He was nervous, but he was mostly excited at the prospect of surprising Ying Sheng in the best way for her birthday. He had gone all out for their concert date, but this would be a lot more personal. Her parents were a sensitive spot, and he wanted to help her situation with them as much as he possibly could.

Naturally, he tried to help others and do the right thing, but something about her made him want to go above and beyond. All he wanted was to see her smile and for her to be happy, and seeing her in a happy state put him in one of his own. That was how he knew that he loved her.

They were bound to each other in a way that he had never experienced before. He could feel her emotions and understand her pain, even if he had never felt it before. He didn’t shy away from that either. He welcomed the ability to be able to read her, which helped him figure out ways to make her feel better. He hoped this was one of those ways.

Once he pulled up to the office building, which was squeezed between a doctor’s office and an accountant’s office, he adjusted his collared shirt, wanting to be presentable. He knew that they would be a little shocked when they realized that he wasn’t interested in real estate and wanted to talk about their daughter, who they hadn’t seen in awhile.

After checking the time and drawing in a calming breath, Liam headed out of his car and to the front door of the office. He stepped inside and immediately smelled lavender in the small waiting lobby, the smell triggering his nervousness for some reason. The office looked so clean and proper. He felt like if he touched something that it would break.

”Hi, how can I help you?” A voice sounded to his right.

Liam turned to see a receptionist at a polished wood desk, prompting him to step forward to greet her.

”Hi, I have an appointment in a few minutes. My name is Liam,” he told her, watching her type away on her laptop. Despite him having an appointment and jumping through all of those hoops, he still felt like he wasn’t supposed to be here.

”I’ve got you right here. You can head into that office,” the receptionist responded as she nodded to a door across the room from her, her blonde ponytail swaying from the motion.

”Thank you,” Liam told her sincerely before turning to walk toward the office she had motioned to. It felt like the short walk took forever, each step seeming to lag until he finally made it to a cracked office door. He pushed it open and stepped inside a brightly lit office.

Towards the back, there was an extended wooden desk with two workstations on either end. Two empty chairs were placed in front of it for guests, and a man and a woman sat at their office chairs on the other side. The man wore a dark grey suit jacket and pants, while the woman wore a dark red blazer and skirt set. Even when they smiled, they looked stern, and he couldn’t help but notice that even though the man strikingly look like Mr. Ying, it wasn’t him.After all Liam had met the man once and he would never forget his face.

”Hi, I’m Liam,” he introduced himself, reaching forward to shake their hands before sitting down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. He dragged his hands over his dark jeans, hoping for the best. He was walking into unknown territory, but he had good intentions. He just had to keep himself focused on them if he got nervous.

”Good to see you,Liam. Are you interested in a certain property of ours?” The man asked as he started to type away on his computer.

Liam nearly broke a sweat at that question. He wasn’t interested in anything that they were selling, and now he had to tell them that. He was almost too nervous to admit what he was up to, but he wanted to put his plan in motion.

”I’m not actually. I’m here to talk about Ying Sheng ,” Liam told them, watching confusion looks fill their faces. He knew that was probably the last thing that they expected to hear. They probably thought he was interested in one of the houses that they had on the market, but he didn’t have the money for a house. Plus, he liked where he was at, and he really liked his roommate too.

”Do you know her or something?” The woman asked as she crossed her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes slightly.

”I’m… her roommate. We’re really close, and I know that she and her parents had some fall out, Liam started to say, trying to figure out where to even start. Ying Sheng’d relationship with her parents was a complicated thing, and he was diving in headfirst.

”Why are you here? Why do you want to talk about her?” The man asked, his voice coming out a bit sharp.

Liam was a bit taken back by his tone, but he supposed that the man saw him as a stranger, no matter how close he was toYing Sheng . He just had to ease them into the conversation. Hopefully, something good would come out of it.

”Well, her birthday is coming up soon. She saw her father’s post on Facebook and figured the might be planning something for her. I wanted to work with them and plan something big for her, and so that they could talk,” Liam explained as he glanced at the woman. To his confusion, they glanced at each other with a shake of their heads. He didn’t understand what was going on.