Maybe it was a natural instinct of a dancer. Maybe it wasn't. But Ke Xin felt it was. She was a ballerina and yet somehow, Lu Han's upbeat R&B song's fierce beat still managed to wake some sort of dance in her.

As she watched from the doorway, she wasn't focused on Lu Han's small self danced to the music. Of course she couldn't help but notice how cutely his long hair fell into his eyes, or how he seemed to ignore the world around him when he danced. But the feverish beat was so intriguing. She was always very curious about dancing to hip hop and R&B as opposed to ballet. But just imagine that, a girl like her doing anything other than ballet.

The music faded, the beat whispering and slipping away. Lu Han sighed with content and ran his hand through his hair to get it out of his face, though it was pointless since it fell right back into his face. Ke Xin smiled to herself as he picked up the big water bottle on the bench, tilting his head all the way back to gulp down all the moisture the water bottle had to offer. This was her chance.

She quickly soothed out her hair and skirt and pressed her gym bag to her side to ensure that it wouldn't make much noise. As quietly as she could, she scurried-tiptoed over. Ke Xin put her hands over Lu Han's eyes, ignoring how sweaty he was. She was no stranger to sweat anyways.

"Ke Xin, you are aware that this dance studio is covered in mirrors, right?" Lu Han laughed. He took her hands away while she huffed that he just didn't just go along with it.

"Fun killer." A side of her lip turning up in mock annoyance.

"Aw, c'mon." Lu Han smiled. It was such an unfair advantage. Who could possibly stay jokingly angry with him?  "You'll be happy when you see your Christmas present."

"Huh?" Ke Xin's eyes widen in surprise. "You got me something?"

Lu Han nodded, wiping his face with a towel and flipped his hair out of his face. He beckoned her over to his Nike satchel that lay on the bench. She had to admit was excited because she had only expected herself to be the one surprising him. She watched as he carefully presented her with a box about the width of a book. It was shining red and a pretty bow sat on top like a cherry on a sundae.

"Go ahead. Open it." He smiled as she cautiously reached out to take the box. Tugging on one of the bow's ribbon, the bow came undone and the lid was no longer confined to the box. Carefully and slowly, she lifted the lid.

Ke Xin let out a tiny gasp. It was beautiful.

A little doll, surrounded by newspaper stared up at her with gleaming dark eyes. Her glossy, long hair cascaded so effortlessly around her. She wore a simple white dress, putting more emphasis on her dark features. Ke Xin gingerly swept the doll's lips with her finger. The way the lips smiled was eerily similar to how hers did. It was like someone had made a miniature version of her. She was speechless.

Ke Xin had only gotten him a Rubik's Cube. How was that anything compared to the time and effort Lu Han could have possibly put into finding her just the right present? Her face contorted uncomfortably with guilt.

"What’s wrong?" Lu Han asked with worry when he saw that she didn't look so happy. "You don't like it?"

"No, no, I love it!" Ke Xin shook her hands with sincere denial. "It's just —"

"Ah," He smiled, "It was just sitting there in a store window so I wasn't really inconvenienced."

Taking one last look at the doll before she carefully put the lid back on, she just knew the doll wasn't just sitting there on display. Porcelain dolls were always kept behind glass cases. Who would risk a doll being smashed to pieces? Ke Xin smiled to herself. Lu Han was such a liar, a very sweet one.

"So," Ke Xin set her gym bag with the gift box tucked into it on the bench, "If you don't get inconvenienced easily, would you mind teaching me that routine you were just doing?"

When he grinned and tugged her over, Lu Han was scoring max brownie points with her. He didn't hesitate at all. Neither did he ask if a rich girl like her could be doing a dance like that. He had the real spirit of dance. To be free and expressive, no matter whom you were.

"One…two…three…" He demonstrated as he popped forward and slowly brought his arms down and just as quickly brought them back up. Ke Xin mimicked with the same timing but with a different tone.

Lu Han continued to teach her some of the moves from his dance. They were harder than she had thought. Timing was more important than ever.

"And how about the last part?" Ke Xin asked curiously.

"You do this."

Lu Han did a poor imitation of a ballet pirouette. His leg was too low and his hands more Bollywood styled than ballet. Ke Xin burst out laughing. His goofy expression was priceless.

She felt so relaxed around this guy. He wouldn't judge her for trying to be herself. He was a hiding place away from all the prying, watching eyes. Finally, in front of someone she didn't have to be perfect.

Their silly moment was short-lived though. Just as she was recovering from her fit of laughter. She heard swift, angry footsteps. Before she could even turn her head, she saw the light get smacked right out of Lu Han. But the bigger shock came from who smacked Lu Han.

Madame Lu Hee had only been angry beyond words only a few times, well, at least in front of Ke Xin. But this time, Ke Xin really didn’t know if there was a word in the human vocabulary to describe Madame Lu Hee’s anger. She could practically see the flames in her teacher’s eyes.

She turned to Lu Han to make sure he was okay but he didn’t show signs of damage. He stared at Lu Hee while holding the cheek that she fired her hand at. His glare was just as fierce. Was she missing out on something here?

