"You all doing introductions without me?"
Everyone turned.
"Kaito!" Aria screamed. She threw her arms around him immediately.
"Hii, darling." Kaito wrapped his arms around her, laughing as he swayed her once. "Missed me?"
"Unfortunately," Aria said. She was still hugging him.
Chen Yu smiled as Kaito released her. "When did you arrive? I didn't see you come in."
Kaito shook his hand. "I arrived after him." He turned towards Mo Fei, grin widening. "Your entrance with that ice frog overshadowed mine."
Mo Fei blinked.
Ice frog?
Somewhere across the hall, Zhang Yichen probably felt insulted without knowing why.
Mo Fei's face remained politely confused.
Internally, he was screaming.
Does everybody know everybody except me?
Meanwhile, Sima Li looked far too delighted. His networking disease had finally become contagious.
"Anyway, we've all seen each other now," Sima Li said, placing a dramatic hand on his chest. "Don't forget me."
"Aww." Zhi Xuan chuckled and patted his shoulder. "Are you getting jealous?"
"Hmph. Jealous, my foot." Sima Li pouted. "I haven't seen you in a long while. Your husband sure takes up your time." Then his shoulders dropped slightly. "Speaking of, where is he?"
"Yuchen would rather die than attend this," Zhi Xuan said lightly.
"Figures." Sima Li laughed. "He has taste."
Kaito raised a brow. "Are we insulting the gala already? I just arrived. At least let me drink first."
Chen Yu picked up a glass from a passing waiter and handed it to him. "Here. Now insult."
Kaito accepted it solemnly. "Thank you." he glanced at Mo Fei, then at Aria. "So this is the famous Mo Fei?"
Mo Fei straightened at once. "Famous? Yes. Handsome? Also yes. Mentally stable? Depends on who is asking."
Chen Yu nodded. "Unemployable without supervision."
"I am very employable," Mo Fei said.
"You almost electrocuted yourself last week."
Kaito paused with his glass halfway to his mouth. Zhi Xuan's polite smile cracked.
Sima Li's eyes lit up. "You what?"
Mo Fei immediately pointed at Chen Yu. "This is why I don't share my life with poor-minded people."
"You fried your hair," Chen Yu said.
"I suffered privately and sought emergency international support."
Kaito choked on his drink.
Zhi Xuan turned slightly away, shoulders shaking.
Sima Li clapped once.
"Lies." Aria said.
Sima Li ignored her. "So that explains the café photo?"
Mo Fei's smile vanished.
Kaito leaned in. "Café photo?"
Chen Yu grinned wickedly. "Ah, you missed it. Mo Fei and Zhang Yichen went on a dessert date, ran from fans, jumped a fence and returned home like criminals."
"It was not a date," Mo Fei said.
"It was dessert terrorism," Chen Yu corrected.
Kaito looked delighted. "And here I thought the gala would be boring."
Zhi Xuan's gaze drifted to Mo Fei, amused but gentle. "That was you?"
Mo Fei placed a hand on his chest. "We do not speak of that. It's confidential."
Kaito slowly turned to him. "You actually made Yichen do something that crazy?" He wrapped an arm around Mo Fei's shoulder and wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "Tell me the full gist."
Mo Fei smiled beautifully. "You talk like Yichen makes no mistakes."
"Zhang Yichen?" Zhi Xuan moved closer. "Never seen him act out of line." His smile widened. "The tea. Spill. I cannot wait to rub it in his face."
Aria looked between them all and shook her head. What could go wrong? They had given Mo Fei confidence.
Mo Fei told them what happened.
Soon, the group was laughing and throwing remarks over one another.
"Haa…" Zhi Xuan pressed a hand to his chest. "This is a worthy tale. I should have been there to see the look on his face."
Kaito glanced around the hall, then took another champagne glass from a passing waiter. "It gets better and better. A Yichen scandal? I'd pay good money to see it." His gaze drifted over the passing crowd, and his expression soured.
"Ugh. This place sickens me."
Chen Yu tilted his head. "You don't like galas?"
"I like the food, the clothes and the part where I leave," Kaito said. "Everything between those three things is punishment."
Mo Fei nodded solemnly. "Finally, someone with wisdom."
Aria looked at both of them. "You two have been here for less than an hour."
"And I have suffered for fifty-five minutes," Mo Fei said.
Sima Li leaned closer. "The remaining five?"
"I was admiring myself."
Chen Yu lifted his glass. "At least he's honest."
Zhi Xuan looked towards the far side of the hall, where a producer was laughing too loudly with a young actor. "Isn't that Producer Zhao?"
Kaito followed his gaze. "Mm. The same one who said he was retiring last year."
"He retired from shame," Chen Yu said. "Not from work."
Sima Li's eyes lit up. "Wait, is he the one who cried at the awards after losing Best Producer?"
Aria corrected him. "He didn't lose. He wasn't nominated."
Mo Fei's mouth fell open. "Then why did he cry?"
Kaito took a slow sip of champagne. "Ambition has no paperwork."
For one second, everyone went quiet. Then Chen Yu pointed at him.
"That was disgusting. Say more."
Before Kaito could respond, a photographer drifted towards them, camera raised. The transformation was immediate.
Mo Fei's spine straightened.
Aria's expression softened into elegant distance.
Zhi Xuan smiled with quiet polish.
Chen Yu lifted his glass like a prince reluctantly blessing commoners.
Sima Li angled his face with professional shamelessness.
Kaito slid one hand into his pocket and looked effortlessly expensive.
Flash.
Flash.
The photographer moved on.
The moment he turned away, all six dropped their expressions at once. The silence between them lasted exactly two seconds.
Then Sima Li burst out laughing. Aria covered her mouth.
Chen Yu bent forward, cackling.
Mo Fei held his cheek. "I almost lost circulation in my smile again."
Kaito wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "Beautiful teamwork."
Zhi Xuan nodded. "A day in the life of a star."
Sima Li raised his glass. "To professionalism."
Chen Yu clinked his glass against his. "To fraud."
Mo Fei added, "To good angles."
Aria sighed, but lifted her glass too. "To surviving tonight."
They drank.
Around them, the gala continued glittering like a well-dressed trap.