Warning: Has not been beta'd.

After moving her luggage into the Wu household, Victoria wakes up early every morning to make breakfast for Zitao and the two other boys that she now temporarily resides with. She’s talked to Anthony about renting a hotel or buying a flat and moving out with Zitao but it seems that Zitao is now much too attached to Sehun and Kris to just leave them so suddenly.

The two brothers were the ones who stood beside him from the moment their parents left him, after all.

One morning Sehun wakes up earlier than usual and leans against the wall of the kitchen entrance, watching as Victoria paces around the kitchen calmly.

“Actually, Tao doesn’t like bread, Victoria jiejie.”

She pauses in her movements, staring blankly as the eggs fry in the small pan into a beautiful golden brown color. That’s right, she thinks, not everyone can eat bread and eggs every morning like she and Aiden used to. Smiling, she turns to Sehun. “What does he like then?”

“Tao likes meat,” Sehun answers honestly, “beef, especially.”

Victoria nods. “How about you? What do you like?”

“I like sausages.” Sehun tells her.

“And your brother? What does Kris like?” Victoria continues asking.

Sehun laughs. “Kris likes everything.”

“Is that so?” She says, playing along with him.

Walking up beside her, Sehun steals a sausage from a plate and pops it into his mouth. “Victoria jiejie, why don’t you make some chocolate for my brother?”

“Chocolate?” She asks, slightly confused. “Why?”

The young boy crosses his arms over his chest and stares into her eyes very seriously. “You know how he is! Kris always has a straight face and he’s always so cold, so no girl has ever dared to give him chocolates or confessed before!”

Victoria laughs. “When the right person appears, it doesn’t matter how angry or cold he looks, she’ll break down his wall and warm him up. He won’t need me to do it for him.”

She knows, because that’s how she used to be before she met Aiden, too.

“How do you know that person isn’t you?” Sehun asks.

Before she can retort, Tao comes stumbling sleepily into the kitchen for some water. Victoria quickly pours him a cup and urges him towards the restroom so that he can wash up and prepare for breakfast.

She glances back at Sehun, who’s still stealing sausages from her breakfast plates. After kicking him out of the kitchen, she tells him to wake his brother so that they can all have some breakfast before they head on out.

After Sehun and Kris are gone, Victoria hears a series of knocks on her bedroom door. Zitao walks in, rubbing his slightly reddened eyes.

He says, “jiejie, I miss mom and dad.”

“Jiejie, I’m so happy you finally came to find me…”

“Jiejie, jiejie…”

She doesn’t know how they fell asleep but when she wakes up later that afternoon her cheeks are stained with streaks of dried tears. Zitao is sleeping soundly on the other side of the bed, knees curled to his chest, and she pulls the comforters up to his chin.

Memories of Aiden and her mother come back to her.

Aiden… I haven’t forgotten. Have you?

Sehun’s arrival on campus always creates a huge ruckus. This time, with Kris, it’s tenfold worse than before.

Female students push towards the front, trying to hand over gift bags of chocolates and other homemade accessories; male students are making their way through the crowds, trying to speak with the brothers as they stride past the struggling students.

“Maybe we should enroll Tao,” Sehun says casually, completely ignoring the chaos around them.

Kris chews lazily on his gum. “How do you know he’s staying?”

His brother rolls his eyes. “His parents only just passed away and all of his friends are here. Do you think he’ll really want to leave all the way to France?”

“Maybe he will, for his sister,” Kris shrugs.

Sehun scoffs, “You, maybe. Tao? Never.”

“Maybe he’s more mature than you think,” the older of the two comments.

“He’s just a kid,” Sehun shakes his head.

Amused, Kris smiles and says, “You’re the same age.”

“And you’re only a few years older,” Sehun deadpans. “Honestly, if I hadn’t known beforehand, I would have never guessed that Victoria is twenty three.”

Kris agrees. “She’s very baby-faced.”

“Oh, you noticed? I thought she was invisible to you,” Sehun teases. Kris swings a fist at him but Sehun dodges the punch easily. “Didn’t you say the two of you have met before? You guys sure don’t act like it.”

Shrugging, Kris rolls a kink out of his shoulders. People around them are still shoving and pushing, shouting and calling their names, but he does his best to ignore it. “It was a long time ago that I visited Paris. She probably doesn’t remember.”

Sehun purses his lips. “Do you think there’s a way to keep her in Beijing?”

“Why?” Kris wonders.

His younger brother grins. “So you don’t have to chase her all the way to France.”

“Did you brush your teeth this morning? Everything you say stinks,” Kris grimaces.

Sehun blows a puff of air into Kris’s face. “Still smells better than your face. Talk about a stinky expression. Can’t you smile a legit, non-terrorizing smile every now and then? My heart can only take so much horror before it’ll give.”

“Go to class,” Kris glowers.

“Yes, sir!” Sehun salutes before dashing down a hallway and disappearing beyond a set of doors. Kris laughs, watching as his brother runs away from him, and shakes his head as he starts towards his own course.

This is his first year interning as a law intern and his second assignment is to perform a round of presentations to introduce law and social work opportunities to top tier high school students. To say he isn’t nervous is a lie, really, but he’s slowly accustoming to interacting with other human beings.

Just before he reaches the class he’s been scheduled for he receives a phone call from Anthony.

“Miss Victoria has left and says she may not make it back before dinner. I wanted to ask you what to do with the dinner you have planned tonight for Miss Victoria and Master Tao,” Anthony tells him.

Kris takes a quick breath. “Did she mention where she’s going?”

“No,” Anthony replies. “Master Tao is still napping and Miss Victoria has instructed me to let him rest. I didn’t feel it necessary to ask about her personal activities as she didn’t seem to want to elaborate.”

