WHEN she got tired after studying for a long time, Sophie attended the dulcimer class in Eastern Art Department. Only six students got the qualification, and Sophie was one of the lucky girls. The professor for this class was a famous handsome guy.

  Every night when Sophie attended the dulcimer class, she would dress herself in a purple long skirt, so that she felt very romantic when she met the handsome guy. He was one of the few guys that met Sophie’ s standard: black jacket, a cool and clear face, with a sense of humor and a kind of cool elegance. 

The dulcimer class was on the third floor of Eastern Art Department, and one could catch glimpses of Xin Kai Lake through the window. When she practiced at the jingling old instrument, she would close her eyes and imagine herself dancing with the spirits in the lake. 

                              

At the same time, Lily’ s got something on her mind. She was eager to tell her thoughts to others. She chose Sophie. 

It was a Sunday morning. Sophie was sleeping lazily and Lily was washing her clothes. When Sophie got up, she folded her quilts and began to play with her dolls on her bunk. At that time, Lily had finished washing her clothes and she sat next to Sophie. Sophie discovered that today she blushed and she looked slightly excited. A womanly instinct told her there must be something on her mind, but she wanted to play tricks, so she sat still as dumb as wood. Instead of opening her mouth and asking what Lily wanted her to ask, she lowered her head busily braiding handles for the dolls. 

Beside her, Lily was hesitating whether to speak or not. Sophie refrained herself from laughing and waited for her to begin. It was an English sentence. Sophie almost fainted. 

“He wrote me a letter.” Lily said, frowning. 

Sophie had to change from Chinese to English. She continued to pretend to be silly: “Was it your cousin?”

Generally, Lily hated others to trick her. If Sophie dared to talk about all sorts of faraway subjects, she would sure raise her arms and “struck” her. However, today the lovebird had come and stolen away her spirit. She even forgot her mother language, then how could she remember how to fight with others! So there was a good chance for Sophie to play tricks. 

“Was it a love letter?”

This time Sophie had hit the point. Looking at Lily’ s lovely expression, she decided not to trick her. 

Lily blushed to her ears. She seldom blushed so, even when quarrelling. Was it love’s magic?

Before Sophie asked any questions, Lily told everything soberly. This time she had recalled her mother language. 

“Xiao Xiaoliang wrote me a letter. He called me ‘Dear Little Princess’ and he wrote many ‘I love you’ s in the letter. In fact we had been intimate friends since high school. At that time we were too tender to deal with love affairs. He has always been an excellent student, and he is very considerate. But I am still hesitating. He is one year younger than me.”

Sophie could not bear to see so excellent a guy be rejected by his lover simply because he was younger than the girl he loved. She must suit this wonderful partner. So she thought of many excuses for that guy:

“Don’t reject him, Lei. Though he is young, he is not childish. Nowadays few people care about age problems. It is your best friend that counts. You have known each other ever since high school. You know, it is very hard nowadays to find a guy both regular and considerate. Pray, don’t miss the chance!” 

 “But…”

 “What but, stop that “But! Everything of you is good except that you are too careful and considerate. Sometimes if you pay to much attention to trivial details, you will loose the most invaluable things.”

 “Then let me consider for some days.”

Sophie knew it was useless to add anything. She could only pray for Xiao Xiaoliang, hoping that Lily did not have to consider for too long time.