Luhan didn't get nervous about a lot of things -- his fears (like heights) and right before matches, sure. Those were expected to have some kind of nerves attached to them.

But meeting someone who he wasn't even romotely interested in??? He didn't get it.

... Okay, maybe he wasn't not interested in this Winnie person, but he definitely wasn't romantically interested. 

True to his word, Luhan made efforts to communicate with Winnie from Hawaii -- it turns out she was pretty funny, if not a little... explicit at times. They'd talked about her visiting England before. She had a friend who attended a University in the city, but he hardly thought she'd ever follow through. It was hard to tell if she was joking or not. 

He suddenly knew she wasn't joking when she set him a confirmation email of her flight to England. It was accompanied with a set of weird emojis, which he also learned was typical of her.

To put it in a way that Marcus would appreciate, he "just came here to have a good time, but was honestly feeling very attacked right now". Luhan ran a hand through his hair once more in the mirror. 

He was supposed to meet up with her tonight, with Marcus, Irish, a few of the guys, and Winnie's friend, Aili. Luhan wouldn't be lying when he said that he was secretly relieved when he saw a Chinese name. If he ever got super nervous, he could slip into Mandarin and have someone who could just go with it.

But beyond that, he had no idea how tonight would go. Winnie seemed genuine in their conversations, but anyone could fake that through text and call. She could be completely different in real life. Luhan hated second guessing, he hated feeling like he was going to regret something. 

He couldn't fully remember calling Ms. Heaven's number, but he definitely remembers how grouchy she sounded when she answered. 

"Mr. Lu? Why -- How..." He panicked, looking at the time here and realizing his mistake. 

"I'm so sorry, it's like, 5am where you are isn't it --"

"Yes, it is. But what's wrong, Mr. Lu? Nerves again?" 

Luhan blushed. Yes, this wasn't the first time he had called Ms. Heaven for her advice and confirmation about who he was matched with. Winnie just... wasn't Emalee. 

"Are you sure me and Winnie are perfect for each other?" He asked, biting his lip. 

Heaven went quiet for a minute, "Aren't you meeting with her tonight?" 

"Yes."

"What happened? What did she say?" Honestly, that wasn't helping Luhan. 

He checked his watch, "Nothing... we haven't met up yet. Uhm, should I be concerned?" 

Another pause. "No, just keep her away from tequlia and if she starts drinking vodka, be weary?" 

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Listen," Heaven's voice sighed, "I haven't the faintest. It's just a warning her best friend gave me when I did a background check." 

Maybe it's like him with wine and champange, he thought, shrugging it off. 

"Back to your question, Mr. Lu," Heaven caught his attention once more, "My job is simply to match people based on their needs for a relationship, not their wants." 

"I'm sorry?" Luhan's brow furrowed. Aren't needs and wants related in some way? 

Heaven continued, "You told me what you wanted, you told me about Emalee. She seems like the perfect woman for you." 

Luhan didn't stop the smile on his face when he thought of the British girl. 

"But is she want you need?" 

Luhan's smile faltered. Surely she was... wasn't she? He began to frown.

"Don't frown, I can practically hear your wrinkles from over here -- I mean," Heaven stuttered, surprising both of them with her blunt words, "Sorry, it's the morning fog in my head. Anyways, all I do is give you what I perceive you need. After that is all up to you. I just ask you both give each other a decent chance. You might be surprised."

Luhan felt like the surprise part might have a double meaning, but he nodded besides the fact. "All right. Sorry for waking you up... Again." 

"It's fine, really." He could hear rustling in the background, she must be getting ready to go back to sleep after this. "I really should check up with some of my matches, honestly. There's a few I'm particularly interested in seeing how they're progressing... Good night, Mr. Lu." 

"Good night." He hung up, seeing a few messages from Marcus saying he was on the way to his flat after he picked up Irish. Putting his phone in his pocket and checking his hair once more, he grabbed his keys and headed down the stairs to meet Marcus and Irish. 


"This is actually the worst place on Earth." Winnie huffed, seeing her breath and huddling back into the coat that Aili had let her borrow. "Hawaii is beautiful and warm. I miss it."

"Hey! England is beautiful too!"  Aili shot back, smiling widely. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold. Why was it cold in the spring, Winnie had no idea. Spring meant new life, but apparently in England it was still meant to murder everything that tries to come back to life.

" that, it's not warm!" She protested, "I literally feel my individual eyelashes freezing and falling off." 

Aili rolled her eyes. Winnie was still just as dramatic as ever, it seemed. "Stop it. It'll be warmer in the pub. Is he there yet?" 

"Don't know." Winnie wasn't removing any limb or hand from the safety of the coat until they were inside. Checking her phone to see if her 'date' was there yet wasn't worth losing her hand. "But I doubt I'd miss him if I saw him."

"What makes you so sure?" 

Winnie shivered again as she huddled closer to Aili for body warmth. "Assuming from TV, so don't be mean -- but in a sea of white British boys, I doubt a Chinese man would be overlooked."

"Oooooh!" Aili whistled, "He's Chinese, is he? I'm sure that has nothing to do with you suddenly wanting to practice Mandarin with me ~" 

Winnie felt her cheeks warm, and it wasn't from the cold. " off. I want to make sure he doesn't secretly insult me. Not like he could, because well, yeah," she wiggled her eyebrows at Aili, "But you can never be too prepared."

Her friend just laughed at her, pulling open the door to the pub as Winnie all but threw herself into the welcoming warmth. She let out a sigh of relief as she scanned the bar, thinking about this Luhan guy.

First and foremost: The fact that he lived in England was just the greatest excuse to come see Aili. She's missed their shenangians ever since she moved back to Hawaii and Aili went to Manchester, so it was great to see her again.

But in all sincerity, she was actually looking forward to meeting this guy. He hasn't set off any red flags, so that was just a bonus. Hiro was complaining the entire time leading up to her leaving for England because he said that this soccer guy was just his type. She still remembers the ridiculous promise he made to her before she left.

"I'll play nice and not go after him, but only if you bring back a hunk of a soccer player for me to play with too!" 

She laughed to herself, taking off her jacket and being so thankful that Aili had great taste in winter wear and warmth clothing. As soon as she adjusted her top and began looking, she locked eyes with him.

"Oh. There he is," She gestured over to a small group. Aili looked over, her eyes widening. 

"He's really cute, Win!" She gushed, taking her arm. Winnie shrugged.

"I guess."

"You're a terrible liar!" Aili accused, dragging Winnie over to finally meet this guy she'd been talking to by the grace of Heaven.

So not that Luhan wasn't a nice person, he was kind and introduced her to everyone, even seemed happy to meet Aili.

But if there's one thing Winnie wasn't used to on a date, even a sort of unofficial one at that, it was being ignored. So this whole situation was confusing her.

Since finally getting to meet, Luhan has said all but five sentences to her, preferring to totally immerse himself into a conversation with Aili and his friends about soccer and how the upcoming season was looking.

Winnie didn't know the first thing about soccer. It had a ball and two goals, which sounded like a lot of other hyped up sports that she didn't understand anything about. She preferred the open sea and a surfboard if anything. But seeing him so involved about something he enjoyed... She had to say she was a little envious. A boy who was lucky enough to be matched with her was more passionate about a ball than her.

She'd usually have them wrapped around her finger at this point, not having to do anything more than smile and talk. They'd eat up her words like they were from a divine being (Which, yeah, they kind of were.) 

She took a sip of beer, eyeing the conversation once more.

You know, if there's something that Winnie loves, it's a challenge.

And she just found her next one.

Author's Note