Xiao Zhan  quickly detached himself from  the arms wrapped around his waist and backed a few steps when they were assaulted by a loud mini crowd. A crowd led by his sister who started tugging frantically at the prince's wrist:
"Yibo Ge! Yibo Ge, come quickly,  someone wants to talk with us, I mean with you and me!
Someone very important!
Look, he gave me this business card!"

"Not before your brother will answer my question!", Yibo shook off his hand from the girl's grip, while not breaking  eye contact with the boy  before him.

Xiao Zhan's eyes  were oscillating from Wang Yibo to Qing Mei and back, the words 'FAMILY COMES FIRST!', flashing like a discotheque stroboscope inside his brain, so he whispered in a cracked voice:
"Lao Wang, I don't understand what you were talking about, I only met you once, two days ago in the park, I'm sorry!"

"What?
You two have met before, in the park?
What's happening, and what did you ask him and why are you waiting for his answer?!!!", the girl screamed hysterically, shaking violently Yibo's arm.

"I just asked him if the  red notebook with song sheets that I found in the park is his or not.", the prince replied, deciding that it wouldn't be safe for others to know about what only him and the ball of sunshine  were knowing.

"Oh, it seems like some sort of a god of fate wants  you to find all of my lost things!
You found my lost red purse, now you found my dear notebook, thank you my wonderful GeGe!", Xiao Qing meowed, snaking her arms around the prince's neck and kissing him fully on his lips.

Yibo pushed her pretty hard, gritting his teeth in annoyance:
"Don't you dare to kiss me again, never, never again, understood?!
And how come the notebook is yours? As far as I know your brother is the song composer, not you!
Besides, why would his name, Xiao Zhan, be written on the cover?"
 

Qing frowned, but she recovered quickly:
"The notebook was a present from my brother and it's his name written on it because he was too stingy to buy a new one for me, so he gave me one from his old notebooks which he didn't  get to use , because... Because he never went to college, you know.
As for him being a composer, please, it's the biggest joke I have ever heard!
You already heard me singing, I have a lot of talents besides my nightingale voice, I can act, I can write poems and songs, I can kiss...and I can do lots of things which I could show you later...
I already told you that he is an idiot and a big liar!"

He intended to ask the girl about the school dancing ball, but his attention was captured by the beautiful face that was sparkling not from his usual bright smile, but from the tears flowing down his soft cheeks.

"She's right...", Xiao Zhan whispered, struggling to smile, while pushing away the hand stretched out to wipe his tears.

 

   

 

Wang Yibo was so tormented by that pain written in those pretty eyes, that he didn't react fast enough to stop the boy from running away and disappearing in the darkness of the club.
He had no power left to fight against Xiao Qing, who was hastily dragging  him who knows where.

When they stopped in front of a door, Qing explained to him that it was  the owner of the club's office , and he was inside with his cousin for a glass of wine.

"And what are we even doing here?",  Yibo asked, extremely irritated with the whole situation.

"You'll see, this is big for both of us, I promise!", Qing smiled and knocked shyly on the office door.

"Come in!",  a strong voice replied, and the pair entered the room holding hands, thanks to Qing's strong grip onto Yibo's fingers.

 "Take a seat kids, let me introduce ourselves to you, I am Wang Yan, the owner of this club, and this my cousin. He is  Lee Sang-gyu,  the CEO of the most famous entertaining Company from Beijing, named "Yuehua Entertainment.",  the imposing man spoke, showing them the couch from between the armchairs taken by him and his cousin.

"I'm honored to meet you, Mister Wang Yan, and also Mister Lee Sang-gyu!", Wang Yibo bowed politely, then tried to subtly move away from the clingy girl sitting next to him and almost climbing on top of him.

"It happened to visit my cousin for a family matter, and I'm glad that I did it, as I had the chance to get enchanted by two amazing voices...Did you ever think about making a career based on your singing skills? And I'm asking  both of you!", the man introduced to them as the CEO of Yuehua, asked them.

Yibo's and  Qing's jaws dropped to the ground, them not daring not even to breathe anymore much less to utter a reply.

"Just relax, don't get so shocked, ha, ha!!
Let's start with telling me your name and your girlfriend's name, and a few things about your future plans.
After that I want to hear closely your voices, thus I will ask you to sing one more time.
A  solo song for each of you,  to observe more attentively your personal vocal sound, then we have time ahead to decide if you would be promoted separately or as a couple."
 

After one more minute of frozen shock, Yibo finally  put himself together and stood up,  buttoned up his coat and bowed  before the CEO:

"I apologize for not introducing myself from the beginning. I am Wang Yibo, a student in the senior year at Hanlim High School. I am intending to enroll at  Beijing Modern Music Training Institute. And yes, becoming a singer has been my dream ever since, also a dancer, as well.
And to answer all of your questions, she is not my girlfriend, I am only a guest to her birthday party, actually an uninvited guest.", Yibo closed his presentation earning a dark glare from the girl who began her presentation right away.

 

"I am Xiao Qing, a legendary mythological figure's name, as you know.
And please don't listen to him, my boyfriend is a shy prince, but let me talk about myself now. Actually I was thinking about becoming a famous actress and majoring in acting at Central Academy of Drama, but I wouldn't mind being promoted as a singer, too.
I'd prefer it as a couple, something like the prince with his Cinderella for example. He is called in our school The Prince, while my real life is the copy of Cinderella's character's life,  because my family..."

