Lu Xing suddenly woke up, sweat covered him as he frantically tried to recall his dream...

Bittersweet.

That's all he could sum up when he tried to recall it...

'Why can't I remember it?' Lu Xing thought feeling shaken.

The dream was important, but he couldn't recall why... Lu Xing glanced at his iPhone and realized only 35 minutes had pa.s.sed since he fell asleep. During that time he'd gotten a call from Liu Zhuo along with several text messages.

Lu Xing got up and went to unlock the front door of the warehouse...only to see Liu Zhuo leaning against the front of a trailer truck. Cool as though he were filming a romance movie or thriller, Liu Zhuo naturally exuded the bad boy vibe. Suddenly feeling uncertain, Lu Xing gave Liu Zhuo an pitiful smile that pleaded for leniency.

Liu Zhuo motioned for his men to begin carrying things inside as he slowly strolled over to Lu Xing. Leaving Lu Xing to swallow down any words he'd even considered saying after seeing that dark look on Liu Zhuo's face. Right as Liu Zhuo reached him, Lu Xing found himself involuntarily taking a few steps back...

Only to realize that he'd placed himself right up against a wall.

He flinched when saw Liu Zhuo place his hands on either side of him...basically pinning him to the wall.

Why did he flinch? When obviously he could overpower Liu Zhuo whenever he wanted to... Well he was mentally asking himself the same question.

"So...would you like to tell me where you went to after your little trick?" Liu Zhuo asked darkly as he lowered his face to Lu Xing's level.

"Ahh...here and there...nowhere really special." Lu Xing played it off with an awkward smile.

Lu Xing could practically see the vein on Liu Zhuo's forehead throb from his anger...

But suddenly Liu Zhuo sighed, and the tension disappeared as he leaned his head to rest on Lu Xing's left shoulder. The act itself caught Lu Xing off guard and had him standing still like a statue. He tried to remember if Liu Zhuo had always been this way...

'I can't remember if this was how Liu Zhuo has always been or not...' Lu Xing was annoyed at himself for having such a hard time remembering.

Of course 13 yrs was no small gap...but still, there were many memories that easily came to mind from 13 yrs ago. Up till this moment in time, Lu Xing had thought his memorization skills of people and events were top notch. Yet here he was...totally caught off by someone's actions.

"You can't do that to me ever again." Liu Zhuo mumbled out against Lu Xing's ear, "I am staying with you regardless of what you do...we're friends after all."

With the last part said, Liu Zhuo turned red and hid his face in Lu Xing's small shoulder.

To Lu Xing, Liu Zhuo's words showed him a sign of vulnerability he had never before noticed in the boy. This vulnerability showed that Liu Zhuo considered Lu Xing to be an irreplaceable person to him. That nearly caused Lu Xing to tear up at the realization...

'In my prior life...everyone who had ever truly cared for me was dead or missing. Yet here I am...being shown such kindness by an old friend.' Lu Xing thought feeling a warmth spread through his heart, 'Thank you Liu Zhuo for being such a caring friend in this lifetime. I, this Brother, will definitely keep you safe.'

Lu Xing gently patted Liu Zhuo's back the way an awkward male friend could only manage.

"Young Master Liu. The arrangements over the Warehouse have been made." an elderly butler like gentleman appeared from behind Liu Zhuo.

Liu Zhuo reluctantly lifted his head, and turned away from Lu Xing too face the elderly man. And threw a glare at the poor unsuspecting man, meanwhile Lu Xing sighed rather relieved. It was so hard for him to attempt such vulnerable acts of affection of any sort. One thing that living in the Apocalypse had taught him was that signs of affection towards friends or...lovers even, could result in someone's death. As terrible as zombies were, humans were far worse.

"How much spending money have you got left?" Lu Xing suddenly asked as an idea struck him.

He had cleaned a good portion of the Warehouse anyways...

"Enough for me to buy another warehouse if needed." Liu Zhuo said off handedly, as though that was obvious.

Ticked off by the guy's att.i.tude, Lu Xing said, "Good. Order a living room set, order 10 full sized bunk-beds, the bedding for them...a full outdoor kitchen set that can go somewhere in the building...and an indoor greenhouse, along with fertilizer in dirt and a variety of seeds, make the majority edible."

"Also see if you can get the fence and gate reinforced and patched, maybe some more barbed wire. Get us two back up generator as well." Lu Xing said then abruptly came up with an idea, "A large screen tv with a bunch of anime downloaded onto flash drive would be appreciated! Try to get it done before two weeks is up."

Lu Xing finished up saying with a yawn.

'I need more sleep to boost up my powers.' He thought depressingly.

Liu Zhuo nodded, "Done. Do you need to sleep in the car?"

Liu Zhuo was pointing at a black limo.

Blank faced...Lu Xing fished out the keys to his car, and went to the Nissan X-Trail that had been completely customized. Liu Zhuo looked after his retreating figure, as he gave his butler instructions. After his butler left to get everything he'd needed, he walk over to the car that Lu Xing had entered and glance into the metal mesh covered window...

In the pa.s.senger seat, Lu Xing had instantly dozed off the moment he'd adjust the seat just good enough for his liking.

Liu Zhuo dug out a note from his pocket.

[To my friend, Liu Zhuo; I don't have a good enough explanation to any of this, and just hope that if you consider yourself my friend, then that you will be patient with me. -Your good friend, Lu Xing]

While leaning on the car, Liu Zhuo hand crumpled the note.

'What happened Lu Xing? What happened to you while I wasn't looking?' Liu Zhuo thought as recalled the expressions Lu Xing had showed him since this morning alone, 'You were so carefree up till yesterday night...then suddenly it feels as though you've changed...'

This sudden change frightened Liu Zhuo in a way he had never felt frightened before. Lu Xing acted like a person that could suddenly disappear... And that disturbed Liu Zhuo far more than he could possibly like.

"I won't let you go." Liu Zhuo stated as he glanced once more at the boy sleeping in the vehicle.

The skies were darkening...

Then he walked off...