"My mum keeps everything organized. Except for her purse. If that's her, it'll take her a minute or two to find her key. That's about enough time to get dressed in a hurry," He said.

Still sitting, still undressed but wearing a broad smile, Xuan Tianyi replied, "My sister is exactly the same. How uncanny."

Hua Zhendan paused. "The same how?"

"She keeps everything organized except her purse." Xuan Tianyi was still smiling.

Hua Zhendan gave him a stern look. Stressing every word, he said, "Get. Dressed."

Xuan Tianyi stood up and complied. He hurriedly wore his underwear, followed by his three-quarter shorts; he had barely gotten his s.h.i.+rt on when the door to the office opened.

Shen Rui looked from Hua Zhendan who was almost fully dressed but for his loose belt, to Xuan Tianyi whose jacket was only on one of his hands. "What's going on here?" She asked.

"What are you doing here, mum?" Hua Zhendan's face was contorted in what was either anger, embarra.s.sment, or a combination of both emotions. "The door was locked. You can't just open my office door and come in whenever you want."

"Actually, I can. Seeing as one, it's my company and two, I'm your mother." Shen Rui crossed her arms as she spoke. She looked from Hua Zhendan to Xuan Tianyi again. Both of whom were now well dressed. "Were you just having s.e.x in here?"

"No." Hua Zhendan's reply was concise.

"No? Am I blind?"

Xuan Tianyi was immediately too uncomfortable to stay in the presence of the near squabbling mother and son. He cleared his throat and spoke. "I was just about to leave."

"You're not going anywhere." Hua Zhendan's words carried a weight that kept Xuan Tianyi glued to the spot he was standing.

"He isn't?" Shen Rui raised a brow at Hua Zhendan. Her tone couldn't be sharper.

"Mum, what I do in my office is my business." Hua Zhendan said defensively.

"You are the president of this company. What kind of precedent are you setting for the other workers here?"

Hua Zhendan didn't feel the need to reply. So, he said nothing.

However, Hua Zhendan's silence made Xuan Tianyi even more uncomfortable. In Hua Zhendan's defense, he spoke up. "This is the first time something like this is happening, ma."

Although Shen Rui had glanced at him twice before, she seemed to register his presence only when he spoke. Ignoring him, she turned to Hua Zhendan. "He's the one you're f.u.c.king?"

"He's not the one I'm f.u.c.king, he's the one I'm dating." Hua Zhendan was visibly irritated.

"That can't happen." Shen Rui said firmly.

"Mum. If you're here to belittle my s.e.xuality, you should leave."

"No, no, I'm not. I am okay with this." Shen Rui shook her head at his insinuation.

"What?"

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"I've had four years to think about it. And you're my son. If you're sure you like men and not women, then I support you."

"Really?" One of Hua Zhendan's eyebrows rose in disbelief.

Shen Rui nodded. Then added, "But I can't support you if you choose to go out with gold diggers and well..." She threw a look at Xuan Tianyi before turning her attention back to Hua Zhendan. "Trash."

"Don't you talk about my boyfriend like that." Hua Zhendan pointed a warning finger at her.

"I'm not referring to him." She shrugged. "I'm just being hypothetical."

"More like hypocritical." Xuan Tianyi said quietly.

"Don't talk about my mother like that." Hua Zhendan chided him.

"But it's okay for you to talk about her like that?" Xuan Tianyi shot back at him.

Shen Rui raised a brow. Surprised Hua Zhendan would defend her from his lover.

"She's my mother. I can talk about her the way I see fit."

Xuan Tianyi huffed dramatically. He didn't want to argue with Hua Zhendan.

"You know what, mum? You should leave?" Hua Zhendan's tone was neither soothing nor harsh. "I'll call you later. We'll have dinner or something."

"No, we need to talk now." Shen Rui shook her head adamantly. 

"Now isn't a good time." Hua Zhendan tried to explain. "I need to talk to you about something else too. I can come over to the house later."

"You'll come over to the house?" Shen Rui's att.i.tude was that of a who doubted.

