One-Night Stand
By Nasu Hasami
"We that are true lovers run into strange capers."
~William Shakespeare~
Of everything that was wrong with this scene, the thing that was most wrong with it, was that she was in the middle of it.
Fa Mulan didn't do this sort of thing. Fa Mulan had never done this sort of thing. No, it was Jin Mei-lin that constantly got herself into these situations, scratching around some strange man's bedroom for her underwear, swearing and crying into her phone.
'Mulan, I don't know where I am…(sniff)…I can't find my bra…(sniff)…No, I don't know his name…'
Fa's eye's flickered up from the floor to the half-naked man sleeping like a rock on the bed before her. The elusive bra was hanging rather precariously from the lampshade next to his head, taunting her. Fa felt as though the intimate item knew some secret thing about her as it quivered slightly in the early morning breeze. I know what you did last night, the bra tormented her. Failing to find a better method of retrieval, Fa crawled around to it. She'd already scavenged her panties and her jeans, and in the early morning light, crawling seemed the most logical form of retrieval to her alcohol tainted brain.
If he woke—the mystery man (whose name currently evaded her)—Fa could just commando roll under his bed and quiet her breathing. He'd never even know she was there. She'd just wait until he was in the shower and sneak out, like a ninja…or something.
Of all the things Fa Mulan thought she would amount to, a sex ninja had never been high on the list. Qi Tingting was turning out to be a bad influence. Swearing and kicking something would be appropriate in this situation, but throwing a tantrum might wake the nameless sleeping male, and that was not part of the objective. The objective was to escape.
Besides, this clothing reconnaissance mission was his fault anyway. He couldn't just wait until they were in his bedroom like a normal human being, could he? No. Once they were in the front door of his fancy apartment, the ability to strip each other of their clothing had turned it into some sort of nakedness battle. Fa had a vague inkling her blouse was in the living room of the stranger's home, or in his study. She'd found her jeans downstairs in the kitchen. Fa wasn't even really sure what she was going to do once she had all her clothing together, and on her person. Do you leave a note? Or a letter of thanks? Maybe one of apology?
To whom it may concern,
Last night was lovely, though I remember little to none of it. Hope you're not offended.
Thank you (?),
The girl from the club
Was Fa supposed to leave her name or her phone number?
Maybe she should just hack the mystery man's phone and take his details with her instead.
Then there was the question of how Jin Mei-lin did this?
Unfortunately, Fa Mulan knew very well how Jin Mei-lin did this. Jin rang someone, in mild hysteria, and waited for whoever it was to come and rescue her. More often than not, it was Fa that she rang. That is, of course, when Fa was in the city. Otherwise it was poor Chu Su-wen's responsibility. The one time Jin Mei-lin had called Qi Tingting, Qi had very unsympathetically and impolitely told Jin Mei-lin to grow up. No one was insusceptible to the emotional trauma of an unintentional one-night stand, and no girlfriend needed to be responsible for another's stupidity.
Again Fa's eyes landed on the tanned body on the taupe sheets. The mystery man was ripped and gorgeous from his nostrils to his navel. He had the thighs of a runner and the muscular calves of a kick boxer. He probably had a black-belt or two tucked away in that impressive wardrobe of his. The silver lining seemed to be that while the morning was something of a mess, at least Fa's intoxicated brain had half-decent taste in men: lean, shredded, dark eyed and broody.
Fa's hand was hanging shakily over her bra strap as those dark eyes stared her down. It was all of a moment before she acclimatised to the somewhat unsteady and drunken gaze, snatched the offending lacy item, and shamelessly rolled under his bed. Fa watched as his feet trod around the carpet, surprised and slightly delighted that even half-asleep, the mystery man's feet moved with a sort of militaristic stiffness. Then the door creaked and he was in the hallway, marching off to some other room in his apartment. Fa just lay there, under his bed, flat and motionless, studying her breathing until she heard the steps close in, then they moved towards the fancy ensuite bathroom. Then the shower was running.
Briefly, Fa wondered if she was the first woman who'd hidden from this man by tucking and rolling under his bespoke bed.
