EVERGLOW

II. How it had always been

Rowdy laughter drifted out the window of a condominium unit in Beijing, along with the crackle of junk food wrappers. It was Dylan's turn to host a slumber party for F6. Shen Yue and Caesar Wu had arrived first, living closest to him. Then Darren Chen and Li Jia Qi, having carpooled with Connor Leong.

Each of them had been busy over the last five years after they wrapped up filming for Meteor Garden. But they had always made sure to get together every time they were all in the same city. Whether it was karaoke, hotpot, board games, card games or just charades, they had kept the tradition. Out of ideas though, Dylan had surrendered his sizable list of film downloads, and generously offered his home entertainment system for a night of horror movie marathon.

"I can't take it anymore! My stress levels are higher than my head," Jia Qi complained, curled up on the floor beside Connor, who seemed to be taking his task of scrolling through the movie list too seriously.

"That's not really a lot, babe." Caesar got a face full of throw pillow for that. Yue smiled. He still has no idea how much Jia Qi wanted to hit him every time he called her that.

"Shut up Caesar! I heard your girl scream a while back."

"Hey, that was Dylan!" Caesar sat up indignantly on the couch and pointed accusingly at Dylan beside him.

"Exhcyoosh mhi? Mhy vhouth ith foo of huffhohn zhish whoah wym!" Dylan protested, side-eyeing Yue who was curled up on his other side, taking brazen advantage of his shoulder, while still impishly shoving popcorn into his mouth.

"I'm trying to save you from embarrassing yourself."

"Mow wike thishtracthing yowshef!" He grabbed the bowl they shared from her hands and shoved it to Darren, who seemed to be just waking up on the other couch.

"Wait, did he die?" They all paused to gape at Darren.

"You slept through all that?" Caesar asked.

"Aiyo! Find a scarier one Connor!" Dylan said, around a mouthful of popcorn. "I'm being shamed as a host here."

"I'm starting to get worried about when it's Darren's turn to host again." Jia Qi said. Everyone burst out laughing at the memory.

"Hey, I'm offended! It was a slumber party."

"Yes. A real one."

"You led us to our rooms right after dinner, Darren!"

"I knew you all sneaked into Caesar's and had beer." Darren pouted, but it only made everyone laugh harder.

"Hey Di! What's your scariest one here? Why are you the only one with a girl clinging on to your arm? What's the point of horror movies if Jia Qi doesn't take advantage of us three guys, eh?"

Three pillows flew right to Connor's face -- from Caesar, Jia Qi and Yue.

"Hey! I was trying to be subtle! But since all I get for it is your violence, I'll be direct." He leapt from the floor and hugged a bleary-eyed Darren. "Darren, why did you sleep on me? I was terrified the whole time!"

"Seriously, Connor. You need a girl," Jia Qi chided, rolling her eyes.

"I need caffeine." Darren rubbed his eyes.

"I'll make coffee. Just be in the kitchen for a bit." Dylan waited until Yue grudgingly lifted her head from his arm to lean the other way before he grabbed empty mugs and beer bottles from the coffee table, and walked to the kitchen.

"Can I have tea?" Shen Yue called out as an afterthought.

"Can I have a Wang He Di?" Caesar called out in a high-pitched voice, to the guffaws of the others.