Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Band aids.

She had been out of band aids, of all things - and normally that wouldn’t have required a trip to the store so early in the morning but Maomao was facing another sleepless night and she thought that perhaps the walk wouldn’t wake her up enough to get through the rest of her most recent medical text without waking up with the book on the floor and an uncomfortable kink in her neck.

It had been raining most of the night, but at 4am the rain had settled into a light drizzle just enough to make her think that perhaps an umbrella would have been a good idea. The streetlights had just gone out, but the sun wasn’t quite up - leaving the sidewalk shadowed and the air thick as if the whole world were suspended in time.

There was only one store that was open this early that sold what she needed, at least the only one within walking distance. The bell rang out sharply as she entered, breaking the bubble of silence that she had been in the whole walk.

“I see those pills I gave you didn’t work.” Luomen called from behind the counter, the gentle smile he always wore still on his face as if it was the only expression he could make. Maomao waved at him as she headed for the aisle she wanted, calling back to him from behind shelves.

“Didn’t take them.” She had once tried lying to the older man, telling him that they hadn’t been strong enough in hopes that he would give her something stronger but Luomen had a keen eye for lies and the scolding she would surely get for lying to him would take more time than she was willing to take away from her reading. “I’m still reading that book you got me, I plan to finish it tonight.”

“Proper sleep is important for maintaining your health.” Maomao rolled her eyes as she reached for the box of bandaids, her eyes snagging on the other first aid supplies as she mentally did an inventory of what she was running low on back at her place.

“There aren’t enough hours in the day for it.” She mumbled as she swiped a bottle of isopropyl and some gauze. You could never have enough of either.

She paid and left with a half hearted promise to Luomen to try and sleep properly tomorrow night, ducking his disapproving look as the bell signaled her exit from the shop.

As much as she grumbled about Luomen’s overbearing concern for her health, the man had her respect. Once a licensed doctor, he had since retired to open up a shop in the center of one of the most shady neighborhoods of the city. She had of course pressed him to tell her why as soon as she found out he was a doctor, but he simply smiled at her in that patient manner of his and asked her why she was living in a strip club instead of going to medical school.

It had been enough to keep her from asking again.

She was a block away from the Verdigris strip club when she saw them, two women running down the street towards her - their heads constantly turning to look over their shoulders while they ran so that they almost didn’t see Maomao until they were right on top of her.

The first thing Maomao saw was that the taller girl was clutching at her stomach in a vain attempt to hold back the blood that was seeping through her shirt.

“Call the police!” The shorter girl yelled at her, clutching at Maomao’s jacket sleeve and looking behind her with wild eyes. She bounced on the balls of her feet as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to stop and ask for help or keep running.

Maomao peeked around them curiously - it wasn’t uncommon for girls to get robbed when walking these streets but it was rather close to dawn for something as messy as a stabbing. She spotted the men at the same time as the girls did, and she felt herself tense with the rest of them. Even from this far away Maomao could see the face masks obscuring the lower half of their faces.

“Police won’t make it in time.” Her voice was oddly calm as she reached up to pull her hood over her head, taking precious seconds to tuck her hair as far back into the fabric as she could. “You need to come with me. Now.” She grabbed their hands, pulling them a little rougher than she would normally have done with someone freshly stabbed in the gut.

“We need to call an ambulance for Gyokuyou.” The shorter lady shouted. The injured woman herself remained quiet, the only sound from her was the pained groans as she did her best to keep up with Maomao.

“If I stopped to call an ambulance I may as well just call the coroner. Now shut up and run.” Maomao had grown up on these streets, but even she needed a moment of silence to map out a safe route back to the Verdigris.

Thankfully the other woman didn’t argue, clearly focusing instead on making sure she didn’t trip as they took sharp turns that seemed to weave through the streets without any destination in mind.

Most of the backstreets were connected which was both a blessing and a curse. With the amount of turns Maomao was making it would be nearly impossible for the men to anticipate where they were heading - but it also made it entirely possible that they would happen upon them randomly.

“Where are we going?!” The woman yelled a touch too loudly for Maomao’s liking, but just as the words left her mouth Maomao turned and spotted the door she was looking for. She stopped in front of it, forcing her hands to move quickly but steadily as she fished her keys from her pocket.

The door opened silently, and Maomao shoved the two women into the waiting room before she shut and locked the door behind her. They were safe for the moment, but Maomao knew enough to know that a moment was all they would have.

“Where…What is this place?” The woman whose name Maomao still didn’t know was looking around the waiting room, taking in the sterile seating even if the chairs were half falling apart.

“My clinic.” Maomao quickly stripped off her jacket and boots, moving to a closet at the back of the room. She opened it, sliding the various coats and shoes piled there to the side to reveal a door. “Bring your friend, we aren’t safe yet.”

The stairs behind the door led into Maomao’s apartment, if it could be called that really. It held more furniture than her clinic, but it was just as small and wasn’t in much better shape. She led the women through the small space - ignoring their presence as she began to strip off her damp clothes.

Gyokuyou made a pained noise, her friend immediately gave up looking around as if the noise reminded her of the injury.

“She needs an ambulance.”

“Should I shout out the window that you’re hiding here while we’re at it?” Maomao dipped into the bathroom, running the shower without caring about the temperature as she stuck her head under the stream of water. Once she was sure her hair was soaked through she turned it off, and began toweling her hair vigorously. When she returned to the main room, Gyokuyou was lying on her bed with her friend hovering helplessly over her.

Maomao sighed, grabbing a dry sweater from her unfolded laundry pile as she approached the pair.

“What’s your name?” She asked the taller woman as shooed her away from the edge of the bed.

“Hongniang.”

“I’m Maomao.” She looked at Gyokuyou, her hands hovering over the bloodied shirt. “May I look?” The woman nodded, her jaw tight as she shifted her focus to Maomao’s ceiling instead of her injury.

Carefully Maomao peeled the damp clothing away from the skin, pulling gently in case the fabric had gotten itself caught in the wound. It was a single puncture wound, most likely from a pocket knife though it was too shallow to have caused any serious damage. Either the person with the weapon hadn’t intended to kill her, or Gyokuyou had moved away just fast enough to avoid any further damage. She was sure it still hurt like a bitch, but it would only require a few stitches and careful watch for infection.

A pounding on the door downstairs made the two jump, but Maomao only cursed as she flipped the sweater over her head.

“I have to get them to leave before I can stitch you up. Stay here and make no noise, no matter what you hear downstairs.”

“You can’t seriously be going to answer that.” Hongniang looked at her like she was insane, her hand reaching for Gyokuyou to clutch tightly. “If you let them in, they’ll kill us.”

“Just do as I say.” Maomao hissed, angry that her night had turned into arguing with people she was trying to save. “Stay here until I come back. If I don’t come back in a couple hours then you can call the police.” The pounding came again, louder and more aggressive and Maomao slipped down the stairs back into the clinic before the woman could argue anymore.

She brought the towel, keeping it around her neck as if she had just been in the process of drying her hair. The pounding sounded again and Maomao called out a frustrating “Coming!” as she made her way to the door, using the towel to cleanup the trail of water that the girls had left leading to her door.

Taking a quick breath to calm her nerves, she opened the door just enough to peer at the two men that had been chasing Hongniang and Gyokuyou. They still wore masks over the lower half of their faces and Maomao did her best to appear as unbothered by their presence as she could.

“The clinic closes at 3am except for urgent matters.”

“This is urgent.” The man put his foot in the door - not that Maomao had attempted to close it. “You know who we work for?”

Maomao nodded. Part of her business setting up a clinic in the back of the Verdigris was a no questions asked policy - she didn’t ask how you got injured, and she remained impartial to the constant territory wars that happened on the streets around her. She had stitched up quite a few of their men and in turn they mostly left her and the other girls of the Verdigris alone.

“We’re looking for two women, one of them was injured in the stomach. The injured one is tall with pink hair, the other one is a little shorter with black hair. You seen ‘em?” The man was looking over her shoulder into the clinic, not bothering to hide his wandering eye. Maomao opened the door wide enough for them to see inside, forcing her nerves deeper down.

“I haven’t had any patients tonight.” The man held her eyes for a moment, before he stepped past her. Maomao grit her teeth, letting them into her clinic because there wasn’t much else she could do to stop them anyway.

“Y’know we got a lot of respect for you apothecary.” The man said it casually, moving around the room as if he was touring a museum. Opening drawers and sifting through the contents as if he might find the girls shoved into the back of one. “You fixed up one of my brothers a few months ago.”

Maomao said nothing; this was not the first time she had been frisked by his type and it would hardly be the last. “Apothecary” was the name they had given her, what most people called her when they came knocking. At first she had objected to the old-style name they had given her, but the name had taken on a life of its own and eventually she had just shut up and accepted it. The name came with a small kernel of power if she used it the right way, she supposed it was a fair trade.

“The boss needs to see the girls; personal business. I’m sure you understand.”

“If I see them I’ll pass along the message.”

The man chuckled, a mirthless laugh that set Maomao instantly on edge. She did not miss how the other man moved to block the door, his arms crossed as he leaned against it and pointedly looked at the walls as if they were far more interesting than the conversation being had inside them.

“This isn’t a message to be passed along.” He pulled out a card, blank except for a phone number on it. “They come by,you give us a call. You don’t tell them anything, and you don’t ask questions.”

He held the card between them, and Maomao couldn’t help the disgust that rose in her and no doubt showed on her face by the way that the man stared at her.

“I don’t ask any questions, but I also don’t take orders.” Maomao crossed her arms, mostly to keep herself from fidgeting. “I can pass along a message to them if they come but I’m no snitch about who comes to see me. If I start snitching now, it’ll be bad for business in the future.”

For a second Maomao thought she had convinced him. He lowered the card, tucking it back into his pocket as he laughed slightly to himself.

Then his fist collided with her face and Maomao found herself face down on the floor as her brain struggled to catch up with her body. She saw the blood on the floor under her, but it took several breaths for her to register the pain in the left side of her face or the fact that she couldn’t quite open her eye all the way. A black boot appeared in her vision before a weight settled on her head, forcing her right cheek into the growing pool of blood on the floor painfully.

“Here’s the deal.” The voice sounded muffled, as if he was speaking to her through a wall. Maomao strained to hear it through the pounding in her head, focusing on the words instead of the pain steadily spreading from her cheek. “You see them, you call the number and keep them in the clinic. I hear that they came here and I don’t get a call, and I pay you another visit.” He punctuated the words with more pressure against her skull. “You understand?”

Maomao grit her teeth but said nothing. The pressure disappeared from her head, but was replaced with a quick kick to her gut that caused her to cry out despite her attempt to hold it in.

“I said, do you understand?”

“I understand.” She spit the words out, her arms clutching her stomach as if she could hold the pain at bay physically with her hands. Through her one good eye she saw the card float to the ground, the numbers blurring in her vision as she tried to focus on them.

She heard the men leave, waiting for a long time to be sure that they had gone before she slowly forced herself to her knees. Her hands touched her face gingerly, assessing the damage as well as she could. Her nose wasn’t broken despite the blood coming from it, thankfully, but there was an open gash on her cheek that she would need to look closer at.

Slowly she forced herself to her feet, wincing at the pain in her head more than the pain in her side. The kick hadn’t done much but give her a nasty bruise to look forward to but she would need to be careful just in case there was any lasting damage. She mopped up the blood on the floor with her towel, using a clean corner to hold against her nose to stem the bleeding. She pocketed the card with disgust, locked the front door and grabbed her first aid kit before she opened the door to her apartment.

“It’s alright now.” Maomao called up the stairs before she started to climb, the last thing she wanted was another kick to the gut because she was mistaken for the men.

The pink haired woman was still lying on the bed, but Hongniang stood in front of her - a butcher's knife from Maomao’s kitchen in her hand.

“If you try to call them, I’ll kill you.” Maomao eyed the shaking woman who had clearly never held a weapon against anyone in her life before, before she sighed and dropped the towel from her face.

“If I was going to turn you over to them, I probably would’ve done it before all this.” She indicated her own injuries before she moved towards the bathroom past the woman.

In the bathroom mirror, Maomao could already see the swelling beginning to take over her eye and sighed. There was no way the Madam would let her work in the Verdigris proper with her face like this - which meant she either needed a way to reduce or hide the swelling or she’d be making pennies scrubbing dishes in the back kitchen for the next few weeks. The gash on her face was inconsequential, the result of bone meeting bone in a punch but not deep enough to require stitches. She washed her hands thoroughly, stuffing tissue up her nose to keep blood from dripping out as she ripped open the box of gauze she had just bought and bandaged up her face as quickly as she could.

When she rejoined the girls in the main room Hongniang had sat down on a kitchen stool, the knife returned to the wood block that housed it.

“I’m going to stitch you up now.” Maomao said to Gyokuyou, moving with purpose to the bed with the first aid kit. She turned on her bedside lamp, dragging it closer to the edge of the bed so she had as much light as she could. “Those men are probably still hanging around outside so you’re going to have to stay here for the night.”

“They’ll kill you for helping us.” Gyokuyou said as Maomao pulled her shirt back up, laying a clean towel beside her as she opened her kit to pull out the things she would need for stitches.

“They might kill me anyway.” Maomao shrugged, focusing on threading her needle with her one good eye - cursing when it took her more attempts than she was used to.

“You could have told them we were here and they wouldn’t have hurt you.” Gyokuyou raised a hand, Maomao pulled away from it before it touched her face.

“They most likely would have hurt me to keep me quiet, but even if they didn’t I wouldn't have turned you in.” She set to cleaning Gyokuyou’s wound, easing her into the pain but going as slow as she could manage. “I have no anesthetic for you.” Maomao said as a way of apology, reaching for her needle and holding it up to punctuate her words. “You need 6 stitches, I will be as quick as I can but I will need you to hold still.”

Gyokuyou’s eyes widened for a moment, but Maomao saw he swallow whatever apprehension she had as she reached a hand out for Hongniang to take before nodding at Maomao to continue.

To the woman’s credit, she held as still as any of the street hardened men that Maomao had stitched up before, despite the small whimpers that escaped her she made no other noise and Maomao completed her work quickly enough.

“These aren’t dissolvable stitches, so you’ll need to remove them in about a week’s time. Normally I would advise you to come back but I think it’s best that you stay as far away from here as possible.” She cleaned the rest of her stomach with a damp cloth, careful to keep the pressure light as she gave out her instructions. “Keep it clean and dry to avoid infection. Keep it out of the sun to minimize scarring but there will be a scar. If it re-opens or gets red and hot to the touch, you’ll need to see another doctor. If you develop a fever in the next few days, see a doctor.”

