She gathered her things tiredly. It was incredibly satisfying that she had finally finished her biochemistry class. That day she was convinced that she was a complete fool as she couldn’t understand anything the professor had told them. Stephen beside her put on his jacket and waved goodbye. Within the last week they had begun to hang out more and more and the girl sought to sit next to him in class as often as she could. She was becoming more comfortable with him though she felt she needed to change a lot of things about her if she wanted him to like her. She wrapped her scarf around her neck and put on her burgundy cap before finally putting on her jacket. She stepped out into the cold with Sanem and Katerina and let the chilly air caress her face, closing her eyes to help her wake up. She enjoyed the smell of the cold air. It reminded her of the smell of the snow she loved. When she opened her eyes she saw a young man looking at her laughing at this movement. He was wearing a black beanie and dark blue parka over his jeans and his black hiking boots. She recognized him immediately and felt her heart jump uncontrollably with joy. She ran and jumped on top of him wrapping her legs around his waist. He squeezed her in his arms laughing at her childish behavior so typical of her and kissed her forehead. When her feet touched earth again, without moving away from him, she looked up at him, her face lighting up with joy all over.
"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in China?" She asked him in English. He smiled and tapped her forehead with his index finger.
"Is this how you greet me? So you want me to leave?" He asked her and wrapped her scarf around her neck once more.
Katerina and Sanem approached them, looking at them curiously. Lydia turned towards them and saw that apart from her friends, other fellow students were looking at them in wonder. They always attracted stares as a group. In their country, the Yang family were "Chinese" tourists. They couldn't imagine that this one knew how to speak Greek better than some others who were supposedly Greek.
"This is Christian!" He introduced them proudly.
He reached out his hand and clasped theirs in a warm handshake, still holding Lydia's hand.
"We are childhood friends. We grew up like siblings ." She clarified to avoid any misunderstandings but didn't notice that his gaze darkened for a moment.
"Lou shall we go?" He said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders possessively.
He looked at the other two girls and asked them if they wanted to join them on a walk or take them somewhere. They looked at each other for a moment and politely declined to leave them alone. They walked on like that, hugging each other, ignoring the curious looks around them, and got into her mother's car.
"What did you promise her and she gave it to you?" She asked him in surprise, wearing her seatbelt.
"Nothing. You know Auntie has a special fondness for me!" He replied smugly and they set off.
She was very happy to see him. She had missed him. She had always missed Christian more than the others.
"What do you think of university? Are you adjusting?" He asked her and watched her drink some of his tea, which had already cooled without going through the process of asking his permission.
"To be honest I was initially disappointed with the classes I had. Like why do we have to do computer science? Where would I need it? But it's better now that the more relevant courses have started. In biology, in the lab, we also have assignments to hand in that are interesting!" She replied enthusiastically.
He smiled in satisfaction and took his container back from her hands to take a sip as well.
"Why are you back?" She finally asked him.
He hesitated at first but finally decided to reveal only half the truth to her.
"It wasn't what I expected. Maybe I got too used to the Western way of thinking."
They continued their journey in a pleasant silence with Lydia only giving occasional directions on how to get to her house. A short time later they had reached their destination and when they entered Christian left his small suitcase in the hall. He took off his shoes and jacket and proceeded into the house. She saw him put the Tupperware her mother had prepared for them in the fridge and then walk around the grounds. She went into her office and saw a pile of books on her desk along with discarded papers and crumpled sheets.
“It's for the assignment I was telling you about." She tried to justify the mess that Christian couldn't stand.
He remained expressionless and finally after patting the spine of a few books he returned to the living room. As soon as she saw him not looking she added her notebook to the pile and followed him. After exploring her entire house she saw him lying on the couch having taken one of her pillows in his arms closing his eyes.
"Would you like to stay in today?" She asked him and he nodded in the affirmative without opening his eyes.
Soon his breathing changed and Lydia realized he had fallen asleep. It was strangely nice to have him close to her, inside her house.
When he woke up Christian could see out the window that it was getting dark. That sleep had been refreshing and had helped him recover somewhat from the jet lag of the trip. He stood up and ran his hands through his long hair, ruffling it. He saw a plate of spaghetti with red sauce on the kitchen counter and a dirty one in the sink so he assumed it was for him. The coffee pot contained ready-made coffee and the room smelled hazelnut. Lydia's office door was open and the desk light was on. He headed over and stood in the doorway. He saw her squatting in the chair with headphones in her ears lost in her books. She was wearing plaid pajama pants and her white long-sleeved blouse had the lady and the tramp from Disney on it. He leaned over her enjoying her distinctive scent. Vanilla. She turned and looked at him. She smiled at him without taking off her headphones. He was tempted to kiss her the way their breaths mingled but restrained himself.
