The shoot was finally over, and the duo shots that were only supposed to be a one-time thing ended up becoming five. Everyone just couldn't get enough of the singer-apprentice pair.
Li Tian came out of his dressing room in a fantastic mood and headed back to the common area where the pastries were located. He came prepared this time, with a doggy bag hidden under his coat.
Upon arriving, the first thing he noticed was his little brother quietly stuffing his face, and Meilin speaking to him with a smile on.
The singer's lips curled up seeing them, but before he could join in, someone called out from behind him.
"Mr. Li Tian," Jia Lin approached him.
Li Tian pursed his lips in annoyance but held back that particular emotion. He had to admit that he was a little indebted towards the Blue Star Studio supervisor.
"What is it?" he asked.
To that, the man responded by handing the singer a big envelope. "These are some of the best shots we have. I printed a few but the rest you can find inside the USB drive included here."
The Li heir received the envelope in surprise and immediately opened the contents. The first picture he pulled out was a back shot, taken to fully exhibit the design on the backside of the outfit.
His eyes search the picture for his little brother's face and thankfully he wasn't disappointed. The boy was holding his own very well and the expression he made was surprisingly good. For this particular shot, they had to look past their shoulders towards the camera in a cocky way with the main theme being arrogance.
For someone without an arrogant bone in his body, Rai pulled it off great.
His eyes then darted to the design on the boy's back.
A fiery blue phoenix.
He wasn't paying attention at first so didn't notice it in the beginning but the designs they both wore were very well chosen.
He had on a fiery red dragon which well suited both his image and color. Anyone that saw him in it would feel it appropriate.
However, the design Rai was made to wear surprised him in a more pleasant way.
๐๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ... ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐บ.
He had usually associated red with fire, especially since red was his favorite colour. But seeing the lofty imperial design on Rai's back, he felt a little enlightened.
๐๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ.
"What do you think?" Jia Lin broke his thoughts.
"They're pretty good," Li Tian admitted. "Who picked out Leixue's outfit in this one? Raise their salary."
"Heheh. I'm glad you're happy with it. I'll be sure to pass on your instructions," the supervisor paused for a while before continuing, "We must thank you for allowing the shoot. Our goal was achieved perfectly."
"Oh? Which goal was that?" the singer raised an eyebrow.
With a light chuckle and teasing look, the man pointed to Li Tian's face on the picture. "Your best state in every picture."
"Wh-"
"Tian! We need to head out soon," Melin called out glancing at her watch. Because of their previous pit stop, their schedule had been delayed quite a bit. "Unless you want to skip lunch."
"Fuck that. Let's go."
"I'm sorry to have held you up so long. Hopefully, we get to work again soon," Jia Lin smiled unapologetically. He was fully satisfied with their cooperation today. "Allow me to bring everyone to the exit."
Before the man could show the singer and the others the way out, Li Tian held his hand out to stop him.
"You wait right there. I'm not leaving just yet," the young man said and walked ahead of him towards Meilin and Rai.
He took out the doggy bag hidden in his coat and quickly stuffed as many pastries as he could inside of it, causing Jia Lin to be completely stunned.
But he wasn't the only one. Meilin had immediately facepalmed, wanting to bury herself in the ground, while Rai, on the other hand, was also originally surprised but immediately started to help pick out the best pastries for the doggie bag as well.
"This one was really good, Big Brother Tian," the boy offered one.
"You think so? Thanks, Leixue!" Li Tian took it and stuffed it into the bag.
"What the hell are you teaching the boy..." Meilin couldn't help but mutter under her breath. However, she did nothing to stop it.
Instead, she watched as the studio supervisor's expression slowly change, as if he had just been enlightened.
๐๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ... she sweatdropped.
.....
The day passed by super quickly, at least it felt that way to little Rai. What started out as an obligation ended up becoming a day full of laughter and learning.
Yes. The young man he thought to be quite thoughtless ended up teaching him so much about how he lived his life.
Li Tian lived with pride, assertiveness, and intensity. He knew exactly what he wanted and didn't take no for an answer. To on-viewers, this could be taken as arrogance which sometimes certainly was, but Li Tian was a man that hardly cared what others thought.
Rai wished he could be the same.
At least he was standing behind that ferocious man, learning what he could. Who knows, maybe one day he could gain even a sliver of his presence.
"What are you thinking about, Leixue?" Li Tian called out from behind him.
"Mmm... Do you want to guess?" the boy questioned back at him.
"Heh. Of course," the singer grinned knowingly. "You're thinking how awesome it is to have me as your teacher."
"You're right."
"I a- what?" the comeback caught him off guard.
"Big Sis Meilin is waiting for us. Let's go!" Rai quickly changed the subject and scurried off hurriedly, leaving the stunned Big Brother Tian behind.
