CHAPTER 1

[author's note: I advise that you read the prologue since it's important to the story.]

Four years later...

It's been three days since I got back to my homeland, China. I did not dare come back to my hometown though. The memory I had when I left still came vivid in my mind. Four years have been so much time, but my departure felt like yesterday. Maybe because that was the day my life shifted--the day that created memories forever etched in my mind and scarred in my heart. 

Beijing's cool wind caressed my skin as I go out from the cab. A tall grey building of perhaps more than twenty floors grandiosely stood before me. For a moment, I felt like I was being mocked. Years ago, I stood at the same spot with someone I care about the most. We built dreams of standing in this spot again together. Bitterness delved me as reality stabbed me: those dreams have long been gone for me.

I was snapped out of my thoughts as a familiar figure of a man clothed in a business suit waves at me with his huge smile. It would be an understatement for me to say that it was unusual to see him like that. I cannot be blamed since I got to know him with his casual clothes and ragged, messed up hair. 

"As usual, always punctual." He wrapped his arms around me, tugging me close when I of pulling away. "Oh come on, Jiali. Here's the man who missed you."

I back away and smiled at him, too widely that it almost hurt my jaw. It would be fair enough to say that throughout the past four years, it was him who could make me smile again. "That's too cheesy, Lu Han." I slowly shake my head, teasing him. "It was only a week."

"A week? You must be kidding! You seemed to have lost 10 pounds." I laughed at his exaggeration. I knew I lost weight though. My appetite was not good the past few days. Blame it on the anxiety of going back to China. "You must have missed me alot. Don't be shy. Admit it."

"We really have to work on your confidence." I kid along, messing with his hair. That was one thing new about him. He used to have a blonde one. As a matter of fact, he used to die his hair almost every week. Now, he has returned to the natural black color. Look at what a job could do to him.

"My confidence is just all right." He winked as he ushered me inside the building. My chest threatened to tighten but I knew I had to stop it. Not now. Not ever. I promised myself to live a new life.

This is Beijing, I reminded myself. There was no way he could be here.

 "Well, is Li Jiali nervous?"

I elbowed Lu Han and scoffed. "I never get nervous. I have good credentials and I know I'll get this job."

"I think our confidence is sailing on the same boat." 

Lu Han continued to say something but his words faded before I could comprehend them. I was too focused on the gold-plated label by the building's entrance--the first thing I saw upon enterring. 

YH Entertainment. Getting inside this building used to be nothing but a star to me... to us. Having my two feet on the very interior was bittersweet. As to why I felt such way was something I avoided in my thoughts.

The interiors of the building was minimalist, but definitely elegant. Black walls with accents of grey shades fashioned the atmosphere. It was better than what I have imagined all those years. 

"Good morning, Mr. Lu." A petite woman who seemed to be a few years older than I was, or perhaps just as Luhan's age, greeted us with a huge smile. "Oh, and you must be Miss Li Jiali. Good morning, Miss Li."

"Just Jiali, please." I said, getting a chortle from Lu Han. I mouthed him a questioning "What?!" before smiling back at the petite lady. 

"This is Suyin. She's my secretary." Lu Han explained. Why, of course he had a secretary. He's no longer just the Lu Han I met in a foul day in Korea. He's no longer just the Lu Han who befriended me even when I hesitated to be her friend when I was the broken Jiali. More than anything else the Best Friend Awardee in my life was unsurprisingly now a music producer. 

Having that brought up in my mind, I remembered crying all night when I found out how he was all willing to face his nightmare just for me. For the record, he was the only person who had done that for me. He had issues I know of and one of those was avoiding Beijing and his family. After I received an invitation to apply in YH Entertainment, which happened to be his family's company, the last thing I ever thought was Lu Han packing his bags and being so willing to come back with me. 

"I have a meeting, so Suyin will orient you instead." Whoa, he sounded like a real businessman. Weird.

I raised a brow, earning an elbow from him. "Wait, orient me? I'm in for a job interview, Lu Han. I'm not yet accepted."

"You are." He winked and turned away before I can respond. "Don't miss me too much." He waved a hand before turning into business mode again. 

