Luhan’s POV

 

This might sound cheesy, but my life turned back into some sort of a perfect romantic drama with the return of Hei Lin’s presence. Really, after that night, Lao Gao strongly believed a bolt in my head had come off and I was going nuts because I couldn’t stop grinning to myself. Hei Lin was always around and things could really get funny when Lao Gao was there too. Like when she was sitting on the couch and then Lao Gao tossed himself onto her, or when she was in the bathroom and then he just barged in and took a dump there nonchalantly; she would scream, “Oh my God!” and my bear buddy would still be oblivious to what trauma he was causing to her. My days became full of Hei Lin’s funny shrieks and Lao Gao’s confused or weirded out faces.

 

Yeah, the dull grey paper was then full of splatters of bright, colorful paints.

 

I got a lot better quickly and the hospital let me go home the following day after she had showed up. Lao Gao still stuck around to look after me, though, and my cute baby girl too, was always there to pull pranks on him and my cats. It was kind of funny, but only those weird things happening to him could slowly make him believe she was real. Hence, she really teased and bothered him a lot.

 

This is one example; one afternoon, two days after I had been dismissed from the hospital, Lao Gao came over and we spent time together having lunch in my living room while waiting for the time to go for a photoshoot. Hei Lin was sitting there too, with my cat Yellow Fur curling next to her on the sofa.

 

“Luhan, you already feel much better, don’t you? Remember, tomorrow we have to head back to Hengdian for the filming.” It was for my new drama, Fighter of the Destiny. “The trip is going to take a while, make sure you get enough rest.”

 

“Alright, baba,” I chuckled and stuffed a piece of chicken into my mouth. While he was busy talking to me, Hei Lin took a few pieces of his chicken one by one and fed them to my cat. She put her index finger on her puckered lips and we secretly exchanged a playful grin.

 

“Man, how come my chicken is all gone?” Lao Gao freaked out when he noticed there was only his rice left. “They really should give more, otherwise I’m not coming back to that restaurant.”

 

Both Hei Lin and I laughed at his dejected face. “Look behind you,” I pointed at my cat, who was opening its mouth for the last piece of chicken in Hei Lin’s hand.

 

“…Oh my glorious beard, my chicken is floating in the air,” Lao Gao whispered in horror, and then suddenly he yelled at me, “Luhan! Can you see that?? Your house must be haunted, I knew it!” Lao Gao tried to catch the “floating” chicken meat that immediately shifted away from his hand. He freaked out even more. I guffawed so hard and choked on my food, and seeing that, quickly Hei Lin put the chicken meat in Yellow Fur’s mouth and then bolted to the kitchen to get me some water. Lao Gao’s small eyes practically grew as big as Yellow Fur’s when Hei Lin came with a full glass of water.

 

“F-Floating glass… Th-There’s really a ghost here! Luhan, you really need to call an exorcist, I’m not even joking. I don’t want to be the last person seen with you before you get killed by this… invisible devil, your fangirls will hunt me down and kill me with no mercy.”

 

I laughed and coughed some more before drinking from the glass Hei Lin was holding for me. “Careful, Lu ge,” she said while patting my back. I wiped the excess of water off my mouth and gave her my best smile.

 

“Thank you, baby.” Baby! I couldn’t believe I just called her that again after quite a while. It gave me butterflies in my tummy and made me feel like cracking a happy giggle. Cliché, huh?

 

“You did not just talk to empty space,” Lao Gao said warily.

 

“Nope, I talked to Hei Lin. You’re so stubborn sometimes, not believing me that she’s really here even though you’ve seen the evidences.”

 

“I don’t know what to believe, man. This is so weird.”

 

We cleaned up the dishes quickly and then I went to my room to get changed. Hei Lin trailed behind me and slipped into my room right before I closed the door.

 

“What are you doing here?” I laughed, “you can’t see me get changed. Wait outside.”

 

She cracked a broad shiny grin and clumsily scratched the back of her neck. “Not my lucky day.” Then, she got me utterly taken aback with her new trick; she floated in the air and then flew through the closed door, and disappeared just like that! It was the very first time I saw her do something like that, something ghostly; my face turned pale and my mouth fell open wide at the door.

 

“BOO!”

 

“W-WAAAA!” Suddenly Hei Lin’s head popped out through the door... while the rest of her body was still outside. I almost jumped out of my skin! I stumbled a few feet backward, while she laughed at my derp face as she launched herself forward to catch me by the shoulders. This pretty girl in black sweater slowly placed her feet back on the floor and looked into my eyes. Her gaze... it was warm and loving.

 

“I’m sorry for messing around with you, Lu ge. I just,” she bowed her head and smiled a little, “you’re going to get busy again, aren’t you?”

 

My racing heart slowly calmed down as I looked down at her face and noticed a glint of sadness. It suddenly struck me that she was probably very lonely, not having anyone else who could see and interact with her. I wasn’t that good with girls and maybe everyone knew already that I was beyond awkward with these delicate creatures; even though I knew she was sad, I couldn’t find the right words to cheer her up. Instead, my arms moved up stiffly and then pulled her closer into a hug; I felt awful that it was the only thing I could do.

 

“I’m sorry,” I said sincerely, “you… you can stay here in my room later tonight. I-If you want.”

 

“Really?” She pulled her head back to look at me with her beautiful, twinkling big brown eyes, “S-Sleep here? With you? But– But I might be disturbing you, I-I guess sleeping in the guest room is okay—“

 

“It’s okay,” I cut her stammering and smiled softly at her, brushed her bangs aside and tucked her long wavy hair behind her ear. I couldn’t help but think, how pretty she was, how cute she was when she was shy like this, with her wide eyes and her rosy cheeks and all her cute antics that made me want to squeeze her in my armpit. “I won’t mind having companion for the night.”

 

Her face and her ears turned a darker shade of red. I was pretty slow to realize that I was literally asking a girl to sleep together with me; I must have creeped her out! “I-I mean, you don’t have to s-sleep here if you don’t want to, I… I swear I’m not going to do anything bad, w-we can put some pillows in the middle to separate us if you want—“

 

This time it was my turn to blabber and stammer, successfully ruining my own manly image in front of my love and my huge crush. Hei Lin’s bright laugh rang in my burning ears, making me stop whatever I was saying before it could get more embarrassing. I rubbed my nape sheepishly and smiled shyly to myself.

 

“Oh, Lu ge, you really are a cute one. I know you don’t like that term, but it’s true!” She giggled. “I will stay here, then. I won’t mind you doing anything to me, though.”

 

“W-What?”

 

“Please forget I said that.”

 

“You really like teasing me, don’t you?” We chuckled and flashed a broad grin at each other. Lately I learned that she had got dimples that would appear whenever she smiled to a certain extent. They were showing then; I just couldn’t resist the temptation to pinch her cheek.

 

And then my buddy-manager just had to ruin the moment with his continuous knocks on the door, “Luhan, hurry up! What are you doing in there? You don’t even have to take this long, you’re not a girl who needs to wear a bra and all that stuff that takes forever to wear.”

