Lu Han had a weird feeling nagging at him all day. Why? It was a few reasons actually. First off, he woke up late, at noon, which isn’t common for Sundays since the alarm clock on his phone would have gone off, signaling the beginning of his day. And that’s another thing. He couldn’t find his phone anywhere when he finally woke up. Even though he could have sworn that he had left it next to bedside before he fell asleep.   

The biggest indicator that something was fishy was Yi Xing. When Lu Han groggily got himself out of bed, Yi Xing was already fully dressed, up and early like a bird. In the morning he was too sleepy to think about it but now that he was a little more clear-headed, he wondered why Yi Xing was so persistent about going grocery shopping. When Lu Han suggested going tomorrow, Yi Xing continued to push it so that they had to go today. 

And that’s where they were at right now, in one of BeiJing’s market squares. Lu Han hated Sundays at a marketplace. They were always the most noisiest and busiest on this day. Still, knowing how much Lu Han didn’t like grocery shopping, Yi Xing was able to nag him to go out grocery shopping.

“I can’t believe you convinced to come.” Lu Han muttered, blowing his long bangs out face. Maybe it was time to get another haircut.

“Oh shush.” Yi Xing picked up a green apple, examining it before dropping it into one of the clear plastic bags. “Hey, look they’re having a sale!” Yi Xing took off running with the cart towards the other end of the market where he saw a huge red 50% off sign.

Lu Han sighed. This was going to be a long day.     

-x-

YI XING: Everything going according to plan JI’ve kept him away from clocks, calendars, and hid his phone.

KE XIN: Good, now how long do you think you can stall?

YI XING: A few hours?

KE XIN: Okay, I’m counting on you!

YI XING: Yes ma’am!

-x-

KE XIN: How are the decorations coming along?

JIA LI: We’re almost done ;)

KE XIN: I don’t like that emoticon . . . What are you guys up to?

JIA LI: Hey, hey, you’re the ones who put us in charges of decorations. You’ll see when you get here.

KE XIN: I don’t know whether to laugh or be worried but I’ll probably be over in an hour. I’m almost done with the cake.

JIA LI: How many did you burn? :D

KE XIN: Shut up -_-

-x-

Yi Mu sighed with relief when she came downstairs to dust. This time, there was no smell of something burning coming from the kitchen. She assumed that it was safe to say that Ke Xin had finally gotten the cake right this time. Out of curiosity, Yi Mu went towards the kitchen door window to peer inside.  

Chef, who had been working for the Cai family for quite some time now, was leaning over Ke Xin’s shoulder, watching her like a proud mentor who watched their protégé. Ke Xin didn’t even seem to acknowledge Chef’s presence. Her eyes wandered nowhere else besides the golden cake in front her, her right hand, which held an icing spatula, gliding along.

Yi Mu could tell the cake was coming along nicely. All Ke Xin had to do now was finish icing the cake and decorate it with some fruits and a birthday message. It still amazed Yi Mu though how Ke Xin went out of her way to bake a cake. Aside from a few other sweets, Ke Xin could not bake to save her life. When she had tried to learn how to bake a few years ago, it ended badly, with black cookies and a bunch of smoke.

This Lu Han definitely had to be special.

-x-

“Jiaaaa Yiiiii!”

“What?!”

“Pass the tape?” Jia Li tried to smile sweetly, one arm extended towards her sister, the other holding the banner up to the wall.

“Did you really have to call my name like that?” Jia Yi rolled her eyes, throwing the roll of tape to Jia Li’s open hand.

“Yeah,” Jia Li bobbed her head side to side, attaching circles of tape to the back of the banner, “’Cause I’m excited for Lu Han’s party!”

Jia Yi couldn’t help but giggle, “Why? Because we got him girly decorations?”

The twins just wanted to mess with Lu Han a bit. They were lost at what kinds of decorations they should get him but then decided to have a little fun and laughter. They had went to the huge Saurio store in the mall and bought every Hello Kitty decoration, from streamers to paper cups, or just anything pink. The twins were dying to see his reaction when he saw the décor of his Sweet 18.

“Not only that.” Jia Li coyly smiled to herself, causing Jia Yi to raise an eyebrow. “Me and Yi Xing have a plan Ke Xin doesn’t know about.”

“What?” Jia Yi popped up from where she was propped on Lu Han and Yi Xing’s apartment floor, “And you didn’t tell me?”

“Fine, I’ll tell you.” this time Jia Li rolled her eyes, pulling her sister towards her. “Come here, Ke Xin’s going be here any minute with the cake.”

-x-

Lu Han was clearly not in good mood. Yi Xing had bought so many groceries that Lu Han was sore from carrying them. And he couldn’t believe that they wasted so much time at the supermarket. He still had to study for that test tomorrow in cram school and the laundry still had to be done. And for some reason, every time Lu Han would try to check the time, Yi Xing would freak out and drag him away. Now they were finally back home and Yi Xing was still fumbling his pockets for the apartment keys.

Lu Han massaged his temples and rubbed his eyes just as he was putting the key into the door knob. The only thing on his mind right now was a hot shower and his warm bed even though it must have only been eight ‘o’clock at the latest. He yawned, flicking the light switch up.

“SURPRISE!”

Lu Han nearly jumped out of his skin, his sleepiness jolted out of him too. All he saw was the beaming faces of the twins, Yi Xing, and beloved Ke Xin.

