A/n: Light update for you guys. Merry Christmas! Enjoy your holidays and don’t forget to share because ‘sharing is caring’. Photoshop drove me nuts a while ago. ~_~ Anyway, as you can see, I'm still developing my sense of...authoring. XD also, we don't have autumn here in our country so this chapter isn't descriptive enough. /forgive me/ and i need to experience things firsthand to write better. :)

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ii...

 

A smile can do everything; it can even start the budding of friendship.

11/24/--

Janus Hotel; 7:23 AM

 

Lu Han yawned and sluggishly opened his eyes. He was tired-too tired to face a new day afternoon. He’d rather stay in bed than showcase his face out for the world to see. In any case, they already knew of him-- so why bother?

He was getting tired of his monotonous routine. Sleep-wake up-eat-work-work-work-work-work-eat-sleep.

He considers himself lucky enough when he gets to eat three proper meals in a day. He couldn’t settle for Ramen and take-away food for long or else, his manager, Wang Lei, would have a fit and nag him for the rest of the week, even months.

‘Three days more and you’ll be able to visit Xing again.’

The buzzing of his phone pulled him out of his thoughts. He raced to his clump of clothes that were strewn on his apartment floor and frantically searched for his phone. His hand got tangled from the cluster of clothes, pricked by different things inside different pockets before finally retrieving his phone.

He received 3 messages from Yi Fan asking him to wake the ing hell up and that he is two hours behind schedule. Lu Han smirked. It had always been a pleasure to annoy his manager hyung.

He opened his messaging app and typed in, ‘`Managernim~’ to push the man to his limits. He placed his phone on top of his dresser and entered the bathroom to brush his teeth.

He received a reply from Yi Fan five minutes later and a call from the same person came shortly after.

Keuriseu Calling...

Lu Han answered the call, smiling into the receiver, ‘I know I’m late—I overslept for a bit and...Yeah. Let me have my day-off after, please?’

A grunt from the other end of the line and a ‘Fine, but I’ll be dumping you two days’ worth of schedule after. Start being responsible’ was enough to brighten the singer’s mood. 

Yi Fan is one of Lu Han’s treasured friends-not that he had many. He learned that the latter is a relative of the alleged farmer that took pity in him when he was still an infant.

 He was wary when he first met him, who wouldn’t be? With Yi Fan’s deep, piercing stare and his tall stature, who wouldn’t be cautious? He has yet to recover from his demons and little Lu wasn’t ready to patch up his trust.

The two go way back when Lu Han was still a boy.

-

It was during autumn where tinges of orange and red enveloped the trees and almost everything in sight.

8-year-old Lu Han stood near the brittle fence that acted as a barrier between the main road and the orphanage. He was enjoying the tranquil feeling that nature provided him with and rested his head on his palm as he watched the sun set.

Then, his eyes visibly twitched...

He heard approaching footsteps which in his vocabulary were equating to noise and turned his head towards the sound. What he saw startled him; a boy about his age wearing a scowl on his face as he trotted near Lu Han only to pass by him to furiously grip the fence which almost looked like it was going to break.

He stared. It was rude, yes, but Lu Han couldn’t help himself. He was worried about the condition of the fence, actually, because he’s the one in-charge of maintaining the fences after all.

The boy’s hard grip on the wood caused Lu Han to shudder, ‘It’s going to break under his hold. Great.’

He watched until he heard a small crack and a few moments later...

Nothing.

“Huh?”

“What?” the boy looked at Lu Han, his eyes almost turning into slits.

“I...uh, thought that the fence will break under your...hold,” he eyed the other kid, “I’m...assigned to fix the fence...if it were to break...under your hold...um...”

“Oh. I’m sorry, I guess,” The boy looked over his shoulder to see a small crack on the wood and he immediately felt guilt, “there’s a small crack. I’m Yi Fan, by the way.” He offered him a kind smile and Lu Han returned it albeit shyly.

“I’m Lu Han...”

“It’s nice to meet you Lu Han, but I think we should do something about the fence.”

Taking a good look at it, Lu Han simply shook his head, “It’s going to hold up fine, don’t worry.”

Offering a good-natured smile, Lu Han inched closer to Yi Fan, “Want me to accompany you inside?”

-

And without another thought, Lu Han proceeded with his schedule.

 

O’Dein Banks; 9:15 PM

A knock on the thick mahogany doors of the presidential office can be heard.

“Come in,” a raspy voice called out. A man in his late 50’s came rushing in, his breathing a bit uneven.

“I’m sorry for causing unwanted disturbances Mr. Oh but someone’s looking for you.”

“And who might that be, Mr. Park?”

“A boy in his mid-twenties Sir. He’s claiming to be your son—your lost son.”

Mr. Oh stared at Mr. Park and let a few moments of silence linger in the air, “Hah! This is outrage—“

“The lad’s name is Sehun, Mr. Oh.”

 

“...bring him to me.”