 

Hei Lin chuckled and took a step back, making me feel like pulling her back in, but sadly I had to get ready. “He talks quite a lot, doesn’t he?”

 

“If it’s to me, I guess yeah,” I shrugged, forcing a hesitant smile at the end of my long sigh. If I had to be honest, I really wanted to spend some more time alone with her instead of going for the photoshoot. Earlier that morning I had had a photoshoot already. “You’re coming with me, right?”

 

Hei Lin nodded fervently and gave me a cute smile. “I want to see Lu ge’s cool poses like this morning,” she imitated my poses earlier with a funny smug face, making me laugh, “and if I’m not mistaken, this next photoshoot is for Harper’s Bazaar, isn’t it? With flowery theme? It could be my once-in-a-lifetime chance to see my manly Lu ge being surrounded by pretty flowers!” As she giggled, her feet slowly left the surface and her body moved backwards, away from me. “I’m going to let you get changed peacefully now. Hurry up, Lu ge!”

 

After she had disappeared behind the door, I let out another sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose, trying not to crack a goofy grin. She addressed me as her manly Lu ge. Was it even okay to be that happy just because of that?

 

“My life has gone weird.” But I love it. I was in love with a ghost. Well, not exactly a ghost, how should I address her… a soul out of her body? Whatever she was, she really gave me this tingling happiness inside that could make me giggle and even sometimes shudder in a weird kind of excitement. This all might be wrong but it felt so right, it was downright creepy. Just as creepy as my smile whenever I thought of her.

 

Later, at the photoshoot, they made me pose in a flower house and I noticed Hei Lin busy squealing on the side.

 

“Tilt your head slightly, please. That’s right, now give the camera a little wink. Handsome! Smile a little bit, just the corner of your lips. Right, that’s right, perfect! You can bite the flower’s stem, it’s clean. Yes, that’s good, that’s our flower boy for you!” The director, a pretty talkative man, kept on throwing unnecessary compliments at me throughout the photoshoot. It wasn’t helping me with anything! It was a real struggle to hold back my grin and keep a manly expression, because my black forest girl also kept on commenting at the man’s remarks.

 

“That’s right, sir! Lu ge is a manly flower boy, only Lu ge can get even manlier surrounded by flowers! Oh, no, no, don’t make him smile like that, sir, you might turn bent for him! Oh my God, please don’t make him bite the flower, I might pass out. Oh no… He bites it, Lu ge please don’t wink, no… Kyaaa! My ovaries are bursting like a volcano!”

 

I wasn’t sure if she was sincerely fangirling over me or if she was just teasing me, because it kind of seemed so exaggerated and the faces she made were so funny. Either way, she really made it to make me enjoy the session. The photoshoot plus the interview that took almost three hours seemed like it wrapped up so fast.

 

I could really get used to this.

 

Later that night…

 

“Hei Lin, were you only teasing me back at the photoshoot?”

 

“Huh? Teasing you? No, Lu ge, of course I fangirled from the bottom of my heart.”

 

“Are you sure? Even now you don’t sound too convincing.”

 

“Really? That’s strange.”

 

“…”

 

“Well, maybe there was a little bit of teasing, you know… I couldn’t help it, it was fun to watch you get flustered! Your ears were really red. But really, mostly I actually meant what I said. Except for the bursting ovaries, I don’t even know what that means, just the stuff fangirls usually say. My ovaries are still okay, I guess.”

 

“It’s really funny you still do that. Fangirling over me, I mean.”

 

“Ah, I guess it’s in my blood now. I’ve always been your fan, and still am! It just seems impossible not to fangirl when there’s a fresh, y, manly deer sitting in front of me, looking very handsome with that tousled wet hair and just a simple black shirt, and that masculine scent after shower. Believe it or not, I’m still fangirling inside. Really hard.”

 

Hei Lin was lying on her tummy on my bed – not exactly on my bed, because she was hovering in the air again – with her chin propped up in her hand, both her eyes and her lips forming a sweet, love-struck smile. Suddenly she got really straightforward with her words; it made me all shy and awkwardly quiet because I didn’t know how to respond to that. After a few awkward seconds had passed, though, suddenly her eyes rounded and her lips formed a gaping circle.

 

“Did I… just blurt out my thoughts? Oh my God, this is so embarrassing. L-Lu ge, please forget what I said,” She continued on mumbling to herself as she sat up – still in the air – and turned her back to me. “Gosh, when will I ever learn to control my mouth?”

 

She’s acting cute again. I chuckled and got up on my knees to turn her around by the shoulders, revealing her adorable pouting face. “So you think I’m y? You like my masculine scent? How about you sleep in my armpit tonight? So you can have my iness all to yourself and have a really good sleep with me all over your dream.”

 

“Lu ge, don’t talk like that, it’s embarrassing!” I cracked a somewhat erted laugh as I held her from scrambling away and pulled her closer, until she really made contact with the bed, seated in front of me. It was really easy to make her turn red; that was one of the things I loved about her.

 

“Being honest is a good thing, isn’t it?” I grinned and tapped her nose with my finger. “As a matter of fact, you only stated the truth. I am manly, yes, and you got to admit you like what you see.”

 

“No, I take back my words. You’re a ert. Lufans need to know about this,” Hei Lin said, pouting while clearly trying to hold back a smile.

 

Chuckling, I pulled the fragile-looking pretty girl into a hug and messed her hair lovingly. “I was just teasing you, my Cherry.” I did that to her nickname intentionally; it sounded almost like “ma cherie”, meaning “my dear” in French. I can be sweet too sometimes, you know? “Do you think I’m really a ert?”

 

“Well,” Hei Lin tapped her chin pretending to think, with a playful glint in her chocolate orbs, “You can shamelessly gawk at pretty women on national TVs. And your fans once caught you having a during an episode on Running Man, they even got a screenshot of it. Does that say anything about it?”

 

My face dropped immediately. “No. Way. How come! W-Who would even pay attention to my crotch during such a show?” These girls really got eyes as sharp as an eagle’s. I had assumed no one had noticed it, but, how wrong could I have been? Having been living the life of an idol for years, I should have been aware of the rather erted fans who never failed to spot a bulge. I wasn’t sure if I had to be grateful because my bro deer junior wasn’t as obvious as what some of my ex-bandmates had in their pants. No, no, I’m not saying it’s tiny and cute. Please do forget that.

 

“B-But seriously, it… it just came by itself. I-I wasn’t thinking about inappropriate stuff or anything, a-and I couldn’t ask the team to stop recording either, p-please don’t misunderstand—“

 

“Lu ge,” Hei Lin laughed and shushed me with her slender finger on my lips. Oh, and I instantly thought, if only it were her lips that’s touching mine. What a naughty thing to think about! Maybe she was right, I was indeed a ert deep inside.

 

“We really should learn not to panic easily around each other,” she giggled. She was right about that. “I understand, it’s a completely normal thing. You don’t get to have fun with pretty girls every day. Once that happened, of course your old body would get excited, and maybe that time you hadn’t had your favorite wet dream or done your ‘manly’ thing in a while—“

 

“Hey!” I laughed and clamped my hand over immediately before she could burn my face and my man pride to ash with her teasing. “I thought you were trying to cheer me up! You’re still not done teasing me, are you?”

