The dry scent of paper and cardboard hit Luhan’s nose the minute they stepped into the Book Attic. Yixing flicked on the lights and it was then Luhan properly saw the entire bookstore. It wasn’t large, but the size was big enough to fit a small café--reading corner at the side, and one glance at the categories of books told Luhan that Yixing kept the place pretty well-stocked. Luhan ran his finger down a book spine, over the embossed title and flicked his gaze up at Yixing who was setting up the cashier.

“You work here alone?” he asked, startling the other man who seemed to have forgotten his presence and was frowning again at the stack of notes in his hands. Luhan rolled his eyes and stalked over, grabbing the money to count. Seriously. How could his mother trust someone as forgetful as him?

“Y… yes,” Yixing answered, warily watching Luhan as if the latter was going to run off with his money. “Sometimes Sehun comes and helps out if he doesn’t have to stay back in school.” He shrugged. “It isn’t that difficult to handle the Attic alone… it’s not like we get huge crowds at one time.”

After Luhan recounted the money again to confirm the amount, he passed it back to Yixing and started to wander around the bookstore. Books were never something he was particularly interested in; they were heavy and easily dog-eared. If he had to read, Luhan would rather read an e-book – e-book readers were far lighter and could store more content.

His pocket buzzed with the vibration of his mobile phone as he was about to sit down at the café. Luhan glanced at the mobile phone and his lips twisted into a scowl when he saw the sender of the text message. Abel Chung.

Xiaolu, where are you? Please call me back. At least let me explain myself.

He snorted aloud and deleted the message. Yeah, right. As if he would ever believe anything Abel said. He was starting to sorely regret not listening to Zitao when his manager told him the rookie actor was making use of him for fame. Now that their relationship was exposed, he heard Abel received a ton of projects. Good for him then.

“Coffee?” Yixing asked mildly, gesturing to the mug he just placed on the counter.

Luhan merely shot Yixing a look of annoyance. Which part of him looked like he drank coffee? Wasn’t it common knowledge he didn’t? He was vaguely aware that his irritation for Yixing increased tenfold because of Abel’s text message, which made him far moodier than he cared to admit.

“Don’t you have milk tea?” he interjected rudely. Yixing blinked for a long moment before turning away with a shrug to brew him his tea.

The bell on the door jingled, and footsteps shuffled into the bookstore. Luhan eyed the ridiculously tall man who walked towards them with a wide smile and was immediately wary. Was he a fan? How did he find Luhan? It must be those goddamned reporters –

“Kris!” the voice behind him called happily. Luhan whipped his head around to look at Yixing and momentarily froze at the delighted expression on his face. That… was a look he hadn’t seen before. In fact, Yixing’s smile was so bright it was blinding. A corner of his lips quirked up into a smirk at the sparkling in Yixing’s eyes. How obvious. Yixing had a crush on the giant.

“You are here early today,” Yixing was saying as he passed Kris the mug of coffee he offered to Luhan earlier. Luhan wasn’t happy. Even though he turned it down, it was still his! Out of spite, he snatched the mug and took a sip of the disgustingly bitter black coffee, but he pretended he enjoyed it in front of the two surprised faces.

Yixing blinked in silence for a moment before he cleared his throat uncomfortably. “This is Luhan. He’s… staying at our house at the moment.”

‘Our’? It was his house!

A look of understanding dawned on the giant’s face and it wasn’t long before he flashed Luhan a brilliant smile. “Hi, I’m Kris,” he said. “Yixing’s friend.”

“Nice to meet you,” Luhan said, politely, and took the hand Kris offered to shake. He slid a sideways glance at Yixing who was unconsciously frowning at their handshake and resisted the urge to laugh at how obvious he was acting. Seemed as though he wasn’t the only stupid one, since Kris was entirely too oblivious about it.

“We still on for dinner tonight?” Kris asked Yixing.

Yixing’s gaze broke away from their hands and once again he had that smile that showed off the dimple on his cheek. “Of course!” he said enthusiastically, “I’m not going to turn down a free dinner.”

Kris grinned back at him and leaned over to ruffle Yixing’s hair, to which the latter feebly protested but really, Luhan could tell how much he liked it. “I’ll see you at the restaurant tonight then,” he decided. “See you later. And Luhan, I’ll see you around.”

 The minute Kris left the bookstore, Luhan whirled back to look at a smiling Yixing. If he didn’t hate him so much, maybe he’d have found the situation cute.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Luhan told him casually. “You’re not his type.”

