Warning: Un-beta'd. 




Victoria has never felt very comfortable being in public with Luhan.

“Let’s take a look at those watches!”

Spending time with Luhan was one of the few things Victoria enjoyed doing outside of studying. She’s in her final year of college now and many things in her life are gradually finding their own closures while new beginnings are forming and new opportunities for her future career approach her in all different directions.

The only thing that doesn’t change is her dedication to Luhan. Unfortunately, her dedication is not enough to overcome her lack in confidence for their many differences.

For instance, Luhan is three years her junior. The boy is only just finishing his first year of college, with so much more to learn and so much more to see. They’ve only been dating for seven months, a time span that is neither extremely long nor very short, and every obstacle feels like a test to their bond.

Perhaps one day he will find a girl younger, more beautiful, or even more worthy of him than her.

“Isn’t this one pretty?” Luhan smiles gently at her.

Victoria stares beyond the glass at a delicately designed watch with soft frames and crisp numberings. It is a watch that, upon first glance, seems feminine and petite but with a closer look exudes power and professionalism.

Luhan takes Victoria’s small wrist into his hands and asks the employee to bring the watch out for testing.

“Don’t,” Victoria says, trying to shrug out of the boy’s grasp.

He doesn’t take no for an answer and continues to stubbornly hold on, pulling her a little closer to himself. “Let’s just try it on, okay?” He asks, in that tone that Victoria has come to accept as final.

Sighing, Victoria purses her lips and tears her eyes away from his bright ones. Luhan simply grins to himself and steps closer, until he’s practically hugging her from behind, and points out several other watches that he thinks would suit her well.

The employee soon apologizes for having misplaced the key to the drawer and excuses herself briefly as she runs off to another employee and asks for a spare, all but with a slight blush on her face when Luhan nods and beams her direction.

More time with Victoria alone for him.

Seeing the lull, Luhan takes this as an opportunity to tell Victoria about his most recent encounters in class and, to be completely honest, she isn’t listening to a single word that Luhan is whispering to her against her ear.

“Did you skip lunch again today?” Victoria suddenly asks, turning around slightly to look into his eyes. She notices that Luhan has been losing weight lately and he feels like a stick figure behind her.

Luhan rests his chin on her shoulder and makes a sad face. “I woke up late and was in a hurry to get to class.”

It was much too common for Luhan to skip meals and that often worried Victoria. Sometimes they would go days, or even a full week, without seeing each other and every time that happened, Victoria felt as though Luhan looked skinnier and weaker than before.

“Do you want to get something to eat with me before I take you back to your dorm?” Luhan smiles.

How was she supposed to say no? “Okay. What do you want to eat today?”

“Do they sell Victoria around here?” Luhan playfully teases.

Victoria elbows him in the ribs and they laugh quietly, Luhan wrapping his arms around her waist and hugs her close, until the employee returns with the correct key for the watch. The watch hooks perfectly around her wrist and Luhan lifts it up high enough for both of them to see.

“I like it,” is all he says, with shining eyes and a big grin.

It really was a beautiful watch. Luhan has always had a good eye for things like this; sometimes Luhan was so natural with so many things regarding them and their relationship that it made Victoria somewhat insecure.

“We’ll take it,” Luhan tells the employee.

Victoria immediately turns to him and shakes her head. “No, it’s okay.”

He purses his lips and fits his fingers into hers. “Why not?”

“I hardly ever wear watches.” Victoria replies. “They get in the way.”

It would be an understatement to say that Luhan was slightly disappointed. “You’ll get used to it,” he says sweetly, “and when you see or feel it, you’ll think of me.”

“Luhan,” his girl whispers to him, “maybe later, okay? I really don’t want a watch right now.”

Struggling between listening to Victoria and following his own stubborn mind, Luhan glances back and forth between Victoria and the watch. Her large, round eyes eventually break down his force and he gives in, apologizing to the employee and walking out of the store with a relieved Victoria.

Once they are out on the street again, Victoria tries to slip out of Luhan’s hold as subtly as she can.

Although it is something Victoria might not be able to fully understand, Luhan is sometimes a little put off by her hesitance to display their relationship to the public. He doesn’t know if it’s because she feels embarrassed to be dating him, or if she’s just afraid of facing their relationship under the light of day, but no matter what the reason was it disappointed him in ways he wished it didn’t.

