Nina's nightclub at Houston's Key almost effortlessly caught the attention of the Houstonians' basketball darling, James Harden, who went down from a private box on the second floor of the clubhouse to the dance floor on the first floor, taking the initiative, unaware that she had already become a "good prey" in the hunter's trap.

The group that went downstairs to dance with Harden just now, seeing that the "hunter" had succeeded, retreated from the dance floor again with a tacit understanding, and surrounded Harden and Nina in the middle to avoid the unnecessary eyes of the idlers around. Standing in front of the stairs leading to the second floor was the same security guard who told her earlier that "no idlers are allowed to enter the VIP area", but at this time, seeing that Harden was standing behind Nina, he had already changed to a kind smile, and the arm that was blocking the way also politely signaled to her to be careful about the steps.

Nina looked back, and the Blackbeard star's eyes were hidden under his sunglasses and couldn't be captured. But apparently he didn't look back at him, and he looked up in the direction of the dozen or so steps, a staircase wrapped in black marble tiles. The door at the end of the staircase was now open, revealing the edges of the booth sofas and leather chairs, brown and blue violet, flickering in the light of the dance floor refracted by the glass.

I really don't know what's going to happen up there, and will Harden behind him be a tough guy?

Nina thought about these questions as she stepped up the first step with her strappy heels on her feet.

1/

After going up to the second floor, Harden and his party first found a place to sit down. Harden sat on a two-seater sofa with a view of the dance floor on the first floor, but he didn't mean to make room for Nina, he put his hand on the backrest, rested his foot on the coffee table, and said casually: "Have a drink, you're welcome." ”

Nina glanced at the coffee table, and saw that all kinds of spirits with unknown names had been opened, and different shapes of wine utensils were placed on the table, and there were two huge ice buckets in the corner, one was filled with spherical ice cubes used to mix pure drinks, and the other put a bottle of champagne, which sounded very expensive in France, and was bubbling cold.

"I'll try that." Nina gestured for champagne in the ice bucket as she prepared to get up and pour herself a drink.

"Wait a minute." Harden stopped Nina and snapped his fingers at the end of the stairs, but the security guard just now ran up and approached Harden. Harden whispered a few words in his ear and shoved him a dollar bill, and it wasn't long before the security guard returned with a champagne glass with a delicate base trimmed with a gold rim. "It's better to drink with this." Harden said as he handed the glass to Nina.

Obviously, this bottle of champagne, Nina is also the first person to pamper her tonight.

"Thank you."

"Sit down."

"Hmm." Nina picked a single high-backed sofa chair with no one in it, took off her coat and put it on the back of the chair, and sat down. I took another sip of the champagne in the glass, and it was delicious, and the non-sweet bubbles rushed softly into my throat, burrowing into my stomach in circles, leaving the fruity aroma of grapes to swim all over my body.

"It's delicious, thank you." Nina approving.

"It's okay, you can come back and have as many drinks as you want." Harden's friend greeted him warmly.

"Okay." Nina took another sip and smiled to thank Harden on the other side. Harden didn't speak, just took off the sunglasses on his face and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly in response, as if to say, "Drink, no one drinks anyway, isn't it." ”

"Then you're welcome, sir." As if reading the meaning of Harden's expression, Nina thanked her again.

2/

"Sir...", Harden, who had taken off his sunglasses, looked ahead, as if recalling what he had just said, and said in a voice that was so low that it was difficult to read, "It's okay, you can just call me by my name." ”

"Okay. So your name is, sir? "Of course Nina knew the name of the star in front of her, but she did a little trick.

"Name? Don't you know my name? Finally attracting the bearded man's attention, he turned his face, and his fish-bellied eyes seemed to stare incredibly, and as if he was confused about the identity of the woman in front of him.

"I don't know..."

"James, there are people who don't know who you are!" The conversation apparently caught the attention of Harden's peers, and some gloated.

"You really don't know who I am?"

"I... Looks like I've seen you somewhere. In the face of Harden's aggressive question, Nina's answer was calm.

"Where have I seen you, hahaha, James, you also have today." The co-op became more energetic.

"This—" Nina took a large sip of champagne in embarrassment, bowed her head, and let the shadow of her silver wig overshadow her eyebrows, the expression on her face difficult to read.

When everyone saw this, they felt a little disappointed, so they stopped coaxing and went back to chatting. Harden turned his head and fell silent again, allowing the dancefloor lights to change and play different colors on his black, curtain-like face.

3/

"I'm sorry." After a while, Nina looked up and apologized.

"Hmm." Harden was noncommittal.

"So may I ask your name, James...?"

"James is fine." Harden spat out a sentence without showing emotion.

"Yes, James. It's simple, easy. Nina's voice seemed to be self-affirming, "And what are you drinking, James?" ”

"I drink water."

"Water?"

"Cheers, James. Champagne toast water, half a catty and eight taels. Nina held up the slender champagne glass in her hand.

"Cheers?"

"Yes, didn't you invite me up to have a drink together? You drink water, I drink champagne. My name is Nina, have a drink, and we'll know each other, James. ”

This remark finally won Harden's attention again, and he looked Nina up and down again, wondering if he remembered the hot and uncrowded posture of the other party on the dance floor a moment ago, and the original intention of venturing into the dance floor from this room on the second floor, although he still didn't speak, he finally lifted a bottle of distilled water in front of him, unscrewed the cap and lightly touched the edge of the champagne glass, and then took a big sip.

Nina drank all the champagne.

The dance floor was replaced by a slow song, the lighting was changed to a soft white, and a light slowly crossed Harden's face like a swimming shark, patrolling the underwater.

"But actually, James, I just said that I seem to have seen you somewhere, it's true."

"Oh?"

"I think you must have seen me before, in the same place." Nina's voice was accompanied by a soothing slow song, which was separated by a glass like some unbreakable medium, peeling their world away from their noisy surroundings.

"Where?" The white light was still hovering like a shark on Harden's face, and he was shaken a little out of his way, and his eyes narrowed into a line.

"In a dream."

"In a dream?"

"Yes. We've seen it in our dreams—" Nina's voice dragged on and on, almost turning into a long hollow sound.

"How I don't remember..."

"Then I'll take you to see it again."

"To dream? Harden muttered, apparently on the verge of falling asleep.

"Yes, your dreams." Nina snapped her fingers, the lights faded, and the song on the dance floor came to an end.

The shark on the face disappeared, and James Harden was hypnotized like that.