sleepless cinderella ☆ w.kh | ✔

02

"Why're you being so pissy about this? You're the one who offered," you informed Kunhang as you followed behind him towards his lab, your newly-acquired visitor's badge hanging around your neck.

Ever since you'd entered the building his lab was contained in, he had converted back to being cold and aloof. You weren't quite sure which version of him you preferred, the insufferable bastard who wouldn't leave you alone in the lounge today, or the man with a stick up his ass that you'd met the other night.

Kunhang brought out his own ID badge to scan to open a door, and you had to dart through right behind him as to not have it slam shut on you, "If you had more than two braincells, you would've been able to understand that I was kidding."

"Oh yes, my dumbass self could never understand the fine intricacy of your genius-level humor."

He didn't reply, stopping at another door to scan his badge through. This time on the other side, instead of a long hallway like before, there was a room that looked like a small warehouse. In one corner, small bursts of sparks were coming up from a workbench as a woman seemed to be soldering something. In the middle of the room was another workbench that Kunhang made a beeline for.

You followed, focusing on what was on his workbench. Amongst all the tools, scrap pieces of metal, stray circuits, and other miscellaneous items, was a little robot. It stood about half a foot tall, and you couldn't quite figure out what its purpose was.

Just as you were about to ask Kunhang, the woman looked up from her own workspace, seeming almost distressed as she spotted you, "Uhm! Wong, who is that?"

"Y/N," he replied blandly, sitting in front of the robot and bending down to be eye-level to it.

"That's not what I meant," she rolled her eyes, and you were almost happy that he pissed other people off as much as he pissed you off.

Realizing that he wouldn't be very helpful, you decided to introduce yourself, bowing to her, "My name's Y/L/N Y/N. I'm a journalism graduate student at the University of Hong Kong, and I was hoping to do a piece on Kunhang, the lab, and the projects being worked on."

She still didn't seem very pleased about this, "Keep my name out of your article, and you're more than welcome to do it."

"I will, thank you," you bowed to her again as she continued her work.

Hesitantly, you sat across from Kunhang, taking out your small notepad and pencil from your laptop case. You scratched down a few observations of the lab, mind still on the woman.

"Who is she?" You asked him quietly, watching the older woman carefully adjust the placement of something.

"That's Cai Lanying."

You waited for him to give you further explanation, but he was silent again as his eyes never left the robot, seemingly scrutinizing every detail. With a sigh, you wrote down her name, with a side note of 'keep out of article.' Kunhang stood up, and your eyes followed him as he grabbed something from a cart off to the side before returning to the workbench. It looked like a remote control of some kind, and you watched with great interest as he pressed the 'on' button.

The robot whirred to life, two purple LEDs blinking like eyes as it waited for his next command.

Kunhang set a piece of origami paper down in front of it, positioning it exactly before speaking clearly, "Swan."

And then two arms extended out from the small robot, delicately picking up a corner of the paper. As it began folding, you watched with pure amazement.

"It's so cute."

"Cute?" His eyes shot up from the paper to look at you, a scowl forming across his mouth.