It has been a long time since Luhan has lost faith in fated encounter, serendipity, or luck. Instead, he put his trust in well-orchestrated strings of actions and detailed plans. Now, every single step of him is something that he has predicted and strictly calculated so that everything will fall to his advantage. Like every other things in his life, Luhan manages to find Jinri amongst the millions other girls in Beijing through the same method. A good mix of well-crafted preparation, systematic hacking through various network, and the right amount of cash were all that he needed to make her be in his vicinity again—even without her consent and realization.

Therefore, he realizes that Jinri’s visit to the bar is nothing accidental; it is clearly something that Yixing has planned for him. After all, Yixing is the only one in the office—and in his clique—who knows about Luhan’s relationship with Jinri and has an idea of how deep Luhan's affection toward the younger girl runs. Luhan knows that he isn't supposed to feel jealous neither betrayed since that is probably what Yixing is aiming for, but it still burns his insides like a heated charcoal. Alcohol, to his dismay, doesn’t blunt the feeling but sharpens it instead.

Luhan raises his hand weakly as a sign to the bartender for filling his glass with liquor again. Luhan loathes the fact that he still has such a strong feelings--or rather, something dangerously borderlining obsession--toward the younger girl after two weeks of break up. To be honest, falling for Jinri scares him because it has thrown him out of balance; making him strays from the route that he has paved for himself. Luhan had always been comfortable with loving his past boyfriends--yes, Luhan was interested with the same gender as well and Jinri knows that--but when he falls for Jinri, he craves for more than all that he has ever had in the past. His desires of her worry him as he becomes more and more like what his--God forbid--despised parents were: wanting to settle down and have a family with her, with children from his own flesh and blood. He longs for her existence by his side and acceptance of his whole being: his every trait and his deeply buried past.

However, Luhan realizes that it was the goody-two-shoes, blonde teacher Luhan that Jinri fell in love with. Yes, it is truly him—Luhan is indeed a caring and gentle sweetheart—but there are so much more to him than what it appears on the surface. Their three months relationship is already strong enough evidence that Jinri cannot accept this side of Luhan--the vulnerable, red headed Luhan who smokes, drinks, and is obsessed with her. Therefore, he chooses to retreat while he still can, before he gets tangled even deeper. But damn, even quitting now is still really painful.

"Lu, you're gonna burn them with your eyees," Zitao slurs in a breathy whisper to Luhan's right ear, his lips ghosting on Luhan's pale, feminine side profile. A drunken Zitao has always been rather , and harassing Luhan has often been his favorite pastime. Luhan, in the other hand, is not in the mood to be taken advantage of so he shoves the older male's face away from his own and shakes his head. He puts down his glass and gets off from the chair.

Luhan can hold his liquor really well, but his staggered steps toward the table occupied by his best friend and his ex-girl friend show that he has had more alcohol than what he is capable of. Although he actually only intends to find a support to his swaying balance, he accidentally he slams his hand loudly on the table when he reaches his destination, startling the occupants of the table. Yixing and Jinri look up at him with different expressions but both are difficult to be encrypted by his alcohol-clouded mind.

“Lu, hey buddy!" Yixing greets Luhan excitedly, but the said male aren't as enthusiastic. "Jinri told me that she wants to know how you’re doing so, hey, why doesn’t she check it out herself?” Yixing blabbers as he wobbles with his way out of the table, giving a space for Luhan to sit. “I’ll leave you two alone, ‘kay?” he adds while grinning foolishly and sloppily tapping Luhan’s shoulder before he sashays back to the stools where all of their friends are. The many glasses on the table indicated that Yixing has drunken more and given his low alcohol tolerance, Luhan is pretty sure that Yixing will pass out soon.

Luhan nods curtly and takes his seat in front of Jinri while smiling gently at her, who looks nervous to see him. It doesn’t take a genius to know that Jinri has been avoiding Luhan ever since the break up. Naturally, their encounters are not that frequent since Jinri is a mere intern while Luhan belongs to the higher up, but since Luhan has a hobby to walk into Yixing’s cubicle and drag Yixing to his own office for hours of chats, their meetings has become more often. However, Jinri has purposely disappeared from the cubicle whenever Luhan shows up for the last two weeks.

“You can see clearly that I’m doing okay, right?” Luhan starts with the smile never faltering from his lips. Jinri looks at him judgingly for a while before she nods weakly.

“I’m glad.”

She forces a smile on her plump lips while Luhan’s eyes crinkles even more. When no one says anything, she adds, “I was worried, because when I left, you…”

“I don’t need your pity, Jinri. I’m okay,” he cuts her off icily.

“No, I didn’t mean it that way. I was just… yeah. It’s good that you are okay.”

Her eyes stare at his, but Luhan’s are only in the shape of really thin crescents, making it difficult for her to make a contact.

“What about you, Jinri?”

Jinri’s eyes are widened for a split second before she answers him.

“I have been better,” she pauses for a while as she diverts her gaze into her finger nails, resting on her lap, “but I’m fine.”

“Then why are you avoiding me?”

Jinri visibly stiffens at the question; her eyes never leave her nails as if they are the most interesting thing in the world.

“I’m not you, who can walk away from a relationship like there was nothing. Even if it was me who broke it up, I still need time to adjust before I can see you again because the feelings are not that easy to dispose, Luhan.”

A scoff escapes from Luhan before he can stop it. His drunken mind overrules the more composed part of his head as words blurts out of his mouth.

“Feelings? Really, Jinri? You have feelings for me?”

Jinri’s eyes dilate into their maximal width and her jaws are slightly slacked at his harsh remarks. A tint of red decorates her pale cheeks when she raises her head.

“Of course! How could you doubt that?!”

“Well, maybe because I can’t feel it!”

“I loved you!”

“You loved the Luhan in Seoul! You don’t love this Luhan!”

Jinri freezes in her place, seeing Luhan pointing to his chest and referring to himself as this Luhan, admitting the difference between him and the man whom she saw in Seoul. He is as furious—if not more—as she is; his cheeks flush from the emotions. Jinri bits her lower lips; words are dying to run from her lips.

“Well, let me tell you something I know about this Luhan,” Jinri says with eyes focused on Luhan’s; her words are trembling with the overflowing emotions. “This Luhan doesn’t let me knows him better. This Luhan, he doesn’t give me the chance to love him. This Luhan, I wonder if he has ever loved me,” Jinri shakes her head while pausing before she continues, “No. I actually wonder if Luhan has ever loved me at all.” She ends with a poignant half smile finding its way to Jinri’s quivering lips.

It is Luhan’s turn to be stilled on his seat; disbelief graces his handsome face. Before his more rational mind can control it, words have escaped him.

 “I have never stopped loving you.”

Luhan, who has just realized what he has said, automatically covers his mouth with the back of his right arms in embarrassment; cheeks flushing into a couple shades redder than before as he turns his head away.

 “You are drunk.”

Luhan hears Jinri mumbles and his heart plummets with her remarks. Jinri doesn’t believe him. He can’t really blame her since he is indeed a little tipsy from the alcohol, but what he says is still the truth. He turns his attention back to her and sees her looking down to her lap again. He clenches his fist on the table, it’s now or never.

“Even if I’m not, it will still be the same, Jinri.”

Jinri slowly raises her head; the earnestness shown in his eyes startles her. But Jinri is never one to be easily persuaded, especially when it comes to the matter of the heart. She hesitates for a while before she opens .

“Then I’ll be waiting; for when you’re sober.”