 

We ended up in a bundle of big ball, laughing and rolling around on my bed as I attacked her with tickles on her weak spots – her sides – until her eyes teared up and she begged for me to stop. I did stop completely when she was out of breath and began to pant beneath me. It was as if time stopped when our eyes met; her warm breath blowing on my Adam’s apple and her hands loosely clutching my shirt, and I found my arms that were caging her weaken a little bit.

 

Gulp.

 

“Get off of me, ert.” The intriguing parted lips then stretched into a big innocent smile, instantly making me feel bad for having a glimpse of naughty thought flashing in my mind.

 

“I… I’m sorry.” I lay down next to her awkwardly and stared at the blank ceiling. My heartbeat got ridiculously even more erratic when her fingers touched mine.

 

“Lu ge,” she called me in the most affectionate way, with her soft, soothing velvety voice that had become so familiar to my ears. The innocent, sincere, loving way of how she called my name every time; it had got its own ways to calm me down and comfort me, strange ways that I couldn’t understand. She then rolled on her side and softly gazed at me with a loving smile gracing her thin lips. I returned her smile with an apologetic one.

 

“Someday that time will come,” my little sweet cake said, “when you will love someone with all you have on you. Your heart and your mind, your body, your soul… but you have to wait for that. When that time comes, you’ll be smiling even bigger than you did just now, and,” she took a quite long pause before continuing with a sad smile, “I hope… I will still be there to see that smile.”

 

Her last words got me to sit up and look at her in surprise and disbelief. “W-What are you saying? You… You will be there for sure, y-you’ll be the one to cause that smile—P-Please don’t talk like you’re going to leave. You’re not… are you?”

 

Hei Lin sat up slowly and gave the sheets an ironic smile. “Who knows what will happen, Lu ge? I’m already hanging between life and death.”

 

“No—”

 

“If something happens to the other half of my soul in my body any time now, it’s game over for me. I’m not sure how exactly it will happen, maybe I’ll suddenly disappear…”

 

Hei Lin talked in a way that made it seem as if it were a normal daily life thing to talk about the ways she could die and leave this world, but her words really crushed me on the inside. That was it, she had turned me into an emotional wreck; one minute I could be laughing, then the next minute I could be super awkward and thinking dirty, and another next minute she could make me feel like crying.

 

Not able – and not wanting – to take more of it, I quickly pulled her into my arms and hugged her tightly, stopping her from talking about her death. “Don’t… Don’t let all that happen. Don’t stop struggling for your life. Please, hang on for me. For your mom and dad.”

 

I believed what I said could somehow reach the other half of her; the other half that was still laid in the hospital bed, that was still holding onto the thin branch of life, that could fall into the cliff of death waiting beneath her any time fate decided to snap the branch or once she decided she was too tired to hold on. If this other half of her was gone, there would be nothing in her body; she would be dead, she’d leave me again and this time forever. Just the thought of it really frightened me.

 

She has to get back into her body… She must help her other half. It was the only way, she was the only one who could help herself, but… I found myself not able to say it out loud. I couldn’t, I wasn’t ready to lose her presence in my days and nights. I was too selfish.

 

“I’m… I’m sorry,” I said, my slightly trembling voice exposing my emotions, “I’m sorry. Please wait for me… I will come to you really soon. I will go there and see how beautiful you’ve grown, I will be there for you like you’ve always been for me, and someday… Someday I will be there too when you open your eyes. I want to be there. I will confess my love to you, and there will be nothing that can steal our happiness, there will be nothing to stop us. That day will come, so you can’t give up, not now, not ever. You understand that?”

 

Hei Lin’s body began to tremble and droplets of tears started to fall on my shoulder. It broke my heart. She was crumbling and so was my heart. My hand sought for hers in such urgency, and once I got it, I hooked our pinky fingers together and brought them up between our chests. “It’s a promise. You have to promise me you won’t leave me. Promise me you’ll be strong. Do you promise me, Cherry? Answer me, Hei Lin.”

 

My black forest girl pulled away and clamped her hand over to hold back her sobs as she looked down at our intertwined pinky fingers. Each seconds passed without her answer, I was engulfed deeper in fear of losing her. Is she really going to leave me? Her silence and tears eventually brought out mine; we both cried together.

 

“Baby, p-please listen… You were once a stranger to me, but now it’s been almost a year and you’ve become my love that I can’t afford to lose. I believe… I believe you’re the one. Y-You got out of your body at the mention of my name, and I’ve been the only one who can see you ever since the very first time you showed up, doesn’t that mean we’re meant to be together? I don’t want anyone else replacing you, I… I w-want you to be my last and forever.” I was practically doing an early proposal, but… “I-I guess I can understand if you think it’s too early, or if you don’t want to have it with me, b-but I’ll only ask one thing from you. It’s only this promise. Do you… Do you promise me, Hei Lin?”

 

Still, what I got was only her quiet sobs. I knew, I knew she couldn’t promise anything; we’re not the ones to determine our life and death. I just… wanted to make sure she would give it her all to fight for her life. It had been three years; people might have lost hopes for her, but I wanted to believe she could struggle and fight her way out of her long sleep with her strong will to live.

 

And how relieved I was when she finally nodded and sank back in my embrace, crying her heart out, “I promise… I promise,” she cried, “I promise I-I will wake up… to see that day. I will wake up to hear… w-what you need to say, I will… I want to live long enough to be y-your last and forever. I w-want that, I’ve always dreamt of it, I will fight for it, Lu ge. I promise.”

 

It’s… It’s a yes. She accepts my early proposal! I was so happy and relieved I practically burst into tears. I cupped her cheeks and showered her flushed face with gentle kisses, whispering, “Thank you, thank you so much,” as I slowly laid her down and placed her head on my pillow. Resting my elbow above her head, I brought my face closer to hers and wiped her tears away, curled my fingers around her chin lifting her head slightly until her watery big brown eyes locked with mine. Realizing how close our faces were, she visibly held her breath, her eyes dilated and her cheeks rosy red. The corner of my lips curved upwards finding how cute she was. Then my blurry gaze involuntarily fell on her lips.

 

“Can I…” Hei Lin hyperventilated slightly and her already big eyes grew even bigger when my lips inched closer to hers; the fangirl side of her was taking over again. I held myself back for a bit and caressed her cheek to calm her down.

 

There you go, I gave her a loving smile once she gave in and melted into my touch, her eyes fluttered closed halfway and her lips slightly parted, inviting me and luring me in.

 

I didn’t let her hang and wait for long; it was like my heart jumped and bounced around gleefully inside my chest when I finally pressed my lips gently on her soft ones. It was the first time we shared a kiss! The shy, innocent kiss on the lips that soon turned passionate and sensual; she wrapped her arms around my neck and I tilted my head deepening the kiss. All my life I had never expected I would ever be physically this close to a girl, having her laid in my bed, trapped beneath me, helplessly giving in to such a tempting, burning kiss. At least not before I got married. But I guess I just got lucky much earlier.

