Xia held her head between two palms as she stared hopelessly at the wood patterns of the meeting room table. It is her habit that she gets into whenever she gets extremely stressed. Law is something that she enjoys but it also stresses her out in a way because she puts her heart and soul and become one with her client, which gets very taxing for her. Her mind was swirling with ideas of how to save her client Kris, who is very much in deep trouble.

“Zitao,” she decided to seek for opinion from her partner, the talented Zitao. He had been her friend since they both joined the company during the similar time frame. While Xia gives off a meek and dainty first impression, Zitao’s impression is nothing short of ruthless. When he gets absorbed into reading a case, Zitao would look like he is ready to stand up and kill anyone who interrupts him.

“Zitao,” she called his name again. He didn’t look at her but nodded his head. “You’re doing it again,” she smiled as she mumbled the words while rubbing her eyes. She had always told Zitao that he always looks murderous with his frown whenever he focuses and that he would age really fast if he kept up. He never listens.

Zitao laughed at her comment softly before he picked up his mug to sip on his coffee. His laughter rumbled loudly in the meeting room - more like the room they monopolised for their case all the time. There was no one left in the office, except them, who decided to stay back for the case, which had proven to be extremely tough. The lawyer from the other side did not want to mitigate the situation with them; in fact, they wanted to make the case more severe, as if they wanted to go for an all-in. They refused to talk with Kris’ representatives, Xia and Zitao.

On the other side, Kris’ reputation was falling at an impeccable rate. He had been losing endorsements and movie roles due to the case, which is yet to be solved. The court date was still a long way to go and Xia was getting anxious because she knew that if Kris kept up at this rate, he would become a B-list actor, or worse a nameless actor without a hype by the time the court ended. She needed this case to solve quickly.

The pregnant girl did not want to go for a paternity test during her pregnancy, which gave her more time to draw out the date, and refused to meet with her and Zitao. Even though Xia was not sure of who was right, she had been paid to side with Kris and with him she sided. Him being someone she had been seeing was not something to account for. For Xia, her personal life is her personal matter, which she refuses to bring to work.

Xia sighed in the meeting room, which caused Zitao to look at her. “You’re going to age fast, Xia, if you keep sighing like that,” he joked. Xia smiled at him wearily, “Zitao, why did I come back to work in this?” He laughed.

“No idea. You said you were done with being active in celebrity cases and here you are, back in action,” he spoke casually as he turned over the page of the file he was reading. “This case is as annoying as anything though. For Kris, it’s like an ex-girlfriend trying to revenge on him by taking him down. For the media, he’s just an who sleeps around and does not want to take responsibility.”

“If you’re a general public, what would you believe?” Xia asked him in curiosity.

Zitao laughed wickedly until his shoulders shook, “Kris being an . This story is too good to sell papers on, you have to admit that.” Xia smiled uncomfortably at the fact. The story indeed is one of the most sought after topics for the past few weeks, especially since Kris returned from his hideout.

“What should we do for our client then, Zitao?” she queried, wondering what Zitao would have on his mind. He merely shrugged.

“I’d say play dirtier than them but you won’t be quite fond of it.”

She nodded, “I’ll think about it.”

“You know,” Zitao put down his paper and carefully studied her, “you seemed more invested into this case than any other cases you have handled.”

It alarmed Xia. Her back straightened up and looked at her friend, “Really?”

“Yeah, you’re so invested in this case. Is it because he is a handsome actor?” Zitao as he waggled his eyebrows, obviously unaware of the fact that Xia was going out with her client.