"Actually, I like your idea, really catchy, but we will see about these details only after taking a decision and only after a deep analysis of  your voices, for the beginning here in this club, then if it will be the case, I will  fix for you an appointment at our studios.                                                                    

 

 

 

                                                                                     

 

 

 

 

Mister Wang Yan, actually Zhuocheng's father, guided all of them to the karaoke stage, offering his cousin a table right in front of the small stage, before climbing himself on the stage and taking the microphone:
"Dear guests, I want to announce to you that your celebrated friend Xiao Qing, along with her boyfriend,  need your support.
They will be auditioned  by an official of a big entertainment company, so let's support them by giving them some applause, then listening to their singing in perfect silence, thank you very much!
They count on you!"

 

Somewhere, in the darkness of the room, a boy was propping his back against the wall, listening to the heavenly voice flowing through the speakers, with his hands pressed onto his heart and his eyes looking anywhere other than toward the stage.
He was trying to avoid meeting the piercing stare of the singer from the stage, who was pointing in the audience's direction at every 'I love you' song line.
Oddly enough, but Xiao Zhan was feeling like Yibo's eyes were searching for him in the crowd.
Probably for expressing his disgust of kissing a liar, and on top of that, a male liar!​

 

  

  

Zhan would never deny Qing Mei's false stories, he would even help her to win Wang Yibo's admiration and love, even though he would have to stab his own heart for that.
Because she is his precious Mèimei, his dear orphan Mèimei, whom their father loved her so much.
It's his duty for him to replace their father in Qing's life, to protect and love her, same as her dad would have done if he would have been alive.

A tender touch on his still humid cheek snapped him out from his thoughts:
"I saw what happened outside, why are you doing this to yourself Zhan Di?", Zhuocheng asked  in a mild voice.
"Let's get out of here, I know a good coffee house in the neighborhood.", the man continued, wrapping protectively an arm around the disturbed boy's shoulders and  leading him out of the club.

 

 

                                                                                              

 

 

 

Meanwhile the improvised audition got to an end and the two singers were invited at the CEO's table:
"Your voices are indeed very good, and very much alike. But I don't think that we should bet on the "couple" image  for the promotion, even if you might sing in a duet at some point.
Both of you might win fans who wouldn't want you other than single and available.
You should talk with your families, and think very seriously about it. And tomorrow I will wait for you with your decisions if you are ready to enroll as trainees in our company.
I must warn you, it's not an easy task, it will not be an easy journey. There will be lots of sacrifices, a very hard working and many painful days, but there will be big satisfactions too, in the end.

"What about the money costs?
I have a step family, and I don't think that they would agree to pay for my training!", Xiao Qing snapped in a dramatic, victimized voice.

"Why are you saying this?
I have a stepmother, too, and she is ready to do everything for me!", Yibo snapped  back,  annoyed with what  the girl was implying.

"You don't need to be worried about nothing like this, because the company will support  the whole expenditure, you will read the contracts tomorrow if you'll take the decision to go ahead together with us!", the CEO replied, greeting goodbye after informing them the meeting hour from tomorrow.


 

Wang Yibo flinched unpleasantly at the girl who was pulling again his hand and was aggressively uncovering his wrist from the shirt.

"This is my address, I'll be waiting for you to pick me up an hour before the meeting!",  Qing meowed, scribbling the letters onto his palm with a pen taken out from her purse, as she had watched some scenes of romantic movies.

Yibo's first impulse was to withdraw his hand and wipe away the dirty spot, but he got a second thought when he remembered that someone was living at the same address:

"Okay, I will certainly be there, now you'll need to excuse me, I have something urgent to do, have a fun birthday party ahead, goodbye!"

Sadly, Yibo didn't find that certain person that he was looking for, even though he investigated every corner of the club and asked almost every single person around.

 

 

 

 

It was a long night for all three of them.
Xiao Zhan was trying to convince his heart that his brain took the right decision.
Xiao Qing had no time to sleep, busy with dreaming at the amount of fainted fans sprawled on the ground at her sight.
As for Wang Yibo, he was trying to answer  dozens of questions related to his own feelings towards a MALE(!?), to the new path his life was about to take, and especially to the reasons  behind  Xiao Zhan's lies.
He was sure that the princess from the school costume party was not Xiao Qing or any other girl, the owner of those lips couldn't be other than the ball of sunshine!
But why is he denying, could it be only some kind of a prank, dare or bet, or something like that?

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                 

 

 

 

Yibo recognized the skinny little boy from the park when he opened the front door for him:
"Hi, I am Wang Yibo, and I'm here for your sister, is she ready?"

A-Yuan glared at the person guilty of causing his beloved GeGe to cry last night.
He heard all those muffled sobs, from his bedroom, and being a smart little guy, he guessed what was the reason. And now seeing that " scary-eyes" is the date about Qing having been talking all day long, he concluded that his guess was correct: his Zhan Ge cried because his crush is dating their sister.

"Hello, I know very well who you are, how could I ever forget your spooky eyes?
She's not ready yet, come in, and take a seat, you will have to wait for a while, she is never ready tho.", the kid replied, turning his back at the puzzled boy after leading him into the living room.

Why did the kid act so offensively, was it because he fell down in the park when tripping on Yibo's legs?

Wang Yibo was waiting for twenty minutes already, maybe the kid didn't even announce to his sister about the guest waiting downstairs, so he decided to  silently climb up the stairs.

No voices were heard at the first floor, so he climbed further .

When he reached the last floor, he tiptoed on the dark hall looking like a place in renovation.

 

 

Before deciding to go back to the first floor, his attention was caught by something looking like music equipment placed near a door with soundproofed facet.