Okay. So maybe volunteering as a winter festival representative might not have been the best idea. It seemed to have given our homeroom teacher the notion that she could send me and Lu Han to every school affair that required a class representative.

Had she forgotten that our job was supposed to be still two months away? Apparently she had, because one week after we became representatives, our homeroom teacher signed up mine and Lu Han's name on the school's charity event for a new animal shelter they were planning to build on a near province. Yep. The school was big on social involvement.

That's how I found myself on the school gym on a Saturday with the other class volunteers, instead of attending a Lunar Sages' fan gathering. We were supposed to discuss the upcoming fan signing event on Friday. I sighed. So much for catching up with the other LS fans.

One of the homeroom teachers was getting on the stage when Lu Han arrived and took the seat beside me.

"Good morning," he chirped, his face bright. 

All I did was arch an eyebrow in return. He sure looked excited. Lu Han just shook his head with a wry smile.

"Good morning," the teacher on the podium greeted us. "We couldn't thank you enough for volunteering to be part of this cause. As what your teachers have told you, you're going to help raise money for the construction of a new animal shelter."

Murmurs of anticipation swept the crowd of more or less a hundred class representatives. Unlike us, most of them probably did volunteer for this activity so their excitement was reasonable. I, on the other hand, just wanted to get this over with.

"So how are we going to do this?" the teacher continued. "You're going to be pet sitting."

Before I could think of a question, the teacher went on.

"The school had been planning for this for quite a while now. We had established an online pet sitting group three weeks ago where pet owners could request for a pet sitter for the duration of the event." A piece of paper was distributed to everyone on the gym. "On your paper is the address of your assigned pet owner, the name and kind of pet, the duration of the pet sitting and a message from the pet owner about the things you need to remember about their pet.

"We've already ironed out all the details so the only thing you and your partner needs to do is to show up on the address indicated during the dates requested and be great pet sitters. You're all very responsible and we expect you to do a good job. Good morning." Then the teacher left the podium.

And I sat there, thinking. Pet sitting?

"So cute! Look-" Lu Han suddenly leaned toward me so I could see what was on our piece of paper. "A  siberian husky puppy!" he said excitedly.

Huh. Not cute at all. It looked like a small frowning bear. Subtly, I took my eyes off the paper and watched Lu Han instead. His eyes were twinkling with excitement. I sighed in defeat. Fine. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad experience.

I returned my eyes to the paper, only for it to widen at the duration of the pet sitting. One week! The owner was away on a business trip overseas and would be back on Friday evening. That was the day of the Lunar Sages' fan signing. I eyed Lu Han discreetly as he stood up and scanned the gym. Would he mind if I'd leave the dog in his care for that day?

"Should we go?" Lu Han asked, folding the paper and stuffing it into his wallet, and then to his pocket. "Everyone's moving already." Like me, Lu Han didn't bring any backpack, just his wallet.

"Huh?" I shook away my thoughts. "Okay. Where is our lucky pet owner?" Sarcasm.

"In Sirius district. My neighborhood."

My attention focused on that. So he was two stops away from my bus stop. We followed the flow of students trickling towards the school exit. When we boarded the bus and somehow, we automatically walked towards the back seat even though there were other seats available.

One passenger in front of me started dozing off and I couldn't help remembering when Lu Han and I first rode a bus together.

Lu Han chuckled beside me as if doing the same thing and I raised an eyebrow in question. He just shrugged and looked outside.

For the last few days, Lu Han didn't ask for even one melon bread. He also hasn't given me the ticket yet. Was it all a prank? It couldn't be since he always managed to mention the existence of the ticket every now and then. Whatever. I was set on ignoring him if communication was unnecessary when a Lunar Sages' song suddenly played on the bus. Automatically, I started singing along and my shoulders swayed to the music.

To my utter surprise, Lu Han did the same minus the shoulder swaying. He knew the lyrics.

"I thought you weren't a fan," I accused though he had already displayed some signs before that he was indeed a fan.

Lu Han's head jerked, as if suddenly aware of what he was doing. He stopped singing. "Uh." I could almost see the wheels turning inside his head. "I told you, didn't I? I don't hate them."

"You always insult them," I reminded him, frowning. He always did.

"No." He stretched out the word like he was stalling and still looking for the next word to say. He leaned back on his seat, rubbing his neck. "I was merely expressing my dislike for your taste in-" he cleared his throat "-boys. Not music," he clarified, his eyes glued to the headrest of the seat in front of him.

I blinked, taken aback. "My what? Taste in boys?" I repeated, incredulous.

When he only pinked and didn't respond, I bit my lip to contain a bubble of laughter. "Why would you care about that?"

He cleared his throat again to compose himself. "Merely curious. Can we move along now? So I'm a fan. End of story," he said, eager to change the topic.

Hmmm. I leaned back and studied him. I did a quick recall of my history with Lu Han and the source of my annoyance was almost always about a quip or a barb about LS' members or Lunar Sages itself, but he never had a gripe about their songs or their voices, now that I thought about it.

Trying not to smile, I asked, "So really you're a fan of Lunar Sages?" He didn't need to know that I was ecstatic at my newfound discover