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”... and then he said ’doctor who?’ and I said ’yeah, that’s right’ and he got mad at me for making fun of him, which, to be honest, I was, a little, at that point, ’cause he was such a stick-in-the-mud, and who doesn’t know about Doctor Who? So, yeah, no second date...” Wei Ying finished recounting the story of the latest in a string of first dates that never seemed to have any sequels.
”Mn. Ridiculous.”
”So how did it go with your date Lan Zhan? Better than mine I hope? Although it’s hard to imagine a worse one, we didn’t even make it to the half-hour mark.”
”He seemed... pleasant. At first. He talked a lot and didn’t seem to expect me to say much.” Lan Zhan’s lips thinned. ”Then he started... ordering drinks. He got irritated when I would not drink. He drank for the both of us instead, and the more he drank, the nastier he got. At last I told him I couldn’t see why he was willing to go on a date with an Asian man if he thought we were all cheap twinks and prostitutes.”
”Did he say that?” Wei Ying was outraged.
”He did, and more. Finally, he took a swing at me, and I had to restrain him. The bouncer at the restaurant called the police, and they arrested him. The staff at the restaurant vouched for me, so I went home.”
”Aiya, Lan Zhan! I thought my date was bad, but if it was then yours was abysmal!”
”Mn.”
******
”... so she turned out to be really hot and all, and we got along really well...”
”Mn?”
”... but then halfway through dessert, she confessed her sister had forced this date on her, and she liked me and all that, but she wasn’t interested in men at all!”
”What did you do?” Lan Zhan wanted to know.
”I called Mianmian and asked her to meet us outside the restaurant. Last thing I saw, they were making out on a park bench.” Wei Ying giggled. ”Mianmian owes me now. I think I like it that way.”
*****
”I do not wish to talk about it. Not now, not ever.” Lan Zhan’s cheeks were red, and his voice was even more of a monotone than usual.
”But Lan Zhaaaan! I tell you all about my disastrous dates! I need the dirty details! Was he hot? Did he kiss you? Did he treat you right?”
Lan Zhan hesitated. He really didn’t want to tell Wei Ying how his date had turned out. Or not turned out, as it were. He looked at his best friend and co-worker, and those pleading eyes made him cave in. As always.
”He never turned up. I waited for almost an hour at the café, but... he stood me up. When I checked Tinder later, he had blocked me...”
Wei Ying’s indignant shout made him feel a little better, sad to say, and the diatribe that followed provided a glimpse into his friend’s extensive vocabulary, at least when it came to insults and curse words. Lan Zhan did not as a rule approve of cursing, but Wei Ying’s reaction soothed his wounded pride.
*****
Next time Wei Ying had a date was the following Tuesday. The new shipment of books on Wednesday morning meant Lan Zhan didn’t get much time alone with Wei Ying to inquire about his date the previous evening. They were both fully occupied carrying boxes, sorting books and shelving them, and there was no time for talking until lunch hour. Lan Zhan had assumed they would be going out to lunch together, like they did most days, and he would hear all about the disaster then.
Just as they were finishing the shelving, the doorbell tinkled, and Wei Ying lit up with a huge smile.
”A-Lian! Where are we going for lunch?”
Lan Zhan frowned. He couldn’t recall Wei Ying having a friend named Lian, and he would definitely have heard of such a one if he was close enough for a nickname. He turned around slowly.
Wei Ying was hugging a slightly shorter man with shoulder-length chestnut hair with great enthusiasm. The stranger (not a stranger to Wei Ying, obviously) smiled and hugged him back, patting his back gently and tilting his face up to receive a kiss on the cheek.
Lan Zhan felt a sudden wave of – something. He wasn’t sure what it was, all he knew was it was something he’d never felt before, and it made his pulse thunder in his ears, so he could no longer hear Wei Ying’s happy chatter. He felt a sudden urge to punch the smiling stranger who had moved a step away from his! Lan Zhan’s! best friend, but was now holding his hand instead. How dare he hold hands with his Wei Ying?
As if that had somehow broken a dam in Lan Zhan’s head, he was suddenly flooded with a veritable tsunami of feelings. What was wrong with him? Why hadn’t he realised before that he was in love with Wei Ying? Why now, when it was obviously too late? That man, all dressed in white and with a silly smile on his stupidly pretty face, had stolen his Wei Ying away! This was obviously the date from the night before, and it seemed it hadn’t been disastrous at all.
Lan Zhan took a firm hold of his wildly galloping feelings, and nodded stiffly at the stranger. He grabbed the last box of books and made for the back room, anything to get out of their sight before he broke down and cried.
”Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan, where are you going? Come here and say hi to A-Lian! Lan Zhaaaan!”
He stumbled and lost his grip on the box, resulting in a rain of books all over the threshold to the back room, and Lan Zhan sprawled across the doorway, clutching his smarting elbow.
”Oh my god Lan Zhan, are you ok?” Wei Ying fell to his knees beside him, grabbing his chin and staring into his eyes, his own grey eyes full of worry.
”I’m all right”, Lan Zhan muttered. He got to his feet and started gathering up the books, depositing them back in the box and avoiding Wei Ying’s gaze.
”A-Lian and I were going to have lunch at the sandwich place, wanna come?”
Lan Zhan wasn’t sure how long he could keep his tears at bay. Did he want to be the third wheel on their lunch date? Did he want to watch his best friend, the love of his life, flirt with his new boyfriend? Hell no.
”Can’t. Have work to do.”
”But Lan Zhaaaaaaan! Don’t you want to get to know my cousin better? His husband will be joining us as well, and if I know those two right, they’ll just be devouring each other with their eyes the whole time, and I’ll feel like...”
