LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES...CHAPTER 3/? (Zitao's POV)
Title: Love knows no boundaries...
Author: tikibuddy91
Characters: Zitao, Qian (Victoria), Jinri (Sulli), Luhan, Sehun, Jongin, Joonmyeon, Amber and SooJung (Krystal)
Word Count: ~3200
Rating: G
Genre: College, AU, idekwhatelsetolabelthis...
Summary: Most of them are college students...You can consider them to be unique...They just feel out of place. Some call it a disability. Some call it an ability to prove people wrong. Flirtations lead to relationships, between two parties of people that you could not possibly dream of.
(A/N: There may be possible multi-band crossovers but they're not as important as the people listed above.)
(A/N 2: There are some graphic violent moments in this background, so...be warned.)
There are some Chinese and Korean phrases used here, but like Daehyun's story, there are translations provided in the italic parentheses.
If you like to understand the symbols on the vowels used, here are the rules:
Since Chinese depends on tonal usage, the rise and fall of tones, these symbols direct the behavior of tones.
ā = high flat tone
á = increase in tone
ǎ = sharp bounce in tone, descending and then rising
à = decrease in tone
Zitao wakes up on a Tuesday morning, and to a light blue color of his room that fills his vision. The sun is peeping out of the horizon, slowly warming up the city. Blinking his eyes, Zitao peers at the clock, reading it to be 5:45AM. He scratches his head and looks to the window, the city blanketed with the morning light blue sky, with some lights turned on here and there. Wearing a sleeveless shirt and flannel pajama pants, he gets out of bed and heads upstairs to the roof of his apartment.
There is a slight chill in the air as the sun spreads its rays of warmth on the surfaces of towers of steel and glass, and of shorter structures of wood, concrete and plaster. Zitao’s apartment’s rooftop is one of the many surfaces warmed by the sun’s heat.
Huang Qian and Zhenli, or Jinri as she is often called, are sitting on their mats on the floor not too far from where Zitao is standing. Qian has her long, blonde hair tied up in a braided ponytail as she meditates with her eyes closed, breathing in the cool air and taking in the warm heat from the sun’s rays. When the rays shine on her head, Zitao thinks his sister looks heavenly and mystical. Her legs are crossed in the lotus position, her back is set straight, and her fists meet by the intermediate phalanges. She has a faint, tight-lipped smile; she seems very relaxed and too deep into her meditation to notice neither Zitao’s presence nor Jinri’s movements. Next to Qian, Jinri is stretching her legs, one leg extended as the other is hooked towards her body, and she lets her upper chest rest on her extended leg as she reaches for her left foot. She repeats the same thing as she alternates to her right leg, both times holding her positions for 30 seconds. She sits up and reaches for the sky, tilting her body side to side, and breathing slowly. Her wavy, brown hair sways undisturbed by the slight chilly breeze on the rooftop of their apartment. Fully stretched, she settles herself on the mat before following her older sister with the lotus meditation. Turning her head, she looks up to see her brother walking up to them. She curves her lips in an acknowledging manner, her eyes show a faint sign of sleepiness wearing away.
Good morning gege, she mouths in silence, as to not disturb their eldest sister. Zitao replies back with a smile and joins them on the floor, stretching his limbs before readying himself to a lotus position.
Tweet...chirp…whooosshhh….
He breathes in slowly and calmly, shutting out everything - the background noises of his neighborhood, the gears of his mind working, and whatever he senses from his spot in the world. He blocks out his five senses and relaxes, thinking of nothing, but at the same time, everything. In his mind’s eye, he pictures the universe, the world, and pitch darkness. From nothing comes everything, and everything leads to nothing, he thinks to himself. Time is nonexistent. Space is relative. The world is but a single ant to the universe, and in this world, the ant is but a single particle of atom, in a single grain of sand at the beach, to the universe. The Huang siblings sit there, not moving, just breathing, and pondering what they feel that needs to be pondered. Zitao pictures the universe in his mind - closing into his planet, closing into his country, into his city, into his apartment and into where he is currently sitting at. He gradually begins to take in his surroundings and to understand the current timeframe he is in. He hears the birds chirping, he smells the plants from the nearby garden store, and he feels less of the breeze and more of the warmth now that the sun is above the horizon. Exhaling softly, he opens his eyes and looks to his left. Qian and Jinri are looking at him with calm composures on their faces, smiling slightly.
