Disclaimer ½ Prince and all of the characters—aside from my OC's—belong to Yu Wo

Note Another thanks goes to Chicaalterego for her collaboration with me on this chapter. :)


"I don't want to go," I complained, staring irritably down at the box full of silky red-colored and embroidered traditional clothing that was sitting on my bed. "I hate parties…" Especially parties that my father was attending. And I had found out just last night that the perverted Victor Larson was going to be there with his family, too. Unfortunately, it was too late to back out and say I wasn't going. It was an important dinner party, one hosted by the very powerful Lotus company, plus my father was planning on using the event as an opportunity to publicly announce Jiao and my engagement, but I still really, really didn't want to go.

"Too bad." Delun slapped my back. "You're going whether you want to or not, so get changed."

Sighing in reluctance, I quickly began to undress, then slipped into the black pants and red jacket, which matched the one Delun was wearing, except his was embroidered with black thread and mine with gold. Trembling from the horrible cold pressing in from all sides—the thin clothes did little to nothing to keep me warm—I hurried to my bookshelf and picked up the smaller of the two glass bottles—the larger one had my daily white capsules—I had placed on the top shelf. I took the stopper out of the top, upending the bottle so one of the tiny, triangular, red pills fell out onto my palm.

Red-colored as well. Perhaps I should have taken that as a sign of luck, just like the majority of the population of P City who had bathed the town in red to welcome the new year, but to me the pill simply looked like it was supposed to be hot and spicy, sort of like a cinnamon mint.

Returning the bottle to its place on the shelf, I picked up my cup of tea, and stuck the pill in my mouth, taking a long drink of tea afterward to wash it down. Delun looked extremely apprehensive while he watched, although I had already taken one several days ago to test and see if they were dangerous, as that euthermic injection had been. The pills were the same mixture, but far more diluted. One dose warmed me up for close to twelve hours without any negative side effects, although it did take longer than the injection had to take effect. But waiting a little while to get warm was a cheap price to pay in exchange for not drowning in a pool of my own sweat every time I took the stuff.

After grabbing a coat to wear until I was warmed up, I grumbled a "Ready," to Delun, and we left my room and went to his, where Jiao and Chen were putting on makeup in the bathroom. They were both wearing a red, sleeveless qipao that fell all the way to their ankles, each dress embroidered with pretty patterns.

Delun went to adjust the decorative pin Chen had put in her short hair, murmuring things in her ear that made her blush. I immediately looked away, feeling embarrassed. My attention was snagged as I watched Jiao lift a terrifying-looking metal thing to her right eye and proceeded to use it to…do something.

"What is that‽" I demanded in horror, hurrying forward, afraid the thing would pinch her eyelid.

She gave me a confused glance when I took away the dangerous thing. "It's an eyelash curler."

"Oh…Well, can't you just go like this?" I demonstrated the much safer way to do it, using the sides of my index fingers to push up my own eyelashes. "What if you accidentally pinched yourself when using the curler and it got stuck, and then it tore off your eyelid‽"

Delun looked like he completely understood my fears, but it seemed Chen and Jiao couldn't decide if they wanted to be annoyed or amused. "Give me that," Jiao snapped, snatching the curler away from me. "I know what I'm doing!"

Although I didn't think curlier lashes was worth the risk of losing her whole eyelid, I didn't try to take it from her again, instead looking down in surprise at all of the stuff they had scattered all over the counter top. I had no idea what most of it was. "Do you two use all of this every day?" I asked in bewilderment, picking up what looked like a very fat pencil. Jiao immediately took it away and elbowed me sharply.

"Not every day," Chen denied, leaning toward the mirror as she carefully put on some red lipstick. "Just on special occasions. Jiao-mèi and my daily makeup is much simpler."

"You can't expect us to go to a party without preparing first," Jiao mumbled, going back to using the Scary Eyelid Pincher. Even if she did know what she was doing, I was still extremely suspicious of the contraption, positive that it was going to harm her in some way or another.

Several seconds went by, and I started to get fidgety and impatient as I watched the pair. Delun and I had gotten ready in minutes, but the women looked like they were nowhere near finished. "How long is this supposed to take?"

Sighing, Delun stepped over to me and patted my shoulder in an uncharacteristically brotherly way. "Don't expect them to be done anytime soon. Sometimes Chen spends hours and hours preparing herself, and I waste away long before she's finished getting ready."

Chen shot him a frown. "Excuse me, but we ladies have to spend more time getting ready than you hasty men!"

Jiao nodded in agreement. "It's a long and complicated process! How else will we look pretty for you?"

"I think you look very nice without it," I told her honestly, sort of hoping that would make them finish quicker.

"Well, thank you," she replied with a faint laugh, her tone implying she was trying to brush it off humorously, but her face telling me she was somewhat embarrassed at my compliment. "However, we look even nicer with it, so shoosh. If you keep distracting me, I'll paint your whole face with permanent lipstick."

I frowned at the threat and watched them for a few more boring seconds, then turned around and left the cramped bathroom. "I'm going to wait downstairs," I announced.

"I think I'll join you." Delun hurried after me a moment later, and we went into the sitting room downstairs. Delun's father joined us soon after that—his mother was, predictably, also still getting ready—and I made half-hearted attempts at listening to their conversation, but actually my mind was wandering into the place it always seemed to wander, no matter how much I didn't want it to.

Heng.

I hadn't spoken to him or even seen him since I'd left Dib outside the archery training grounds. It had only been a few nights since then, not as long as some of the times he and I had been reluctant to see one another after some fight we'd had, but I missed him so much. Over the past few days, I had often sat around in my room and simply stared at his number on my cellphone's screen, one finger hovering contemplatively over the dial button, debating whether or not I should call him, but I had never managed to get myself to actually go through with it. He hadn't messaged or called me, either, and that made me feel even more cowardly.

