“I asked you— What. Are. You. Doing. In. My. Room?”

Shixun gulped. Kai didn’t look too good. She mentally cursed at herself for forgetting that even at a younger age, the two of them used to share the room. But still, she had yet to register the fact that Kai was or is – the gardener’s son. Twiddling with the bottle, Shixun cleared and held up the small container of pills.

“Um, Baek told me about the iron pills he requested for me.” She tried to not stutter when Kai narrowed his eyes.

He trudged closer and cocked an eyebrow when he read the label. Kai averted his gaze from the bottle to her chocolate orbs and folded his arms.

“Whatever for?”

The brunette’s throat went dry. Shixun her lips, highly strung that she couldn’t find another way to answer him but with a lie.

“I’m anaemic, remember?”

She visibly trembled when Kai’s eyes grew dark under the minimal moonlight that came through the window at the end of the room. Seeing that he didn’t react any further, Shixun forced a tight smile and was about to skirt off when Kai opened his mouth to respond.

“It must’ve been difficult for you then, back then when you had to run away from your captors, am I right?”

Shixun turned back and met Kai’s eyes, “What?”

“I mean, being anaemic— it must’ve been tiring.” He continued, closing the gap between them but stopping just an arm’s length away from her. “Did you faint often?”

The former worried her bottom lip, fiddling the bottle in her hands more as she tried to come up with a believable answer.

“I— no.” She whispered under her breath. “I was often fed iron-rich foods…”

“Like what?” Kai prodded further, eyes squinting as he watched Shixun’s eyes move around in no specific direction as if thinking of what to respond with.

“When did you first find out you had anaemia?” Kai raised both brows as if he was purely and wholly curious about her ‘sickness’. “It’s amazing how you still look so healthy even after the merciless tracking and torturing they must’ve put you through.”

Shixun backed up slowly, her hand trying to reach for the door’s handle when Kai mimicked her actions; moving closer.

“Funny, I never asked why even your father’s colleagues— his very own team, would want to hunt you down.”

The brunette gasped inwardly, eyes widening when it finally hit her that Kai wasn’t asking because he doesn’t know. He’s asking, because he knows something. She pulled both her brows into a frown and tried to read the latter’s face. But all that she could see was pure curiosity.

Could it be, that he knows too? Shixun questioned herself. She didn’t want to take any chances of being discovered. If he knew back then, why would he only want to bring it up now? Did Luhan tell him?

“Are you really anaemic, Shixun-ah.”

Shixun froze.

She hung her head and kept her gaze trained onto the ground as if her life depended on it. She couldn’t bring herself to face Kai, not knowing how she would react or respond.

The brunette let out a shaky breath when she suddenly felt that the air around her became warmer.

Kai was just a hair strand away from her.

“Shixun,” Kai breathed, making the girl close her eyes shut. “Shixun, look at me.”

both her hands, with one palm tightening its grip onto the pill container, Shixun hesitantly brought her head up, but she wasn’t expecting Kai to wear a wistful expression on his face. She reckoned that it would’ve been a more irate one.

Reaching out for his back pocket, Kai fished out the small pocket-documents he came across earlier and silently pressed them against Shixun’s free palm. He turned and dragged himself lazily, retiring to his bed as he clumsily threw himself onto the soft mattress. Heaving a long-kept sigh, Kai rested an arm over his eyes as he waited for Shixun to say something.

.

.

.

.

.

“Where did you, get these?”

Kai removed his arm and almost instantly stood upright. He turned his head to face the girl when her voice cracked as if she was—

—crying.

Not foreseeing the situation, Kai got off the mattress and hastily jogged up to the brunette who was already squatting on the floor, her eyes pinned on the papers Kai gave her. Kai crouched down and moved his head closer to her face. She wasn’t crying, but there were tears threatening to spill any moment.

“Hey, Shixun.” Kai called out, wanting to reach his hand out to cup her face. But h