Luhan chewed on his lower lip and double checked the address in Zitao’s message. It was correct, which only served to increase the feeling of uneasiness in his chest. There were a variety of places his sponsor could meet him but no, she wanted to meet at a hotel. It ought to be a warning sign but Luhan only found it a relief that at least they were meeting in the bar of the hotel, not a room.

He shoved his suspicions about it to the back of his mind. He hadn’t been a celebrity for these many years to be afraid of a little thing like this. If he could get over Abel’s betrayal, nothing was going to be too difficult for him.

Tossing his Porsche keys to the valet, Luhan strolled into the bar and glanced around. He didn’t know who the sponsor was, exactly, and neither did Zitao. The only thing Zitao said was to wait for her to approach him, so Luhan headed for the bar counter and got himself a glass of red wine while he waited. Wine wasn’t his favourite beverage, to be honest, but he wanted to make a good impression and beer definitely wasn’t going to cut it.

He had barely taken a sip of wine when a small, manicured hand places itself on his wrist. The smile that formed on his lips vanished when Luhan glanced right into the face of Yixing’s half-sister. She couldn’t be—?

“Remember me? Bi Ren?” she prompted with a sultry smile. “I am your sponsor.”

Was she ing kidding him!? Yixing’s half-sister was his sponsor? Luhan furrowed his eyebrows guardedly, unsure how he ought to feel about this turn of events. On one hand, he had personally seen how cruel she treated Yixing, but on the other hand… he really needed to boost his career back up. He didn’t want to turn down an opportunity so quickly, particularly since she owns part of the largest music distribution company in China.

“It’s good to see you,” the idol lied, motioning for the bartender to bring Bi Ren a glass of wine as well, and gave her the polite smile he normally flashed during fanmeets and interviews. “So Bi Ren… what do you want from me?”

Bi Ren’s lips curled into a broad smile. Luhan found himself wondering what her age was. She couldn’t be younger than Yixing, since Mr Zhang had her before he started an affair, but Bi Ren didn’t look like she was any much older than them. Did she even work? He had to go home and do more research on that family.

“Here’s how it works,” Bi Ren drawled silkily. “I’ll find you the best producers, give you the best coverage on TV and radio programmes and get you the best sponsorships.” She smirked. “Fancy doing a BMW campaign?”

Luhan’s eyes rounded. A car ad? … car ads were notoriously difficult to get. If he could score one, his fame would totally skyrocket.

“And in return,” she continued, “I want you to date me.”

Oh. That didn’t seem too difficult. But before he could readily agree to it, an image of Yixing popped up in his mind. A smidgen of guilt rose in him but Luhan squelched it down quickly. Yixing would understand, wouldn’t he? This was just for work. He didn’t see himself falling in love with the sort of woman Bi Ren was.

“Fine,” Luhan told her, the same polite smile still remaining on his lips. “But we can’t do it in public. My image could be ruined.”

Bi Ren hummed under her breath and, much to his shock, boldly slipped her hand into the front pocket of his pants. The sudden audacious move made him jump and successfully spilled the red wine from his glass down onto his clean clothes. , her touch was too close for comfort! Luhan nearly shouted at her until she waved the mobile phone she stole from his pocket with an expression of complete innocence.

“I was just going to put my number down,” she said with wide eyes, quickly grabbing the serviettes on the bar counter to help him clean up. Again, her touch went a little too close for his liking, and this time Luhan grabbed her hand before it could travel anywhere else. It was a good thing her career wasn’t in acting because he sure wasn’t fooled. Forcing a smile on his face, Luhan took the remaining serviettes to wipe his soiled pants.

“When are we going on our first date?” he said instead, making sure to add a charming smile at the end of his question. The smile, thankfully, had some effect on Bi Ren, who blinked a little in surprise before returning the smile.

“How about tomorrow?” she suggested. “Then maybe after that we can meet Vincent Fang?”