“How dare you teach those…those trashy movements to one of my best students!” Lu Hee screeched. Ke Xin froze with fear. Lu Hee was probably one of the few people Ke Xin was afraid of. Her yelling was just enough to send chills up Ke Xin’s spine.

“Nice to see you too, dear sister.” Lu Han sarcastically sneered. Sister? Ke Xin’s jaw slacked a bit. She took glanced between the two of them. They had the same eyes, nose, and hair that always seemed to sneak its way into their eyes. Lu Han had a more babyish face whereas Lu Hee was more mature. How could she not see the similarity in them before? The more she looked between them, the more the resemblance was growing.

“Don’t even call me that, you traitor.” Lu Hee spat, her well-defined jaw tensing.

“Traitor?” Lu Han scoffed, his laughter humorless. “Why am I a traitor? Because I refuse to subject to a life of business and boredom?”

Ke Xin knew it. She just knew it. He (and Lu Hee) did come from some wealthy background. She didn’t know how but she just knew. How else did he seem to understand her so well?

But that wasn’t the point right now. Lu Han was angrily going to retrieve his satchel and by the looks of it, wasn’t going to stick around for a chat. Glancing over at Lu Hee, Ke Xin saw that there was still a lot of hate in her eyes. But she also saw a tinge of regret. Ke Xin realized with a jolt that she still hadn’t given him his Christmas present yet.

“Wait! Lu Han.” Ke Xin ran after him as she retrieved her gym bag, but couldn’t run that fast in fear of damaging her porcelain doll.

***

Lu Han was so heated up he wasn’t thinking straight. He didn’t even know where to go. So he went to the first place that popped into his mind. The storage room. He plopped down on the floor, his bag landing with a thud. Since he and Ke Xin cleaned it out, the room had suddenly become so much more spacious.

Her angelic voice brought him out of his angry thoughts.

“Lu Han…” Her eyelashes batted in worry as she settled down next to him. 

“Are you okay? Does it hurt?” She petted his stinging cheek, her warm hands already numbing the pain.

The way her lips quivered, her eyes rounded and filled with worry — all for him— was cute. He softened, the boiling anger simmering down. He managed a tiny smile as he petted her hand back in reassurance.

“I’m fine.”

She fell silent. Well, they both did. What else was there to say if he just got slapped? Plus, she found out that he was lying to her about not having relations to any wealth.

“I’m not mad with you, just so you know.” Ke Xin broke the silence first. “Considering how Madame Lu Hee acted back there, you must have a reasonable cause for wanting to cover up your background. “

Lu Han smiled in appreciation as Ke Xin awkwardly looked away, making adorable, clueless blowfish expressions.  

“I’ll tell you the whole story.” Lu Han said as a matter of fact. Ke Xin looked at him in astonishment that he was so open to her. “You’re not going to criticize me. I know you’re not.”

And she didn’t. Not once did she interrupt him as he told her every event down to every little detail. There was no sign of judgment anywhere in her face.

“Because you didn’t let me finish, I never got to give you your gift.” Ke Xin scolded him after he finished his story. “But, it’s not much…” She reached into her gym bag and pulled out what he thought was a box. But it turned out to be a Rubik’s Cube.

“I’m sorry, I —”

“I like it.” Lu Han smiled as he began mess it up right away. Its turns and twists were smooth and clean cut. He noticed a gold rose on the middle square on the red side of the Rubik’s Cube.

“Honestly, I’ve always wanted one of these.”

“But, you know, it’s not just any Rubik’s Cube.” Her voice grew all misty and dreamlike. “That rose seal on red promises protection and luck. Don’t give me your skeptical eyebrows , mister.”

“What if it doesn’t actually work?”

He watched as Ke Xin tapped her index finger against her chin in thought. She shrugged than suggested, “Give it back to me if it doesn’t work. But still, use it as your good luck charm.”

He chuckled. She could really brighten someone’s day.

“Oh yeah, can I borrow your phone?’ She suddenly asked.

“Sure…?” He handed her his crappy flip phone from his bag. Lu Han watched with curiosity and she pressed some buttons and then handed the phone back to him.

“Someone called you and I pressed answer.”

Lu Han’s brows knit together in confusion. What was she talking about? His phone would have rang if someone had called. Still, he took his phone and saw that he was calling someone, not the other way around.

“Hello?”

“Hi.” Ke Xin giggled and waved as she pulled out her iPhone and answer back through the phone.

Lu Han’s jaw dropped. This girl . . .

“So I know this is crazy,” She began as she continued to talk into her phone and pretend like he wasn’t there, “But here’s my number so text me sometimes?”

“Hm,” Lu Han laughed as he spoke into the phone too, “I don’t think that’s a bad idea.”

It was ridiculous, really. They were in the same room, less than ten feet apart and they were talking to each other on the phone. Like a famous poet said, love turns everything and everyone into a fool.    

Because of the little promblem AFF was having, Ch. 9 was deleted >.< 

I realized how addicted I was to AFF when I was going crazy when it was down .__. I was freaking out that my stories and all the friends I made would be gone. I ing hate you hosting company, I swear I'm going to find you guys and hunt you down. But you know, I'm calm, it's all good. I'm just grateful that my story, most of my readers, and comments are still here and that AFF is back up. Update on Wednesday guaranteed!