“Hey.” I walked into Kris’s office the next morning.

 

He only nodded at me and handed me the supply case. He looked very tired.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah…I just had no sleep last night.” He rubbed his forehead and sat back down behind his desk.

 

“Oh, why?”

 

“Tao wouldn’t stop talking to me. Apparently you’re a good kisser.”

 

I blushed deeply. “O-oh….he said that, huh…?” I rubbed the back of my neck.

 

“Yep. And other details I really didn’t need to hear.”

 

“I-I’m sorry you had to hear that…” I felt really awkward.

 

“It’s not your fault, you don’t have to apologize.”

 

“Alright…well, hopefully you’ll get more sleep tonight…” I didn’t know what else to say so I said goodbye and made my way to the panda exhibit. When I locked myself inside, I walked up to the panda cave and peered inside. Tao came out immediately.

 

“You know you kept Kris up all night, right?” I gave him a look and pushed his head lightly. He moaned slightly and pushed his head into my arm playfully.

 

“That’s very rude, you know. You shouldn’t do that.” I pushed his head again and stood back up. “Give me ten. I need to clean.”

 

Tao moaned lightly and sat down, staring at me.

 

“Be patient, man. I still need to make money, you know.” I moved to the first dirty part of the exhibit I saw and started to scrub.

 

About ten minutes later, the exhibit was clean and the bamboo piles were restored. After petting the women pandas and the smallest panda, I sat next to Tao.

 

“You were so patient, thank you.” I grinned while his back.

 

He leaned into my and moved his face very close to mine and nibbled at my nose. I leaned back and laughed in surprise.

 

“Hey, that tickled!” I rubbed my nose.

 

He placed his paws on my shoulders and pushed me down. I fell to my elbows and before I could do anything, he moved his face back to mine, attacking my nose with more soft nibbles. I squirmed and giggled trying to push him away. “Ah, stop!” I squeaked as I fell onto my back. He looked down at me for a second and then slowly lowered his head onto my stomach. I sighed and let my body relax.

 

I his head lightly. “You silly panda—I-I mean…” I glanced at him.

 

His eyes met mine and he didn’t move.

 

“I’m sorry.” I said immediately.

 

He slowly leaned forward and nipped at my nose. I laughed and pushed him away. He rested his head back on my stomach and sighed deeply. I propped myself on one elbow and watched him, scratching behind his ears.

 

“How cute.”

 

My head jerked toward the fence door. The man was standing right behind it looking eerily calm.

 

“Y-you!” I jumped up.

 

“I hope you cherish these last few minutes with him, because it’s all you’ll ever get.”

 

“H-how did you escape the police!” I tried to stand my ground and sound strong.

 

“They at their job. I hope you don’t mind, but I did a little looking around this place and I accidentally broke one of your cameras. But no need to worry. I’ll just take the part you don’t need.” He held up a small computer chip.

 

I realized that was the memory chip put in the security cameras. “No! Give that back! You have no permission to take that! It’s our property!”

 

“You’re already too late.” The man sneered. “They clip of that thing’s transformation is already showing up on social media all over the world.”

 

“W-what…?” My heart sank down to my feet.

 

“Now everyone will know it’s secret.” The man chuckled lowly.

 

“N-no…” I slowly looked at Tao wide-eyed.

 

Suddenly, several knocks sounded from the main entrance.

 

“Well well, looks like they’re here. Why don’t you let them in?”

 

I immediately stepped in front of Tao protectively.

 

Kris walked in from the hallway.

 

“Hey I heard a knock—y-you! How did you get back here!?” He reached for his pocket.

 

The main entrance doors burst open and a large group of people swarmed in. They were wearing normal clothes and all had flashing cameras.

 

“Is this the zoo with the magic panda? I want to see it!” This among many shouting voices crowded at the exhibit fence and lights started flashing.

 

Me, Kris, and the man all stared at them wide-eyed.

 

“W-we never get this many people here.” Kris croaked.

 

The man stared at the people in complete disbelief.

 

“Oh my god, is that him??” One young girl shouted.

 

“He’s so cute!!” Another one squealed.

 

I stood awkwardly looking at everyone until someone shouted for me to get out of the way. I quickly moved to the side and the crowd got even louder.

 

“Hey!” Kris’s voice got louder. “There is an entrance fee to this zoo!”

 

Some people glanced at Kris and started rummaging through their pockets. “Here!” The people started shoving money into Kris’s hand without even looking at the amount they were giving. Kris stared at the incoming money in complete awe. More and more people were crowding in the exhibit observation area and the room was starting to feel stuffier.

 

“Hey, you’re the girl from the video!” One person shouted at me and took my picture.

 

“Uh, yeah…” I continued to stand frozen and awkward. I glanced at Kris but he was too busy trying to organize the money people were ing into his hands.

 

I saw Kris leave for a second and come back with a small table. “Everyone can pay here!” He motioned to the desk and sat behind it.

 

“N-no! This isn’t right!” The man stared at the people passing him. “It’s not normal! You all should be afraid!!”

 

The crowd completely ignored the man and continued to chatter and take bright pictures of Tao. He slowly backed into the cave entrance.

 

“Aww, why is he going away~?” The crowd started to take even more pictures and more assorted “awws~” rang throughout the room. Soon Tao completely disappeared into the cave.

 

This made me annoyed. “Stop taking flash pictures! It hurts their eyes!”

 

Nobody listened to me and continued to take them.

