I cautiously make my way down the Young Adult section, hands at the ready.

The sickening feeling in my stomach isn’t disappearing. In fact, it’s been joined by another sensation. One of jittery nervousness.

Please don’t let there be a monster-

“HANA! Hana, come here!”

I jolt. It’s Kris’ voice. Furiously backtracking and sprinting, I reach Kris, who is sitting in the middle of the children's section of the library.

I clap my hands to my mouth. The place is completely ransacked. Overturned shelves lie willy-nilly on top of piles of colorful picture books. The hardwood floor has deep gauges, while the carpets are totally torn up. The nauseous tugging at my gut increases even more.

“Oh my god… what happened?” I gasp.

“I don’t know,” Kris replies grimly. “But the chi is strongest at this location. We have to report this to HQ tomorrow to see what further action to take.”

“Yeah.”

I examine Kris' face. He has a defeated expression. I sigh sympathetically.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

He tilts his head. “Why?”

“Because this- this whole library incident just ruined your birthday. And interrupted your date.”

Kris laughs humorlessly. “It’s nothing I’m not used to. Besides, it wasn’t really a date. I just took a walk with… a few girls.”

My jaw drops. “Wait, so this has happened to you before?” (I choose to ignore the words “a few girls”. It’s his birthday. I shouldn’t yell at him for being the ruthless womanizer that he is.)

“Let’s see.” He scratches his head. “There was an alert on my 14^th birthday. The day of the Spring Formal. The first football game of sophomore year. And now my 17^th birthday. It’s just something that comes with being a Fighter.... I guess.”

“Come on, Kris.” I place my hands on my hips determinedly. “I’ll make sure your birthday isn’t ruined completely.”

“What’s that smell?” Kris inquires, sticking his nose up in the air. “It smells like…,”

“Vanilla cake?” I smile. “Correct. Freshly made this morning.”

He gives me a cheeky grin. “So you made a cake especially for me, huh?”

“What do you think this is?” I scoff, lifting the cake out of the fridge. “A rock?”

“I underestimated your cake making skills,” Kris tells me, peering down at the baked treat. “You actually decorated it pretty nicely.”

He grabs a fork and is about to scoop out a huge piece when I kick his shin.

“No. Dinner first.” I gesture over to the boxes of pizza stacked on the table. “I got a box all for you. Happy birthday.”

I’m getting plates out of a drawer when I feel a pair of firm arms wrap around my waist.

“Thank you,” Kris murmurs huskily in my ear.

I turn a dark shade of red. “Um, it’s no problem-,” I begin to say, whirling around-

And then I freeze.

Our faces are only inches apart.

His eyes widen, and he his lips ever so slightly.

Unconsiously, I slowly close the distance between us, tilting my head-

But it hits me.

What am I doing?

This is Kris Wu. We don’t talk to each other in public. We get on each other’s nerves half the time. And he’s such a player. Heck, he was on a date with a bunch of other girls this afternoon. I can’t kiss him. I shouldn’t do this.

I violently push Kris away from me. He slams into the island countertop, his hazy expression quickly changing to one of bewilderment.

“I’m sorry,” I swallow. “Um… I’m going to get cups.”

After a tense silence, Kris clears his throat and looks away. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll get... napkins.”

After that, he seems to forget about our almost-kiss. I guess it didn’t matter that much to him. I mean, he kisses like, what, 3 girls a day?

Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my point.

After I finish singing happy birthday to Kris and he cuts the cake, I smear frosting all over his face. “Happy 17^th, you idiot. Just remember, no matter how old you are, I’ll still be more mature than you.”

“Keep dreaming, Hana,” Kris chuckles, taking a bite out of his cake. I laugh and chase him around with a spoonful of cake. 

As I snuggle into bed, my mind keeps flashing back to my intimate encounter with Kris in the kitchen.

His hands around my waist, his warm breath on my skin…

What if I hadn’t pushed him away? 

"Stop," I command myself quietly, and fall asleep.

A/N: almost kiss scene ahahahah