I’VE FINALLY ARRIVED. There are two male bodyguards, dressed like MIB agents, standing in front of the venue. They’re way too bulky and tall that I’m scared, a little bit.

“Invitation?” One asks me.

“Well, I... I was invited by phone.” I stutter because deep inside I hope you tell me to go home. I'll seriously be happy.

“What’s your name?”

“Liu Boxin.”

“Oh please, come in.”

No.

But I walk in, anyway.

——

The room is filled with classical music--not fun in my opinion. Everyone looks very classy, no black dress in sight but fancy pastel dresses. I'm lowkey shocked that the trend nowadays for night parties is as this bright for girls--because some of the guys here still wear dark suits, though.

I feel like questioning my knowledge about the ongoing trends.

But it's never good in the first place.

As I walk from the door to a table nearby, the air conditioner breezes harshly on my skin. I'm literally trembling now, not only because I'm cold, but also because I'm scared that I'm the only one looking like a .

“Heey, Xiao Xin!” An arm just lingers on my shoulder.

By the way, people stare.

I turn my head to the person.

---

JSINYSAUSBUSAHUASADFYIQZJIJ

Lin Yanjun is in a dark brown checked tuxedo, skin is looking good, face is too awesome to be true; amazing.

I especially love his messy hair—did he probably curl that?

“GOD!!!!!" He startles me. I really thought I said that. "Did someone just turn off the AC?” He makes an ok shape with fingers and places it in front of his eye like a monocle, while looking at me, head to toe. “It’s really hot around here.” He's talking about my dress.

“I’ve been cringing so much already, stop it.”

He giggles.

“Anyway, you want to see Xiao Gui?”

“N—”

No.

“Hey, Xiao Gui! Look who’s here!”

People stare.

And something more terrifying is coming to this way.

Thanks to you, Lin Yanjun.

I’m seeing another tuxedo, looking like it's walking nearer to us. My blood starts rushing from my head to my toe; they want me to run away from here. But sorry I don't know how am I supposed to grant their wish.

I look at the ground, press my eyes shut and twitch my face.

What should I do?

Should I fake pass out?

No, even I find it super disgusting.

Just, try to imagine the worst scenario.

He'll probably act like he doesn't see me but only Yanjun. That's already bad, right? But I think I can handle that.

Isn't he mad at Yanjun too? Why is he walking to us? Why is Yanjun able to act friendly to him?

Stop, myself.

I open my eyes.

——

God. I didn’t sign up for this .

I need to calm [my face] down.

I’m trying so hard to stay looking flat on the face, by thinking of one chill song of Rihanna called “Take a Bow”—not necessarily the lyrics, but only the feeling.

I’m thankful that I’m standing in front of a table--it's behind my back--so my left hand can hold on its edge. I feel like I can fall instantly any second here. Let's wish that it can hold a big fat like me.

Xiao Gui is in a silver checked tuxedo, he's putting his usual smug face--I'm talking about a cool smug not an annoying one, because I find myself the annoying one for drooling right now.

I feel like suing his face, his earrings and his hair. And myself.

Why did he style his hair like that.

He seems to have gotten a haircut, because I can see few new hairlines on the left and the right side.

How stunning I can't--

His hair's tied into a tiny high ponytail.

He’s looking at me, or Yanjun, or both, currently--because we’re standing side by side--while pressing his lips and sighing.

It's possible that he's debating about what expression to put, or say.

Wait, that's more like me.

---

Then for a brief second, my body paralyzes as if it's being defensive from a great danger. Because Lin Yanjun is about to walk away from me. I blurt, “Hey, Yanjun! Where’s the restroom?”

“Uh... I think, that way, on the corner.”

“Ok.”

I hustle off.

——

But I halt myself because something keeps distracting me. Something important. I’m attending someone else’s birthday party and already wanting to leave so badly, when I haven’t interacted with the person, at all.

Chances are; she hasn’t noticed yet that I'm here, or she doesn't even know that her brother invited me.

