First Step

"No no no no," Zero was saying, almost hyperventilating, putting his hands up in defence, "No way!"

"You promised," Lianne said mercilessly, "Anything, you said."

Zero opened his mouth but could not defend himself.

He had been too quick to agree to her condition.

But how was he to know that it would be something as ridiculous as this?!

He rubbed the space between his eyebrows, asking, "But what does giving Kai a chance have anything to do with me and Lily?"

"If I have to go on a date, you have to go on a date," Lianne said resolutely, "I can't be the only one getting out of my comfort zone."

Zero rolled his eyes, "Oh, please. There's a whole lot of difference here. Kai is interested in you. Lily isn't interested in me."

"So?" Lianne retorted.

Lianne knew what Zero said was far from the truth. Lianne had seen clearly the interest in Lily's eyes even from the first day that they had entered the Cafe, and that sort of interest would not fade in time.

Zero was very eye-catching, after all.

If he was to ask her out, Lianne was pretty sure that Lily would agree.

She had done her homework, too.

Lily, 26 years old, single.

She had a loving family, and had basically been taking care of the family alongside her extremely busy single mother. She learned cooking from her grandmother and opened the bakery shop as she loved to bake.

In Lianne's opinion, Lily was perfect for Zero who loved to eat the type of things Lily sold.

"I'm too old for her," Zero said in defence, clutching at the only straw he could.

Lianne scoffed, "Zero, at this point, you're too old for everyone."

"Ouch," he said under his breath.

Lianne then gave him a gentle smile, touching his cheek, "Zero, I'm teasing you."

Zero looked relieved.

"About you being too old for everyone," Lianne continued, "But the condition and your promise still stands. Ask Lily out. We make it a double-date."

Zero sighed audibly.

Lianne gave a bright smile, patted his shoulder then leaned to the right to peer at Kai. Who still looked rather shocked.

"I agree to ONE date," Lianne said to Kai, who then smiled brightly as he scrambled to get out of the ring.

Still, he hesitated at coming closer to Lianne, for she was still rather close to Zero. Seeing her being so intimate with her boyfriend right in front of him was hard to take, but he had to swallow all his grievances.

After all, strange though it may seem, the boyfriend was actually persuading his girlfriend to go out with another guy.

He had mixed feelings about that.

He was grateful, yet at the same time, thought it was bad. If it wasn't for the fact that he admired and respected Zero (due to the fight), he would be happily stepping all over Zero.

This warring of conflicted feelings was really making his head spin.

The schemes of the Sheng family were not as confusing or complicated like these two.

They say still waters run deep and he had a feeling that Lianne was really, really deep indeed. Her next words made him even more convinced that he was in one heck of a ride trying to figure her out.

"But only if he," Lianne said, pointed at Zero who was looking elsewhere, "asks Lily out on date."

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So now, there they were, sitting at 'his' booth while they looked at Zero's straight back heading towards the counter.

Kai was praying hard that everything would run smoothly.

He didn't understand a single thing of what was going on, but he didn't care at this point. All he wanted right now, was for Lily to say "yes".

If she said yes, he would get his date with Lianne.

Since Lianne was so open-minded about all of this, and was even pushing her boyfriend to get a date, then Kai didn't feel too bad being the 'third person' in all of this.

He looked at Lianne, who seemed to be boring a hole in Zero's back.

Perhaps, she wasn't as unaffected as she first appeared.

Was this her way of payback to her boyfriend, for the latter pushing her to a date with another guy?

Suddenly, Kai had a premonition that if he ever crossed her, she would retaliate in equal measure - if not more.

Of course, he wasn't worried about that at all because he didn't intend to cross her at all. If he ever managed to get his Angel, he would dote on her and pamper her endlessly.

He had managed to find out a few things about her.

Lianne Yang.

Originally from Country M, and had emigrated to Country Tz with her family when she was 13 years old. Her mother had passed on in a tragic manner, and Kyle Smith (who was apparently in Country M at that time) decided to sponsor her and her brother.

As a result, she became rather close to Kyle Smith, who later turned out to be her brother-in-law.

Although, strictly speaking, Kyle was her brother's brother-in-law.

However, in Country Tz, the culture was such that they all became siblings-in-law. That is, since Kay was Lianne's sister-in-law, Kay's brother became Lianne's brother-in-law as well.

That explained why Kyle was rather protective of Lianne, and why he had been there for her graduation the year before. It also explained why it was so hard to get any news on Lianne, for Kyle was known to fiercely protect the privacy of his family - and anyone close to him.

The more Kai got to know about Lianne, the more he felt that she had a lot of secrets.

Yet, it didn't deter him at all.

It just made her even more interesting and he was excited to get to know his Angel even better.

He was going to take things slowly, and step-by-step.

Right now, the first hurdle …

Zero asking Lily out.

So he continued to watch as Zero went ahead. Then, to his horror, Zero stopped, twirled on his heels and headed back to the table.

Zero looked unruffled as he announced, "Changed my mind."

Kai stood up in horror, shouting frantically, "No!!"

He then grabbed Zero's hand and practically dragged him forward.

"Come on and be a man!!" Kai hissed as he pulled Zero along.

Lianne, seeing this, couldn't help but laugh.