"I will. I promise. I swear on my relations.h.i.+p with my boyfriend I'll come to the house. Nothing means more to me at this point."

Shen Rui looked from Hua Zhendan to Xuan Tianyi and then back to her son. Her hesitation was evident but she went on talking. "Zhendan, we need to talk now."

Hua Zhendan was tired of trying to convince her to leave. He sighed in exhaustion as he watched her take the chair that was once directly facing his side of the table.

Shen Rui spoke. "I saw this magazine the other day." She held up the month's The Men Issue that was previously in her bag. "It's creating a pretty big buzz everywhere. So, thinking of all the opportunities I can give the young man in the picture, I went to HR to inquire about the model and I found out it's Xuan Tianmei's brother." Her eyes darted swiftly to Xuan Tianyi as she said the last three words. "After asking around, I found out you guys hang out together a lot. So, I figured you wouldn't be hanging out with him unless you were f.u.c.king him. So, I hurried over."

"Mum," Hua Zhendan ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not 'banging' him, we're dating."

"Exactly. Apparently, you're dating a ghost whose death was confirmed by his own twin sister."

"What are you saying?"

"We need to talk, Hua Zhendan." She turned her attention to Xuan Tianyi again. "And as for you, you should leave us alone. I think you need to talk to your sister."

***

"How was your entry?" Lan Haiyang's text message popped up on Cheng Jian's phone.

Cheng Jian shook was seated on a stool by the counter replied immediately. "Seamless. Once I mentioned my name at the gate, they let me in."

"Well, someone's coming to take you to VIP." The reply read.

Cheng Jian raised his brow at that. Lan Haiyang had outdone himself this time around. Even the waiter that was obnoxious to him the last time was stumbling over himself to take his order.

Soon, a slim lady clothed in a tight black skirt and a tiny white top approached him. She then gestured for him to follow her which she did.

Cheng Jian followed her up a flight of stairs into a room that he couldn't find the right words to describe. All he knew was that he felt formidable and powerful immediately he entered the room.

Lan Haiyang who was seated in one of the booths gestured to the young lady with the tiny white s.h.i.+rt and Cheng Jian.

The lady excused herself while Cheng Jian approached Lan Haiyang. Immediately his bottom touched the couch on which Lan Haiyang sat, he cursed. He had never sat on a more luxurious couch.

Lan Haiyang raised an amused brow at him. "How are you?"

"I'm great. Yourself?" Cheng Jian said with a big smile.

"I'm fantastic."

"No, you're not." Cheng Jian shook his head. "This lounge is fantastic. It has an eerie aura to it though; it seems like the kind of place mafias and gang leader have important gang transactions. Plus, the chair is so soft, I just want to lie down and sleep on it."

"Oh! It just doesn't seem that way. It is that way."

Cheng Jian shook his head. "Haiyang. Don't tell me you still do that dangerous business with Boss till now."

"Not anymore. Not really." Lan Haiyang said with a shrug. "Nowadays, I'm mostly in charge of the club. But if Boss needs something important done, and he isn't chanced to do it himself, I step in."

Cheng Jian tapped the table thoughtfully. "d.a.m.n. I a.s.sume Boss and Big Boss kill people sometimes as well. You can't go this far in this kind of business without staining your hands with blood."

"And you just figured that out now?" Lan Haiyang stared at his seemingly stupid friend in surprise.

Cheng Jian's eyes widened in shock. "So, it's true."

Lan Haiyang said nothing but his eyes spoke an affirmation.

"Do you... Does boss let you handle that kind of business for him as well?"

"No." Lan Haiyang shook his head quickly. "He doesn't want me involved in that at all. In fact, if he had his way, he wouldn't have me dealing drugs. You know he cares for me like a younger brother."

"Right." Cheng Jian bit his lower lip in disdain. "And he made you wh.o.r.e yourself for money."

"No. He never made me do that. That was a personal choice. It still is. I wanted to pay him back for his kindness to me, that's all. Actually, he doesn't support that either. But if a client is really adamant about being with him, I just go with it so Boss doesn't lose money. Moreover, I get laid."

"Interesting."

