Author's Note: I felt like the drama omitted a scene in the end. The one where Xiang Kong and Qiu Ying work things out. The hug on the world championships stage was great, but I still wanted to see them have a proper conversation. Since we didn't get to see it in the drama, I decided to write the scene instead.

A Phoenix’s Love

Considering the celebrations and festivities from the night before, it was a fairly early hour when Ji Xiang Kong headed to the hotel lobby with his suitcase to wait for the rest of his team members.  After all, there were still two hours until the hotel’s check-out time.  When he arrived to the lobby, he checked his phone for any messages, but there were none.  At least, none from the one person he was expecting to hear from.  Bouncing the phone in his palm before tucking it back into his back pocket, Xiang Kong wasn’t overly concerned.  He looked forward to her appearing before him at any moment.

Except when almost half an hour had passed and the only people who had joined him were his Phoenix teammates and Shu Wen Jie, he had to wonder what was going on.  Shu Wen, as the team’s manager, returned at that moment advising that she’d completed the hotel check out process for all of them, and so Xiang Kong nodded his head in the direction of the door, motioning to everyone that they could start heading towards the team’s van.

When Xia Ling walked past, however, he reached out and stopped the younger fellow by placing a palm against his chest, and asked, “What about Qiu Ying?”

“What about my Jie?” Xia Ling returned.

“Why didn’t she come down?  Isn’t she coming back with us?”

Xia Ling looked at his team captain in confusion, wondering why he was asking him these questions and certain that he should’ve already known.  “Don’t you know?  She checked out with the GDV team over an hour ago.” 

“What?”  In shock and disbelief, Xiang Kong handed his suitcase over to Xia Ling and instructed him to take it to the waiting van, and then headed towards the elevators. 

When he arrived to the floor where Qiu Ying had stayed with her GDV co-workers, he was still thinking about how he distinctly recalled dropping her off outside her room the night before and telling her that he’d see her the next morning in the lobby at 10 am.  Not willing to believe that she would’ve ignored him without saying a word, he walked up to the door of her hotel room and knocked loudly.  When there was no answer, he looked around and noticed a housekeeper working a few doors down.  After inquiring with her, however, she confirmed that the guest in Qiu Ying’s room had indeed already checked out of the hotel. 

It was a dazed Xiang Kong who, moments later, climbed into the Phoenix team van.  His Sun Ge, Sun Ze Yi, asked if everything was alright.  Not willing to admit that he’d been stood up, especially after Qiu Ying had spent the entire evening the night before helping the team celebrate their win of the world championships, he lied and told them it was nothing.  That he had just gone back upstairs because he’d remembered he’d left something behind in his room. 

Yi Xuan leaned forward in his seat, looking like he had something to say to Xiang Kong, but Sun Ge shook his head at him and motioned for him to sit back down.  Like an obedient but resigned child, Yi Xuan settled back into his seat while Pei Xi looked outside the van’s side windows totally unconcerned, as was typical for him.  Sun Ge and Shu Wen traded looks before she instructed the driver that he could take off now, and only Xia Ling sat staring straight ahead.  Xiang Kong knew he had to know where his sister was, but pride prevented him from asking just as he knew Xia Ling would never say.

When they returned to the Phoenix training base, Pei Xi headed directly for the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.  For the past several days, all he had done was complain about the quality of the hotel’s coffee and how he couldn’t wait to have a taste of his own.  He asked the others if they wanted a cup, but Yi Xuan was already collapsed on the living room sofa declaring that it was good to be home and that he never wanted to move again.  Xia Ling nudged at him to make room for him, and Sun Ge announced that he and Shu Wen were going to head over to The King to check on things there.  He also warned that he might not be back until later, so they should fend for themselves for dinner that evening, and everyone understood what that meant.

Only Xiang Kong rolled his suitcase quietly upstairs to put away his things.  He came back downstairs not even fifteen minutes later though and empty handed, but for his phone in his hand.  Pei Xi was just putting the finishing touches on his cup of coffee and again asked if he wanted one, but Xiang Kong told him he was also heading out and wouldn’t be back until later. 

Yi Xuan called out from the couch, “Kong Ge, wait up a second,” but Xiang Kong was already on a single-minded mission and didn’t even stop to acknowledge his best friend.  When the front door shuttered loudly behind him, Yi Xuan turned back to the remaining members and asked, “What’s the situation right now?  Is he going after Qiu Ying?  What’s wrong with them?  I thought they made up already.” 

Xia Ling shook his head with knowing amusement, while Pei Xi took a savoring sip of his coffee and became instantaneously lost in his own world. 

When all Yi Xuan got was silence from his friends and teammates, he stood up and grabbed the handle of his suitcase.  Dragging his suitcase in the direction of his bedroom, he told them he was going to call Lu Yi Yi to find out what was going on. 

