Chapter 26 An Acquaintance

"Excuse me, is this the reception of the economics and management school?"

Ryan barely heard the timid voice behind him, as he joked and laughed with his friends. He turned around and found that the girl stared at him with a suitcase in tow. Ryan nodded and answered, "Yes."

"Hi, there! I'm Sam, a senior student. Is there anything I can help you with?" Sam said excitedly.

But the girl did not reply. She even barely spared him a glance. She then turned to Ryan and asked, "Excuse me, can you send me to the dorms? I am a bit lost, you see."

Warren and Luke almost laughed out loud

after he heard what girl said to Ryan.

Sam angrily made his way back to their table as he glared at his friends.

"Sam, she obviously likes Ryan. You don't stand a chance, man." Warren tried to console the sulking Sam as he patted his shoulder.

"Shut up!" Sam grumpily swatted Warren's hand off his shoulder. "I hate girls who only care a person's appearance. I'm the captain of our school's basketball team. Ryan is not better than me! She doesn't have good taste when it comes to men!" Sam turned around only to see a familiar figure at the entrance of the university—Fiona.

"Oh, look who's coming," Sam said with a smirk. "Let's leave Ryan to deal with that girl. Fiona's here, so we should greet her now without telling him!"

Sam wasted no time. He stood up and ran towards Fiona. Both Warren and Luke also stood up and followed him.

On the other hand, Ryan tried his best to deal with the pretty girl who carried her suitcase. "Sorry, I'm quite busy at the moment. Is it okay if I find someone else to guide you back to your dormitory instead?" he said apologetically, as he rubbed the back of his neck.

He turned around and found the three other men gone from their table. He looked around the area.

He was about to give up looking for his friends when he saw a dreamy figure from the corner of his eye. He thought his eyes were just playing tricks on him so he blinked again before he looked at the figure. It was indeed Fiona!

She really stood out in a sea of people because of her good looks. But what puzzled Ryan was why his three friends were standing so close to Fiona. He suddenly felt annoyed at his friends. How could they leave him alone to deal with this girl when Fiona arrived?

He patted the nearest person next to him and said, "Hey, you. Send this girl to her dormitory. I need to take care of something. I'm leaving." The other guy and the girl didn't even have time to react because Ryan already rushed to get to Fiona.

He realized it was already no use to resist since Ryan already left. "Well then, we better get you to your dormitory."

He turned to look at the girl only to find her eyes never left Ryan's retreating figure yet.

At the university's gate, Fiona walked towards the reception of the art school with her suitcase in tow. Suddenly, she heard someone shouting her name. She turned around and found Sam.

"Sam!" Fiona's eyes widened.

"Yes, it's me! I'm glad you still remember me." Sam grinned, flattered and happy that Fiona remembered him. He pulled both Warren and Luke next to him. "These are my roommates, Warren and Luke. We all live in the same dormitory as Ryan."

Fiona already knew that Sam could be a bit energetic when she first met him. She glanced at the people beside him and decided to introduce herself too. "Hi, my name is Fiona."

"Wow, what a pretty girl!" Luke swallowed.

Warren subtly kicked Luke and silently asked him to stop scaring Fiona.

Fiona tried to make sense of the situation and the boys before her. She lowered her head a little and gave them a shy smile.

"Come on! I'll take you to the art school!" Sam offered and retrieved the luggage from Fiona's hand.

"Thank you, Sam!"

The three boys accompanied her to the art school, while Sam held onto her luggage.

"Hey! Fiona!" Ryan jogged towards Fiona and his group of friends who previously abandoned him. He took the suitcase from Sam's hand, although the latter resisted a bit.

"Did my roommates frighten you?" he asked with an apologetic smile.

"What do you mean?" Fiona asked, confused at Ryan's question. Before Ryan could answer her, his roommates defended themselves. "Hey! We're not like that," Luke said, obviously unhappy at his roommate's distrust.

"Exactly! We are trying to be friendly here." Warren nodded and agreed with what Luke just said.

"You're really something!" Sam shook his head in disbelief. "How could we scare her? We were just trying to help her get to the art school."

Fiona was about to speak in their defense when Ryan's arm caught her eye. "Is your arm okay?" she asked with concern.

"It was just a bruise, and it's healed," he said.

Fiona gave him a smile.

The two of them, along with Sam, Luke, and Warren talked as they made their way to the art school.

Teresa Zhao, the president of the art school's student council, immediately spotted Ryan. She ran to meet the group, her eyes full of joy. "Ryan, what brought you here?"

"Hey, Teresa!" Ryan greeted her back. "I got a new student for you. Her name is Fiona Ji."

Teresa turned to look at Fiona. Her smile faltered a bit at the sight of the new student. She felt so uncomfortable that she started to lose her composure.

"Hello, Teresa," Fiona greeted her with a smile. She noticed the sudden change in Teresa's expressi

on, but chose not to comment on it.

