father said flashing a smile at me which may be perceived as caring by other people but clearly said to me:

"You will welcome her whether you want to or not"

My mother chose this moment to enter the dining room.

"Mr. Zhong, I'd like you to meet my wife, Lia" my father said gesturing towards her.

"It's so nice to finally meet you Mr. Zhong" my mother said smiling.

"Thank-you for inviting me for dinner" he replied.

It wasn't too long until the butler enter and began to serve us. I tried to eat as quickly as I could without making it seem too obvious and excused myself as politely as possible so as to give no indication to my father that this was the last thing I wanted to be doing.

When I finally escaped to my room, I turned my computer on and logged into my MSN. I was about to scroll through my list to see who was online when a flickering light in bottom bar began to flash indicating that I had a message. Clicking on it, I realized that it was William.

Dude I am so in love says: Hey Atian

Double Helix says: Hey William

Dude I am so in love says: Sup?

I paused for a moment wondering whether or not to tell him about my family dinners. In the end I decided not to.

Double Helix says: Nothing much. How about you?

Dude I am so in love says: Same. Oi who are you chatting to?

Double Helix says: Just you. Not really anybody else online that I want to talk to.

Dude I am so in love says: 's online. I'll add her to the convo.

Pink Sugar has been added to the conversation.

Double Helix says: Nooooo!

Pink Sugar says: Hey guys \=D

Double Helix says: Aww man William. Why'd you have to go and add her for?

Dude I am so in love says: Lol. Wanted to see your reaction.

Double Helix says: Well it's not funny. You know I think I might just leave this conversation.

Dude I am so in love says: Fine whatever. I don't care. It'll just be me and Xiaoyi then. Right Xiaoyi? [winks at Xiaoyi]

It was only then that I realized that Xiaoyi hadn't said anything yet.

Double Helix says: Err, is Xiaoyi even there?

Dude I am so in love says: I dunno. Maybe she's gone off to do something.

Pink Sugar says: No I'm still here. I was just checking my e-mail.

Double Helix says: Damn. Thought you were gone.

Pink Sugar says: *pouts* Atian! That's not very nice you know. Don't you love me?

I smirked before answering.

Double Helix says: Hell no.

Dude I am so in love says: Don't worry if Kai don't love you cause I do.

Pink Sugar says: *giggles* Thanks I think.

Double Helix says: William you make me sick.

It was then that my intercom crackled to life. I rolled my chair across to it and pushed the button.

"Hello?" I spoke into it.

"Atian, Mr. Zhong is leaving. I think that your father wants you to come down." My mum replied.

"Okay. I'll be down in a sec." I responded.

I quickly crossed back over to my computer and switched my status to Be Right Back. I then clicked back onto the conversation with William and Xiaoyi and told them I'd be right back then I descended the stairs down to the foyer where my father and Mr. Zhong were still talking.

"Well I suppose I better be off now. I'll see you next week then?" Mr. Zhong said.

"I expect you shall." My father said.

"Good-bye Lia. Atian, it was wonderful to meet you" he said before stepping out the door and into his limo.

"I think that went well" my mother commented when my father closed the door.

"Yes. I think so too" my father said as he left the foyer.

I shook my head and went back up to my room. The bottom bar was still flickering and I figured that William and Xiaoyi were still talking. I scrolled up to see what they had been talking about.

Pink Sugar says: I wonder where Atian went to.

Dude I am so in love says: Who knows.Hey Xiaoyi , do you want to go out some time?

Pink Sugar says: okaiz.

I smirked. So Xiaoyi and William are now going out. I returned to reading their convo.

Dude I am so in love says: Cool.

Pink Sugar says: Have you finished writing up the science prac report yet?

Dude I am so in love says: Nearly. I just need to talk to Senyao about what to write about the conclusion.

Pink Sugar says: Do you want some help?

Dude I am so in love says: No, it's okay. Just need to check what Senyao wrote.

Pink Sugar says: Can't you do it yourself?

Dude I am so in love says: We're supposed to write it up with our lab partner.

Pink Sugar says: What? Atian never told me that.

Dude I am so in love says: [shrugs] Ask him later.

I then returned to the convo.

Double Helix says: I didn't tell you because you didn't ask.

Pink Sugar says: *sticks tongue out at Atian* Well I need to go now, bubaiz. *blows kisses*

Dude I am so in love says: See ya.

Pink Sugar says: Aren't you going to say good-bye to me Atian?

Double Helix says: If I do will you go away?

Pink Sugar says: Maybe.

Double Helix says: Fine. Later.

Pink Sugar says: Love you guys.

Pink Sugar has left the conversation.

Double Helix says: Hey William, I got to go.

Dude I am so in love says: First Xiaoyi now you. Well See ya man.

Double Helix says: Later

I logged off my MSN and was turning my computer off when my mum walked in holding a black silk shirt.

"Here Atian, wear this next Saturday at the function" she said laying it down on my bed.

"Mom, do I have to meet Mr. Zhong's daughter?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid you'll have to Atian. But Mr. Zhong seems like a nice man to me. His daughter can't be that bad" my mother mused.

I scowled. "She'll be a snob. They're all snobs" I spat.

"Well I suppose it can't be helped. This business deal is very important" Mom said.

"Yeah well if I ever have kids I'm certainly not going to force them to socialize with brats and snobs just so that I can make business deals" I muttered.