“Lu Han, Lu Han, dude.” Yi Xing kept nudging Lu Han’s arm. His best friend continued to ignore him so he only nudged harder. “Hey!”

“What?! You’re gonna get champagne on me!” Lu Han sighed as he turned towards Yi Xing. He really wasn’t in the mood to kid around. His parents’ friends kept asking about and bringing up his “life in America”. Every time he opened his mouth to answer, his parents would do it instead, almost like he couldn’t speak for himself. It was getting extremely annoying, being treated like a puppet that just sits there for show.

“Hey, hey. Don’t give me attitude, boy.” Yi Xing wagged his finger at Lu Han then pointed across the ball room. “Isn’t that your girl?” Lu Han was just about to ask Yi Xing what kind of bull he was spewing but he got what he was trying to say when he looked in the direction Yi Xing pointed at.

Ke Xin. It was Ke Xin. She was just breathtaking. While all the other girls were in somewhat flashy, loud dresses, her white Greek styled dress was simple and humble. She wore low heels that seemed very comfortable. She didn’t over do her makeup either, just some gloss and eyeliner. Her hairdo was the attention getter though. Her long hair had been braided into a thick, messy, side Athenian plait. The small white lilies entwined into her braid were a sharp contrast to her black, black hair. No wonder so many of the other girls around their age were glaring enviously at her, she was the only one without shoulder length hair.

She was talking to the Yuans and another man that Lu Han didn’t recognize. Ke Xin didn’t look too happy. She had on the same expression that she wore when asking his dance group to leave.  Her smile might have seemed real to the eye but Lu Han knew that when her smile was genuine, it reached her eyes.

“Uh oh.” Yi Xing uttered when they saw that Leon, the star of the night made his way over to the group. Lu Han especially did not like the way Leon looked at Ke Xin, like she something he could eat up. He was even more displeased when he saw the three adults walk away leaving them alone, giving Leon the chance to hold Ke Xin’s hand.

They watched as Leon led her out towards his family’s garden. A girl by them snickered, “He’s probably going to knock her up.” She said to her friend who laughed along. She continued on, “I heard he got in trouble for something like that back in the States.”

Lu Han was mortified but he didn’t know what to do. It was none of his business who Ke Xin was socializing with. If he went after them, wouldn’t that count as stalking? Plus, if she did end up liking Leon, wouldn’t it be a little embarrassing?

“Uh, what the hell are you doing just standing there?” Yi Xing gave him a little shove. “Didn’t you hear that girl? That dude is trouble!”

“But —”

“Fine, I guess you really don’t like her that much,” Yi Xing put up his hands including the one holding champagne like he was surrendering, “Don’t blame me if you lose your chance with her.”

Lu Han sighed, closed his eyes, and exhale. If Yi Xing made him regret this, Lu Han was seriously going to strangle him.

“That’s my boy.” He heard Yi Xing say proudly behind him as he made his way towards the back doors.  At first, he was unsure if what he was doing would be considered okay. But when he heard her angry cries, Lu Han knew it was more than okay.

***

Ke Xin couldn’t believe her eyes. She didn’t know if they were playing tricks on her or if her anger was getting to her head, making her hallucinate. She pinched herself slightly, but it was not a dream. It was really him.

Lu Han was standing over Leon with a pissed off expression. He looked like he could beat Leon to pulp. But then when he turned to Ke Xin, his features switched over from angry to gentle. “Are you alright?” he asked.

There were two shocking things she couldn’t process. He could actually get mad even though from her past two week observations he seemed like those types who wouldn’t hurt a fly. Also, what the heck was he doing here at one of these parties? Beijing and Shanghai were about 1300 km. away from each other, about a twelve hour drive. Lu Han had to have relations with someone here. Ke Xin couldn’t find her voice and just weakly nodded.

He gave her a reassuring smile before turning back to Leon. “You’re really low; I guess money can’t buy class.”

Leon was livid, he stared angrily back at Lu Han. He didn’t look like he was going to fight back considering how heated up Lu Han was becoming. Smart choice, Ke Xin thought smugly seeing that he had been thrown on the ground.

“Who the hell are you to be talking about class?” Leon sneered, “Why did you follow us here? Are you perhaps a stalker?”

For a moment there was a pause. Ke Xin didn’t think that Lu Han was a stalker at all. She really hoped that that wasn’t going through his head right now. Actually, she was really grateful that he had come to the rescue.

Surprisingly, Lu Han just laughed. “Stalker? I believe you’ve been mistaken. Can’t a caring boyfriend look after his lady?”

