(+) shen ma? - what?

(+) bentan - stupid ((in a teasing manner))

(+) hao ba - okay

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“Alana!” Upon hearing this, Alana turns around to the direction of that sweet voice with a huge grin plastered onto her face. Her heart made summersaults just by seeing him standing over there, under that ridiculously huge and shady tree. She jogs her way to him and placed a small peck on his cheek. Luhan was taken aback by her sudden showcase of affection.

“A … lana?” He questions as he bent down to look into her eyes, just in case if it was not the said person. Alana giggles. “Silly Luhan, of course it’s me. Let’s go?” She gestures towards the direction of her limousine. “Ah … We will be taking that?” Luhan cutely replies as he took Alana’s schoolbag from her shoulders. She nods and looks back at him with surprise. Luhan raised a brow at her. “Shen ma?”

“W-Why are you taking my bag?” Alana blushes when she realised she had stutter. Luhan smiled in return and pats her head. “Isn’t that what men do all the time?” He rhetorically asks, making Alana pause in her tracks. She looks at his body that was walking away from her and towards the long, black vehicle. With a shake of her head to return back to reality, she whispers to herself, “Not really.”

__________

When they reached the front door to the palace, Alana could see that Luhan was shivering. “My dad’s nice when he’s not all King-ish.” She whispers to him. Luhan looks down at her through his eyes lashes. “I promise.” She nods towards the mahogany double doors that were already widely open by the butlers.

 Putting his trust in her, he takes a step into the palace, trailing behind Alana.

“Dad.” Alana said softly when she sees her father harmlessly sitting down on the couch with his eyes on the newspaper. Everything in the room was perfectly normal except for the few personal bodyguards situated around the living room. It was a pretty normal sight for Alana, but not for Luhan. Seeing big, bulky men in black suits and ties made him nervous a bit, although him being a soldier himself.

“Alana.” The man on the couch says when he looks away from the newspaper. Luhan studied his face. He knew instantly where Alana got her soul-gripping eyes from. *Her father*. “Dad … this was the boy I was talking about yesterday. His name is Luhan, and he is General Lu’s father, the man who escorted you to China.” Alana explains, cautiously. Luhan takes a step forward and bows in respect.

Alana’s father skims through Luhan once, and he immediately recognises this boy from the portrait that Alana had drawn weeks back. “Good afternoon, Luhan.” He greets. “G-Good afternoon, sir.” Gaining his confidence back, Luhan answered with his back straight up. Alana’s father smiles to this. Who would not be afraid to face the King anyway? “I won’t do harm … unless if you’re Chinese.” Alana’s father starts.

“Dad-“

“Kidding!” The King laughs, whole heartedly upon seeing Luhan’s facial expression. For a millisecond there, his face turned as pale as the snow that they would never see in Malaya. “Dad!” Alana placed a hand onto her face, embarrassed. Luhan let out an awkward laugh. Alana peeked through the gaps of her fingers and soon enough, those awkward giggles turned into a sincere laugh. Alana watched the two men who she would ever and only had loved, ­in the entire universe, laughing together.

“Alright, that’s enough. Father, I am going to the kitchen with Luhan. If you need me for anything, I shall be there. And stop teasing Luhan, for God’s sake.” She sighs, happily though and drags Luhan out of the living room. Luhan bows in a rush and sent the King a quick wave before hollering, “It was nice meeting you sir!”

Left behind in the living room, Alana’s father wiped a tear that had fallen when he laughed and nodded to himself, convinced enough that the Luhan boy was a nice person.

“Sorr-“

“I like your dad.” Luhan cuts Alana off.

She looks at him with a small smile playing on her lips. “Told you so.”

“So what are we doing here?” Luhan asks with curiosity when they both stepped into the kitchen. “You may all leave now. Thank you.” Alana nods towards the maids lined up uniformly in the kitchen. With one quick motion, they all left, leaving Luhan and Alana in the huge and deserted kitchen. Alana rubs her palms together and bent down to take something. “We-“ She pauses, a muffling sound echoing throughout the kitchen.

With her back facing Luhan, she stands upright and threw something across her back. Luhan catches it in one swift motion. “Wha-“ This time, Alana cuts him off and turns around to face him, while tying her strawberry pink apron behind her back. “We are going to bake an apology cake for your friends.” She finishes after she had tied her apron.

Eyes wide, Luhan looks down at the baby blue apron he had caught with his hands a few seconds earlier. Flabbergasted, he huffs and shoves the apron onto the wooden cabinet, and folds his arm, in a disagreeing manner. “We? We? It is you whom they are mad at and I have to cook?” He turns onto his back, so that he would not be able to give in into Alana’s pretty eyes.

Silence.

Luhan feels a tug on his shirt and he glances back for a second, but freezes when he sees her stunning, shinning eyes. “Please?” She pouts. Sighing, he grabs the apron from the kitchen counter and ties it onto his back. “Seriously, where did you learn all that stuff?” He rants to himself as he struggles to tie the string on his back. “Let me do it.” With a soft slap on Luhan’s hands, Alana successfully tied a ribbon knot on the back of Luhan’s apron.

Sheepishly smiling, Luhan rubs his neck and utters a ‘thank you.’ “So where do we start?” He looks around the unfamiliar kitchen, anticipating the next few hours that he would be able to spend alone with Alana.