She laughed as a response before she packed up her things to leave the office. At 10pm.

~~~

When she got back to her apartment, it was nearly 11pm. She sighed and quickly brushed her teeth before changing into her sleepwear. She thought about eating but she was going to sleep soon so she decided against the idea. As usual, she would have to spend her night reading the case before she tucked in.

Her mobile buzzed while she was starting to doze off from reading the case study. The words ‘Kris Wu’ lit up on the screen. For a few seconds, she hesitated but decided to pick up the phone. It had been quite some time since she ignored his phone calls.

“Hello?”

“Xia,” his voice emerged from the earpiece, “thank goodness.” She smiled at the hint of relief in his voice. “I thought you were still ignoring me.” His voice, surprisingly, calmed her down even though she had been in her peaceful state of mind a few minutes back.

“I’m no longer on the job,” was all she replied.

“Have you eaten?”

She laughed quietly, “At midnight?”

“Yeah.”

“No,” she shook her head despite knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see her. “It’s getting late.”

“Do you want to have some food?”

“Hmmm?” she hummed.

“With me?” he sounded so hesitant and careful that she felt bad.

“But where?”

“There’s this midnight snack bar that my manager buys food from,” he quickly explained, “they have a really good menu.”

Xia thought for a while. Even though she had led a city life, she was quite unfamiliar with the late night scene since she always shut herself away in her apartment. In the end, she said, “Sure. Let’s go.”

“Then…” he paused for a while, as if looking for words to say, “can you come pick me up?”

“Why?”

“I think I still have fans camping outside to see me, and they remember the number plates of all my car.”

Xia laughed until she was out of breath, “Send me your address. I’ll meet you there.”

Forty minutes later, Xia was in her car with him, both of whom are in their sleepwear covered with a slouchy, thick cardigan to combat the cool breeze of the night. “So, where do you want to go?” she asked him and pointed at her GPS. He smiled gently and leaned forward a little to tinker around with his GPS. A few minutes later, her car was parked at a lot close to a bustling food store. He hastily got out of the car and opened the door for her.

Xia smiled and got out of the car. He wore a cap on his head so that he wouldn’t show his face as they walked towards the snack bar. She chose something that would be digestible for late night snacking while he chose chicken skewers. As they waited for their food to be done, a group of young women walked behind them. She overheard them whispering to each other, “Look! It’s Kris Wu, who knocked up a woman and now running away.” Xia looked around and looked at the girls, who were still unaware of her stare and kept on whispering.

“I think he’s dating a new one? Look at that girl beside him.” one hissed at the other. Xia cleared blatantly. The two girls noticed her and flinched slightly before stepping back away from them. She looked up at Kris, who was staring at the menu board, though she was not sure whether he heard them or not by judging his expression.

As they both ate their meals in the backseat of the car, Xia noticed that Kris ate his food slowly and very little, which was unlike him since he had always enjoyed his food with a hearty appetite back in her house. In addition to that, his smiles became non-existent. Before, he would always speak with a soft smile on his face and even if he sat by himself to read a book, he would smile by himself as if he was happy with what he was doing.

The Kris Wu that she was currently seeing in front of her eyes, lacked the smile he had and he lacked the vitality that he once had. It made her feel sad that a person is losing his colour right in front of her. “Are you alright?” she asked when she couldn’t hold it in anymore.

He looked at her, his eyes wide, before he took a bite from his chicken skewers. “I am. Why are you asking?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head.

Xia woke up at the next day on her bed with no memory whatsoever after she had said nothing. “How did I get back home?” she pondered as she brushed her teeth in the bathroom, wondering how she got back home. She scurried forward to check her car keys, which was there. “How did I drive back home?” she walked to her dining table and the problem was solve.

“Xia,

You fell asleep while eating your dinner last night. You looked very tired so I didn’t want to wake you. I drove your car and parked in the basement car park. Hope I parked in the right one. I’m sorry I took you out forcefully last night.

See you at the office.

Love,
Kris”

She smiled at the image of him carrying her through the door and tucking her into bed before leaving her by herself. She picked up the letter again to read it again, her eyes stopping at the word ‘love’ and stared at it.

Xia her feet and looked for her mobile phone around the house. Her fingers swiped through the contact list before stopping at one of the names she saved under ‘work contacts’ She bit her lips and contemplated whether to make that call or not for a few minutes before finally pressing on the name.

“Hello, how rare of you to call me. Miss Tang.”

“Miss Xu. I need a few favours from you.”

“I’m all yours, baby.”