What?! Both Ke Xin and Leon widened their eyes at him.

“Boyfriend?”

“Yeah,” Lu Han snickered, “Isn’t that right, sweetie?”

Ke Xin blinked a few times before realizing that he was addressing her. She looked up at him questioningly. Did he really want her to go along with it? His urging eyes told her yes.

She just nodded and smiled at him. She wasn’t the greatest actress so she didn’t say anything, fearing that her shaky response could give them away. Lu Han aimed his gentle smile back at her causing her heart to give a tiny flutter. God, she had the weirdest moments to get all smitten.

“Now if you’ll excuse us, we have to be somewhere else.” Lu Han jeered at Leon as he took Ke Xin’s hand, dragging her away from Leon.

She didn’t even spare a glance back at Leon; instead she was wide-eyed with wonder at this guy that was leading her away — and holding her hand.

***

There was just a slight breeze that night, but not strong enough to stir Lu Han’s stiff, gelled hair. It was beginning to get quite chilly but when Lu Han looked behind him, Ke Xin wasn’t shivering; she was staring at him with a demand for answers.

“Sorry about that whole boyfriend stuff. I didn’t want to seem like a creeper in front of that assho— I mean, guy.” Lu Han apologized when they finally made it to a swing at a secluded area by the side of the villa.

Ke Xin nodded slowly as she sat down on the swing. Lu Han had expected her to get angry with him but she smile at him instead.

“No, it’s okay.” She shook her head. “It’s just — .” Ke Xin hesitated, biting her lip. She shook her head again to dismiss the question she was about to ask.  “Nevermind.”

“No, no, what were you going to asks?”

“Well. . .” She dragged out, “Pardon me if I sound nosy, but I’m just curious. Why are you here? I mean you don’t seem like . . .those types.”

At first Lu Han panicked, he didn’t want her to learn about his family background. He was supposed to be in America, not Beijing. It’d be weird for him to continue to interact with her if she knew he was a (former) ‘rich boy’ too.  But he quickly played it off with humor.

“What?” He joked. “Did I seem dirt poor to you before?”

Ke Xin violently shook her hand to signal denial. “No! That’s not what I meant. It’s just . . . you know.”

Being the best liar Lu Han knew, he told her about his cousin who needed extra help around the party but it turned out that they had enough people to help so he ended up just killing time instead.

She slightly pressed her lips together in doubt, her eyes narrowing too. She was obviously skeptical at his lie but didn’t press any further. Which Lu Han was so thankful for.

“Oh.” She said suddenly as she looked up from her phone that gave a vibration. “Um, I have to go but uh, thanks again. See you next week?” She offered a tiny smile of gratitude before she got off the swing, making her way towards the front gates of the villa.

While he was a little disappointed that she was leaving, he smiled, watching her leave. But, just then an idea popped into his head. “Wait!”

Ke Xin stopped in her tracks, looking behind her. Lu Han saw that she was beginning to shiver but that didn’t stop her from stopping and listening to what he had to say.  Lu Han flashed her a tiny, sheepish smile.

“Can we go out for bubble tea next Saturday? You know, as thanks for helping you?”

Lu Han let out a breath of relief inwardly when Ke Xin’s face broke out into a grin.

“Sure thing. Though, I’m sure I could’ve kicked that guy’s myself.”

***

“Yi Xing! I freaking love you man!” Lu Han jumped on his best friend when he saw him.

“Okay, what did you do with the real Lu Han?” 

Finally! =___=  I really want to get past this whole predebut phrase but I will not rush >.< 

Yes readers, expect an update tomorrow (and/or possibly Mon. as well, seeing that'll have no school).

My Valentines completely . I mean, it was my ex's (but still awkward/good((?)) friend's) birthday. Yep, on goddamn Valentines day. I was the first to post a 'happy birthday' on his Facebook wall and I even made him a birthday/Valentines Day card in art class, which I made from scratch. (I also too a picture of and posted on his wall). Don't say that I should be doing this in person, because trust me, if I could, we probably wouldn't have broken up. He's 200 miles away, mind you. So I'm pissed off. I only get a stupid like. No 'thank you' in my inbox. Nope. Zero. Maybe I'm just overreacting but trust me, it hurts. A small thank you would have been nice. So I ended up crumbling the pretty card in a ball of anger and trashed it. I was tempted to delete the wall posts too but I couldn't do it. I guess there are still some strings are attached.

Maybe I should start blogging . . . Argh, who am I kidding, no one would want to read it anyways.  

So anyways, completely ignoring my mindless rambling, how was your Valentines Day? As ish as mine?