Lulu: Hey Sooyun!  Sorry for not responding over these last few years…   I know that it’s been a really long time since we last talked.  I missed you a lot and I have no legit excuse as to why I didn’t respond…  I’m sorry.  I know that EXO M goes back to Korea every now and then, so just tell me when you’re in Beijing and your availability.  I’d love to talk to you again over dinner.

            Lu Han lets out a long sigh as he stares at the message on his screen.  Chen didn’t say much to him besides commenting on the fact that Sooyun’s situation is more complicated than he had expected and that he hopes she’ll be able to smile again because her smile died with Shin years ago.  Knowing well that she deserves to smile again, Lu Han finally decides to do something about it.  He wants to meet her as Lulu, tell her the truth, and help her heal. 

            If he didn’t lie about being someone else then Shin would’ve never died because Sooyun went to the fansign for Lulu.  Not for herself or anyone else, but only for Lulu.

            “Lu Han?” calls out Xiao Xue.

            “H-Hm?” he responds, as he quickly hits the send button.  He looks up to catch the gaze of his girlfriend.

            She smiles from the kitchen.  “You seem so pre-occupied these days.” she comments, as she chops up something not visible. 

            Lu Han returns a soft smile.  “No, of course not.” he lies.

            Not only has he decided to take the responsibility of Shin’s death, he has also started to dream about the incident again.  It has been a month since those dreams came back and it has been a month since Chen had told him about his conversation with Sooyun.  Whatever the dreams mean, Lu Han is unsure.  However, they are no longer as terrifying as they were for some strange reason.  He no longer cries out loud from the dreams, instead he feels calm and retained in the dream unlike before.  Could it be because Sung Sooyun is now in his life and that the both of them are still holding onto Shin?

            “Maybe it’s because of the travelling all over China.” says Lu Han, making excuses for himself.

            “I don’t know.” says Xiao Xue, dropping her smile.

            “What do you mean by ‘I don’t know,’ Xiao Xue?” asks Lu Han.  Has things changed that much over a one month span?  Has he changed so much that even his girlfriend is able to notice that something is wrong?

            “Something is just different.” she replies.  “Like your mind is always elsewhere.”

            Lu Han absorbs what she said.  “I guess I should be getting more sleep.” he lies.  Perhaps it is true; he has been strange lately.  “You know how I can get distracted and zone out easily when I don’t get enough sleep.”

            “Yeah…” agrees Xiao Xue. 

            There is something in her voice that made Lu Han realize that she’s not taking all the things he’s feeding her.  He tosses his phone aside on the sofa as he gets up.  He walks up to Xiao Xue and pulls her into a hug.  “I’m sorry.” he says, against her long, light brown hair.

            “Did something happen in Korea?” she questions.  Her voice muffled by the nape of his neck.

            “No.” Lu Han lies.

            He knows that if he tells her the truth, then she won’t take it lightly.  What girlfriend in their right mind won’t be jealous of a drunken co-worker accidentally mistaking him as her dead fiancé?  He left after giving his girlfriend a hot, passionate kiss, feeling completely guilty about kissing Sooyun while he was in Korea.

            The dorm is quiet when he gets back.  No one is in sight, but the moment he steps into the hallway, Chen and Sooyun steps out of her room.  The pair doesn’t notice Lu Han standing there for a few seconds.

            “I’m glad that your friend wants to meet up.” smiles Chen.  He turns to look into the hallway to meet Lu Han’s gaze and then suddenly jumping.  “You scared me!!” 

            The older male laughs.

            “How’s Xiao Xue?” asks Sooyun, with her iconic small smile.

            “Good.” nods Lu Han.

            “I thought that you were going to stay over.” comments Chen, sending him a wink.

            “What?” asks Lu Han, confused.  “What do you mean?”

            “You always stay over when we don’t have a schedule the next day.” answers Chen, giving him a confused look.

            I guess this is me being weird and out of character lately, thought Lu Han.

            “O-Oh, yeah.” he says, to save his face. 