Then, seconds later, Fa was fully clothed, in her shoes and out the door. She jogged down the stairs, out onto the streets, and into the congestion and sweet morning air. Fa Mulan kept running until she was far, far away from that apartment building. Her feet only sped up at the thought of escaping her first awkward sexual encounter. Fa Mulan had escaped without any consequences, too. Her one-night stand was probably standing in his shower thinking nothing unusual had happened. To him, it had just been another normal night out with his friends or colleagues. Fa wasn't anyone special, and her one-time lover wouldn't remember her that way. That night wouldn't be remembered as an especially special Saturday night.
Li Shang was extremely distracted come Monday morning. He couldn't wrap his head around the figures in the finance meeting. He didn't understand a word of the partners debriefing. Someone was in Spain, it didn't matter, they weren't important, and frankly, he didn't care. Tokyo was booked for the Senior Staff Enrichment Week in April. The annual London conference was debated to fall in July, but the CEO wanted it set for October. The CFO and COO couldn't agree on anything, and Li Shang's input was an occasional non-committal grunt. Mandy Yi, Li's secretary, handed in notice of maternity leave around the time he usually took his morning break. Li didn't care. Not really. He wasn't even sure if he needed a secretary, not anymore, and Ms Yi's English language skills were atrocious anyway. Thus, for most of the morning Li had been staring blankly out of his glass office, staring at his underlings as they sat in their cubicles. Presently, he didn't know how many of them were all that useful either.
Yao Tang was standing on his desk, gesticulating wildly as he jumped up and down pretending to ride an invisible horse. Some sort of sticky-note paper-beard thing was hanging off Yao's chin. Li Shang could only assume it was a crude Genghis Khan costume by the grunting noise the fat man was making, and the occasional reference to the Mongolian Empire.
That Monday, it seemed, the urge to yell at the fat idiot didn't run so strongly in Li's veins.
It was that fat idiot's fault Li gone out on Saturday night.
'You'll have a good time,' the fat idiot had said. 'Maybe you'll finally be able to pull that pole from your ass, boss.'
'Or find some Amazonian that could do it for you!' Ling Ming had added.
It was the fault of those two idiots that led Li Shang to that bar. It was their fault he wound up arguing with some woman about Mao and feminism, then, somehow, Frédéric Chopin. It was the fault of Yao Tang and Ling Ming that Li Shang took that damn woman home with him.
Li Shang thought she was a student when he'd first laid eyes on her. The girl was delicate and willowy, but there was fire in her eyes. Only students were that passionate, and pretty, if Li was honest with himself. Age brought cynicism, and women didn't wear it so well. Yao Tang was there with one of the mystery woman's friends, a Jin Mei-lin or Lin Pei-min or whatever the chubby girl's name was. Then the pairing off of mutual acquaintances had happened, and then they were left alone, together, at the bar: just themselves, Li Shang, the mystery woman, the alcohol, and her comment about Li being a Red Prince.
Oh, she knew her stuff all right! The mystery woman practically throttled him with Chinese history from the Sui Dynasty through to the Great Leap Forward. It was coincidentally the sexiest and most terrifying experience of his life to date. The slight woman had just been so feisty and fierce and so, so determined that, unlike her friends, she wasn't going to be seduced by some halfwit imbibed with liquid courage and dragged back to his place for the night. She valued herself above a one-night stand with a stranger in a strange city.
She was ambitious and formidable and Li Shang was sucked in well beyond the point of no return. He wanted to continue arguing with her. He wanted to continue drinking with her. He wanted to take her home.
Then she just got up and left. She finished her argument, gathered her things, let one of her friends know she was leaving and walked out the door.
Li Shang had never moved faster in his life to catch up to her, running two blocks down the street to find her waiting at a traffic light, and thanking every god he could name that the woman hadn't been carried any further.
Then Li said something to her: something that would rattle her and agitate her; something to make her bite. Li Shang baited her all the way to his building. He had never felt so childish or stupid and free, kissing a strange woman on the street like an imbecile as he goaded her further into his life.
On that night, Li Shang didn't care what anyone though about PDA's or their inappropriateness. Neither did he care if someone photographed them and the media printed the images. Li Shang only cared about the way that mystery woman's tongue felt inside his mouth, and the way her hands felt locked around his neck. Li Shang didn't even care about the fact his Porsche was still parked at the club. The way she rattled him made him want to keep being rattled. Nothing else existed on that night, not in his life. To Li Shang, that mystery woman was everything in the world and the only thing that mattered.
Then they were at his door, then in the kitchen, then the living room, then upstairs, in the hallway, in his study, in his bedroom, in his bed.
