He sat down with effort, his old joints cracking at the movement. Everything he did was slow, but you didn’t mind because it was a nice kind of slowness – not a dreary monotony but more like a calmness that overrides impatience.

“So I did some research after we met,” he started again, pouring some tea and motioning you to sit in front of him instead of standing by the side of the door. “And I think I know you’re secret.” There was a sly, but wise gleam in his eyes as he blew on the tea, steam brushing out like cotton candy rolled past the atmosphere.

“What secret…?” you asked innocently, taken aback and he chuckled, a deep laugh rolling out from the back of his throat.

“It doesn’t bother me if you want to pretend; I just want to let you know that I have a good feeling as to why you’re here.” He leaned in, whispering now.

“And why do you think I’m here…?” you trailed, leaning in also to mirror his hunched position.

“Well…” he hushed and then with a grin straightened his posture. “To borrow books of course. God, in that stifling room surrounded by suffocating perfume and mediocre embroidery, imagine my surprise when they said the girls couldn’t leave their quarters – and you know what I thought of? You, and how you couldn’t go to the library we have in the imperial palace; even though the novels I have here are less in number than the library, I’m sure you can make do with some light reading.” He grinned after his ramble, then outstretching a slow arm to indicate his rows and rows of shelves, more impressive than the ones you saw in Luhan’s room, and more orderly too.

A wave of relief swept through you and you had to regain yourself before smiling too in mock-surprise. “Wow, that’s great, thanks so much,” you tried not to sound sarcastic but it was difficult.

“So, next time keep this pretense up and feel free to read any book you like.”

You thanked him again in response again but faked a yawn. “It’s getting late and I don’t want to keep you up any further. I’ll come by sometime and look through your novels but I think I should take my leave. Thanks so much again, also for saving me from eternal damnation with that stuck-up Prince – who knew he’d look so scary when he was angry?” Your initial plan of stealing the maps was a massive fail and you felt like such an idiot, returning empty handed was so shameful. You pushed out your chair and stood up apathetic, Lord Jin eyed you as you walked to the door.

“Ahh, Anise is it?” he called just as you were about to exit. “Yes?”

“I think I have some maps of the palace lying around…” he paused before taking a sew sips of his tea, “could you by any chance stop by Prince Wufan and return them to him? I think I forgot when I walked in upon the commotion.”

Trying to sew your lips back together from smiling you took to where he indicated, by the side of the corner shelves and took them hesitantly. The scrolls were about arms-length long and you hugged it tightly to your chest, nearly crumpling the paper.

“Yes M’lord. I’d be honoured to run the errand.” You spoke in monotone but the small smile on his lips saw right through your bluff. “Goodnight,” you said and he nodded in response.

You didn’t dare question his motives for asking you to do the chore but he and you both knew that the scroll was not going to end up on the table of Prince Wufan, where it should.

After you had closed the door, Lord Jin smiled into his tea and murmured, “Done my good deed for the day.”

Opening up the scroll as soon you were out in the fresh-air made returning home a lot easier than before. It was completely perplexing how he knew you needed it, or if he even knew about you at all. What kind of ‘research’ did he do before? Was he one of the close few to the Emperor that knew about Crimson Lotus? All these questions kept fogging up your brain and made it hard to think let alone navigate the corridors without being found and labelled a ‘trespasser’ again. But one thing were knew for sure was that he could be relied upon and he most definitely could help you, if nothing at all in this strange place could.

For the rest of the night, you spent a good few hours outside the concubine quarters just trying to imprint the map into memory. Then, you folded it and hid it wedged between two bricks that made up the bottom of the arch entrance; hiding it outside was much safer than in the rooms where privacy was a concept foreign to this lifestyle, carrying it on you at all times was also dangerous because the maids would de-robe, re-robe and bath you all the time which made things more difficult, much to your dismay. Outside was just the best option.

After making sure that you had hidden it well enough with leaves and sticks as cover-up, you returned to your bed and gratefully embraced the covers for sleep. These late night, black cat things had to stop or else your nightmares could manifest to reality.

Luhan was lounged across the cushioned seat of the eldest Prince whilst Yixing played checkers by himself. Luhan had lost for the seventh time that night so Lay had to continue without him which isn’t unusual but he would at least retain some of his dignity and win at least one or two games before relinquishing his self-esteem as the loser. Tonight, he just wasn’t thinking.

“I wonder how she is…” Luhan murmured, lying with his arms bent at the elbows, behind his head.

“Who?” Xiumin looked up from his passages and asked with concern.

“The kid is sick – in the deprived way.” YiXing muttered unenthusiastically, his hand supporting his chin, moving Luhan’s would-be moves if the game hadn’t ended so quickly.

Luhan groaned and furrowed his brows, “You make it sound so bad,” he stretched out his toes and fingers, reaching out in all directions and he shut his eyes tighter.

“But you really do look bad… is cupid’s arrow nestled too deep? You know I’ve told you those Opera girls are no good.” Xiumin pouted, putting down his brush and walking to where the second eldest was lying.      

“No, she’s not an opera girl,” Luhan rolled over onto his stomach and looked hazily into the distance. “She’s more than that.”

Xiumin patted the poor afflicted boy on the head a few times. On the other side of the room, Lay grinned at having found yet another way to checkmate his opponent from the original piece-setting but then sighed dejectedly, uneasy all of a sudden upon hearing his brother’s gloomy exhalation. Was this girl really a bouquet of roses or poison ivy? He hoped for the former and remembered how she looked the first time they met, an inexplicable expression of bewilderment playing upon her face and an unobtrusive rip up her sleeve. How bold she was, how much it was like a breath of fresh air.

That’s why he would always roam the nights, because the air was less suffocating – more crisp and clean. If meandering around the corridors in darkness meant that he would meet you again, he would do it every night. He loved his brother but ignored his forlorn sighs of despondency, sulking on the bed. He wasn’t sure what it was with this girl at the moment, if he liked her or if she was just a new form of entertainment for him – but what he did know was that right now it was every brother for his own. He would meet her again and find out. Even if it meant sleepless trailing, he would meet her again.

His breath of fresh air. 

~

Hi GUISE!!! My exams have finished, so life's pretty good at the moment. Now I can keep updating~

I'm also writing some oneshots as well so I'd really appreciate it if you check them out, that's if you have some time to spare. I've done EXO-K so I'm gunna write ones for EXO-M. 

http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/260075

Gunna be up all night writing. So stay tuned~ <3