 

That aside, I knew my own limits as a normal man; I broke the kiss before I could lose myself and end up going too far. I might be hot-headed, but I still had self control for this bodily thing, you know.

 

Best. One. Minute. Of. My. Life. I cracked a big smile before pulling back to see the panting mess that was my baby girl. Her face was redder than ever.

 

“Oh my God,” Hei Lin whispered, touching her lips with her somewhat shaky hand. “You kissed me. Lu ge… I was kissed by Luhan! The Luhan! Oh my God!”

 

I sat up and laughed watching her get back on her fangirl mode. I couldn’t help but wonder, will she still react like this after she becomes mine? After we get… married?  I chuckled and pinched the bridge of my nose. Someday she’ll really get used to this. I enjoyed her reaction, though, it was like my kiss had an explosive effect on her.

 

“I can’t believe this, I had my first kiss with Lu ge! And it was much better than I have ever imagined! Oh, life is good.” She collapsed back onto the bed and smiled dreamily at the ceiling.

 

“Wait… F-First kiss? It was your first?” I stole it. “I-I’m sorry, you were probably saving it… for your future man.”

 

I felt bad, but Hei Lin laughed. “My future man is apologizing for ‘stealing’ the first kiss I was saving for him.” With that, I giggled shyly and lay down next to her, covering our bodies with the sheets. It was somewhat like a teaser of my future wedding night, when I’d be sleeping with my love in our bed for the first time. Only this time we’d be doing nothing besides literally sleeping. But still, my heart was doing somersault inside my chest.

 

How am I going to survive tonight?

 

“Lu ge, is it really okay if I sleep here? Can you… sleep?”

 

“O-Of course! It’s really okay,” I chuckled awkwardly. I really wanted to have her there. Is it okay to… umm, maybe cuddle? I was about to ask her that, but I shut my open mouth immediately when she asked, “Lu ge, can I ask you something?”

 

“Oh, su-sure! What is it?”

 

“It wasn’t your first kiss, was it?”

 

Is she upset? She doesn’t look upset, though. “Uh, umm… N-No. I-I’m sorry.”

 

“Why are you sorry? It’s totally okay. I was just wondering because… You just… really know how to do it. I mean, it was a really good kiss.” She turned her head to me and flashed a shy smile. “You’ve always been that cute, handsome boy, I can’t blame you if you’ve kissed a lot before, can I?”

 

Kissed a lot? “Ah, no! It—It wasn’t even that many, seriously. Just… a few times with my ex.” Can we please not talk about this? It was in the past, I want cuddles now.

 

“Okay.” As if she could read my mind, Hei Lin scooted closer and gave me a face of a cute kitten asking to be cuddled. Actually, she was just staring at me with her round eyes, but her hand was pulling my arm timidly under the sheets. Taking it as a cue, nervously and awkwardly I wrapped my arms around her and eliminated the gap between us until her small frame was nested in my embrace. It was like hugging a pillow; I still could hardly believe she felt even smaller than she looked. Her head was practically sticking to my pounding chest. Can she hear my heart?

 

“Lu ge, your heartbeat is so loud,” Hei Lin answered the question in my head right away, mumbling with her eyes closed and her lips curving into a small smile. Pretty, I thought.

 

“I’m gonna blame you for that,” I chuckled.

 

“I’m glad. You feel so… alive.” She took my hand and placed it on her chest. For a second I thought she was going to make me touch something else. Snap out of it! I mentally scolded myself. “Can you feel anything?”

 

I tried to feel my hand on her chest, expecting her heart to thump against my palm, but… There’s nothing! I can’t feel anything. Maybe I little bit lower…? Ugh, where did my innocence go? Well it was out the window.

 

“I-I can’t feel it. Maybe because your sweater is a bit thick?” I guessed.

 

“No. It’s because I don’t have it,” she grinned at me, to my surprise, “cool, huh? I’m just a soul that takes form of my human body, I don’t have that heartbeat like you have.”

 

I was caught off guard. Often times I forgot that she wasn’t really a complete human. Realizing that again saddened me to the core... But then, she cheered me up again with her soft giggle and her remark, “But I bet if I had it, my heart would be thumping reeeally loud right now, because Lu ge is holding me so close.” I laughed shyly and ruffled her hair.

 

Randomly, a thought came to my mind, “Hei Lin, is it comfortable sleeping in that outfit?”

 

“I’m used to it,” she said, then smiled mischievously, “but you can try changing my clothes for me.”

 

“E-Eh? Change your clothes?” I asked clumsily, my ears turning a bit warm. They were probably reddening, like whenever I got embarrassed. “Uh—Umm, I-I only have my own clothes. Male clothes. Is it okay? Ah, I should have bought you new clothes much long ago.” How could I be so stupid? Of course, she doesn’t have spare clothes with her. All along I had believed that she really had been stuck with that look, like she once had told me.

 

Again, unexpectedly, my cherry girl laughed like she was enjoying how flustered I got. “You once changed my outfit without buying me new ones, though!” Now I was utterly confused. She continued, “On my birthday, when you waited for me at the soccer field. I came in that crimson dress, didn’t I? It was because in your dream, you imagined me coming in that dress instead of my usual outfit. I figured out, maybe because you’re the only one who can see me, my appearance might as well be the product of your brain’s interpretation of me. Oh, you seem more confused,” she laughed again, “I’m sorry. Let’s just talk about it later, you need some sleep, Lu ge.”

 

“No, wait,” I said abruptly, “does that mean I only have to imagine you wearing something else?”

 

“Mhmm. That’s about right,” Hei Lin yawned, “we can try that tomorrow.”

 

Not answering her, I furrowed my eyebrows and sank in deep thoughts. Just imagine. That simple? I closed my eyes and tried to imagine her in comfy pajamas. After a brief moment, I slowly opened an eye and glanced at her, and…

 

She was still in her black sweater.

 

Maybe I have to concentrate more? Maybe believe I can change it, like in those movies about magic. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried again, focusing on the image of her in those pajamas. I took a bit longer before opening my eyes again, and…

 

“Lu ge…” Hei Lin flipped the sheets off her body and we both gaped at her new outfit.

 

“…Soccer ball pajamas?” It was a pair of fluffy white pajamas that looked more like those of a boy’s, with pictures of small soccer balls scattered all over them. Maybe it was because a thought of playing soccer had passed my mind too… After a moment of awkward silence, suddenly our laugh exploded and she lightly smacked me on the arm. “Thank you, I guess? At least they’re comfortable.”

 

“Yes, I did it!” We both giggled. Hei Lin let me cuddle her and sniff on her – I just loved her scent – until our eyelids grew heavy and we became too sleepy to talk to each other properly. I turned off the bedside lamps, covered the baby girl with the sheets up to her shoulder and gave her a small goodnight kiss on the forehead before placing some extra pillows between us very hesitantly. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to hold her in my sleep, I really wanted to; just in case I’d do something embarrassing without knowing. Got to keep it safe, since she wasn’t even my girlfriend, not to mention my wife. Not yet.

