x21 - Distance

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When they finally reach their room, Keran loudly opened the back door, which resulted with her earning a smack on the back of her head by both Keni and Jiaqi.

"Who the hell......slams a door......open.....after being late." Jiaqi said in between heavy breaths.

Before Ma laoshi could say a word to them, Jiaqi beat her to it.

"Ayi.....wait...wait a second." she told the laoshi, the 'Ayi' slipping out of her mouth.

Xueer who heard about this for the first time, looked slightly surprise. 'Ma laoshi's also her relative. She didn't say anything about that.'

Slowly, the three of them felt the consequences of running a total of eleven kilometers. They all slumped at the floor while they catch their breaths.

"I'm dy-"

"Not that word, Xu Jiaqi." Keran said.

"Right right." she remembered. "I can't take it anymore." Jiaqi corrected herself.

Lingzi, who has been staring at her three late friends, couldn't help the little smile that crept up on her face. Same thing with Yanni and Xiaotang. 'I missed seeing this.' they all thought.

"Before Ma laoshi scolds you, can I just ask, what's up with the outfits?" Sunrui, who noticed the similarities of their clothes, asks.

"This wasn't planned....We were on a hurry, obviously.....We didn't bother changing." Keni answered.

After successfully stabilizing their breathing, Keni and Keran automatically helped Jiaqi with standing up and seating her at her seat, with the latter saying her thanks after.

"As much as I missed seeing you three together again, why were you late?" Ma laoshi started the interrogation after both Keni and Keran sat on their respective seats.

"We woke up late." Keni honestly answered.

Ma laoshi raised her left eyebrow, not convinced with the answer. "You three live minutes away from the campus. Even if you woke up late, you wouldn't be arriving in the middle of your second period, considering how worn out all three of you looked like."

"Well," Keran looked at Jiaqi for permission, who only nodded her head. "We ran for like, ten kilometers, laoshi." she answered, purposely leaving out the other kilometer.

"You slept there!?!?" is Lingzi, Xiaotang, Sunrui and Yanni's immediate reaction.

It took Ma laoshi a full minute to figure out what Keran meant. When she did, her widened eyes that was filled with worry turned to Jiaqi who has her head resting on the table (still panting).

"Jiaqi?" Ma laoshi called for her.

"I'm fine." Jiaqi assured, knowing what her aunt meant.

Ma laoshi turned her attention back to Keni and Keran. "How did you end up there?"

"We also don't know, I swear. We were also surprised. We only noticed after Mr. Zhang called her." Keran immediately explained.

Ma laoshi didn't bother to question the explanation since she knows that that's most likely to happen.

"Did you really run all the way here? Mr. Huang didn't give you a ride?" she asks.

"Laoshi, we wouldn't be here if we didn't ran. We would be at the hospital if Mr. Huang gave us a ride." Keni answered, a subtle reminder of Jiaqi’s condition.

'Well, a panic attack would probably be worse than that in this situation. She said she's fine too.' Ma laoshi thought. Before she could say another word to them, she was cut off with her phone showing a notification from Mr. Zhang.

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