When she opened the door, she jumped back startled...

Xue stood there with an apologetic smile. He shouldn't have stood right in front of the door. Nevertheless, "I'm sorry to have made you cry but I'm not going anywhere."

It was his quiet declaration.

She stared at him, silent until a person behind her tugged her sleeve. It was a small girl with spectacles, she gave Chan Lee a look.

"Ah, Mei, this is my friend, Xue." Chan Lee explained and motioned to him with a sheepish smile. "Xue, this is Mei, also a friend of mine."

"O-Oh, pleased to be of your acquaintance, Young Miss Mei." He smiled and stretched out a hand.

"Nice to meet you too!" Mei tossed Chan Lee another look, something he couldn't understand. "I think I better get going? I'm going to the library...it was really nice meeting you, Xue." She bowed politely at him and scurried off.

He knew that she was supposed to be a friend of Chan Lee, but he was a little relieved that she went away. Chan Lee hadn't exactly given a response to his apologies, but she looked better. Only her nose seemed red.

"Xue… you're not leaving with Kit?" She asked, looking at his face. "Did he not offer anything like that to an old friend of his?"

"Oh, he offered...but I didn't want to go with him." He smiled and scratched his cheek.

"But, you could have more chances to be able to go back to the moon, to Chang'e by coming with him than with me." She rubbed her nose. "I've been so busy with university that I haven't gotten the chance to look for temples or sects… and not even getting you a sleeping bed! I haven't been a good host or assistance to you."

His heart panged at her initial words, before listening to her ramble about not taking well care of him. He sighed and ruffled her head. "You've already been very good to me, if you still feel bad… maybe you could let me sleep in your bed."

Her face heated up, even the top of her head felt hot.

"A-Ah, not beside you!" He laughed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I used to stay near the feet of Chang'e when she felt lonely and was resting on her bed."

"What?!" She looked at him with frenzied eyes.

"Well, I was in my natural form." Xue explained, feeling a somewhat bittersweet smile creep on his face. "She was very lonely without his love...I couldn't fill that emptiness no matter how hard I tried."

Chan Lee stared at him. "You don't really have to fill or fix that… but maybe, I think I'm pretty sure that she deeply misses you now and realizes how important you are to her."

"I wouldn't want that either." He sighed softly. "I'd just want her to be happy…but I'm rambling now again. Ah, it reminds me that I'm such an old hare who is now trying to force a Young Miss like you to commiserate with me."

"There's nothing wrong with that, if it helps you, I can listen." She gave him a smile.

He wanted to ruffle her hair again, but he really should be going now that he managed to talk with her. He didn't want to get her in trouble and he wanted to find his friend too. "Thank you, Miss Chan Lee. I recalled that you were supposed to be in class?"

"A-Ah, right." She hacked, thumping a fist on her chest. "I uh, lied earlier but I really do have a class soon." Chan Lee shifted a bit on the balls of her feet. "I guess you can come with me to class? We'd have to sit at the back to not draw any atten-"

A young man jogged over towards them. "I can take him back."

"Hua Zhao." Chan Lee said his name as if they were a bother. Xue would feel uncomfortable if she had used that sharp tone on him, but it seemed a little appropriate with this Hua Zhao.

Another man came over with a grin and waved at them. "With Bo Ling and Ning Bi. Hey, Zhao are you planning to skip class today with this guy? Let me join you guys."

"You remember what that Liu wanted, he wanted Xue out—so this is the least I can do for bringing the guy in." Zhao rolled his eyes.

"You're no fun, and hello there, Chan Lee right? Girl who always sits in front row?" Bo Ling waved. "Nice to meet ya, where'd your cute friend go—"

Ning Bi elbowed him.

"Um, hello there, Bo Ling." Chan Lee nodded.

"Ooh, you know my name~" Bo Ling grinned. "I'm so popular with the women, you see, Ning Bi?"

Ning Bi snorted. "It's better for you to keep your mouth shut, it won't attract anything but flies."

"Ning Bi, a drop of honey attracts more flies than a gallon of gall." Bo Ling grinned. "Remember that lesson well."

"Why you—"

"Anyhow, how about it? You can leave Xue with me, and you can head on to class, Lee. I think you're already dreading each minute."

Xue looked over at Chan Lee, she was a bit twitchy now that he paid attention. She really held her studies important. "Yeah, I think I can go with Hua Zhao, Miss Chan Lee. I'll see you later?" It was better he did this, at least there was a feeling of agency.

It was a bit eccentric that they were dealing with him as if he was some object to be passed around to. He should speak up about this with Chan Lee when she was feeling better.

"Just this once," Chan Lee threw a look at Hua Zhao. "Thank you."

"I'll leave you with Ning Bi~" Hua Zhao waved at Chan Lee. "See you tonight, let's go Xue."

Xue reluctantly followed the younger man. He didn't know his way around here yet, but he'd surely memorize it by now.

Once they were out of earshot, he moved closer to the young man. "Thank you for saving me earlier from those five men, I appreciate it."

"It was nothing, it was just annoying to deal with that Liu." Hua Zhao grumbled.

Xue raised a brow, but decided to say nothing about the man's temper now. Importantly, "Hua Zhao, what had happened after I left the rooftop?" He asked.

"You could have—" Hua Zhao let out a breath, "Nothing nasty, I think your friend stood there fuming to himself before stomping downstairs. We then started looking for you or Chan Lee. As luck had it, you encountered Liu out of all the possible people."

"You don't seem to like him." Xue finally decided to point it out. It didn't seem like Hua Zhao had anything to say about his old friend. That old fox tended to hold grudges too...it'd be a little troublesome to find him.

"We have our differences in opinion..." Hua Zhao answered. "Why? Did he do something before we got there?"

Xue considered the situation earlier. "Nothing in particular, except for admiring this bracelet. It is composed of quite exceptional beads...This is quite expensive in terms of resources, isn't it?"

"A small price to pay for peace."

"What?" Xue frowned.

Hua Zhao shrugged. "I suggest you keep it on, it may have been a heaven's blessing that nobody else found you before I did."

"The world is still as dangerous as before then..."

"How long did you even stay in this world to say that before getting whisked away?"

"I stayed for a fair length of time with that old fox and our other friends." Xue smiled. "And we didn't only stay in the forest, actually, your clan—"

Zhao cut him off. "So, Xue, what you said earlier to your friend...about Chan Lee?"

"Yes?" He tilted his head at him, feeling his lips twitch. There was an uncomfortable expression on Hua Zhao's face. "Do you like her as well?"

"It's complicated, I noticed her before—she was so quiet and lonely that she stood out." Hua Zhao paused and rubbed his forehead. "She seemed unapproachable, I tried talking to her last Friday, but she was quick to end the conversation. And I suppose I was ready to let it slide...until I saw her the day after, and I could feel a spiritual imprint around her."

"And then you began to have interest in her?" Xue added helpfully.

"I was more disturbed and wanted to get rid of whatever was behind it." Zhao stared at him. "It was you. But I guess I managed to learn a bit about her and realize there was actually more than just her silence. It was nice, knowing someone, I like that."

Xue looked ahead. "So you were more interested in finding out what was behind her mask?"

"And also dealing with threats, if you are one." Zhao frowned at him. "Were you serious about brewing that elixir? I don't appreciate you redirecting the conversation to me."

Xue looked at the boy with a pout, "I am actually curious though, it's best to know if we'd be rivals, right?"