Vincent Fang! Good thing Luhan wasn’t drinking his wine now because he would have choked. He never would have dreamt he’d meet the great songwriter so easily. He tried to keep his emotions in check when he nodded agreeably, settling on a time to meet tomorrow morning before they left the hotel.

He was in an incredibly good mood when he reached home. Sure, it that his sponsor happened to be Yixing’s half-sister, but things would surely work out. Yixing would understand. His career really needed this, otherwise he might as well retire right now and just be a bookseller.

When he stepped inside the house, he was surprised to find his manager walking down the stairs from Sehun’s room. He narrowed his eyes and rudely jabbed Zitao in the chest when the other gave him a sheepish smile.

“You. Why are you in my home?” he demanded to know, not noticing that this was actually the first time he called Qiuyue’s house his home. “Why weren’t you at the hotel? You left me alone with her! Do you know the sponsor is Yixing’s half-sister?”

Zitao’s eyebrows shot so high up they looked like they were going to disappear into his hairline. “Zhang Bi Ren is Yixing’s half-sister?” he repeated, shocked. “Then did you… did you…?”

Luhan gave him a brief nod. “Yes. It was too good a chance to miss.” His voice dropped lower, but the hint of excitement was apparent in it. “She promised me a car ad! And I’m meeting Vincent Fang tomorrow.” Zitao’s jaw dropped, his face the exact picture of how Luhan was feeling but before Zitao could recollect himself, a voice at the top of the stairs stopped him.

“Tao Tao, you’re still here?” Sehun asked sleepily. This time it was Luhan whose eyebrows were raised. Tao Tao?

“You have some explaining to do,” Luhan muttered meaningfully and shoved his gaping manager out the door. To Sehun, he flashed him a bright smile and waved him off. “Go to bed, Sehun! Tao will call you tomorrow.”

Hmm. Zitao abandoned him with the sponsor to stay with Sehun. Something was up with them. Luhan found it amusing. His annoying, snarky manager with the desperate-for-love baby brother? It was kind of cute, he thought absently, as he went to the kitchen for some water to wash down the wine and nearly fell backwards into the refrigerator when he saw an immobile shadow by the sink in the dark.

“Qiuyue?” he called cautiously and flicked on the lights. Indeed, it was his mother – it suddenly occurred to him how much of the conversation with Zitao did she overhear.

It turned out to be plenty.

“Be careful, Luhan,” Qiuyue told him softly. “Sponsors are difficult to manage.”

Luhan’s anger started to boil at her words. Couldn’t she be happy for him? He was finally getting out of his slump and instead of saying some encouraging words, she only told him to be careful? She probably wanted him to stay in the Book Attic forever. Hell, no. No way was Luhan going to coop himself up in that dingy bookstore.

“What do you know,” he snapped. “I need this. You haven’t been in the industry for years – how the hell would you know how things work? You ought to mind your own business.” Luhan grabbed the entire water flask from the kitchen counter and stormed off, fed up for letting Qiuyue dampen his mood. He was even more irritated to find that her opinion actually mattered to him. Luhan sat at the edge of the bed and took a long swig of water to calm down. All his life he was fine making his own decisions. Why should he bother asking for her views now?

Leaving the water flask on the floor, Luhan flopped back onto his bed and took out his mobile phone. Maybe he should let Yixing know about Bi Ren. Besides, it was time for his daily lullaby from the latter, who was finally getting used to singing to an audience.  

The phone didn’t ring very long before Yixing picked up. A smile automatically formed on Luhan’s lips at Yixing’s breathless greeting, as if he had ran to get the phone when he heard it ringing.

“Are you still angry at me?” Yixing asked. It took a while for Luhan to realise Yixing was referring to his lunch date with his hooker of a colleague. Luhan hummed noncommittally under his breath.

“Maybe,” he said, but Luhan couldn’t help but smile to himself. Let Yixing panic for a while. “Aren’t you going to sing for me?”

