You end up staying up all night, thinking things through, which takes a heavy toll on you the next day. As you look into the mirror in your bathroom you notice that your eyes look dull and your skin looks pale. You wash your face with warm water and try to fully wake yourself up. Your phone rings loudly from your nightstand and you rush to it, only knowing one person who it could possibly be at this time. But once you realize your thought process, you slow down. No, don't get so excited.

"Good morning." You hear Tao's voice. He sounds happy. "I have time today, would you like to go somewhere?"

"Yes of course!" Your hand flies to your mouth even though no one's there to see you. "I'd..I'd love to."  You say in a more relaxed voice. You cuss at yourself in your head. 

"I'll meet you at your apartment in an hour, okay?" You smile.

"Okay!" Before you say bye, you hear a chuckle from through the phone. "What?"

"You sound really happy today."

"I...!" You try to say something not-creepy. "I'm just in a good mood..." Stupid. You think to yourself. That sounds so stupid...

"Okay." You can almost hear the smile in his voice. "I'll see you in an hour!" He sounds exceptionally happy too, you notice. 

"Ok, bye Tao."

You hang up and leave your bedroom. You greet your grandparents happily as you see them in the kitchen. You est breakfast with them whilst making small talk. You take a quick shower and get dressed and think about what you might be doing today.

You start thinking to yourself, I should ask him if...

But before you can finish your thoughts, the doorbell rings. You walk to the door and open it with a smile on your face. "Good morning!" You say to Tao cheerily. You hear your grandparents walk up behind you. He greets them shyly and then makes space for you to walk out the door in front of him. You say goodbye to your grandparents and you and Tao head out. 

"Where are we going?" You ask him

"A small cafe." He says. "I feel like eating something sweet. What about you?"

"Sure. Which way do we go?" You ask as you arrive at an intersection. 

He tells you to turn at some street. Something rings. "I have to take this, sorry." You stand there awkwardly, unsure of where to go. He looks at you with a questioning expression. You feel even more embarrassed as you tell him, "I..uh...I can't really...read...Chinese..."

His eyes widen a little, and he blocks his mouth with his hand. You imagine him a little annoyed and angered that you can't do something so simple. He finishes his call. And then he starts laughing. But you can see that he's trying to stop himself. "I'm...sorry..." He manages to whisper between chuckles. His shoulder is shaking with effort and he finally calms himself. Then he turns to you with an adorable smirk. "Let's go to the cafe, OK? And we'll buy some supplies on the way."

"S...supplies?"

He doesn't even look at you as he says, "I'll teach you some Chinese. Enough for you to get by. We've explored enough of Beijing for now." He turns to you now with an angelic grin.

"Sorry..." You mutter. "I've inconvenienced you..." You bow and then you look him in the eye and grin back. 

"It's alright. I'll even let you pick the supplies."

You two arrive at a seemingly small store that sells school supplies and the like. But the outside appearance was an illusion; the interior was huge. There were notebooks, mechanical pencils, regular pencils, keychains, pencil sharpeners, backpacks, everything you'd ever need to express yourself with little things like that. You look around happily. You love these kinds of stores. And you already know what you're going to look for.

You head to the small aisle with notebooks as Tao gets a basket to put stuff in. As if he's expecting me to get a lot, you think to yourself. You see exactly what you're looking for. A medium sized, journal-like notebook with a blue silk bookmark and a picture of a panda on the cover. You glance at the price and your smile widens. At least you wouldn't end up owing Tao too much after this shopping trip. You head to where the mechanical pencils are, all piled together in small cubbies, separated by its design and lead type. You also find what you need there. And you find an eraser version. And you find a keychain too.

Everything you got was panda-themed. 

You drop the small bundle of stuffs into the basket that Tao had grabbed earlier and he looks at you with a hint of surprise on his face. You just say, "Kung fu panda-Tao, right?" and you both grin. Once again, you feel as if you've been friends with Tao your whole life. This comfortable feeling was not something you wanted to destroy or leave behind ever. You sigh as you think about what will happen in just three weeks time. Tao glances at you with a question on his face but you ignore it. You did not want to bring it up again. He picks up the panda keychain. 

"Is this necessary?" He asks. You shrug and smile. He chuckles and pays for it. 

"I'll pay you back when we get back to my apartment." You tell him.

"No, it's ok. I wanted to buy you something as a thanks anyway." A thanks? You ask him what he means. He just tells you that it's because you didn't ask for an autograph or a photo the first time you met him. You laugh. 

The cafe is close by and is cute and calming. You instantly fall in love with it. Tao orders a small cake and you, not knowing most of the foods on the small menu, also order the same. He looks amused at your choice. 

There's no one else inside the petit cafe (as you like to think of it as) and the person who was behind the cash register seemed to recognize Tao so she told you two to sit down at a table and that she would bring your cakes to you when they were ready.  You two sit down at a two-person table next to the wall and he gets your school supplies out. Then, for some reason, he whips out a pair of glasses and puts them on. You burst out laughing. 

"I saw that once, you know. There was a photo of you at some signing event." You grin.

He raises an eyebrow. "Why were you looking at photos of me?"

"I- I was just revisiting my favorite EXO blogs!"

"That picture's old, how long were you on this blog?" 

You roll your eyes. "Stop flattering yourself and teach me some Chinese..." 

He smiles and gets started. "OK..." You're glad that you managed to get out of that conversation without revealing anything embarrassing. Forget not looking sounding like a creeper, you just didn't want to give away anything. It wasn't too late; you might still be able to stop your emotions from going too far. At least, that's what you thought.

Of course, how would you have known?