“You do this a lot.” It was said as a statement, but Maomao could see the confusion in Gyokuyou’s eyes.

Now that things were less urgent, Maomao took a moment to really look over the two women. They were dressed too finely to be local to the area, she was sure a single article of clothing from either woman would cost more than her entire apartment’s rent. Gyokuyou’s nails were manicured, recently filled and polished to perfection. Even her hair, as damp and unkempt as it was in its current state, was clearly professionally dyed with no hint of the woman’s natural color shining through. They certainly weren’t patrons of anyone this side of the town, they were almost guaranteed to be robbed regardless of where they went dressed the way they were.

Not my business. Maomao had already been dragged into something she didn’t need, figuring out why would not save her now.

“I don’t have any clothes that will fit either of you.” They both had at least a foot on her, and Gyokuyou was far bigger in the bust than Maomao. She briefly considered ducking into the strip club to raid the girls’ lockers for something to wear but decided against it. “You’re welcome to shower though, and I’ll at least try to find you a clean shirt so you aren’t walking around in bloodied clothing in broad daylight.”

Maomao began digging through her piles of clothes, she knew she had at least one or two shirts given to her by Meimei - one of the girls that danced at the Verdigris. They were always shoving their hand-me-downs onto Maomao and cooing about how cute she would look in them if she could only grow a few inches in more than one way. If Maomao ever wore any of them, they were mostly worn when she was sleeping or suturing herself - but she handing the girls a sweater with dried blood on it defeated her purpose.

“Maomao…?” She hummed her acknowledgement, victoriously grabbing one of the sweaters she had in mind from the back of her makeshift closet and throwing it towards the bed. “Do you have a phone we could use? Those men took mine and I need to let someone know I’m okay.”

“In my coat pocket.” She waved in the direction she had tossed her coat, still hunting in her closet for something else to hand the girls. “You can use the bathroom if you need privacy, but don’t go back downstairs.”

She didn’t turn to see which one retrieved the phone, the bathroom door opening and then shutting as a voice spoke words she didn’t bother to eavesdrop on. She gave up on the second sweater, deciding that one was good enough since Hongniang didn’t have blood on hers and instead retrieved a spare blanket from her top shelf.

“You two can share the bed.” Maomao tossed the blankets near the top of the staircase, not that it was that far away from the bed given how small her apartment was. “I’m sure you guys could use a few hours of sleep before you go anywhere.”

The bathroom door opened, and Maomao turned to see Gyokuyou holding the phone slightly towards her with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry I…I have no idea where we are and I thought it might be easier for you to explain to him than me.” Maomao looked at Hongniang as if for help, but the woman just shrugged. Sighing, Maomao dropped the pillow she had in her hands and reached out for the phone impatiently.

“You know the Verdigris strip club in the redlight district?” There was a long pause before the man on the phone spoke back to her.

“I know it.” The man’s voice was pleasant, but fake - as if he was using a customer service voice on her or attempting to swoon her through the phone. Maomao gave Gyokuyou a look that conveyed how unimpressed she was by the attempt, to which Gyokuyou merely giggled at.

“You can pick her up at noon from there. Front door - and try not to be too obvious about it.” Maomao hung up on whatever protests the man was about to have, tossing her phone onto the bed. “I hope your boyfriend knows how to be discreet.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Hongniang handed the woman the sweater, which Gyokuyou slipped over her head, wincing as the movement pulled on her stitches. Maomao didn’t ask for clarification - whether the man had been her boyfriend or not was nothing that concerned her anyway.

She gave the woman a brief tour of where everything was, not that it was hard to figure it out in a bachelor apartment. After making sure they had everything they needed, Maomao lay herself down in her makeshift bed and soon slipped into a rough sleep.

Chapter Text

Her phone ringing broke through her sleep, and for a moment Maomao was confused as to why she was lying on the floor. She rolled over and the instant pain in her side reminded her of the events of the night.

Groaning, she sat up as slow as she could, regretting that she hadn’t preemptively taken any sort of pain medication before she went to bed. Feeling worse than if she had gotten no sleep at all, Maomao crawled towards the phone on the floor beside the bed, looking at the unfamiliar number for a moment before she decided to answer it.

“Hello?”

“We’re here.” Maomao pulled the phone away from her ear, staring at the number again in confusion until she caught the time and quickly remembered what she had told Gyokuyou’s not-boyfriend.

“Shit, right. They’re still sleeping. I’ll have them down in a minute.” There was a laugh from the man, it sounded so perfect that Maomao could hardly believe it was a real laugh. She hung up on it, pulling herself to her feet beside the bed as she shook Hongniang and Gyokuyou awake. “Time to go.” She announced - she had originally wanted to wake them up with enough time to offer them a shower at the very least but there was a part of her that was relieved to have them out of her apartment.

The girls were headed towards the stairs before Maomao called them back to her closet.

“Not that way - it may be daylight but I still don’t trust that there aren’t eyes watching the clinic.” The girls exchanged looks, clearly confused until Maomao pulled the tapestry she had against the wall down to reveal another door.

“Does that lead to the strip club?” Maomao nodded, opening the door and walking through.

The door opened into the girls’ locker room; not ideal if Maomao wanted to sleep while they were working but it was the most private room in the strip club and Maomao could be sure that no patrons would curiously wander into her living room when she wasn’t paying attention.

The girls came through together, holding hands as they took everything in with wide eyed wonder, as if they had never been inside a strip club in their life.

“Are you allowed to be here?” Gyokuyou asked as they followed Maomao through the locker room towards the main hall.

“I pay rent.” Was all she said - she didn’t want these women to have too much information on her. It was only a necessity for her safety that made her take them out this way - other than the Madam and the girls that worked in the club, nobody else knew that her apartment was even there.

Maomao had long grown accustomed to seeing the strip club with the lights on, but she remembered the way she had felt the first time and saw the same look reflected on the two women. If it wasn’t for the stripper poles on stage, it looked like any event hall in the city - better than most in fact. The Madam spared no expense on her club, even with the patrons unable to see most of the features the woman insisted it mattered.

“Maomao!”

Speak of the devil.

Maomao motioned for the women to continue on, turning to look at the Madam over her shoulder. The old woman was carrying a tray of glasses, clearly doing the bar work in advance of the service that night. When she spotted Maomao’s bandages and swollen eye she tsked, placing the tray a little roughly down on the bar rail.

“Who am I going to get to work the bar tonight with you looking like that?” The words were rough, but Maomao could sense the hint of concern in the words that she only knew through knowing the woman her entire life. The Madam looked at the two women, but Maomao shook her head and she conceded for the moment. “Hurry back, these dishes won’t wash themselves and I’m too old to be lugging them to and from the kitchen.”

Maomao opened the front door of the Verdigris, grabbing a garbage bag from beside the front door and carrying it outside as a way to see if the coast was clear. There were a few people on the sidewalk, but they weren’t bothered to look in her direction. There was only one car in the street that immediately turned on as soon as the door opened.

So much for discreet.

The car pulled up, the window rolling down to show the face of the most beautiful man Maomao had ever seen in her life. His hair was kept long for a boy, but it was dyed a deep purple and suited him well she had to admit. His face was unlined, but still held the sharp angles of a man - his skin unblemished and looked as if it would feel like silk if she reached out to touch it. The man smiled at her and she knew then that he was used to women doing whatever he wanted when he smiled at them like that.

She glared at him in disgust before she could stop herself. He opened his mouth to say something when Maomao turned and re-entered the Verdigris, shutting the door behind her.

“The man you called; does he look like a spoiled brat?” Gyokuyou laughed out loud at the words, Hongniang looking as if she would follow suit if she wasn’t doing her best to suppress it.

“Yes, that would be Jinshi.” The woman patted Maomao on the head, giving her a wide smile. “Thank you very much, Maomao. I won’t forget this.”

The two women left before Maomao could say anything, leaving Maomao to stare at the closed door for a moment before she let out a long breath.

“I told you that clinic would bring you trouble.” It was the same thing the Madam always said to her everytime Maomao received an injury, whether it was because of her work in the clinic or not. Though this time there was more seriousness than mocking behind the words. “Should I go fetch Luomen for you?”

“No.” Maomao rolled up her sleeves before grabbing the empty tray from the bar rail. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

The Madam trailed after her into the kitchen, much to Maomao’s annoyance. Leaning against the wall as she washed glasses in the sink. It was a long time before either spoke again.

“You can always go live with your father.” A glass slipped from her hands, shattering against the bottom of the large sink. The sound made Maomao jump and it took a moment for her to come back to herself. “I let you stay here because I know how you feel, but if you’re in danger now-”

“I’m not.” Turning off the water, she began carefully gathering shards of glass into her hands before dumping them into garbage beside the sink. “Those women needed help, I helped them. It's done now.”

“Mhmm.”

Maomao finished cleaning the glasses alone, the Madam having excused herself into her office. Despite her lack of sleep and general soreness in her body, Maomao enjoyed having the time to herself even if it involved cleaning and prepping the bar. It wasn’t until a few hours later that Lihaku, the other bartender, arrived.

“Holy shit, what happened to you?” Lihaku had barely taken a step behind the bar before he dropped his bag, not bothering to hide the shock on his face.

“Rough night.” Maomao didn’t bother explaining, Lihaku was kind and honest but a little slow. She liked him well enough, but she liked him too much to drag him deeper into the underside of her dealings. “You’re here early - is Pairin coming in early too?” She teased him, both to turn the conversation away from her and to laugh and how his face instantly became red.

“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t miss it if she did!”

Lihaku was madly in love with Pairin, another one of the dancers at the Verdigris. Maomao was close with Pairin, close enough to consider her a sister - and she was pretty sure her sister loved Lihaku back. But Pairin liked to tease men just as much as she liked dancing for them, and Lihaku had an uphill battle before he would get what he wanted from her.

“I’ll leave the rest to you.” She wiped her hands on her pants, unrolling her sleeves as she waved to Lihaku.

She didn’t bother to knock on the Madam’s door - she wasn’t expected to work until 9 that evening, and if she showed up and didn’t look passable for bar service she would just have to suffer in the kitchens. Lihaku would manage just fine on the bar with Xiaolan, and if she didn’t show up he would manage alone.

A hot shower revealed the bruises climbing up her skin, deep red splotches covered her stomach spreading to the right side of her ribs. Her face didn’t fare much better, she would definitely have a black eye by tomorrow, and no amount of home remedies would get her eye open that night. Bruises she could cover with makeup; even a bandaid across the gash on her cheek would be acceptable - but it would take some creativity to come up with a suitable cover for her eye.

She had just decided that she probably still had an eyepatch from last halloween’s costume when her eyes closed and she fell into a deep sleep.

The time to wake and ready for the evening came too soon, and Maomao forced her legs under her body as she dragged herself to the bathroom to get ready for the evening.

In her daily life Maomao avoided wearing makeup, nobody bothered a plain-faced girl in baggy clothes if she decided she wanted to take a walk in the middle of the night. But at the Verdigris, even the bartenders were expected to tempt customers - and the girls had taken great pains to teach Maomao all the tricks of the trade.

When she finished she had to admit that she did a better job than she had expected, the sleek black eyepatch that she had used for a costume last year appeared as an intentional fashion choice with her heavily lined eyes and dark lacy outfit. With her hair curled and her bangs swept mostly to the side of the eyepatch, Maomao gave a satisfied smile to herself in the mirror before a knock on her hidden door got her moving.

“Maomao~” Xiaolan’s voice called through the door, her voice as happy as always. Maomao smiled to herself as she slipped her heels on before opening the door.

Xiaolan smiled, her eyes trailing over Maomao’s face before catching on the eyepatch.

“Are we supposed to wear costumes tonight?” Her brow crinkled as she looked down at her own outfit, a hot pink top with black shorts that somehow managed to come across as more cute than sexy despite the amount of skin on display.

“No, I just have an eye infection.” Maomao slipped through the door, leaving it unlocked for ease of passage if a patient called for her. “I was hoping the Madam would still let me work if I wore the eyepatch.”

“She’ll let you work, it’s unusually busy tonight.” The girls in the locker room gave Maomao smiles and waves, Maomao gave as many replies as she followed Xiaolan through the backrooms.

When they entered the main hall, Maomao instantly saw what her friend meant. Despite it barely being ten o’clock the entire main hall was nearly packed with people. Even the Verdigris, as popular as it usually was, rarely saw this kind of attention and if it did it was never before midnight.

“Hey, you two!” Lihaku was walking past them, delivering drinks to a table far off from the stage. “I could really use you behind the bar.”

“Yessir!” Xiaolan called back, grabbing Maomao’s hand to pull her along.

The night became a blur of patrons and drinks for Maomao, despite her many nights working in heels Maomao found her feet aching within the hour and her face began to ache as her energy began to flag.

She dipped behind the bar, sometime around one in the morning, grabbing a shot glass and a regular glass as she dipped into the corner of the bar by the door. Patrons could still see her there, but it was less visible than anywhere else and it was far too busy for anyone to notice her. Pouring herself a glass of red bull, she knocked a shot of Jaeger into it messily.

“Cheers.” She said to herself, knocking the glass against the table before downing it.

“Cheers!” A voice to her right said, causing her to choke on the drink. She squatted down, hiding herself under the bar as she coughed until she could take a breath without breathing in jaeger. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Maomao looked up to see the same man that picked up Gyokuyou and Hongniang staring over the bar down at her, his long hair nearly reaching the top of her head as he smiled at her pleasantly.

“Get off the bar rail.” She couldn’t help the glare on her face, but she caught her voice enough to make it sound somewhat pleasant. The man momentarily frowned, but it was replaced with a smile a second later as his face disappeared from her view.

Standing slowly, she made sure her back was to him as she took a step in the opposite direction.

“Not going to finish your drink?” She hated that she could hear his voice over the music, as if he was speaking right into her ear. She shuddered, looking over her shoulder to give him a glare that she normally reserved for the patrons that got a little too handsy with her.

The man was unphased. He was half laying, half leaning over the bar rail at the very end where it connected with the wall, his head on his hand as he smiled at her even wider than he had initially. Behind him stood another man, clearly older and clearly unhappy with being in a strip club - he hovered behind the man as if debating whether to pull him back or not.