He noticed, with a laugh, how everything was decorated with girlish decorations. There were pink streamers, a big Hello Kitty banner that read ‘Happy Birthday’, pink paper plates, cups, and party hats. There were balloons all over the place, unsurprisingly, of Hello Kitty and friends. The twins’ devious smiles gave it away that they were the ultimate masterminds behind it all.

“Here,” Jia Yi patted a gleaming new iPhone into Lu Han’s hands, “What’s the date?”

“Oh my God,” Lu Han smacked himself in the forehead when he realized the date read ‘April 20, 2008’, “How the hell do I forget my own birthday?”

“Well,” Jia Li smilingly widely at Yi Xing, “Since you seem to have “lost” your phone, me and Jia Yi thought you might want a trusty iPhone instead.” When she said lost, Jia Li made quotation marks with her fingers, glancing around Lu Han’s giggling friends.

“This is for me?” Lu Han stared wide-eyed at his new phone, running his finger across the glossy, smooth screen.

“It has all our numbers saved onto it already,” Jia Yi piped up before looking over deviously at Ke Xin, “But Ke Xin’s is in your favorites.” Lu Han’s cheeks colored while Yi Xing and Jia Li cracked up and Ke Xin pretended like she was choking Jia Yi.    

“This is my gift.” Yi Xing declared proudly as he presented Lu Han with a tiny book that read ‘Lu Han’s Coupons’.

Everyone watched as the birthday boy flipped through the small book. Lu Han chuckled and smiled on every page, seeing coupons such as ‘No Annoying Lu Han for a day’ and ‘Do all of (lazy) Lu Han’s chores for one day’.

“Use these wisely,” Yi Xing wagged his finger at his friends times like these come very rarely.”

There was another round of laughter before they all turn expectantly to Ke Xin, who smiled proudly. “We can’t see my present just yet.”

“Awww,” Lu Han pouted, trying to use his best puppy eyes on Ke Xin, knowing that she was always a er for the puppy face. But Ke Xin just continued to smile and shake her head.

Lu Han noticed how his face was beginning to hurt from smile too widely. But how could you blame him? This warm feeling in his stomach, the laughter, the happiness of being surrounded by his friends, it didn’t turn out to be a bad at all.

-x-

Ke Xin blinked groggily. She rubbed her eyes once, letting a tiny, almost soundless yawn escape . She turned her head until she realized she had fallen asleep on Lu Han’s shoulder. She blinked up at him, after he turned his head to face her with a soft smile. In his hands he was twisting and turning the Rubik’s Cube Ke Xin had gotten him for Christmas.

“Hey, sleeping beauty, you must have been tired,” Lu Han whispered, brushing a strand of hair out of Ke Xin’s face.   

But Ke Xin noticed there were the only ones in the living room. Yi Xing and the twins were nowhere to be spotted.

“Where did everyone go?” Ke Xin nudged a little closer to Lu Han like she would do to her pillow when she tried to go back to sleep.

“Long story,” Lu Han sighed as he gave the Rubik’s Cube another twist. “But, long story short, twins had to go, Yi Xing insisted on taking them home. You seemed super exhausted so we didn’t sing and light candles because we were afraid of waking you up. We just ate the cake.”

“What?” Ke Xin instantly shot up, “You didn’t get to blow out your candles and sing your birthday song because of me?!”

“Oh don’t worry about,” Lu Han shrugged, “Yi Xing always blew out my candles every year anyways.” He laughed but Ke Xin didn’t feel any less guilty.

“But that was supposed to be like, my present to you! I worked really hard on the cake.”

“I know you did,” Lu Han smiled again, “That’s why the cake tasted awesome.”

But Ke Xin had wanted to see Lu Han’s face when he saw the cake. She had wanted to sing happy birthday to him, see him blow out the candles, and watched as he ate the cake she worked diligently on. But because she just had to fall asleep on all of that, she had missed it.

Seeing that the heiress was clearly upset with herself, Lu Han tried to make it a little better. “Why don’t I just think about um, a wish and you can have to guess what it is?”

“Can I get you that wish?”

Lu Han shrugged again. “If you want.”

“Alright, think.” Ke Xin peered curiously at Lu Han while he put on his thinking face. At first, he seemed to be thinking quite hard. He then glanced over at Ke Xin and just continued to stare at the girl besides him.

For some reason, Ke Xin made weird eye contact with the birthday boy. Not awkward weird, like intense weird. She couldn’t break away from it either because something was different about his gaze, something more serious. He reached out to cup her face and they knew, without a single word where this was going. Just as slowly as he leaned in, she closed her lids. Lu Han smelt like fresh linen, of soap and laundry.

He kissed her tenderly, as if her lips were like flower petals, bruising easily if they were pressed on too hard. Ke Xin felt a static current run through her from her heart to her toes, which for some reason curled with joy.

And when they broke the kiss, the two just looked at each other, in disbelief of what just happened and at a loss for words.

But it was Lu Han who broke the silence first with a question Ke Xin had been pondering the answer to.

“Ke Xin, will you be my girlfriend?”   

(A/N): Well, I don't have much else to say other than, sorry for the super overdue update. I'm sleepy as hell right now so, I'm just going to sleep now

>___> 

PS. I might update quickly just so you guys can wallow in the suspense. Huhuhuhu. :)