 

I had expected Hei Lin to be asleep already, but then came her sleepy mumble, “Lu ge… Just now I felt my clothes disappearing.”

 

“H-Huh…?” I the bedside lamp again and we both slowly peeked into the sheets.

 

“…E-Eehh?!” She was only in her… bra and underwear. y lacy red ones.

 

Oh. I’m so dead.

 

“…LUUUUU GEEEEE!” Thwack! “ERT!”

 

“OW! I-I-I’M SO SORRY! I-I’LL FIX IT!”

 

It was indeed an eventful night, but I had never gone to sleep with a smile that big on my face.

 

I really need to be careful with my mind from now on.

 

---

 

Sasaengs.

 

Those young girls still followed me around. They really scared me; they put both their and my safety at risk! But, no, this time I have to take action. My warnings on Weibo were not enough to stop them.

 

I was still in Hengdian for the filming for my new drama when one day a wild chase occurred between our car and a taxi full of fans. We were forced to make a stop and that was when I decided I couldn’t just keep cool about it. With my hair already tied up beautifully for the filming, I stepped out of the car and marched towards the taxi, ignoring the shouts of my staff calling out for me to come back into the car.

 

What made me more furious was; when I was about to give them a piece of my mind, suddenly the car moved backwards and away from me! The driver really had the gut to do that while having teenage girls in his car!

 

“Oh, no, you don’t.” Being the hot-headed one I was, I started running after the reversing taxi, with my staff’s car following closely. I could see that the taxi driver was terrified; he increased the speed, and so did I. I chased the taxi down the street until we reached the end of it; I expected him to stop the car, but surprise, the taxi quickly maneuvered into another street! Which could have caused an accident, and the possibility was super high.

 

You’re challenging me, huh? I snorted like an angry bull.

 

“Stop right there, let the girls go! You’re really in big trouble!” I shouted at the driver. Through the windshield I saw the fans cry and tell the driver to stop the car, and I thought if he still wouldn’t stop, I was really going to take the matter seriously and bring it to the authorities. Lucky for him, he still had his common senses. The taxi pulled over, and soon so did my staff’s car next to it. I fished out my phone and took a picture of the taxi’s plate number before marching my way to the side of the car.

 

“Open the window,” I knocked on the taxi’s window, which went down immediately.

 

“Luhan,” two staff came out hurriedly and tried to pull me back into the car, “it’s alright now, just let them leave.”

 

“No, I need to make this clear,” I swatted their hands and made my way back to the taxi’s open window.

 

Not bothering to keep my good idol image, I started scolding the driver without niceties, “May I have some personal space? Do I have to kneel down and beg you? Taking people’s money every day and following my car; are you happy about that? Can you be responsible of their safety? Do you feel well earning this kind of money? Can you sleep tight at night? You really do not care about their safety, bringing them and reversing your car, huh? Aren’t you afraid of having a car accident??”

 

“But no accident happened,” the driver timidly talked back.

 

“No matter an accident happened or not, your act is illegal, isn’t it? If the people in your car get hurt, will you be responsible? Can you be responsible of one person getting hurt??”

 

The girls inside were crying and apologizing non-stop, while the driver kept his head down, avoiding eye contact with me. I let out a huge sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose.

 

“Where did you guys come from?” I asked the girls, softening my tone a little bit. I’ve never been the type to shout at females and feel okay about it.

 

“D-Downtown,” one of them answered between her sniffles. I took my wallet out of my pocket and handed to the driver an amount of money that was definitely more than enough to bring the girls back to the downtown. The rather young-looking man was somewhat taken aback.

 

“Bring them back to where they came from. I want each of them safe at their destination. Don’t try messing around with them, I’ve got your plate number,” then I took a picture of the driver’s ID on the dashboard with my phone, “as well as everything else I need to find and sue you. Don’t even think of carrying my fans around to follow me again, you got that??” The driver nodded quickly and apologized. “And you girls, please just focus on school and don’t make your parents worried. Bad things might happen to you. Let’s just meet at safe places on safe occasions, alright? Next time I will not tolerate this.”

 

“Yes, we’re so sorry, Lu ge!”

 

“We love you!”

 

“Good, now please go back home.”

 

The taxi drove away and I blew out another huge sigh before willingly getting into the staff’s car without having them forcing me to.

 

“One of them recorded your conversation,” the male staff told me, “I saw her phone screen. They’re going to make a big deal out of it.”

 

“…I did the right thing. I can’t stay quiet forever and let them harm any or all of us.” I said nonchalantly, resting my head back and shutting my eyes. So much trouble in the morning.

 

The staff got busy talking to each other about how unbelievable kids these days are and my mind flew back to the hotel where I was staying. Is my baby Cherry still sleeping? Earlier before I had left the hotel, I had tried to wake her up and ask her if she wanted to go with me, but she had sleepily mumbled something about catching up later before falling back into slumber immediately. Couldn’t blame her, it had been five in the morning when I had asked her that.

 

I couldn’t help but wish she would be there at the filming site. I could really use her presence to lift up my mood.

 

Yes, that would be even lovelier if she could wear the traditional costume like the female casts wear. I visualized her in a white one, and she looked so pretty like an angel. It was enough to bring a small smile to my lips.

 

“Yup, here we are,” the staff said. My eyes flew open and the beautiful sight of a very familiar temple greeted me right away. I stretched my body a little before hopping out of the car with a new energy and a beaming smile on my face. It was really hot and I was starting to sweat already, but I had almost gotten used to it from the many previous days of filming there.

 

When I flew my gaze around, I spotted a beautiful princess in white – wearing the clothes that looked similar to the ones the female casts wore – sitting on the stone stairs that led to the temple, with a white flower crown on her head and more tiny white flowers decorating her pitch black waves, that were toyed around lazily by the wind. Her bangs were not covering her small face like her usual look, exposing her beauty even more. She was staring into the distance, with a faint smile playing on her small, pink lips. My feet brought me to her slowly as if I were hypnotized by the sight of her. When she noticed my presence, she turned her head to me, and the brightest, sweetest, sincere happy smile bloomed on her face straight away. The princess in white stood up and waved at me like an excited little child before running to me; it happened like in slow motion in my vision, like some sort of a manga scene, with her hair elegantly dancing with the wind behind her back and with some imaginary glowing and sparkling pink ambience surrounding her. I know, I know, I’ve read and watched a little bit too much manga and anime.

 

The sight of the black forest princess instantly cooled down my boiling head.

 

“Lu ge!” Hei Lin came running with her arms open, but when she was only a couple of feet away from me, suddenly she stopped and smiled shyly instead, retreating her arms back to hug herself. “Can I hug you?”

 

I looked around to make sure no one was looking before quickly taking her into a big, firm hug. It wasn’t that I didn’t want anyone to see our PDA, which no one could see; it just wouldn’t be funny if anyone caught me doing a “pantomime”, hugging the air like a lonely single man. I let go of her hesitantly and flashed my biggest grin.

 

“You look so pretty,” I complimented her, getting another shy smile in return.