“Does Korean sound good to you?” He asks, attempting to slowly hold her hand again.

Victoria easily and naturally shifts her hand away, their fingers just barely grazing each other at the tips, and smiles at him in that adorably apologetic way that makes his heart do an exhausted flip. “Yeah, sounds good.”

It takes almost everything in him to force another smile as they continue walking shoulder to shoulder. Despite wanting to ask Victoria for an explanation, Luhan keeps the question to himself. Frankly, he was pretty sure he knew the answer; ever since the first time they met, Victoria often commented on how uncomfortable it was for her to be around younger men.

In the end, Luhan managed to make himself her only exception; he told himself from that moment on that he would be the one and only exception in her life.





“Are you really not going to introduce us to your girlfriend?” Tao asks. “No one’s ever met her before…”

Luhan irritably rolls his eyes, flipping through the pages of his textbook like his fingers are on fire. “What are you trying to say?”

“You sure you’re not just making this girlfriend up?” Chen offers in place of Tao’s silence.

“Would I do something like that?” Luhan retorts in his own defense.

Tao and Chen shrug. “You say you met her at Kris’s birthday party but that doesn’t even make sense. She’s a senior, how would she know Kris?” Tao analyzes.

“Even if she really is Kris’s brother’s good friend, it doesn’t explain why she was present at Kris’s birthday party.” Chen supplies helpfully.

“That’s right,” Tao nods in agreement.

The chair beside Chen is pulled out and a tall, attention attracting boy joins them at their little library table. “What’s right?” Kris asks.

“Just talking about Luhan’s supposed girlfriend.” Chen remarks.

With the corners of his lips upturned in amusement, Kris glances between the three boys until his eyes land on Luhan. “Still being secretive about it?”

“I just don’t want to rush things.” Says Luhan.

Kris nods illusively.

Chen’s eyes brighten upon Kris’s reaction. “You know her, don’t you?”

“Did Luhan really meet her through you?” Tao asks.

In honor of Luhan’s secrecy, Kris just shrugs with the biggest grin on his face. Luhan frowns, wondering what exactly it was that Kris thought he knew; he hadn’t told Kris much about Victoria and he’s sure Victoria wouldn’t have mentioned anything about their relationship to him either.

Whatever it was that Kris knew must have stemmed from his brother and that, above everything else, was what bothered Luhan the most.





Being on the same campus as Victoria is both a good and bad thing for Luhan.

He’s walking in the courtyard at the center of campus when he spots Victoria walking towards him from the opposite direction. In school, Luhan has promised to keep a low profile when it comes to their relationship.

To say he’s a little pouty when he realizes she’s walking with another boy that he recognizes would be an accurate statement.

“Why’d you suddenly stop?” Tao asks.

Luhan tears his eyes away from Victoria and continues walking again. Tao and Chen exchange suspicious looks.

Reaching into his back pocket, Luhan sneakily pulls out a small box and just as Victoria passes by him he drops to the ground and sweeps up on his feet again.

“I can’t. I have to go home this weekend,” he vaguely hears Victoria saying.

Everything Luhan is doing just makes Chen and Tao that much more suspicious of him. Luhan jogs to catch up with Victoria and pats her on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, I think you dropped this.”

He’s greeted by Victoria’s sweet smile, which makes his heart skip a beat in his chest. They stare into each other’s eyes for a moment until Victoria eventually lowers her gaze to the box in his hand. Her smile slowly fades.

“I don’t think it’s mine.” She says.

Luhan takes her hand and places the box on her palm. “It’s yours. I’m sure of it.”

At that, Luhan runs back to Tao and Chen and they begin heading off. Victoria sighs, despite feeling that speckle of happiness from having seen Luhan, and stuffs the box into her bag in a secure place.

“Are you still making him stay quiet about you two dating?” Changmin asks accusingly.

Victoria ignores him and continues on her way.

“He probably feels horrible,” Changmin adds unhelpfully. “The poor kid probably just wants to hold his girl’s hand in the hallway, shout out your name when he sees you, and hug you when the world is watching.”

She glares at him with piercing eyes. “What do you know?”

“Nothing,” Changmin shrugs. “But I can tell you this much—he wasn’t happy when he saw you walking with me. Hell, he’s probably raging. Did you notice he didn’t look at me even once?”

“You’re looking too much into it,” Victoria tells him.

