White Roses Dyed Blood Red

The next morning, Yaorui was awoken by her natural alarm clock at the first sign of dawn. Her roommate woke not long after and joined her in the bathroom to get ready for the day. Since they still had three or so hours before everybody was required to gather in the living room, they weren't in a rush and lazed about in the kitchen.

A little while after they had settled on the bar stools in the kitchen, two members of the design team, Yuan Fa Ren and Chuan Si, were up and about. She assumed that they were off to get dibs on a room.

Because Chuan Si was a welder, he would probably get away with claiming his own room to work in.

She exchanged a small look with Chuan Si, one that lasted not more than a second."Where'd you buy the glowing rocks? I didn't see them at the mall," Her attention turned back to her roommate.

Currently, they were doing a terrible job of holding up a conversation.

"I just found them lying around on campus," She shrugged.

"Huh, nice," Precious took a long sip of her Mocha.

Her hands reached for her phone, but then she remembered that she had left it in the dorm. Too lazy to head back for it, she found a spot on the couch and turned on the TV.

The living room had five different seating arrangements. There were two L-shaped couches, a loveseat (double cushion) in between those two, and two single cushion chairs at the ends of the first two seating arrangments.

In this house, you were required to step into the living room. Why? Because it was set 30cm lower than the rest of the main floor. The reason? Aesthetic purposes.

It was arranged at the back of the central wing right after the dining room, the kitchen, the pantry, the bathrooms, a spare room, and finally, the foyer. On the second floor of the house was another eight spare rooms and where Chuan Si and Fa Ren currently were.

The fireplace (which the TV was mounted above) was an electric fireplace and had remained un-lit since the last time the electrical team tested it (which was most likely before they arrived).

All of a sudden heavy footsteps and dragging slippers were heard coming from both the east and the west wings.

"Good morning," they announced as they continued trudging.Aishi made her way to the fridge to grab her a cup of milk while Jian Nu and Jiexu moved to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

"Don't forget to make some energy drinks too, some people will need them later," One of them being her little sister.

Speaking of exercising, they still had to give a call to check if they were allowed in their own backyards.

Yaorui set down her glass of milk and moved to the nearest landline.She pressed 9 and waited for someone to pick up.

"This is student school services, how may I help you?"

"Hi, I was wondering if we students are allowed outside in our backyards?"

"Please give me a moment to check with my superior, thank you," Yaorui waited for a solid two minutes while listening to the muffled conversation between two people.

"Miss?"

"Yes, I'm still here,"

"You will be allowed to exit your team house into the backyard, but we ask that you do not go over the fences,"

"Thank you for the information, I will be sure to pass it on to my teammates,""No problem," And with that, she hung up.

"Good news!" She called out to Precious, "We're allowed in the backyard, but we can't go over the fences,"

"Great, I relay the news later,"

Half an hour later, the whole of the design was up and gathered at the dining table, and so was her squad.

"How do you wake up so early~~~~," Zhangmin w.h.i.n.ed while still wearing her unicorn pyjamas.

"I don't know, try setting an alarm clock,"

"That the thing! The only reason I'm up right now is Wenshi's alarm clock!" That earned a smile from all of them.

"Speaking of Wenshi, where is she?""Not sure, she was still in bed last time I checked,"

"But wasn't it, her alarm clock that went off?"

"Yes, except it woke up the wrong person."

Out of nowhere, Aishi spat out her milk. Xun Shouhan, who was just entering the central wing, rushed over and grabbed a few napkins to help stop the milk from spreading any further.

"What happened? Are you okay? Are you cold? Here, take my sweater in case your shirt becomes transparent." Her little sister was blushing profusely.

"I-I'm fine," She struggled to clean up her mess while facing her friend's questions.

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me?" Zhangmin rubbed her eyes and pinched her cheeks.

"Nope," Gebao confirmed, "Our little baby finally found her first crush!" She whispered excitedly, not wanting to ruin the moment.