“Zitao, Zhenli, are you hungry? I’ll go make some congee, you tiao, and tea,” Qian informs them as she gets up from her seat. “Both of you better wash up for school, it’s almost 6:30. The sun’s past the horizon.” With that, she heads to the stairs that take her down to their apartment.
Zitao looks at Jinri, with eyebrows slightly raised and nodding his head to the stairs. She nods in agreement and they both get up to follow their sister. Zitao lets his youngest sister use the shower because he knows Jinri takes a long time to shower and get ready for school, at least 30 minutes, and he usually takes quick showers, and a change of clothes afterwards. He gathers up his stuff and leaves them on his desk, so he can get them on his way to the shower after Jinri comes out. Grabbing his notepad and pencil, he leaves his room to meet with his sister in the kitchen.
Their apartment is a hybrid of modern and quaint. The Huang siblings have a hybrid lifestyle, adhering to the traditions and yet still being flexible with the modern culture. There is a couch, leaving space between its back and the kitchen countertop, which separates the kitchen/dining area and the living space. There is a television screen mounted on a wall, with a simple-looking TV stand below with shelves and no drawers. In the kitchen/dining area, the table is really low so that one has to sit or kneel on the seat pillow to dine. The kitchen has one entrance; there is really just a wall on one end of the kitchen. Leaving the main space, one heads into the hallway where a bathroom and a laundry room are on one side, and the other side has Zitao’s bedroom and the shared bedroom of Jinri and Qian. Straight ahead is the stairway that leads to the rooftop; their apartment is the only one on the top floor that has access to the rooftop.
Back in the kitchen, Qian is stirring congee, a thick rice porridge often eaten for breakfast, when she looks up to see Zitao still in his morning clothes. Once she hears the shower running, she figures that it was Jinri who is taking a shower.
“Zitao-dì, don’t forget that your friend is coming over in a little while. You have a morning exam at school. Are you confident about it?,“ she implores. Zitao looks down to his notepad and starts writing. He holds it up for Qian to read: I know. I’m ready for the exam, and it shouldn’t be too hard. It’s just calculus, what else? He stands there with a small smirk on his face, looking very confident.
Qian continues to stir but looks up and reads the note. She gives a chuckle, giving in to her brother’s confidence, “Okay, okay. You seem ready for the exam. How would I know, I never took calculus but at least I managed to pass Chinese arithmetic and trigonometry. Zitao-di, you’re going to do great with your future. Me, I’m just a stay-at-home sister with degrees in culinary arts and dance, and helping out with the neighborhood. I am a dancer, a ballet and traditional dancer at that, with a knack of cooking. There’s no job for me to compete in the business world. You have that potential, Zitao. I hope you’ll do well with your math major from here on.” She begins to put a ladleful of congee into each of the three bowls.
Zitao nods in response as he watches his sister set the congee bowls on the table. Placing the notepad and pencil on the kitchen countertop, he goes to help her cook you tiao, a type of donut, and sets up the table with teacups and a teakettle. He picks out some jasmine tea leaves from the pantry and sprinkles a few into their cups.
Qian goes to boil the water, and at that moment Jinri opens the bathroom door and exits with her school uniform on. Zitao looks up when he hears Jinri call him, informing him that the bathroom is free. He taps Qian on her shoulder to get her attention, then he points to himself and in the direction of the bathroom. Qian nods and tells him that they will wait for him, and there is no hurry because she still needs to boil the water for tea.
Zitao goes to his room to grab his school clothes and heads for the bathroom. Closing the door, he studies himself in the mirror. Years of wushu have formed his body really well. Although math is his favorite subject and he aims to be a mathematician, wushu remains to be his passion, the traditional martial arts and the meditation keeps him in balance. Putting his school clothes on the toilet seat cover and with toothpaste on his toothbrush, he strips himself of his pajamas and goes to take a shower while brushing his teeth. Another way to conserve water, he thought. He rinses himself before shutting off the water. He shampoos his hair and soaps his body except for his face, as he is still brushing his teeth. He then rinses off the soap from his body while washing out the shampoo in his hair, spits out the toothpaste, and proceeds to wash his face. Feeling fresh and clean from the shower, he grabs his towel and dries himself off to put on his school clothes.