“You all are fools! Mindless, trend-hungry fools!” The man stormed out of the exhibit area, bumping into people pushing to get in.

 

I walked right up to the fence and banged on it. “Stop!”

 

This made some of the people close to the fence back away.

 

“You can take pictures, but turn off the flash!!”

 

Some people huffily looked and fumbled with their cameras to turn off the flash but others just kept going. I glanced at Kris for help, but he was literally covered with money, trying to organize it.

 

“I want to see him transform!”

 

“He’s hot!”

 

“Turn him into a man!”

 

I was getting more and more frustrated by the second. “I—just—It’s not that simple!” I really wished these people would go away.

 

Many people groaned with scattered “oh come on~”s.

 

Finally Kris spoke up. “Everyone, please listen. We thank you for coming today and your curiosity, but his condition needs to remain anonymous.”

 

More groans exploded.

 

“We’ll keep it a secret~”

 

“It’s all over the internet! It’s never gonna be a secret now!”

 

“We aren’t going to give out any information.” Kris spoke adamantly.

 

The crowd shouted curses and many comments that blended in with each other. I shot Kris a tired look and he returned it.

 

After what felt like forever, but was only a couple hours, people finally started leaving in small groups.

 

Kris had to start escorting people out. “The zoo closes at 5. Thank you for coming, but you need to leave now.”

 

“It’s 4:49!”

 

“I want to see him as a guy!”

 

“Well you aren’t going to. I’m sorry.” All of the politeness in Kris’s voice was completely gone. He lost it about an hour ago.

 

“Oh, come on! What damage can it do?” One person challenged.

 

“A lot. Please leave.” Kris responded with slightly gritted teeth.

 

“Then I want my money back!” The person glared.

 

Kris was too tired to argue. “Fine, here.” He handed some bills to the person and showed them the path outside of the zoo. After another ten minutes or so, everyone had left.

 

I saw Kris come back into the room rubbing his temples. “My god…we’ve never had so many patrons…”

 

I was sitting cross-legged in the exhibit at the entrance of the panda cave. “Yeah, that was definitely too many people.” I said quietly.

 

“Well, at least one good thing came out of this.”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“I can pay you more for today.” Kris smirked tiredly.

 

I chuckled. “Oh, yeah. I guess that’s good.” I peered inside the cave. “Tao?”

 

A low moan sounded from the very back.

 

“All the people left. You can come out now.”

 

There was no reply.

 

“Why don’t you go to the roof, Jill. He’ll meet you up there.” Kris gathered the large bunches of money on the table.

 

“Oh, alright. Do you need any help?” I stood up and walked out of the exhibit.

 

“I’m fine, thanks. You go relax. You worked really well today.” Kris nodded at me.

 

I grinned. “Thanks.”

 

 

 

 

I sat on the angled roof staring over the horizon. The sun disappeared already and I could see tiny white stars glowing in the dark blue sky. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and I looked to my right.  I was immediately pulled into a hug.

 

“I need a hug.” Tao mumbled quietly.

 

I chuckled and hugged him tight. “It was such a long day.”

 

“I can’t believe how many people showed up. I was so nervous…”

 

“Is this the first day this zoo has had so many patrons?”

 

“Yeah. It was ridiculous.” He pulled me down so we were both laying on the angled roof and looking at each other.

 

“I can’t believe so many people would be so blind to throw money at someone just to see something supernatural.” My expression darkened a little. “Some of those people were so rude.”

 

“Those lights really hurt my eyes.”

 

I groaned and placed my hand on the side of his face. “I’m so sorry.”

 

“Hey. I told you to never apologize to me.” He smirked and attacked the tip of my nose with a nibble. I shivered and leaned back in surprise.

 

“Come on! That really tickles!”

 

He grinned and rubbed my waist. We were both silent for a couple minutes. I thought about the man and his back-fired plan to get people scared of Tao’s condition. Then I thought about how the government would respond looking at the video.

 

“What’s wrong?” Tao leaned his forehead against mine.

 

I sighed a little. “I’m worried about you. What if…the government sees the video?”

 

Tao didn’t respond.

 

“What if they…” I clamped my eyes shut dreading the thought of them coming here to take Tao away.

 

Tao placed his fingers to the tip of my chin and brought my lips to his. “Don’t worry about it, Jill.”

 

“B-but…”

 

He leaned his head into my neck and grazed his lips against it. My breath caught in my throat and I clamped my eyes shut as he planted soft, almost teasing kisses on my skin. I moaned lightly as his hands rubbed the top of my thighs.

 

“We’re together now. Let’s enjoy it.” He breathed into my neck. His breath was hot against my skin. I bit my lip as his hands traveled closer to my inner thighs and his kisses closer to my chest.

 

Someone cleared their throat from the stairway. “I’m going home.” Kris said.

 

Me and Tao slowly glanced at him.

 

“Please feel free to not come back with me.”  Kris smirked lightly, then he waved and walked back down the stairs.

 

I looked back at Tao. “I think he just kicked you out.”

 

Tao grinned at me. “Whatever will I do.”

 

“You can come home with me.” I said immediately.

 

He kissed me deeply and pulled me into another tight hug. “Jill?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“…can we order take-out?”

 

I grinned. “What, isn’t bamboo delicious?”

 

He pulled back and gave me a look.

 

“Okay, okay.” I laughed. “Absolutely.”

 

“Let’s go.” He grinned.