The next few days continued on with the two silently acknowledging each other’s presence. Tao found himself staring at Xiaomei for long periods of time as she cooked. (She'd let him watch, if he wanted.) He was sure she'd caught him several times, but she had never protested, and therefore, he assumed she didn't care. It was during those times that he actually began to realize things about her. She was a student at a local high school finishing up her last year. Though she didn't spend much time on her looks, somehow she had always managed to wow him with her appearance, even if all she was wearing was a simple school uniform. He found her unimaginably different. From that night, he knew that she'd noticed he wasn't just a fish expert chef. She knew his previous occupation, but never had she questioned him about his past, she never brought it up honestly. In the same respect, he never asked her anything of her past. The past few days it seemed as if they had completely known each other, when in fact they knew very little. 

It dragged on like this for weeks and even Xiaomei had begun to mentally compliment him. Often, she'd be the one to shop for his clothing, because he spent so much time continuing to sell fish in order to pay back a little of the accommodations she'd given him. Unless she dragged him with her, he rarely left the apartment to go anyplace else. One would have thought he simply wasn't the 'out' type of person, but when she'd taken him along when she'd decided to spend time with her friends she noticed that every now at then, (even when he didn't speak a word to anyone but her), he'd glance at her when she laughed, and he'd even break out in a little smile. She liked that. Smiles looked good on him...he just had to smile more, and that was her mission this night.

"Zitao!" She called. (He'd told her his name days after in incident.) 

"What now?" He answered, lazily dragging himself into the room after just finishing a shower. She turned to him both hands full with two different outfits chosen, but paused upon sight of him. It wasn't the first time he'd appeared before her shirtless, and it definitely wouldn't be the last time she'd be stunned by it. Even one of her friends had said she had a crush on him. She'd admit it. He had muscles in all the right places, his body just asking to be shown off--except she didn't want it to be. "You freeze up like this all time. It's not like anyone else is around, and it's definitely not like anyone else is going to see me like this, so stop blushing and tell what you called me for." He pointed out bluntly. She coughed and patted her cheeks. She knew they were red. Slyly, she slipped the other outfit behind her. It consisted of a sleeveless top. Nope. Those arms were hers. She pushed the other outfit into his chest.

"Wear this. We're going out." Tao, who had unfortunately caught her 'sly' move shook his head with a smirk, and pulled closer, grabbed the other outfit, and pushed her away.

"No. I think I'll wear this one." He stated leaving her stunned yet again. 'That..' She cursed him.

Either way, that night they went out, Tao in his sleeveless shirt and Xiaomei with her far too spontaneous friends. They'd only hit up a couple of amusement parks of which she'd ridden nearly all of the rides with Tao, but now they'd come to an issue. She'd saved her favorite ride for last, and one of her friends, Leifang, wanted to ride with him. She couldn't but feel even a little disappointed, but she it up walking to the attraction silently as her friend chatted with him, only earning a few nods here and there.

"Well okay. So Tao you ride with Leifang, I actually have to go get something. I left my watch at our last attraction."

Tao, who had already figured out that this was her favorite ride, stared at her confused.

"We can wait." Everyone turned toward. It was the first thing he'd said all night, or maybe ever. He said too little to remember. Still, she shook her head with an apologetic smile.

"No, it's fine. We're already at the beginning, and if I went, it'd end up an odd number of pair seats. I can just watch, this is a bit too high for my liking anyway." before he could protest, she left to retrieve her watch leaving Tao stranded with the talkative group of girls.

When Tao got off the ride, he wasn’t sure if he was going to yell at Xiaomei for leaving alone or if he was going to yell at her for leaving him alone with that insane girl, but he was definitely going to yell at her. Leifang had questioned him. Constantly. He nearly killed her on the spot, but he didn’t want to disappoint Xiaomei. Needlessly, the 'dream date' was in total ruins, and after she complains, he probably wouldn't be going out with them ever again.

'Worth it.' He thought. 'So totally worth it.'  He scanned around for Xiaomei, but she was nowhere to be seen. He fisted his hands out of worry. Where in the world did this girl run off to now? He walked back to their previous attraction, asking if they'd seen her by, but alas, she hadn't even made it to that attraction. He allowed his tongue to run over his teeth as he searched some more. It was on his way back to her favorite attraction when he'd caught an alleyway, and there she was along with three drunken bastards. He glared. 'I guess I'll make this short.'

Xiaomei was using all the patience she had left in her not to kill these men on the spot. She had already given up riding an attraction. Scratch that. She had already given up riding an attraction, with Zitao, for her least favorite friend, Leifang. On top of that, she was wearing wedged heels and her feet were tired. 

"Come on, just an hour. That's all we're askin!" She glared, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"No."

"What? Why not?? I mean don't we look good enough." She sighed.

"No."

"Yes we do! Look at this, this, this, this is my favorite shirt. Come on now!" She opened to reject them once again, when a breeze swept by her face.

"She said no." Tao glared as he'd punched the guy in front of her hard enough to knock him out. The other two were glaring, and he stepped forward, really about to make this a match, when Xiaomei stood in front of him, her hands holding his wrists. Tao didn't spare her a glance, focusing his energy on the two behind her.

