"Is this going to keep happening every time she's out with Jackson?" Luda frowned. 

"What is?" Bona asked while nonchalantly nibbling on popcorn. 

"You staying inside the house in that... state. You do realize you've eaten nearly all of the popcorn by yourself, right?" 

Bona stared down to find she was holding on to the bowl of popcorn, and probably had for the whole duration of the movie. 

"If you wanted some, you'd have ripped the bowl off my hands already." 

"Yes, I would have, and I don't want any. But this isn't about the popcorn. It's about the fact that you asked me to watch a movie with you because you wanted to keep yourself distracted, you've mindlessly eaten the whole time, and if I ask you what the movie is about, you're not going to know." Luda scoffed. "And you expect me not to notice a pattern? This has been happening every single time you tell me Xiao is on a date with Jackson. You underestimate my ability to read you way too often." 

"The pattern here is that those happen to be particularly stressful days, and you're picking on a coincidence. What else would I do to unwind after tough work days when Xuan Yi isn't available?" Bona threw a popcorn at her friend's face. 

"Wow, did you just call me a second choice?" Luda gasped and threw the popcorn back at her. 

"Yes. Yes, I did." Bona stuck out her tongue. 

"I may be a second choice, but you're one too." Luda retributed Bona's gesture, then sipped on her tea, with her eyebrows raised. 

"Oh yeah? Who could you possibly have that's more interesting than me?" Bona chuckled. 

"Oh, no, I wasn't talking about me. Cheng Xiao. Isn't she out with Jackson when you're stuck here with me?" 

Bona clutched her pillow and stuck her tongue in her cheek. 

"She spends most of her day with me, after all, doesn't she? It's normal that she wants to hang out with her long-time friends when she has the chance. That doesn’t make me a second choice. I'm her manager and her friend. She has a crush on him. It's completely different." 

"Is it really?" Luda took another sip.  

Her fingernails now dug into the pillow as she exhaled through her nose. She set the bowl of popcorn on the table, threw her pillow to the sofa, and stood up. 

"Yeah, I need to go pack. Our flight to China is early in the morning and I need to be at Xiao's house in like, 2 hours."  

"Don't be so upset! I'm just worried about you and I don't want you to get hurt." 

"There's nothing to worry about. And I'm not upset." Bona spat as she dashed towards her room. 

Luda shrugged, rolled her eyes, and took the bowl of popcorn for herself. Her attention returned to the movie. 

Bona packed her suitcase by mercilessly throwing clothes around, unfolded and unarranged. The exact reason why Luda was such a precious friend was the same one for hating her at times.  

She hated her for her way of bluntly putting in words whatever she didn't want to see about herself, or even dare to think about. 

It had been over a week since the night her thoughts were taken over by the same face, the same voice, the same scent. 

During that time, the schedules hadn't required her to stay with her in her house. Coincidentally, both hers and Jacksons' schedules had been unusually free at night. She'd need to have a word with the booking team.  

Bona had already accepted that it got on her nerves. That she kept thinking of what in the world they could be doing together at that same moment, while she was home with nothing but her ominous imagination.  

Then, having Luda scold her over it, reminding her of how stupid she was, only made her feel way more ashamed of herself. 

But today, on top of all that, she worried about something else.  

For the first time since the first time, she'd be spending the night with her. Two nights in a row, actually, as they would also share a hotel room in China.  

And she absolutely, imperatively, needed to act normal, because there was no way she would let her notice it. 

"So, got everything packed?" Bona asked Cheng Xiao as she let herself inside the mansion. 

Cheng Xiao proudly pointed at the pink suitcase by the door. 

"How did you do that? Didn't you just arrive?" Bona's jaw dropped. 

"It's only for one night!" She laughed. "I'm way too used to packing efficiently, and I've already been here for an hour or so." 

"Really?" Bona frowned. "You usually stay with Jackson until later. How did it go today?" 

A knot tightened around her heart as she asked the question. It was harder and harder to make the effort to smile and act excited when she heard about her dates and how well they'd gone.  

She wanted and yet didn't want to hear the answer.  The fear that one day, she'd finally say that they'd kissed, or...  

"It was... great." Cheng Xiao would have been convincing, like the actress she was, if Bona didn't know that was not her "It went great" face at all. And that she was never that succinct and vague when it did go well. 

"Was it?" Bona furrowed her brows.  

