Fragments

Murphy's Law

Xiaozi stoically ignored the fact that Daoming Si had barely so much as glanced at her each encounter, the fact that Shancai was so clearly infatuated with her betrothed. In fact, Xiaozi had even been nice enough to invite this girl out for tea and cake - so what if her true intent had been to size up her competition, trying to ascertain if her claim was under threat in any way? Shancai didn't need to know that, of course! In fact, when she could be sure that there was no residual feelings on Shancai's part, she would actually quite like to be her friend - she seemed nice enough. Xiaozi also stoically ignored the last words Ah Si had hissed in her direction before he had stalked off: 'you accept that proposal, I swear, your life will be a living hell!" Gosh, men, no matter their age, were always so dramatic! Daoming Si, well, he was clearly still trying to play it cool - didn't he realise she was already throughly wooed and he didn't have to play hard to get, silly boy? She grinned like a Cheshire Cat as she drifted into unconsciousness, her mind full of the man she was going to marry. She didn't realise that ominous thunderclouds had begun to gather in the sky, nor that a bolt of lightening had suddenly struck the side of her house, shorting out the electrics.

You accept that proposal, I swear, your life will be a living hell.

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Xiaozi groaned blearily as she rolled over onto her side, her neck stiff from sleeping in one position for too long. She must have slept like the dead last night; her eyes were unfocused, her mouth was arid and her hair was an unmanageable mess atop her head, she could just feel it. Rain was pounding at the windows, the panes shaking with the force of the gale outside. Great.... She had to go to university today, she couldn't afford to miss anymore classes - even she could only get away with so much! She was studying fashion design, which she loved, but her grades weren't the best - she knew she didn't study as hard as she should, but based on her experience, men valued beauty over brains, and her parents had made it clear that all she needed was a rich husband to succeed in life! Why bother to strain herself when apparently there was no need to? Xiaozi seized up her phone, pushing her tatty hair out the way as she peered at the time; shit, it was almost 8:45am! Why hadn't her alarm woken her? She had a class at 10am, how was she going to get ready on time? Shit shit shit! Xiaozi scrambled out of bed, immediately standing on the prongs of her discarded phone changer - she had flung it there last night and promptly forgotten about it, and right now, she couldn't regret it more! She howled in pain as she hopped to the shower, her heart pounding as she raced to get ready. She absolutely could not miss this class!

Xiaozi yelped when she turned on the shower, the icy spray crashing into her unexpectedly like one thousand tiny knives. "What the dick!" She yelled, goosebumps rising rapidly along her arms as she furiously twiddled with the knob. It was to no avail; the hot water was clearly on the blink and unfortunately,  she had no choice but to wash her hair! She would have to grin and bear it! Xiaozi scrubbed her hair hastily, her fingers rough against her scalp, hissing through her teeth when shampoo smattered into her eye, burning unforgivably. She knocked over her toiletries as she fumbled clumsily to rinse her stinging eye, her expensive shower gel smashing to the ground and glugging unforgivably and wastefully down the drain. "Hell!" She groaned as she snatched it up, flinging it into the rack and seizing her razor. She was as speedy as possible as she was shaving her legs, trying to minimise her time in the cold shower. This proved to be a mistake; her foot was unsteady in the spilled shower gel, her hand slipped, and the next thing she knew, she had nicked her inner thigh slightly, blood pouring liberally from the tiny wound. "Ouch!" Xiaozi cried, pressing her fingers against her leg to stem the bleeding as the ice cold water beat down upon her back, red mingling with the stream and swirling down the drain. She felt like crying as she stumbled out of the shower, skidding on her bathmat and crashing unceremoniously onto her backside. Xiaozi buried her head in her hands, breathing deeply as she attempted to bring herself under control. She would not let her emotions get the better of her! What was it her daddy always said - more speed, less haste? She just had to stop acting so frantic!