Yixing quickly turned away but not before Luhan spotted the flush in his cheeks. “I’m not hoping for anything,” the bookstore owner lied, to which Luhan responded with a scoff.

***

The rest of the day passed by rather uneventfully. Nothing changed. A handful of customers came in to collect their reservations, and some requested for Yixing to make orders for those that the Attic didn’t carry.

The only difference was the new decoration to the store. A figure clad in black and a pair of sunglasses that hid half his face was fixated at one of the tables of the café area, holding onto a book he was obviously not reading. Yixing highly doubted he understood the meaning of being low-key, considering that disguise was going to bring him nowhere to keeping his identity hidden. Yixing winced slightly when a pair of high school girls started staring at the figure and just as he thought, they took out their mobile phones and pointed it in the direction of Luhan.

“No photography here, girls,” he called, his voice easily heard over the quietness of the small bookstore. “Do you need help?”

Much to his irritation, the girls ignored him and continued to snap photos of Luhan. It didn’t take an idiot to see how stiff Luhan was sitting. It occurred to Yixing that perhaps the idol was so used to having his manager fend for him that he didn’t know what to do in this situation. Hence, with a sigh, Yixing pushed himself off the high stool he had been sitting at the counter and strode over to them.

“Girls. Did you not see the sign when you enter?” he said neutrally, hands on their shoulders to usher them out. “No. Photography.” Yixing shut the glass door behind them and folding his arms, he stared at them until they left. Not creepy at all.

He didn’t even know why he bothered anyway. The idol made it clear since day one that he didn’t want to have anything to do with him or Sehun. He had come for Qiuyue. If Yixing was being completely honest, he’d admit that a part of him was actually afraid what Luhan’s appearance would mean for him and Sehun. They had grown up with Qiuyue for over a decade – nearly 2 decades, actually. She wouldn’t just… abandon them for Luhan right?

This was the part that baffled Yixing. If she had a son of her own, why did she adopt them? He vaguely recalled that day at the orphanage when she told the orphanage owner she wanted to bring him home and if Yixing hadn’t cling onto Sehun like mad, would she have adopted him too? He resisted the urge to shudder, not wanting to think of where Sehun would be now if they hadn’t brought him home.

“You okay?” Yixing asked when the girls finally left. The idol didn’t answer him, instead staring at the book through his sunglasses. Yixing shrugged to himself and turned back to the counter where he proceeded to close the cashier. For a celebrity, Luhan sure had a lot of free time to be sitting around and doing nothing.

He calculated the money two, three times before putting the profits of the day in an envelope which he normally would deposit at the bank on the way home but today, he had special plans. A secret smile crept its way onto his lips.

Heading over to the café area, Yixing grabbed Luhan’s mug to wash at the sink. “Luhan, you know how to get back to the house right?” he asked over his shoulder. “Do you need me to call a cab for you?”

 The celebrity finally stood up and stretched, acting as if he had spent an exhausting day when all he did was to sit and pretend to read a book. “I’m not a child,” Luhan muttered and tossed the book onto the table. Yixing bit back a curse at the sight of his precious book crashing onto the table top and mimicked strangling the latter when Luhan sauntered out of the bookstore.

The moment Luhan stepped out of the Book Attic, the dim bookstore exploded into a series of bright flashes. Yixing’s head jerked up from checking the book and out the glass panes where Luhan was ambushed by a huge group of reporters and photographers and the poor celebrity looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

Without a second thought, Yixing dropped the book back onto the table and hurried out the bookstore where he pulled the frozen Luhan back inside before quickly locking it. The annoying thing about having glass panes was even though they were indoors, the people outside could see them. He quickly pushed Luhan to the back of the bookstore where the storeroom was and sat him down on a carton.

“Luhan…” he said softly, and the idol flinched. “Are you alright?”

 Luhan shrugged but Yixing could tell he was shaken. He chewed on his lip for a moment before reluctantly reaching a decision.

Sorry, Kris, he typed on his mobile phone. I can’t meet you tonight. Let’s postpone the dinner. His finger hovered over the send button, hesitant to press it, but how could he leave the poor idol alone? Sighing inwardly, Yixing sent the text message and sat down on the carton next to Luhan.

***

One person stood outside the bookstore who was more displeased than all the reporters combined. He looked up at the signboard of the bookstore and back at the storeroom door where he saw the two of them disappear behind.

No way was he going to let this go.

A/N: Make a guess who that person is. It's not difficult. =X