"You go change first, I'll clean this up for you," Aishi nodded and rushed off without a second thought.

She returned a second later to leave her cup of milk on the countertop, earning a chuckle for Shouhan.

Aishi left with a redder face and Xun Shouhan's hoodie in hand.

"Right, we still have to change too," Gebao and Zhangmin left to change, leaving her and Sheng Rong on their own.

"Here's your energy drink," Jian Nu casually threw a bottle to Sheng Rong, who managed to catch it with one hand. "You girls want some food? We have some extra food in the kitchen,"

"I'll pass,"

"Sure," And just like that, she was left alone with her milk.

Hu Angli's POV

He was just finished getting ready for the morning workout and was already pumped for the day.

When he entered the central wing, he saw his future wifey getting up with an empty cup.He smiled warmly and prepared himself to wish her a good morning, but before he could do so, he saw another predator eyeing his mate.

Chuan Si popped up in front of Yaorui just as she was about to get up, shocking her for a second.

"Next time, make some noise when you're walking," She snapped.

"Ah- sorry,"

"It's fine, what do you need?"

"I need you to pick what gem you want for your necklace," Chuan Si handed her a piece of paper with the name and picture of the available gems.

While observing the blue rocks, an idea came to mind.

"Actually, I have something else in mind, just give me a second to get it,"

Hu Angli watched Yaorui leave in the opposite direction as him with a smile on his face, Xiao Rui only likes me! Hmph.

Three minutes pass, and Yaorui finally returns with something in hand. Angli was the first to notice her presence and expected for her to come over to him, but to his worst nightmare, she was running towards another man!

Chuan Si stood up the minute he noticed her presence. Yaorui opened her palm and revealed the pulsing blue rock in her hand. "Can you use this?"

"T-this, where did you get this? I've never seen anything like this before!" He looked like a child on Christmas morning.

"I just found it lying around on campus,"

"Really!"

"En, so?"

"Of course! This will be perfect!" Chuan Si snatched the rock and ran off to his new workshop. Yaorui smiled at his childish behaviour and turned her head.

Her friends rushed over with weird looks on their faces dressed in their gym clothes, Wenshi was among them. Aishi was not far behind, she was too busy trying to hide her face to notice that her friends had run off, and when she did, she panicked, and quickly chased after them.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"With Chuan Si?"

"Oh, I asked him for a favour, he just wanted to confirm a few things,"

"Is that really it? You're not cheating or anything?"

"Cheating on what?"

"On Angli! Who else!"

"Of course not! I've only known Chuan Si for three days. Plus, Angli and I aren't even dating,"

"Now, who told you that?" Angli came up behind her and swung an arm around her shoulders. His statement quickly earned his a jab in the stomach.

A bit embarrassed, Yaorui switched the topic, "Why did you spit out the milk ShiShi?"

"You didn't check the school gossip page?"

"There's a school gossip page?" Sheng Rong looked at her weirdly.

"Yes, anyway, there was a rumour last night about someone being killed, I didn't believe it, but it was confirmed by an insider this morning."

"Seriously! I thought this was an isolated island! How did some murderer find it's way on campus?"

"I don't know, people say it was a staff member or a student, but whoever it is, he/she killed three people last night,"

"I found the gossip app!" Zhangmin announced.

By now, everyone was gathered around them, eager for some news.

"I found it too!"

"Quick, tell me where it is!"

Yaorui opened the app and scrolled through several articles. Her fingers clicked on one article that looked intriguing, and she began to scroll.

Last night at about 8:30pm, three bodies were found dead inside of cart ten at the campus station.The victims were identified to be part of the team from India, names are still unknown due to security reasons.

Her eyes bulged at what she saw next.

Underneath were three pictures, one of each girl.

And as if the coincidences couldn't get any worse. All three girls bore the markings one had when they died by the mysterious killer(s) exactly one year ago. Now that she thought of it, the authorities were never able to pin down the culprit(s).

ding~~

'I'm glad you listened to my advice.'

'Did you like my surprise?'