She never once said her name and Li hadn't thought to ask for her number.
In the morning, when he woke, she was gone.
And now Li Shang certainly wasn't going to ask Yao Tang if he knew the strange woman's name or number, or if his fat girlfriend knew it. Li Shang's pride wouldn't let him sink that low, no matter how much he might have wanted to revisit the feeling of that stranger's tongue halfway down his throat, or physically repeat the wonderful sensation of being buried between her thighs. No. Li would take it on the chin like a man. He'd forget about the floozy, and he'd forget what Saturday night felt like.
It had been four months since the that Saturday, as Li Shang had come to call it. He spent his weekends on his couch reading reports and financial reviews and drinking beer. There was a fair amount of movement in the market, and that was depressing in and of itself, but Li Shang was also depressed by the unforgettable nature of the woman he'd slept with on a Saturday night, months and months ago. (A woman he'd promised himself to forget about.) The fascinating woman he'd woken up next to, swiping her bra from somewhere above his head. Her small, perfect breasts brushing against his chin as she ducked away beneath his bed. Then he'd seen her on the news, part in pixels, with a metal helmet on her head and a blue ticker covering up her hands.
If only Li Shang had known, he would have had his TV on every night. The mystery woman, the one he'd taken home, the one he was undeniably infatuated with, was Fa Mulan.
Of course she was Fa Mulan.
It wouldn't make sense for her to have been anyone but Fa Mulan.
And oh, all of China (and the autonomous states) knew who Fa Mulan was. She was the reporter that had scandalised the nation; even in Hong Kong she had a notorious reputation. Fa Mulan would go where no one else dared to go! Where she lived no one knew; stealth was the only way she could retain her freedom. Fa had a criminal record for the internet journal she ran half a decade ago. Fa Mulan had been in prison, in the Mainland. It had made her a hero to some. Fa was a Red, through-and-through. Her whole ploy was to reveal the corrupt and the overpowered. Some reports had even suggested she was a government spy.
Yet, there she was, revealing herself temporarily at a disaster relief zone. Li found it both infuriating and uplifting to see Fa helping like some celebrity army officer, comforting the elderly and playing with children. A smile on her face as she heaved sandbags into the makeshift barrier wall, laughing and joking with the actual recruits, as though she were one of them, not just some woman reporter with a popular blog.
Li Shang had been in university when Fa's exploits were first being circulated. He recalled thinking this stupid girl was ignorant and irresponsible. Some kid in high school, probably privileged with an overseas education, pretending to fight for the people and completely out of touch with her own heritage. Li Shang was willing to gamble that Fa Mulan was as much a Red Princess as he was a Red Prince. Even if the reports were true, or partially true, and her parents were Red Guards, there was no way of knowing that her ancestors didn't belong to the Imperial courts, to some extent. Perhaps she was the descendent of an Imperial harem.
The difference was that Li Shang never pretended to be something he wasn't, and he had very little patience for those that did. If Fa Mulan was deceiving the general public, some man or woman needed to reprimand her, and remind her of the truth.
Li Shang wouldn't so much mind that man being him.
In the back of his mind, Li toyed with the thought of rescheduling the company's next press conference just to remind Ms Fa of whom she'd staggered home with. He considered making some big, flashy televised appearance just to frighten her, and make her think of him. Fa would certainly be frightened if she realised just who she'd had drunken sex with, given he was exactly the sort of man she had made a career out of hating. Maybe Li could just fly out to Ya'an and surprise her, too. He could comfort the elderly and kick a soccer ball around just as well as anyone else!
Or maybe he could focus on his reports, and get over it, and her, and start trying to forget about that Saturday. It wasn't as though it was ever going to happen again anyway, and especially not with her. That was something Li Shang was going to make sure of. He may die celibate and miserable, but he'd make sure he never fell into bed with another vicious two-faced Red Princess.
It was late September by the time Fa Mulan was back in Hong Kong. She thought she'd been inconspicuous enough about her return that her old university friends wouldn't have realised she was in the city. Unfortunately, that hadn't been the case. Two days on the island and Qi Tingting's gossip circle had reported seeing Fa at a café. It was only a matter of time before one of them rang Fa, and begged her to go out with them. Then it happened, on a Saturday night the week before she was flying out to Taipei.