He’s more beautiful than I thought. Came the unbidden thought, but Maomao had to admit he was. He could give any of the women in the Verdigris a run for their money; if they employed male strippers he would have been a millionaire within the week.

She immediately decided she wanted nothing to do with him.

“Lihaku!” Maomao called over the music, leaving her glass and the liquor she opened where they were rather than go near the gorgeous man again. “Switch sides with me.”

“Trouble?” He called back, but he was already making his way over to her side of the bar.

Maomao risked a glance back at the corner, seeing the two men still there. Lihaku followed her eyes and whistled low under his breath as he passed her.

“You sure you want to switch?” She spat a curse at his waggled eyebrows, dodging around him as they passed each other. He would no doubt tell Pairin that Maomao had been talked up by an attractive man, and she was not looking forward to her adoptive sister prodding her for details that didn’t exist.

Safe on the other side of the bar, she carried on with her duties. Smiling at customers, taking their drink orders and slapping away hands that reached for her when she moved through the crowd to bring drinks to tables while girls danced on stage and music pounded inside her skull. Her body took over, moving automatically as she mentally checked out and the man with the beautiful smile was long out of her mind.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes sir, what can I get you?” Maomao turned from putting away the bottle in her hand with a smile, looking up at the man ordering.

Only to see the celestial smile of the man she had forgotten about.

He smiled back at her, leaning towards her as if just to be heard.

“Your name would be a good start.”

Maomao froze, caught halfway crouched with her hand still out as if she would pick the bottle she had just put away back up. She felt the smile slip from her face slowly, her eyes narrowing first at the man and then at Lihaku who was clearly pretending he didn’t know that his customer had followed her over to her new side.

“Not interested.” Maomao forced the words past her gritted teeth, straightening up and crossing her arms. It was not the first time she had needed to turn down drunk men hitting on her, but she could tell by the instant pout the man threw at her that he was not used to being told no. “Order a drink or step away from the bar rail.”

“I don’t drink.” If this had been a cartoon his teeth would have sparkled.

“You’re at a bar.” She stared at him, completely deadpanned while she watched his smile slowly wither on his face. His brows touched, straightening in his seat he opened his mouth to clearly argue with her when Xiaolan bounded between them.

“Maomao! Your buzzer is going off.”

She cursed, reached around to unclip her fanny pack as she tossed it unceremoniously onto the counter. She made to leave, then double backed to grab Xiaolan’s arm as she pointed directly at the still pouting man.

“He either buys a drink or a dance, otherwise tell Lihaku to kick him out.” With one last glare she was moving, slipping between customers as quickly as she could without running. She ignored calls for her, slipping past hands reaching out to wave her down as she slipped into the backrooms.

The girls in the locker room paid her no mind, used to her frantically running through every night. She entered her apartment, barely shutting the door before she was kicking her heels off and sliding her flats on. Taking the stairs as quickly as she dared, she made the trip from behind the Verdigris’ bar to her clinic door in under five minutes.

“Come in.” She was breathing heavily, but the men that entered barely seemed to notice her as they pushed through - one supported by the other. She directed them to the seat in the middle of the room, an old dentist chair that she had managed to get and make presentable. The man was dumped roughly there, groaning at the rough treatment.

With gloves on she gently began examining her patient. She never asked questions of the people that came to her that weren’t needed to treat them, and most of them didn’t offer information up without prompting.

The man wasn’t in any real danger, he had clearly been jumped by quite a few people but they hadn’t done too much damage. Maomao worked efficiently, cleaning up blood to assess the cuts hidden underneath - opting to tape the gashes on his face closed instead of suturing them. She gave instructions while she worked, speaking loud enough for both men to hear.

“Don’t rip off the skin tape or you risk opening the wounds further. It will fall off on its own in about 10 days.” Peeling off the gloves, she tossed them in the trash before she sifted through her medications. “Take a deep breath for me and tell me if you feel any sudden, sharp pains.” Not that she could do anything for him if one of his ribs had been broken, but she was nothing if not thorough.

“I’m okay.” She nodded to herself, pouring two pills into her hand before returning to his side.

“Take one of these if the pain is too much to sleep, but save one for tomorrow. You’ll hurt twice as much in the morning. Don’t take them both within 8 hours of each other.” They rolled into his hands before disappearing into his pocket. “Nothing seems broken but adrenaline can hide injuries from you - if something else comes up you know where to find me.”

The man waiting stood, coming over to help his friend stand. A fifty dollar bill was placed on Maomao’s counter, she pretended not to notice it until they were out in the streets and her door was once again locked. She took her time to wipe down everything properly; there was no rush to return to the crowded air of the bar and the watching eyes of that man that she had a sneaking suspicion would manage to talk his way out of being thrown out.

She supposed she may as well speak with him, take whatever message he was sent to give her before he imposed himself on her any further.

Dragging her feet up the stairs, it took her a beat too long to realize she wasn’t alone in her own apartment.

She never locked the door between her and the Verdigris’ locker room when she was working, both to give her quick access to and from but also to allow the girls to use her bathroom or kitchen if they wanted to. At first she had assumed that was what was happening, that two of the strippers had decided to take a break in her apartment away from the bright lights and loud music. Then her brain caught up with her eyes and she recognized the two men from the bar; the purple haired one was sitting on her bed as if he had been patiently waiting for her for a while - the other man lingered uncomfortably near the door as if he’d rather be anywhere but there.

“Get out.” Maomao felt a flicker of anger in her chest, but she forced it back. She had never had a man in her apartment, let alone on her bed and the sight of him sitting there irritated her more than she wanted him to know. His beauty was completely at odds with the mess and decay of her apartment, like some sort of painting meant to show the contrast.

“You could at least hear what I have to say, Maomao.” Even her name sounded better on his lips. She clenched her hand reflexively, wondering where she had put the taser Lihaku had gotten for her a few years ago. Her disgust only seemed to enthuse him, as he leaned back on her bed smiling at her. “Five minutes of your time, that’s all I need.”

She could turn around and leave through her clinic door, walk around to the front and re-enter the Verdigris through there but she didn’t like the idea of leaving two strange men in her personal apartment - especially since the clinic door could be unlocked without a key from this side. The idea of them going through her carefully organized medical supplies annoyed her more than them hanging around her apartment.

“You get three minutes.” In those three minutes, she was determined to find that taser.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up when she turned her back to them, but she didn’t think the uncomfortable man would make a move to hurt her and she would hear the shifting in her bed if the other decided to move against her. She began shuffling through the various drawers in her kitchen while he spoke.

“My name is Jinshi, and this is my friend Gaoshun.” They’r too far apart in age for that to be true, she thought to herself, even if I ignore how uncomfortable Gaoshun seems to be around him. “We wanted to thank you for taking care of Gyokuyou the other day.”

“By breaking into my apartment.” Mentally she noted that he didn’t mention Hongniang.

“I was trying to speak to you-”

“Harassing me at my place of work.” She corrected him, smiling secretly to herself when she heard his annoyed huff.

“I was not harassing you, I-”

“Jinshi.” Goashun’s voice was a low warning, Maomao risked a glance over her shoulder to see the man exchange an exasperated shake of his head with Jinshi who merely pouted momentarily before composing himself back to his mask of smiles.

“Anyways, I wanted to thank you but Gyokuyou also informed me that you suffered injuries on her behalf.” She didn’t answer him, moving from her drawers to the pile of random things that she had shoved in her cupboard instead. “Why?” There was a note of genuine curiosity in his voice that set off alarm bells in her head.

“Why, what?” Her hand closed around the taser, carefully turning it over to make sure there were batteries in it while hiding her face behind the cupboard door.

“You could have easily turned them into the men instead.”

It astounded her why people couldn’t understand.

“Like I told Gyokuyou; they would have hurt me regardless of whether I turned them in or not - but even if they wouldn’t I’m not a snitch. Especially not if it means handing over a woman.”

She could tell Jinshi was looking at her in the pause that followed, a shiver ran across her skin as if she could physically feel the touch of his eyes.

“Could you describe the men if I asked you to? Did you recognize either of them?”

For a moment she debated answering him honestly; she could spot a member of the Shi clan from a mile away at this point. She was familiar with most of the gangs in the area, having stitched up a fair number of them after whatever trouble they had been causing. She didn’t know their names but she could give him enough to find the person who tried to attack Gyokuyou.

She opened her mouth, the card with the man’s number was still in her coat pocket and with the right planning it would be simple to track down who owned the number. It would bring her trouble, though, would bring trouble to the Madam and her sisters who worked in the strip club. There were rules to how things worked in the pleasure district, and she was sure Jinshi didn’t know them.

“I don’t, I’m sorry.” She stood then, the taser clearly in her hand as she pointed it towards Jinshi. It buzzed violently in her hand. “Your three minutes it up.”

Chapter Text

She locked the door this time, even if it delayed her an extra minute getting back to her clinic she wasn’t about to give Jinshi a chance to corner her like that again.

The locker room was mostly empty, and the few women that were in there seemed unbothered by a man walking through - in fact they seemed to be purposely trying to capture his attention. Meimei was just walking into the room when Maomao reached the door, the smile on her face instantly told Maomao who it was that let Jinshi through to her apartment.

“I’m putting a laxative in your next drink.” Maomao hissed as she passed, exiting the locker room to the peeling laughter of the woman.

The night didn’t go any better from that point. Though Maomao wasn’t called back to the clinic, and the bar was busy enough that she was sure she had made the pay she normally would in three nights, she also noticed that Jinshi and Gaoshun didn’t leave.

They were no longer hanging around the bar directly, but Jinshi had seemingly smiled his way into a VIP table that was raised high enough that she could feel his eyes on her no matter how she tried to hide herself in the crowd of people. He had ordered two beers, but they sat untouched on the table and everytime she peeked his way there were girls sitting with him though she never saw any money get exchanged.

“Your mask is slipping, Maomao.” Lihaku bumped her shoulder lightly as he passed behind her, his hands full of freshly cleaned glasses. She blew out a breath, rolling her shoulders as she turned away from the room to hide her face from the patrons.

“It’s a bad night.” In more ways than one. Her face was starting to ache and her ribs hurt every time she turned too quickly. She regretted taking shots with Xiaolan earlier in the night - she would have rather taken pain meds.

“If you want to sneak out early I can cover for you.” She was already shaking her head.

“And give you all the tips? If you buy Pairin anymore shoes she’s going to need another locker.” She hip checked him playfully to offset the harsh tone in her voice, smirking when he blushed a little.

“Maybe you can discreetly ask what she wants for her birthday this year?”

“Not a chance.”

It was three days later when she dragged Lihaku into the kitchen and decided to strike a deal with him.

“I will find out what Pairin wants as a gift, if you serve that man’s table for me.” Her hand clutched his arm, the lights of the kitchen bright enough for him to see the desperation in her face.

Jinshi and Gaoshun had returned every night since their first encounter with her, the former waving at her and throwing smiles every time he caught her glaring his way as if they were old friends. He ordered beers from her, but she knew he never drank any of them - he seemed to pass them out to other patrons or the girls that flocked to his table and instead used ordering another one as an excuse to ask her questions once he realized she wouldn’t go anywhere near him unless he was ordering. She always came back glaring, and her tips were starting to suffer from it but he had somehow figured out which tables were her responsibility and managed to sit in one of them every time.

“He’s in the VIP section right? You know the Madam only wants the girls serving VIP tables.”

“She also wants us to serve the drinks, not throw them at people’s heads.” She pulled harder on his sleeve, doing her best to try and give him the pout that the other girls seemed to use when they wanted something from him. “Just the one table and I’ll find out the best present you can get Pairin.”

She could see the consideration on his face as he weighed the possibility of getting yelled at by the Madam versus whatever praise he would receive from Pairin when her birthday rolled around. He grimaced as he seemed to come to a decision.

“Fine, but if the Madam starts yelling at me I’m sending her your way.”

Triumphant, she shook his hand to cement their deal before they returned to the bar. It was rather slow that night, so the next time Jinshi raised his hand to wave Maomao over to bother her some more she had the pleasure of standing and watching as his smile turned into a glare as Lihaku approached them instead. Lihaku took whatever displeasure Jinshi had with a smile, while Goashun just looked at her pleadingly as if she had done it purposely to make him suffer rather than Jinshi.

Buzzing came from her back pocket, and Maomao pulled her phone out to see the alarm for the clinic going off. Tossing down the hand towel she had been holding on the bar she waved her phone in Lihaku’s direction to let him know where she was going before rushing back to her apartment. She locked the door behind her this time.

The clinic door opened to two women, dressed as if they had been on their way to a bar and smelling like they had just come from one. They stumbled in, one of them barely coherent as she clung on to her friend who nearly dragged her inside.

“There were some creepy guys at the bar.” The more coherent girl slurred as Maomao directed her to the exam seat. “I think they slipped something into her drink.”

The girl slumped in the chair, mumbling incoherently as Maomao tilted her head to get a better look in her eyes.

“How long ago did it happen?” Checking the woman’s breathing and pulse next, Maomao moved confidently as her mind settled into her role.

“I don’t know, 15 maybe 20 minutes ago? We left pretty quickly after she started having trouble standing without falling over. The men followed us for a few blocks before I remembered where you were.”

“If you want I can secure you a safe ride to the hospital; your friend will most likely be okay after the effects wear off but you won’t be able to report the incident to the police without medical records of the incident.” Maomao already knew the answer before she started speaking, but it felt like an important obligation to make sure that the options were laid out for her.

“She’d kill me if she woke up to a hospital bill…” The awkward silence hung in the air, and Maomao decided to get ahead of the woman’s next question.

“I don’t charge. If you want to donate to medical supplies I won’t say no, but I won’t turn you or your friend away if you don’t.” Just like that the tension slipped from the room, she saw the woman slump in relief from the corner of her eye while she finished up her examination. She began to give care instructions when the door to the clinic opened and the woman shrieked as three men began entering.

Maomao moved quickly to stand between them and the two women, her hand on her back pocket where she had started keeping the taser ever since Jinshi started hanging around the Verdigris.

“That’s them.” The woman whispered, covering her drugged friend with her body to hide her from sight. Maomao felt adrenaline start to pump in her, fighting to keep her breathing even as she held her ground.

“Leave my clinic, now.” The men laughed, taking another step into the room.

