The night was still young and dinner had just finished. Victoria’s first cousins, her two  jie-jie and one ge-ge, dropped by bearing mooncakes. Everyone retreated to the Song’s spacious backyard to light the lanterns. 
Victoria sat on the picnic mat on the soft grass, her thoughts swirling like the lanterns floating and forming intricate patterns, in the night sky. The bright lights illuminated and cast a warm glow on the faces of the f(x) members, Henry, Leo, and her younger second cousins. Laughter and chatter filled the air as they worked together to light up the lanterns.

Xiao Li, with Nichkhun by her side, sipped on a cold pint of Qingdao beer. Victoria stole a glance at the two of them; they seemed to be engaged in a serious conversation and Nichkhun was frowning while Xiao Li seemed a bit losing her patience as she should gesture with hands, spilling some of the beer. Victoria honed into what they were saying and realized Xiao Li was drilling Nichkhun with Chinese phrases and she thought they looked cute. 
She felt relieved to see that Nichkhun seemed to be getting along with Xiao Li who was like family to her. They were two important people in her… “Wait...Why am I like this?" Victoria chastised herself internally. She was the strong and independent Qian, a woman who had faced challenges and triumphed. Yet, there she was during dinner, blushing furiously like a shy teenager with a crush, when she locked eyes with Nichkhun. The question lingered in her mind, and she couldn't shake off the uncertainty. Was she ready to take the plunge with Nichkhun? Would their relationship endure the challenges ahead? Victoria worried her bottom lip, a subconscious habit when she felt conflicted. She brought her attention to Amber, now engaged in cartwheels with Hao-Ran and the twins, brought a smile to Victoria's face.
"Qian," her eldest cousin jie-jie called out, breaking her reverie. "Here, have some mooncake." He extended a plate laden with mooncake slices.
"Oh, thanks," Victoria mumbled, taking the plate from her absentmindedly.
"Lost in thought again?" she teased, settling down next to her.
Victoria sighed, her gaze drifting back to the lantern-lit scene. "Yeah, just... wondering about things."
Her Yi-Sun jie-jie, who bore the same facial traits as the Shens (Mama Song, Hao-Ran, and Victoria herself), cast the bunny eyes that were uncannily similar to Victoria’s, in the direction of Nichkhun. “Shi ta ma [is it him]?”
“Jie?!?” Victoria exclaimed in response to the teasing, coloring up shyly.
“Na mei-fu ne [What about brother-in-law]?” Yi-Sun drew Victoria’s attention to where Leo and the rest of the gang were still happily goofing around. Victoria was silent.
Leo once insinuated to Victoria that he was feeling more than platonic friendship for her. She didn’t really have to say anything but her former leading man turned close friend seemed to just tacitly understand that she didn’t feel the same. The topic was never brought up again between them and they got along just fine as Leo had instead become like family, being close to the Songs and the Shens, considered by Mama and Papa Song like a son; albeit with the suffix “-in-law” attached. She knew that Leo knew more or less how she felt about Nichkhun and she was thankful to her buddy that he was just letting her be, never once adding to the pressure of things. YunXi was like a stalwart knight who stood by her side, providing that solid and calm presence that she needed in her life which had seemed to be tossed into a rollercoaster ride after Nichkhun entered the picture again.
As they prepared to leave for Beijing the next morning, Victoria found herself surrounded by her f(x) members and cousins, each bidding their farewells. Hao-Ran, the male version of her, hugged her tightly, promising to visit her in Beijing soon. She smiled, grateful for the family atmosphere that surrounded her. Xiao Li canceling that co-hosting gig was the best idea, she had to give it to her wise manager jie-jie.
Luna and Krystal left from Qingdao for their respective onward trips: Luna was going on a few days’ vacation with her twin sister in HongKong and Krystal was going to face her demons (a script reading session) back in Seoul. They were taken to Qingdao airport by Victoria’s black van and driver. 
