The first time I laid eyes on Kris Wu was when he was casually strolling down the hallway of Guangjing Hospital and I’m not even going to lie, I was drawn to him right away. How could he make the hospital seem like it was his own runway? He literally looked like a supermodel but more importantly, he was totally my style. Tall, blond and unbelievably hot.

The only thing I disliked about him was his cold demeanour but the moment he met my gaze, he broke into the brightest smile I had ever seen. His face was actually radiating with friendliness. I couldn’t deny it anymore – he was literally the epitome of perfection.

That’s when I confirmed that his looks were perfect.

It was probably after the third time I bumped into him at the hospital that I finally introduced myself to him.

“You and I need to stop meeting like this,” Kris chuckled good-naturedly. He had two steaming cups of hot chocolate in his hands and as ridiculous as it sounded, I half-hoped that one of them was for me.

Tearing my eyes away from the hot chocolates, I returned his beam and stuck a thumb at my ID. “I’m Huang Zitao from the Cardiology Department.”

“Kris Wu,” he said. “I’m the newest addition to the Orthopaedics Department.”

I knew all of that already but I wasn’t exactly going to tell him that. For one, he didn’t need to know that I had been through his records. Besides, he was probably in a hurry and I shouldn’t have been taking up his time but damn it, I wanted to spend more time in his company. It was the first time we were actually exchanging words.

“So… Where are you going with those?” I asked brightly, a part of me still hoping that he’d offer me one.

“Oh, these. I hope you don’t think they’re both for me,” Kris answered, his smile widening to show his perfectly aligned teeth.

For that split second before he continued, I actually thought that this would be the moment where he offered me one of the hot chocolates because he knew I liked them when I hadn’t even told him that before. Okay, it was probably not for me then. This wasn’t one of those corny dramas I enjoyed watching on my days off.

“One of them is for my patient. She’s been feeling down lately so I decided to get her this because if hot chocolate can’t cheer you up then what can? Always works with me at least,” Kris said. “I better hurry now but we should hang out sometime, Doctor Zitao.”

I nodded excitedly and fought to conceal the grin creeping up on my face. “Definitely… Doctor Kris.”

That’s when I confirmed that his personality was perfect.

Cute colleagues aside, the most difficult thing for me about being a doctor is that I hardly ever have free time. When Kris brought up the idea of us hanging out, it probably meant simply eating lunch together in the hospital canteen but that alone was pretty exciting for me. I hadn’t been on a date in forever and although he hadn’t asked me out, this was the closest to romance I had gotten since a decade ago so I’d take whatever I could get.

I may or may not have put a little more attention into my outfit choices after the last meeting with Kris because why not? I eventually did see him in the canteen a couple of days later and when he called me over to his table with a friendly wave of a hand, I had to struggle to prevent myself from skipping.

I set my lunch tray upon the table and sat myself down in the chair opposite him. “To be honest, I’m surprised that you’re sitting alone. I would have thought that you’d be the most popular lunch companion.”

“Why is that?” Kris asked curiously, taking a sip of water. It kind of made me nervous that his eyes didn’t leave mine as he drank.

Because people like to look at beautiful things when they dine.

“Because you’re wonderful company to have,” I said carefully.

Kris raised his eyebrows. “Me? No way. Apart from you and my colleagues at the Orthopaedics Department, I don’t know really know anyone else here. I guess no one wanted to sit with the new kid so I was here wallowing in self-pity until you showed up and saved me.”

Saved you? Ah, I’m his saviour. His knight in shining armour. His—

“Not to mention I was so caught up with my paperwork that all of my colleagues went to lunch first and I ended up being the last to leave,” Kris went on. “You have no idea how relieved I felt when you showed up because I don’t like eating alone.”

Oh.

I took a bite of my lunch, masking my disappointment behind a fake smile. “I don’t like eating alone either so it’s our lucky day.”

“It sure is. So, tell me about yourself. Why did you want to become a cardiologist?” Kris asked.

He always said the right thing and I liked that. It was a simple question but the fact that he asked reminded me that he is of this earth. He actually looked genuinely curious so I answered bluntly. “I was diagnosed with an incurable heart disease when I was a child so I decided that I’d try and find the cure. Whether or not I succeed, it’ll probably be too late for me but I want to prevent others from suffering the way I do.”

I tried to look cheerful as I said it because really, I didn’t want his pity. I wanted his smile and I wanted his affections. I wasn’t even entirely sure why I did; there was definitely something more than his good looks that I admired.

“You’re amazing, Zitao,” Kris told me, placing his hand on mine. “I don’t usually say things like this but I really wish you all the luck in the world because if anyone deserves it, it’s you.”

That’s when I confirmed that his way of thinking was perfect.

Honestly though, I think I used all of my luck to enter med school. And if I didn’t then the rest of it was taken away by my disease. I have no luck.

But as Kris gave my hand a gentle squeeze, I thought to myself that perhaps I was wrong and I did have luck. Being acquainted with someone like Kris must be a of luck.