”Third wheel?” Lan Zhan felt a lot better suddenly. His cousin? Who was married? Maybe he still had a chance, if he grabbed it now.
”Right! If you come along, I’ll have someone to talk to, when they get too gross!” Wei Ying’s smile was blinding. Lan Zhan couldn’t understand how he never realised how much he loved the man until now, when he thought for a moment he had lost him.
”Come on you guys, let’s get going before the boss finds us more work to do! Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce you! Lan Zhan, this is my cousin Xie Lian, his husband Hua Cheng will meet us at the café. A-Lian, this is my Lan Zhan, uh, I mean my friend Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying’s cheeks grew pink but his smile was still radiant.
Lan Zhan gravely shook hands with the other man, who he could now admit was quite lovely, and seemed like a pleasant person to be around. He had a smile that was almost as beautiful as Wei Ying’s, although no one could quite match him in Lan Zhan’s opinion.
”It’s so nice to meet you at last Lan Zhan! Oh, I’m sorry, can I call you Lan Zhan? It’s just that Ying Ying has told me so much about you, he’s talked about you incessantly as a matter of fact.” Xie Lian’s eyes twinkled mischievously, and Wei Ying slung his arms around him from behind and quickly covered his mouth with one hand.
”I’m sure Lan Zhan isn’t interested in hearing what I’ve told you about him! Not that it’s much, no, not at all!”
Lan Zhan smiled. He was very interested in hearing all about it, and he told Wei Ying’s cousin as much. Wei Ying whined and complained loudly that they were bullying him, grinning all the while, his cheeks still a little pink with embarrassment.
They went to the lunch café Wei Ying and Lan Zhan normally frequented. It had become a favourite of theirs because Wei Ying got all the chili oil he wanted to drench his food in, and they had an excellent selection of vegan and vegetarian dishes that were to Lan Zhan’s taste.
Xie Lian’s husband joined them once they were seated at a window. He seemed like a nice fellow, didn’t talk much, but his husband talked enough for both of them. Lan Zhan quickly realised Xie Lian wasn’t really an airhead, although he preferred that people took him for one. Much like Wei Ying actually. Lan Zhan also realised he needed to do something about Wei Ying. Now that he had admitted to himself that he was in love with him, the logical next step would be to admit it to the man in question.
Once their lunch break was over, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng said goodbye outside the book store. Wei Ying and his cousin hugged each other, and to Lan Zhan’s surprise, the taciturn Hua Cheng (who Xie Lian for some reason called San Lang) turned to him and said, in a quiet voice:
”I’d advise you to be direct. Your Wei Ying is much like my love, he will not recognise love or devotion unless it is held right in front of his eyes. And even then he might not get it. The men in their family are a little...”
”Dense?” Lan Zhan suggested.
”I was going to say oblivious, but dense is as good a word as any. Tell him in as clear a language as you possibly can, and above all, show him.” Hua Cheng nodded decisively, then wrapped his arm around his husband’s waist and dragged him off towards their car. Xie Lian turned around to wave at Wei Ying and Lan Zhan and call out:
”It was nice to meet you Lan Zhan! A-Ying, call me and give me all the deets later!”
Lan Zhan looked at Wei Ying and raised an eyebrow.
”Deets?”
”Uh, well, you know... Xie Lian is always trying to use modern slang, ha ha! I doubt he knows what that means!” Wei Ying’s cheeks were pink again Lan Zhan noted.
He thought about what Hua Cheng said about showing Wei Ying how he felt. Then thought about how he could show it. It occurred to him that maybe he was thinking too much, so he decided to act instead. He grabbed Wei Ying by the waist, pulled him close and kissed those full lips, before he had a chance to overthink it again.
Wei Ying stiffened in his grasp, but then he relaxed, his arms crept up around Lan Zhan’s neck, and his mouth opened on a soft sigh. Lan Zhan took advantage of that to nip his lower lip lightly, and Wei Ying moaned. Before Lan Zhan really registered what he was doing, he had Wei Ying pinned against the book store door and had his hands full of luscious, jeans-clad ass.
”Hey! Get away from the door you horny bastards! There are people trying to get in!”
The couple jumped at the sound of Jiang Cheng’s voice. Wei Ying’s brother stood right next to them, brows knitted in exasperation and mouth half open, ready to start spewing insults.
”Why hello to you too Cheng-Cheng! So nice to hear your sweet voice, and thank you so much for shopping at our workplace!” Wei Ying beamed at Jiang Cheng in the most insolent, annoying way.
”Get out of my way you moron! And hey, congrats on finally getting a move on, we were beginning to despair over the UST and all the damn pining!”
Jiang Cheng opened the door to the store and yelled inside:
”Hey, they finally got their heads out of their asses and did something about it! Pay up, you lot, I won!”
”You bet on us getting together?” Wei Ying sounded delighted, while Lan Zhan’s face took on a pink hue.
”Of course I did. And please note that I, unlike some, thought you’d eventually put your two brain cells together and do something about your mutual crushes.”
”Wei Yiiiiing! How could you betray me like this! I thought eventually Lan Zhan would just kidnap you and tie you to his bed, you’re so oblivious it’s painful!” Mianmian leaned against a bookshelf with a suffering expression.
”That can be arranged”, Lan Zhan deadpanned.
”Lan Zhaaaaaaan!”
”Oh get out of here you two! Go home and fuck like bunnies or something!”
”Is that an order from the boss? Because I can really get behind that!” Wei Ying grinned, then yelped when Lan Zhan took his hand in a firm grip and dragged him towards the employee car park. He waved cheerily at his brother and Mianmian:
”Bye! See you tomorrow... I think!?”