Half a second later, Li Tian snapped out of it and ran after him. "It's MISS Meilin! Don't call that witch Big Sister!"
"Hahahahaha! Okay!"
.....
Later in the evening.
Two people stood outside the car, a giant mansion looming right behind them. The sky had yet to darken, but they were already saying their goodbyes.
"Are you sure you have to go back now, Leixue?"
"Yes. My father instructed me to be back before dinner. He has plans he wants me to join," Rai explained to the big brother in front of him.
"Plans huh... You sure you're going to be alright?" Li Tian couldn't help but worry. What sort of plans could that son of a bitch Zhou Liuxian need Rai for?
"Mm. Thank you very much Big Brother Tian. I will be fine," the boy nodded, appearing less timid than he normally would.
"If you say so. Just give me a call if you have any trouble," the Li heir offered, the worry he was feeling not decreasing one bit. He had even asked Meilin for another phone specifically for contacting his little brother. After all, his private phone was already in use for him as Xiaolang. "You can send me a message if you're bored too."
Li Tian gently rubbed the boy's head, the affection finally reaching him, as Rai accepted it with his head lowered in embarrassment.
Who knew the famous Li Tian would give him his private number ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ask him to message freely.
"Okay... Thank you, Big Brother Tian," Rai looked up and said wholeheartedly.
"What are saying, Leixue?" the young man grinned. "You don't need to thank me for anything."
The boy didn't think that was true at all but he guessed it was because of how simple a thing it was to a big clan heir. Regardless, that simple thing meant something to him and that was what made him feel the need to show his appreciation.
"I still want to thank you. Today was a lot of fun."
"Well that's all that matters then," his hand didn't hold back from attacking the boy's head intimately again with a giant grin.
Creak.
The sound caused both of them to turn to the source.
The head butler had opened the front door and come outside. Without getting any closer, he bowed deeply towards Li Tian before speaking formally to his own clan heir, "Young Master Leixue, you are required inside immediately."
This made Li Tian frown deeply and he was seconds away from saying something in protest when his little brother stopped him with a shake of his head.
"I understand," Rai replied, then gently touched the hand on his head. "I will go now."
The Li heir felt no aversion to his touch as he would any other person. Somehow, the usually timid boy felt a lot more mature than he used to be.
"Thank you again, Big Brother Tian. I'll see you tomorrow right?"
"Yeah. First thing in the morning."
"Okay! Goodbye!" Rai hurried back into the Zhou Manor after waving at him.
After he entered the main door, the butler bowed once again to the Li guest and entered in as well.
"Hmmm..."
The boy had already long left Li Tian's sight, but his instincts reacting somehow kept him in place. Something felt off again.
When it came to things that didn't affect him, Li Tian would be as oblivious or even less aware than anybody else. But if it were something negative that affected anything he cared about, his instincts were surprisingly almost always right. Whether he acted on them was another thing.
Suddenly, something moved at the corner of his eye.
A few windows away, the curtain had closed shut, as if someone had just been watching him moments before. The Li heir's senses peaked at that moment.
"Tian! Hurry up!"
Meilin had finally lost her patience. She had been waiting the entire time in the car right next to him yet even after the boy was gone, he still hadn't come inside.
"I know!" he answered a bit annoyed but it was already too late. His concentration was already lost and his previous senses were suddenly ignoring him. He glanced back at the window but any movement there before had ended so there was nothing more to see.
"Tch... " Li Tian went back into the car and they drove off.
.....
"That Li Tian... What is he even doing?" a different tan young man mumbled to himself and softly twisted the four rings on each hand. After seeing the boy enter the mansion, he immediately shut the curtains fearing he would be seen.
This person was nonother than Bai Junyi, previously known as Luo or ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐จ Yijun.
He was inside the Zhou Manor again, this time with a laid-out purpose.
Minutes later, a knock came from the door.
Knock. Knock.
"Come in," he responded.
The door slowly pushed open, and a small figure appeared at the entrance.
"Hello..."
Seeing the young one, he gave a knowing smile. "Welcome, Leixue."
.....
"Something doesn't feel right..."
Meilin glanced at the cousin beside her as she drove the car and asked, "What part doesn't feel right?"
"I'm not sure..." Li Tian stared outside the window and watched as the trees passed by. Bellrose was a small town filled with so much nature surrounding it; it was a breath of fresh air when compared to the city centre, especially now that he didn't have access to the clan estate. "I only get this distressed when I'm really angry at someone..."
His cousin manager kept her eyes on the road but also raised an eyebrow questioningly. "๐๐ณ๐ฆ you angry at someone?"
"Well yes," his voice sounded confused. "I'm always angry at my little brother's father but... I'm not sure if that's what my instincts are telling me to pay attention to right now..."