There was a panic button that Maomao had setup, when pressed it alerted the bouncers that she needed assistance in the same way that the doorbell to the clinic alerted her phone when someone pressed it. The problem was that it was behind the two girls, and if she moved to press it the men would have a clear line to the vulnerable pair.

Not that she thought she would fare much better than them against three men twice her size.

“Those girls come with us and we’ll leave you exactly how we found you.”

She pulled the taser out, holding it between them threateningly the same way she had held it at Jinshi. Unlike him, however, the men just smiled at her as they advanced on her while the girl behind her started screaming.

Maomao figured if she was going down she would do her best to at least take the ringleader out - with any luck the others would leave if she managed to drop the man with a well placed tase. She pushed forward, surprising him by moving towards the man as she aimed the taser for his side. A hard blow hit her side, the pain amplified by the existing bruising on her ribs making Maomao cry out in pain as she pressed the taser as hard into his side as she could. The man shouted, jerking away from her roughly, tripping over his feet as he crashed to the floor.

Maomao slumped to the ground, the pain in her side making her suddenly nauseous. When she looked up however, she saw the other two men on the floor beside the man that she had tased as Jinshi and Gaoshun entered the clinic overtop of them.

“Are you okay?” Jinshi was reaching for her, his face caught somewhere between concern and anger. She slapped his outstretched hand away, focusing instead on her breathing instead of answering him as she closed her eyes to fight back the nausea. “Goashun, get them out of here.”

Sounds of scrambling and arguing reached her through the ringing in her ears, but by the time she had controlled herself enough to open her eyes again without risking throwing up the men were gone along with Gaoshun. Jinshi leaned against the closed door, his eyes roaming the room but not bothering to hide how often they touched on her.

“I’m so sorry, Apothecary.” The woman forgotten behind her said, her voice hitching and high pitched as she forced the words out through barely held back sobs. “I didn’t know they followed us here, or I wouldn’t have come.”

“It’s not your fault.” Maomao stood, wincing as pain shot through her side. She grabbed tissues from her counter, handing them to the woman. “Your friend needs somewhere safe to rest, do you have anywhere to take her?”

“Y-yes, but…” They both looked at the now unconscious woman, Maomao took a moment to assess her breathing and pulse before determining out loud that she wouldn’t be waking up any time soon.

“Gaoshun can take them home.” Jinshi spoke up from where he stood, the small smile on his face seemed to mean to comfort instead of seduce. Maomao eyed him for any insincerity but his offer seemed genuine.

She wanted to argue that sending her home with strange men after her friend was just drugged by strange men was hardly the best move, but she had to admit she didn’t have many other options. Normally she would ask one of the bouncers, or Lihaku if it wasn’t busy. If they were closer to the end of the night she might have even asked one of the girls to take them home on their way, but they were still quite a few hours away from closing.

“Would you feel comfortable with that?” Her voice was pitched low, though she was sure Jinshi still heard her anyway. “I can find someone else to take you, or I can call someone if you know anyone that can come get you.”

“I think…I’d rather just go home.” Sighing, she turned to Jinshi, who was already opening the door to let Gaoshun back in as if he had been waiting for his queue.

“Am I okay to carry her?” The question was directed at Maomao, and she suddenly liked Gaoshun a lot more.

“Yes, just try not to jostle her around too much.”

Gaoshun carefully lifted the woman bridal style, making sure her head was properly supported against his chest as he turned to carry her out of the clinic with her friend trailing behind her. Before they could leave the girl came back, grabbing Maomao’s hands to hold them in front of her like a prayer.

“I promise as soon as I have some money, I’ll make a donation. Thank you so, so much, Apothecary.” Maomao smiled at the girl, a soft smile that matched the warmth in her chest.

“My clinic is open for you if you ever need it, but I hope this is the last time I see either of you here.”

The smile remained until the door closed and it was just her and Jinshi standing in the clinic. He leaned against the door, smiling at her but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. In them she saw a curiosity that unsettled her, as if he was trying to see something in her. Ignoring him, she began wiping down her station, sterilizing it for the next poor soul that entered. She wanted to ask him what he was doing there, why he had so insistently come to watch her every night despite her hostility towards him but she didn’t want to open up the line of questioning.

When she finished and Jinshi remained where he stood, she had no choice but to speak to him unless she wanted to leave her clinic unlocked.

“Why are you still here?”

“Gaoshun was my ride, I need to wait for him to get back.” He took her question as an invitation, stepping into the clinic to look around for the first time. She remained rooted, though she felt her muscled tense as she watched him with open distrust. “She called you ‘Apothecary’?”

“You can wait for him outside.”

Jinshi pouted, taking steps so he was behind her - Maomao turned so that she was facing him again. She was fairly confident at this point that he wasn’t going to hurt her, but she didn’t want to give him any chances to prove her wrong.

“Are you always this hostile to people trying to befriend you?”

“Do you always try to befriend people by stalking them?”

They stood staring at each other for a moment, neither one backing down until Maomao thought that perhaps Jinshi’s childishness was stronger than her patience. She dropped herself into one of the chairs, thankful to be sitting for the first time that night.

“Apothecary is a nickname, I didn’t ask anyone to call me that.” Her voice lacked any real warmth, her hand absently pressed against the tenderness on her side as she pointedly avoided meeting his eyes. “I offer medical services to those who can’t go to the hospital.”

“Why wouldn’t they be able to go to the hospital?” She looked at him sharply then, but bit back her retort when she saw the genuine confusion on his face.

Definitely spoiled.

“Some can’t afford it, others don’t want to get the authorities involved in whatever landed them there in the first place. I don’t ask questions, that’s one of the reasons I’ve managed to keep my head attached. The other is that I don’t share information about those that I treat.” She did catch his eye then, making sure he could see how serious she was. “I will not tell anyone about Gyokuyou being here, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

“That was part of it I suppose.” Jinshi took a seat in her examination chair, earning a small glare from her in annoyance that he seemed to either ignore or not see. “Gyokuyou was worried about your injuries and wanted to see you again, but she said if she returned to visit it would put you in danger. She asked me to come and invite you to her place so that she could thank you properly.”

“So you came to make sure I wouldn’t cause her any trouble.”

“No offense, of course.” She waved her hand dismissively, closing her eyes as she rested her head against the wall. She could feel the past few days of barely any sleep catching up with her, dragging against her eyelids and making her limbs ache to move.

“Tell her that I appreciate her concern, but it isn’t necessary.” She yawned despite herself, deciding that sleep would come to her easily tonight if she ever managed to make it back to her bed. She pulled out her phone, checking the time to see that it was close enough to closing that Maomao could just call it a night. She sent Lihaku a quick text to let him know to close down without her when the door opened and Gaoshun peeked his head back in.

Jinshi stood, heading for the door but stopped to place a hand on her shoulder - leaning down so his face was level with hers.

“I’ll let Gyokuyou know you’ll be attending dinner tomorrow. I’ll text you the details.”

He slipped out the door with a wave over his shoulder, Goashun giving her a sympathetic smile and a nod before closing the door softly. She reached over, flipping the lock the second the door was closed before slumping fully in her chair despite the pain it brought her.

Chapter Text

She woke the next morning to insistent vibrations against her cheek, she groaned as she reached a hand under her pillow searching for her phone. Looking through her good eye she first noticed that it was already 3 in the afternoon.

The second thing she noticed was the ridiculous amount of texts from the unsaved number that belonged to Jinshi.

unsaved number 9:36am: Goodmorning Maomao~
unsaved number 9:37am: It’s Jinshi.
unsaved number 10:03am: I will be there to pick you up at 4 for dinner with Gyokuyou.
unsaved number 1:15pm: Are you still sleeping?!
unsaved number 2:06pm: You better not be ignoring me on purpose.
unsaved number 3:03pm: Gyokuyou will be sad if you stand her up.

Maomao groaned louder, rolling over as she debated tossing her phone out the window and into the streets. The last thing she wanted to do was spend the precious few hours she had before work awkwardly navigating a social call with someone who was clearly in a different social class than her. Not to mention having to deal with being stuck in a car with Jinshi both ways.

She saved his number under “Brat” and then quickly abandoned the phone for a shower, taking her time to soak under the hot water. She would make him wait for a bit, as revenge for forcing her into this social gathering - but only a bit.

It took some time to figure out what she was going to do about her eye; she got away with the eyepatch in the strip club mostly because it was dark and none of the patrons were looking at her face to begin with. Her eye was still swollen shut, the bruising around it now a deep, dark purple that wouldn’t be easily hid under foundation even if the swelling hadn’t been there. Gauze would just call more attention to it, and she didn’t have another eyepatch to wear so she resigned herself to this one, tying it in place and grimacing with how much it stood out when she wore everyday clothing.

Slipping her wallet and taser into a small handbag, she left through the Verdigris just as Jinshi started calling her phone.

“You said four was fine.” Jinshi chastised her as she closed and locked the door behind her. She had taken an extra thirty minutes to let him fume outside before she had finally decided to leave. It had clearly worked as intended.

“Actually I never agreed to this in the first place.” She walked past him, leaning down to peer into the car he stood beside to see Gaoshun in the driver’s seat. “Hello Gaoshun.”

“Hello Maomao.” He smiled at her, ignoring the pouting Jinshi behind her just as well as she was.

“Thank you for driving those girls home yesterday.”

“It was no trouble. I have a daughter around their age, I would hope someone would help her if I wasn’t there.” Maomao offered him a smile, straightening to find Jinshi holding the rear passenger door open for her. Her smile wilted.

“Where exactly are we going?”

“Gyokuyou’s house.”

“Which is?”

“The North side of the city.” His smile was forced, his eyes telling her that he wasn’t used to being fought on everything the way she was currently fighting him. She rolled her eyes, doing her best to not touch him by accident as she slid into the back seat.

Jinshi slid in beside her, earning him a hard glare as she put her bag on the seat between them as a shield. Pulling out a phone, she sent a quick text to Lihaku to tell him roughly where she was doing and with whom, and also preemptively apologizing for leaving him with the prep work for tonight.

“Lihaku is your boyfriend then, is he?” She had felt him leaning over to look at her phone, he moved like someone unused to having to sneak around. Not bothering to look at him, she was reminded to send a follow up message to Pairin to subtly probe her for gift ideas.

“Hardly.” She debated texting Meimei but decided the woman would just harass her for details if she did. “He’s pining for my sister, I’m just caught in the middle of it most often.” She wasn’t sure why she wanted to clear up her relationship with the man, it might have been more beneficial for him to think she was dating Lihaku but it felt wrong to bring the man into her troubles.

“How many siblings do you have?” She sideyed Jinshi but his face was void of any mocking, even his fake smile was gone. For the first time he looked like just a normal guy having a normal conversation.

“I don’t have any blood siblings.” She found herself saying, leaning her head against the window to look at the scenery as they passed. “I’m just really close with a few of the girls who work at the Verdigris.”

“How long have you been living at the Verdigris?”

“Long enough.” It came out a little more bitter than she intended, and she could already see his mouth opening to ask follow up questions so she cut him off with the first thing she thought to ask. “Do you have any siblings?”

“Oh…No. No I don’t.” She frowned a little at the uncertainty in his voice, but quickly dismissed it. She didn’t really care whether he had siblings or not, but being an only child fit his personality.

They settled into the silence that followed, Maomao continued to stare out the window as her fingers played with the fraying edge of the sweater she wore. Dilapidated houses quickly turned into nicer neighborhoods, then into business buildings and hotels. The pedestrians became better dressed, their postures straightening and their faces clearing of suspicion and caution the farther they went; it was like watching an evolution guide in a text book. Eventually the car pulled up to a gate, and Gaoshun rolled down his window to identify himself to the person on the other end of the intercom.

Maomao’s nerves returned in full force, she was not accustomed to rich neighborhoods or those who lived in them. She had picked her nicest looking sweater, a deep navy blue that had been a gift from Joka - one of her chosen sisters who arguably had the best taste in rich clothing. She had even taken a moment to apply subtle makeup to her good eye, if only to make herself feel a little more confident in her cheap eyepatch.

When the car pulled up to the front, Maomao reached for the handle to her side of the door but was quickly beaten by Gaoshun who stepped out to open her door for her.

“Thank…you.” Never had someone held a door for her, but even Jinshi appeared to wait in the car until Gaoshun made his way over to open his as well.

Definitely not friends, some sort of manservant? The mental observations came unwillingly, she had no intention of hanging around Jinshi long enough to confirm any of them.

She followed Jinshi to the front door, standing uncomfortably behind him as he knocked. When the door opened, Hongniang stood there smiling as if she had been waiting for them a few steps away.

“Come in, Gyokuyou is just in the parlor having tea.” Jinshi nodded, moving past her and Maomao followed a few paces behind. Hongniang’s smile brightened when her eyes met Maomao’s, nodding at her encouragingly as she closed the door behind them.

Jinshi led the way to the parlor, clearly familiar with the layout of the home. When they entered the room, Gyokuyou was sitting on a couch drinking tea, a magazine in her hand but she dropped it as soon as she saw them.

“Maomao!” She leaned forward to place her cup on the table, Maomao caught the wince the movement brought to the woman and decided that she would find time to examine the wound to make sure it was healing alright. “I’m so happy you came, I was a day away from sending someone other than Jinshi to invite you.” The woman tossed Jinshi a half playful, half serious glare before pulling Maomao into a hug.

“You really didn’t need to invite me.” Maomao wasn’t sure anyone heard her, as crushed into the woman’s bosom as she was. Eventually she was released, reaching up to adjust her eyepatch to make sure it still covered the unseemly bruising on her face.

“Nonsense. You saved mine and Hongniang’s lives, and you got hurt because of us. Tea?” She didn’t wait for a response, already waving to Hongniang to bring extra cups to the table. “I hope those men haven’t caused you any more trouble.” Gyokuyou and Jinshi both sat, Maomao took a spot on the chair separate from the couch Jinshi was sitting on which earned her a pout from the man and a smirk from the woman.

Hongniang returned with the cups, pouring tea for everyone and handing them to cups. Maomao took it, holding it in her hands as she let the heat calm her nerves a little.

“They haven’t been back, so please don’t worry about it. More importantly, how are you healing?” Gyokuyou oddly brightened at the question, picking up her own teacup as she adjusted herself to face Maomao more directly.

“When I got back I had a physician called to look at it at my fiance’s insistence and the doctor was impressed by your sutures. He said if you hadn’t had any medical training he would be surprised.”