However, I made use of the time away from him and went to see my doctor as often as I could, for as long as I could, until I was with him nearly every evening for several hours at a time. The further we got into the repressed memories, the more intense the headaches were becoming. But I was stubbornly pushing through the pain, determined to remember everything I possibly could. Over the past few weeks, we had only gotten to late July. The progress felt slow and made me somewhat frustrated, but I was still happy that I was actually achieving something.

What felt like years after Delun and I had left his bathroom, we finally heard the women coming down the front stairs. Feeling extremely relieved, I stood up and followed Delun and his father as they went into the front entryway. I came to a stop in the doorway and smiled up at Jiao as she carefully walked down the steps, Chen at her side and her mother leading the way.

"So," Jiao began as she stopped in front of me, her hands patting smooth her dress, "how do I look?"

"Very beautiful," I replied, smiling a bit wider. She had straightened her long and normally curly hair, and had twisted it into a bun, holding it in place with a jeweled pin much like Chen's. Simple but pretty pieces of gold jewelry hung about her neck and dangled from her ears.

Her cheeks reddened slightly as I spoke, a tiny smile playing at her mouth. Then she slapped my arm with an inhuman amount of strength, almost knocking me over, but Delun was in the way, so I managed to stay upright by crashing into him. After so long of getting beaten up by Mei Rong, Jiao, Delun, and even Shuang—thankfully, Chen had never joined in on their playful abuse—why did I still stupidly stand within arm's reach of them?

"Oh, thank you," Jiao gushed while Delun irritably shoved me away. "You're so sweet. You're looking very beautiful, too! I'm sure you would look wonderful in a dress and makeup, Princess!"

I frowned indignantly down at her and rubbed my sore arms, abused by the siblings. "I should never have told you about that nickname," I darkly mumbled, then turned toward the door when she started laughing. Shedding my coat and putting on my shoes, I followed Delun, Chen, and their parents outside to the car waiting at the circle drive.

Jiao decided to annoy me further by holding the car door open for me and giving me a bow, murmuring, "My lady, please allow me to hold your hand while you enter the vehicle." Giving her another frown, I pushed her into the car and slid in after her, trying to ignore her and Chen's laughs.

Within twenty minutes, we were rolling to a halt outside of the recently-built office building owned by Lotus, where the party was being held. A Lotus employee hurried forward and opened the car door for us. Delun's parents got out first, then Delun and Chen. After they were out of my way, I scrambled out of the car before Jiao could get out first and offer me her hand again.

A doorman took our invitations and we followed the other fancily-dressed people as we headed to the room in which the party was taking place. The walls were paneled with mirrors, making the room look much bigger and crowded than it actually was. Green and pink—the company's colors—decorations were everywhere, and were somewhat refreshing after seeing so much red and gold. A long food table was on one side of the room, but I knew with one glance that I wasn't going to go anywhere near it; the majority of the dishes looked to be caviar, escargot, and other such foods I had never tried and never wanted to because I was absolutely sure that if I ate any I would vomit.

I took a moment to greet my father, then I grabbed a glass of ice water from a passing waiter's tray and went with Jiao and her siblings to stand off to one side. Many people came to greet us and congratulate us on our engagement—the engagement had happened almost seven years ago, and yet no one seemed to know about it—each person making me more uncomfortable than the last, but I forced myself to keep my polite, business-like persona, knowing my father was expecting perfect manners from me.

Half an hour passed before the people finally left us alone and I was allowed to relax a bit.

But, sadly, that didn't last.

"Long time no see."

I turned my head, looking for the speaker of the greeting. An automatic reply, one of the usual New Years greetings, slipped to the front of my mouth out of habit after greeting so many random people that evening, but I held it in as I stared in confusion at the woman that had spoken. Rather than one of the dry old businessmen and their wives and adult children I'd already had the unfortunate pleasure of greeting, it was a young woman in a green qipao, arms crossed and a glass of white wine held in one hand. Although she had said we hadn't met for a long time, I couldn't place her at all. Perhaps we'd met during the months I'd lost.

"Yes," I finally replied, smiling politely on reflex, "a very long time."

The woman chuckled slightly. "What are you doing here, Laoshi?"

Realization hit me when I heard the honorific in her question, and I felt my face warm in embarrassment; she and I hadn't met before; she and Gui Wen had met before, so no wonder she had greeted me with something different than everyone else…Dammit, I was going to kick Gui Wen the next time I saw him. Not that it was his fault that he and I looked so similar, but really, it was so bothersome getting mistaken for him wherever I went.

Trying my hardest not to look extremely grumpy, I forced my smile to stay in place as I slowly shook my head. "I am sorry, but I think you have mistaken me for my elder brother, Gui Wen, who is a professor."

She blinked twice, looking confused, but then gained a rather annoyed look and said, "I'm not Gui Wen," in a much lower tone. The fact that I was already forcing myself to smile allowed me to cover up my shock at her impression of something I had said a million times before. Apparently I was the mistaken one; she and I really had met, and it wasn't difficult to know from where, since there was one and only one person who had ever called me Laoshi—Windy.

Rather than relaxing at that revelation, I became even more tense. Windy was here to terrorize me in real life as well. This was horrible. I had been hoping that I'd gotten rid of her, yet here she was.

Inwardly groaning, I took a deep breath and hoped my smile looked at least a little natural. "Oh…I see. It is you."

"Of course I'm me…Who else would I be?" she asked, frowning. "By the way, Laoshi, it seems like you didn't hear me. I asked you what are you doing here. I mean, it's kind of unexpected."

Clearing my throat, I swept my eyes over the room until I spotted my father. He was talking with a group of middle-aged men near the food table. Giving a nod in his direction, I felt my smile fade. "My father told me to come," I answered.

