My bow moved effortlessly across the strings and my fingers could hardly keep up with the tempo Lei had chosen for this morning's rehearsal. My brain for some reason this morning wasn't quite functional after my late night rehearsal of my own. I spent most of my Sunday with Ximen doing school work in the morning and shopping after we had lunch. After our hours of shopping I had decided to fit in a bit more of schoolwork before doing a couple of hours of practice. If it weren't for Ximen early this morning coming into the room to wake me and that Lei was down stairs waiting for me to have a rehearsal, I would have been just waking up right about now. I wasn't expecting to have a rehearsal so soon after a short weekend.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect after Saturday night. That night, Meizuo was being a supportive friend and took care of me before Ximen had arrived. Meizuo had me rest in the guest room while he went downstairs to hang out with Ximen and Lei. Meizuo had made sure I had plenty of water and food as I rested upstairs.

The sound of the keys to the piano came to a halt. I brought my bow hand down and turned to Lei. His eyes were trained on the music and his arms were crossed over his chest. I bit the inside of my bottom lip knowing he hasn't spoken a word to me yet today. He barely took a glance at me and I knew he was thinking back to Saturday night. I pretended to not notice.

"You're not keeping up with the tempo," he breathes with a frustrated sigh.

" I haven't quite looked at this part yet," I spoke lightly. I checked the time and noticed there was a little over an hour until our first class.

"Why haven't you?" I frowned slightly in confusion.

"I picked this piece out not five days ago. I'm still sight reading."

"I think we've had enough for today." I turned away to hide my bothered expression.

"Do you want to rehearse a section of your piece?"

"No. We can rehearse tomorrow afternoon before orchestra rehearsal." I nod and begin packing my bow and cello into my case.

"Do you want to get something to eat in the cafeteria before heading to class?" I asked as I closed the case and looked towards him standing and grabbing his bag beside him.

"No. I already ate. I'll see you in class." He said calmly. Before I could say anything else, he made his way for the door and left the practice room. I sigh tiredly and stand before taking my bag to put on my shoulder. I then take my music from the stand and my cello before making my way out of the room. Walking into the hall, I looked both ways before making my way for the stairs to go up to the fifth floor. It did not take too long for me to put my things away.

Once I exit the music building, I look around unsure. I haven't been to the cafeteria here on campus. Being my second day here, I haven't been on much of the campus. Ximen and Meizuo wouldn't be arriving on campus until my first class started. I don't think they would've been here before 8 am. I began walking more onto the campus and away from the familiar music building. There really wasn't anyone around. The campus structure is beautiful and I enjoyed looking at the buildings.

I looked over to the business building. Meizuo pointed out the building to me on Friday. I would have a class there later today. I think just past the business building was the main building. I could be wrong, but the building seemed closer together. The sound of the birds chirping from a nearby tree and the light breeze were the only thing I could hear. I saw a sign for the cafeteria as I near the business building and smiled to myself. I followed the sign and made my way up the stairs to the building right beside the business building. I looked through the glass doors and smiled to myself for finding the cafeteria on my own. I opened the door and let myself in.

The empty cafeteria, besides the workers, was spacious and then lighting from the sun came through the large glass windows. I find myself making my way over to the food area and smile to myself wondering what to choose. I picked up a tray and began picking out my meal. I grabbed a bowl to put my fresh cut fruits in, another bowl for my cinnamon oatmeal, and a bagel. I took three small packages of cream cheese to go with my bagel and utensils. Eagerly to have my breakfast, I went up to the worker who stood behind the register and I took my phone out to pay for my meal. The worker thanked me before I turned away to make my way to a table.

My phone was still in my hand beneath the tray as I struggled slightly with the weight of everything. Maybe I could sit by the wind- the weight of my tray became weightless and I felt a mixture of substance hitting me all at once. A gasp escaped my lips and I felt my phone hitting my foot and skidding somewhere. I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt the need to protect my eyes in case something splashed onto my face. Everything happened had so abruptly. The hot oatmeal hitting my cloathing, the fruits bouncing off the floor and my utensils making a clattering sound on the ground. I blinked a few times in confusion, before realizing what had happened .

