Qin Beihou

The next few days passed by quickly, and Xu Anyi continued to wake up, exercise, eat, go to work, and repeat each day over and over again with Si Mu always by her side.

It did not take long for her to tone up her body with the right diet and exercise, and with each passing day, she felt her confidence return to her as she took good care of herself.

Her skin and body all began to look better and she could clearly feel and see the difference with each day. She also learned about many things that had happened in the five years she was stuck inside, and although her life had been turned upside down, nothing much seemed to have changed in the world.

One morning, Xu Anyi and Si Mu were both sitting in the living room.

Si Mu was doing his work and Xu Anyi had just remembered the password to one of her small private social media accounts from the past, and she was scrolling through it.

Suddenly, a notification appeared at the top of the screen and she sat up straight when she saw that she had received a message through her account.

She barely had any friends on this account except for a few very close friends, and most of them had unfollowed her already in these five years, so who could it be?

She tapped on the message and looked at the name on the top of the screen.

'Houzi'

She recognized the nickname right away and saw the new message that popped up at the bottom of the screen:

'Xu Anyi! Is that you?'

She smiled softly when she read the message and saw that the other side was still typing. He had probably seen that her account was active.

She did not respond to his message but instead left the couch, returning to her room until Si Mu's confused gaze. She gave him an assured smile and pointed at her phone before going up the stairs.

She entered her room and closed the door, clicking on the phone icon at the corner of the screen.

At once, her phone began ringing as she sat down on the chair on the balcony, waiting for him to pick up. Several seconds passed, and she was beginning to wonder whether he would ever pick up or not.

Finally, the vibrating stopped as there was a ring and the phone turned silent. She turned on the speaker mode and stared at her screen, opening her mouth but not saying anything.

She could hear the soft sound of his breathing coming from the other end of the phone.

"Qin Beihou?" She finally asked softly, and she heard the breathing sounds stop.

There were another few seconds of silence and then, "Xu Anyi! Is that really you?!"

Xu Anyi almost dropped her phone as she tore her phone away from her ear, scrunching her face up in shock, "Qin Beihou, what in the world do you think you are doing?! Do you want my eardrums to burst?!"

She could hear his heavy breathing as he didn't respond to her question and instead burst out laughing, "I heard you came out of. . . but I didn't know how to reach you?

Xu Anyi smiled, "I know, I know. I did not know how to contact you either. . . Or if you wanted me to contact you."

"Xu Anyi! What do you mean if I want you to contact me or not?! Is that how you view our relationship?!" He thundered, obviously angry.

Xu Anyi chuckled, turning off speaker mode as she stood up and entered her room again, "Okay, okay. I was just thinking. . ."

She smiled, "I saw online that you have become Country Z's most famous male celebrity. Wow, Houzi*! Who knows if you still want me as a friend or not?"

*helemon's note: Houzi is a nickname for Qin Bei"hou" and it is a play on words as it sounds the same as the word "monkey" in Chinese.

She pursed her lips out, pretending to be mad although she was smiling widely.

"Ch!" Qin Beihou rolled his eyes as he stood up as well, "Who cares about Country Z's most famous male celebrity?"

He grinned, "I want to be the world's most famous male celebrity!"

Xu Anyi burst out laughing, knowing that although he sounded like he was joking, he was probably serious. And, she knew that he would give it his all to achieve the goals he set his mind to.

"Do you have time today? Let's meet."

Xu Anyi looked at the clock on the wall, "I have time the entire day until later tonight. But does the big Celebrity Qin have time?"

"Shut up, Xu Anyi!" He retorted at her joke as he entered his closet, "I have time today. I'll meet you at XX Coffee Shop in half an hour. Don't be late!"

Then, he hung up.

Xu Anyi looked at the black screen on her phone and scrunched her nose up in distaste. Thirty minutes? She pulled up the address of the coffee shop and saw that it took thirty minutes to get there.

She quickly changed out of her pajamas that she was wearing and did not bother to do her hair or makeup before rushing out.

When she reached the living room, Si Mu turned around to look at her, raising an eyebrow when he saw that she had changed.

"I'm going out to meet a friend," she explained.

Si Mu opened his mouth and almost asked if it was a girl or boy, but then stopped himself as he looked back at his computer and simply said, "Si Er should be outside. Tell him to drive you there."

"Thank you," Xu Anyi said quickly before running out the door.

—

It took a little over half an hour for the car to reach the coffee shop, and Xu Anyi thanked Si Er before jumping out of the car and entering the small coffee shop.

The coffee shop was very large, and even though there were not many people inside, she still had to walk around for a while before she finally found the person sitting in the very corner of the shop, wearing a large black hoodie and a black mask, baseball cap, and sunglasses.

He was looking down at his phone the entire time and did not notice her until she sat down in the seat across from him.

Xu Anyi leaned forward, crossing her arms together with a smile, "Qin Beihou!"