Windy-whatever-her-name-was turned to look where I had indicated, and briefly gained a vaguely disgusted expression before she turned back to me.

"He said it would be a convenient time to publicly announce my engagement," I added, and then frowned in remembrance of Windy's last message in-game. I grabbed Jiao's shoulder and gently pulled her forward until she was standing directly in front of the other woman. "This lady, Lin Jiao, is my fiancée," I explained, trying not to sound too frantic in my want to clear up the fact that I was most definitely not gay.

The woman's face unexpectedly filled with pity as I spoke, and then, even more unexpectedly, she glared furiously at Jiao. Jiao, looking extremely surprised at the reaction from the other woman, took a tiny step closer to me, as if expecting me to be able to shield her from the Raging Flames of Doom coming from the real life version of Windy.

"Laoshi." She snatched up my hands into her own, and I almost dropped my water, which clanked against her glass of white wine. Upon noticing she was within the other woman's reach, Jiao took a step back and came to a stop beside her brother. I stared down at my captured hands, then awkwardly looked up to meet the woman's empathetic green eyes. "Don't worry. If you need any help, I will give it to you no matter what."

…Help with what?

Jiao and her siblings looked just as confused as I. This was not the reaction I had been expecting from her. Then again, why had I even bothered expecting anything normal? Windy was always doing weird things…Oh no, what if she still thought I was gay?

"Thank you," I replied after a moment, wishing she would hurry up and let go. "That is very kind of you to offer so much support." Feeling uncomfortable, I lightly tugged my hands out of hers and quickly steered the conversation away from my personal life. "And what are you doing here? As you said, it is a very unexpected meeting."

"Work," she briefly answered, then took a deep breath, her face helpless. "I have been spending so much time in the new branch that I feel like I practically live here." Ah, so she worked for Lotus.

Nodding, I smiled faintly. "Yes, unfortunately I know how it feels to 'live' at the office. It is quite tiring, having so much to do…but lately I have been taking more work home with me rather than going through it at the office. It takes a little bit of the stress off, at least." Sighing, I swirled around my glass of ice water and sipped it, wishing this party would end so I could leave. Being around such a crowd was just as bad, if not worse, as being stuck in my office for an entire day, with nothing but paperwork for company.

"How curious. Lately I feel the other way around. I used to work from afar as much as I could, but now my responsibilities have increased quite a bit…I kind of miss it right now. My father seems like he wants me to try out things outside of my area of expertise. It's so very hard, but I guess there is no helping it." A ringing suddenly came from her purse. She quickly withdrew a cellphone and glanced at it. "Oh, I'm sorry, Zian, I wish I could stay longer, but it seems that they need me at the front lines." With a slight bow and a bright smile that was quite infectious and blush-inducing, she ended, "Until next time," and turned away, leaving me with the other three.

Feeling extremely happy that she hadn't bent herself in half while bowing, like she had in-game the other night, I sighed in relief and took another drink of water, wondering for a moment how she had known my name. I hadn't given it during our brief conversation, although I probably should have. But, deciding how she had known wasn't important, I turned to the other three again. They were all staring at me with red-faced, shocked expressions. I glanced from one muddled face to the next. "What?"

Delun exhaled slowly and raised one eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'what'‽" he demanded in a low voice. "I know you're used to dealing with that demonic father of yours, but what in the world did you do to get Long Zhou Xia of all people to talk in such a friendly way, and smile like that‽"

"I've only met her a couple times, but she's always so intimidating and stern," Chen murmured, one arm tightly wrapped around one of Delun's.

"Why did she glare at me?" Jiao faintly asked, frowning in perplexity.

I was bit surprised when I heard who the woman was, but I simply shrugged and looked down at my water, melting ice cubes tinkling against the inside of the glass. I'd heard of Long Zhuo Xia and all of her impressive accomplishments within Lotus; my father had drilled me over and over on important people in the world of business. However, I'd never met her in person, until now. She didn't seem to be as bad as the horrifying rumors, though. But then, my father often put on a polite front when he was at social events, and I already knew that Windy was scary, so, like my father, Zhou Xia must have only been pretending to be a nice person.

My suspicious thoughts about Zhou Xia were interrupted when the person who I found a million times as intimidating as Zhuo Xia walked up and stopped in front of me. My father stared hard at me, then glanced toward where the woman had left. "I do hope you were polite to her," he quietly said, tone as threatening as it always was.

"Yes, Father," came the mechanical reply.

"Long Zhuo Xia and Long Lien are very important, and I will not tolerate any improper behavior toward them."

"No, Father."

"I was actually planning on introducing you to them this evening, since you did not attend any dinners they were at in the past. You always whined until I let you stay at home. But it seems introductions are is unnecessary after all." He frowned faintly. "When did you meet her? I was unaware of it."

"I met her only earlier this week," I replied softly, "and our meeting was by chance, outside of work. She and I happen to have a…common interest. I did not know who she was until a moment ago."

"I see." His eyes narrowed and he took a drink of his red wine, then lowered it and tapped one finger against the side of the glass. "She would be a wonderful choice for Gui Wen's fiancée. Quite the capable woman; their skills and intelligence are nearly on par with one another. But, since he…" He fell silent, face darkening with what I assumed were thoughts about Gui Wen's abrupt disappearance.

I was filled with thankfulness that Zhou Xia had risen in the world of business after I had been engaged to Jiao, thus eliminating her as a potential candidate for my fiancée. I was quite happy with the kind and calm Jiao, and most definitely didn't want to marry a terrifying maniac like Zhou Xia. Although, from what I had heard of Long Lien, I doubted the protective man would have agreed to my father's marriage proposal. And given that my father thought I was worthless and stupid, he probably had never even considered pairing me with Zhou Xia, in my brother's stead.