            He glances down at Sooyun.  Their eyes meet and he can feel tension forming between them.  He looks elsewhere when something in her hair catches his eyes.  Lu Han reaches his hand down to dust the speck of white powder away when she flinches.  She quickly reaches out for Chen and steps slightly behind him.

            “There was something in your hair, Sooyun.”  Lu Han explains, as he forces himself to look into her eyes.  They were glassy and shiny, as if she is about to cry.  He quickly looks away to lock eyes with Chen’s.  Lu Han smiles.

            “You two seem close lately.” he comments quietly.

            Chen rolls his eyes as he lets out a sigh of frustration.  “Yah, it’s not what you think.” he says,

            Lu Han laughs as he enters his bedroom and closes the door behind him.  Lay is still up, doing something on his computer.  His eyes were fixed on the computer as he smiles.

            “I thought that you were going to stay over at Xiao Xue’s.” he comments.

            “I didn’t really feel like sleeping over.” says Lu Han, as he slips his clothes off and only leaving his boxer briefs.

            “Really?” asks Lay, surprised.  Lu Han turns to look at him and he is flashing him a look.  “That’s weird.”

            OK, I get it!  I’ve been weird lately!  Geesh, thought Lu Han, slightly irritated.  He grabs his towel and a pair of new boxer briefs.  After he wraps the towel securely around his waist, he steps out into the hallway.  He assumes that Sooyun is already in her room when he finds themselves awkwardly in the hall with each other. 

            “U-Uh…  Hey.” Lu Han manages to mumble, awkwardly.

            “Yeah…  Hey.” responds Sooyun, just as awkwardly. 

            They quickly move in unison as they try to make way for the other to pass.  Then, Lu Han moves, but Sooyun accidentally moves again too.  He lets out a laugh, thinking of how cute the situation is. 

            “Han Ge, are you trying to terrorize Jiejie with your body?” asks Tao, startling the two.

            Lu Han shakes his head.  “It’s not what you think, Tao.” he says, as he continues to smile.  He finally just stuck to one side of the hallway and let her through.  “Sorry, Sooyun.”

            “It’s OK.” she says, as she slips by to her room.  “Good night, you guys.”

            “Yeah, right!  Han Ge, get some freaking clothes on!” demands Tao.  “G’night, Jiejie~!”

            “Night, Sooyun.” says Lu Han, as he glances over his shoulder.  He can see her giving the 2 a nod before closing the door.  “Just shut up, Tao.  It’s not like you don’t walk around the dorm half when Sooyun’s here as well.”

            Tao snorts.  “At least I don’t have a freaking towel hanging off of my waist.” he says.       Suddenly, he reaches out and pulls on the towel hard.  Lu Han didn’t care.  It isn’t like he is going commando or anything.  Tao frowns deeply when he saw the light blue boxer brief.  He rolls his eyes.

            “Of course you’ll do that!” he says, as he throws the towel into Lu Han’s face.  “Why are you even home?!”

            Lu Han laughs.  “Why are you even mad?” he responds.

            “You’re home rather early, you know?” states Tao, as he raised his eyebrow.  “It’s only 6 PM.  Shouldn’t you be coming home tomorrow at noon instead?”

            Lu Han shrugs.  “I didn’t feel like sleeping over tonight.”

            “Why?” narrows Tao’s eyes.  “Are you going through rough times in Lovey Dovey World now, Han Ge?”

            He just smiled and shakes his head.

Sooyun: I would love to meet and catch up with you too.  I’ll be available all day tomorrow, Unnie.

Lulu: OK, that’s good.  I’ll call a small and good restaurant I know to reserve a room.  I’ll give you the rest of the info ASAP.

Lulu: I made a reservation for 6 PM at a restaurant called Haidilao, in the Chaoyang district.  Just ask for my name.  It’s a hot pot restaurant, is that OK?

Sooyun:  I don’t mind as long as I’m with you.  ^^

            Lu Han can feel his face blush as he reread the message.  I wonder if she’ll mind after she finds out the truth, he thought.  He looks around nervously as he sits in Manager Hyunkyun’s car.  He wants to back out now, but he knows that he’ll be a real wuss if he makes another stupid excuse.

