"Lu Shen? We need to talk."

When the soft voice of the girl reached his ears, Lu Shen reflexively shut his eyes.

He had missed her.

It was like an ache that dug into his soul with each day that she wasn't by his side, and he had already waited for over several weeks. Ever since he had lost his memory, she had always been there for him. He would only need to turn around and there she would be, with her quick smile and lively eyes.

He couldn't believe he even lasted this long.

He hungered for the reports Silver and Error disclosed about her, imagining in his mind what she would be doing at this hour. Eating the delicious food she cooked? Practicing her script? Whatever it was, she must have done it in the same way she tackled life, with vivacity and enthusiasm that made everything around her seem full of bursting colors.

Lu Shen had spent the hours of the past month taking over everything that could tie her to him. Like a mad man, he had bought over her agency, the rights of the television show she acted in, the filming crew, the apartment, and had even put Error and Silver, his two top agents, to watch over her. Not to mention the contract he had deceived her into signing...

Lu Shen felt like he had gone crazy. He knew he was a rational person, not to be dictated by emotions and sentimental feelings. And yet here he was, plagued night after night with nightmares of that girl turning her back on him and walking away, not even responding to his yells of telling her to come back...

He even had a dream where he went back to the night of his accident, but this time the girl didn't come to find him. He had lain there on the cold ground, waiting and waiting for a sign of her until his last dying breath. But she didn't show up. She had...abandoned him.

When Lu Shen finally woke up from those repeating nightmares, he made himself stay awake until dawn painted a bright hue across the horizon. His fingers would tremble as he held his cigarette, his chest heaving violently. He felt as if he was close to careening over the rails, of simply succumbing to the fierce temptation of dragging her to his side by force.

If her body was caged inside his arms, wouldn't he be able to sleep well then?

Lu Shen had been staying in Shanghai ever since Error reported the broken engagement to him. He repeatedly resisted his wild impulse to see her, because he knew that it was only too easy to beat the grass and scare the snake [1]. If he needed to capture her before she could run away, he could not make any drastic moves that would startle her. Slow and patient had always been his style, except when in regards to her, being slow meant enduring beyond the limits of what he could endure, while as for being patient...Lu Shen's lips twisted into a wry smile.

Maybe he had never been a patient man in the first place.

Why else would a month feel like a year?

"We need to talk," Hui Yin repeated. Her voice was icy cold and filled with loathing, but Lu Shen didn't seem to hear it.

"Then let's meet." He was already walking into the bathroom as he spoke, his other hand unbuttoning his shirt. A fleeting glimpse of the man on the mirror showed that the corner of his lips had lifted up, but Lu Shen was unaware of this.

Hui Yin was momentarily taken aback. "You're in Shanghai?"

"Yes."

She carefully thought it over. Fine, it was better like this. She could state whatever she needed to say directly to his face.

"Okay then," Hui Yin agreed. "Let's meet tomorrow."

But Lu Shen was dissatisfied. He had already waited for so long. He needed to see her.

"Today."

"...?"

"We'll meet today."

After telling her the time and the place, Lu Shen lingered without saying anything. He was not willing to hang up first.

"Xiao Yin..."

But Hui Yin had already pressed the end call button. Only a series of beeps answered Lu Shen, and he stood for a long while inside the bathroom, his bare feet numb against the cool tiles.

Exhaustion showed in the tense lines around his face, and in the dark shadows underneath his eyes. He had been too busy this past month, as there were a lot of documents needed for the takeover of a private company. In addition to being unable to sleep, he had spent the majority of his nights smoking in the veranda, pensive and distracted.

Although his eyes were focusing on the view, who knew where his thoughts had flown off to?

Shaking himself out of his stupor, Lu Shen casually threw the phone into the sink and stepped into the shower.

He had an appointment he couldn't miss.

[1] Chinese idiom that meant to to inadvertently alert someone.