Whatever had happened, I found fresh contentment here by Jiao's side.

Sighing slowly, my father finally looked back to me. "Keep up the good affiliation. It will be quite beneficial for me if you are close to her."

"Yes, Father." It had been Yu Lian's choice in the first place to keep up the relationship between Zhou Xia and I, but oh well. All I had to do was be polite, and that wasn't too hard, I supposed.

My hope that he was going to go away vanished when his face suddenly became confused again as he looked me over. "What in the world are you wearing?" he asked, frowning.

The word "clothes" flew to the tip of my tongue, but I managed to keep my mouth shut, knowing he would be furious if I said something so smart-alecky. And just how unobservant was he that he hadn't noticed until now that I wasn't wearing a million layers?

He didn't wait for me to answer anyway. "Go change your clothing immediately," he ordered. "I will not have you shivering all evening."

"There is no need to change," I slowly replied, "I am not cold."

"Impossible," he growled, eyes narrowing. "You have always…" Pausing, he stared at me a moment, seeming to notice that I really wasn't shivering, regardless of my thin apparel. I flinched when his hand darted forward and briefly touched my chin, and he suddenly looked angry. "Why have you come here when you are sick‽" he demanded quietly enough that no one else would hear. "You stupid boy, think about how many people will–"

"I am not sick," I denied.

"You obviously have a fever," he hissed, glaring at me.

"I do not!" I snapped, then caught myself, feeling somewhat horrified that I was daring to speak back to him. Taking a deep breath, I hastily explained, "My doctor gave me a bottle of pills that one of his coworkers developed. Apparently, he was creating them with the idea of making them available to people who live in cold climates. The pills are still a work in progress, however, and he asked if I would like to help him test them, and I agreed. They keep me warm, thus I do not have to wear a large amount of thick clothes."

Something that seemed close to fear flickered across my father's face, but it was gone in less than a second. "So, that is where you have been disappearing to every evening…That damned laboratory. Your doctor's coworker. Who is he?" His normally smooth voice had taken on a harsh turn.

"He did not give me his name. He only said he is the head of their research team."

Although he managed to keep his face blank, his skin paled slightly. "Take no more of those pills. Dispose of them immediately."

I stared at him in bewilderment for a moment, then surprised myself by saying "No." I had no idea what the hell was wrong with me, but somehow I felt a tiny bit braver than usual. Still, I began to shake afterward, frightened of my own audaciousness.

His eyes went wide at the same time mine did, and I was absolutely sure he would have punched me had we not been standing in a room full of people. "Dispose of them," he repeated threateningly.

"Why?"

The shock on his face became more apparent. "Because I told you to!" he hastily said. I had never seen him so unsettled and flustered before.

Inhaling slowly, I shook my head. "F-Father…" I hesitantly began, trying to piece together my argument. "I see no point in disposing of them. They are very beneficial to me, and are of no harm at all. I…" I had to take another breath, trying my hardest to stand my ground. "I told you already," I murmured, looking down, "I am not going to be a mindless drone anymore. I will not blindly follow your every order, especially not one so strange. You have given me no reason to obey."

"Comprehension has nothing to do with obedience," he icily whispered. "It matters not that you do not understand." Exhaling out his nose, he straightened. "Dispose of them," he commanded again, then turned and walked away before I could say anything else.

Now that he wasn't looking at me, I glared at him, the ice cubes in my glass tinkling loudly as my hand began to shake harder with a mixture of terror and anger. He may have told me to get rid of the pills, but I most certainly wasn't going to. Perhaps I was finally entering my rebellious stage, but I felt absolutely determined to not follow his order, mostly out of a want to spite him.

Turning to the other three, I sighed heavily and looked around. "I need to sit down."

With a worried nod, Jiao took my arm and began leading me toward one of the circular tables, at which I spotted Chen's parents, Mei Rong, her boyfriend, and a middle-aged couple I assumed were the boy's parents.

Just when I was starting to feel a tiny bit more cheerful, my mood was once again ruined when someone pinched my butt, interrupting my trek to the table. Holding in the automatic yell of surprise, I whirled around and glared at the culprit. Another person I didn't want to see cheekily grinned up at me, his green eyes glinting mischievously. "Victor!" I hissed, very much wanting to throw my water—and the glass—at his girly face.

"Hello, darling!" he greeted, rubbing his gross hand around on my shoulder. "I have been looking everywhere for you! Really, it was difficult, since I was looking for your usual bundle of coats, but you are…wearing so little." He quirked one of his pale eyebrows and ran his gaze up and down me.

Delun began dragging Jiao and Chen away.

I would have followed them, except Victor took my arm and dragged me in the other direction. "Would you like a drink?" he smoothly asked, lifting a glass of bubbling champagne. I stared in horror at it and immediately began to shake my head, having learned what happens when I drink something offered by him.

Victor laughed and took a sip out of the glass in my stead. "Mm…" He slowly swallowed, then gave my arm a hard squeeze. "I was so disappointed at Christmas, Zian. I waited and waited, but you never came to my party!"

"I told you over the phone that I had plans," I reminded, inwardly sighing.

"Plans you made after I invited you," he grumbled. "You're so cruel, always avoiding me…and I even promised not to drug you. Didn't you believe me?"

"Please stop pretending as though my caution is groundless."

"But it is!" he insisted. "It's rather silly of you to hang on to old grudges. I was a stupid little fourteen-year-old with too much time on his hands and too much audacity. I have long-since learned my lesson when it comes to such underhanded tactics, so you really don't have to be so guarded!"

Like hell I'd believe that.

