Yixi, Ruibei, and I had been sitting together on the sofa for what felt like an eternity, our eyes fixed blankly on the movie playing on the laptop in front of us. The scene unfolded before us, but our minds were a thousand miles away. The financial burden of mom's treatment hung heavily over us, and we couldn't shake the feeling of devastation that came with knowing we didn't have enough money to cover the costs. As we sat there, frozen in our thoughts, my mind unexpectedly drifted to Jenna.
I had heard of Jenna, an American-Chinese actor and model, a long time ago. She had won many awards and is even one of the top actors in the world, but what exactly is her relationship with jiang guangyu? If I should date jiang guangyu, that'll mean trouble with Jenna and I wouldn't want to get into that. Should I just back out?
My train of thoughts were disturbed when RuiBei suddenly hit the space bar hard. The movie stopped. I and YiXi turned to look at her with confusion etched on our faces.
"This movie doesn't look like its cheering us up. How about going to the cinema?...I have tickets" RuiBei asked
"Of course!, Also, let's eat hotpot and have a few drinks" YiXi added with a big smile on her face.
I wanted to decline, but seeing the big smiles on their faces, even if they were faking it, made it hard to turn them down. I heaved a sigh. "Well…Lets go out, then! This place is suffocating"
We three smiled and left the house. Soon after, we got to the cinema, gave in our tickets and went in. As I sat down, the serene atmosphere of the cinema and loud sounds coming from the big TV in front cooled my nerves. Closing my eyes, I sank into the weird warmth of the cinema.
***
A while later, we finished the movie and went for dinner, then drank to our hearts content. RuiBei and YiXi couldn't hold their liquor as well as I, but they kept on asking for more bottles as they were both pained from the unfortunate news. I didn't bother to drink because I'd still have to take care of them when they get drunk.
I waited for them to drown all their sorrows in liquor before sending them to their houses in a taxi and walked back home. Nearing my house, I sighted lots of people gathering at a spot and fire trucks rushing to the scene. Without wasting time, I quickly ran to see what was going on and what I saw, made my heart sink.
It was my home. It was on fire, the only place that held many memories. No, this couldn't be happening. I immediately pushed my way through the crowd, trying to cross over the barrier banner.
"Ma'am please exercise patience, you cant go over there" One of the police men stopped her but i didn't care or listen, My mind was clouded not able to think of anything at the moment except entering my house.
Seeing this, 2 more police men came to hold me down as I struggled out of their tight grips, tears streaming down my cheeks.
I sat at a bench near the scene waiting for the fire fighters to come out. Suddenly, someone towered over her with a cup of coffee in his hands, it was one of the police men.
"Here, have this." He said, handing her the cup of coffee.
I looked up at him with my now red eyes, taking the coffee from his hands as he sat next to me. "Thanks"
He smiled. "Your home, uh?"
"Yh." I replied staring at the coffee in my hands.
"Been there before" He said still smiling, which made me turn to him sharply. How could he say that and still smile?
I looked at him, he was sad, I could tell from his eyes no matter how much he smiled. "Sorry, it must have been horrible. How did it happen?"
Before he could speak, one of the fire fighters rushed towards them. "The cause of the sudden fire has been identified"
I immediately stood up. "What was it?"
"Your laptop overheated. You didn't turn it off and left it on a cushion which caused a blocked ventilation" He explained.
My eyes widened, it is true that I forgot to turn it off but I don't remember putting it on a cushion.
"Sadly, nothing survived the fire, we weren't called early" he said as he bowed and left.
I collapsed on the ground feeling devastated. It was all gone, all the memories, even the only picture of father was in there. This is all my fault, if only I had not been so careless, if only I had not gone to the cinema, would all these have been avoided. Tears rolled down her cheeks again.
A pair of warm hands fell on her shoulders. "Do you have anywhere to stay?'' The police asked.
I shook my head. I could stay with YiXi or RuiBei but I don't want to burden them and they'll already be sleeping by now. "No" I bluntly replied.
"Do you mind staying at my place till you get somewhere to stay?" He politely asked.
I couldn't possibly stay alone with a guy whom I don't even know anything about. "Do you live alone?"
He furrowed his eyebrows to my sudden question. "N-No" he stuttered.
"Oh, that's better" I muttered. "Let's go then''
He smiled and they both set off with a few more police men in a car. The cool night breeze dried her tears and the cozy police car made her feel safe. There were 4 police men in the car and they seemed to look at her strangely.
"Bo cheng, what's this woman doing here?" One of them asked.
Bo cheng seemed to be the guy who handed her coffee. He smiled. "She's the owner of the burnt house" Bo Cheng replied.
"So, where are you taking her?" Another one asked.
"Home"
The three officers eyes widened. "What?! They chorused"
"She'll just be staying for a few days" He said
"Oh, Bo Cheng, Bo Cheng, Why are you so nice to everyone, you're not even sure if he'll let us bring her in" The last one said.
"By he…who do you mean?" I cut in.
The three officers turned to me. Bo cheng who was driving smiled. "You'll know soon" He said.
"Okay" I paused. "By the way, what are your names."
"I'm Chen chao. That's Haoran and the other is baolin" One of them introduced. So I gave him a slight nod.
"Nice to meet you, guys. I hope we get along in the future." I said.
Baolin scoffed. "There's no future. You'll be leaving as soon as you get a house…oh, wait, that's if he allows you into his house"
''No need to be rude, bao. Doesn't she look familiar, I think I've seen her somewhere" Haoran said as he tilted his head, playing his fingers on his jaw and the 2 followed suit.
"That's true"
Just as they were thinking, Bo chen pulled over. "We're here"
They all snapped back to reality and got out of the car. As soon as I stepped out, I took in the familiar surroundings, surely, I've been here before.
Bo Chen inputted the pass code and unlocked the door. The 5 of them went in.
"Guang, We're home!" Cao Chen shouted as someone strolled down the stairs.
"Quit shouting, Cao" The man said as he stood in front of them. I locked eyes with him and my eyes widened, he also seemed to be shocked seeing me her.
"J-Jiang…''