Who was I kidding? He was completely perfect and I liked him a lot.

If I were to take my nonexistent love life out of the picture and look back at everything in the world of Huang Zitao in retrospect, then that thing I mentioned about not having any luck – it’s true. It is so damn true. I should not have let my mother persuade me into entering a wushu tournament. I hadn’t practiced wushu in years since I had to give it up to focus on getting into medical school. And then there’s my mother insisting that I needed to go out and do more activities, that my wushu lessons would all come back to me, that I would be completely fine.

Well, she wasn’t saying any of that when she came to visit me at work where instead of attending to patients, I was one of them. Fantastic. It was almost Christmas yet instead of decorating my place for the holidays, I now had to spend all day in my pyjamas with absolutely nothing to do but miserably stare out of the window with a broken arm.

I tried to be optimistic about it, though. I thought that perhaps it would be wonderful to have that great view of the nearby park but man, was I wrong. I let out a sigh when I saw an overenthusiastic boy sprinting towards someone who appeared to be his girlfriend. The Christmas season was supposed to be about being together with the one you love but as I saw the boy lean in to kiss his girlfriend, I couldn’t help but feel even more alone than I already was.

“Wow, Zitao. Since when has spying on kissing couples been a pastime of yours?”

I froze when I heard a familiar voice next to me.

Oh, I didn’t mention it earlier, did I? There actually were certain perks of having broken my arm. I was rushed straight to the Orthopaedics Department at Guangjing Hospital and it turned out that my doctor would be none other than Kris. Although I wasn’t sure if that would be a perk any longer now that he thought I was a peeping tom.

Say something, Zitao. Tell him you’re not a ert. Tell him you’re not a stalker. Tell him anything to save yourself now!

“Ever since I ended up in the hospital with a broken arm and discovered that there was nothing better to do than stare out of the window,” I said in a dull voice.

What am I even saying? Never mind, actually; that would have to do. Play the sympathy card, Zitao. And most important of all, play it cool.

I let out a huff and turned to look at Kris; he returned my gaze with a smile and placed two steaming cups of hot chocolate upon the table beside my bed.

Another perk of breaking my arm – having hot chocolate brought to me on a daily basis by a handsome man. I tried not to look too excited, though. Play the cool card again. Go on, you know you want to.

“Why do you bring hot chocolate every day, Kris?”

“This is the finest that the menu of Le Café de l’Esprit offers. If you didn’t want to put up with my fabulous taste in warm beverages then you shouldn’t have gotten yourself hurt at that wushu tournament of yours,” Kris replied, casually running a hand through his blond hair.

“You know better than anyone, Doctor, that my competitor was a cheating son of a—”

“I know. Just drink your hot chocolate, Zitao.”

I liked this. I liked this a lot. Enduring the pain of breaking my own arm had been terrible but it was a small price to pay to be able to spend more time with Kris. Well, the rest of the day would be super boring, but I really looked forward to those times of the day when he would pop in to check up on me or have a casual chat. A broken arm and tediously long hours? At least I had the attention and friendship of my crush.

I brought the cup of hot chocolate to my lips and secretly observed Kris from the corner of my eye. Literally flawless, I thought to myself. Several minutes passed by before Kris spoke again. “Still dreaming of a white Christmas?”

I nodded. “Christmas should never be without three things: the Gucci winter collection, love and snow.”

Kris chuckled and took a sip of his hot chocolate. “Is that in alphabetical order or in order of importance to you?”

“It won’t feel like Christmas until the first snow falls…” I muttered.

It was just an ordinary conversation but I was pretty much internally screaming with delight. What was that I was saying about having no luck? What the hell did I know about luck, anyway? I needed to text my mother later to properly thank her. I would not be in this situation if it weren’t for her – happily conversing with the guy I liked albeit, with a fractured limb.

Before Kris had the opportunity to say anything more, his pager sounded and he hurriedly finished the contents of his cup. “I’ll catch you later, Zitao,” he said, rushing out of the door.

Now what?

‘Wishful thinking, wishful thinking, wishful thinking…’ a voice chanted at the back of my head to my annoyance.

Shut up.

“Come back soon, Kris,” I ended up saying quietly to no one in particular. “I’ll be lonely and bored till you show up to entertain me again.”

And with that, I set my empty cup onto the table and looked outside the window once more.

My arm was literally taking forever to heal and I was getting sick of it. At this rate, I’d end up celebrating Christmas at Guangjing Hospital. Alone and partially broken. It sounded so depressing.

Despite being forever alone though, I wasn’t a wallflower or anything. It is untrue that I don’t have friends. I am acquainted with quite a lot of people actually but there aren’t many that I would call true friends. Bingbing was a true friend, though.

She was my 6-year-old patient and unfortunately, had the same heart disease as me except her condition was a lot worse and so she had to live in the hospital. For some reason, she was a really positive little girl and always had all the faith in the world that I’d find the cure for our disease and when I saw her adorable little smile, I’d assure her that I definitely would.