"Maybe it's because his father asked him to come back early that you feel uneasy?" Meilin suggested. "You have his number right? Try asking him about it as Xiaolang."
"Yeah..."
This time, Li Tian was obligated to come back to the office. As payment for his help, one of the things Li Xinya required him to do was report the day's activities and results directly to the eccentric branch head each time. The man was especially curious about what happened at work today with Rai.
The young Li wouldn't have time to meet the boy again tonight because of it, but since this was one of the conditions placed when he asked for his uncle's help, he wasn't in any position to refuse. Thankfully it wasn't even that difficult.
The Li heir took out his private phone and searched for the message chatroom he wanted.
๐๐ถ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ผ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ด: How are you?
There was more he wanted to say, but of course, as this persona, everything had to be short and straight to the point.
Li Tian had already expected the boy's reply to be delayed, especially since it hadn't been too long since they parted ways, but nearly thirty minutes passed and there was still nothing.
The young man's expression slowly became more strained.
What could be happening right now?
Multiple different scenarios played in his head and most of them were barely any good.
๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ช ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ?
At this point, both Li Tian and Meilin had already reached the office and even as he stood in front of his uncle, he couldn't stop thinking about being somewhere else.
"This is the USB drive and file with today's pictures featuring Zhou Leixue," Meilin handed the North Branch Head the goods that Jia Lin had passed on to them earlier.
Li Xinya received it and immediately plugged it into his computer. In the meantime, he also took the few printed-out pictures and scanned through them thoroughly.
"The pictures themselves are professionally taken like everywhere else, no surprise there. As for the assets..." the man started to comment with a smile, "Interesting... When you called me about them asking for the boy to be included, I was a bit suspicious at first but..."
As the singer's uncle, how could he not notice the difference?
Li Tian was practically glowing in these pictures.
"Whoever suggested the project must have a keen eye. Tell me more about him," Li Xinya ordered the two as he clicked onto the files on his laptop next. The pictures mounted on the USB were too many to count.
Meilin started describing the man first. "His name is Jia Lin and he works as the main supervisor. Although his position is a lot higher than most of the staff, he worked hands-on and almost never left the set. He appeared to be someone with a clear vision on what he wanted to do with the studio."
"Sounds like a hands-on individual. What about personality-wise. Tell me his nature."
"He..." she stopped to think for a while. "Hmm... Although it isn't too obvious, he ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด have a good moral compass-"
"Oh? What makes you say it's not obvious?" the branch head asked curiously.
Meilin glanced at her dazed little cousin, internally rolling her eyes at how distracted he appeared and responded, "Jia Lin has a very glib tongue and he uses it very well in controlling the flow to where he intends. It's quite passively forceful. While he hasn't asked for anything unlawful, they do branch outside of the contract and maybe even bordering people's bottom line. If a certain ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ is caught off guard, they would easily be manipulated into going through with that person's requests without realizing it." She emphasized the word 'someone,' clearly trying to imply the oblivious young teen beside her.
He still wasn't paying attention.
"Interesting... so he has great potential, with a likable personality to match."
๐๐ช๐ฌ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ? Meilin raised an eyebrow. Anyone else hearing the personality description she gave would hardly call that ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ.
"Would about you, Tian? How was the partnership today?"
As if he didn't hear himself being questioned, the young man continued to stare into space without answering, making it even more obvious his mind wasn't there.
The moment his cousin manager started to notice their uncle's expression slowly shift into annoyance, she quickly slapped the dazed celebrity on the back. "I'm sure experiencing it firsthand, Tian can tell you more about today than I can."
The slap was enough to snap Li Tian back into reality during the meeting, and Meilin's commentary afterward explained to him exactly what he was supposed to be saying, saving him as always.
"Today was-"
๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ. ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ.
The singer stopped speaking midway and fumbled to reach his phone even under the watchful gaze of the Li Branch Head in front of him.
Meilin just felt like facepalming herself for the second time today. Indeed, Uncle Xinya was very doting, but there was a time and place for things. Everyone had a limit, and his was one you never wanted to cross. Hopefully he won't be too pissed off. ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๏ผ
Li Tian took out his phone, checked the notifications, and immediately clicked on the message after seeing it was from his little brother.
๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ถ: I'm sorry I was late. My father has made me start homeschooling. So I won't be free until around 8pm. I just got a 10 min break.
The Li heir sighed in relief at the news and instantly sent a reply.
๐๐ถ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ผ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ด: As long as you're okay.
After pressing send, he smiled at his uncle sheepishly and explained himself, "I'm sorry, Uncle Xinya. I was distracted because of an issue with my little brother."
"Oh? Is the young boy doing better today?" there was a slight glint in the middle-aged man's eyes.
"That should be the case."
The smile from Li Xinya's face dropped and changed into a piercing glare. "Then stop wasting time and get on with your report."
"Y-Yes, sir."
.....