He smiled up at me again. "Now then. There is something I want you to see. You will love it! It is—Oh! Let's not walk that way," he whispered, suddenly changing directions as we wove through the crowd. "My brothers are over there. Ugh." A sour look briefly took over his face as he gave a shudder. I would have preferred being in his elder brothers' company, really, although the pair was quite boring and bland, the opposite of the lively and energetic Victor, who hated them. They hated him as well, understandably, although their reasons might have been different from mine.

Half a minute later, Victor halted me up against one of the mirrored walls and pointed one finger in the direction of a nearby clump of people. After another sip of his champagne, he tilted his head slightly to one side. "He is quite rough around the edges, but he certainly cleans up nicely, doesn't he?"

Feeling a bit confused, I scanned the crowd, wondering who Victor was talking about. It took me a moment, but my eyes went wide as I spotted a familiar face in the group. His long and wavy black hair had been cut shorter, which caused it to be a lot curlier now that it wasn't weighing itself down. Although his face usually had a shadow of stubble, he'd shaved himself smooth. A pair of rimless glasses were resting on the bridge of his nose, and he was wearing clothes as fine as what anyone else in the room had on. His usually childish, energetic behavior had taken a much more mature, gentlemanly air.

Heng blended in perfectly.

"What the hell have you done‽" I barely kept myself from yelling at Victor, my words coming out as a strangled whisper.

"What have I done?" Victor chuckled. "I didn't do that. Well, I did sneak him in, but he and your fiancée's sister asked me to do it. However, he did the makeover all on his own. He looks quite handsome."

Although horrified at seeing Heng here, I couldn't help but agree with Victor. Heng himself was rather plain and average, but he looked very nice at the moment.

Then again, Heng always looked nice to me.

And I most certainly didn't like that someone else had noticed how nice-looking he was.

"You're welcome," Victor murmured, smiling and giving my shoulder another pat before he walked toward some scantily-clad woman I didn't know, looping his arm in hers and bending over to talk into her ear. Looking back to Heng, my face hardened into a blank mask when he briefly turned in my direction. Thankfully, he had enough sense not to give me one of his goofy smiles. Without any reaction at all, he looked away and continued talking with the group of Victor's friends, obviously pretending he hadn't known me.

Feeling extremely irritated, I wandered back over to where everyone else was and heavily sat down beside Jiao, giving polite greetings to Chen's parents and Mei Rong's boyfriend and his family. Jiao leaned toward me, eyes wide with anxiousness. "Are you okay?" she whispered. "I tried to grab you when Dàgē started shoving Dàsăo and I away from Victor, but you were already gone. He didn't do anything weird, right?"

Slowly shaking my head, I forced my face to stay blank. "He didn't do anything to me…but you might want to ask Mei Rong-mèi why she decided to ask Victor to sneak Heng into this party."

Jiao looked confused. After a brief pause, she gave a casual look about the room. "Dib's here? Why?" Anger seeped into her expression. "What if your father sees him?"

"I was wondering that," I mumbled, taking a long drink of my water. I set the glass on the tabletop, then stood. "Please excuse me for a moment." I stepped away from the table, heading for the door. Once I was out in the hall, I hurried to the right, trying to look like I knew where I was going as I passed by several other people.

I walked far enough that I felt like I'd made it at least halfway across the building. After a glance up and down the hall to make sure no one else was around, I stopped at a random door to one of the offices and tried the doorknob. For whatever reason, it was unlocked. I read the room number displayed on the wall, then slipped inside, locked the door behind myself, and pulled my cellphone out of my pocket, sitting at one of the desks. Texting Heng, I told him to get his ass to the room as soon as possible, then settled down to wait.

Nearly fifteen minutes went by before the doorknob jiggled. I stood and opened the door, yanked Heng inside, then shut and locked it again. "What in the hell are you doing here?" I snapped, glaring up at him.

Heng silently stared at me a moment, then his eyes thoughtfully narrowed a bit behind those glasses. "Well…before you interrupted me, I was talking to people. Socializing. You should try it sometime."

Anger roiling up, I punched his shoulder. "You know that's not what I mean!"

Frowning in annoyance, he rubbed the spot I'd hit. "Geeze, what's your problem? Avila suggested I should come, and I wasn't busy today, so I did! Even if I'm here, I'm staying out of your way like you told me!"

"Why would you even consider coming to a place like this‽" I hotly demanded. "And to go so far as to get the help of that damned Victor!"

Heng sighed and sat down on the corner of the nearest desk, looking completely unconcerned. "Victor isn't so bad, you know. He's a nice guy, if you ignore all the creepy groping."

In shock, I stared at him for a long moment, unable to speak. I never would have expected Heng to defend someone I hated. It was probably a very conceited assumption, but I thought he would have always taken my side.

"I couldn't care less what sort of person he is," I coldly remarked. "I've hated him since the day I met him, and my reasons are completely justified. However, Victor is not the issue, so stop trying to change the subject. You are the issue. Leave."

Hurt briefly flickered over his eyes. "Why do you do that?" he quietly asked, then stood up, his face becoming angry. "Stop treating me like I'm one of your servants!"

Staring up at him in disbelief, I shook my head. "That is not what I meant! I was–"

"Yes, it is!" he countered. "You constantly look down on me and throw around these orders like you expect me to say 'Yes, master,' and give you a bow! I'm fucking tired of it!"

"I DID NOT MEAN THAT!" I roared, feeling extremely offended. "DIDN'T YOU GIVE ANY THOUGHT AS TO HOW DANGEROUS IT IS FOR YOU HERE‽ WHAT ABOUT HOW DANGEROUS IT IS FOR ME IF YOU'RE HERE‽ I DON'T WANT MY FATHER TO SEE YOU! IF HE RECOGNIZED YOU, DO YOU THINK HE WOULD DO NOTHING‽ WAS MY NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE LAST OCTOBER NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU TO SEE HOW DANGEROUS IT IS TO DO SOMETHING AS RECKLESS AS THIS‽"

Inhaling deeply, I shook my head again. "How will you possibly defend your choice to come here if my father retaliates? It's just a damn party. It's not worth the risk you're taking. That is why I want you to leave. I did not mean to be condescending, I'm simply worried about you."