It was stupid that we were both stuck at the same hospital yet I had no way of seeing her. She didn’t know what had happened and I had tried many times to go to the Cardiology Department to see her but I’d either end up getting caught and sent back by a nurse or collapsing halfway. I really missed Bingbing, though, so I didn’t give up.

“Tao! Tao!”

I had been about to take my daily nap – doing nothing really takes it out of you – but my eyes shot open when I heard Bingbing’s sweet little voice. I turned my head to the side and a beam stretched across my face when I saw Bingbing there, excitedly jumping up and down with her pigtails swinging around.

“Bingbing!”

The named girl climbed onto my bed to wrap her small arms around me and I happily hugged her back.

“Tao, you disappeared for so long,” she whined after she had let go of me. “I missed you sooooo much! Are you okay? Why did you hurt yourself? Did you want to make me cry?”

“I’m fine now that you came to see me, Bingbing! I missed you a lot, too!” I told her. “Who poured tea at our tea parties when I was away?”

“I didn’t have any tea parties without you…” She formed a little pout and I chuckled whilst I tousled her hair.

Seeing Bingbing again reminded me just how much I had missed her. I had missed having conversations with her and I had missed playing with her. She really liked having pretend tea parties and oddly enough, so did I. Or maybe I only went along with it because Bingbing was like the daughter I never had…and probably never would have.

After Bingbing came to visit me, everything started to fall into place. Or at least I thought it did.

I was in the middle of watching a drama rerun playing on the TV when my phone vibrated on the nightstand. Two unread messages.

Wow, how had I missed them? I guess being so busy doing nothing had made me careless.

Before replying to them, I checked the weather app and pouted sadly when I learned that once again, there was likely to be no snow that day.

From: 大妈SUHO [Big Momma/Old Lady SUHO]

To: 美男Z.TAO [Pretty Boy Z.TAO]

You are cordially invited to Suho’s Christmas Party!

Date: Christmas Day

Location: Suho’s Mansion                   

Since I would be discharged from the hospital by then, I excitedly texted Suho back that I would be there. It wasn’t like I had anything better to do, anyway. What were colleagues for?

From: ♡DOCTOR KRIS♡

To: 美男Z.TAO

Come to the back garden.

The back garden? Now?

I leaned back on my pillow, contemplating whether I should leave right away or watch the end of the drama episode first. A few seconds later, I gave in and ended up using my only available arm to hoist myself up out of bed.

The back garden was a secluded part of the hospital’s outdoor area, accessible only by the hospital staff and patients so naturally, when I opened the door leading outside, there wasn’t a person in sight.

I peered around curiously in search for Kris but my attention was diverted elsewhere when a single snowflake fell in front of me. I caught it with my free hand and turned it over between my fingers – it was made of paper. Another paper snowflake followed the last and soon I was beaming as more and more paper snowflakes fell around me. I was so in tune with my joy that I almost didn’t notice when Kris appeared, holding a set of cue cards.

The doctor smiled at me - me who was his patient and nothing more - and turned over the first card.

I’VE BEEN DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS.

(Or at least I know someone who has.)

Kris grandly gestured to the paper snowflakes falling around us before he revealed the second card.

AND THERE’S SOMETHING I’VE KNOWN FOR A WHILE NOW.

I gazed intently at Kris as he showed me the third card.

CHRISTMAS SHOULD NEVER BE WITHOUT THREE THINGS: THE GUCCI WINTER COLLECTION, LOVE AND SNOW.

We both chuckled at this. I honestly hadn’t expected Kris to remember my childish wishes.

I’M ONLY A LACKING DOCTOR; THE LEAST I COULD DO WAS BRING YOU SNOW.

No, you unknowingly brought me two of those things, I thought.

BECAUSE AFTERALL, IT WOULDN’T FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS UNTIL THE FIRST SNOW FELL.

I felt my breath hitch in my throat; I was certain that tears were stinging my eyes now.

MERRY CHRISTMAS.

(In advance.)

“Merry Christmas,” Kris read out loud with a wide grin.

A single tear escaped from one of my eyes as I said the words back. “Merry Christmas.”

You have no idea how much you’ve given me, Kris. I love you so much. And I wish I could tell you.

Life was like a dream with Kris by my side. As time passed by, I realised more and more how kind-hearted he was and my crush on him began to develop into something more, something deep, something quite like love.

By then, I knew that he was pretty much perfect but he still managed to surprise me with his wonderful qualities every now and again. The day had come that I could finally be discharged from the hospital but that wasn’t really saying much since I still had to be there all the time, anyway. I worked there, after all.

I was watching the view of the hospital grounds from a window in the hallway when I heard Kris call my name. I immediately turned to him with bright eyes and I noticed that he had two steaming cups of hot chocolate in his hands again.

“Here.” Kris had his arm outstretched to pass me one of the cups. “I got this for you.”

My arm was healed now but I didn’t know what was stopping me from moving it. Kris actually had to put the cup in my hand. “Won’t you drink with me?” he asked. “It’s not poisoned or anything like that.”