Changmin just scoffs. “Maybe you’re not looking enough.”





When Victoria asks Tiffany, her best friend, for advice, Tiffany just takes a deep breath and pouts. Being as close as they were, naturally she became friends with Luhan, too.

“I do believe that you need to come out of your shell a little bit. You’re beautiful, Vic; no one thinks otherwise of you, so you shouldn’t be so self-conscious.” Tiffany says. “Although, I also believe that a relationship is between two people, and the whole world doesn’t have to know.”

That’s the type of person Tiffany is—understanding, considerate, but extremely indecisive. Those are qualities that best describe the both of them.





It isn’t until Thursday comes around the corner that Victoria receives a text message from Luhan.

Are you going home this weekend?

She thins her lips. I am.

You didn’t tell me, Luhan replies.

Sorry, it slipped my mind.

An hour or so passes until Victoria receives a response. Did you open the box?

She glances at her make-up table across the room. Not yet.

Why not? He asks.

I want to open it when you’re with me. Victoria texts back.

Her response brought upon Luhan’s first genuine smile since the last he saw of her. Let’s hang out for a bit before you leave.

Okay. Where do you want to go?

Luhan thinks it over for a few minutes, imagining all the things they could do together. It’s been a couple of days since the last time they met up and he misses her so much it almost hurts. Let’s watch a movie, he finally decides. We haven’t done that in a while.

Sounds good. Victoria replies.





Victoria gives Luhan a lot of space. She understands that at their age, still young and vibrant, everyone needs their distance; she doesn’t want Luhan to feel as though she’s tying him down, nor does she want to be suffocating him.

What Victoria doesn’t know, though, is that it only makes Luhan feel that much more insecure about her.

“Are you cold?” Luhan asks her.

She shakes her head and smiles at him. The darkness of the theater eases Victoria’s nerves and she relaxes against the backrest of the seat, fingers curled around Luhan’s warm ones.

It’s a suspense thriller that they’re watching and Victoria is slightly amused by just how much Luhan is into the movie. Every now and then Luhan pulls himself out of the plot and feeds Victoria some popcorn or confirms that she’s still not feeling cold.

Once in a while Victoria glances over at him and chuckles to herself because Luhan looks adorable with his mouth parted in awe of the movie, or flinching at the violence. There’s a small piece of popcorn stuck on the corner of his mouth and she reaches over to swipe it off gentle with her fingers.

Luhan catches her hand so that he’s holding both of them before she can pull back. She can’t even be certain that he’s aware of what he’s doing.

But suddenly, after a scene finishes, Luhan leans towards her and presses a quick kiss to her lips.

“Thanks,” he grins at her.

Then they return to their comfortable positions and Victoria can’t wipe the smile off of her own face. Luhan is often like this; sweet, gentle, knowing all the little gestures that girl’s enjoy and make their faces blush and heart flutter.

When it came down to it, both Victoria and Luhan felt very uncertain about each other for various reasons.

“Did you like the movie?” Luhan asks, walking out of the theater with Victoria hand in hand.

Victoria nods, stepping a little closer to his side because of the crowd. What she hated most about going out with Luhan towards the end of the week were the large crowds of people everywhere.

“Good,” he says. “Are you hungry yet? Maybe we should grab a bite.”

While he says that, Victoria remembers about Luhan skipping meals and stops walking, putting some distance between them so that she can observe him. “Have you been eating better? You look healthier than before.”

“I try,” Luhan tells her. “It’s hard sometimes though.”

“Something about you is different,” Victoria purses her lips. “Have you been exercising?”

Luhan’s eyes immediately brighten up. “I thought you’d never notice.”

She laughs. “Why? You hate exercising.”

“Because of you,” Luhan deadpans, sounding playfully irritated. “You’re so in shape and you’re always doing sports in your free time. I didn’t want you to think I’m a lazy bum that sits at home all day.”

“I don’t think that,” Victoria rolls her eyes.

Luhan throws his arms around her and pulls her into his arms. “It feels better though, doesn’t it? When I hug you now, it’s not just bones against bones. Someone had to accommodate.”

“I’m not boney,” Victoria pouts.

“You’re losing too much weight recently,” Luhan complains. He pinches her arm softly and frowns. “Why are you losing so much weight? I don’t like it when you’re like this.”

She pats his cheek and smiles a fake smile. “I was gaining too much weight.”

