Tao opened a door that led to the slightly angled rooftop of the panda zoo.

“Wow, the view is really good.” I grinned looking around.

“It is.” Tao’s voice was quiet.

I remained standing for a moment, then sat down on the angled roof, sighing and leaning back on my elbows. Tao sat down next to me.

“Do you come up here often?” I glanced at him.

“Not too often, but I should. It’s a good place to think.”

“What do you think about?”

“…not much. Mostly stuff about my future…” Tao’s gaze turned down and he didn’t say anything else.

I watched him for a couple seconds, then slowly placed my hand on his. “You must worry a lot.”

His gaze slowly moved to my hand. “…since you’ve started working here…it’s been better.” He met my eyes.

“I want to help break your curse.”

He didn’t say anything for several seconds and moved his gaze straight ahead. I kept my hand on his and did the same.

“…do you think I’m a freak?” He asked very quietly.

I looked at him surprised. “What? No! It’s not your fault that you’re cursed like this! I want to help you because I care about you!”

He slowly looked at me. “How can you help me? You would only be helping Kris covering up my existence. You would get annoyed with me just like he is.”

“He cares about you a lot! He said you don’t seem to care.”

“I don’t want him to suffer because of me. I don’t want you to suffer either.” He suddenly stood up.

I grabbed his wrist. “Where are you going!?”

“I don’t know. But I don’t want to cause any more trouble for you or Kris.”

“Tao, please don’t go!” My voice raised a lot and it surprised me a little.

He didn’t more or respond.

“Tao, me and Kris want to help you. Kris may seem annoyed, but that’s only because he cares about you and wants to break your curse. If you don’t let him help, he gets annoyed and probably wants to help you more. Please…please don’t push him away. Or me. I want to help you too!”

He still didn’t respond.

I took a step forward, keeping my grip on his wrist tight. “I can’t imagine what kind of things happened in your life, but there must be a way to break this curse. And I won’t stop until you are human both day and night. Okay?”

Tao’s head lowered a little. I slowly moved closer and rested the side of my head against his upper back. He stiffened up a little. I carefully moved my hands to rest on his waist.

“I won’t give up on you.” I said quietly.

Tao shifted and turned around. I only caught a glimpse of his wet eyes before I was pulled into a tight hug.

“I’m so damn tired.” He whispered.

I rubbed his back and rested one of my hands on the back of his neck. “I understand.” I whispered back.

He slowly pulled back. Because he was taller than me, I had to raise my head a little to look into his eyes. His gaze shifted from my lips to my eyes. I smiled softly and moved my arms around his shoulders. His lips immediately locked with me. His kissing was much more confident this time. He kissed and caressed my lips and pulled me closer with a soft sigh. His hand rose to the back of my neck and my knees relaxed. I let myself be lowered and I felt the slightly cold angled rooftop against my back. Our lips broke away for a moment as he got comfortable on top of me and s his arm under the back of my neck. I moaned softly as his other hand started rubbing my stomach and lower abdomen. His fingers grazed my neck and his lips crashed back onto mine. I continued to moan and twitch as his hand trailed over my crotch. Our tongues played with each other for several seconds, then he pulled away again. A small, mischievous smile replaced his grim expression from only seconds before and he leaned in to capture my neck in a deep, passionate kiss. I moaned a little louder and grasped his hair. His other hand continued to rub the area above my pelvis and then his fingers stared to move under my pants.

“Um…” The sudden low voice startled us both and we looked to our right. Kris was standing at the stair entrance looking very embarrassed. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need to lock up.”

“We can get down from the roof. We can climb down later.” Tao responded without missing a beat.

“You sure?”

Tao nodded.

“And I assume you’ll just come home on your own…?”

Tao nodded again.

I was feeling very awkward and not looking at Kris.

“Alright…good night.” Kris nodded awkwardly and almost ran back down the stairs.

When his footsteps disappeared, I glanced at Tao and chuckled a little.

“Where were we?” He met my eyes and grinned.

“Will Kris be okay?”

“He’ll be fine.” He tucked some loose strands of my hair behind my ear.

“Okay…” I chuckled again.

He held the side of my face and returned his lips to mine.

I didn’t count how much time went by, but now we were both laying on the angled rooftop. He was breathing deeply and playing with strands of my hair while staring up at the night sky. His arm was still supporting the back of my neck. The side of my head was resting on the crook of his neck and my hand was calmly resting above his heart. I felt my phone vibrate and I lifted my head to check it. The time shown at 7:12 PM. Wow. We had been making out for over two hours…

“It’s getting late...we should go home and rest.” I sat up.

“Aww, already?” He sat up as well and pouted at me a little. It made me chuckle.

“Hey, you’ll see me tomorrow.”

“How could I possibly wait that long?” He leaned in to rest his forehead against mine.

I brought my hands up to hold either side of his face. “You’ll live.” I grinned.

“I doubt it, but I’ll try.” He grinned too. “Come on.” He moved into a crotch and motioned for me to climb onto his back. I chuckled and did so. He stood up and lowered himself against the wall supporting the rooftop. He climbed down very smoothly and landed on the ground carefully.

“Where did you learn to climb like that?” I asked, getting down.

“Well…I guess there is one good thing about being a panda during the day.” He admitted quietly.

I laughed. “I guess so.”

He took my face in his hands and planted a deep, long kiss on my lips. “Get home safely.” He said.

“Absolutely. You too.” I grinned. “See you tomorrow, panda.”

His lips curled into a cat-like grin. “Is that your new nickname for me?”

“Is that okay?” I suddenly thought it would be too rude.

He chuckled. “It’s cute, but I prefer ‘Tao.’”

“Okay, I understand.” I nodded quickly. “I’m sorry.”

He kissed my lips once more. “Don’t you ever apologize to me.”

I grinned and nodded. “Alright. See you tomorrow.” I slowly broke away from him, waving. Then I turned around to head home. Even though I couldn’t see him, I could feel him watching me go.