Heng relaxed slightly after my explanation, but he didn't seem to be any closer to leaving. "Al…Look, I understand all that. I'm not an idiot. I really did think things through before I did this. I've been out in the world since I was a kid, unlike you, so quit acting like I don't know anything about what people are like.

"I'm sure he's not going to recognize me. He's already walked past me twice and he didn't even glance at me. Plus he's only met me in person once, so I doubt he even remembers what I look like. And I was blending in with Victor's friends, who didn't know who I am, either, though they saw me that one time when you and I ran into them. Victor told them I'm a friend of his visiting from somewhere in mainland China, and they all believed him."

"Just because my father didn't look at you doesn't mean he didn't know it was you," I snapped. "He would never cause a scene at an event like this, so don't assume he isn't planning something for later."

"It will be fine, so stop worrying," Heng firmly said. "And I really think you're exaggerating what he can do. You're overestimating him."

All of my rage suddenly returned. Completely unable to hold back, I punched him again, and again, and again, and again, hitting every bit of him I could reach until he finally grabbed my wrists and held me away from himself, looking surprised at my outburst. "OVERESTIMATING‽" I bellowed, struggling in his grip. "YOU'RE UNDERESTIMATING HIM!" Trembling, I glared furiously up at him. "How could you say I'm overestimating him?" I demanded. "After everything I've told you about what he's done to me…Everything I've been through…You think I've been exaggerating this whole time‽ You think I've been lying‽"

"No! I mean–"

Tearing myself away from him, I turned and stomped to the door. "Fine, do whatever the hell you want, Heng."

"Wait!"

"And don't expect me to ever tell you anything important again. Like you'd even care, since to you they're all EXAGGERATIONS!" Grabbing the handle of the door, I started to open it, but it abruptly slammed shut when Heng caught up to me.

Shock made me gasp when he roughly took hold of me, yanked me backward, and slammed me to the floor. "I SAID WAIT!" he screamed, fingers digging into my arms as he held me in place. "STOP WALKING AWAY FROM ME BEFORE I'VE FINISHED WITH WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY! THAT'S WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT WHEN I SAID YOU'RE LOOKING DOWN ON ME! YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ME! YOU DO IT ALL THE TIME, DAMMIT!" His chest heaved as he fell silent for a moment, staring angrily down at me. I felt completely terrified seeing this side of Heng for the first time. Although a tiny part of my mind knew that Heng wouldn't seriously hurt me, I automatically shielded my face, having been in this position with my father more times than I could count. But the rain of fists that I expected didn't come.

"At least respect me enough to let me finish," he whispered, all of the anger gone from his voice, although he continued to grip my trembling arms so tightly they were going numb. "Just listen to me. I don't think you're lying. And I don't think you exaggerate when you talk about what your father has done, but I do think you're overestimating him. Your fear of him exaggerates what he's capable of. I know he did a lot of shit when you were younger, but you're not a kid anymore. You can stop him if you'd just stand up for yourself. And even if you're too scared to do that, you've got so many people to give you help. You're not alone like you were before. You've got Wei Bo and his whole family—they'd definitely protect you and get in contact with the police if your father got too crazy. And you've got Gui and his friends, and you've…you've got me, too. Hell, I bet even Victor would back you up. All you have to do is ask."

A moment of silence went by. I didn't uncover my face, although I wasn't particularly afraid anymore. I was just ashamed of myself, yet again. His words made me feel incredibly relieved, and yet incredibly hurt, and I couldn't decide whether I was supposed to be happy or not.

"You've gotta stop pushing people away, Al," he continued quietly, finally releasing my aching arms, although he continued to sit on me. "If you keep isolating yourself…someday you're gonna look around and you really will be all alone. You'll have pushed everyone far enough that they've all left you. I've…got a lot of patience, and I'm trying really hard, but…you're wearing me out. Even I've got my limits.

"I know you don't wanna be a bother to people, so you try to work things out on your own, but geeze…Sometimes people are more bothered when you don't rely on them. You make me feel really useless when you act like I can't do anything for you. Why the hell am I your friend if you don't need me? It'll be pointless for me to stay by your side if you're not ever going to see me as someone who can help and support you."

He let out a loud sigh, got off of me, and sat down on the floor. "Well, that's all I wanted to say. Go ahead and stomp off like the spoiled brat you are."

Rather than getting up, I simply continued to lay there, too embarrassed with my own stupidity to move or speak. I'd had no idea I was wearing him out. He'd never mentioned it, or hinted about it, or anything. He always acted so upbeat and cheerful, so how was I supposed to notice?

No, that wasn't right…I should have noticed something so important, even if he hadn't said it aloud.

Why the hell did I have to be so dense about other people?

"Hey," Heng suddenly said, leaning over me. I flinched when he grabbed my arms again, but he was much gentler than before. Lifting me into an upright position, he unexpectedly began unbuttoning my shirt. Finally opening my eyes, I looked down in confusion, but didn't try to stop him. He slipped my left arm out of its sleeve and held it up, his face taking on a very remorseful look. "So that's why my fingernails are red. Damn…I didn't think I'd used that much strength."

There was a set of five purple-edged, bloody, rounded marks dug into my upper arm.

"Sorry," he whispered, pressing his hand over the cuts.

"It doesn't matter," I mumbled, looking away. I hadn't even noticed them, really. They barely hurt at all.

