Wondering why that was, she made her way into the sitting room. Indeed, Xuan Tianyi was at the kitchen, preparing noodles.

"What's going on?" she asked, slowing walking towards her brother.

"Oh! You're awake," Tianyi smiled at her. "Come and sit. I made breakfast."

Xuan Tianmei watched as he put two bowls of noodles down on the table. Xuan Tianyi never did anything this good of his own volition. Unless he was trying to appease he after doing something wrong, she quickly concluded that he had done she might not like. Apprehensively, she asked, "What did you do?"

"What are you talking about?" Xuan Tianyi sat at the dining table and buried his face in his bowl of noodles.

Xuan Tianyi sat, picked up her chopsticks and watched him intently as he ate. "Are you sure you didn't do something?"

"I didn't," he denied vehemently.

Although she doubted him, she started eating anyways.

"Last night..."

Xuan Tianmei looked up at him. She knew he was about to confess.

"I called up Hua Zong and accepted the job."

She put down her chopsticks. Her face drained of all color. She stared at him intensely. "After I asked you not to?"

"It pays well. And it's a real job. I don't see what the big deal is," Xuan Tianyi shrugged.

"The big deal is you shouldn't do something like that. You're selling your body for money. What's the difference between that and prost.i.tution?"

"What are you even saying? How are they the same thing?"

"I'm saying you shouldn't do it. You don't have any money now, and yet you can't keep your thing in your pants. If you become famous and start accruing fans, who's to say you won't die of AIDS before you turn thirty? What's wrong with living a simple life? You don't lack for anything do you?"

Xuan Tianyi chuckled and angrily smashed his chopsticks on his bowl, "Oh! I see what the problem is. You're just upset because once I start earning good money, you won't have any other purpose in life."

"What?"

"It's true. At twenty-two, you don't even have a boyfriend because your life is all about me."

"Xiao Yi —"

"Do you know you're a control freak? You're upset because you feel like your position in my life is being threatened, and you might not be able to control me any longer.

"It's irritating, 'big sister,'" with that, Xuan Tianyi picked up a jacket and stormed out the door.

***

Sitting opposite Hua Zhendan was the handsome man he'd given his card to at the cafe the previous day.

Hua Zhendan picked up two blue files from the top of his table and studied them. One had Tan Yao's name printed on it in gold. The other had the two characters, 'Xuan Tianyi' written on it.

As Hua Zhendan glared at the one that had Xuan Tianyi's name on it, he felt his heartbeat accelerate, and he frowned. He hated feeling this way.

Tan Yao, who was still unable to believe his luck, stared at Hua Zhendan nervously. He wondered why it seemed he was dallying.

"Hua Zong," Tan Yao called.

Hua Zhendan who had almost forgotten he was there looked up at him. As he stared into his face, he felt himself calm down. He had found that Tan Yao had this kind of effect on him, most especially when he contrasted Xuan Tianyi's many flaws against Tan Yao's seeming perfection.

"Here," he gave Tan Yao the file that had his name on it. Pointing to a column on the bottom left of the last page, he gave Tan Yao a pen and said, "Sign here."

Tan Yao took the pen and wrote down his signature. As soon as he put down the pen, he heard the buzzer on Hua Zhendan's desk go off.

Through the buzzer, Hua Zhendan's secretary's voice echoed, "Xuan Tianmei is here to see you, Sir."

Hua Zhendan pressed the buzzer and spoke into it, "Let her in."

Xuan Tianmei came in and took a seat on the office chair right beside Tan Yao's. "Good morning, Hua Zong. Big Sister Qin told me you wanted to see me."

"Good morning," Hua Zhendan said, in reply to her greeting. "Where's Xuan Tianyi? He was supposed to be here by 9 am."

"I... I don't know," Xuan Tianmei looked fl.u.s.tered, almost worried. "He left the house before I did."

"I see," Hua Zhendan frowned.

"I... There's something I wanted to ask you," Xuan Tianmei said, then threw a glance at Tan Yao, like she wasn't sure if she could ask in his presence.

Hua Zhendan immediately understood. Turning to Tan Yao, he said, "Please wait outside for a bit."

"Alright," Tan Yao bowed a bit, then left the office.

Hua Zhendan nodded at Xuan Tianmei, letting her know it was okay to continue.

"I... I wanted to ask you not to hire Xiao Yi if that's okay."

Although Hua Zhendan's face wore no expression, he was curious as to why she was asking something like that of him. He had always had the impression that she wasn't a manipulative person. He didn't want to judge her too quickly, but it seemed to him like she was starting to resemble his mother in more than looks.

"Well," Xuan Tianmei continued, "My brother... He is a bit reckless. You won't understand because you only just met him."

Hua Zhendan frowned. He didn't know where she was going with what she was saying, but he also didn't like that she a.s.sumed he didn't know Xuan Tianyi well enough to realize he was a reckless person.

"Well, if he became a model, and he became popular, I'm just worried about him. In the future, I, he's the only family I have. I —"

"Xuan Tianmei," Hua Zhendan called, interrupting her incoherent blabbering.

"Hua Zong," she pouted.

"I understand where you're coming from." He did. "But, there are some decisions your brother should make on his own."

Xuan Tianmei bit her lower lip. It was evident she didn't agree with him.

"Moreover, you're not his mother. You're only his sister. You don't need to burden yourself this much with your brother's life. If he has as much sense as you do, I'm sure he'll be fine."

Xuan Tianmei's face lit up with a smile. It wasn't because Hua Zhendan had managed to convince her that Tianyi would be okay, but because Hua Zhendan had praised her. "If you say so."

Hua Zhendan nodded. "If there's nothing else..."

"Yes, I'll go now." Xuan Tianmei stood up to leave.

"Xuan Tianmei," Hua Zhendan called her before she got to the door, causing her to halt altogether.

"Hua Zong?" she turned around.

"If you still need an a.s.sistant, tell it to Dai Li. She'll find you one before the end of the day."

Smiling, Xuan Tianmei bowed slightly, "Thank you, Hua Zong."

"It's okay. Next time, if you need something, don't hesitate to ask for it."

"Okay, Sir. Thank you, Sir."

As she left, Tan Yao came back in, accompanied by Xuan Tianyi.

When Hua Zhendan caught a glimpse of Xuan Tianyi, his heartbeat accelerated again.

The longer he looked at Xuan Tianyi, the prettier he seemed. His lips looked redder than they looked yesterday. His lashes looked longer, and his eyes looked brighter than they did when he last saw him. Was his hair silkier? At this point, Hua Zhendan started to wonder if Xuan Tianyi was really as pretty as he thought he was or if his crush on him made him look that much pretty.

Standing beside Xuan Tianyi, even the Tan Yao whom he had waited for, for almost three hours the previous day seemed to pale in comparison.

As Hua Zhendan stared at Xuan Tianyi, he realized that what he felt for him wasn't a crush. He was in love with this idiot. In retrospect, he had fallen in love on that first night. As Hua Zhendan stared at Xuan Tianyi, he realized he was in trouble.