'I'm not going!' yelled Fa Mulan, her phone in front of her. Jin Mei-lin's stupid drunk face smiling widely up at her.
'Sure you are,' said Jin.
'No. I have morals.' Or Fa had, in the past, before she'd been seduced by some Chinese Adonis and tricked into his bed.
'But nothing happened last time. Wait, did something happen last time. OH MY GOD—you've finally slept with someone! We need to celebrate! Come out with us!'
Fa cringed at the face on her phone. The cosmopolitan Jin was trying to drink was mostly dribbling down her chin.
'What was he like, Mulan? Was he any good? Was he hot? Was the sex hot?' asked Jin.
'I'm not discussing this with you!' said Fa Mulan, with absolute conviction. Her love life was not anyone's business but her own.
Qi Tingting's face appeared at the side of the screen. 'I thought you were mellow that Sunday at brunch. Told you all you needed was a good fu—'
'We're not getting into this now, at all, with anyone. Yes, okay, something happened. But I was drunk, and so was he, so it doesn't count!' said Fa, firmly.
'Mulan,' began Qi Tingting, 'if being drunk doesn't count, Mei-lin will be a virgin until the day she dies.'
'I have papers to read,' Fa growled.
'Yeah, right!' snorted Qi. 'Honestly, is that the best you can come up with? You have morals and you have papers to read? Not something like, I dunno, maybe, I had amazing sex with some stranger and I'm scared I'll walk home with some guy that isn't as good, or as ripped. I know you, Fa Mulan. Don't forget it! We shared a dorm room for four years! I know exactly the type of man you would have thrown yourself at! You've got a weakness for muscles!'
Fa remained unfazed. 'The papers I have to read are in English, so I'll need time to translate them.'
'I'll be over to get you in twenty minutes,' said Qi Tingting.
'I can run a long way in twenty minutes!' said Fa.
'Not in those pyjamas you won't,' said Qi. 'And you're too lazy to change unless someone forces you.'
When the call ended, Fa Mulan looked down at her flannel covered legs and her house slippers. What Qi Tingting said was true. She really was far too lazy to bother getting changed, and she wasn't about to run from her apartment in her pyjamas. It was much too cold outside for that.
Despite the angle, that lamp looked disturbingly familiar to Fa Mulan. As did the taupe sheets, and the tanned leg entangled within them, and the chiselled abs connected to the leg, and that gorgeously hard chest, and that beautiful, strong square jaw.
Honestly, how do you drunkenly bed the same man twice?
Was it considered a relationship?
Were you dating but not exclusive?
As she surveyed the room, Fa was quietly thankful all her clothing seemed to be in a relatively neat pile at the end of his bed this time. She was also careful to be quiet when she extracted herself from the morass of posh linen and thick toned limbs, lest she wake the sleeping god. Unfortunately, all of her things were jumbled up with all of the god's clothing, or so it seemed, as Fa discovered after she pulled a shirt over her head that very much wasn't her dress. Fa looked at the stilettos twice before deciding to carry them. She'd made it out of here unnoticed once. She could do it again, so long as she was careful.
Then the man on the bed rolled towards where she'd been. His hand flexed and padded about the warm sheets, scrunching them up before relaxing. His body leaned forward a little, his other hand moving to his head. A moment later, he swore then fell back onto his pillow. As he rubbed his eyes he mumbled something. His voice was rough and warm with sleep. Standing there in his bedroom doorway, Fa was completely mesmerised by the waking god. But then his eyes snapped open and looked straight at her, fixing her with a glare.
Fa fidgeted with her dress, attempting to smooth out the wrinkles in her cheongsam only to give up a moment later, realising her hair was probably a mess, and not in an innocent way either. Yet, as much as she wanted to run, there was a part of Fa that wondered if she could just climb back into the bed with the sex god, and try mixing their chemistry sober, or almost sober. Okay, hung-over.
Fa Mulan wasn't sure how long she stood at the end of his bed, staring back at him. His eyes wouldn't move from her. Or blink. It was slightly unnerving, and kind of sexy. But at length reality dawned on her, and Fa bit her lip and swung her handbag over her shoulder, feet braced for a swift exit.
'So, I have a couple of papers to translate, a liver to cleanse, and some morals to re-evaluate. I guess I'll see you around,' said Fa as she bolted for the door. She was almost at the bottom of the stairs when she heard the man grunting and thumping around, a bit more cursing, then the sound of clothes rustling. Fa wasn't so sure she could outrun the mysterious sex god if he was in designer shorts and sneakers and she was barefoot, in a rather sticky form-fitting dress.
