"A girl stole your money?" Zichen mocks without the tiniest amount of humor in it.

Junjie shoots him a look but sighs. "Not this time. My parents set me up with a girl and they expect me to get married to her!" He makes faces of annoyance and tells as if his parents are saying unbelievable things. "That girl keeps on following me everywhere I go."

"What's the problem then? You could say no if you don't like her" Zichen suggests, getting a little interested in the topic. Over the years, he has heard of Junjie's parents setting him with a girl as they are dying to see their son getting married and eagerly waiting for grandchildren to play with them.

Junjie shakes his head in frustration, "Not that easy. The girl would literally cry whenever I told her off! And she would straight to my parents to complain about me. I told my parents if this girl had so much of a problem with me, then why not stop following around like a puppy?"

"And they refused?"

"Not him but that dumb girl. She was trying to threaten my parents by saying if the marriage is canceled, she will suicide. I was like what the fuck is her issue?" Junjie expresses, shoving his hand into his chestnut hair as a sign of annoyance.

Zichen is trying very hard to control his laughter but he fails. He laughs and that makes his friend angry. "Now you too? C'mon man, you should be figuring something and supporting me!" Junjie screeches.

Zichen always told him that he got gifted parents and that he should stop bitching about them to him but this lad will not listen to him ever. His parents love that Zichen is his friend and they sometimes prioritize him over their own son. Zichen likes to visit them often and spend time with them rather than going to his own home. "What do you want me to do?" he demands, tapping, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Help me get free from this girl!" he begs, clapping his hand together in front of him. Junjie is a carefree man and he doesn't want to get tied with someone for the rest of his life. He likes to do whatever he wants. He is known as the Playboy Prince of this city for a reason. He has slept over with half the girls of this city. He is so careless that he doesn't remember them whenever they encounter them for the second time. Zichen thinks he is dumb sometimes by the way women lie to him and he easily believes in them. Zichen doesn't really poke his nose into his business but as a friend, he sometimes is concerned for him.

"How do you expect me to help you? Are you even sure to whom you are asking?" he asks. Zichen is no at all good with women. He is the opposite of Junjie. He assumes he is mocking him indirectly which is not the case, however.

"Yes, I am sober right now. I have an idea and you have to help with that" Junjie asserts, his elbow resting on the desk as he faces Zichen.

"And what is your plan?"

Junie smiles evilly and Zichen gets the feeling he is going to be in trouble because of him.

**

The weather today is cool and the sun is shining too brightly over the sky. The smell of buns, cakes, and flowers gets mixed up with the wind and it hits your nostrils every time you inhale.

Zichen and Junjie steps out of the car and stands

before the Yang Restaurant, a high-end restaurant only for the riches. In a big bold letter, written the word Yang in Chinese. The restaurant looks ancient from the outside but is completely different once you are inside. There are flower beds lines by its side and it looks like they are cut recently. "Let's go," Junjie says, putting on his sunglasses again and shoving his hands into his pants pockets. Zichen follows without even knowing for what reason they are here.

As both of them enters, all the people's eyes sitting inside the restaurant instantly go to them. It's hard to ignore this beauty and people are simply drawn to them. Both of them are aware of the attention but none of them bothered. They keep on walking and Junjie looks at him as if he is finding someone. He stops and immediately waves his hand to someone sitting at the corner end. Zichen follows his gaze and finds a woman, young, waving at him. He guesses it must be this woman who his friend was talking about.

Out of the blue, Junjie suddenly grabs Zichen's hand and leads him to where the girl is sitting. Zichen narrows his eyes in confusion. "What are you doing?" he hisses.

"Executing my plan," Junjie says through gritted teeth as he smiles at the girl. Zichen cannot understand what he just said but he says nothing. He can feel the people's eyes on them and then to their tangles hands.

"Hey! Hope you didn't wait for long" he goes for hugging that woman and he finally lets go of his hand. Zichen sighs in relief and shoves his hand in his pocket.

"Not at all. I am thrilled that you called me!" the woman squeals, the curve of her smile is touching the corner of her eyes. Zichen glances at the woman. She is of average height, a little chubby on cheeks, fair, warm brown hair made into pigtails. She appears as a high school girl and Zichen is itching to ask his friend if he was talking about this woman or someone else.

"Let me introduce you to him. He is Fu Zichen" Junjie introduces him, adding eh spotlight to him. Zichen nods and gives her a forced smile. "And she is Meng Shuyin" he gestures to the woman.

"Nice to meet you" the woman chirps. She hesitates a little noticing Zichen dark expressions. Well, Zichen does not even know when his expression sometimes scares people.

As if noticing what she is thinking, Junjie smiles and once again reaches into Zichen's pocket and grabs his hand. Zichen shoots a look at him with his eyes narrowed. "Sorry, alright. Happy now?" Junjie says gently and winks at him as if they are very close. Happy? For what?

The woman appears to be in confusion as well as she watches the two of them with her big doe eyes with curiosity. Junjie keeps on staring at Zichen and he is already feeling uncomfortable. He really wants to punch this guy in his face right now. Zichen clears his throat as a sign of waking him up from his lost thoughts.

"Let's take our seat," he says turning his face from him and telling the woman. The woman nods, half absently as her mind and eyes are still on their knotted hands. The three of them take their seats. Junjie and Zichen on one side and the woman on their opposite.

"So…any reason for you to call me here or you missed me?" she teases, her eyes focusing on Junjie and her smile never leaving her face.

Junjie glances at Zichen and then at her as if he is struggling to them something. "Well…I am- I mean we are here to say something to you." Zichen immediately looks at him and never in his life has he been this confused. He told him he is executing his plan and he didn't tell him what his plans are. If he knew his plan he might not get this shocked and stunned over every sentence he says.

"Oh, what is that?" the woman's bright eyes dulls down a little and she looks at both of them with surprised eyes. At that moment a waiter comes to serve them drinks as per the restaurant rules and goes to where he came from.

Junjie hesitates and one thing Zichen knows is that he never hesitates. He gets the feeling he is acting and damn he should say he is good at that. He opens his mouth but then closes it.

Worry etches in Shuyin's forehead and she asks, "Junjie, what's the matter?"

"It's very important for me, for us" he looks at Zichen, and continues, "and I hope you will handle this with maturity," Junjie says.

Shuyin nods and takes a sip of her orange-colored drink and waits for Junjie to speak.

"We….we…" he tries to decipher his words. The more he hesitates, the more anxious Zichen and Shuyin get. Zichen is anxious about what he will say next. His whole plan is unexpected for him from the very start. "We love each other." As soon as the words slip from his mouth, Shuyin chokes out the drink she is drinking and Zichen is in disbelief. He is debating whether whatever he heard is true or his ears are ringing.

"What?" Shuyin blurts, wiping the drink from the corner of her lips snd wherever the liquid has splattered. "What did you say?"

Junjie sighs in disappointment, "I know this is all very shocking for you but….I cannot lie to you anymore, Shuyin." He then brings out his hand entangle with Zichen's and places it on the table for her to see. "We love each other" he looks up at Zichen and smiles dearly at him.

Zichen scowls at him and his hand is itching to punch this guy's face so much. So this is his plan? God, he shouldn't have gotten involved in this. Zichen is now regretting agreeing to help him.