 

“The female casts are very beautiful, though,” Hei Lin said, pointing at two females in similar clothes with hers talking to each other; they were Na Zha and Wu Qian, the main female casts.

 

“Hmm. Wanna know what I think?” I placed my hands on my hips and cocked my head to the side, teasing Hei Lin with a mischievous smile, “I think you are more beautiful than both of them.”

 

Hei Lin pressed her balled hands on her cheeks and turned her back to me immediately, and I thought I could hear a very small, restrained squeal before she turned to face me again with her usual pink face. “Th-Thank you, Lu ge. Y-You were the one who imagined me in this outfit anyway. You… You look handsome too, with that man bun on your head.” Secretly she took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled a long sigh to deal with her nervousness, her eyebrows crinkling involuntarily. I couldn’t help but laugh and pinch both her cheeks.

 

Out of the blue, while I still had my grin splitting up my face, suddenly Hei Lin put her palm on my forehead. Her expression changed into a serious one and for a second I panicked slightly, thinking that she was about to do something to me. Did I pinch her cheeks too hard?

 

“…Lu ge, I feel something different coming from you. A different energy that rarely comes out of you. Are you… upset about something?”

 

She knows! I was somehow happy and a little bit weirded out at the same time, finding out that she could feel the negative energy left after I had gotten mad earlier. Why happy? Because I actually wanted to share with her about the things that happened to me and what I felt about them – just like a little kid telling his mother about his day – and I didn’t even have to start it myself; she could read me and ask me first about it. I wasn’t much of the type to talk out my feelings easily, especially if it was something bad. But this doesn’t necessarily mean I’d always be the passive one in this matter.

 

“Ah, umm… Well, not anymore. It… It’s not about you, though!”

 

Hei Lin’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “So it’s true? What happened, Lu ge? Do you… want to talk about it?”

 

I really was about to start my story about the fans and the careless taxi driver who had chased me earlier, but then the filming crew called me and told me to get ready.

 

“I’ll tell you later then,” I said with a smile before running to the crew. During the filming, as usual Hei Lin watched me excitedly from the side, but this time I caught her spacing out several times throughout her little fangirling session. Apparently she was still troubled about the cause of me getting upset. Somewhere around the middle of the filming, after the director shouted, “Cut!”, my eyes met with Hei Lin’s and I immediately gave her a wink and a big grin to assure her I wasn’t mad anymore. It worked; her face brightened up again.

 

We were given a few short breaks during the filming. Every time Hei Lin saw me alone, she came to me just to sit there and keep me accompanied. I was really touched when at one point she came running with a bottle of cold water, my green electric fan and a clean small towel, wiped all the sweat raining down my face gently with a concerned look on her face while I downed all the cold liquid in just a few big gulps.

 

“Lu ge, are you feeling well? You’re sweating so much.”

 

“Ah, I’m okay. It’s just that the weather is very hot. Umm… T-Thank you—“

 

“Luhan ge? Who are you talking to?” Our little conversation was forced to a halt when Wu Qian came with the staff to review some scenes with me. When I turned my gaze back to where Hei Lin had been standing, I found that she had disappeared with the wind. At times like this, I really felt like calling it a day so I could go home and spend time with my beloved baby girl. But the day was not yet to end.

 

Much, much later, after the hot and tiring filming had ended, my hair extension had been taken off and my clothes had been changed, I managed to find Hei Lin and use the short time before heading back to tell her what had happened. I just hadn’t expected her reaction to be so…. Mad. Really mad. Her eyebrows furrowed and her face turned red, but this time not because she was embarrassed, and her balled hands were firmly pressed against the sides of her thighs, but no words came out of her sealed mouth. She looked like a cute angry cartoon character, but I was too worried to focus on that cute part. It was the first time I saw her get angry. I was fast to learn that she tended to say nothing when she was mad, and that actually was the scary part.

 

“Umm… Hei Lin? It’s okay now, really. I’ve talked it out with them.”

 

“You could have gotten hurt,” the angry princess said through her gritted teeth, “how dare them.”

 

“Hey, hey, now, you’re scaring me. Look at this, I’ve got goosebumps. Come on, let’s just go home.” Really, I was actually afraid of what she might do. I didn’t know if she was still hiding more ghostly tricks that I hadn’t seen.

 

Since she said nothing in response, I took her hand and led her back to the staff’s car. It was a pretty funny sight that she still had her flaming, angry big eyes and her crinkled eyebrows settled on the ground all the way to the car; like an angry little girl being dragged home by her daddy after not being allowed to buy more sweets. I chuckled quietly to myself at the thought of that.

 

As soon as the car moved, Hei Lin’s head dropped onto my shoulder and she was instantly gone, drifting off to sleep, just like the other worn out staff in the car. Secretly I placed a small kiss on her head and took her hand in mine. I imagined her wearing something else to change her outfit into a more comfortable one; a pair of denim shorts and a comfy, baggy black t-shirt with a picture of two big cherries, like the one on her sweater. Her hair was tied up into a ponytail, some soft strands of hair still left on her nape and on the sides framing her face, and her feet were then fully covered by white sneakers. I couldn’t think of any fancier clothes, I guess I was just hopeless when it came to picking female clothes. But I loved what I saw; she still looked beautiful and fresh even in the simplest clothes.

 

I was still pretty much amazed that I could give her new clothes just by using my imagination. For twenty six years I had lived in this world, I had never known something like this could actually happen in reality. If I told anybody about it, no doubt they would consider putting me in a mental asylum. I was lucky enough that Lao Gao hadn’t done so. He was going to see the ultimate proof anyway; he was going to go with me to see Hei Lin’s body at the hospital. We just hadn’t got the time yet, which made me feel guilty, because I was the one who had asked Hei Lin to let me see her.

 

I promise I’ll see you really soon, baby. As soon as we go back home to Beijing.

 

In Hengdian, we were staying at a hotel, and I had requested for a room with two twin-sized beds. The crew had been questioning why I needed two beds, but nonetheless they let me have what I wanted anyway. The other bed was for Hei Lin. I figured out we shouldn’t make it a habit to sleep together before the right time and that I had to respect her as a woman who wasn’t bound to me yet. It wasn’t that I didn’t like cuddling with her, I loved that to bits, but it was not much of an appropriate thing to do for our current status. With an open mind and a mature way of thinking, she had easily agreed to this idea.

 

That night, as we both lay in our respective beds and stared at the ceiling in the dark room, Hei Lin’s voice reached my ears, “Lu ge… I should have gone with you this morning.”

 

“…You’re still thinking about that,” I chuckled and closed my eyes. “Why do you think so?”

 

“Just… If I had been there, I could have given them a lesson.”

 

“Really? How?” My lips formed an amused grin.

 

“You’ll see, Lu ge. If there is a next time, I’ll really give those crazy sasaengs a piece of my mind.” I could hear her turn on her side with a small, annoyed “hmph”. Her back was then facing me. “If they risk your safety, they don’t love you and they’re not your fans. They’re obsessed crazy girls. You should learn how to differ these two things, Lu ge.”

 

I chuckled softly. “You really do care about me, don’t you?”