"Hello." Teresa greeted back. She handed Fiona a booklet and a pen. "Do the registration first." She turned to look at Ryan again. "Aren't you busy taking care of your school? Why did you send her here?" she asked in a cold voice.

As Ryan was about to speak, Sam said, "Because she is very special to Ryan." Sam bumped Ryan's shoulder and he looked at him with his eyebrows raised. "Isn't she?"

Fiona's face turned red as she heard that. When she raised her head again, her eyes accidentally met Ryan's.

With no intention of denying how he felt, Ryan looked at Fiona with passionate eyes. "Yes, she is very special to me."

Amid the clamor and the boisterous crowd around them,

all Fiona could hear was the beat of her heart as it went faster and faster by the minute. 'What did he mean by that?' Fiona thought to herself. 'Am I really special to him?'

Teresa forced a smile despite her pale face. She turned to Fiona again and said, "You're Fiona Ji, right? Everything is done. You can go to your dormitory now."

"Let me send you to your dormitory," Ryan offered with a smile. He bid Teresa goodbye and left for Fiona's dormitory building with her luggage. Sam, Warren, and Luke immediately followed after them.

Fiona unconsciously bit her lower lip. 'I'm going to become Teresa's enemy because of you, Ryan,' she thought.

After a few minutes, they found themselves in front of Room 315 at the art school's dormitory for girls.

All of them stood in front of the door and waited as Fiona knocked.

"You can come in! The door's not locked," a girl shouted from inside the room.

Fiona slowly walked in and explored the room more. As she looked around, she realized that there were four beds inside the room. Each bed had a desk and a wardrobe next to it. Like Ryan, she shared the room with three more people. She saw an empty bed near the window. That must be hers.

There were already two girls inside the room, lazily lying on their beds. One of them had short hair while the other had long, curly hair. They were both beautiful in their own way. When they saw Fiona, they looked at her curiously.

"Hi, I'm Fiona Ji and I'm also assigned to this room. It's a pleasure to meet you," she said with a smile. "There are a few seniors outside who helped me carry my luggage. Would it be okay to let them in?"

The short-haired girl responded quickly, "Yes, of course! Please ask them to come in." She got off the bed and walked towards Fiona. "I am Sophia Su."

The other girl also came over to introduce herself. She wore revealing clothes and her face was adorned with delicate makeup. "My name is Ella Yang."

Fiona smiled at them politely. Already feeling well-acquainted with her roommates, she turned to look at Ryan and his friends. "Guys, please come in!"

Out of curiosity, Sophia turned her head and saw Ryan as he entered the room with a suitcase. Her eyes lit up as she rushed over to the boy. "Ryan!"

She quickly enveloped Ryan in a hug. He was so surprised that he didn't even see who came over and embraced him.

Everyone in the room was surprised that Sophia suddenly hugged Ryan.

No one spoke as they exchanged confused glances with each other. Warren decided to break the silence. "What is going on here? Do you guys know each other?"

"Damn it! Ryan, you lucky guy!" Sam had started to get jealous of all the attention Ryan gained from different girls.

"Sophia?" Ryan called out as soon as he saw the girl's face. He pushed her away and asked, "Why are you here?"

"I'm here to study, of course!" she said proudly. "You are surprised, aren't you? We're in the same school now!"

"But your parents wanted you to stay at N City, right? What are you doing here at M City?" Ryan asked.

"I ran away from home. Please don't tell my parents yet!" Sophia realized that the whole room was silent. She looked at everyone and realized that all eyes were on them. "Why is everyone looking at me like this?"

"Are you Ryan's girlfriend?" Warren asked. He failed to keep his curiosity at bay.

"No! Please don't get it wrong! Ryan is like my older brother. I have no feelings for him at all." Ryan nodded,

"Our parents get along well with each other." He smiled at everyone while he patted Sophia's head to emphasize their point. "Sophia is just like a sister to me. I'm sorry for surprising everyone just now."

Ryan stared at Fiona while he explained it, which got her flustered. She turned her head towards the room's door as she tried to avoid his eyes. That was when she saw a girl with thick bangs. The girl just stood outside the open door. Fiona's eyes widened in surprise.

"It's you!" Fiona exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Everyone looked at where Fiona's gaze was. Then, Ella said, "Ah, that's Leona. She's our roommate too."

"Roommate?" Ryan said as he looked at Leona. He turned to Fiona and said, "Looks like you are already acquainted with one of your roommates.

What a coincidence!" 'Leona is the girl who was rescued by Ryan that day!' Fiona thought to herself.

Leona got shy from the attention everyone in the room gave her. She lowered her head and greeted, "Hello, everyone. My name is Leona Lin." Then, she looked at Ryan with a small smile on her face. "Thank you for saving my life that day."

"Ah, so it was you who was saved by Ryan that day!" Sam exclaimed.