Luhan still remembered.

He still remembered that time when he was first introduced by his mother to a little girl who was timidly standing beside her mother.

He still remembered how he felt that day; excited.

He couldn’t wait for his mother finishing her words, so he could take the younger girl away to play. He had waited her to come ever since his nanny, Li Fei, told him about her. As an only child, he often dreamt of having a sibling.

And when his mother was done, he quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her along to play.

It was when his age was 9 and he met Li Su Ling for the first time.

“…ge. Han-gege…”

Luhan could faintly hear the familiar voice as his consciousness came out from the deep slumber. It was Ling’s voice. For years, he always thought that her voice was comforting; he liked her voice. And he could feel a gentle touch on his arm. He bet it was Ling since he recognized the warmth.

“Han-gege, wake up.” Oh, it’s morning already?

Luhan slowly opened his eyes. The first thing that he saw was Ling’s comforting face. “It’s Sunday, Ling” he complained while throwing his blanket over his head. “But it’s almost noon, Gege.” What?

Luhan slightly pulled off his blanket and took a peek on the alarm clock on the side table. Ling was right; it was almost 12. He felt the pressure leaving his bed, telling him that she had left the bed. His gaze went back to her. She was fixing his clothes on his wardrobe and taking his dirty clothes out of his travelling suitcase. Ah, yes, Ling would still need to do her job as his housekeeper beside of her job as his assistant. And his arrival from the business trip would make her busier. Ignoring her, he stretched his body while inhaling a deep breath.

“No one called?” the girl stopped and looked at him. “Mr. Oh Sehun called, asking whether you’re free or not today.” “Hmm…” Luhan rolled and hugged his pillow as he closed his eyes again “Perhaps he only wants to hang around.”

Peering from his half-shut eyes, Luhan saw her turning to him with dirty clothes on her hands. “I’ve prepared the lunch. If you’re feeling hungry, just come out, okay.” Luhan only hummed as a reply and he heard her footsteps leaving his room.

He opened his eyes. Looking at the curtained window, he wondered why he dreamt about his first meeting with Ling.

For years, Ling had become his playmate and his friend although she had always done the house chores. He always thought of her as his sister as they grew up together. But there was one point where Luhan started to see Ling as a woman.

As he recalled, probably the first time was when he was 17, when his family held a party at their house and Ling was told to attend the party by his parents. He still couldn’t forget how beautiful she was back then. When she went down the stairs with a white gown, he could hardly breathe. It was the first time Luhan realized that he couldn’t see her just as a sister anymore. Ling had grown, as well as his care that had changed into love.

And he also remembered the moment when he decided to protect her forever.

Despite of her as a worker of Lu family’s household, his father ordered her to enter the same school as Luhan’s. It was an elite school with expensive tuition fee but Mr. Lu would pay for her education. Luhan understood his reason; Ling was a brilliant student and his father thought that it would be a waste if Ling didn’t get the best education. He knew that his parents took interest on Ling and always treated her as their own daughter and he was gladly to accept it.

But then, he realized that Ling had a hard time because of him.

As a student, Luhan was popular. He got the look; he got the wealth. He was also one of the top students with good grade on his school (although it was a result of his competitive nature; Ling was better than him in study and he didn’t want to lose from her). He was also aware that he got fans. And his fans were the ones who gave Ling hard times.

That day, he saw some of his fans cornering Ling on the corridor and pushed her to the ladies toilet nearby. Wondering what they would do, he decided to follow them. He took a peek inside and saw them cornering her while she was only hugging a book and standing in silent with head hung down.

“Ya, housekeeper’s daughter. I thought we have clearly warned you to stay away from Luhan. But why are you still with him?” he heard one of them talking to Ling, following by another one, “Don’t you know your place?”

Luhan frowned to hear them, judging Ling as a lowly peasant. What’s wrong with Ling as a housekeeper’s daughter? She was a brilliant girl and hard-working too. Those were something that no one at school knew, except for Luhan. So those girls had no right to judge Ling.

But then, everything seemed to clear for him. Somehow he understood why Ling came home with drenched uniform or with a faint smell of egg days before. So all these times, most of the girls on his school had bullied her, just because she was closed with Luhan. Somehow, he couldn’t accept how they treated her. Okay, they have stepped on his bad side. Luhan pocketed his hands and stepped into the toilet. He didn’t care if it was a ladies toilet. With his arm, he hit the nearby door.

The girls jumped to hear the banging sound. “L-Luhan,” they looked surprise to see him there. But they should be, because he was their reason for bullying Ling. “Is there any problem?”

Those girls looked at each other and back at him. One of them replied him, “No-nothing,” before she pushed her friends to go and went away in hurry. Luhan looked at them until they went into the main building. He then turned to Ling.

“Are you alright?”

The girl dropped her gaze and nodded before walking out of the place. But Luhan knew. If he didn’t end it all, Ling would still get bullied. So he quickly ran out of the room and went after her. He captured her arm and turned her to face him; confusion on her look. But as he looked into her eyes, he knew… yes, she was the one that Luhan wanted to protect.

Luhan heaved a sigh. How many years had it been since he realized that he had fallen for her? But even if Luhan had made it clear that he had fallen for her, Ling had never given her a clear sign of returning his feeling. And eventually, Luhan had fallen out of love.

*grumbles*

Oh yeah, hunger needs to be satisfied. So he came out from his room.

But as he stepped into the living room, he saw Ling sitting on the floor by the coffee table; her laptop in front of her and documents scattered around her. She tore her gaze off the screen when she noticed his presence. “Ah, Gege.”

“What’s that?” Luhan pointed. “I’m doing the presentation for your meeting tomorrow. It’s halfway done” Even at home, she still works, he sigh “I’m hungry,” Luhan told her as he put his hand on his stomach.

But Ling only pointed at the dining table “It’s ready” And she looked back to her laptop.

Luhan looked at the dining table that had been filled by foods. But somehow, he felt not wanting to eat alone. Turning his gaze back to Ling, he then smirked, having a better idea than to eat alone. He sat beside her and laid on his back with his head on her lap, earning him a scold “Yah, Han-gege.”

“Ah, it’s nice to sleep on your lap” Luhan ignored her complain. “But did you say you’re hungry?” Luhan opened his eyes and looked at her with a smile “I don’t want to eat alone. You haven’t eaten either, right? Let’s eat together” “But I really need this presentation to be done today.” Luhan closed his eyes. “Then, I won’t eat until you finished.”

He could hear her heaving a defeated sigh. “Just wait a moment then. I’ll finish this page first.” And he had won again.

Hearing the typing sound from her laptop, Luhan opened his eyes again and looked at her. No matter how much he had seen her, Ling was still beautiful. She was flawless in his eyes despite of her innocence and her timid nature. And for years, Luhan had been used with her presence around him. He had never imagined how his life without her. Luhan dropped his gaze. Although he knew that she would eventually apart from him.

“Ling.” “Hmm?” “Stay with me always.” “Hmm…”

Probably Ling didn’t even realize what her reply meant. She was too engulfed by her work. But for Luhan, it was everything. Because on that day when he made a promise to protect her, he also knew that he wanted her by his side.

Author note:

The chapternapping is officially failed~ T___T

The next update will be on... hum... *shrugs*

Thanks to skittsebony and polariskpop for the help. Thank you so much for subscribing, commenting and reading this story. I hope you enjoy reading the story.