"It does matter." His tone as gruff as his frown, he slipped around behind me and pushed my shirt to the floor as he inspected my other arm. "Stop being so apathetic about getting hurt, geeze."

Not feeling like arguing, I didn't say anything. He trailed a hand down my back, his fingers tracing over the various lumps and indentations in my scarred skin. "One look at this and anyone would know you're not exaggerating about the shit that bastard did to you." His hands dragged to my sides and he slipped his arms around me, pulling me against his chest and resting his head against my left shoulder.

I was a bit embarrassed when he kissed the side of my neck, but didn't struggle or tell him to stop. Trembling from the contact of his lips, I leaned back, hugging his arms to myself while I listened to his nervously thudding heartbeat, wondering if he always felt so happy and safe when I held him like this in Second Life.

"Are you cold?" he softly asked.

He moved to pick up my shirt, but I grabbed his hand and wrapped it around myself again. "I'm fine."

"Okay." With a tiny sigh, he relaxed against my back.

I shifted myself slightly and stared at the side of his head. Lifting one hand, I patted the curly ends of his soft hair and brushed them away from the silvery temples of his new glasses. "Why are you wearing these?" I asked.

Heng frowned at me. "Because I need them, of course. Why else would I be wearing them?"

"To look scholarly?" I guessed jokingly, pulling them off and putting them on my own face. Everything was suddenly distorted. "Whoa." Blinking away the ache that was bursting through my eyes, I quickly took off the glasses and stuck them back on Heng.

Adjusting them, he let out another sigh. "I've needed them for a while…Only just got around to actually getting my eyes checked out at an optometrist."

"They look good on you," I murmured, giving his hair another pat. "Your haircut is very nice as well. I didn't even recognize you for a moment."

Heng laughed. "Thanks. I guess my disguise is better than I thought."

Several minutes passed in comfortable silence, then I opened my mouth and inhaled, suddenly getting the urge to tell him about my evening activities. "Remember when I had that fever a few weeks ago?"

"How could I possibly forget that nightmare?"

"Ever since that day I've been going to see my doctor almost every evening after work. Nothing's wrong with me," I quickly assured when he made a surprised noise, "but he's been trying to help me…retrieve that stuff I've forgotten."

Heng's heart sped up considerably as I spoke. He was quiet for a bit, and then asked, "And?"

"It's going slowly. I've remembered almost all of July, although it's all kind of jumbled and messy."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Feeling a bit guilty at the pain in his voice, I squeezed his hand. "I didn't know if I'd be able to remember anything, and didn't want to disappoint you if nothing would happen. And I…well, even if you tell me not to be afraid, I'm still terrified of the thought of what my father would do to you and I both if he found out. So I kept it a secret."

"Are you doing this just because I asked?" He sounded somewhat annoyed. "As I said in-game…you're such a pushover, doing whatever people ask…And you told me you didn't want to remember. I don't want you to force yourself to go through with this if you don't even want to do it in the first place. I want you to be willing."

"I am doing it because you asked," I admitted slowly. "I doubt I would have ever tried to remember if you hadn't brought it up. But I'm also doing it because I want to do it. I feel kind of incomplete, I guess, having that big gap there. And I never said I didn't want to remember, I just said I didn't need to. But as you said, needing and wanting aren't always tied together…so, yeah. That's that.

"And now!" I loudly said, standing and scooping my shirt off the floor. Heng stared up at me in bewilderment as I shook out the red jacket, then threw it around myself and began to button it up. "I told the others I would only be gone for a moment. They probably think I fell in a toilet and got stuck or something. Plus I would rather not raise any suspicions if my father notices I'm missing." Taking a deep breath, I strode to the door, then turned, watching as Heng stood up. "But," I murmured, looking away from him, "I'll try to leave soon…if you want to come over…?"

Heng didn't answer for several seconds. When he did, he sounded very amused, and somewhat embarrassed. "Yeah. I'll come. Geeze, I think this is the first time you've invited me over."

I paused, shrugged, then whirled around and left the room, shutting the door behind myself before he could follow. An hour and a half later, I managed to convince everyone to leave, so we all piled into the car—Delun's parents had discovered Heng and forced him to also ride back with us, so he didn't have to call a taxi—and went home.

It was raining heavily when the car door opened and I stepped onto the wet pavement, sheltered by an umbrella held by the driver. Not caring if I got wet, I walked away from him and stood under the downpour, tilting my head back to watch the drops fall from the dark sky. It was a bit cold, but felt very nice anyway. Turning, I watched as the others got out and hurried to the house. "I'll be back in a moment," I announced, then headed toward the path leading into the garden, ignoring Delun's irritated yells for me to come back.

Darkness enveloped me as I walked along the brick pathway, the rain dribbling through the canopy of the trees and swiftly drenching me. Pausing a moment, I slipped off my shoes and socks, then continued on barefoot, staring down at my feet. Normally I would have been frozen solid by now, but I could barely feel the cold at all. Those pills were amazing. That doctor had told me they weren't addictive, but I had a feeling I was going to get hooked on them anyway.

Stopping by the koi pond, I dropped my footwear on the nearby pavilion's floor and wandered over to the water's edge. All of the colorful fish immediately swam over to me and clustered together. I felt a bit guilty that I hadn't brought them any food, but I knew Shuang and Chen made several trips out here daily, so they were all well-fed.

Loud splashy noises made me turn. Heng was hurrying along the path, a blue umbrella held aloft over his head. "Al! Wei Bo is super mad now, you know!" he huffed, hopping into the pavilion and rumpling up his wet hair. "He says if you make yourself sick again, he's gonna drink all of your favorite tea."

"Oh no," I exclaimed, feigning fear, "how terrible. Whatever shall I do?"