“I’ve had some.” It took effort to not shift uncomfortably, she could feel them looking at her with questions in their eyes. “I’ve done a year of med school, that’s all.” She didn’t elaborate further, she had no intention of going into her personal issues with people she never intended to see again. It had been a long time since she had had to make small talk with people that she didn’t know, she struggled to find a topic that would be considered appropriate. “You have a lovely house.” Lovely was an understatement, it looked like a modern museum and Maomao was sure that a single tile cost more than the entire Verdigris.

“It was a gift from my fiance.” Gyokuyou smiled, looking around as if seeing it for the first time. “I lived too far away for his liking, so he bought it and moved me closer to him.”

“He doesn’t live here with you?” Moving in with a fiance was normal, but Maomao couldn’t imagine gifting a house in lieu of moving in together.

“He stays with me as often as he can, but he travels a lot for work so he has his own place.” She said it so casually that Maomao wondered if it really was just normal for the rich. Not that she cared, it wasn’t her business. “But that brings me to what I wanted to talk to you about!” She clapped her hands excitedly as she handed Maomao the magazine she had been looking at when they came in.

It was a rental magazine for high end apartments in the north side of the city, a few of the pages were earmarked. As Maomao sifted through she kept her face carefully neutral.

“I’m not sure I understand.” She had a feeling she did though, and it rekindled her anxiety.

“A young girl like you shouldn’t have to live in the back of a strip club - not that there’s anything wrong with strip clubs mind you but I can imagine you would want your own space.” Gyokuyou shifted to the end of her couch so that she could lean over and point to the pages of the magazine that Maomao was now holding as if it was a bloodied rag. “I picked a few that I thought would suit you best, but feel free to pick any of them really. We could also get you something closer to school-”

Gyokuyou prattled on, flipping the pages as she spoke but Maomao had tuned her out once she realized what the woman was implying. She instead lifted her gaze to Jinshi, who was leaning back with his teacup but his eyes were on her and his smile was nowhere to be found. She couldn’t read the look in his eyes other than to know that he found something disagreeable about the whole situation.

It was the first time they agreed on something.

“Thank you, Gyokuyou.” Maomao cut off whatever the woman had been in the middle of saying, closing the magazine and forcefully putting it back into her hands. “Your offer is extremely generous and kind, but there’s no way I could accept it.” If she was being honest Maomao was uncomfortable with accepting anything more than donations to her clinic and hand me downs from her sister but someone offering to buy her a million dollar apartment was unacceptable.

“It really isn’t a big deal, I promise Maomao. I was thinking of buying one anyway.”

“I appreciate it, really, but that’s too much for me to accept.”

Gyokuyou was pouting at her, Maomao recognized the look that Meimei had tried to teach her to give men when she wanted something from them. It made Gyokyou’s beauty look more childish, though she supposed it would work on a man better than it would on her.

“Fine, I’ll leave it for now.” Gyokuyou huffed when she realized she wasn’t going to win her over. “Perhaps you’ll give in once we get to know each other better.”

She highly doubted it, but she didn’t say it out loud. The second she was back in her apartment she planned to block Jinshi’s number and beg the Madam to ban him from the Verdigris entirely.

The rest of the visit was relatively normal, though Maomao couldn’t help but feel on edge the entire evening. Gyokuyou asked her questions that weren’t too personal, but Maomao still danced around the answers as if they were landmines waiting to go off.

“How did you end up at the Verdigris?”

“The old lady that owns it took me in as a favor, the apartment was being used as a larger changing room but the girls constantly fought over who got to use it so it made sense for her to rent it out instead.” Half truths were her friend; the Madam had taken her in as a favor to her - a favor that Maomao paid off by working for nothing but tips.

“It must be dangerous.” Maomao placed her empty cup on the table, it had been a few hours and she was antsy to not be the topic of conversation anymore.

“Not as much as you imagine; I have an emergency button in the clinic that when pressed alerts the bouncers in the Verdigris that I need assistance.”

Both Jinshi and Gyokuyou were staring at her as if she had said something unseemly, Gyokuyou’s eyes were wide while Jinshi stared at her like she had grown three heads and he couldn’t believe she had the audacity to do it.

“Why didn’t you press it then?!” He nearly yelled. Maomao shrugged, standing but not bothering to look at him.

“It's for emergencies, I would hardly call a black eye and some bruised ribs an emergency. Had they seemed intent to cause me serious harm I would have pressed it.” Jinshi mumbled something about different definitions of the word but Maomao ignored him as she gave Gyokuyou a small bow. “Thank you for having me, but I really must get back before it gets too late.”

“Of course. I’ll let Gaoshun know you’re ready to go.”

Gyokuyou saw her off with smiles and a hug to rival the first one she had given her. Maomao returned it hesitantly and more out of obligation than an actual desire to do so. When she asked for Maomao’s number she couldn’t think of a polite way to turn her down, so reluctantly she gave the woman her number before climbing into Gaoshun’s car.

Tension rolled off Jinshi during the car ride though she couldn’t imagine why, he hadn’t said a word to her since his outburst over her panic button. He spent the ride staring out of his window with his eyebrows pinched together, his finger tapping impatiently on his arm. She caught Gaoshun looking back at them in the rear view mirror, but he just shook his head with a look of tired familiarity.

When they pulled up to the Verdigris the sun was low in the sky, music already leaking into the streets though the club didn’t open for another hour.

“Thank you for the ride.” She said to Gaoshun, giving Jinshi a quick side eye before she opened her door and stepped out.

“Be safe, Maomao.”

She watched the car drive down the street, waiting until it disappeared before she felt her shoulders drop. A part of her had panicked thinking the men would stick around for her shift like normal, but she was relieved to know that she was finally free of her shadow.

–

A week went by without incident, and Maomao had settled back into a routine that didn’t require her to scan every customer that entered the Verdigris for a sickly sweet smile. She didn’t like that it had become an automatic reflex to look for him, and she told herself and anyone else that commented on her wandering eye that she was happy that she never saw him.

She was. Why wouldn’t she be?

So focused on making sure Jinshi wasn’t there, she had completely overlooked those who were until Meimei pulled her into the locker room with a scandalous gleam in her eye.

“You’ve been keeping secrets, Maoamo.” She forced her to sit in her makeup chair, looking at the reflection of her and her three sisters in the mirror. “First that handsome man with the long hair who you’ve had in your apartment, and now the young man eyeing you up at the bar. I would be hurt if I didn’t know you better.”

Maomao stared at her own face in the mirror, watching her cycle through emotions as she sifted through Meimei’s words for any sense.

“First of all, I didn’t let him into my apartment. You did.” Meimei didn’t look apologetic in the slightest, but Pairin was the one that spoke when Meimei opened her mouth to argue.

“He knew where your apartment was though.” She frowned slightly, pursing her lips in thought. “He knocked on the door and asked if he could come through to it.”

Clearly he had gotten that information from Gyokuyou.

“Second of all.” Maomao interrupted, returning her gaze to Meimei. “What man is eyeing me up?”

“How could you not see him? He’s one of the new bouncers that Madam hired but he seems more interested in watching you than the patrons.”

“Have you seen her? She’s been too busy looking for that first man to even notice the second. Poor thing.” Jyoka’s face looked uninterested, but Maomao knew the woman probably noticed the most out of the three - the fact that she was here talking to them about it told Maomao she was invested in the gossip.

“I can give you a few tips on how to juggle more than one man at a time.” Pairin leaned over her shoulder, tugging on the ends of her hair as she smiled at Maomao in a way that made her pity Lihaku.

“I am not juggling men.” Maomao groaned, delving into the events that had happened to her over the past few weeks. She kept out Gyokuyou’s name and the offer she had given Maomao, but otherwise she told them as much as she knew up until Gaoshun dropped her off.

“Maybe he’s another friend of that woman?”

“Why would he get a job here if he worked for her?”

They had gone from questioning her on her love life to whispering conspiratorially to each other so quickly that Maomao could do nothing but sigh as she stood from the chair. She had a sneaking suspicion that she knew who the man was here on behalf of, but coming out and asking him directly would only cause more issues.

“I’m going to the clinic if Lihaku is wondering where I am.”

Leaning against the door of her clinic, the cool air leaving goosebumps on her skin. It didn’t take long for the man to come, turning the corner with urgency but stopping short when he saw her waiting for him.

He was young, though she supposed he had to be at least 18 to be allowed to work for a strip club. There was a familiarity about him that she couldn’t quite place but he was turning to leave as if he had made a wrong turn before Maomao could look at him long enough to place it.

“You may as well tell me what you want.” Maomao spoke to the man’s back. He turned, opening his mouth with false anger but she spoke before he could lie. “New bouncers aren’t aware of the clinic, but even if they were I didn’t press the panic button so none of them would know I was back here.”

“I was coming back for a smoke break.” He crossed his arms, looking down at her as if to intimidate her into believing him. His eyes wandered, not able to hold her gaze for more than a second before looking away guiltily.

She watched him quietly, letting him shift under her gaze while his face grew red with either embarrassment or anger. Finally he threw his arms up in defeat, leaning against the wall beside her with a huff.

“I didn’t think you noticed me.”

“I didn’t.” She figured she could admit it to him if only to lessen his embarrassment. “Some of the girls noticed you watching me and thought I had picked up another stalker.”

“I’m not stalking you.” He frowned at the wall of the building across the alley, and for a while they lapsed into a silence that wasn’t wholly uncomfortable.

“I’ve already told him I have no intention of giving her away. If he doesn’t want to believe me there’s nothing I can do about that, but this is bordering on excessive.” She had thought he had believed her, there was no reason to take her to visit Gyokuyou if he still had concern over the matter. Even if he didn’t believe her, she hardly considered it worth it - as long as Gyokuyou never came back to the clinic there was nothing for Maomao to even pass along.

The man said nothing, though she could see that his face was souring slightly with whatever he was thinking about. She pushed off from the wall, it made no sense to take out her frustration on the man beside her - he was clearly just doing his job and Maomao couldn’t blame him for that.

“You may as well tell me your name if you plan to hang around for a while.”

“Basen.” He grumbled after a while, “are you returning to the club now?”

She just nodded, pulling open the door to her clinic as Basen slipped around the side of the building to enter through the front door. Thankful that her sisters stayed clear of her as she made her way through the locker room, she did her best to pretend that Basen wasn’t there.

At the end of the night he was still there, long after the rest of the bouncers had gone. How she had never noticed him hanging around was lost on her, but no amount of pretending he didn’t exist would help her.

“How long do you plan to hang around?” She asked him as she cleaned tables, she had meant it to be harsh but the exhaustion on his face told her he wasn’t used to being up so late.

“Whenever you’re done, I’m done.” He yawned, stifling it with the back of his hand.

“Ridiculous.” She pulled out her phone, searching through her recent calls until she found the unsaved number that belonged to Jinshi. Waving off Basen’s protests she expected to leave an angry voicemail so she was surprised when Jinshi answered.

“Maomao,” his voice sounded exhausted, but she could tell he was smiling - a dull echo of his usual sickly sweet charm coming through. “Are you just finishing up your shift?” The anger she had been intending to leash on him slipped away from her, replaced with clinical concern of her trade.

“Staying up this late is bad for your health.” She caught Basen staring at her and threw him a glare, moving away from him so that she wouldn’t be overheard. “You sound tired.”

“I appreciate the concern.” He sounded like he did, Maomao tried to picture what face he was making and could only think of the thoughtful way he had looked at her when she had asked if he had siblings in the car. “I plan to sleep soon for a few hours, I just have a few more things to do.”

“Do you have trouble sleeping? I have some medication that might help.” She was thinking about the pills Luomen had given her; she hadn’t bothered to take any of them but she trusted the man’s expertise when it came to medicine. “I’d have to check the dosage on it first, how much do you weigh?” He couldn’t be more than two hundred pounds if she had to guess; he was taller than her and though she hadn’t paid too much attention to his physique she had noticed that he seemed fit enough to have muscle…

“Don’t worry about it, Maomao. I heard you’ve made friends with Basen?” The reminder brought her out of her thoughts, reigniting some of her earlier anger with him.

“While I understand your concern, having someone here to watch me is unnecessary. At the very least, making him stay here until I’m done is unfair.” There were too many nights that she would walk to Luomen’s or read medical texts in her clinic far past her usual hours. She couldn’t imagine doing that knowing that she was keeping another person awake while she did.

“You understand my concern?” She glared at the wall as if he could see it, though she took a moment to settle her voice before she spoke.

“I understand that you can’t trust someone you just met, but even if I were planning to turn on her she would have to come to the clinic for that to happen.” There was a bitterness that crept in her voice, she frowned at the wall now wondering where it had come from. Jinshi seemed to sigh, the air making a weird noise into the phone as if held very close to his face.

“Basen isn’t there to spy on you, Maomao. He’s there to protect you.”

“I don’t need protection-”

“You’ve been attacked working the clinic twice in the past few weeks, you can’t tell me it's not dangerous. Unless you’ve changed your mind about accepting Gyokuyou’s offer.” He paused as if giving space for Maomao to interrupt with an argument but she could only bite her tongue. A gentle laughter floated through the phone, followed by what sounded like a yawn. “It will make me feel better if he’s there, but you can send him home whenever you close the clinic.”

Warmth seeped into her cheeks, an unfamiliar feeling that made her feel off balance. She had assumed that Jinshi still didn’t trust her, it would be understandable despite how uncomfortably the thought sat with her. The fact that she had misjudged his intentions, coupled with the fact that he did seem to trust her left her with a warm buzzing in her chest that almost made her want to scratch at her skin.

“Go to sleep.” She fumbled the words past the buzz, hanging up on him before he could say anything and immediately blocking his number before looking around to see if anyone was looking at her.

Basen remained where he had been standing though he looked half asleep, and nobody else was anywhere near her to see the embarrassed confusion on her face. She took a few breaths, waiting until she was sure the remnants of heat were buried deep before she walked back over to Basen.

“I don’t plan to open the clinic more tonight.” Unless there’s an emergency. She didn’t say it out loud, who knew if the man would feel obligated to stick around on the off chance of that happening. “He said you could leave if I wasn’t going to work.”

“Good. Any longer and I wouldn’t have been able to keep my eyes open anyway.”

There was a moment of debate where Maomao considered running back to her apartment for the pills, but another yawn from Basen changed her mind. Sending him home she told herself she would figure out the dosage for Jinshi when she woke up and send Basen back with them tomorrow night.

