Deer Luhan, With Love

30

Chapter 30 – In Which Lay Shows His True Colours as a Force for Absolute Destruction

Deer Luhan,

Remember when I asked if I could take Lay with me?  Please, have him back.  Have him as long as you want.

Leigh

Xiumin took me to his and Luhan’s favourite coffee shop to wind down once the manager had decided to leave us to our own devices.  We spent several hours there chuckling over the padlocks before the number of fans coming up to us became overwhelming and we decided to call it a day.

“Luhan’s told me about that girl so many times,” Xiumin admitted, still grinning, as we let ourselves back into the dorm.  It took a number of attempts because neither of us could remember the code.  “I never thought she’d actually follow us to China, though.  Anyway, football?”

He popped open a small closet I hadn’t noticed before and produced a football.  I eyed it nervously.

“Is that really a good idea?”

“Luhan and I play all the time.  It would be odd if you didn’t.”

“I’m not good at football, though.”

He started doing kick-ups.

“You don’t have to be.  All you have to do is get the ball in the goal.”

Pulling a face, I gave in and tried to tackle him.  I failed.  Laughing, he dribbled the ball down the hallway.  I struck after him half-heartedly.

My idea of letting him score and calling it quits was ruined by Chen dying in a Diablo battle that would have upgraded him to Torment level because he was too busy gaping at Xiumin dominating the football gameplay and chipping the ball over my head to sail into the net above the bath.

“Oh my God,” he gasped out.  “Luhan’s losing?  I need to film this.”

It fired my competitive spirit as well as my awareness of the fact that I currently wasn’t acting as Luhan would, and I had to get involved to save our joint reputations.  Xiumin was taken aback by my sudden ferocity as I re-joined battle with a vengeance and practically sent him flying.  Within seconds, Chen had thrown aside his game controller with a cry of alarm to save his fellow countryman.

Before a minute was up, Tao and Kris had come to see what the racket was (Tao promptly joined Xiumin’s side and convinced Kris to do the same).  Any caution whatsoever around the furniture was immediately defenestrated, with the exception of Chen making a spectacular sliding tackle and simultaneously saving Xiumin’s computer and shoving it under the couch.  I soon found myself hemmed into the wall with four large guys – well, Xiumin and Chen not so much, but Kris and Tao are tall – surrounding me as I tried to protect the ball.

“Four on one?” I protested, desperately seeking eye contact with Xiumin.  “This really isn’t fair!”

“Be glad Lay’s not here,” Chen replied in sing-song.  “Then it would be five on one.”

“Challenge!” came a sleepy voice from the other end of the room.  They all turned to see Lay poking his head out of the bedroom door – he’d been taking a nap.

I used the distraction as an opportunity to break free, shoving Kris to the side and bulling past Tao.

“What the—”

“Foul!”

Lay waved a hand at me.  “LuLu, pass.”

I tapped the ball to him and fell heavily as Kris dived on me.