In this Life, I will be here.

Zhang Fengge, throughout the rest of the summer, helped Lei Nuwa more than anyone in her past lives combined. When the beatings from Yang Mao got worse, Fengge would sneak Nuwa out to get medical help, or to just distract her. He would take her to buy makeup in order to conceal her injuries, he talked with her throughout the most precarious of nights.

For once, Lei Nuwa had a friend. She was still often uneasy; Zhang Fengge had not existed in her past lives as far as she knew, and such a drastic change seemed dangerous. Sometimes she shut him out completely, hoping he would give up and leave her alone and let her life go its natural route.

To Lei Nuwa's appreciation and dismay, Fengge always came back. If she did not answer his texts, he would call. If she did not answer his calls, he would sit outside her window. If she did not unlock the window, he would scream until Lei Nuwa let him in out of fear of being caught by her family.

Currently, Zhang Fengge laid on Nuwa's windowsill with an arm over his eyes, still laughing from his use of the last strategy a few minutes ago. Nuwa huffed and refused to look at him, which only made him laugh harder.

"It's not funny, Fengge! If we get caught, I'll be dead for sure. Are you trying to kill me?" She pouted– something she could never do before. She never felt comfortable enough around anyone to show that side of her, until Zhang Fengge. She pretended to be annoyed, but she secretly felt a joy in her heart that she was afraid to acknowledge for fear it would disappear.

"Nuwaaaaaaa." He turned his head and dropped his arm in order to stare at her. "This Fengge would not let them kill you. He would kill them first." He said proudly. She laughed.

"You would kill your soon-to-be fiance? How cruel." It was Fengge's turn to pout. He grumbled and threw a pillow at her.

"I would never get engaged to someone like that. I am not shallow." In order to more easily see Nuwa, he had been meeting with the Yang's under the guise of discussing engagement with Yang Sui. Lei Nuwa constantly poked fun at him.

"Oh come on, Brother in-Law! How could Sister in-law ever call you shallow?" Zhang Fengge walked up to pick up the pillow he had thrown at Lei Nuwa, and then promptly threw it at her again.

They both dissolved into laughter– specifically Lei Nuwa. She did not see it, but Zhang Fengge had stopped laughing, watching at how Nuwa glowed when she was happy. When she opened her eyes to give him a questioning look, he felt as if his heart had stopped for a second. He would never get used to Nuwa's entrancing eyes, he thought to himself. He did not fully understand what magnetized him to Lei Nuwa, but he had no desire to find out or change it. He just knew he wanted to protect her, to help her, and he would go to almost any length to achieve it.

Zhang Fengge had always believed he was not meant to be born. His place in life seemed to be one he had to force a space for; he felt no connection to anything in the world, so he saw no purpose in doing anything at all.

And then he met Lei Nuwa. In a black and white world, Lei Nuwa was like a purple hyacinth that had startled Zhang Fengge from his self-induced slumber. He felt no connection to anything in this world, except for the strange girl who seemed so familiar to him. Years ago, he had gone to an oracle in a desperate grab for any meaning. The oracle had told him that he had no previous lives– that he was destined to be alone for all the ones following. He was inconsolable, until he had a dream.

A figure he did not recognize lived their life in front of him. He did not know if they were male or female, how old they were, he just felt their sadness. This sadness felt familiar— it was the same he felt from Lei Nuwa. From then on, he had promised one thing.

'Lei Nuwa, this may be my first, but in this life I will be by your side.'