Kidnapped by a Dragon Billionaire

Zi Mei cracked open her inner door and looked out to see if her father had actually left or was hanging around outside waiting for her to come out. He was leaning against the column along the five-foot way counting the cash.

She pulled the door close to leave just a tiny crack, enough for her to watch him. She stood there watching him until he stood up unsteadily. Then she watches her father amble away unsteadily until he was out of sight. She shut the inner door tight together again and exhaled, releasing the stress and nervous energy from seeing her father again.

She shook her hands to release the stress just like what her therapist taught her and did some calming breaths. Then she went back upstairs to take a shower before changing. She will be cutting it quite close today.

Her class is supposed to start 9 o'clock and it is after 8 now. Oh well, this won't be the first time she's late anyway. She hurriedly got ready, went downstairs and made some light toasts for breakfast.

She munched on her toasts as she texted Darren. It is a good thing that they had signed up for the Art and Design Course together. His parents had surprisingly allowed him to change course midway too. So, now they go to class together all the time.

The thought of Darren made her smile and her heart thump. She has this crush on him for the longest time, since high school probably but she has never let on. Darren was oblivious, of course. She hoped to keep it that way. It will ruin their friendship if she was to confess to him and he rejected her. It would have been awkward all around.

"Hey Dare, u comin ovr?" she texted him.

"Yup, otw," he replied almost immediately.

This means he must be near. She stuffed the rest of the toasts into her mouth and brushed the crumbs off her t-shirt. She grabbed her backpack and walked to the front door. She opened the inner door cautiously and looked outside.

No sign of her father anywhere. She sighed in relief again. She unlocked the louvred door and pushed it open. She stepped outside and looked around. She saw Darren walking down the street towards her house. She waved at him then turned around to pull the inner wooden door closed. Then she pulled the louvred door closed and used her key to turn the lock. By the time she's done, Darren has reached her and is waiting for her on the five-foot way.

"Let's go, we are running a bit late today," he said. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier? I overslept," he added.

She frowned at him.

"What do I look like? Your personal alarm clock?" she asked him jokingly. He chuckled.

"Usually, you will be texting me to ask if I'm ready but today you didn't and I woke up really late!" he replied.

"Well, that's not my fault," she stuck her tongue out at him. They walked side by side as they headed to the nearest bus stop.

"What were you doing last night that you can't wake up this morning anyway?" she asked him. He looked uncomfortable and actually blushed.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you hiding something from me Darren Xing?" she asked.

"Err…well, ah…" he stammered shyly.

"Come on. Out with it, what is it?" she asked.

"I was on a date, okay? No big deal," he finally uttered.

Her heart sank. Darren was on a date. With another girl. This obviously meant that he doesn't have any feelings for her. It was a good thing that she never confessed to him. It would have been monumentally embarrassing if she had.

She plastered a fake smile on her face. She must not let him know how she felt about him.

"Well, so, who's the girl? Someone I know?" she asked teasingly.

He rubbed his neck shyly and blushed till even his ears are red.

"Ahem…ermm…can we change the subject?" he asked.

"No! I am curious! Do I know her?" she pressed on. She wanted to know what sort of girl he likes. They may be best friends and they have talked about a lot of things together but he has never told her what sort of girl he likes and somehow, she never asked him.

He was saved by the bus as it chose this time to arrive and they got on the bus. It was crowded inside so they ended up standing near the door, squashed together. This is hardly a place to have a conversation about dates so Zi Mei shelved up her questions for later. Darren seemed visibly relieved that she did not pursue with her line of questioning.

When they arrived at the bus stop outside their college, they are but five minutes from the start of the first class so they made a run for it. They made it just in time, rushing in and sitting down in the seats they often sat in before the professor walked in.

Class was fun and interesting. It was Zi Mei's favourite too, it's the multimedia design class. She loves learning new software and ways to use it to create new designs and art. It allowed her to improve her skills in digital art too.

After class ended, Zi Mei and Darren got up together and made their way out. Her next class is classical art while Darren has taken industrial art.

"Well, I'm off to my next class then, see you at break time," he said.

"Don't forget, I want to know who it is!" she told him. He blushed and hurried off. She looked at his disappearing back sadly and was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of deja vu.

This feeling. Standing here watching him leave. It felt familiar. Since they've been attending classes together for a few months now, that shouldn't be surprising, she thought.

She shrugged it off and headed to her next class.. She will have to hide her feelings better from now onwards and she has to brace herself for the day that Darren introduces his girlfriend to her, she thought.