Cheng Jian and Lan Haiyang fell silent for a moment. As Cheng Jian's eyes wandered around the lounge, he noticed a section that he didn't expect to see. "Is that a kitchen?"

"Yes. Would you like to eat something?"

Cheng Jian's mouth fell open again. "No way! What do they have?"

"That's the strange part. Literally anything but Chinese food."

"Huh?"

Lan Haiyang chuckled. "I found the cook by the roadside.  homeless guy begging for a living. I figured that since I practically run this club, I could give him a job. So I asked him what he could do. And he said he could cook. And he's really great at cooking. Except he can't cook Chinese food. He's probably the reason Boss would take away my power to hire and fire people around here."

Cheng Jian shook his head at his friend. "You're crazy, you know."

Lan Haiyang chuckled in reply.

"Yes, guess what I did today."

"Okay. You got up in the morning, brushed your teeth, rubbed one of, then took a bath. You then—"

"Idiot. I went to Hua Zhendan's office." Cheng Jian quickly interrupted him.

It was Lan Haiyang's turn to be surprised. "No way! I didn't think you'd actually go through with that."

"Well, I went through with it."

"So, what happened? Did you guys confess your feelings to each other, then rode into the sunset together? Your hands in each other's hand." Lan Haiyang chirped excitedly.

"Yes, we did." Cheng Jian said sarcastically. He then dipped his hand in the pocket of his pants. "And I brought a piece of the sunset back for you. Here's it." With the last two words, he gave Lan Haiyang a small slap on his face.

"Idiot. Seriously, what happened?" Not even a slap could anger Lan Haiyang at this moment.

Cheng Jian sighed and began his storytelling. "Well, when I first got there, I felt intimidated because I got a sense of how important he really was and it made me feel small."

"No kidding. You sleep with important people all the time."

"Yeah." Cheng Jian nodded. "But we're all naked in a room. No one is that important when his weenie is dangling about."

"Continue..."

"Well, then I got in and he wrapped me in this tight, warm, hug and I felt like a candle was lit in my heart."

"Happiness. Go on."

"What are you doing?"

"You know you don't do well with normal human emotions. So, while you're telling your story, I'll explain your emotions in the right words."

Cheng Jian shook his head. "Anyway, we sat and talked and it felt really great. Till this guy walked into the office.

"Immediately Hua Zhendan saw him, he got all queasy and uneasy..."

"Nervous."

"That." Cheng Jian remarked. Appreciating for the first time that Lan Haiyang decided to use simple words to explain complicated emotions from his story. "Then he introduced the guy to me as his boyfriend."

"No way."

"Yes, I didn't believe it either." Cheng Jian said, feeling justified in his earlier disbelief that Hua Zhendan was dating.

"Are you okay?" Lan Haiyang, who still believed his friend was in love asked sympathetically.

"Well, I felt like someone had stabbed my chest with a knife. And all I wanted to do was pull out that knife and throw it at the both of them."

"Colorful choice of words." Lan Haiyang nodded. "You were heartbroken and jealous."

"Well, the guy held Hua Zhendan as if he owned him. Then he walked around like everything in the office belonged to him. And I felt like I wanted to take that knife from earlier and stab him with it like a hundred times."

"Wow!" Lan Haiyang nodded again. "The guy was... Very possessive. And you're mentally unstable."

Cheng Jian frowned. "Don't insult me."

"I'm not insulting you. Jealousy was when you wanted to throw the knife at him. When you want to stab him a hundred times, that's clear psychopathy."

"I'm not a psychopath." Cheng Jian chided him. "And I'm not done with the story."

"Maybe sociopathy." Lan Haiyang tried to correct himself.

Cheng Jian shot Lan Haiyang an angry look.

"Fine. Go on."

"Hua Zhendan looked at him and he had this big smile on his face. And there was this light in his eyes that made them glitter. And with that smile on his face and that s.h.i.+ne in his eyes, he told me that his boyfriend was the guy he had been looking for."

"Huh?"

"The guy I told you about. From his one night stand at the bar."

"d.a.m.n, He's so in love. That must've crushed you."

