Chapter 5: Matters concerning ice-cream

Xiayoi's POV

Giggling madly, we dashed past countless stores, all of which became a coloured blur flashing past our eyes. Pushing an "employees only" door open, we finally came to a stop. I turned to Atian, my face flushed.

"Talk about adrenaline rush" I said jokingly.

He smirked.

"Those were some great moves you pulled back there," he said reluctantly. I could easily tell that it pained him greatly to compliment me.

"Thanks" I said grinning. "Do you think she's out cold now?" I wondered aloud.

"It's quite possible," he said thoughtfully. "Oh, before I forget to ask you. What exactly was that last move you did?"

The mental VCR in head rewinded for a moment.

"Oh that one. It's pretty basic akido move" I replied.

"Akido? That's a Japanese martial art yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's main teachings are based on turning your opponent's strength against them." I answered.

"Cool. What other martial arts do you study?" he said curiously.

"Taekwondao, karate, judo, kick-boxing, tai-chi, kendo, as well as akido" I said promptly. "Oh and I do street fighting too"

"That's quite impressive. If you weren't a girl I'd ask you to spar with me" he said smirking.

"You know one day your sexist views will catch up to you and take a chunk out of your ***" I retorted hotly.

"Chill okay?" he said holding up his hand in defence. "Well what are we going to do now?"

"I don't know" I shrugged. "How about we go and check out how much damage I caused"

"Return to the scene of the crime? That's unheard of" he mocked and I rolled my eyes.

"We'll check out the view from across it, one level up." I explained patiently as I headed out the door.

"Oh my, why didn't I think of that?" he said sarcastically.

"Ten bucks says that there'll be paramedics" I said over my shoulder, choosing to ignore his comment.

Atian's POV

Surveying the scene from one level up and opposite it, I had to admit there was a medium level degree of chaos.

"Nice. Very nice indeed." I commented appreciatively.

"Why thank-you Atian" Xiaoyi replied, smiling.

I scowled.

Looking down, I saw that if I had taken Xiaoyi's bet, she'd be $10 richer. There were indeed paramedics present, flittering in and out of the crowd. Suddenly, the crowd parted and a man appeared. My heart almost stopped. It was Melissa's father. Shit. In all the confusion and Xiaoyi's ***-kicking tactics, I had forgotten about why I had come shopping with Melissa in the first place. Swearing underneath my breath I tried to come up with a solution, various explanations ran through my head but none were plausible.

"Atian?" Xiaoyi said attempting to get my attention.

"Huh?" I asked confused.

"I'm going to go eat now. Do you want to come or not?" Xiaoyi questioned.

"Yeah, okay" I replied, my mind still on the Melissa situation.

Walking into the food court with Xiaoyi, I was engulfed in the aroma of food and it was only then that I realized how hungry I was. My stomach grumbled as I surveyed all the fast food places around me and wondered what I should get.

"Ice-cream time" Xiaoyi said gleefully and rushed off in the direction of Wendy's.

Shaking my head, I followed her. When I got there, she was already at the counter ordering. Then when she came back to me, I saw that she was holding two ice-cream cones.

"Do you really like ice-cream that much?" I said glancing at her.

"I love ice-cream. But the other one isn't for me," she explained.

"Then who is it for?" I asked, a sinking suspicion growing in the pit of my empty stomach.

"You stupid" she said and held out the ice-cream. I eyed it with doubt.

"I don't eat ice-cream" I said flatly.

"What?" she exclaimed, her mouth dropping open in shock. "You don't eat ice- cream? Why not? Don't you like it? Or is it just this flavor?"

"I just don't really eat it much. It's too sweet" I said turning away.

"Just eat it okay? I've already bought it. It's cookies & cream, my favorite" she insisted. "I'd eat both of them myself, but I want to eat other things too"

"Aren't you worried about getting fat?" I asked rolling my eyes.

"No. I don't get fat. Well maybe a tiny bit after I eat a lot, but it usually goes down after an hour" she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Probably has something to do with my genes, both my parents were slim. Anyway, I've been eating chili since I was two years old and that speeds up my metabolism."

I smirked in amusement. Most teenage girls are paranoid about getting fat and obsessed about everything they ate. Melissa was a perfect example and she was a stick.

"Well?" Xiaoyi said.

"Well what?" I said.

"Are you just going to stand there or eat the ice-cream?" she asked.

"You know I think I'll just stand here" I said leaning against the wall.

"Atian!" she said pouting. My stomach then chose that moment to grumble particularly loudly.

Xiaoyi giggled and held out the ice-cream in front of my face. Sighing, I reached out and grudgingly accepted it.

Grinning widely, she began to eat her own ice-cream quite happily.

As I took a bite, I found that it wasn't that bad. After we finished our ice-cream I headed towards the sushi bar with Xiaoyi beside me.

"What kind do you like?" I asked when we stopped at the front of the counter.

"Ermm," she said and paused for a moment to allow her eyes to flicker over the sushi. "Teriyaki Chicken" she replied and as she was reaching into her bag for her wallet, I asked the guy for four teriyaki chicken hand rolls. Turning to her, I handed her two and began to head towards a table.

Trailing behind me, Xiaoyi dropped into the seat next to me and once again dug into her bag for her wallet.

"Here" she said and passed me some money.

"Keep it" I said shaking my head. "You paid for the ice-cream"

Shrugging she bit into her hand roll.

"So you got any ideas what you're going to do if Melissa calls you?" she asked after she had finished chewing.

"No. Still working on an explanation" I replied.

"Do you think she'll sue?" Xiaoyi asked absentmindedly.

I thought got a moment. "It's possible. But then again I didn't exactly inflict any damage on her. She won't really have much of a case" I mused before eating.

"I need to get back" Xiaoyi said, checking her watch after we had finished.

"Get to school a bit earlier tomorrow so that we can work on the science prac report" I said mentally grumbling since I would have to wake up half an hour earlier than usual.

"Yeah, okay." She answered. "Bye Atian" she said and quickly gave me a hug then headed in the direction of the car park before I could even protest.

Scowling I thought that I had better go home too. My father had left the day after the dinner with Mr. Zhong and wouldn't be back until next Saturday for the formal function so there was the chance that he wouldn't hear about the Melissa incident as her father worked primarily in Japan. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. But I couldn't exactly count on that either, if he didn't hear about it while he was away, he would surely hear it from Melissa's father himself since he was going to be at the formal function too. Oh well, better work on a game plan till then.

When I arrived home, I immediately went up to my bedroom. I reached into my pocket to retrieve my phone when I felt some cool metal against my hand. Frowning, I pulled it out and found that it was a few coins. How the hell did they get in here? I always kept my money in my wallet. Unless, Xiaoyi had slipped then into my pocket without me knowing when she hugged me. Scowling I sat down in the chair and turned a coin over in my fingers.

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