“You’re so nosy.  Don’t get involved,” Xia Ling called after him, but Yi Xuan didn’t care.

Unfortunately for Yi Xuan, by the time he contacted Yi Yi, she was already occupied and too busy to answer his phone call. 

With her arms crossed and her body guarding the entrance like a barricade, Yi Yi demanded to know what business Xiang Kong had standing outside her apartment door.  Mustering all the patience that he had inside him, which was always a necessary action when dealing with the likes of the Great Reporter Lu, he explained that he just wanted to see Qiu Ying for a minute and asked if she was inside. 

“Can I talk to her?”

“She’s not here.” 

When she noticed how Xiang Kong was looking around her, as if trying to see past her to scan the insides of her apartment, she poked him in the chest and asked, “Wei, what do you think you’re doing?  Do you not believe me?”

Returning his gaze to her, he answered frankly, “No.”

Turning back to beyond her shoulder, he called out to the inside, “Qiu Ying!  Come out for a second.  I have something I want to say to you!”

“Qiu Ying’s really not here,” Yi Yi told him, yanking his attention back to her.  “If she was, do you think I would’ve answered the door?  As if!  I’d have yelled through it and told you to get lost.”

Poor Xiang Kong could only stand there confused and frustrated as he recalled how Yi Yi had also spent the evening before with the team, celebrating their win of the world championships.  Had something happened in the span of one night, since the time that he and Qiu Ying had reunited on the world’s biggest stage and Yi Yi had joined Yi Xuan there as well, that he didn’t know about? 

When he posed essentially the same question to Yi Yi, she told him, “Oh, you think one hug on stage is going to make up for all that you put Qiu Ying through with the Miya stuff?  She may be ready and willing to forgive you, but I’m not so generous.  I’ll reserve judgment and wait to see how you treat her from here on out.” 

Xiang Kong tried not to roll his eyes at her as he then fought to explain how she had the wrong idea about things, and that he had never forsaken Qiu Ying.  But Yi Yi’s only response was to hold up her hand and tell him to stop.  In an almost bored expression, she told him to save his explanations for Qiu Ying because she wasn’t the person who needed to hear them and then stated to shut the front door. 

Xiang Kong quickly shoved his body in between the door and its frame, preventing Yi Yi from closing it all the way.  “Please, if she’s not here, tell me.  Where is she?”

“What are you doing?  Get out!  Get out!  Stop blocking my door!”

“Wait a second.  If you don’t tell me where she is, how can I talk to her?  Lu Yi Yi, where is Qiu Ying?”

Stomping on Xiang Kong’s feet and shoving at his body to remove the wedge that it had formed, she told him, “Why don’t you try contacting her to ask?” and then she really did shut the door in his face. 

Left without a choice, Xiang Kong returned to the parking lot outside Yi Yi’s apartment building and thought about where he should go next.  He didn’t think she’d go to Hellolala Café, not with her suitcase at least, but it was the only other place he could think of in that moment, so he headed there next.

When he arrived to the café, they had only just opened their doors for the day.  A quick glance inside revealed that Qiu Ying was, as anticipated, not inside.  Xiang Kong didn’t dare go inside though.  Their favorite waiter was inside and he would surely have something to say.  Xiang Kong didn’t want to hear it.  He’d already heard an earful from Lu Yi Yi.

Standing outside Hellolala Café, Xiang Kong put his hands on his hips and wondered if Qiu Ying might have gone to her parents’.  It was a possibility, but it didn’t seem plausible given how she’d moved out all those years before.  Then an unbidden thought came to him and the face of Luo Tian flashed through his eyes.  Xiang Kong reacted viscerally, and quickly shook his head to banish the thought.  If Qiu Ying was unlikely to go to her parents’, she was even less likely to go home with Luo Tian.  That simply wasn’t possible.

But what about Dream Journey?

It wasn’t out of the realms of possibility, Xiang Kong decided.  Summer had always had a soft spot for Qiu Ying and with Pei Xi staying primarily at their training base, he likely had the room.  The only thing was, as Xiang Kong would belatedly realize, in coming to Dream Journey to look for Qiu Ying, he would also have to deal with his Summer Ge.

“What’s the matter?” Summer asked with teasing amusement.  “Did you lose your girlfriend?”

Xiang Kong was never sure how he managed it, especially given how Pei Xi’s lips were like a sealed tomb, but Summer always seemed to be on the cutting edge of gossip. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.  I just stopped by to see how thing at Dream Journey were going.”

“Ohhhhh,” Summer drawled with a knowing sound.  “On the morning after you win the world championship, the first thing you think about is Dream Journey and you wonder how we’re doing.  Why does that sound so . . . not believable?” 

Their conversation was interrupted briefly when some regulars arrived