Monday morning, the day that Amy Lee had looked forward to for weeks on end, finally arrived, but the girl slept soundly in her bed, unaware of her best friend and little brother plotting to destroy her peaceful slumber right outside the door of her bedroom.
"How do you think we should we wake her?" Chynna asked, pushing the door open a crack with one hand while the other cradled her waist. Together with Amy's younger brother, Gu Zhou, they stared at Amy's sleeping form, her mouth wide open and drool soaking into her pillow, threatening to spill over onto her fiery red hair, scattered all over the pillow.
"I should get my horn and blow in her ears," the boy supplied mischievously, turning to go and get his musical instrument. If there was anything he loved, it was startling his big sister. She was like a huge scaredy-cat whenever he ambushed her unexpectedly, and it always made for a good laugh.
"Oh, no you don't, Gu Zhou! We are not scaring your sister awake," Chynna countered, pulling the boy by his shoulders, and pushing him towards the kitchen.
"So how do you propose we wake her up, eh? Her job starts in 3 hours, and I have to be in school in 1." He was like every typical teenager his age, excited about mischief.
"It's her first day of work after quitting that shitty barista job, Gu Zhou, we need to do something sweet for her, like make her breakfast."
"Um, no offense Chynna but you suck at cooking," Gu Zhou remarked, his face contorting into a frown as he recalled the last time Chynna had attempted making dinner for him when his sister fell sick and he had to endure her terrible cooking for nearly week.
"I do not suck at cooking, you rude child. But be happy that I won't be blessing you with the deliciousness that is my cooking. We'll order pancakes instead," Chynna responded, quite good-naturedly, to the harsh remark her best friend's little brother had just spat out at her.
Gu Zhou's eyes widened with excitement.
"Go and take a bath and get ready for school, I'll make the order, okay?"
"Yes Chynna, you're the best!"
"I thought I was a terrible cook barely a minute ago?" Chynna asked quizzically, her left brow arched upward in an exaggerated questioning look.
"Well yes, you're that too," he said sassily, poking his tongue out at her, and then stretching to plant a quick kiss on Chynna's cheek, as if to soften the effect of his harsh remarks about her lack of cooking skills, and then running away fast before she could strike him. Even though his sister always teased him about having a mad crush on her friend, he would always deny and insist that he was a big boy.
Crushes were for kids, and he was no kid. But that whenever he was ready to fall in love, it would be with someone even hotter than his sister and her icky best friend combined, he would always brag. It was a wonder though, how he never hesitated to sneak in little bits of affection towards Chynna.
"For she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good felloooooow, and so say both of us!"
Cracking an eye open, Amy awakened to the sound of singing voices, but the first thing she saw was her hair. She pushed it out of her face to behold her best friend and little brother instead, holding a giant tray of pancakes slathered in syrup and butter, accompanied by a jug of orange juice. They had brought her breakfast in bed.
"You guys!" she exclaimed in a groggy voice, putting her hands to her face and unable to control her smile. How much more lovely could her favorite people get?
"It was my idea," Gu Zhou offered quickly, earning a sharp pinch from Chynna the very next second.
"Why are you lying to your older sister? That is very disrespectful, and its bad luck, especially on an auspicious day like this one," she scolded, fixing the boy with an ultra glower.
She set the tray of food down beside her friend on the small bed. "Sorry sister, Gu Zhou apologized, nodding towards his big sister.
"Oh, that's okay, let's just eat all of this before it turns cold," She responded, not wanting such a beautiful moment to be ruined. She sat up and tearing a piece off the pancake tray and throwing it into her mouth, she munched, savoring the deliciousness. Her brother and best friend joined in, and together, they all enjoyed a beautiful breakfast.
Amy was grateful for Chynna Wang. They had been best friends for 21 years, and she was yet to regret it. If anything, she knew that day would never come. This was the soulmate the universe had thought fit to bless her with and she was beyond grateful for it. Chynna was just the best friend anyone could ever ask for.
They were such different people, though. Chynna being such an outgoing and hyperactive woman who didn't care what anyone thought of her, while Amy was quieter and more reserved, almost always hiding behind her glasses and her best friend. In their High School days, she was often picked on by more popular kids, but Chynna would stand up for her.
Her father was a cardiologist and the ric.h.e.s.t man in their province, and with her mother being a lawyer on top of it all, no one wanted to mess with her.
Amy, with her middle-class parents, who could only barely afford the needs of their two children, naturally found her place in the shadow of the more privileged Chynna. It was the great financial sacrifice by Amy's parents, combined with her high intelligence that even made it possible for her to be in the same space as Chynna, for the purpose of getting an education. But it was one of the best decisions her parents could have ever made. And she was forever going to be grateful to them for it.