"No." Cheng Jian smiled and shook his head."No, it didn't. When I saw that smile and that look in his eyes, I felt like a burden had been lifted off my shoulders. And slowly, the stabbing pain I felt in my chest faded away. And then, it was replaced by that bright light I had felt earlier when he had hugged me."

"You were happy for him." Lan Haiyang smiled and put his hand on his chest to show how touched he was.

"I was." Cheng Jian said in a nostalgic manner. "I felt like my best friend won the lottery and I didn't even feel bad I wasn't a part of it. I was just happy for him."

"That's beautiful."

"Oh! It's not all. When Hua Zhendan saw me off, he hugged me again. At that moment, I first felt guilty. Then, I was protective of his boyfriend's feelings. I even opened my mouth and asked him not to let go of his relations.h.i.+p."

"Wow."

"I know. I've never felt guilty before."

"You do love Hua Zhendan, alright." Lan Haiyang tapped Cheng Jian's shoulder. "But only as a friend."

"But we're not friends." Cheng Jian shook his head in disagreement.

"If we haven't known each other as long as we do, I'm pretty sure you'll insist I'm not your friend as well. Normal human emotions are difficult for you to comprehend. That's why you find it difficult to admit to yourself that you care about people."

Cheng Jian ignored Lan Haiyang's words and spat out something unrelated. "I want to win the lottery too, Lan Haiyang."

"Huh?"

"I want what Hua Zhendan has. What you've been looking for. I want to have someone who'll make me feel jumpy when some other guy comes around me. I want someone I can be possessive about. I most especially want someone that when I look at them, my eyes will sparkle and I'll smile deeply from the bottom of my heart. That's what Hua Zhendan has and that's what I want."

"You finally understand it." Lan Haiyang smiled.

"I do." Cheng Jian nodded. "And I need your help."

"With what?"

"I decided I want to leave Jiaxiang."

"Okay?"

"I still owe Big Boss a substantial amount of money. And I'll pay him back. But, I don't want to do that job anymore."

"Really?" Lan Haiyang was short of words. He had never expected Cheng Jian to say something like this. "What will you do then?"

"Anything. I'll tend bars and sweep roads if that's what it takes."

"You realize none of those jobs are going to pay you enough to pay back Big Boss, right?"

"Even if it takes a lifetime to pay back. I don't mind it. I just don't want to sleep with men for money anymore."

Lan Haiyang sighed. "Okay. I'll talk to Boss for you. If I plead with him hard enough, he'll talk to Big Boss for me."

"Thank you, Haiyang." Cheng Jian pulled Lan Haiyang into a tight embrace.

Lan Haiyang tapped his back softly. "It's okay. And if I can help you with some money from time to time, I will."

Cheng Jian pulled away from Lan Haiyang and staring into his face, cried. "Thank you."

Lan Haiyang looked at Cheng Jian's lips and a blush spread to his ears.

Cheng Jian s.h.i.+fted closer to Lan Haiyang and closed his lips on those of his friend. After a moment of hesitation, Lan Haiyang returned the kiss.

When Cheng Jian pulled away, both friends sat quietly for a moment staring at the brown mahogany table that shone as if it had just been polished. Soon, both guys erupted into a burst of laughter that continued for a while.

"What were you thinking?" Lan Haiyang asked when their laughter finally died down.

Cheng Jian shook his head. "I don't know. You always wanted a serious relations.h.i.+p. And now I want one too. And we've been friends for a long time, right?"

"Right." Lan Haiyang said with a smile.

"In that moment before I kissed you, I realize you've been really good to me. Then I quickly thought that we'd be great together. So, I just went for it."

Lan Haiyang was quiet.

"That was so stupid." Cheng Jian chuckled. "Aren't you supposed to feel like fireworks or something when you kiss?"

Lan Haiyang's voice was calm and carried a sadness to it. "You didn't?"

Cheng Jian laughed. "No." As he said that, a realization hit him. He stopped laughing and gave his friend a serious look. "Did you?"

Lan Haiyang smiled sadly and shook his head. "No. Of course not."