"Yixing?"

Yixing smiles to himself, content with the fact that she finally saw him. Slowly, he turns around to face her.

"Meili?" Very successfully, he hides his boyish giddiness and feigns surprise.

"What are you doing here at this time?" She hugs herself uncomfortably as she steps forward, probably because of the cold and the signs foretelling a heavy downpour.

He stands up, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "I can ask you the same question." There's a hidden emotion in his voice that Meili can't really put a finger on.

She steps back, a little afraid of him now. She didn't know him too well, and given the time and the place, he was the last person she wanted to run into. "I-I'll just g-go."

Just as she's about to leave him, he calls out to her.

"Meili!"

He can't let her leave. Not when he's been planning for this ever since he first got to know about her regular nocturnal visits to the hills. Since then, he's been waiting to finally get a chance to get to know her, and remove all the heavy masks she wore.

He watches carefully as her grip on her book tightens, turning her knuckles pale white.

"Please . . . ?"

She wants to leave, she really does. Not the hills, but him. She hasn't even finished a chapter yet! Biting her lip, she looks up at him.

"We don't even have to talk. I'll let you read, I promise."

His eyes don't mask his intentions at all, so she knows he doesn't mean harm. Those two deep brown orbs are warm and pure, not even a tiny fleck of malice in them.

Her nod could've easily been missed had Yixing not been watching her so closely.

"L-lái?" He holds out his hand, hoping he hasn't gone too far already. With Meili, there's no telling when the boundaries are overstepped.

Gingerly, she places her hand in his. It feels so warm compared to hers that she shivers happily, letting him lead her back to the top of the hill to sit.

He holds her lamp—it's her brightest, she informed him—while she sits next to him, and reads, letting go of the book every now and then only to draw her shawl closer.

He doesn't bother her—only looks at her delicate features twisted in concentration, and smiles to himself. And yet she feels overwhelmed by his presence.

"I can't read," Meili declares after trying for about twenty minutes. She shuts her book close, having dog-eared the page, and hugs herself.

"You can't read?" Yixing sets the lamp on the boulder they're sitting on.

Meili shakes her head. "I can't focus."

"You can't . . . focus?" His torso is turned towards her now.

She gulps. "No."

"No?"

"Yixing!" She smacks his chest lightly—but stops midway when they hear the sound of a deafening thunder.

Her hand rests on his chest instead. Her eyes, filled with worry the way they always are, are looking up at the sky.

"I should get home now . . . " Meili wonders out loud. Her hand is pulled back, and she doesn't even realise the effect it had on Yixing.

He breathes heavily, staring at her looking skywards. His skin burns in a pleasant way where she touched him. His hand slowly slides into his pocket again, feeling the folded piece of paper he's been carrying since the day he first saw her.