But who am I kidding? I should at least say hi to her. She's quite likeable, as long as I can remember. She called off her session because I was injured--or because there's blackout. Either way, she's still likeable.

I've decided that I'm going to see her before I leave. But, I realize that it’s not easy. It's likely because of the “makeover effect”. I'm talking about how dresses and makeups can make everyone look different. How it's a pro and a con at the same time.

It's really legit, though. I’m having a hard time to spot people from campus here. I’m sure there must be at least a few of them invited.

I start squinting my already-squinted eyes to my left and my right--

Ah, I spot her.

She’s just left a group of people--that’ve been censoring her out of my sight--and she’s now talking with a guy.

But by the way, I'm becoming very creepy. I start checking on the guy from his head to his toe. I'm only looking at his back but I can tell that he's hot.

He's tall, firm, buffy but not too much like the MIB guards, seemingly very dependable and comfortable to sleep on—I’m talking about his shoulders.

He looks very familiar from this side; he must be a fun guy.

There’s this saying about guys who look familiar like the people you usually meet; they’re most likely fun and lovely.

Suddenly, he turns his head and—

I gasp, very intensely. I'm panicking. My eyes must be deceiving me. It's possible because I'm not in a good condition to begin with, right?

I blink many times, very quickly, because--

I feel like I'm looking at the Wang Ziyi with a different haircut and a more firm body.

As I try to blink again and again, no matter how hard I try pressing my eyes, his face still doesn’t change into someone else’s face, at all.

My right hand starts trembling a little bit. It must be the after-effect for meeting Xiao Gui, and then this hot guy. Right.

I feel like I'm not standing on the floor anymore, but slowly floating.

Is my hand acting up? But I didn't do anything significant these days. I didn't dance, I didn't workout, I didn't even come to work because the doctor told me that.

So, why though?

I immediately open my purse to look for my hand's medicine. But it's not there. And as I’m searching through it, my eyes have started going blurry.

This is useless.

I know I didn’t bring my medicine.

I feel like falling on the floor this instant. But before I do that for real and ruin the party, I should try to hold onto something.

Just breathe then leave.

There’s nothing you can’t do as long as your head is calm.

While blinking my eyes, to clear my sight, I walk to the nearest table. I put my purse on it, then I hold on its edge with both of my hands. I tilt my head down and press my eyes.

“Are you ok?” I look up to the person, in reflex, because the voice comes from the other side of the table; my front. It sounds too familiar.

He’s real.

“Excuse me, Miss. Drink?” Says a waiter beside me and I just turn to him, also in reflex.

They both happened too fast that I haven't actually finished processing each.

I randomly take a drink from his tray, and as I do that, I remember that the Wang Ziyi or his look-alike just talked to me.

And he's still standing right in front of me.

My head suddenly acts up like someone just hit it with the previous ing punching bag from the taekwondo session.

I can barely hold myself together, let alone the glass. So it slips out of my hand, and it breaks on the floor.

This is the moment when I should leave.

“I’m sorry...” I kneel to gather the pieces of the glass, but as I reach to them with my right hand--how stupid, I know--it starts to press its own self, internally. I twitch my face to hold it in.

Wait for a little bit more, please.

A pair of huge hands hold my arms, helping me to stand up. "Thank you." I mutter, as I pat the hands with my left hand to brush them off. I blink many times to reduce the blurriness, because I want to see who helped me, but--

Stop deceiving me.

I shake my head, then I grab my purse and run to the restroom with all the balance I have left. I choose to go there instead of leaving, because it's closer than the main gate.

And as I'm out of the venue, the restroom is only few steps away from me. But since I feel like floating, due to the head and the running to escape the hot look-alike, I have to press my arm to the wall nearby to support me walking.

——

Since there are many empty toilet rooms here, I randomly enter one, close the closet lid then sit on it. I rest my head on the partition beside me.

Keep it lowkey, girl.