Cheng Xiao pondered for a short while and then sat on the couch, letting a sigh escape her lips. 

"I wish." Cheng Xiao crossed her arms. "You remember how just the other day he almost held my hand before he remembered we were in public, and he just wouldn't stop smiling at me with those dreamy eyes? Well today, he was on his phone the whole time and he looked bored by everything I said. I don't understand. It's as if he changes from day to day." 

"That's odd." Bona sat beside her, realizing her own awkwardness. "Why don't you ask him about it?" 

"Well, I did. Several times. He kept saying everything was fine, as always." She huffed and shot her gaze to the ceiling. "I don't usually get this paranoid about anything. Sometimes I think I should just stop this. Deep down, I know it's never going to work unless my parents somehow find it a good idea." 

"W-why don't you then? It's been driving you mad for years." Bona actively managed to turn her satisfied expression into one of concern. 

Cheng Xiao pouted and looked at her own lap.  

"When you like someone, you keep wanting to see them and be with them even though you know you'll get hurt. It's hard to fight against that." 

Bona felt a peculiar chill run through her as she said those words. 

She found herself speechless, staring at Cheng Xiao's beautifully sorrowful face. She could swear her hand moved involuntarily towards the girl's cheek, and just as involuntarily caressed it. 

"What about you, all ready for the trip?" Cheng Xiao grabbed her hand and straightened her back with a smile. Averting the conversation, as she always did when things went too deep on her feelings. "It's been a while since we went abroad." 

After a while of chattering, then double checking on their suitcases and plan for the following two days overseas, came the time to go to sleep.  

And, oh, was Bona a girl to love sleeping. But not today. Today, she wished it wouldn't come to that time. 

How was she supposed to ask? Would it be more natural to simply go to her room, as if nothing happened, or would she think she was avoiding her?  

Should she just go sleep with her? But what if she'd only meant the invitation for that one night?  

The rampaging insecurities turned Bona to stone, as she petrified right between the two bedroom doors. Of course, looking like an absolute idiot. 

"Go change into your PJs, I'll be waiting." Cheng Xiao said as she disappeared into her own room. 

The good news was that her question was answered without her having to make a fool of herself and have an awkward conversation. The bad news was that this was the answer she feared – yet anticipated somehow. What kind of mush had her mind turned into, really? 

After she changed, it took a while until she was able to knock on the door, to be greeted by that radiant, beaming face of hers.  

As they settled into bed and the lights went out, she felt the weight on the bed shift to her side. Xiao's bangs caressed the back of her neck and her hand rested on her upper arm. 

No, not this again. Bona took deep breaths, willing her heart to calm down. She had to take control of herself and these weird reactions. If only because she absolutely must sleep before flying.  

But her body didn’t seem to cooperate, so Bona took the desperate measure of shifting away from her. 

"Something wrong?" Cheng Xiao's half sleeping voice murmured. 

"It's just, I uh, it's too hot. Summer, and all." Bona gulped. 

An indecipherable grunt came from Xiao as she turned to the other side, making Bona sigh in relief. 

It was too hot, indeed. 

The plane had just landed in Shenzhen, China, and no one was more excited about it than Cheng Xiao. She was, at last, back in her hometown. She barely even came back to China since the fusion, when her parents focused business on the Korean Market and decided to relocate to South Korea. That was when she was five, and also when she started her entertainment career. 

As her fanbase had a considerable size in China, it was a shame she didn't get to come more often. Yet thankfully, the Chinese branch of the agency arranged a fan meeting that afternoon, a show to attend on the very same night, and another show on the next day. Even though she wouldn't get to see much of the city, she was still satisfied with her trip. 

Bona found her enthusiasm endearing. As much as she wasn't cut to live in the countryside like her parents, she understood the feeling of being home when she went to visit.  

But Bona's joy was cut by the reminder that this was the first time she was to handle an airport arrival by herself. There would be security, of course, but breaking through a crowd while making sure Xiao accepted just the right amount of gifts from fans and nobody tried to touch her was a huge responsibility, that she'd only managed once before, with Victoria's help.  

"Xiao, are you sure you don't want to go through the back door?" Bona attempted one last time. 

"Yes, I'm sure. These people waited for a long time to see me, and some of them might have not even gotten tickets to the meeting. It would be disrespectful of me to do that." Cheng Xiao asserted. She was always too polite and considerate of her fans, aware of the impact doing any less than that would have on her image. 