Instead of panicking, Fa threw the front door open and leapt down the steps, her feet pounding against the pavement. Her handbag thumped rhythmically against her hip as she ran north. Then rubber soles slapped the concrete behind her and an arm wrapped itself around her sooner than she expected, pulling her into something warm, hard and deliciously sweaty.
The mystery sex god was breathing heavily as he held her to him, panting roughly against her neck as he regained his breath. The way his hand clung to her stomach was alarmingly sensual and kind of made Fa wish she'd just crawled back into bed with him to begin with. Even so, the mystery man didn't speak, he just held up something between two fingers. Fa stared at the business card blankly, mesmerised by the bold traditional script of his name. Li Shang was still panting, his hands pulling at her dress with irritation and want.
'Call me,' he said, before letting her go and stalking off. Fa Mulan was too stunned to move. She was absolutely mesmerised by the order to call Li Shang.
Fa Mulan stuck Li Shang's business card to her refrigerator with a silver magnet, inconspicuously nested amongst a wad of other business cards. Fa never did call the number, but she kept the card neatly bundled on top of the other business cards, just so she could look at his name and remember him: the handsome Li Shang, and their two magical nights together.
Fa had planned on being in Hong Kong for longer than six months the October she'd rekindled her chemistry with Li, but those plans fell through and she didn't want to ensue something long term given her precarious lifestyle.
Although, for the first time in her life, Fa had wanted to try experiencing an actual relationship. For the couple of months she was in Hong Kong she had suffered and vacillated. She felt a pang of guilt when she thought about texting Li, then piked, never actually committing to the follow through. Then Fa would comfort herself with the thought that, if Li Shang did get to know her, he'd probably hate her.
Even so, Fa wasn't the sort to embed herself into a dangerous situation, not one that couldn't work around her unpredictable schedule. Fa Mulan didn't really ever get involved with anyone for anything, and Li Shang didn't need her in his life, messing it up and turning it inside out. He was in a fairly senior position in his company, and he was Hong Kong royalty. He didn't need her ruining his life. Li Shang had just been a slip-up; an anomaly; a blip on the radar. Fa had had too much to drink and was far too emotional and needy back then, when they'd first encountered each other. Besides, if Li Shang had wanted to get to know her that badly, he could have attained her number from any number of mutual acquaintances. Li never called, so Fa never returned the favour.
Though, for a few weeks, she was desperate for him to call, and there were definitely a few nights she'd thumbed his number into her cell phone then failed on the follow through. After a couple of months, Fa thought they might meet by accident. But Li Shang wasn't at Yao Tang and Jin Mei-lin's wedding and she couldn't make it to Qi Tingting and Ling Ming's. Two nights' of drunken sex wouldn't mean anything, not after a year or two, and they didn't.
Not until Fa Mulan was back in Hong Kong celebrating Chu Su-wen and Qian Po's wedding. It wasn't anything big, just dinner at restaurant following a small officiation. And there his name was, the not-so-mysterious sex god, Li Shang, seated next to her on one of the Bride's family tables.
Fa had wondered if it would be too awkward to just ignore everything and pretend they were meeting for the very first time. No secret nights of passion. No drunken escapades. No sex on kitchen counters and stairway landings. Just a man and a woman who didn't know each other, sitting next to each other for no other reason than balancing a table.
When Fa took her seat at the table, the chair allocated to Li Shang was empty and Fa hoped in vain that it would remain that way. Maybe Li wouldn't make it to the wedding banquet and Fa wouldn't have to relive that second humiliating run down the street, or face an inquisition for never calling him. Then she wouldn't have to think about the business card at home on her fridge. Or all the what ifs and the maybes that had haunted her ever since that September morning when she'd discovered his name.
Then a glass of champagne landed in front of Fa, and her eyes immediately latched on to the tanned knuckles around the stem of the crystal flute. Li Shang leaned in on the back of her chair, purposefully invading her personal space; drawing a line between acquaintances and something more. Showing the world they were clearly something more. The fingers resting on the back of the chair stroked her hair and tickled her neck.
The last time his fingers had done that, Fa Mulan had been half naked, and straddling him as he carried her to his bed.