"Oops," I heard a chuckle. My eyes focused on the person who caused the incident. I took a shaky breath as I saw the one person I was hoping to avoid as long as possible. I lowered my eyes to the ground feeling small like I used to.

"Daoming Si," I spoke shakily. He smirked as he bent down to pick up my phone and held it up.

"We finally run into each other again. You don't have your stutter."

"Stay away from me," I asked quietly. All of the terrible memories began flooding through my head and fear instantly began running through my veins. It may have been years ago, but did not change the fact he was one of the reasons why I left.

"Little Faye is still afraid I see? I'm surprised you decided to come back. After all you never belonged." I took a step back feeling frightened he would do something unpredictable. Daoming Si has this scary affect on me and I didn't like how this day was starting. "You should watch where you're going little Faye," Daoming Si chuckled. "Looks like your clothes were hungry." I looked down to see my white long sleeved shirt stained with a mixture of my oatmeal and strawberries. My coat was ruined by the oatmeal. "Watch where you're going next time," Daoming Si demanded and walked past me. I shivered slightly knowing this morning was not for me. I felt embarrassed knowing I'll now have to wear these stained clothes all day seeing I don't have a spare in my locker.

I wanted to bend down and pick up the mess that was made and I wanted to take my phone back from Daoming Si, but I looked down at my now shaky hands knowing what may come next if I don't calm down. I quickly made my way out of the cafeteria unsure what to do. I wanted to get as far away from the cafeteria as I could. I entered a random building needing a place to be for a while before class started. Hopefully I'll be okay by then. I walked up a flight of stairs and walked towards the end of the building thankful there wasn't anyone.

Coming across a glass hallway, I took a hold of the railing and looked out the window to see a particular view of campus. My hand squeezed the railing and I shut my eyes trying my best to think of something to calm me. Instead, nothing came to mind. I have been having a terrible morning and there wasn't anything calming about this morning. I've been feeling tired and on edge the moment I was in Lei's car. Rehearsal was tense and didn't go so well.

Everyone is going to see me like this. I let out another shaky breath.

"What are you doing here?" The voice came so suddenly and I shivered from the familiar tone. My back faced towards him.

"Leave me alone," I pleaded quietly thinking he's part of Daoming Si's plan. There's a moment of pause and I felt him take a step closer to me. "Please don't make my morning worse," I spoke more to myself. I felt stressed and my heart was hammering in my chest.

"What's going on Faye?" Lei asked from beside me and I felt a gentle hand on my arm and he took his hand away for a moment to realize something on his hand. I opened my eyes and turned my head slightly to see he was looking down at the apple sauce on his hand. He looked towards me confused. I turned towards him and he took notice of food all over me. "You're playing with food now?" He asked with a hint of amusement and smiled faintly. I'm glad he found this amusing. Once he realized I wasn't returning the smile, his smile disappeared. "What happened?" He takes my hand and looks down realizing I wasn't doing well. "You're shaking."

"It's nothing." He shakes his head before taking my hand and begins leading me down the spacious white hallway where I noticed the lightning here is brighter than the rest of the building. I noticed a few banners were hanging for the years the bridge club competed. We approached a large wooden door and he opened it allowing me to come before shutting the door. He led me down the spiral staircase and at the bottom had me seated on one of the steps which were also a book self.

"This isn't nothing," he spoke softly. I looked up at him and saw concern. "Who did this to you?" I lowered my eyes, not wanting to start anything between Ximen's friend group. When he realized I was not going to speak, he let out a sigh and began taking his coat off. "Take your coat off, it's ruined and it's cold out. You can wear mine."

Luckily the shirt I had was just stained. My coat took most of the oatmeal. I slowly took my coat off listening to Lei's demands as he took his off as well. Once I had my coat off, he wrapped his wool coat around me and I allowed myself to put my arms through. Instantly I felt the warmth and I hugged the coat closer to my body knowing it was quite big on me.

"Have you eaten at all?" I shook my head afraid to speak. I noticed being with Lei the last few minutes, my hands weren't shaking anymore and my head was clear of the fear from Daoming Si.

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