"Okay." Bona exhaled and raised her chin, mustering up confidence. "You know the drill, but it's always good to go over it again. We just break through and keep moving forward. Pick up the few gifts you have in your way, and please, please, cooperate with me and don't go stopping to try and get them all, like you always do."  

"I know I can't get them all, but they'll be happy if I at least try, right?" Cheng Xiao pouted. "I've done this all my life and it's always been fine. Don't worry about me." 

"Worrying about you is my job." Bona laughed. "You said so yourself, remember?" 

"You always win." Cheng Xiao giggled along, playfully hitting her arm.  

"Okay, ready?" Bona asked, hesitantly wrapping one arm around Cheng Xiao. "I look silly, you're much taller than me. What am I gonna protect you from?" 

"Wear heels next time, then." Cheng Xiao teased, earning a glare. "It doesn't matter how tall you are, you make me feel safe and protected. I trust you." 

Bona darted her eyes away from Cheng Xiao's gaze, one that seemed to get all the way to the depth of her soul. She lowered her cap to hide her face, totally because she didn't like showing up on the pictures. Not at all because her face had become a red mess. 

The manager called the appointed security to make sure everything was ready for them to exit. With the confirmation, they moved towards the public exit door, immediately met by the sound of clicking cameras and several shouts from fans that held signs with her name and pictures on it. 

The girls hurried forward, with Cheng Xiao making sure to smile and wave at the fans.  

Bona's eyes searched for the pair of security guards that was supposed to accompany them on either side as soon as they appeared at the exit door, but they were nowhere to be found. Desperate, she looked for the corridor the security was to arrange so they could move freely. It didn't exist. 

In what seemed like a millisecond, the crowd started to flock towards them, pushing and shoving each other. Bona didn't have the time to think. With her free hand, she held Cheng Xiao's head and lowered it, her other arm tightly clutching her body. She positioned herself in a way that would cover her front as much as possible. Then, she charged right into the sea of euphoric people. 

But moving through them felt like trying to swim in the bottom of the ocean with all of your limbs tied up. Every time Bona thought she'd found a slight opening, the fans rushed to block that way. With every step they took, they seemed to move back. They were tossed around like mere objects, by beings that had long stopped looking like people.  

Bona noticed the numerous hands reach out and manage to touch Cheng Xiao all over her body. And suddenly, she felt the urge to rip off their respective arms with her own force. But she couldn’t. She couldn't use any kind of excessive force, as if she did, no matter how legitimately defensive it had been, it would cause a scandal to break out on the news and she would most definitely end up fired. 

The more the crowd attempted to separate her from Cheng Xiao, the more she clutched and hung on to her as if her life depended on it. Well, because it did.  

It didn’t matter how much she got hurt, as long as Xiao didn't. At a point, someone had knocked the lid of her cap downward towards her nose, making her ears ring in pain. Flying plushies and other items kept hitting her head and falling at their feet, making walking even closer to impossible. 

And still, security was nowhere to be seen. 

Shaking her cap off her head so she could finally see again, adrenaline rushed through Bona's body. She'd had it. She would have to start pushing people around if they were to come out of there alive and in good health. If she got herself fired, at least she’d done her best to deliver Xiao to safety. 

With Cheng Xiao in her arms, taking all of the strength left in her muscles, she pushed forward, alternating desperate screams at the fans to let them through, with yells for security.  

And finally, she heard the loud male screams and saw the tall figures in blue uniforms. Airport security, not the private security they'd hired. After a few seconds, they were at least able to breathe and have a mere square centimeter of space around them. Dragging Xiao with her, not even sparing a glance backwards, she sprinted outside with the help of one of the security guards, right into the car that awaited them. 

“Move, now! Fast!” She yelled at the driver, banging on the front seat. Looking back through her window, she saw the stampede had been unable to close distance on them. The security had finally gotten a hold on the crowd. 

When she looked to her other side, she saw Xiao, bent over herself, shaking and hyperventilating. 

She launched herself to her and squeezed her with both of her arms as they made their way, as if she hang onto life itself.  

Not a word was shared between them. Silence was all they needed. 

And they had it – for less than a minute, until Bona's phone started to ring. 

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A/N: I sort of wanted to update every single week, but then life gets in the way, so here is my late update. A little bit of tension! Hope you liked this chapter and look forward to the next. Thank you for supporting my story :)