Wait. Was I just hired?

Suyin led me to the top-most floor. I can say she earned a really good impression from me. She was like a little golden sun walking down the earth. I felt like she was too happy to be true. Oh well, maybe it was just for a person like me who does not really have so much thrill in life.

We stopped in front of a big black door which seemed to elicit a tiny bit of anxiety to my senses. I did not know why, though.

We enterred and all I saw was everything in greyscale. It was like being in some old sad movie. Do all offices get to have this interior design? I was definitely not a pro in that field, but I can distinguish good from bad vibes in designs. This one was by certainty a bad one. By any chance, this was not Lu Han's, right? It just did not fit him.

"Hi, Mrs. Song. Good morning!" Suyin greeted a similarly bright woman who seemed to be in her mid-thirties. She wore those thick glasses and was a bit stressed out, judging by the amount of bound documents and countless folders on her desk. Aside from that, she was all smiles.

"Why hello, Suyin. Oh, and I see you have someone with you."

I smiled at Mrs. Song and I was afraid I might like her way too much. Seeing both ladies in front of me in their smiles seemed so surreal. Was I hidden in a hidden cave all the while? Did I miss how humankind evolved to be so happy?

I was snapped out of my thoughts as a male voice from an intercom cut the bright atmosphere. It was rather cold and too demanding. And familair. 

Mrs. Song, review my schedule for tomorrow. And please cancel that crap of a dinner my mother set up for me. 

No please or thank you. Was that her boss? And was I goung to work here?

"That was Mr. Zhang. I work under him." Mrs. Song explained, as if reading my thoughts. "May I know who you are, young miss?"

"Oh, sorry." I flinched. "I'm Li Jiali. I got an invitation for a job interview last month and--"

"But she's now accepted. She's Mr. Lu's, uhm," Suyin pauses to look at me with question.

"Lu Han, I mean, Mr. Lu is my friend. We're really close friends." I explained. The last thing I would want is some misunderstanding.

"This is Mrs. Song. She's Mr. Zhang's secretary and I doubt Mr. Lu informed you that you got the job and this is your first day." She looked at me like those high school best friends who won some prom award together. But oh well, she's not too bad for a friend by first impression. "Your first project is enormous, Miss Li."

"That's right. Mr. Zhang is a high-standard producer and song writer. He may be strict, but he's always done good projects." Mrs. Song fills in only to be interrupted by Suyin.

"And he's hot."

Mrs. Song threw her a glare and I could not help but smile.

"What is my job exactly?"

"Mr. Lu did not tell you anything? You're working in the Creative Team."

"In this project, you will be working with Mr. Zhang in the debut of our company's newest celebrity. The debut will be pretty soon, so you have to be prepared to be busy. My boss, which will be your boss as well, barely knows what rest is. He's a perfectionist you can say. I'm not trying to scare you off but he's really hard to please."

It was not easy to take everything in. I just had a job that my best friend obviously ensured for me. Then, I was in a project I did not know of which happened to be headed by the so-called perfectionist and hard to please Mr. Zhang.

I had so many questions stormed in my mind, but before I could register a single one, the same male voice spoke again. This time, it was not from an intercom. It sounded so real.

"Cancel that meeting I have today. I have to talk to Lu Han. Oh, you're Lu Han's secretary right? Why was your boss trying to set this big project of mine with a newbie? Next time tell your boss to quit his mindless games."

I had the urge to run, but the familiarity wrapped up in his voice made me turn around to look at him. 

And just by that moment, familiarity no longer existed. Everything turned to blank. 

His eyes were into mine and they seemed to devour me right into my soul. Business attire, neat curly hair, everything was different except for the scent of his perfume and the intensity of his dark brown eyes. It eluded something I could not comprehend.

"Lay?" My voice shook. In his eyes I saw terror for a second. His jaw titened and if I was not mistaken, he took a step back. 

I felt so bare and shaken. I did not know what to do. It was until he spoke that I was shattered.

"Who are you?"

...and then after years of thinking my heart was healed, I felt it tighten and then shatter once again. I found myself lost in the memory of regret and the pain of bitter reunion. I was breathless.