Putting his pajamas away in his room, he goes to join his sisters to dine for breakfast. They bow their heads first in prayer and then start eating in comfortable silence. After they are full, they bring their finished plates to the kitchen sink.
Knock knock…
The three siblings look up to the door and glance at the clock. It is almost 8AM. Their friends must be here. Jinri goes to get the door as Zitao and Qian wash up the dishes. The older siblings hear their sister squeal in delight and see her open the door further to let the guest enter.
It seems that they did not expect more than one visitor as Zhang Luhan enters first with a tall boy next to him, both of them holding hands. Qian greets to Luhan, “你好 馬, 鹿晗弟? 啊, 歡迎到我家來！(Hello, how are you, young brother Luhan? Ah, welcome to our home!)“ She spots the other boys and welcomes them into her home. Zitao nods with a smile on his face to Luhan but looks puzzled towards the new visitors. Luhan’s friend, Zitao and Qian note, has a serious face but they can tell he looks a bit lost. Next, two boys enter, one trailing behind the other, holding onto the shorter boy’s shoulders. The shorter of the two looks really youthful and has this good-natured personality. The taller one seems even younger but is quite an eye candy with his tan skin.
Jinri moves past the boys and goes to tackle someone behind the door, saying “YAH! What are you guys doing here? I thought I was gonna meet you at school??...Ehahahahaha~!! Jiejie, Gēgē!! I want you to meet my friend, Kim Soojung!” The two girls enter and the Huang siblings recognize Zhang Amber, the girl whose boyish charm often misleads people into thinking she is a guy. The new girl has a happy face but seems very shy, as if she is not sure how to act properly in front of the hosts.
As everyone file into the home and stand around in the living room, Zitao just smiles and waves while Qian almost repeats what she had said earlier.
“Dà jiā hǎo, nǐmén hǎo ma? Huān yíng dào wǒ jiā lái! (Hello, how are you, everyone? Welcome to our home!)”
Luhan and Amber smile back warmly and reply, “Hěn hǎo” (I’m fine), the gentle boy shows a sincere smile and nods, pretending to understand what he just heard, but the others have a completely different reaction to the Chinese greeting. The two boys and Soojung look flabbergasted, not having a single clue as to what just came out of their hosts’ mouths. They glance at each other with confused looks on their faces, not sure how to respond to the greeting.
“Er…” The boys start at the same time, and they both look flustered to speak Chinese. Soojung glances at the boys and turns around to face Amber, who nods her head to the direction of the hosts. Amber whispers in Soojung’s ear, “Nǐ hǎo ma, wǒ de míng zì shì Soojung …or just take out the ‘de míng zì’(Hello, how are you? My name is Soojung)”. Soojung widens her eyes and nervously looks to her hosts. Qian notices this and asks, “ Yǒu shé me wèntí ma? (Is there something wrong?)”
We are making a really bad impression right now, Soojung thinks to herself. She greets weakly, “Nì hǎo mǎ, w-wǒ …uhm…shì Soojung?” Utterly embarrassed, she bows her head in shame. The boys stare at her in pity and shock, too nervous to say anything.
Jinri saves the situation by explaining to her siblings, “Oh~ Jiejie, gēgē. My friend, Soojung-ah, doesn’t know much Chinese. I don’t think the others do too, except for Amber and Luhan of course.” The Zhang siblings nod.
Qian catches herself and brings her hand up to her mouth. “어머, 진짜?? 괜찮아~ 우리는 한국어로 이해하고 말할 수 있어 (Oh is that so? It’s okay, we can understand and speak Korean)”.
The two tall boys of the group and Soojung perk up their ears at the sound of their familiar tongue and heave sighs of relief. The older boy remains unfazed and politely bows, introducing himself to the hosts. With a gentle voice that matches his personality, he greets, “Annyeonghaseyo, jeoneun Kim Joonmyeon imnida.” The tan guy introduces himself as Kim Jongin, with an extra note that he is not blood-related to Joonmyeon, they just happened to have the same surname.
Luhan tugs his friend to introduce himself and he looks extremely nervous and embarrassed. The hosts look at him with curious eyes and get their answers when they hear him as he bows, “A-Annyeonghatheyo, jeoneun Kim Sth-th-Thehun imnida.”
