Due to Xia’s pulling strings (read: bullying) on Luli’s media outlet, Kris’s life had been going through many peaks and troughs. One week, Kris was a loving boyfriend and the next he became an irresponsible bastard – the cycle continues over the few weeks, rinse and repeat. 

Kris has started to spend more of his time at her place and her vineyard, volunteering to go with her. She found him an interesting person since he would look at everything in childlike wonder; wide eyes, parted lips and antsy body movements whenever he found something new and exciting that peaked his interest. He made friends with a few of the workers at the vineyards and even learned ways to make wine. 

Whenever he was there, it was as if he had forgotten his work as an actor. At that moment, Kris was just Kris, the enthusiastic young man who smiles at everyone as he enjoys himself in simple joys that life has to offer for him. He looked completely free and contented with himself. 

The story that Luli had been publishing had reached a point in the timeline where Kris Wu’s ex-girlfriend had started to cheat on him. That was when Kris started to appear quite shaken. He had known that the girl had initially cheated on him but now that the receipts were out, due to Luli’s expertise on tracking down the most provoking paparazzi to obtain such privacy invading images by buying them out at atrocious prices. 

On such days when that happened, Kris would quietly come to her house. He would sit beside her, without words, before proceeding to spend time with her the entire evening. Sometimes, he would spend his night over at her place but sometimes he would excuse himself away from the house. 

“Kris, is everything all right?” Xia would ask him whenever he came by. 

He would put his arms around her and pulled her towards him, inhaling the scent of her hair, “Everything is okay,” he would mumble. She knew everything was not. Whenever he said that, Xia couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt in her stomach because deep down, she knew that she set this up for the sake of him.

~
“Zitao, you’re staring at me again,” Xia spoke as she typed on her laptop in the conference room. The guy laughed lightly before mumbling an apology and going back to what he was working on. 

It had been a while since Xia noticed about Zitao’s excessive staring – when she gives presentations, when she focuses on her laptop to write up contracts, and even when she eats lunches with him. It bothers her quite a bit when she kept having hunches of him having feelings for her while they were working lately. However, being the professional woman that she is, she managed to not let it distract her from work. 

“How is the actor guy case coming along?” Zitao asked one day. Xia stared at him and just shrugged since they haven’t gone to the mediation with other side’s lawyer. “Whoever he hired for his PR, that person is doing a great job at turning his fame around.” Zitao commented as he crossed off a clause in the contract he was reading. 

Xia hid her face behind the papers she was holding and smiled by herself, feeling quite proud that she had been behind all this. She was never trained on PR but she had been studying on the topic. 

The weeks progressed. The ex-girlfriend’s belly had gotten bigger, and so was the bubble of public interest for Kris Wu’s scandal. Pretty much everyone was talking about it and the opinions have became significantly divided from the reactions that he had gotten in the initial stages of the scandal. The stakes have also gotten higher with the ex-girlfriend now demanding more money for child support, which Xia had not been giving in during their mediation. 

“Are you sure you’re going to win this, Xia?” Zitao once asked her after they had exited the mediation court. She only replied with a firm nod. That was the affirmation that Zitao needed to shut up. 

~

“Xia,” Kris spoke in a serious voice while they were taking a walk in the neighbourhood one evening while he was visiting her, he was wearing a black cap and a facemask again. “Let’s say I lose, what is going to happen?” Xia glanced at him to study his face, which was unreadable with just his eyes exposed over the mask’s outline. He insisted that he wore this mask, giving the reason that there had been paparazzi following him the past few days, given that his popularity had been climbing up. 
“You’ll just have to pay her the money for child support,” she calculated, “until the baby turns 18.” She added, “Is there some sort of financial problem that you can pay the child support?” 

“No!” he spoke in a defensive voice, his eyes widening as he looked at her in shocked eyes. 

Xia laughed gleefully, even though she shouldn’t during such serious conversation, “If you were, I was going to offer you a package deal on financial legal matters,” she jested. His eyes softened as he nudged her and let out a chuckle in amusement. “Don’t worry. You will be fine,” she assured him. His hand intertwined around her right and tightened it. 

“Thank you, Miss Tang.” 

~

Luli’s publications have gotten to almost the end and Xia was very sure that the public was now in Kris Wu’s favour. However, there was one problem remaining. No matter how much the public’s interest was on this case, the pace of the story had to go fast enough to keep people interested. The story had stopped, asking the readers about whose baby is it going to be – is it going to be Kris Wu’s just like public had known? Or is it going to be the new boyfriend that the ex-girlfriend was cheating on Kris Wu with? 

The main problem was that, the baby would not be born not until after the next few weeks. She needed to work out ways to keep the people interested enough to follow the story to end it with a bang. 

“Ugh,” Xia groaned. She was in Luli’s office, her face planted on the desk and her arms limply fallen by her side. If one was not aware, they would think a rag doll was leaning on Luli’s desk but it was just a desperate Xia. “Can we not churn out a few more articles on this matter to keep the public interested before the baby is due?” 

Luli looked at her friend, pausing her typing away on the computer, one of her eyebrows said, “What do you mean by more articles? Do you know how much effort I put in to get this section in for the past few months?” The girl rolled her eyes lightly before resuming her work. 

“I don’t know!” Xia mumbled, “like an editor’s review or something! It's not like your sales are low because of this either.” 

“Miss Tang,” Luli replied, “this is not a review magazine. We can’t review people’s affairs. Get yourself together. Since when did you turn into this emotional mess?” 

“Shut up,” Xia mumbled, “I’m not.” 

“Yes, you are, idiot,” Luli’s arm stretched over the desk and pushed at the spot on the top of Xia’s head. “You’re so in love with him that all you want to do is wish him great things.” 

Xia sighed, “I just wanted him to do well and not get crushed by people’s opinion. It had been so hard on him.” 

“You talk like he works with the conflict management in war zones, Xia,” Luli laughed, “chill. He will be fine. Even if he loses this case and never recovers from it, it’s not like he’s going to be poor. He probably could sit on his pile of money and live a very comfortable life.” 

Xia lifted her head and looked at her friend, “I suppose. Anyway, you really can’t publish more?” 

“Nope. I am not,” Luli’s words were firmed and determined and Xia knows that her words mean law. 

Xia opened again to argue against her friend, maybe even shamelessly ask for another shot, but her phone distracted her. It was Kris. “Hello?” she answered. 

“Xia,” he spoke before stopping. He sounded like he ran a marathon, breathless and exhausted. 

“Kris, are you okay?” she asked, her heart started racing in the fear of unknown factors, “is everything all right? Answer me.” She stood up hastily, nodded a goodbye to Luli and hastily walked out of her office.

“Xia,” he spoke, “it’s here. The baby is here.” 

She blinked and stopped in her track, her hand stopping to press on the car key’s unlock button, “what?” 

Sometimes, it’s surprising how life turns around within an instant.