“It’s fine,” Kris excuses, “as for dinner, we’ll go with what I’ve planned; if she makes it then great, if she doesn’t there’s always next time.”

Anthony swiftly accepts Kris’s instructions and is about to end the conversation when Kris interrupts him.

“Wait, Anthony, you mentioned something about Victoria’s lover at the airport…”

“Yes,” Anthony nods to himself.

“…What of him?”

Not knowing whether or not it is his place to tell Kris, Anthony bites down on his lip. “Perhaps it is better if you as the young miss yourself, Master Kris.”

“I—“

“Ah, Master Tao, you’re awake.”

Tao’s grumbling can be heard from the other end. Kris sighs and pardons Anthony from the call, stuffing his phone into his pocket and pushing the classroom door open, stepping inside.

When it is a young and good looking man that joins them and not an old, ugly uncle, the female students shriek in excitement. Honestly, situations like this become tiresome after it happens so commonly over the years.

“Hello, I’m Kris Wu and I’ll be speaking to you about law and social work opportunities open to students like yourself in the community…”

Every presentation is the same; the only difference is Kris’s mood when he gives his speech. Given the dimmest bulb of the bunch, even that person would be able to tell that Kris is not in the greatest mood right now.

He’s still good looking though, so nothing else really matters, right?

On his way back to the law firm at which he interns, Kris runs into Victoria at a plaza nearby. She’s leaning against a brick wall with her phone pressed to her ear, a small smile on her lips.

When she speaks, it is in that foreign language that flows so nicely on her tongue.

Although he is unfamiliar with the language, he can hear in her tone how comfortable and happy she is to be speaking with the person on the other line.

“It went just fine,” Victoria assures Yunho, the fingers of her free hand tapping pointlessly at her knees. “The pay is high and the hours work out perfectly, actually.”

“So, you’re accepted?” Yunho beams proudly.

Victoria rolls her eyes. “Just how badly do you want to get rid of me, boss? Are you that tired of seeing my face?”

“That’s not it,” Yunho laughs. “Keeping you in my office is burying your talent alive. You’ve got so much more to you than just brewing some coffee and translating some documents for me. Look at your stock buys, for instance; you’re probably wealthier than I am from all your stock profits!”

She grins. “If you wanted some tips, you could have asked. I have plenty of connections, too.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Yunho gravels. “Stocks are like quicksand; no matter which foot it is you put in, it’s wrong, and once you’re in, you’re never going to get out of it.”

“Just because you’re easily addicted doesn’t mean the rest of the world is, too.”

Yunho scoffs. “I want to see you quit.”

“Why? I have no reason to,” Victoria states matter of factly. “Like you said, I’m filthy rich because of it.”

The man chuckles softly. “Are you going to keep your flat here? Might as well sell it off if you’re not coming back, you know.”

“I’ll be going back,” she tells him, “I haven’t decided whether or not I’m staying. Honestly, returning to Paris is just a matter of time. That’s where my home is.”

After glancing towards the empty desk in the corner of his office Yunho smiles to himself. “How’s your brother?”

“Miserable,” Victoria replies. “I guess we have more in common than I thought.”

Yunho laughs. “Don’t think too much about it.”

“If you ever need me, boss, just let me know; I’ve got your back too, alright?” Victoria suddenly says.

“Okay,” Yunho nods, “alright, I better start heading to work if I don’t want to be late. I’ll let you go. Take care of yourself, kid.”

Kris waits until Victoria is finished before approaching her. When Victoria raises her eyes from her knees and her gaze meets with Kris’s deep, dark eyes, she does a double take and has to take deep breaths to calm her surprised heart.

“What are you doing here?” She asks him with a trembling voice.

He raises an eyebrow at her, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips. Was he that scary? “I should be the one asking you that. I intern there.”

Victoria looks in the direction that Kris is pointing, finding the law firm just across the street. “You’re studying law?”

Kris nods.

“I thought you’re supposed to be taking over your father’s business after he retires?” Victoria wonders aloud. “Isn’t that how all wealthy heirs and heiresses do it?”

The corners of his lips are tempted to lift into an angled smile. “Not all of us are like that.”

“But you are,” Victoria deadpans.

He’s suddenly not so tempted to smile anymore. “Maybe.”

She glances at the law firm again and shrugs. “Law’s a good choice. If you really enjoy it, then I say go for it.”

“What do you enjoy?” Kris asks her.

Victoria flashes a professional smile and clicks on her phone, checking the time. She raises the screen in front of his eyes, displaying her phone lock screen wallpaper.

“The ocean?”

At the mention of the word ocean, her smile finally seems to reach her eyes. Victoria places her phone back into her purse and turns on her heel, pulling the door behind her open and stepping into the café she’s been standing outside of for a while now.

Kris follows her inside, completely disregarding the fact that he may be late to his internship.

“Do you have time?” Victoria asks him.

Without any bit of hesitation, Kris nods.

Victoria chooses a booth and sits down, gesturing for him to do the same.

They stare at each other for a moment, no words exchanged, until Kris feels warmth simmering in his slightly stiff cheeks.

Eventually, Victoria breaks the silence. “I’ve seen you before, right?”

Kris does not respond.

Victoria chuckles while slightly lowering her line of sight so that her hair can fall loosely in front of her face sheepishly. “Haven’t we? You look so familiar, though…”

Unable to contain the urge to smile, Kris laughs at how cute she looks.

“We have! Otherwise, you wouldn’t be laughing.” Victoria says, laughing along with him.

They fall into comfortable silence once again until Kris speaks first this time around. “Do you like the ocean?”

Victoria shakes her head.

“Then why—”

She knows what he’s trying to ask. Instead of avoiding the question, she addresses it directly. “The word ‘ocean’ has to do with the person I love most in this world. Not too long ago, he left me…”