As we get farther and farther away from the alleyway, my heart rate starts to go back down to normal. I place my hand against my chest, feeling my heartbeat, and turn to look at Alex. “When you said we can get through anything together, you really meant it, huh?”

Alex grins. “Yep. It’s you and me against the world, Rachel. You, me, and our good friends like Daniel, that is.”

I laugh. Me and Alex against the world. With him by my side, I really do feel like we could take on anything.

High-speed car chase and all.

Even though Alex offered to host me, I booked a room at the Four Seasons—it’s just safer that way, with the possibility of paparazzi still lurking. The chase scene at the airport hammered home the fact that we’ll have to lie low this trip. As much as I’d love to stroll through the street markets hand in hand with Alex, I’m just as happy to spend the weekend hanging in his apartment, flipping through the books on his shelf and making fun of his color-coordinated cereal boxes. His buddy Daniel has been amazing helping us get between the hotel and Alex’s apartment without being spotted, going ahead as a lookout and scoping out any potential photographers who might be hiding nearby, even offering to create a diversion if we need one.

It’s sweet how willing he is to help his best friend, though when Daniel starts to describe how he’d use leftover sparklers from New Year’s as a distraction technique, Alex eventually has to say, “Okay, 007, I think we’ve got it from here.” From the way Alex says this, I get the sense this isn’t his first time having to temper Daniel’s plans, and eventually, I learn that Alex and Daniel were bonded for life during a college-prank-gone-wrong, which somehow involved an evil bunny, a priceless violin, and an LSAT tutor.

Sunday night, we’re hanging at Alex’s place, trying to make our own oxtail soup, since going to OX Café would be too risky, when all of a sudden Alex lets out a swear and runs out of the kitchen.

“What? Did I ruin it?” I say, instantly jumping back from the stove. I warned him I wasn’t exactly a pro in the kitchen, but he insisted I could handle stirring the beef and vegetables.

“No, it’s not that. I’m supposed to be on a video call with my family for my grandma’s birthday today!” Alex yells from the next room. I turn down the stove’s heat and join him in the living room just in time to see him pull out his laptop and settle onto the couch, glancing at the time on the screen.

“Oh good,” he says. “We’re only five minutes late.”