The short 5 second silence didn’t worry Luhan. When Yixing’s voice returned to sing JJ Lin’s latest song, Luhan’s smile grew bigger. He loved Yixing’s singing, even if it didn’t make sense how his smooth voice always managed to send his heart tripping. His eyes drifted close and he would have fallen asleep like he normally did if he didn’t hear a knock on his door.

“Luhan ge,” Sehun called softly. He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt nervously. “Can I ask you a question?”

He thought Sehun had gone to bed. Covering the mouthpiece of his phone, he nodded and gestured for Sehun to go ahead.

“Are you and Yixing ge together?”

What? Did Yixing tell him that? If anyone found out then the consequences would be disastrous for him. He shook his head warily, subconsciously noticing that Yixing had already hung up thinking he had fallen asleep. Luhan removed his phone from his ear.

“We’re not,” he told Sehun with a forced smile. “I’m just getting used to him being my brother, that’s all.”

***

“Here, Yixing, have more bacon,” Bi Ren cooed the next morning, grabbing several strips of bacon from the serving plate on the table and placing them on Yixing’s plate. “You’re so skinny! You should eat more.”

Yixing’s eyeballs felt like they were about to pop out of their sockets at Bi Ren’s totally unexpected kindness. He wasn’t the only one confused by it; even Zhi Ren was flabbergasted his sister was going out of her way to be nice to him.

The only person that was genuinely happy was Uncle Zhang. The older man couldn’t stop smiling at his daughter’s sudden acceptance of Yixing. She was 3 years older than Yixing, yet her maturity was often a subject of his concern. The smile on his face couldn’t be any wider; it was about time they stop tiptoeing around each other and start recognising each other as family.

“T-thank you,” Yixing stammered, giving her a hesitant smile that didn’t quite hide his bewilderment. He glanced at Zhi Ren, but nope, the other man only gave him a glare that reaffirmed his animosity towards him. This was… odd.

“I’ll be going to the office now,” Uncle Zhang announced and stood up, leaving half of his breakfast untouched. He smiled gently at Yixing. “Do you want a ride?”

Yixing didn’t even have to think twice before shaking his head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he said mildly. “People would be suspicious if they see us arriving in the same car.” Since they weren’t planning to tell the world Yixing’s identity yet, it was best to steer clear of each other in public. “I’ll take the bus.”

“The bus stop’s a far walk from here,” Bi Ren interjected with a little pout and brightened. “Why not you hitch a ride with me and my boyfriend? I have a meeting outside the company but it’s on the way.”

All three men looked surprised at the mention of a boyfriend – Yixing didn’t even get a chance to speak with the other two grilling her about said boyfriend but Bi Ren was tightlipped about it. She just shot Yixing a questioning glance and, well, since she was being nice… he nodded.

“Okay,” he said meekly. “That would be great. Thanks.”

He wondered what sort of man Bi Ren’s boyfriend would be. Bi Ren was undoubtedly a little hot-headed – maybe her boyfriend would be someone the opposite of her? Someone to cool her down when she overheated? Yixing was a little amused at his own logic but he quickly hide his little grin when Bi Ren came out of her room after changing, in a y body-hugging black dress that looked like it was better off lying on the bedroom floor instead of going to a meeting. As long as her boyfriend liked it, he supposed.

A loud horn sounded from outside the house. It was really quite sweet how Bi Ren’s eyes lit up upon hearing it and she rushed out to greet her boyfriend. “Come on, hurry up,” she called over her shoulder.

Smiling, Yixing obediently trailed behind her, making a mental note to buy something to thank the couple later. He absently noted that her boyfriend’s car looked familiar but he guessed the rich liked flashy car brands like Porsches. Fixing a bright cheery smile on his lips, Yixing opened the back car door and scooted in, about to greet her boyfriend when he glanced at the back of his head.

The words died in his throat.

“I guess introductions aren’t necessary,” Bi Ren drawled. “You know Luhan.”

A/N: Taohun shippers anyone?