Amber and Henry, on the other hand, were still up for a week of Hot Blood Dance Crew commitments and so were staying in Beijing. Thus, Xiao Li, Victoria, Nichkhun, and Leo rode with them in the white van for the drive back to Beijing. In the van plans after the holiday were brought up and Leo turned to Nichkhun to ask “Are you not going back to Korea or Thailand?”. Nichkhun was taken aback, not just because Leo asked in Chinese and he was not confident he could understand but also because this was the first time the guy directly addressed him. They were not exactly buddies granted the situation. He did understand the simple sentence and answered his best in Chinese as well "Just taking a break here in China."
Leo followed through, "You should go to Shanghai. I'll be there too. It'll be a nice change of scenery." It wasn’t lost to Nichkhun that this fellow was subtly trying to lure him away from Beijing, away from Victoria.
Victoria readily supported the suggestion, realizing it might be a good opportunity to sort out her feelings while Nichkhun was away. Nichkhun, much to Xiao Li, Amber, and Henry’s surprise, just sighed resignedly, didn’t seem to put up a fight but his downcast expression said it all. Deep inside, Nichkhun was beginning to see the wisdom of keeping the off-kiltering business of presenting as "Khuntoria" to the public separate from Khun and Qian in the real world.
It was settled that the two men were setting off for Shanghai the next day. Back in Victoria’s Beijing apartment, Xiao Li couldn't help but notice the positive change in Victoria's demeanor. "You seem happier and healthier," she remarked, as they sat together in Victoria's apartment. "Mama Song’s cooking does wonders, and being with family is always refreshing." she added and to which her charge, younger sister, smiled and nodded in agreement. Victoria really felt revived and more energetic -- less lethargic to her relief -- despite the looming awareness that she had to confront her feelings and that when Nichkhun got back from Shanghai, she should be ready. She did tell Nichkhun that when the crazy promotion tour was over, they were going to put a definitive end to this dilemma and come to a decision of how to move forward, or not, from this point on.
Nichkhun dreaded the idea of spending more time with Leo – why should he go with him when that didn’t help advance his goals with Victoria? That night, in his hotel room, he was begrudgingly tossing a pair of boxers in his small travel duffel bag when he received a call from JYP himself: Park Jin-Young. He had just come back to Korea after spending the last five months there (he was in the US when called up Nichkhun in Huahin). 
Xin Hui Ent had contacted him again to report that they received offers to buy rights to broadcast “Heart Ramble” by the who’s who of the biggest media companies all over Asia, including Korea. Khuntoria was invited to return for guestings, interviews, and photoshoots in Korea specifically. Nichkhun was taken aback; wasn’t there a backlash in Korea against Victoria partnering with him again?
“But hyung, the management team in Seoul has been scolding me. They even say I should shut my mouth up about Victoria-ssi during interviews. It’s gonna negatively impact 2PM’s concert in November. Would it be even safe for Victoria-ssi to go to Korea?”

“They’re absolute rookies! Look at how they’ve been managing without me – that concert was supposed to be 2PM’s 15th anniversary concert September 9 but they weren’t ready so they had to push it to November. But then it worked out because you had the drama promotions.” JYP boomed at which Nichkhun winced because even if the team was ready, the concert would’ve been screwed up because he knew he would have chosen to do the promotion tours to go back to Beijing to Victoria over the concert.
Park Jin-Young explained that bad publicity was still publicity and could be converted into a golden opportunity at the right hands; his hands. Nichkhun couldn’t help but just smile at the confidence of his mentor-hyung.

It would be a 4 day engagement starting with a special interview with previous WGM host Park MiSun back to back with CF filming as early as Monday the following week, followed by filming for Knowing Bros with Hodong, and finally capped with a request of stage performance - classic Tango (of all types of dances!). Instead of Leo and Nichkhun traveling to Shanghai, it was him and Victoria who set out to fly to Seoul the very next day. They will have to continue navigating this labyrinth of being a “fake-not-fake couple” as they plunge into the thick of yet another dizzying whirlwind of work commitments as well as a dive into the ugly bowels of show business that were gossip and intrigues.