            It’s a good thing that EXO M is on good terms with the owner of the restaurant because he can easily slip through the back, without drawing a lot of attention.  He sent a nod and a smile in the owner’s direction.

            “She’s already here, Lu Han.” states the owner.

            “Thank you, Gege.” he says.  He told her that he’ll be late and that he already ordered some things for the hot pot.  He didn’t want to be there when she came in and he didn’t want the waiter or waitress to be coming in and out of the room, interrupting the conversation.

            Lu Han heads into the private room to see Sooyun sitting there.  She is wearing a nice floral mint colored, sleeveless wrap dress.  Her long black hair is up in a bun and she’s wearing makeup.  The guys and he have never seen her put on makeup before, so it is interesting to see her wearing it.  She looks up at him, suddenly and he can see her face scrunch up, confused. 

            “Lu Han, what are you doing here?” she asks, in her perfect Mandarin.

            He didn’t bother replying as he walks over and sit in the seat across from her, without eye contact.  His eyes finally meet hers when he sits down.  He takes in a deep breath.  “I am Lulu.” he says.

            Sooyun’s mouth hangs open as her eyes widens.  “W-What?  H-How?” she asks. 

            Lu Han lets out a sigh and quickly pulls out his phone.  He went to his Weixin, into their chatting room, and handed the phone to her.  He watches as she scrolls through the messages for a while.  She lets out a sigh after what seems like she had enough.  Sooyun hands the phone back and their fingertips lightly touched each other, sending electricity sparks throughout Lu Han’s body.  He swallows hard as he quickly retracted with his phone.

            “It seems like we’re on the same page now.” she states.  “I lied to you about who my boyfriend was and you lied to me about who you really were.” 

            Silence quickly falls over them as Lu Han hesitates.

            “I’m sorry.” he finally apologized.

            “What for?” asks Sooyun, clueless.

            “For taking Shin away from you.” he clarified.  A lump forms in his throat and it makes it hard for him to talk clearly.  “If I told you the truth from the beginning then you would had never went to that stupid fansign.  Shin would have never died and you would have never lost the person you love the most.”  Lu Han can feel his eyes burning as he tries to get rid of the lump by swallowing.  Instead he lets out a cry.  “I’m sorry, Sooyun.”

            Tears starts to blind his vision and he has never felt so weak in front of a woman before.  He has never cried in front of anyone before and he feels ashamed to be crying to Sooyun, of all people. His hand comes up to wipe the tears away when he feels a small, soft hand on his face.  He blinks his tears away to find Sooyun standing in front of him and he can feel her hand wiping away his tears for her.

            “It’s OK, Lu Han.” she comforts.  “Don’t blame yourself for something you couldn’t control.”

            Lu Han lets out another soft cry and pulls her close to him.  He buries his face in her body and mumbles, “I’m sorry for all the things I had done.  I’m so sorry.”

            “It’s OK, Lu Han.” coos Sooyun, as she pats his shoulders.  “You didn’t do anything wrong.” 

            Her voice is soothing, warm, and relaxing.  Lu Han continues holding her like that for a while until he realizes that his face is nestled warmly in between her s.  He can feel blood rush up to his cheeks, but he doesn’t want to pull away with a bright red face so he let them stay like that for a little longer.  He slowly inhales the soft scent of baby lotion on her skin and lightly thumbs the feel of her warm body against his fingertips.

            Lu Han finally pulls away with a dry, but pink face.  Sooyun leans down slightly and fixes his bangs back into place.  She is wearing a bright smile, to his surprise.  It touches her eyes as she focuses on helping him.

            “Thank you.” he says, softly.

            “For?” asks Sooyun, as their eyes meet.

            “For being a part of my life.” Lu Han breathes.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

            OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I don’t know……………………………..  This dinner thingy was almost like a date…………………………………………………………  OMG!!  I made him cheat on his girlfriend?!!!!!!  T_T  What kind of author am I?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  What am I saying?  You guys probably enjoyed this chapter like no tomorrow.  LOL

LOVE,

loveFORyunho