'You're here together?' asked the elderly woman sitting opposite Fa.
'Yes,' answered Li Shang.
Fa glared at him but she was unable to break her own silence, not when his voice had been so firm and clipped. Li sipped his drink, taking his seat next to Fa and met her glare. Then he grinned at Fa, and his hand dropped to her thigh, roughly caressing her. Li Shang's eyes dared her to challenge him.
The older woman looked fondly at her husband, blushing and smiling. She glanced back at Fa, nodding in her direction and sipping her wine. Fa bit her tongue until the couple wandered over to the newlyweds to wish them well, then she threw Li Shang's hand from her leg.
'I can't believe you just said that!' she whispered roughly. 'We are not here together! I haven't even seen you in almost three years!'
'And whose fault is that?' asked Li. 'I have a clear memory of giving you my number. I didn't realise I also needed to teach you how to use a phone.' At this, he pulled his cell from his pocket and proceeding to open the contacts app.
'Oh my God! You're just as patronising as I thought you'd be,' said Fa. 'Please,' she begged, 'don't talk to me. Seriously, the least you could have done is pretend we hadn't met! Now we have to play happy couples for the rest of the evening!'
'Why the hell would I pretend we haven't met?' Li Shang laughed and brushed her off. 'I guess I could have introduced you as my One-night Stand, if you'd have preferred? Oh, hello, this is Fa Mulan, the woman I had incredible sex with two years' ago. We haven't spoken since, but I think about her every night, in the dark, when I'm alone.'
'You could've pretended you didn't know me!' snapped Fa. But her thoughts had wandered. Li Shang thought of her, still, even after all this time. But more than that, he thought about her when he was alone, at night.
'Is that the kind of man you think I am?' asked Li Shang, incredulous. 'You think I just sleep with women and toss them aside?'
'It is the type of man you are,' said Fa, flatly. 'Don't pretend it isn't.'
'And what does that make you?' Li Shang rolled his eyes. 'I wasn't the one with the phone number, Mulan—that was you!'
'So, if you'd had my number, you would have called?' Fa sneered. Alas, her pretense was falling. Li Shang had called her by name, and it had sent all kinds of chills down her spine. It was so intimate, and it had felt so right.
Then their eyes met over the top of their drinks and Li Shang's gaze lingered on her lips. 'I would have done more than call you.'
Fa was sure Li meant it too. Li Shang would have done much more than just call.
In the dark, Fa Mulan couldn't make out the shadow of the lamps or the colour of the sheets, but the bedclothes were soft and gentle against her skin, and the bed didn't feel like the futon in her flat in Wan Chai. The silhouette beside her was familiar, in an odd, half-remembered sort of way. It shifted and she felt something warm and strong wrap around her waist, something pulling her closer to more hard warmth. An arm, muscular and solid, and a defined chest, sculpted from hours of sit ups and crunches. Fa could feel Li Shang's muscles flex against her skin as he breathed. It was an oddly comforting sensation.
'What are you thinking about?' A deep, tired voice mumbled in her ear.
'Running away,' Fa answered honestly. 'If I leave now, I'm fairly certain you're too exhausted to follow.'
'Don't run. Please,' Li pleaded. There was a light path of kisses marked across Fa's shoulder and neck. 'I'd like to see how this you and me survives past sunrise.'
The request was gentle and the confession warmed Fa a little. Tugging those broad arms around her, she nestled into that steely chest, and kissed the moist, sweaty skin by her lips. Li Shang's heartbeat echoed in her ear.
'I'll take you out for breakfast, if you stay,' said Li. 'I know this great place. Real coffee. Eggs every way you could imagine. No one will recognise you there. I'll keep you safe.'
For a moment, Fa wondered if she could risk it. Attachments were dangerous, but then, perhaps, not having this attachment could be even more dangerous.
'Okay,' whispered Fa.
She found herself smiling as Li Shang's fingers slowly counted her vertebrae. The closeness of their bodies, while conscious, was new and delightful.
'So, you're staying?' asked Li Shang. 'You'll stay with me, Mulan?'
Fa felt a soft smile spread over her lips. 'I don't have anything better to do,' she shrugged.
The somewhat lax confession made the smile on Li Shang's lips break. Then he kissed her, and in that devastatingly sweet moment, Fa realised the risk of losing this attachment was much greater than she would ever admit.
~Fin~