A few nights later when she handed them to Basen in an empty prescription bottle along with a note containing instructions on how to take them he eyed her weirdly.

“So you won’t text him back but you care about his sleeping pattern?”

It took a moment of confusion for Maomao to remember that she had blocked his number the other night. When she unblocked him, her phone buzzed incessantly as his messages came flooding in. She stood there in front of Basen, the buzzing phone held between them as she avoided his eyes.

“You blocked him, didn't you.”

“I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”

She thought she saw a glimmer of amusement in Basen’s eyes before he pocketed the pills and turned to leave.

“You would be doing everyone a favor if you just answered him.”

Eyes twitching she read through the text messages. They started fairly normal, he had messaged her after she hung up on him to tell her he was heading to bed and again a few hours later to ask her if she had slept well.

Quickly they devolved into childish pouting, ranging from pouting texts asking why he was being ignored to vague threats that he would come down to the Verdigris to ask himself. She noticed that most of the texts had come at hours that normal people would be sleeping, the most recent one was from an hour prior asking her if she had been serious about the sleeping medication she had for him.

She had barely made it a few steps towards the bar when her phone buzzed in reply.

Brat: Do you ignore everyone unless it's related to medicine?

She ignored the responding buzzing, going about her closing duties. She only looked at her phone again when she was lying in bed.

Brat: Of course you did.

Brat: Why did you unblock me then?

Brat: Maomao…

Brat: You’re infuriating, has anyone ever told you that?

She rolled her eyes, but despite her attempts to ignore his messages and go to sleep she felt bad for blocking him unintentionally for so long.

Brat: You’re awake too.

Brat: So am I.

Frowning she rolled over, the desire to ask him why he was used to keeping such hours was stronger than she had anticipated. It didn’t matter why he was used to it, it was none of her business and she wanted to keep it that way.

She did.

Brat: Are you going to sleep now?

She typed out the word yes, erased it, typed it again before erasing it again. Curled up in her bed she could feel exhaustion tugging at the edges of her mind but she found she didn’t want to sleep. Not yet anyway.

Brat: It’s a welcome distraction. I needed a break from work anyway.

Brat: You work every night it seems, do you ever take days off?

Brat: You should have taken time after you got hurt.

Brat: How is your eye?

Her hand touched the side of her face - the swelling had gone but the bruising was still there in splotches of yellow and green. It was enough that she didn’t need the eyepatch anymore, but it still hurt to apply the concealer to cover the bruises. Not that anyone had asked her before now.

Brat: That’s good. I’m glad.

There it was again, the itching in her chest that made her uncomfortably warm. She had never felt this feeling before, her mind running through medical textbooks to see if she could think of anything that it would be a symptom of.

Brat: Goodnight, Maomao.

Chapter Text

“Thank you so much for coming with me, Maomao.” Lihaku was unnaturally awake for 10 in the morning considering they had worked until 4am. She grumbled a response, drinking her energy drink deeply as they walked through the mall. Pairin’s birthday was coming up and she was starting to think she had gotten the bad end of their deal considering Jinshi hadn’t made any further appearances at the club.

“Let’s just make it quick.” She hated shopping, it was too loud and crowded in shopping centers and anytime she had ever been dragged along with Lihaku or Xiaolan it had turned into a whole day long affair.

The worst part was that she found herself checking her phone a little too often for her liking, though the only person who had texted her was Pairin with a list of things she wanted as a birthday present. Pairin didn’t care about being surprised as much as she cared about getting the right gift, not that she told Lihaku that.

Store after store Maomao was dragged in, steering Lihaku towards the items Pairin had sent her as subtly as she could - checking her messages to read the list as an excuse to check if anyone else had messaged her.

“Will Jinshi be visiting the club soon?” Lihaku said as he looked through the row of purses Maomao had casually mentioned Pairin might like. She froze with her thumb hovering their messages together, before she shoved her phone into her back pocket with what she hoped was an unbothered demeanor.

“I hope not.” She wasn’t quite sure if she believed herself. Seemingly neither did Lihaku.

“You know I think of you like my little sister, Maomao. You can talk to me about things if they’re bothering you.”

“Nothing’s bothering me.” She took another sip of her drink to hide the disgust on her face, disgust with mostly herself.

It had been weeks since Jinshi had last been to see her, not that she was keeping track. Every night when she opened her door and saw Basen standing at the entrance was another night that she could rest easy knowing the purple-haired nymph wouldn’t be bothering her while she worked. And yet she still found her eyes looking for him every now and then.

Of course it bothered her, her unconscious caring about some man she had barely met. He continued to text her, expressing his concern over her safety and well wishes for her shift - she couldn’t quite pinpoint the hours he kept as he seemed to be awake every moment of every day. She secretly sent Basen back with a mixture of home remedies and prescription pills from Luomen for aiding his sleep, but he either wasn’t taking them or they didn’t seem to work.

They had developed a tenuous acquaintanceship, though Jinshi was trying his best to push it towards friendship. His texts had included offers to meet up with her during the day, though Maomao never agreed. Texting him was already more than she was used to, she was never a good texter which was a gripe that her sisters constantly had with her - but at least they understood she would reply on her own time. Jinshi, on the other hand, had no issues with double and triple texting her when she didn’t reply.

It was exhausting, and yet she did find herself responding to him more and more quickly.

Lihaku picked one of the purses Pairin had sent her, as well as some jewelry that Maomao had done her best to dissuade him from. She sighed as he paid for it, knowing that Pairin would accept it because she truly did care for the man, but the pieces would never see anything but the inside of her jewelry box.

They were eating when Lihaku brought Jinshi up again, waiting until Maomao had taken a bite of her food court burger to speak.

“Y’know, it’s not bad for you to meet someone. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you interact with anyone outside of the Verdigris.”

“You’ve been talking to my sisters too much.” It was a common topic when they hung out together outside of work; they had even gone so far as to attempt to set her up with guys who approached intending to hit on them.

“We all just want you to be happy, Maomao.”

“It’s stupidity to think I can only get happiness from a man.” Lihaku gave her a withering look to say that she was purposely misconstruing his words. Maomao met his stare for a moment, before she sighed. She couldn’t pretend to think that they didn’t mean well. “It’s not that I’m against making friends…”

If she was being honest, her reservations against getting closer to Jinshi were more about her own feelings than the man himself. He was objectively annoying, and bothersome to deal with - even through text he couldn’t hide the fact that he was a spoiled brat. Yet he cared enough to ask her how her injuries were doing, and to constantly suggest she take a day off to rest despite clearly not taking his own advice. Nobody in her life, save perhaps Luomen, ever asked about how she was doing really; she knew they cared but they always assumed she was fine.

It was unnerving to have someone express concern about her, it left her feeling off balanced and unsure of herself. It wasn’t wholly uncomfortable, but she wasn’t used to it.

“He seems nice enough, if a little…eccentric.” He winced as if it hurt him to say the word, Maomao hadn’t heard him say anything unkind about anyone so it was possible it might have.

“He’s-” She wasn’t sure what she had been about to say, but Lihaku quickly cut her off as he smiled and waved over her shoulder dramatically. She turned her head and immediately stiffened at the sight of Jinshi and Gaoshun approaching them.

“Maomao~ What a pleasant surprise!” Jinshi was smiling at her, his face looking a little too innocent for her liking. She glared at him, but he was undeterred as he took a seat at their table. Right beside her.

“Jinshi! Maomao was just talking about you.” Her head snapped to him, and she could tell by the way he shivered that he knew how badly she wanted to kill him at that moment.

“Oh?” Jinshi reached for her tray, picking up a fry that she quickly swatted out of his hand. He pouted at her for a moment, reaching for it again only to receive another slap to the back of his hand.

“What are you doing here?” She asked as she slid the tray away from him, still glaring at Lihaku for his betrayal. Jinshi also turned to look at him, and whatever the man saw in their combined faces quickly had him excusing himself to use the bathroom, leaving Maomao alone with the one person she hadn’t wanted to see that day.

“It’s a mall, I’m shopping.” He adjusted himself so that he was facing her, his head resting on his hand as he seemed to give her his undivided attention.

“You have no bags.”

“I just got here.” His eyebrow twitched, the only crack in his fake smile. It settled her a little to know that she was getting under his skin. “You were talking about me?”

“I was just telling Lihaku that it’s been nice not having you skulking around the Verdigris.” She lied, covering the slight heat of embarrassment by turning her head to take a drink. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, but when she checked it it was just Lihaku texting her a thumbs up and a smiling face. She quickly sent him back a couple knife emojis before shoving her phone back into her pocket.

Jinshi had leaned closer to her, his arm reaching around her to snatch a fry while she was distracted with texting. She turned back in time to catch his satisfied look while he chewed it.

“I have been meaning to come by.” He said earnestly, his eyes looking tired for a moment as he spoke. “I am glad to see your eye looks better, though.” Fingertips brushed the cheek under her eye, light enough that it didn’t hurt but the heat of Jinshi’s touch left a trail in its wake leading down to her jaw as he traced the lasting tinge of her bruise.

There was a delay before she caught her breath and smacked his hand away harshly.

“It was hardly worth your concern.”

“Do you always care so little about your wellbeing?” She bit back her response, somehow Maomao thought that telling him that she frequently injured herself much worse in the name of practicing medicinal techniques seemed like it would cause him to start yelling at her in public.

Instead she said nothing, her eyes pointedly avoiding the sincere concern in his face while she tried to find Lihaku among the crowd of people in the food court. Surely he wouldn’t just leave her there with Jinshi?

Maomao pulled her phone from her pocket, but it was quickly snatched out of her hand. Forced to look at Jinshi, she scowled at him as he held her phone away from her.

“Give me my phone.”

“Are you working tonight?” Ignoring her question, he just looked at her with amusement as she tried in vain to reach for it. His arms were much longer than hers, easily able to keep it out of her reach unless she did something unseemly like climb over him to get to it.

“I work every night.” She side-eyed Gaoshun, who had been standing silently a few feet away as if he hadn’t wanted to intrude, but the man just looked exhausted with Jinshi’s antics.

“Could you take tonight off?”

“No.”

Jinshi’s smile turned into a pout, it oddly made him more beautiful - or at least more normal.

“You can surely afford a single night off of work.”

She probably could; it had been decently busy for the past week and Xiaolan hadn’t been in to split the tips with her and Lihaku. But the busy nights made up for the slow ones, and they were sure to have some of those soon. Living off of tips alone made saving all the more important.

Still, she was curious what Jinshi had planned. Chewing it over in her mind, it must have shown on her face that she was considering it because Jinshi brightened immediately as he leaned in.

“I’ll pick you up at nine then.” With that he stood, placing the phone in front of her with a genuinely pleased smile on his face. She half stood, her hand catching the sleeve of his sweater as he turned to leave.

“H-hey! I never agreed to anything.” This man was infuriating, the way he smiled at her like she was a child refusing to brush her teeth. Like her compliance was a matter of fact. She grit her teeth, pulling harder on his sleeve until he was leaning towards her.

“Do you trust me?”

Yes. The answer came immediate and unbidden, rising to her tongue quicker than she would care to admit. She bit it back as hard as she could, glaring at the man as if he himself had answered for her.

“I barely know you.”

“Only one way to change that.”

They stared at each other, faces far too close as the silence stretched between them. Maomao watched his eyes change, as if suddenly he was seeing something that captured his whole attention. His pupils seemed to grow, his breath fanning her lips.

She pushed him away, her heart beating fast for a moment as she turned away from him.

“Fine.” It came out slightly strangled, the itchiness returning to her chest.

“It’s a date.”

He left her there, and when Lihaku returned he found Maomao face down on the table wondering what exactly was wrong with her.

–

Maomao had typed up a message canceling whatever Jinshi had planned, but it sat unsent on her phone while she got herself ready at eight that night. Every time she walked over to re-read it, she couldn’t help but picture his face as he stared at her. It made her chest itch, absently scratching it when her door opened and her sisters pushed into her tiny apartment.

“How could you not tell us?!” Meimei exclaimed, tossing her makeup bag onto the bed as Pairin and Jyoka settled their own bags by the bathroom. It took her a moment to figure out who had told them about Jinshi’s visit, but there was only one person that could have.

“I’m going to kill him.” Maomao stormed past them, determined to actually murder Lihaku but her sisters grabbed her arms and easily dragged her back to her bed.

“Were you really about to wear that on your first date?” Jyoka looked over her outfit with a disapproving look. It wasn’t that Maomao hadn’t thought about wearing something a little nicer than her torn jeans and black knit sweater, but she hadn’t had any idea where she was going.

And besides-

“This isn’t a date.”

“That’s not what he told Lihaku.” Pairin was already pulling her hair out of the space buns Maomao had them in. Brushing it out, as she teased her from behind. “Jinshi even told him where he’s taking you because he didn’t want anyone to worry.”

“It’s not a date.” She repeated to deaf ears, watching with horror as Meimei pulled out various powders and brushes from her bag. “This really isn’t necessary.”

They ignored her, and Maomao was forced to sit there and accept her fate. Pairin brushed out her hair, braiding strands into a half-up, half-down style. Meimei instructed Maomao on when to close her eyes and when to open her lips, painting her face in what she could only hope was something less dramatic that how she wore her makeup for work. Meanwhile Jyoka was going through Maomao’s closet, throwing clothes onto the floor with an increasingly disgusted look until she tossed her only pair of tight, black jeans at her and a green top from her own bag that was clearly meant for someone with a bigger chest than Maomao.

The whole ordeal took up most of the hour she had left, and by the time she was standing in front of the mirror it was far too late for her to undo what they had done unless she planned to make Jinshi wait an hour.

She scowled at herself as her sisters peppered her with unwanted advice.

“Remember to at least try and smile.”

“And actually participate in the conversation.”

“If you don’t come home tonight, just make sure to text Lihaku and let him know so we aren’t worried. Do we need to have the sex talk again?”

The cheeks on her reflection turned rosy, and Maomao turned away to grab her purse and phone from where they were discarded on the bed.

“I work in a strip club, Pairin.” It was already nine, and Jinshi had messaged her to let her know he was outside waiting. Looking at the message made her stomach twist uncomfortably. “This isn’t a date, and I’m not going to be sleeping with someone I just met.”

Yet an unsteadiness filled her as she walked through the clubs with her sisters trailing behind her like an escort. It was true that Maomao had never been on a date; she had no interest historically in dating anyone. Not that it had changed now; but it still left her to wonder why exactly she had agreed to this in the first place.

