Daylight

1

Wang Yibo mechanically goes through his routine of dragging himself into the elevator, punching the button for the 27th floor, and slumping at the side of the elevator slightly.

It's been another energy-draining day for him, and while Yibo surely is already accustomed to the daily activities of going through difficult warm up exercises and contorting his body in angles probably impossible for the average human being to do, it is still very tiring to have to go through all that when he has to a)practice his dance solo, b)rehearse with his group, c)instruct and foresee four high school sections, and d)prepare for finals because the semester is slowly gearing towards its final month. It's so exhausting, really. Yibo barely has any free weekends left, even.

When he hears a ding, Yibo peels himself off of the elevator wall and walks towards his unit. He inputs the code on the keypad right next to his door, and drops his backpack and kicks his shoes off the very moment he steps inside the complex.

Yibo settles on the couch in his living room, opens his phone to check his inbox and groans when he sees that it is already 7:12pm. Well, fuck it. There is no time to nap now.

He stands up from the couch, and goes to the kitchen to prepare dinner. The process couldn't really be called 'preparing dinner', as all Yibo has to do is to take two plastic containers, one of which contains several strips of steak that he pops into the microwave for a few minutes, while the other one contains vegetable salad, on which he dumps some vinaigrette on. He finishes it all in exactly eight minutes, and then hops into the shower.

Yibo gradually turns the heat up as he keeps on scrubbing himself clean in the bathroom. It helps relax his muscles, and he hums as he lathers more cream body wash and suds his body up with it. When he rinses himself, the water has gone even hotter, and Yibo sighs contentedly as he exposes certain parts of his skin to the nearly scalding water. It makes him pink in all the right places.

When he's done showering, Yibo towels through his hair first, leaves that towel on the rack by the door, and then wraps himself in a fluffy black robe, tying it around the waist loosely as he pads inside his bedroom.

Yibo wipes his hands on the robe, makes sure they're dry enough, before he plugs in and turns on his PC. He checks the time. 7:43pm. He isn't too surprised at himself for really taking his time in the shower. He clicks on a few icons, and completes his set up in five minutes tops.

While he waits for the programs to load, Yibo quickly pads towards his vanity, picks a light pink lip balm, and swipes it on his lips. The rest of his skin care routine can follow later, after he showers for the second time. He turns on his hair dryer, and blows hot air on his head for a few minutes. He runs a hand through his hair, making sure no patch is left too wet. After that, he sets down the hair dryer, tugs on a hair net, and then takes the blond bob cut wig off its mannequin head. He shakes it a few times as he brushes through it with his fingers, and then he puts it on his head, securing it using the built-in clips inside the wig. It's a full lace wig that Yibo had splurged on during one of his late night solo drinking sessions. At first, he'd berated himself for drunkenly ordering a two hundred dollar wig, but after he's started with his venture, he gave himself a pat on the back for buying it. After making sure the wig is in place, he combs it a few times.

Yibo goes back to his setup, settles himself on his huge black and green gaming chair. He reaches for the mask beside the monitor, something he'd picked up from the bookstore last month to replace his old plain black mask. It's a pretty sturdy mask, with a common enough design he's pretty sure it's being sold in other countries too. It has a silver-toned base with just the slightest black accents to emphasize the embossed swirly outlines of it. Yibo takes the ribbons at both ends of the mask, places it over his eyes, and then ties it at the back of his head. He takes a portion of blond hair and brings it to the front of the mask, covering his right eye a little bit. Yibo then cranes his neck to see himself on the mirror to check his reflection, approves of what he looks like, and then pulls himself back towards the computer table.