 

“I’m not going to answer that,” she said flatly, making me laugh.

 

“I’m flattered.” I smiled to myself, slowly opening my eyes again. “Thank you, baby.”

 

It then became silent; I thought maybe she was asleep already. That’s too bad. I still want to talk about nothings. Pouting to myself, I turned facing her and cuddled my pillow, imagining that it was her. A sudden attack of drowsiness came and my mouth opened in a huge yawn.

 

Oh well, time for dreamland, I guess. Tomorrow is going to be another looong, hot day.

 

I was slowly falling into slumber when Hei Lin’s soft voice came again, “I… I do care about you.” She answers that anyway. “Lu ge… I love you.”

 

My eyes remained closed as she slipped off her bed and bent down next to mine, quietly watching me sleep… or pretend to be sleeping. A familiar baby-like scent entered my nostrils and soft strands of hair tickled my neck, as I felt a pair of lips carefully pressed on my temple, which then moved down to my cheek. My ears were burning hot; she was kissing me in my sleep! Well, not on the lips, but still!

 

And yet, the next words she said in such an unfamiliar tone immediately replaced my inner happy squeals with goosebumps and chill down my spine.

 

“…I swear, I’ll do anything to protect you.”

 

And she meant anything.

 

---

Third Person POV

 

Not again!

 

Luhan looked back through his manager’s car’s rear windshield and found a black car following closely behind. It was full of young girls. Sasaengs.

 

“Lao Gao, go faster! We’re being followed!” the idol cried, repeatedly tapping the back of the driver seat. Next to him in the back seat was a bewildered invisible lady, turning her head back and forth between the panicking young man and the speeding car behind them. This time there were only three of them in the car, without any staff’s assistance. They were just coming back after grabbing dinner outside.

 

“Lu ge, are they… sasaengs?” Finally Hei Lin figured out. Luhan’s single nod instantly boiled her blood and lit her eyes on fire.

 

“They really need to learn their place,” Hei Lin growled – cutely, like a kitten trying to be a fierce tiger – as she quickly arranged a plan in her mind to give those girls a lesson.

 

“Luhan, shouldn’t we stop and see what they need to do?” Lao Gao suggested, at the same time giving more pressure on the gas pedal while stealing glances at the rearview mirror; the black car was so close it almost hit their rear bumper.

 

“Don’t,” Hei Lin said, even though the bearded manager couldn’t hear her, “they might harm Lu ge!”

 

“I don’t want to deal with them anyway,” Luhan agreed, “I’m too tired. I just want to go home and sleep. Oh man, will they ever stop?” The idol let out a frustrated sigh and messed his own brown locks.

 

“They will, if you get a plastic surgery and make yourself look exactly like me,” Lao Gao remarked, and Luhan looked at the back of his head in disbelief. At times like this he can still throw a lame joke.

 

Suddenly came the sound of their car’s window going down, and when Luhan turned his head to his side, his face was immediately filled with horror; his baby girl had just flown out of the window.

 

“Hei Lin… Hei Lin!! Hei Lin come back here!! Oh my God, Lao Gao, pull over near that mall ahead!” Luhan stuck his head out of the window and saw the black forest girl fly towards a tree on the sidewalk, grab something that seemed to be a pretty big rock, and then dash back towards the speeding black car. She managed to bolt past the car and positioned herself in its way, as if she were about to stop it with her superpower. It was a rather cool and risky, adrenaline-pumping scene, Luhan thought she looked like a badass ninja or some kind of superhero, but the chaos taking place in his head didn’t give him the chance to admire her for that. He watched in horror as Hei Lin threw the rock hard onto the car’s hood, making the driver hit the brake out of surprise. In a blink of an eye, the wandering soul of the raging lady flew through the car’s windshield and entered the driver’s body, taking full control over him. The car swerved side to side a little, causing the girls inside to scream and cry while holding each other.

 

Drive properly! Hei Lin commanded the body she was possessing. A short while later, they found the car neatly parked on the edge of the road, right behind Lao Gao’s car.

 

Hei Lin, still inside the driver’s body, turned around and gave the girls the scariest glare she could make out of the man’s face. Which was indeed very scary.

 

“…WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GO AND SEE HIM! WHY ARE YOU STILL SITTING HERE??” The girls jumped in their seats and cried even louder out of great shock. One of them tried to open the door, but Hei Lin was faster to lock all the doors. It wasn’t that the girls couldn’t unlock the door by themselves; they were too terrified to even think straight.

 

“OH WELL, NOT SO FAST!” Hei Lin cracked an evil laugh, which sounded like a serial killer’s laugh in the driver’s voice. “If I say I’m going to murder you all right here and right now, what are you going to do now, huh? Call your mommy and beg for help? And if she asks you what you’re doing out here at this time, what are you going to say? Chasing your favorite gege around and freaking him out like it was a fun thing to do? Putting him in a dangerous car chase that could have hurt him? Is that what you’re gonna say? Is that what you want? ANSWER ME!!”

 

“Nooo!” the girls sobbed hard and shook their heads, holding each other tightly, “We just want to see him! Please don’t hurt us! W-We have paid you a lot of money!”

 

Hei Lin’s senses were sharp enough to spot a phone in one of the girls’ hands; she was recording their conversation. With a sly smile on her – the driver’s – face, she snatched the phone and deleted the voice note immediately. It scared the girls even more.

 

“Well, guess what? HE DOESN’T WANT TO SEE YOU! Because you’re not his real fans, you’re sasaengs who don’t care about his safety and well-being, you guys are selfish enough to put him in danger JUST SO YOU CAN SEE HIM! Well you can keep doing this and then you can see him all you want after it’s too late and something really bad actually happens to him! He won’t be able to run away from you anymore!”

 

Now, at this point, Hei Lin’s protective side was taking control over herself and she was starting to be unaware of what was coming out of her. The driver was then crying in front of the trembling young girls as he shouted his head off at them.

 

“I swear… I swear you will regret it if you ever try to do this to him again!” Hei Lin searched for the driver’s wallet in his pocket, and once she found it, she took all the money inside – there was a lot – and tossed it at the girls. “Here, take your mommy’s money back! Trust me, you don’t want to look for any other drivers to do this illegal job for you, because… because I have connections to all of them, and I will tell them to throw you in jail if they ever meet you!” This time Hei Lin took the driver’s phone and quickly took a picture of the girls’ ugly crying faces. “Now I have your faces. I’ll send this picture to all drivers I know in China. NOW GET OUT OF MY CAR AND APOLOGIZE TO HIM!”

 

The frightened girls threw themselves out of the car as soon as the doors were unlocked. At the same time, Luhan put on his mask and his cap, ended his little argument with Lao Gao – about whether or not he should get out and jump into the scene taking place inside the car behind them – and decided to get out of the car anyway because he was getting restless to no end, seeing that Hei Lin had not yet come back to him. How surprised he was when there were five young girls stumbling their way to him while sobbing their eyes out.

 

“W-What’s going on here?” The idol asked, extremely bewildered.

 

“Lu ge, we’re so sorry!” The girls wailed, “We won’t follow you around anymore! We’re sorry we put you in danger!”

