To Xiulan's surprise, he didn't have any interaction with Jian Lan for the next two days. On top of that, it seemed like Jian was avoiding him.

The director didn't say anything and the week was proceeding without any major complications.

It was then Xiulan started to feel a bit uneasy. They were almost halfway through the rehearsal week and he hadn't acted out one scene with the other lead. He had spent plenty of time acting with Hua Ling thanks to which they maintained a good relationship. Their boyfriend-girlfriend bond was getting pretty believable on set.

"Let's wrap it up here today, thank you all for coming. I'll see you tomorrow." The director said her usual lines and ended Wednesday's session. Half of the people collapsed on the floor or chairs, feeling exhausted. It was past 10 p.m. and Xiulan was one of the people sitting on the floor.

One of his legs was stretched out while his other was bent so he could rest his head on his knee.

He was in a deep state of debating whether he should head home or just sit on the floor till the morning comes when his phone rang. It took a lot of his will and strength to take it out of his pocket.

𝑨𝒏 𝑵𝒊: 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺. 𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘺.

Xiulan frowned at the text and sighed.

"Deduct it from her salary? What kind of crap is that?" He muttered to himself and closed his eyes. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺... Xiulan thought and texted her back a few moments later.

𝙒𝙚𝙣 𝙓𝙞𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙣:𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵. 𝘏𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥?(Not delivered yet.)

The message hasn't reached An Ni's phone which could only mean she turned it off. This caused Xiulan's worries to double, yet he knew there wasn't much he could do until his manager contacted him again and told him what was up.

𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘸𝘢𝘺? He wondered and lazily stood up. While he was resting on the floor, the room has emptied. Only a few staff were finishing up and packing their equipment.

Xiulan quickly changed to his normal clothes and messily stuffed his backpack. He just wished to be home already.

"Bye." He muttered to a person that just zipped a bag with the camera.

"Have a nice evening, Wen Xiulan!" The eyes of the girl wearing a blue hoodie and a ponytail lit up. Her idol finally greeted her first. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘧𝘧 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰, she thought.

What she didn't know was that her idol greeted a fat security lady munching Cheetos the same way. He didn't care about the people around him and wasn't paying attention to who he said goodbye.

Xiulan decided to take the subway after a longer dilemma and headed to the nearest stop that was right behind the corner.

When he finally figured out the right route to get home, he came to the realization that his wallet was missing. After searching his bag it was obvious he had forgotten it at the gym.

"Damn it." He cursed under his breath and headed back.

It was 10:57 p.m. and not many people were on the streets, yet the traffic was still heavy. The temperature of the air dropped by a few units. There was also a light breeze brushing Xiulan's hair when he hurriedly entered the building. The sky was dark, showing signs of possible rain.

This time he ignored the security lady, who meanwhile finished her Cheetos, and took the stairs to run those five floors.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘨𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵. Xiulan felt relieved after noticing a thin ray of light coming out of the door's keyhole. Just when he was about to reach the handle, his hand stopped.

His senses caught a strange sound and sharpened.

𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤? He pressed his ear against the door to listen. It indeed was a melody playing on the other side of the walls. An opening song that the director played at the beginning of every session.

What the hell? Xiulan couldn't understand what was going on. Maybe the radio has switched on automatically? He thought of an explanation.

He confidently opened the door, prepared to solve any issue with the playing device and get his wallet.

What he saw was nothing like he expected. There was only one person in the whole room, currently standing in the middle of the dance floor. Visible drops of sweat were flying off his body as he moved rhythmically to the music.

Jian Lan was facing the mirror and focusing his gaze on the reflection. Once he noticed someone opened walked in, he turned around in panic.

"I have permission to be here, don't kick me out... ahh!" he recognized Wen Xiulan right away. His already red cheeks flushed with an even darker color as he rushed to turn the music off. "I'm sorry senior, I didn't notice it was you." He apologized, leaving Xiulan in even greater confusion.

"What are you still doing here?" He asked in awe.

"J-Just practicing a little, haha..." Jian Lan scratched the back of his head like he always did. His awkward smile seemed somehow forced. Only then Xiulan noticed how poorly he looked. His hair was sticking to his forehead and water droplets dripped from his chin and cheeks. Jian's clothes had many wet patches and he was still out of breath.

"But... why?" Xiulan couldn't comprehend why someone would go so out of his way for a stupid dance. It wasn't even part of the filming, its only purpose was to warm the actors up. Yet, his junior was dancing his soul out after a ten-hour acting session.

"It's hard for me to sweat, my thermoregulation is very strong, y-you see..." Jian muttered while sinking deeper to his embarrassment. Xiulan was the last person he wished to see he was secretly practicing. "But the director approved it, you don't have to worry about that." He assured Xiulan quickly in fear he'd report him to the security.

Xiulan couldn't care less about some permission from the director. His brain was working to the fullest. Things Juan Lan just said made no sense, why would he mention something about sweating?

Then it clicked.

"𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘛𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘵." Was the advice Xiulan gave him during the first session. 𝘐𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦... his eyes slightly widened but he stayed calm.

"Are you doing this because of what I said?" Xiulan asked in disbelief. 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴?

"Haha..." Jian Lan continued with his awkward laugh. He didn't know what to say and wished to disappear at that moment. "... I guess so?" He finally muttered quietly in the hope his senior didn't hear it.

"Are you an idiot?" It slipped out of Xiulan so quickly he couldn't stop himself. He instinctively covered his mouth with one of his palms, horrified by the realization of what he just said.

"Huh?" Jian Lan's eyes gave him a confused look and the little sparkle darkened again. Xiulan panicked, he didn't mean to say that. "... I guess so?" Jian replied again with the same answer. He broke their eye contact and focused on the floor beneath him. He felt as if his body was slowly shrinking.

"Wait, I'm sorry for what I just said." Xiulan promptly apologized. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, he thought angrily. Jian Lan just said it was hard for him to sweat, yet there he was, literally bathing in his body fluids. 𝘏𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬.

It made Xiulan feel so frustrated. This is why he kept his distance. His words had such a huge impact on someone and he just called him an idiot. Even his dense brain fully realized how wrong that was.

"To be honest, I noticed that your dancing improved. No wonder, when you are working so hard." Xiulan finally said something right and praised him. It was something he's probably never done before. To top it all, his hand reached to Jian Lan’s shoulder and gently patted him. This was the first time they ever touched and Wen Xiulan was the one who initiated it.

Jian looked up and his eyes were sparkling again. His lips widened into a smile.

"Thank you, senior. I will keep up my hard work, so you can leave first... huh? Why are you here, by the way?" He finally realized Xiulan had no reason to be there.

"I forgot my wallet. The subway machine only accepts change so I couldn't pay with my phone." He explained and headed to the storage room to look for what he originally came for.

"Subway? I didn't know you take the metro." Jian Lan didn't hide his amazement. The fact that a top-class actor was so humble and used public transport surprised him.

"I don't." He replied before entering the attached room. He found his wallet quickly, it was laying under one of the benches.

"I will head back first," Xiulan announced when he returned to Jian Lan. "Don't over-do it." He reminded him of the physical exercise. "See you tomorrow." He said goodbye and waved to him awkwardly. He then proceeded to rush out of the door

Jian Lan's intense stare was making him more and more uneasy. Those eyes and sparkles were forcing Xiulan to look away, they were so full of emotions and life. He has lost that a long time ago.

"Senior!" Jian called him before he could open the door and leave, "I brought a car with me today… if you want to, I can take you home."