__________

“Alana~” Luhan sang across the room, causing the Alana Azhar to look at him, with confusion written all over her face. “Wha-“ She shrieks when the cool, whipping cream met with her nose. “LUHAN!” She screams in reply, and grabs the spatula, to chase off the already escaping and chuckling Luhan. “COME BACK HERE!” She screams once more, full force evident in her voice.

They turned tables when Luhan ended up chasing Alana after she had threw flour onto his hair. “Why you-“ He rushes towards Alana’s direction with a cheeky grin on his face. Having quicker reflexes compared to Alana, he sneaks his arms around her waist and brought her body closes to his. Lost for words, Alana stutters for the second time that day, “L-Luhan. L-L-Let g-go of me.”

Being sensitive to the opposite ’s touch since a child, Alana hurriedly tries to take Luhan’s arms off her waist. He surprises her by placing his chin onto her shoulder. “What are you-“ She turns to her right and stops fidgeting when she noticed how close his nose were from touching hers. Luhan locks his gaze onto hers, drawing comforting circles with his thumb onto the skin just above her pelvis. Her heavy breathings slows down, and when he was sure that she was calm enough, he pecks her nose and releases her from his grip.

Dumbfounded, Alana stares at the ground but was saved by the bell and quickly leaves the kitchen without another word.

Biting her lips, she opens the doors with a small smile on her face. Her smile widens when she sees the figures behind the door. “Boys!” She squeals and hugs Sehun, who welcomingly hugged her back. “Uh, Alana? You’ve got flour in your hair.” Baekhyun points out. “And cream on your nose.” Chanyeol continues. “Eheh.” Alana chortles and rubs her neck embarrassingly. She locks eyes with Jongin and he sent her a small smirk. Same old, same old. She thought.

“I’ll introduce you to my dad. Come in!”

__________

After introducing them one by one to the Sultan, she brought them six to the kitchen. Upon hearing footsteps approaching, Luhan speaks up and said, “I preheated the oven and placed the cookies in one oven, and the cake in the other.” He was washing the leftover utensils that were dirtied and refused to look up to meet eyes with Alana.

“What is he doing here?”

Luhan’s head immediately snaps upwards when he hears this voice. His eyes went wide like saucers when he sees the other six figures standing next to Alana. His eye burns with furry upon seeing one particular face.

“Kim Jongin.” Luhan spat, his voice coated with the thinnest ice.

Jongin his head and folds his arms before saying, “Luhan.” With the exact same tone that Luhan wore.

The boys stood protectively in front of Alana, not letting Luhan any closer. Luhan turns off the running tap and ran a thumb over the lower part of his lips. “Guys.” Alana rolls her eyes and sighs. “What did you promised me the last time we met?”

“But Alana,” Baekhyun reasoned.

“HE’S THE ENEMY.” Chanyeol dumbly half screamed, half whispered. “I can hear you, ya know?” Jongin glared at him. “Guys, please. We promised Alana.” Kyungsoo starts. “Okay, that does it. GROUP HUDDLE!” Junmyeon announced out of nowhere and the seven figures huddled up against each other.

“Hyungs, cut it out, let’s just be friends with this ching chong guy.”

“His name is Luhan.” Alana corrects.

Sehun groans.

“Yeah man, I mean, did you the look that he wore when he saw our faces, he like, wanted to eat us up or something.” Junmyeon shudders.

“His point is, if there’s anyone willing to protect Alana like that, that mean he’s worth to be friends with.” Kyungsoo says and nods towards Alana.

“Urgh, I hate it when D.O.’s right.” Baekhyun grunts.

“I’m okay, when you guys are okay.” Chanyeol states.

“Diddo.” Sehun agrees.

“Kai, what about you?” Junmyeon turns towards him, followed by the other five of them.

“I …” He looks up from his trance and onto Alana’s face.

*Was this Luhan boy worth for her?* He questions in his mind over and over.

“I do.” Jongin answers, finally after a full minute.

Alana laughs. “You sounded like you were making a wedding oath!”

“Bro, please.” Baekhyun pats his back and laughs along, followed by the rest of the members. Kyungsoo kept a close eye on Jongin, and made a mental note to question Jongin his real intentions later. “GROUP HUDDLE DISMISSED!” Junmyeon hollers, and everyone disperses.

Luhan was still glaring at them. “Yo, bentan, you can drop the cold act, hao ba?” Alana approaches him and places a palm onto his back. “Hao ba.” He nods in return. “And bro? You look so gay in that apron.” Sehun says, causing the other boys to cackle. “Why you-“ Luhan made a gesture to run for Sehun, but was held back by Alana. “Alright boys, it’s time for you to put on your gay aprons and start baking too.”

“WHAT?!” The whole kitchen erupts.

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I dedicate this chapter to our one and only, Wu Yi Fan. I am not an exo fan, and never was and never will, but what happened was crystal clearly unacceptable. To Kris, to the boys, to the fans, none of them deserved this. The ignorance the boys showed, the selfishness, the betrayal, the sickness, it was all too inhumane. He treated you like his blood and flesh, and this is what he got in return?

My school's out for about 2.5 week, so I'll have plenty of time to type.

xoxo, Tuna.