Kris Wu walked into a familiar sound of "Good morning," and a familiar sight of Xia sitting at the breakfast table with her cup of tea. It had been about a week since he officially became the gardener of the household. He still finds it strange that he gets to live in the household, but Aunty Zhao said she is not related to Xia but still lives here anyway, so, he decided that it's the tradition of the Tang family. 

He lives his day as a gardener - weeding the garden, planting new seeds, t the flowers, harvesting herbs and spices for Aunty Zhao, who is the chef of the house. At night, he enjoys his newly found freedom, doing the thing he has always loved to do - sleeping and playing a lot of basketball - in the open space of the house, where the ground is even. He cannot practice throws into the hoop but at least it keeps his mind of thing and eases his boredom. He also found it strange that they do not have cable TV in the house, which led him to assume that it is the reason why they are oblivious to his existence. 

"Good morning, Xia," he smiled and greeted the girl, pouring himself a cup of tea before taking a seat on the chair adjacent to her. Xia beamed and pushed the little cream jug, and jar of sugar in his direction. At first, he found it awkward to have breakfast at the same table with his employer but he got used to it after a few days. He was given full and complete access to all the room in the house, except Xia's and Aunty Zhao's. He could do whatever he wants. He is fed three square meals a day with the snack cupboard off-limits to him. Xia always sits at the chair right beside the window every morning as she waits for Aunty Zhao to fix breakfast for her like a child. 

"How's the garden coming along, Kris?" she asked him before taking a sip from her teacup while looking at him. 

He maintained eye-contact before smiling, "It's going great," he answered, "much better than excepted." Kris initially thought he was going to do a terrible job at gardening but after a few days, he got used to it and his life started to revolve around the garden. 

"Thank you for taking care of it," she put down her tea cup and looked out of the window. Soft, muted sunlight entered through the window, giving a slight glow to everything it touching, which includes the girl. He joined Xia in looking out of the window but he found his eyes wandering at her direction. Ever since he arrived, he didn't pay much attention to Xia's appearance much, until today. She has dark hair, a very healthy-looking skin that seems to emit a soft glow, a set of sharp eyes which are always swimming in gentleness, and a pair of lips which, to him, resemble fresh rose petals after morning dew. He found his throat parching up as he looked at the girl looking out of the window and his heartbeat steadily rising while his palms started to sweat profusely. He might also be sweating at the temple too. 

What on earth, Kris Wu?! He cussed at himself. Grab a hold of yourself. Xia remained oblivious to his gaze and kept on staring at the outside world, the scene that is overlooking at the backyard. He hoped that she didn't notice him staring at her, for he felt that it was extremely rude of him. 

~~~

Kris had always thought that the life in the countryside is dull and meaningless, with nothing to do and see. However, he was proven wrong in this little village. He never spoke to the neighbours nor go into the village that often but he found that the little dirt path that wind through the village are extremely soothing, especially when one goes for a walk during the evening when day light starts to disappear. He enjoys those walks a lot. 

Just by being in the countryside, it seemed like he has started to forget about his life back in the city as an actor. He could do whatever he wants as much as he pleases. He doesn't have to worry about privacy invading fans pointing the lenses in his direction - taking pictures of whatever he does even if it was a simple act of going out to a cafe with a girl friend. He doesn't have to worry about talking to girls for they always get spoken badly by the internet community. He doesn't have to shut himself in the confine of his house every night, memorizing the script for the next day scheduled shooting set. Everything felt so far away. 

At the Tang household, the only thing he has to worry about is Aunty Zhao messing up the dinner. Aunty Zhao, the adventurous chef, likes to experiment and some of the attempts turn out to be inedible. The first time when it happened a few days after his arrival, he and Xia look at each other, before she mouthed 'Sorry' to him, laughed to themselves before helping themselves to somewhat edible side dishes around it. 

~~~

His work schedule turned out to be extremely lenient. He doesn't have to work all day - in fact he can only work if he only wants to. Xia mentioned that as long as the garden doesn't have weed littering around and clean, she is happy. However, being someone who enjoys exceeding expectation, Kris delivers more than he was expected to. His new found love for gardening has a lot to do with his excitement. He has replanted a lot of flowers, replaced dying flowers and started to plant new flowers of different colours. 

For most of the time, he found himself wandering around the house - mainly in the kitchen, or Xia's extensive library. He found out that the girl is fond if reading, which was proven by the size of her personal library, an annex to the living room, which is filled with books of many varieties - from light-hearted novels to political science. The first time when Xia introduced him to the library, he felt like rabbit who entered a field of carrots by chance. Ever since then, he had taken a liking to the living room 3 seaters couch and read while he lies horizontally all over it. 

Aunty Zhao, on the other hand, works all day in the kitchen, everyday. Her interest in food is akin to how a bee is attracted to a flower. She spends her days in the kitchen cooking one thing to the next, which led Kris to wonder where they put all the extra food since there are only 3 people living in the household. Ever since he entered the house, he became Aunty Zhao's personal guinea pig, who has to taste a lot of her cooking, after she learned about his foodie habit. It's nice, mostly, but sometimes, as mentioned before, the dishes can be disaster. 

