Loved By The Villain And The Male Lead

Su Ning woke up very early on her first day of college. Cherry blossoms are already in full bloom, but It's still pretty chilly in April with highs of 68 and lows of 50 Fahrenheit. Since today was sunny, Su Ning decided to wear an oversized sweater over a light pink long sleeve knit top and white tennis skirt with white sneakers. Su Ning biked to campus without much fanfare and was easily able to find the room for her first lecture. Surprisingly, she was feeling rather nervous and shy to be in a classroom full of international students. Su Ning took a seat in the middle row and began to take out her notebook and writing materials for this class as she waited for the professor to arrive. 

'I should sign up for any after school event to get to know my classmates more since I don't live in the dorms,' she decided. Su Ning was so engrossed in her planning that she didn't notice someone had taken the seats on either side of her. 

'Hey!" a brown haired caucasian man with blue green eyes greeted Su Ning. "This seat isn't taken, right?" he asked.

"You already sat down and you're asking her now?" the Asian girl with chin length hair, thick black eyeliner and nose piercing who sat on the other side of Su Ning commented.

"I was trying to be polite, Claire," Eric shot back at the girl and rolled her eyes.

"Well, you fell short Eric," Claire retorted.

'Er… are they friends? Did they want to sit together? But there were so many empty seats on this row though,' Su Ning wondered anxiously.

"Screw you, Claire," Eric snapped, startling Su Ning.

"Up yours Eric!" Claire sassed back.

Su Ning's eyes grew wide at the exchange between the two. 'So are they friends or not?' she wondered. 'I don't want to get in the middle of friends but I don't want to get in the middle of an argument even more. I think I should move,' Su Ning decided. The young girl began to pack up her items on the desk and swung her chair backwards. 

It was Eric that noticed the girl's movements first. "Wait, where are you going?" he asked.

Su Ning wasn't sure if the man named Eric was speaking to her so she took a quick glance at the Asian woman named Claire. The latter merely stared back at her with a questioning look.

"Yes, you. I'm speaking to you," Eric said with a laugh. "I'm Eric by the way and that snarky girl over there is Claire. We're from Los Angeles. What about you?"

"Er.. I'm Karina from Y City," answered Su Ning. 

"Hey Karina," Claire's face broke into a smile.

"Oh Karina. That's a pretty name," Eric smiled at the girl.

"Thank you," she replied, but she didn't move her chair back to its original position.

"Where are you off to?" Eric inquired.

"Ah... Well…. I was going to move to the front," Su Ning said tentatively.

"Why?" he asked, appearing perplexed. 

'Why obviously… too awkward lah! You two are fighting beside me! Tian na. Why didn't you find another place to fight? Chao si le,' said Su Ning's internal voice.

Author's Note: Tian na means My God. ૮⍝◜•⚇•◝⍝ა

Chao si le means Noisy to death. （￣ｗ￣）Ψ

"Obviously, you're too loud," Claire commented with a deadpan voice.

"Bish, have you heard your own voice?" Eric asked, shooting the girl an evil glare.

"You little f*cker! What did you call me!?" Claire demanded, smacking her manicured hands on the table.

"Em!! My eyes! They're..  no good, so…. I should sit up front," Su Ning said abruptly before rushing to the empty seat on the first row. She didn't turn back to look at the pair as she made her escape.

"See! You scared her off!" Claire cried out beside Eric.

"YOU scared her off! Have you seen your face? You look like a Disney villain with that makeup," Eric countered.

"Jerk!" Claire retorted before she sighed. "So much for making another Asian friend."

"I told you to watch your language. Why do you have to be a potty mouth?" Eric called out.

"Tch!" Claire clicked her tongue. "She looks so cute too. She looks like she could be part of a kpop girl group."

"Actually, don't you think that girl looks familiar?" Eric asked and his friend rolled her eyes.

"Picking up girls on the first day of school? Classy," Claire said sarcastically.

"No you idiot. I feel like I've seen her before." he said. 

"Today's the first day of school genius," Clare commented.

"I know that doofus. Hold on. It's really bugging me now. Let me ask Allen," Eric spoke as he tapped away at his phone.