Sehun wills himself to at least glance at the hosts before looking away, his face red with embarrassment. Once the hosts understand what Sehun was saying, they realize that he has a serious speech defect. Soojung then finishes her introduction politely and shows a small smile of relief at being able to speak Korean comfortably. Luhan then tells the hosts that Sehun, Jongin, and Soojung are siblings (receives an “oh!” from Qian) while Sehun is his boyfriend and Joonmyeon is Jongin’s close friend.
For a few moments of silence, Zitao stands there in the kitchen with an unreadable expression on his face. Then he smiles and nods at the group with assurance. Qian giggles to herself and explains to their guests that she does not mind of their relationships and that she feels rude in assuming they all knew Chinese. She gave a curtsy while sincerely apologizing to them. There are voices from the group of visitors with “No no, it’s okay!!” and “Qian-jie, don’t worry about it”.
Soojung brings up a question, “What do you want us to call you? Qian..jie? Or Qian..unnie? Zitao-oppa?” with Jongin adding in “Qian-noona? Zitao-gē? Zitao-hyung?”
The older siblings look at each other and Qian suggests that the kids can call her with a different name: Vickie-unnie/noona, short for Victoria. Zitao, on the other hand, grabs his notepad and pencil resting on the countertop and begins to write. As he writes, he leaves the kitchen and moves towards the group. The kids peer at him nervously and then Zitao holds up his notepad. It reads, “You can call me Tao-oppa/hyung, it’s shorter.”
The trio stares at the notepad but Soojung looks up to Zitao with a raised eyebrow, “Uhm…I’m sorry but why couldn’t you just say so instead of coming u- OW,” she looks to her brother, Jongin, who had pinched her. “What was that for? Aish…”
Amber whispers to Soojung, “He’s mute. He cannot talk because he lost his voice due to some damage at an early age, or that’s what Jinri told me.” Soojung looks ashamed of herself and bows in apology to Jinri, Zitao and Qian. They smile in understanding. Joonmyeon questions Zitao for his age, and Zitao writes “I am a ‘93er…that makes you my…oppa?” At the sight of his words, Joonmyeon brightens, and with a chuckle, he corrects him that he is Zitao’s hyung.
The crowd, now familiar with one another and a little closer than when they first met, chats for a while until it was time for them to go to school. Luhan tells Zitao that they will be meeting Yixing and Jongdae at the university, while Amber tells Jinri that they should go pick up Sunyoung on their way to their high school. The Huang siblings take their bags and hug their eldest sister before leaving with their friends. Qian wishes Zitao good luck on his exam, and Jinri to do well in school.
Outside the apartment building, there is a heavy breeze and the group of students is about to split ways, due to their schools being in the opposite directions. Zitao hugs his sister and he sees Soojung waving with a blush, the memory of her rude actions still haunting her mind. Zitao grins at her and pats her head, then turns around to leave. Amber tells Luhan, “Gege, tell Yixing-ge I said I’m really sorry about his unicorn doll! I didn’t mean to spill congee on it.”
Heading to Sunyoung’s house, Soojung asks Jinri, “Yah, Jinri…why did you not tell me about your brother?? I was so embarrassed because I didn’t know he couldn’t speak!” Amber places her arm around Soojung’s shoulders and tells her, “It’s alright, Yixing-gē and I had the same reaction as you did when we met Jinri’s brother. Luhan-gē was the only one not bothered by it. Don’t feel too bad, Soojung-ah, lighten up! We’re almost at Sunyoung’s house now.”
Soojung, feeling a bit curious, looks at both of her companions and shyly asks, “How do you say 'Can you help me with my Chinese?'…I’d like to learn it sometime if I can.”
Jinri and Amber look at her with surprise and smile at her. Jinri coos, “Aww, Soojung-ah. You don’t have to learn Chinese to speak with my family, hehehe. We’re pretty much bilingual.”
Soojung pouts, “But it sounds so cool, though…”
Amber replies to her, “Alright, here it goes: ‘Kěyǐ bāng wǒ tígāo zhōngwén mǎ?’”
Soojung widens her eyes at the sounds of tone rising and falling in different spots and bites her lip, “Okay maybe…in a little later.” Jinri and Amber laugh and link arms with her before taking off to Sunyoung’s place.