"If you want to take my laptop I won't need it." She told him and continued her reading.
He looked around the room and found her sketchbook. He took it and with it he took her floral case of crayons. After putting on sweatpants to make himself more comfortable he sat down on the office floor next to her and began making a portrait of Lydia.
It had been some time when he finished the chapter Lydia was reading. She closed her book and stretched, feeling her muscles ache from being still for so long. She took off her headphones and was about to get up when she saw Christian sitting on the floor looking at her. His expression was different than usual, warmer, and when their eyes met he turned his attention back to his work. She approached him and sat down, relieved. She took her pad in her hands and saw herself drawn in pencil. It was striking and an unusual choice for Christian. He usually preferred figures for video games since he and his brother wanted to make one at some point instead of portraits.
"It's very nice. Thank you!" She said and kissed him on the cheek.
She took the block in her hands and admired it once more before setting it back on her desk.
She left the room and he followed her into the living room where he saw her open the couch to make a bed. She then took out a set of sheets and a quilt she had for visitors from her closet and handed them to him along with one of her pillows. He began to make his bed. It still seemed strange to him that Lydia was now an adult but he didn't know how to approach her without scaring her. He was afraid that if he did, he would lose her forever. He lay wide and patted the mattress beside him.
"Do you want to watch a movie?" He asked her, sure that she always had a dvd at home.
She looked at him and pointed to the short dresser where she had the TV on top.
"Take your pick." She told him and he opened the drawer to find that his choices were limited and were mostly romance movies.
A few moments later they were lying under the warm quilt in each other's arms watching Tristan and Isolde. Lydia had turned off the big light and had left a portrait light on which she kept on the shelf next to them. Soon he felt her relaxed until he found that she had fallen asleep. That night he found it hard to sleep as he finally had her in his arms. He kept her there beside him with the excuse that he didn't want to wake her up as she was sleeping peacefully.
Lydia entered the house and left the bag of scented cheese pies on the table. Christian had gotten up and had already closed the sofa bed, having folded the covers on the armchair. From the bathroom he could hear the shower water running so she decided to get ready while he finished his shower. She put on her jean sundress with a striped white and red long sleeve blouse underneath and put her notebook in her purse. She then made coffee for her and tea, which Christian preferred as morning beverage, for him and served their breakfast. She watched him come out of the bathroom with only the towel wrapped around his hips and his hair wet and falling down his forehead. He said good morning to her and without hurrying he slipped into her room where he had his suitcase, closing the door behind him. When he returned to the living room he was wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt. His hair was still wet and he had let his bangs fall down in front of his forehead. She looked at him and felt a wonderful warmth in her heart to have him close to her.
When she got out of the car she found Katerina and Stella sitting outside the auditorium talking. She approached them and said good morning. Stella pointed to the small car driving away.
"Say, who's that now that we're alone?" She asked her.
"A childhood friend. Our mothers used to go to culinary school together." She explained.
"Just childhood friends?" Stella asked meaningfully.
"Where are they from?" Katerina asked at the same time giving her the opportunity to avoid Stella's implication because she wasn't sure how she felt about Christian either. Until she saw him again he was just one of her best friends. But that morning when she saw him coming out of the bathroom she felt several of her heartbeats lost. And it wasn't the first time she'd seen him naked from the waist up. Get a grip, she ordered herself, he's like a brother to you!
"He was born in Korea and raised in England. His father is Korean and his mother is half English half Korean."
"Interesting! And he speaks both languages?" Katerina asked with genuine interest.
"Mostly he speaks English, Korean and a little Chinese but he has learned Greek. Aaron, his twin brother, also speaks Japanese and Krystal, their little sister has added French and German to her quiver. She is learning foreign languages for fun." She replied proudly of her friends.
She herself had not managed to learn any language other than English and although she understood enough when they spoke Korean she herself found it difficult to speak and write in their language as she had never really bothered to learn the language.
Sanem joined them and greeted them.
"Do you want to go inside because it's cold?" she asked, rubbing her gloved hands and they agreed.
Sitting down between Katerina and Stephen, Lydia took out her notebook and began sketching Christian as a manga. Stephen leaned down next to her and looked at her work.
"Aren't you a little old for a cartoon?" He asked her and instead of answering she turned the page, leaving her work unfinished.
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