sleepless cinderella ☆ d.sc | ✔

05

Nothing. Absolutely nothing was coming to you.

Every time it seemed you had something, that you were onto something good, you'd lose it. You'd write a sentence or two then furiously erase it. Your word count had increased by less than twenty, according the counter mocking you from the corner of your word document. Son of a bitch.

If you weren't so caught up in your own self-pity, you might have noticed the soft sounds of socked feet padding down the hallways towards you. But you didn't, not until a voice called out to you.

"You're awake? Fucking hell, Y/N, it's almost three in the morning."

It was Sicheng, of course, standing in the threshold between the hallway and the living room. He was squinting his eyes against the dim lights, one hand coming up to cover his mouth as he yawned, and the other hung limply at his side. His hair was sticking up in different directions, and he seemed nearly ready to pass out against the wall he was leaning on.

You shrugged, "Can't sleep. Can't write. Guess I'll die."

A small noise came from him that could have been a chuckle, or maybe a grunt, and you felt guilty about him being awake right now. You knew how hard he'd been working on the drama, and he'd briefly told you of how he was trying to rework his contract with his agency to allow him to expand to other areas besides acting, but they were being stubborn. He really needed as much sleep as he could get.

"You should go back to sleep, Sicheng," you tried to gently shoo him out of the room.

Despite your words, he lumbered over towards you, plopping himself down on the couch beside you.

"Nope," he shook his head firmly, a hand reaching out to gently shut your laptop. "Talk to me."

You let him close it, then set it aside yourself, "About what?"

"Whatever's keeping you awake."

"I don't..." you stopped with a thoughtful frown. "I don't know why I'm awake. My brain just... won't shut up, I guess."

"The first thing that comes to your head, then."

"You should go back to sleep."

"But I'm not going to. Alright, next thing."

Your night continued on like that. Sicheng would prompt you to say something, reply to it, then repeat. A structured, but somehow relaxing conversation. Before you even knew it, your first yawn of the night came to you. Your eyelids were getting heavier, and despite your body and your brain and wanting sleep, you found yourself resisting now. You were having possibly the most normal interaction and conversation with Sicheng that you'd ever had. No judgments, no cameras, no pretending to be something you weren't. Just stories, and discussions, and even jokes occasionally. It was nice.

But after your second yawn, Sicheng took note, a victorious smile crossing his lips, "Tired?"

"A little," you admitted.

"Success," he stood up, one hand on your forearm to bring you up with him. "Come on, I think we can still get two or three hours before my meeting."

At his casual comment, you were incredulous, "You have a meeting, and you just stayed up until almost six in the morning with me?"

"Guess so."

The two of you stopped in front of your guest room, Sicheng letting go of your arm as you opened the door.

"Thank you, Sicheng."

"Goodnight, Y/N."

"Night."

☆

After waking up later that morning, already ready to go back to sleep again, you put all your things back into your bag before shuffling over to the foyer. Sicheng had woken you up just a few minutes ago, having set his own alarm to make sure he was on time to his meeting. Now he just had a couple things to grab before leaving. With a yawn, you shifted your bag strap on your shoulder.

Sicheng emerged from his room, looking surprisingly awake, "Ready?"

"Yep," you nodded, following him through the front door.

In the elevator, you watched blandly as the numbers slowly decreased.

"So what's your meeting for?"

"Contract negotiations."

"Oh, I hope it goes well for you. What other stuff do you want to do, exactly?"

"Well right now I can only act in one drama at a time, and I'm limited only to TV series. But Xiaojun is directing a huge film soon and wants me to read for it, which I can't do under my current contract. Not to mention I can't even do commercial films, modelling, nothing except TV dramas."

"Wow that's... a shitty contract," you deadpanned, earning a side smile from the actor.

"Yeah, I was really naïve when I signed it."

The elevator dinged before the doors opened, and the people waiting let you two deboard before getting on themselves.

Sicheng suddenly and completely derailed your conversation, "When we get out there, can I kiss you?"

"What?" You nearly choked on your own tongue.

"On the sidewalk, let me kiss you"

"What the fuck—"

"Just a stage kiss, promise. I'll be kissing my own thumbs," he pleaded as the two of you got closer to the front doors.

As they opened automatically for you, you were still bewildered, "Why?"

"Please," he stopped you out front, desperately clinging to your arm.

"Wh—"

"Y/N!"

"Okay, fine, fine!"

Then Sicheng's hands were on the side of your face, his face swooping closer to yours. Your heart stopped as right before your lips made contact, his thumbs were pressing over your mouth. Then it was over, and he was standing up straight again. He had an amused grin on his face that he covered with his face mask, mirth still twinkling in his eyes.

"Bye, Y/N," he waved before taking off.

You had enough wits about you to force yourself to not just stand there dumb-founded. After all, you two were supposed to be a couple that had been dating for over two years, one little peck theoretically wouldn't faze you this much. Your legs obeyed stiffly, and you hurried down the sidewalks in the opposite direction from him.