"How are you planning to ask him? Are you going to describe her facial features?  Or draw a portrait?" Claire inquired. 

"No dum dum. I'm going to sneak a photo," Eric scoffed.

"..." (Claire)

Soon after, Professor Ichihashi came in to start the class, Japanese 101. Su Ning was relieved to finally separate herself from Tom and Jerry in the middle row and focus on the lecture.

Author's Note: The above is a reference to the cartoon about a housecat, Tom, and a mouse, Jerry, that are constantly plotting different ways to best each other, leaving destruction and mayhem in their wake. ヘ(^_^ヘ)

..............

Aside from the first class of the day, Su Ning found that her classmates in other subjects were relatively normal people. Luckily the first year and a half of the program are mostly liberal arts classes and electives taught in a mixture of Japanese and English in a 30/70 ratio. This semester in particular, she only had 2 classes specializing in her major, Engineering. Since most of the classes are supposedly relatively easy, the students appear more easygoing. In her final lecture of the day, Su Ning decided to join several students in her Intro to Engineering class to grab dinner.

They decided to try out the Japanese fast food place Sukkiya, a popular gyudon restaurant chain in Japan. In their group was a tall Italian man named Roberto, a voluptuous Spanish woman named Maria, a Chinese girl who grew up in the US named Minshi, and a portly British man named Harry. 

Author's Note: Gyudon is a beef bowl. ╘[◉﹃◉]╕

Whilst the group was enjoying their supper, Roberto suddenly brought up the topic of clubs.

"Have you guys decided on which clubs to join?"

"Film club," replied Maria.

"Anime and manga club," quipped Harry.

"Taekwondo club for me," answered Minshi, flexing her muscles in front of her new found friends.

"Nice. I'm thinking of joining the soccer club,' said Roberto. "What about you, Karina?" 

"Uhmm Engineering club?" Su Ning answered with uncertainty.

A round of laughter echoed around the table. 

"Kari, love." said Maria, patting Su Ning's hair. " The clubs are extracurricular. People typically sign up for their hobbies."

"Ahh… umm… then I'm not sure," Su Ning said haltingly. 'Is there a club where you can just play games?' she wondered.

"You can join the manga club with me," Harry offered. 

"Uhm.. it's alright Harry," Su Ning declined politely. 'I like reading Lin Miao's webtoon but I am not particularly interested enough in manga to join the club. I wonder if I should just join the music club or theatre club.'

"Oh…alright. But if you change your mind.' Harry said looking disappointed.

"No rush, Kari. We can look together when they have the booths up on Friday," Minshi chuckled and Su Ning nodded. 

"Guys, should we go hang out this weekend?" asked Roberto as he chewed on some edamame.

"What do you have in mind?" Maria inquired.

"We could check the areas around here. This is my first time in Japan so I haven't seen much. What about you guys?" Roberto replied.

"I been to Osaka a few times. But I'm down to go wherever. Are you thinking to go further like Kobe or Kyoto?" Minshi readily responded.

"That's a possibility," Roberto answered.

"Mm. This is my first time as well. But I'm alright with anything," Su Ning said, nodding at Roberto.

"Aight let's exchange numbers and make a group chat! That'll make planning easier," Maria recommended.

"Alright!" the group agreed. 'This feeling is pretty good,' she thought, smiling as she ate.

After the gang finalized their weekend plans, they called it a night and headed back home.

As soon as she got home, Su Ning excitedly took a shower and then called up Lin JinYan and Gu YuChen to catch them up on her first day at school. Around 10pm, the young girl was already feeling exhausted and ready to turn in for the night. Surprisingly, for the first time since that incident with Qing Mei, she didn't need to go through her relaxation technique to stave off her recurrent nightmares. That night, she was able to sleep peacefully.

** The author has something to say: aiii new school, new friends! So nice to be young! (n˘v˘•)¬

My lovely readers~ did any of you study abroad? How was your experience? (｡♥‿♥｡)

Thank you for all the VOTES, COMMENTS, and GIFTS!! I really really appreciate them! 

If you haven't done so, please add the story to your READING LIST!! (●´ω｀●) **