 

Wow. Luhan was mesmerized. Way to go, Cherry. What did you do to brainwash them?

 

“A-Alright, don’t cry now. You guys know that chasing me around is dangerous, right?” They nodded vigorously. “Good. Please don’t do this again, it’s kind of... stressing me out.” Now, the guilt was clearer than ever on the girls’ faces. “Anyway, you’re supposed to be home right now, it’s almost nine at night. Are you going back with that car?”

 

“No! No, please don’t make us go back with him. He’s going to throw us in jail for making him chase you around! He’ll tell all his driver friends around China about us!”

 

Luhan’s eyebrow raised skeptically. “Oh, really? He said that?” The girls nodded again in unison. “Hmm. You really need to be careful then. Look, lucky you, there’s a mall here. You all should get inside and wait for a taxi there. Do you have some money with you?”

 

“Yes, the driver returned all our money. He gave us much more than we paid him, though.”

 

Luhan felt like laughing. What have you done, naughty baby? He glanced at the car behind them and found the driver’s head resting on the steering wheel. Is she still inside him?

 

“Well… I’m going now. Remember not to have this repeated again, okay? I hope there will be no next time.”

 

“Yes, Lu ge, there will be no next time! We promise!”

 

“Please go home safely, Lu ge.”

 

Luhan smiled happily to himself. If only all sasaengs can change like this. “Alright. If you want to see me, you can see me at press conferences, there will be a few soon. Bye now, be safe on the way.”

 

Meanwhile, inside the car, Hei Lin was trying to calm herself down. She had the driver’s forehead resting on the steering wheel, hiding his face that was wet with tears.

 

It burnt her. Her love for him burnt her to ashes, set her soul on fire. After the raging flame had died down, it slowly seeped into her common senses, what might be the cause of her outburst; she was scared of losing him. More than she was scared of losing her own life. Those careless people had released something that she hadn’t known she had in her. All her life she seldom got mad, she was a sweet and bubbly one, but look what came out of her when her loved one was put on the line. The cute little kitten actually turned into a fierce, angry, roaring tiger.

 

Hei Lin did realize that she could have gotten the situation even worse with such a reckless action, entering someone’s body, who had been driving in such high speed. What if… What if this car had crashed into Lu ge and Lao Gao ge’s car instead?

 

The driver’s body trembled slightly under her possession as she lifted his head to see Luhan stand there alone, worriedly staring at her. She closed the driver’s eyes, inhaled and exhaled a few times to regain her composure. She was about to try a new trick.

 

I’m going to surrender myself to the officer standing ahead and admit what I’ve done. I’m going to tell that officer that I carried underage girls around and got involved in a dangerous car chase. I’m going to let the officer take me and I’m going to answer honestly to their questions. I’m going to do all of this now… after I open my eyes.

 

After trying her best to plant all the thoughts into the driver’s mind, Hei Lin opened his eyes wide and quickly jumped out of his body. She stood outside the car and watched as the driver slowly gained his consciousness back; it looked like he had just woken up from his sleep after a long night at a bar. Truth be told, Hei Lin wasn’t sure if what she just did would actually work, but she had figured it out that it was not completely impossible; the driver had followed her will under her possession, moving and talking like the way she wanted, so then maybe he’d still follow her instructions left inside his subconscious mind even after she had left his body.

 

And she was right about it.

 

The driver opened the window and said to Luhan, “Excuse me, Sir, can you please step aside? You’re in my way.” After the confused deer moved aside, he drove his car right towards an officer standing next to a police car parked ahead. He got out of his car and talked to the officer, who seemed quite surprised. Not long after, the black car drove away, trailing behind the police car. He was led to the station without any attempts to run away. Luhan saw the scene unfold before him with his mouth ajar in a mixture of awe and disbelief. Once the two cars were out of sight, he finally snapped out of his trance and ran to his girl. She was quiet and her head was hanging low.

 

“Baby, please don’t do that again,” Luhan said, catching the fragile figure in his arms. “You worried me to death, you know?”

 

“I-I’m so sorry, I really am.”

 

“Why did you throw a rock at that car?”

 

“I… I had to get the driver in a blank state by shocking him. So I could get into him.”

 

“That was really dangerous!” Then, unknowingly, the deer-like young man started his daddy lecture about keeping everyone’s safety in mind. He wasn’t even scolding harshly, he was doing it in the softest way instead, but halfway into it, Hei Lin had started to cry out of guilt.

 

“Ohh, no, no, no, now I’m making you cry. Please don’t cry, baby. Come on, let’s get back into the car.”

 

The big-eyed girl cried even harder instead. “W-Why are you not mad? Y-You’re too nice to me.”

 

“There’s no point in being mad at you. You know your mistake, don’t you?”

 

“Umm. I-I’m sorry. I won’t do that again.”

 

“There you go. Problem solved.” To Hei Lin’s surprise, the doe-eyed idol lowered his head and left a shy kiss on her cheek, instantly turning her like a fresh dead fish. “Thank you… for caring so much about me. Even until now I’m still not sure if I really do deserve to have you. I don’t know exactly what you did, but you really changed them in just around ten minutes. That was some real magic you did. So cool!”

 

The sad girl eventually perked up, and when the older’s lips stretched wide into a big smile and his arms opened for her, unhesitatingly she buried her face into his hard chest and squeezed his body with all her might. Luhan’s happy giggle broke in the air as he messed his baby girl’s hair and cuddled her lovingly, couldn’t care less that they were still standing on the sidewalk, close to a big mall’s entrance. Showered by the mall’s bright, colorful lights, the pair in love gazed into each other’s eyes, contentedly grinning from ear to ear.

 

Lao Gao poked his head out of his car and squinted at his deer buddy, who was hugging and grinning creepily at empty space. “Luhan. You do know that everyone can watch you there, right? Come here and bring your invisible dudette back inside before anyone notices you and thinks you’ve gone mad. You’ve got a reputation to keep, man. It’s an international stuff we’re talking about.”

 

“Shut it, Lao Gao. You always ruin our moment. What a er you are.”

 

“Alright, I’ve warned you. Dude, I really should find a lady soon before I go nutty like you. What word is a er anyway? I don’t block .”

 

“Very funny.” I took Hei Lin’s hand and led her back to our ride. We continued our way back home in peace and comfortable silence.

 

“It’s tomorrow,” I said, “we’re going to that hospital tomorrow. We’re finally going to see you.”

 

We’d be one step closer. I just wasn’t sure about one thing… It was whether or not I could tell her to go back into her body.

 

Whether or not I could let go of her presence.

 

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A/N: Hello, thank you for reading this chapter!

 

FYI, here’s a brief explanation about the first chase with taxi/sasaeng scene (without Hei Lin): it was taken from the real chase that happened around May (I guess?) As far as I know, this happened twice, and the second one was the one that took place in June, when Lu was filming Fighter of the Destiny. But in this story, I combined both events together; the conversation is from the first one in May (?), but the time is from the second event. Just some extra information!

 

Please anticipate the next chapter <3