Lihaku called to her from behind the bar to give her a double thumbs up, earning himself a harsh glare that promised violence later. She suddenly knew how Jinshi had known she would be at the mall that day, and she wasn’t about to let that slide. To his credit, Lihaku looked slightly apologetic as he excused himself to the kitchen with a tray of already cleaned glasses.

She didn’t wait for her sisters to catch up before she pulled the door open, closing it behind her the second she could fit her body through the door to avoid any more unwanted words of encouragement.

Chapter Text

Jinshi was standing against the door of his car, finely but casually dressed in jeans and a clearly tailored turtleneck. He looked up when the door opened, and Maomao caught his eye as he stared at her.

“This is your fault. You told Lihaku, and he told my sisters.” She gave as a way of explanation, gesturing vaguely at her face. “You shouldn’t have told him.”

“I assumed you would have wanted him to know where you were going.” To his credit he did look a little apologetic, opening the door for her to slide into the back seat.

“You could have just told me.” She grumbled as she passed him, sliding across the seat until she was sitting behind the driver. “Hello, Gaoshun.”

“Hello, Maomao.”

“Do you plan to tell me where we’re going?” She asked once they had started driving.

“It’s a surprise.” She could feel his eyes on her, but she kept hers on the scenery outside of the window. Maomao wasn’t self conscious by nature, she never cared what people thought of the way she looked or the way she dressed. Even so, she knew that her sisters worked miracles on her, and she felt weird with the open attention Jinshi was giving her.

“You’re not working tonight?”

He didn’t answer, prompting her to look at him from the corner of her eye. Jinshi looked guilty, his smile frozen on his face while his eyes shifted from Gaoshun in the rear view mirror to the window beside him. Maomao narrowed her eyes at him.

“You’re playing hookie, aren’t you?” The look he gave her told him she was right.

“You’re the one that kept pestering me to take a break.”

“To sleep, not to take me…” The words ‘on a date’ wouldn’t come out. This was not a date. “Wherever we’re going.” She finished instead, moving her eyes back to the window.

They drove in silence for about twenty more minutes, though Maomao recognized where they were. Excitement rose in her.

“The aquarium?”

“Someone at work gifted me tickets to an event tonight, I thought you might like it.” He sounded pleased with himself, but Maomao ignored him. She had wanted to go to their night time exhibit for a while, but tickets were too expensive for her to justify buying them even if she could find someone to go with her.

Maomao opened her door before Gaoshun could get out, Jinshi came to stand beside her before she realized that Gaoshun had returned to the car.

“Gaoshun’s not coming?” Jinshi made a face at her, before he smoothed it out.

“He’s just dropping us off. Come.”

Maomao let Jinshi lead her inside, expecting the place to be crowded - but it was completely empty save for the attendant that Jinshi spoke to when they entered. She waited while they spoke, her suspicions returning as the attendant swooned under the smile he was giving her.

“There’s nobody else here.”

“It’s a private event.” She glared at his pleased smile, but it only seemed to make it brighter. Rolling her eyes she motioned for him to lead the way, and followed behind him.
The empty aquarium was stunning at night, the exhibits uncrowded as Maomao went up to each one to admire the various aquatic life swimming in the tanks. She took her time reading the descriptions and educational displays, her fingers trailing over the words as she read them. Jinshi lingered behind her, seemingly less interested in the displays as he was with her attention to them. They hadn’t spoken, but the silence between them was oddly comfortable as they ventured through the aquarium. Maomao had snuck peaks at Jinshi, wondering if she was being ungrateful by not speaking to him but he seemed at peace just following her around so she had decided if he wanted to speak he would.

Maomao was admiring the Lionfish exhibit when Jinshi finally spoke, coming to sit on the bench behind where she stood.

“It’s pretty.” His voice echoed in the empty halls, sounding harsh after the silence they had walked in.

“It’s also venomous.” She sat beside him, her eyes still watching the inhabitants of the tank. “Their spines contain venom; though not usually fatal, a sting can cause a number of symptoms from nausea to convulsions. Not to mention they’re extremely painful. Symptoms can last anywhere from seven to thirty days.”

He stared at her, clear bewilderment on his face that she returned with a deadpan look.

“You know a lot about fish.” She allowed him a half smile, finding it amusing how confused he sounded.

“I do my best to learn about all kinds of poisons. This one just happens to come from a fish.”

“I would have thought med students would be more interested in curing poisons.”

“To cure a poison, you have to know about the poison itself.” Unease crept in the edges of her as it always did when someone talked to her about her schooling. She knew where his line of questioning was going and she tried to derail it before he could open his mouth. “What is it you do for work? Considering this isn’t actually a private event.”

It was his turn to look uncomfortable.

“I work in tech, but only in management. I don’t have any technical skills really, I’m just good with people.”

Executive management most likely. She thought to herself, imagining that renting out an entire aquarium for the night probably cost more money than she had ever seen in her life. Once again she found herself wondering why she had agreed to come tonight, why she had even been asked.

Not that she really cared - if his poor financial decisions led to her being able to enjoy the aquarium without the usual thrall of people then all the better.

“You should tell your boss that managing people shouldn't require late hours.” Not that she really understood the machinations of corporate life, or believed that he was telling her the full truth.

His face softened, that look in his eye returning as she did her best to hold her ground with another deadpan stare.

“I’ll let him know you disagree with my work ethics.” Jinshi smiled at her, but it was a sad smile. Like his words were meant as a joke but one at his expense. She found herself frowning at him, noticing once again the exhaustion that lined his face.

“We should leave. You should be sleeping instead of following me around an empty fish tank.” Maomao stood, but was stopped from leaving by Jinshi grabbing her hand.

“We’ve barely made it through half the exhibits though.” He whined, looking very much like a child as he pouted up at her. She glared at him in return, pulling her hand free with undisguised disgust. They had already been there for a few hours, if they were only half way through then they wouldn’t be done until at least one or two in the morning.

“You won’t get enough sleep if we do the whole thing.”

“Neither will you, y’know.”

They stared at each other, seemingly mutually putting the other before themselves. Maomao had to admit it was weird having someone care about her health for the first time in her life, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

“Fine.” She caved, shoving her hand in the pocket of her jeans when he looked like he would reach for it again. “I’ll be quicker.”

“No need.” Jinshi smiled, standing as he walked down the hallway. “Look as much as you like, I don’t mind.”

They were less silent for the second half; Jinshi prodded her with questions around other fish and their potential poisons. Despite herself, Maomao found herself avidly explaining the symptoms and cure - or lack thereof in some cases - to him. He asked follow up questions, and soon they lapsed into genuine conversations around topics she enjoyed. At one point she found herself smiling, though she didn’t realize it until Jinshi stopped to stare at her.

“What?” They had made it to the topic of pufferfish, and Maomao had been avidly describing how lethal their toxins were to humans. And yet people still ate them - it was a delicacy she had always wanted to try but could never in her life afford.

“Why do you work at the Verdigris?” The question caught her by surprise, she had been so lost in her thoughts of poisons that she hadn’t seen it coming. Unease crept up on her, tinging the edges of her mood. “You clearly have such a passion for this kind of stuff, it seems like a waste to work as a bartender.”

“Med school is expensive.” She said carefully, holding his gaze with what she hoped was an uninterested expression. “Not everyone has the luxury of being able to afford it.” She hoped he would leave it at that, Maomao had no interest in divulging her personal affairs to him.

“You said you did a year though, right?” She glared at him, hoping her hostility would keep him away from the topic but he just spoke through it. “Were you on a scholarship?”

They stood across the hall from each other, each in front of a different tank as the water tinged Jinshi blue in her vision. His face only held curiosity, undeterred by her attempts to dissuade him. Jinshi had never looked at her with pity, even when she was injured he only looked at her with anger at her recklessness or concern for her wellbeing.

She didn’t know why the thought of that changing upset her.

“I was…” Maomao considered her words carefully, opting for half truths as her sisters always told her she was a bad liar. “I was trying to work and go to school, so my grades suffered and I lost the scholarship.”

She waited for the pity to show - hoped for it even. If he proved her right and pitied her for her hardships it would help her rebuild the wall that he seemed to be chipping cracks in. Maomao expected him to tell her how important school was, how she should be living at home with her parents in order to be able to focus on school. All the things others who had no idea about her circumstances often said to her upon hearing of her reasons for dropping out. Instead he just nodded, his face akin to if she had said ‘it’s going to rain today, you should bring an umbrella’.

Understanding.

It rooted her, the glare she had been preparing for his imagined response slipping out of her reach. Jinshi looked at her as if thinking for a moment before he took a few steps towards her.

“It's a shame when obligations take us away from the things we want.” His voice said he knew how it felt. He held out his hand towards her, similar to the way one would to a stray cat on the side of the street. Patient. Gentle.

Maomao snorted, the itching returning to her chest but she ignored both that and Jinshi’s offer as she walked past him towards the rest of the exhibits.

Jinshi filled the rest of the time in the aquarium with his voice, talking about various topics that Maomao gave reserved answers to. She knew she was being cold, but the man didn’t seem to have any objections to her sudden withdrawal from conversation - in fact he seemed pretty pleased as he talked about things that had happened to him at work. She knew he was being careful, his words chosen specifically so that she could never determine where he worked or in what level of management.

We both have things we don’t want to talk about. It lowered him in her mind; made him more relatable.

She suddenly was happy to go home.

It wasn’t until they had pulled up to the Verdigris, the music still pounding despite being behind doors and how close they were to closing. The bouncers were busy escorting the drunks from the property, herding them like sheep down the sidewalk and away from the entrance. She eyed the door from the window, knowing she would have to walk past all three of her sisters to get home made her unwilling to open her door.

“May I walk you around to the clinic entrance?” Jinshi offered, seeming to read her unease. She hated that he seemed to be able to tell what she was thinking even if she wasn’t looking at him.

She weighed his offer against the inevitable event of her sisters cornering her in her apartment.

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

Jinshi quickly exited the car, it was the first time she had seen him not wait for Gaoshun to open it for him. She looked at the older man, giving him what she hoped was a pleasant smile despite her current mood.

“Thank you for driving us, Gaoshun.”

“Have a good night, Maomao.”

She allowed Jinshi to open her door, stepping past him and making sure to catch the attention of the bouncers to let them know she was back safe. They nodded at her, and surprisingly also at Jinshi.

They walked in silence to her clinic door, Maomao fishing the keys out of her pocket as quickly as she could. Yet when she opened it, she paused for a moment to look back at Jinshi.

“I appreciate the…” Not date. “...evening.”

“Thank you for agreeing to come.” Jinshi seemed to be on the verge of saying something else, but he shook his head slightly before giving a slight incline to his body. “Sleep well, Apothecary.”

Chapter Text

The hospital smelled of bleach and sickness, which was nothing new to Maomao. Despite her interest in medicine and her years of visiting, she never enjoyed the atmosphere of hospitals. Walking through the hallways she could hear the coughs of congested lungs, the various sounds of pain and sadness floated past her as she did her best to focus on getting this visit over with.

Once a month she made her way over; the day her bill was due. There was no pretense that she cared about the patient she paid for, it was out of a sense of familial obligation that she made her payments in person instead of avoiding the place entirely.

She nodded at familiar nurses, hating the way they smiled at her with eyes full of pity but doing her best to keep her face neutral as she quickly made her way to the room she was meant to be in. Yet she stopped outside the door, her hand lingering on the doorknob as she closed her eyes.

Maomao had slept well for the first time in a while, having been oddly calm after returning from the aquarium with Jinshi. As much as he unsettled her and threw her off balance when he failed to react how she expected, something about being alone with him also calmed her slightly. It felt like she could tell him anything, throw any glare or disgust that might normally send people running his way and he would just smile back at her as if nothing happened.

A masochist.

Slowly she pushed the door open, forcing her feet to move as she entered the sick room.

Her mother was asleep, which was common since they moved her to the hospital. So medicated that she hadn’t even been able to throw anything at Maomao’s head when she came as she used to. There was no screaming, no anger. There was nothing.

The seat Maomao usually took was beside the bed, as if nobody had moved it since she came last month to visit. She sat gingerly, her eyes roaming the face of the woman who gave birth to her with no warmth that a daughter usually had. It always felt awkward, visiting a woman that didn’t even know who she was - but it was better this way.

Maomao checked the monitors, more as a nervous tic than anything else, noting her mother’s stable stats and checking the IVs connected to her arms to make sure they were done right. It wasn’t out of concern that she checked the woman’s care, more out of professional curiosity combined with a resentment of how much the care was costing her. For how much money she was paying - for how much of her life she had given up because of this woman - at the very least it better be worth it.

They used to talk - at the beginning. Maomao would speak to the woman, giving her updates on her life in an expressionless voice at the urging of the nurses that would come to check on her. It was another obligation to Maomao; most of the updates she gave weren’t real but it hardly mattered what she said, only that she spoke. There were no longer words to speak, Maomao couldn’t think of anything to say false or otherwise that would suddenly bring any sort of reaction from her. The visits now consisted of Maomao sitting there silently for an hour, before she paid the monthly fee then left.

Her phone rang, breaking through the silence of the room. She fished it out of her pocket, her eyes still on the woman until it was free and she glanced at the caller ID.

The word ‘Brat’ lit across the screen.

For a moment she stared at it. Everyone at the Verdigris knew today was the day she visited the hospital, not even her sisters had texted her to bug her for details of her night with Jinshi. And yet here he was, so unaware that he was intruding on what was objectively the worst day of her month.

The phone went dark as the call went to voicemail.

Just to light up again a second later with another call. She let it go to voicemail just to have it light up again.

With a sigh, she answered it. Holding it up to her ear and turning away to speak quietly.

“What do you want?”

“Maomao! Did I wake you?” His voice was like a bright light being shined in the face of a drunk. Annoyingly bright and unwanted.

“No.”

“Oh, that’s good. Are you home?”

“No.”

“Where are you?” Her one word answers didn’t seem to deter him, though she hardly knew why she thought they might at this point. If there was anything she knew for certain about Jinshi it was that he was undeterred by her attempts to push him away. “Are you at a hospital?”

She stood, moving away from the beeping monitors that had given her away. Standing by the window on the opposite side of the room, she scratched at her chest as his voice turned worried.

“Are you okay? Which hospital are you at?”

“What do you want, Jinshi?” She said, mostly exasperated, partly actively ignoring the warmth growing in her chest.

