BEFORE Shen Ji Yun's brain hole could start making up different scenarios involving him and Luo Yan kissing, a voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
"Here you are. I thought I would have a hard time looking for you two. Good thing you're wearing such festive clothing."
Shen Ji Yun instinctively frowned. He had a feeling that the voice just now was very familiar. And it belonged to a very annoying person. Someone he'd rather not deal with right now.
He was indeed right. Because his back was to the direction where the voice came from, he couldn't see who it was. But Luo Yan, who was standing opposite him, could clearly see the person who just walked towards them.
The guy had golden brown hair and his light blue eyes were behind a pair of golden-rimmed glasses. He was wearing an all-white suit. In theory, this get-up should have given him a clean and fresh feeling. But because of the slyness that couldn't be hidden in his eyes, he looked more like a scheming president instead.
It's Uriel – that sly fox from team Celestials.
"Oh, are you looking for us? Surely, it's not for something nefarious, right?" Luo Yan asked in an innocent manner. ;
Knowing this guy, he was definitely up to no good. And since Uriel took the initiative to come to them, it must mean that whatever he was up to must be connected to them. ;
Duan Yu smiled back. "Of course not. This is technically a party to celebrate your win at the Rookie Carnival. Congratulations, by the way. I wouldn't do anything that would jeopardize such a precious night. I'm simply here for an official business."
Which was true. He wanted to set up a meeting with Noctis to talk about the 'favor' the other owed him. In short, it's about appearing in the next copy of Nirvana. To show a bit of sincerity, he decided to show up in person. Although Noctis indeed owed him a favor, it's a bit impolite to simply sent a notice to Yunyue's headquarters. Letting a third party to do it was even more out of the question.
He'd be busy in the coming weeks and it just so happened that he was free today. That's why he simply attended this ball. He was planning to leave right after he talked to Noctis. But it seemed that it wouldn't be that easy. Just based on how high Noctis' defense against him was, it would probably not be as easy as he thought. ;
Duan Yu sighed inwardly. Was this guy's impression of him really that bad? If he remembered correctly, he didn't do anything that heinous when the three of them ended up in the same instance during the king of Arcadia's birthday. ;
Oh well, it didn't matter. The two of them had already made a deal. And no matter how much Noctis disliked him, this guy would definitely not go back on the deal they had already made.
"It's about that favor you owe me," he added, before Noctis could say anything mocking or condescending. ;
Ah, right, Luo Yan almost forgot about that. ;
Shen Ji Yun imperceptibly frowned upon hearing that. Luo Yan had told him before that to make Uriel keep the fact that he was the owner of Yuexing Pavilion a secret, the other said that Luo Yan had to return a favor. ;
When he knew about that, the first thing he thought was to deal with Uriel himself. Such an ambiguous request. What if Uriel asked for something disadvantageous to Luo Yan? Or worse, something that would take advantage of the other? How could Shen Ji Yun let that happen?
He didn't know if Luo Yan could see what he was thinking back at that moment. But the other quickly stopped him from doing anything unnecessary, telling him that he would handle it. Shen Ji Yun could only respect his decision and temporary restrained himself from doing the opposite. ;
With the events that happened right after, he had almost forgotten about it. He just didn't expect that Uriel would pick this time and place to remind Luo Yan once again about it.
"So, have you already decided what kind of favor would it be?" Luo Yan asked.
He's not scared of what kind of favor Uriel would say. No matter his opinion of the other was, he believed that Uriel would not ask him something that went beyond a person's bottom line. ;
But it seemed that someone didn't have the same opinion. ;
Before Uriel could answer, Shen Ji Yun had already spoken ahead of the other.
"Don't go out of line and say something you shouldn't," he said with a warning tone, glancing coldly at the angel.
Duan Yu raised one of his brows. He already knew that YUN put a lot of importance to the new members of Yunyue. But he actually didn't expect this level of maintenance. ;
Or maybe because it was Noctis that's why the other was reacting this way. ;
In any case, it's really none of his business. At any other time, he might still feel interested and maybe even take a jab at the relationship of the two. But he needed to be somewhere half an hour from now. So, the faster he conveyed what he came here for, the better. ;
"Don't worry, I won't ask Noctis to strip naked in front of me and sexually harass him," he said in a dry tone. "I can't get into details here because it involved my team's business. So, I hope you can go to our headquarters for a proper meeting. Then, we can talk about it in detail there."
So formal? – Luo Yan thought. Seeing as how straightforward the other was and not being so yin and yang like he usually was, this favor he would return was probably something important. Maybe even involving team Celestials itself.
He was about to respond. But before he could, the sound of trumpets suddenly echoed in the huge ballroom. ;
Heart-shaped red petals circled at the middle of the ballroom.. When they vanished like a puff of smoke, the Duke of Hearts finally appeared in front of everyone.