chapter one:

prologue/introduction.

“Thanks for the hard work.” A boy with eye-lined eyes bowed to his crew.

The sweat drops were still on his handsome face. He stepped into his change room and locked it. Slumping down on the chair in front of the mirror, he wiped his face tiredly. For him, being a famous rapper named Tao wasn’t easy. He was tired. Sometime, he just wanted to disappear and live a normal life.

He was lonely. He needed a partner. He wanted a boyfriend. But, being a public figure, he had to cover the fact he was a gay. Exactly, it didn’t matter for him. It was just his manager, he said, he would be hated by his fans if he revealed his true self.

It was a torture, for not being yourself.

“You’re just thinking about your ing novel! We’re over!”

It was a noon when a girl shouted in the empty coffee shop. Xiumin, the barista behind the counter, looked at the corner. He saw the girl stomping out of the coffee shop, leaving the young man at the corner table alone.

“Ah…” Xiumin flinched, “It must be hurt. She shouldn’t have left him like that…”

The man racked his brown locks with his fingers before standing up to take his leave.

Xiumin was left alone again after the bell had rung, signing him that the young man had left.

“I want to have someone in my life too…” Xiumin sighed.

Suddenly, a whistle from the kitchen was heard. It was a sign that the boiled water had been ready. It always shocked Xiumin, that whistle.

“Aaah,” Xiumin stumbled with his feet, “I’m coming!”

A blonde man was walking on East-Nanjing Road. It was for pedestrian only so he wasn’t bothered by horns or engine sounds. It was a pretty sunny day, he admitted. He loved sunny day, because the photos he took when sunny were always good.

Kris was a photographer, for him, everything had a good angle. He loved to snap pictures, and loved it more when the results were good. But, he had a problem. He was never good when it came into people. His photos always came badly if he took people, so different when he took views.

“People,” Kris whispered, “have different good angle…But, why can’t I snap a good photo of people…?”

Lay stepped out from the coffee shop with his broken heart. It was the fourth time for him being dumped by a girl. And what made it worse was the fact he couldn’t make their relationship longer.

A month, and over, it was always like that.

Lay sat on the bench with mixed feelings. He admitted that the last relationship was the worst. The girl could never understand his job. Novelist, the profession needed concentration and clear mind. Lay couldn’t be bothered for whole week if he was pressed by the deadline. But, girls never understood him. He was tired.

“Maybe I have to try with boys?” Lay chuckled sadly, “What am I thinking…?”

Shanghai is the largest city by population in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the largest city proper by population in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities of the PRC, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010. It is a global city, with influence in commerce, culture, finance, media, fashion, technology, and transport. It is a major financial center and the busiest container port in the world.

Located in the Yangtze River Delta in eastern China, Shanghai sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the middle portion of the Chinese coast. The municipality borders Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces to the west, and is bounded to the east by the East China Sea.^[source]

This big city would answer all what they needed.

Shanghai just needed a right time to find them.