With a grumpy frown, Heng beckoned me over to him. "Come on, you really will get sick after standing out in the rain like that. You're soaked…and you're not even wearing your shoes! Put them back on, stupid!"

Shaking my head, I looked upward again. "This is the first time I've ever been out in the rain. It feels wonderful."

"Does not! How are you not turning into a popsicle‽ Even I'm cold!"

Smiling in amusement, I turned and walked over to the pavilion, lifting myself up over the railing and dropping to the wood floor. Stretching out my arms to either side I leaned against one of the pavilion's posts. "I'll warm you up," I offered. For whatever reason, I was feeling very daring that evening; I'd talked back to my father, yelled at Heng, and had even braved the rain just to go for a walk, although I'd been on the brink of hypothermia every other time the weather was so bad and I was stuck outside.

Heng's eyes went wide at my invitation, his hands twisting around the umbrella's handle. After a moment's hesitation, he slowly walked forward, dropping the umbrella at our feet. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly, savoring his solidarity and lewdly loving how I could feel every bit of him through our thin clothing. I'd always had so many layers on before, but now…well, there wasn't much that I couldn't feel. I was vaguely happy that it was nighttime and the garden had very little lighting, so I hoped Heng couldn't see how red I was turning.

With a humming noise, Heng buried his wet face in the crook of my wetter neck, murmuring, "So warm." His lips briefly pressed against my neck, then my jaw and cheek. As his light kisses trailed up to my temple, irritation began to grow in my mind until I put a hand on his chest and tried to push him away. Self-control…

"Stop."

Self-control…

"No," he immediately denied, chuckling faintly as he gave me a squeeze and continued the kisses.

Self-control, self-control, self-control…

"I said stop!" Lightly smacking his head, I frowned at him when he obediently—and very grumpily—drew away to stare down at me in discontentment.

Self-control, self…cont…Oh, to hell with self-control.

Gathering up all of my courage, I took a deep breath and locked my eyes onto his mouth. "If you're going to kiss me, do it properly," I quietly ordered, leaning forward and pressing my lips to his before I could change my mind. I was probably going to regret this. No, I definitely was going to regret this. But at the moment I couldn't have cared less, and pulled him closer.

However, he inhaled sharply and tore away from me, looking thoroughly shocked. "W-wha…! Al!" he nearly yelled. "Have you been drinking‽"

"Yes—ice water," I innocently replied.

"Then…a fever again?" he guessed breathlessly.

"I assure you I am entirely in my right mind." Maybe.

He opened his mouth, paused, then closed it again and nodded. "Oh, well. Okay then." That being said, he hungrily resumed our previous activities, one arm wrapped around my waist and the other raised to touch my face. My mouth was filled with the sweet tastes of chocolate and raspberries from the cake he'd been eating at the party. My mind became somewhat fuzzy and I tightened my arms around him, leaning into him and losing myself in the lovely feeling. I hadn't known it was possible, but I was fairly certain I wanted him a hell of a lot more.

After a moment, Heng exhaled through his nose and leaned back a little bit, frowning down at me. "Not to ruin the moment or anything, but…Al, you're really bad at this."

Glaring up at him in offense, I huffed, "Well, yeah. What were you expecting?"

Shrugging, he sighed and remarked, "In my imagination it was always so much more…passionate and amazing and stuff…and we always seemed to be wearing a lot less clothes."

"This isn't your imagination. This is reality," I reminded snappishly, feeling somewhat embarrassed—and also ridiculously happy—to hear that he'd been thinking about such things. "Just how many people do you think I've kissed before?" It wasn't like I went around practicing.

His eyes widened a little in curiosity. "How many?"

Taking a slow breath, I admitted, "Well, several people have forced kisses on me, but how many people I've kissed back…that would be one…if you include you. Just now."

Several seconds passed by before Heng finally responded. With a very disbelieving expression, he quietly asked, "Are you being serious?"

"Yes." I nodded quickly.

"That…That was your first time kissing someone?"

"…Yes?"

"No way."

"Yes way."

Even though it was so dark, I could clearly see that Heng's face had gone very red, and a pleased-with-himself smile appeared. "Oh, geeze…This is ridiculous, Al. An amazing, super-attractive person like you? Never kissed…Well, no, never mind. If it's you I guess it's not surprising, now that I think about it, but…Geeze. No wonder you're so bad at it."

Much to my increased annoyance, he suddenly started laughing as if my complete lack of experience was humorous. Feeling humiliated, I roughly shoved him away and angrily stomped across the pavilion, stepping onto the slick pathway, though I wanted very much to turn around and punch him as hard as I could.

Still laughing, he grabbed my arm and pulled me back out of the heavy rain. "W-wait…Ha-ha-ha…Wait, Al."

"Let go!" I yelled, attempting to smack him away.

"Al, come on." He took another moment to laugh, hugging me from behind.

"I'm never kissing you again," I decided heatedly, trying and failing to pry his arms off from where they were wrapped around my chest.

"No-o-o!" he exclaimed. "That's so mean!"

"So is laughing at me!"

"I'm not laughing at you!" he hastily corrected, then nuzzled my cheek with his cold nose. "I'm just so happy that I got your first kiss. Even if it was terrible. Hehe."

"Stop laughing, dammit! It's not funny!" I snarled, squirming around until I managed to face him.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he murmured, his words nearly drowned out by the rain pounding against the pavilion roof. He smiled as he dipped down to kiss me again. All of my will to struggle out of his grip faded away and I sighed against his lips, closing my eyes and wrapping myself around him, far happier than I could remember ever feeling before.


*cue Yiruma's song, Kiss the Rain, to start playing in the background* haha. Gaaaahhh! Finally! xD The romance happened so fast in the original, but now it's going really slow…I'm sorry for making you all wait so long. lol