"Just cut it out. They're acquaintances of mine, and they're drunk." She sighed, and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. "Can't we just go home?" She murmured against his shirt, and his glare faltered as he let out a breath, nodding.

"Fine."

They left without saying goodbye, and entered their apartment without saying hello. Until Tao broke the silence that is.

"You're really an idiot you know. I told you to wait for us." He eyed the 'missing' watch on her wrist. She ignored him and sighed.

"Leifang wanted to ride with you, so I let her give it a shot. How'd it go?" He stood there, staring at her form.

"I didn't want to ride with her. I want to ride with you." She paused, not wanting to believe it.

"Say that again?" He chuckled silently, but slowly crept upon her until his lips were next to her ears.

"I wanted to ride with you." 

"Zitao--" He spun her until his face was only inches from hers, and he'd remembered to pin her hands as well. He couldn't help it, but the way she'd drawled his name like that.. He stared down at her searching for something, but unsure what. She merely peered back at him the same way he did her, until he watched as her eyes landed on his lips. This had happened the last time he'd pinned her as well, but he was sure she was unaware of it. She'd even slightly her lips that time as well. He smirked and moved closer to her.

"Xiaomei." He whispered, his own eyes lingering to her lips, wantingly. Though they lived with each other, times like this rarely presented themselves, and he'd be honest. He wished they did more. His voice had called her out of her trance, and she stared back into his eyes as he did her.

"Kiss me." 

Before he knew it, he had lifted her off her feet which had now wrapped securely around his waist as he crashed his lips against hers. He had half expected her to pull away or even freeze, but she met him with just as much force as she wrapped her arms around his neck, tightly clenching him closer to her body. On the other hand, his palms were pressed firmly against the beige painted wall to keep balance. She pulled away first gasping for air which soon hitched in as he began to nip and at her neck easily finding the one place that had her writhing in his arms. He smiled as he felt his grip around him loosen (to his disappointment of course). He was taking this away from here. He mashed her against the wall again with his body for a few moments in order to adjust himself. She, on the other hand, had nearly fallen when her feet hit the ground and her body still fresh with what he'd done to her, but she was off again before she knew it. 

He carried her to his room, pressing his lips against hers once more, this time allowing his tongue to break entrance. He took his time as did she, remembering what she tasted like--cotton candy--which he noted was because of their little trip to the amusement park. She moaned breathlessly and he pulled back, giving her and himself time to breathe again.

"Where did that come from?" She asked, staring up at the ceiling despite her chest's rapid inflating. As he grinned, she turned to him confused.

"I've just been holding it in for a while now." She snuggled up to him and his arm immediately found its way to her waist.

"You shouldn't do that anymore." She muttered, commenting on his restraint. She allowed her heart to calm down from that brief, yet exciting high.

"I won't."

"You know if you leave now.."

"I might have to." He responded solemnly. Her lips pressed to a thin line.

"I'd kill you."

"Zitao?" Xiaomei woke up alone and worried. She had a raging wall of sleep telling her that the last thing she wanted to do was get up, but she couldn't help it. She thought back to the first kiss she'd shared with Tao over a year ago. Since then, he'd always been there when she'd woken up, no matter how much earlier he'd woken. This morning was different. He was gone. She blinked several times more, and pushed herself out of bed. "Tao?"

Tao on the other hand, had woken only an hour earlier...by her cell phone. He had no idea how she could have slept through it, because he just simply couldn't.

"Hello?" He rasped.

"Huang Zi Tao. I didn't think you'd really answer. It'd be so much better for you if you hadn't." Tao sat up the voice all too familiar, but his mind telling him no. It couldn't have been. It's been two years.

"What do you want?" He hissed, turning back to check if Xiaomei still slept, and sure enough she did.

"Oh nothing much. I just wanted to inform you all that you didn't end us, just as we didn't end you. But this time, there won't be any more mistakes. What can I say? You're a detriment to business--both of you. I would get away from the missy while you still can. You can't always be where she is, and as long you're by her side, you put her in danger. It's funny. You all just going and thinking you're capable of living normally, when you and I both know you can't. I'll see you soon. Count on it." Tao stared blankly at the wall in front of him, before cursing. Of course. Nothing could have lasted this long. He glared at nothing in particular already walking to his room and packing. Before that he had made sure to leave a note.

Xiaomei yawned going toward his room. She swung open the door only to be thrown fully away. Everything was gone. The closet was emptied, and bed was perfectly fixed. Even pictures of them together no longer remained. She stared at the note posted on the wall.

'Thank you for everything... really. I'll miss you, but it's best this way, right? You'll want to kill me, but it's even better if you just stayed away. Don't look for me. Don't ask for me. Don't hope for me. I'm not there anymore. Take care.' ---Zitao.

Xiaomei glared, not even attempting to push back the tears in her eyes. She grabbed the note, allowing it to crumble in her hands as she wore on her lip.

"I'll kill you Huang Zi Tao. You've asked for it."

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