Xia, the lady of the house, a status that he assumed, is someone with such class and grace. She is very friendly, her face is always lit up in a soft smile and speaks in a bright manner but it doesn't grate his nerves like how some girls sound when they want to impress him so much. Whenever she moves, it's always with pure elegance, as if she was performing ballet (maybe she took ballet, he thought one time) Her presence is always palpable since there seems to be a void in the house whenever she leaves to tend to her vineyards. On weekends, she occasionally joins Kris in the living room, on her own recliner and chats about books with him over a cup of tea. He finds it very enjoyable - a different kind of enjoyment that he had forgotten from the past. 

~~~

On certain days, Kris would excuse himself to the edge of the lake in the backyard, sitting on the small boardwalk and let his legs hang loose from it - his feet in cool water. He finds that it takes his mind off things, especially when he was suddenly reminded of the mess he left behind in the city. However, when he realized where he was, he couldn't be more glad that he is finally fitting in the generous household after a few weeks. 

"Hello," the girl's voice rang in his ear one evening while he was at the boardwalk. He looked into the direction of where the voice came from to see Xia, wearing a pale blue cotton dress that cuts off at her knee, which complemented the warm, summer evening, holding a can of sparkling lemonade in each of her hand. 

He smiled at her, "Hi~" His voice came out a little too cheerful. 

Xia looked at him and sheepishly asked, "Do you mind if I steal some of your spot?" Kris blinked at her. So cute. He thought to himself. "I brought a lemonade as a bribe." She stretched out her hand to give a can to him.

Kris laughed, "Of course I don't mind. Sit," he scooted aside to give her some space and patted on the panels of wood. She smiled and sat beside him, careful to not be in contact with his skin as she also tried to scoot to the other side as she was settling in. 

"Here," she handed the can into his hand before she opened her can with a popping noise. Kris followed suite. "How are you finding the village?" she asked. 

"Errrr," he stammered since he was not expecting the question, "I think it's great." 

"Different from the city?" 

He nodded. It definitely feels different from the city. "I think so too," her unexpected answer startled Kris. He was expecting her to be someone who was born and raised in the village all her life since she looked so natural and in place with it. "You lived in the city before?" he asked. 

Xia took a sip from the can and smiled, her eyes fixated at a distance across the reservoir, "Yeah, for a little while." Her answer was short and abrupt, as if she didn't want to say anything anymore. 

The space will filled with silence as they both sipped on the can of lemonade. Kris found his eyes wandering towards the girl more often, for some unknown reason. Ever since the sight of her at morning breakfast table has enthralled him, he kept feeling this undeniable magnetic pull towards her. Xia is pretty but not exceptionally. She is not overly y nor overly cute - or overly anything for that matter. However, there is an aura surrounding her that pulls him in, and he cannot say what pulls him in - it might have been the way she flips through morning newspaper's politic section or it might have been the way she calmly sits on her recliner as she reads. He was not planning to have a crush on his boss, for Xia is technically his boss, but it happened. He gets quite nervous just as how he feels calm and peaceful around her - for she provides a sense of security towards others. 

Kris Wu, you just have to screw everything up. Don't you? He cursed at himself as he sipped the rest of his lemonade. 

~~~

It was only 6am but Kris was already up - another stark different from the time when he lived the actor life in the city. He was never up before 9am, unless he has a call-in for the shoot, even then he would catch a few winks on his van on the way. However, the village life is a different story - he's up before 7am every single day without having an alarm. 

Usually, he would roll around on his bed a little and pick up the book he was reading from the night before but today, he was planning to do something different. He quickly got dressed - a black t-shirt, a pair of khaki pants, and a thin cardigan to combat the morning chill and he was out of the house. The mornings in the village is different. It is misty and refreshing. 

Kris walked towards the flower patch in the backyard garden to pick a few flowers. The flowers were in their full bloom after a splash of morning dew. He smiled like a proud father at the sight of his flowers in full bloom. Then, he pulled out a few from the ground - blue, white, pink, orange, red - before snipping them with the gardening scissor that he brought along. Afterwards, he pulled a few strands of long grass growing near the flower patch and tied the flowers. 

Half an hour later, the simple flower bouquet was lying on the breakfast table, alongside a card he quickly scribbled on, at the place where Xia always sit. Kris felt nervous and giddy as his heartbeat was going out of control at the thought of the possibility of Xia getting offended and fire him. He has already imagined the worst scenario as he wrote the little card. On top of that, he wanted to punch himself for choosing such a childish way to ask a girl out. 

Will you go out with me on a date? 

That was all he wrote on this card, much like an elementary school kid asking a girl out, completely tactless. He didn't know why he chose this way to ask her out but he could only hope Xia wouldn't get offended, at the very least, if she was to reject him, which she might for he is nothing but a mere gardener that she employed. Xia came down from her room much earlier than usual that day, she was wrapped up in a soft ivory shawl for warmth on a cool morning. As soon as Kris saw her, his heartbeat went up and he couldn't even sit still that he had to start making a cup of tea - a second one, after he poured his first cup away in panic after hearing her footsteps from the stairs. 

Marvellous Kris Wu. Smooth Kris Wu. Charismatic Kris Wu. He hears all the words that his fans and media use to portray him and he wished that they would never see this side of him. 

"Xia," he called her name as he turned his back on her while filling the kettle, thankful that his voice sounded normal at least, "would you like me to boil some tea for you?" 

"That would be very kind of you. Yes, please," she replied politely, much expected. 

Kris filled the kettle, put it on the gas stove and lit the fire. Even then, he couldn't face her, just the thought of seeing her see the flower bouquet was killing him. He gulped when he heard a rustle of flower stalks and the card. 

"Kris... can you please turn around" her voice appeared from behind. Face her, Kris Wu. Face her. He told himself and the spot, his heart drumming loudly in his chest from nervousness. When  he finally opened his eyes, he saw Xia's smiling face. 

"I think a date with you sounds very nice," she beamed and faint pink patches appeared on her cheeks. 

~~~

[Author's monologue:] I hope you enjoyed. If you liked it, please do let me know and comment if you would like to. I'd be more than happy to read them.