“If you prefer not saying your name, you can just tell me that,” she broke the silence, staring straight at me. 

    “Names have power behind them,” I smirked at her.

    “Sure, whatever,” she rolled her eyes, standing up abruptly and making her way towards the entrance of the bar.

    “Hey, wait!” I called after her and she turned to look at me in irritation.

    “What?” she said, all traces of gentleness erased completely from her features.

    “Whoa, calm down,” I put my hands up in surrender. “I was just going to ask if you were okay.”

    I eyed her with concern and watched as her shoulders slumped a bit, before she straightened her back with a new kind of determination.

    “I’m fine,” she snapped, turning again, but this time I reached out to grab her wrist and pull her towards me.

    “Are you sure?” I caught a whiff of the alcohol that seemed to be coming from her clothes and the realization that the red liquid was probably wine made me even more curious about her. 

    What happened to her?

    Her shoulder hit my chest and I listened to her sharp intake of breath. 

    She moved away from me, but in her haste, I was able to turn her face towards mine.

    “I don’t need your help,” she hissed, biting her lip. “I’m not some damsel in distress. I’m stronger than I look.”

    My grip loosened ever so slightly before tightening again.

    “Just let me help you. Please,” I insisted. Where were these words coming from?

    “I fight my battles alone,” she narrowed her eyes at me. 

    “Sometimes two is better than one,” I said simply. “Why can’t you just thank me and be done with it?”

    She sighed, squirming around in discomfort. I loosened my grip again, gently grabbing her other wrist and holding her hands in front of me.

    “Why do you want to help me so badly?” she whispered quietly, peeking up at me through thick, long lashes.

    “Maybe because I saw something in you that intrigued me,” I answered without hesitation.

    She bit her lip again and my eyes darted down to stare at those rosy lips. I realized how tempted I was to touch them with my own, and quickly averted my eyes awkwardly.

    The door banged open and Luhan burst out, staring straight at me in utter disbelief.

    “Oh, ,” he cursed, breaking the moment just as I realized how close the two of us had gotten. 

    I watched her blink rapidly, a flush of red coloring her cheeks, as she coughed.

    “Thank you. I’ll make it up to you somehow,” she finally said, before pushing away from me and walking back into the bar.

    I stared after her, furrowing my brows in thought.

    Luhan made a small squeak of alarm, running over to wave his arms in front of my face.

    “Lay? Lay?” he called over and over but I remained silent, contemplating. “Dude, snap out of it.”
    I shifted my gaze towards Luhan’s agitated face, noting that his handsome features were hidden behind a mask of deep concern.

    “What the hell was that?” he exclaimed. “When I said to loosen up, I didn’t mean go get all moony-eyed over a girl.”

    “Nothing happened, relax,” I laughed it off, making my way towards the bar.

    “I’m serious, Lay,” he blocked my way. “Don’t you know the consequences of your feelings?”

    “Who said I liked her?” I turned towards him, smiling uneasily.

    “Either way, just talking to her has already put her in danger. She has to be erased from your memory completely,” he stressed.

    “Okay, okay, geez,” I clapped him on the back. “Stop with moodiness, you’re scaring me. Let’s just go have some fun.”
    He eyed me warily one last time before breaking into his signature grin and dragging me into the bar, shouting at the top of his lungs.

    He pulled me to the counter where cocktail waitresses pranced around from customer to customer, asking for their orders.

    Luhan ordered something for the both of us before disappearing into the middle of the dance floor. I laughed at his partying obsession, taking a sip of the beer that he’d handed me.

    I turned around, my smile fading into a frown as I watched the girl from earlier being grilled at what I assumed to be her boss. I got up from my seat, ignoring the warnings in my head that were telling me to stop, and practically ran towards the pair.

    I watched in disbelief as she bowed her head and allowed herself to be scolded.

    “-such irresponsible behavior is unacceptable. You’re fired,” her boss spat.

    She clenched her fists but didn’t argue. Anger pulsed through me as I stepped forward to grab her hand.

    “Let her continue working here,” I demanded, looking straight at the bloodshot eyes of the bar owner.

    She shot a sharp look at me, silently mouthing “stop, leave right now.” I only smirked at her reassuringly, squeezing her fingers with my own. She scoffed, frustrated, throwing my hand away and crossing her arms.  

    “And who the hell are you?” he raised on greasy eyebrow at me.

    “I’m her-“ I opened my mouth to answer before she cut me off.

    “I don’t know him, sir,” she interrupted. “I’ll just go grab my stuff and then I’ll leave.”

    “Good riddance,” her boss sneered and I snapped, swinging an arm at him when a strong hand suddenly closed around my elbow, holding me back.

    “Lay, stop,” Luhan muttered in my ear, heaving as I struggled against him.

    “Let go of me, now,” I bit back, before freeing myself completely and landing a solid punch square on the bar tender’s jaw.

    “You little-“ he started, but I ducked away from his incoming swing, hopping onto the counter with agility.

    “Get back here!” he hurled himself at me, but I dove out of the way and laughed as he rammed into the spot I had occupied a second ago.

    “First, you gotta catch me,” I teased, grabbing a bottle of liquor and dumping its contents all over him.

    He spluttered angrily, grabbing blindly at me.

    I made a run for it when I heard Luhan yelling my name, flippi