“I thought you were perfect.” Luhan remarks. “Who told you otherwise?”

“Why does it have to be someone else?” Victoria furrows her eyebrows. “Why couldn’t it have been me judging myself?”

Bumping his forehead against her temple, Luhan uses a little more pressure when hugging her so that she is snug against his chest. It takes a lot of convincing and self-control for Victoria not to shrug out of his hold.

It all feels so natural at that moment that Luhan doesn’t even come to realize Victoria isn’t struggling to break free from him.





“You are not Luhan. What did you do with our Luhan?” Xiumin narrows his eyes dangerously at the Luhan that is standing in front of him.

The boy purses his lips and slumps forward onto the desk, face buried into his arms. “I don’t know, Xiumin. I don’t feel like myself either.”

“Weren’t you one of the most narcissistic bastards of our class? What happened to that?” Xiumin continues teasing. “You sound like a chipmunk right now.”

“Stop,” Luhan cries. “Save my sanity!”

Xiumin just laughs and takes another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. “Victoria sounds like an amazing woman. I want to meet her.”

“Don’t get any weird ideas,” Luhan seethes, revealing only his eyes and glaring up at Xiumin.

Mouthful of ice cream, Xiumin manages to make a face at Luhan before bursting into laughter while trying not to spit his desert out.

“I just don’t understand what’s so bad about going out with me,” Luhan continues complaining. “Most, if not all, of my past girlfriends would flaunt and brag about dating me; they would take me everywhere and make sure all eyes were on them. I was like the world’s best accessory!”

Xiumin tries really hard not to laugh aloud at the mental imagery.

“But she doesn’t even want to touch my hand when we’re in public.”

“It sounds like she’s attempting to open up,” Xiumin notes. “Didn’t you say she let you hug her at the theater? It’s progress.”

Luhan tilts his head to the side. “The moment we were on the road again though she went back to distancing with me.”

“Didn’t you say she had an issue with your age?” Xiumin analyzes. “Maybe she’s worried.”

“About what?” Luhan scowls. “There’s only three years difference between us.”

Xiumin gives Luhan the dead fish eye look. “Have you ever looked at yourself in a mirror?”

“She looks even younger!” Luhan exclaims. “When she’s not wearing makeup and dressed casually, no one would even be able to tell that she’s older than me.”

He goes back to ice cream eating.

“If she’s so against our , then she shouldn’t have dated me to begin with.” Luhan angrily mutters.

Xiumin pulls his spoon out of his mouth with a pop. “You pushed her into a corner. Literally.”

“You—!“

“And let’s face it,” Xiumin raises a finger, “despite everything you’re complaining about, you’re happy.”

Luhan slowly drops back onto the table and buries his face back into his arms. He thinks about Victoria and her smiling eyes, her silky hair and smooth skin. Xiumin is right. In the end, no matter what Luhan says, he will always think Victoria is worth it.
 

A/N: So, I've been royally annoyed by some EXO fans, who have proceeded to continually reinstate their opinion of "Victoria is too old for "so-and-so", "Victoria is old enough to be "so-and-so"'s aunt", and so forth whenever she is paired up with a member of EXO. I really don't want to post a long- rant, but my irritation has been pushed to it's limit. These people who keep claiming such ideas obviously have no perspective of the real adult world, in which age really isn't a priority at all when it comes to choosing a love interest. Not saying it absolutely wouldn't matter to every member of EXO, since, "to each his own", but age is only important when you are lawfully illegal; therefore, meaning you are under 18 years old. Only premature (let me save the word "immature" for more serious cases) teenagers would find age-factors to be an issue when it comes to dating because, for whatever reason, they find it critical to date someone within the same age range. Well, let me just say: I was offered a date several times by a kid born in 1995; he was a proper boy who studied well (I met him because I helped him while he was prepping for the major school projects). He was fully aware of my age difference with his, which is a much bigger than Victoria has with Luhan, and he had no problem with it; I just couldn't bring myself to accept his offer because he's, well, technically illegal. In my previous history, most of the guys that have asked me out are 2-3 years younger than me, until recently. And then there's my mom, who's almost an entire decade older than my dad. Several of my friends in real life are dating and/or married to younger men. Seriously, when you're in the real world, age is just a ing number (unless you're dating someone who is old enough to be your grandparent, that's when things get questionable). Bonus <- for laughs.

Love,
Xue