“I was- I’m on the phone-” Maomao could hear someone else’s voice in the background, but she was more focused on the way Jinshi’s voice changed when he spoke to whoever else was there. His genuine warmth melted into an icy falseness, but like flipping a light switch his voice sounded genuine when he spoke to her. “Maomao where - Hi! No, you can leave it on my desk. I'll review it as soon as I can - I can come get you just tell me where you are.”

“Why would you call if you’re supposed to be working?”

“I wanted to - hold on.” She hears the phone slide against fabric, like he's putting her in his pocket. She should hang up, her eyes move across the room to land on the sleeping woman.

Nobody ever called her while she was here; everyone that knew where she was pretended they didn’t but she could tell in the way they avoided her eyes when she returned that they were skirting around the topic as delicately as they would.

And here was Jinshi, barreling through the little bubble she had built around this part of her life without even knowing what he was doing.

“Okay, I’m sorry. Maomao, why are you at the hospital?” His voice was muffled and low, like he was covering his mouth to keep quiet. She could imagine him huddled in some corner of his office trying to avoid his coworkers.

“Are you hiding in a bathroom right now?”

“Supply closet.”

Maomao met her eyes in her reflection on the window, watched as if outside her body as her face shifted from neutral annoyance to something akin to amusement. She tried to fight the smile that was rising to her face, but hints of it shone in her eyes. She wasn’t completely cold; she had seen amusement and happiness on her face before but the idea of experiencing those emotions here because of something as stupid as Jinshi hiding in a supply closet so that he could speak to her…

“Maomao? Maomao!” Jinshi’s voice broke through her horror, she turned away from the window.

“Someone’s going to find you if you yell like that.”

“I’m coming to you - are you at the main hospital?” Through the phone she could hear the door open, people speaking floated through so that she could almost hear their conversations.

“Don’t.” He didn’t answer her, she could hear people calling to him on his end of the phone but Jinshi never replied. This idiot really was going to just leave work to come to her. “I’m not here for myself, I’m…I’m visiting someone. Don’t come.”

“Who’s there with you?” She looked around the room, trying to imagine anyone being there with her. Even her sisters, who had practically raised her, would feel entirely out of place being in the hospital room with her. She couldn’t even picture Jinshi standing there, watching her stare at the lifeless woman who had brought her into this world. He wouldn’t be able to stay quiet, what would he say to her?

“Nobody. I don’t need anyone with me.”

There was a pause, she couldn’t hear anything from Jinshi’s side of the phone - it was as if he had stopped breathing for a moment and the world held its breath with him.

“Maomao…” There it was. Maomao closed her eyes, something violent and cold washing through her. She was glad she hadn’t seen his pity in person, it was enough to hear it in his voice.

“Leave me alone.” She hung up the phone. Shoving it in her pocket despite the immediate buzzing that told her he was already calling her back.

Quickly she left the room, her heart pounding in her chest at odds with the buzzing in her head. She paid her monthly fee, not even stopping to check the itemized bill as she usually did. The nurses noticed the state of her, but they didn’t say anything as Maomao drained her savings for a woman who would never care what it had cost her to do so.

The sunlight outside the hospital was too bright, Maomao squinted as she made her way away from the hospital. She had expected to be there for longer, taking out her phone she could barely see the time with the amount of calls and messages Jinshi was sending her.

She didn’t read them, instead she turned her phone off and decided to walk. As she walked she couldn’t stop her mind from spinning.

Her reaction, she knew, was uncalled for. Jinshi didn’t know anything about her or her life, there was no way for him to know that he had intruded on an uncomfortable moment for her. It wasn’t as if she was a stranger to someone showing pity to her; she remembered the first day her mother was moved to the hospital and the way the nurses and doctors had all looked and spoke to her like she was made of glass and might break if they spoke to her any other way.

She had not needed their pity; the woman they kept calling her mother had been nothing more than a stranger that yelled and screamed anytime she caught sight of Maomao. There was no sadness or guilt in moving her to a facility that could properly care for her, it was just the most sensible option.

Even if it cost Maomao all of her grant money to do it. Even if Maomao had had to start working at the Verdigris in order to be able to pay for it. Even if she had to drop out of med school to keep herself from passing out due to over exhaustion as she had begun to do near the end of her last semester.

She didn’t need pity.

She didn’t need anything.

Yet there was a distinct emptiness in her when she arrived at work that night, like she was missing something that she didn’t even know she had until it was gone. Maomao had left her phone in her apartment, still turned off though her anger and annoyance had long since slipped into something closer to guilt and embarrassment.

She walked through the empty locker rooms, stopping for a moment to check herself in one of the girls’ mirrors. Her hair and makeup looked good, but it couldn’t hide the sour look on her face. She frowned, wrapping a piece of hair around her fingers to refresh the curl as she checked her makeup for imperfections. Her sisters had always told her that men could overlook a glare if it was at least pretty.

She had done her best, it would have to work.

Lihaku and Xiaolan were already behind the bar, finishing up the opening side work that Maomao would normally have helped with had she not chosen to walk the two hours home instead of taking the bus. But her bus pass was on her phone, and she wasn’t even sure she would be able to get to it with how insistent Jinshi was.

“Hello Maomao!” Xiaolan smiled, wiping down the bar rail. Maomao waved to her, her eyes roaming the bouncers until she spotted Basen in the corner already talking on his phone to who she could only assume was Jinshi. “Did you not get my text?”

“My phone’s dead.”

“Awww I wanted to do matching makeup looks tonight!” The girl pouted, but it quickly melted into a smile. Xiaolan couldn’t even pretend to be mad at someone for longer than two seconds, no matter what they did. “You still look fantastic though!”

Maomao mumbled her thanks, moving into the back kitchen to avoid Basen’s glare that she caught from the corner of her eye. Perhaps she had upset Jinshi more than she thought she might, though hadn’t it been her intention to push him away?

“Hey.” Lihaku lingered at the door to the kitchen, leaning against the frame as he looked at her. “You okay?”

“Fine.”

“Did something happen last night? With Jinshi?” She caught the insinuation, and though Lihaku was a gentle giant she had no doubt he would at least try to fight someone if they tried anything with her. She sighed, putting the glass she had been washing half-heartedly down in the sink.

“Nothing happened. Jinshi was a perfect gentleman all the way to walking me to the door.”

“Buuuuut…?”

Maomao grit her teeth, Lihaku wasn’t the person she wanted to have this conversation with - she couldn’t even have it with herself if she was being honest. But if it wasn’t with Lihaku, it would be with her sisters - and they were much less forgiving of her boundaries.

“He called me today.” She didn’t need to elaborate, Lihaku whistled low. “He insisted on coming to me.”

“Did you tell him?” The glare she gave him was answer enough, Lihaku put his hands up in defense. “So to him he just called the girl he’s been kinda seeing and asked to come to her and she proceeded to block him?”

The wince was born entirely from guilt at the accuracy of his words.

“We aren’t seeing each other and I didn’t block him.” She rested her forehead on the edge of the sink. “It doesn’t matter now anyway.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.”

She ignored him, focusing on getting ready. When it was 11pm and the VIP section remained completely empty, a gnawing feeling started in her stomach. It was normal for a few tables to be rented out in the VIP section, they always had a few every night from regulars who liked to flaunt their money.

Yet the entire section was empty.

“What’s up with the VIP section?” She asked Xiaolan over the music, her eyes constantly touching on the empty seats as if one of these times they might suddenly contain patrons.

“Lihaku said someone called earlier asking about renting out the entire section last minute; he passed him to Madam. Musta cost a looooot of money though, I’m pretty sure we had at least three tables booked for tonight.”

Poor financial decisions. However this time it wasn’t to her benefit.

Sure enough, thirty minutes later Jinshi walked through the door. Maomao hadn’t been looking for him, but it was like an alarm went off in her mind the second the man was in the same room as her. She looked at him, only to notice he was also looking at her though his face was a mask of pure childish tantrum. Maomao shrunk down, hiding below the bar rail just like she had been the first night she met him.

“Maomao, you’re on the VIP section tonight.” Lihaku called to her, his face showing zero remorse at sending her to her doom.

“Xiaolan can-”

“Nope. It was a special request, and it cost him extra to have a private bartender.”

Maomao stayed crouching as long as she could, until Lihaku dragged her up by her collar and practically threw her out of his barrail. She dragged her feet, noticing that Jinshi had picked the back table as far away from the crowd to sit at. Gaoshun stood behind him, looking far more exhausted than usual while Jinshi tapped his fingers on the table and waited for her to get there.

She had meant to apologize for hanging up on him, at the very least she had intended to be cordial - but his impatient, childish glare rubbed against her the wrong way and by the time she got there she could only just manage to keep her own off her face.

“What do you want?”

“Do you have to start every conversation with me like that?” She couldn’t meet his eyes, but she put the tray down on the table and did her best to reign in her abruptness.

“I…apologize. For hanging up on you. Earlier.” Every word she forced out, if only to get it over with. She could feel heat rising up her neck, but she stood there anyway.

“But not for ignoring me the rest of the day?”

“Don’t push your luck.” She walked away before he could say anything else, before he could see how red her face was, taking up her spot behind the VIP section’s bar.

She remained back there for most of the night, resolutely ignoring Jinshi’s pouting glares that he threw his way. She only approached him to offer drinks though she made sure they were non-alcoholic as she remembered he said he didn’t drink. Gaoshun through pleading looks at her but she didn’t care - she had no reason to be angry with him but the longer the night went on the more her ire grew.

Every attempt to push him away had been met with blind stubbornness on his part - she couldn’t imagine what he might have paid to have the entire section reserved for him but she knew the Madam would have bled him dry. There was no sane human being on this earth that wouldn’t be deterred by the way she was treating him and yet there he was.

The main bar was swamped, Xiaolan and Lihaku doing their best but clearly missing a third bartender desperately. She needed to help them, but when she went to head over Jinshi grabbed her wrist as she passed his table.

“Maomao.” He had that look on his face, the one he had at the door to her clinic when he walked her back after last night. His eyes held hers, and though she suddenly wanted to pull herself away she found she couldn’t. “I wanted to ask-”

“Hey!” Jinshi was cut off by an angry yell, breaking whatever hold he had on her. She looked over her shoulder to see a drunk man clumsily climbing the VIP steps towards them - a half empty beer in his hand.

Maomao pulled her hand free of Jinshi, forcing her customer service smile to her face as she turned to fully face the drunk man.

“I’m sorry, sir. This section is reserved for tonight.” She looked over the crowd, catching a few bartender’s eyes to make sure they were aware of the situation. She saw a few of them start to make their way over, but she already spied Basen halfway to them as he struggled through the throng of drunk patrons.

“It ain’t fair that this jerk gets a personal bartender while the rest of us have to wait. My beer is getting warm!”

She heard Jinshi stand behind her, the chair scraping against the floor.

“I’ll buy your next beer for you, sir. Come, we’ll go to the main bar together.” His sickly sweet voice was tinged with clear annoyance - it sounded patronizing to her, and judging by the look on the man’s face it did no better to him.

“Entitled asshole.”

Maomao caught the man’s movement, having been witness to many girls tossing their drinks on people at the bar. She sidestepped, putting herself in front of Jinshi as the man’s beer splashed against her shirt and face. She hated the smell of beer, but at least this might give her an excuse to get away from Jinshi for the night under the pretense of needing to shower to get it out of her hair.

Simultaneous movement happened around her. Basen had just barely reached them, and Gaoshun was stepping forward from where he had been standing behind Jinshi. She saw Lihaku shout from behind the bar, and even her sisters on stage seemed to be about to jump through the crowd.

But it was Jinshi that moved first, his arm coming from around her to hit the man square in the face.

Maomao stared at the drunkard as he crumpled to the floor, knocked out cold. Her body moved automatically, her medical training urging her to check him over to make sure nothing was broken but hands grabbed her shoulder and pulled her away from him.

“What are you doing?” He practically yelled in her face, “he could have punched you.”

“He wasn’t going to punch anyone.” She pushed his hands off his shoulder, “you didn’t have to hit him, it's just beer.”

“If it’s just beer, why the hell did you stand in front of me?”

Good question.

“Your shirt looked expensive.” She said instead, trying to move around him again to see to the man that was slowly coming to thanks to the bouncers pouring water on his face.

“You okay, Maomao?” Lihaku had made his way to them, his hand holding out a towel towards her.

“I’m fine. Just need a shower now.” They sold good beers here, but by virtue of people’s poor taste they also carried some that smelled and tasted like piss. This man had unfortunately bad taste.

“Go get cleaned up.” Maomao nodded her thanks, slipping through the gathering crowd despite Jinshi clearly calling her name from behind her.

She had made it a few steps into her apartment, pulling off her beer soaked shirt and throwing it to the side before someone burst in after her. She turned, half expecting one of her sisters before she saw Jinshi storming towards her. She opened her mouth, the words ‘get out’ rising in her throat.

He ignored her state of undress, and the look on her face. Stalking up to her with his own anger honed into a look of determination, and despite herself she took a step back from him.

“You are the most infuriating person I’ve ever met, have I told you that?” Despite the words, he didn’t sound angry. He sounded…astonished. Like he was discovering something he didn’t know had been possible until that moment.

“What is wrong with you?” Maomao found herself at the end of her patience with him, completely dumbfounded by how he could keep chasing after her. “What kind of person rents out an entire section of a club just to pester someone because they ignored them for a day? Why would you rent out an entire aquarium just to hang out with me for a few hours? You’re insane, and you’re a masochist. Leave.”

“Why…?” He looked at her with amusement and confusion, as if he couldn’t decide which emotion to feel. “Y’know for someone so incredibly smart, you can be really dense Maomao.”

He took a step toward her,, his hands reached for her face and before she could even comprehend what he was doing she was being pulled to him and his lips were crashing into hers.

Despite the abrupt start his lips quickly gentled against hers, a hand sliding from her cheek to the back of her neck as if to hold her in place. Her hands came up to touch his chest, clutching at his shirt for a moment as she struggled to determine whether she wanted to push him away or pull him closer to her.

Eventually she pushed, and with a small groan Jinshi pulled back enough that she could look in his eyes though his hands remained where they were.

“What are you doing?” She hissed, she had wanted it to come out loud but her voice had strangled itself and she only managed a whisper.

“Kissing you.”

“Obviously. Why?” He frowned at her, the hand on her cheek trailed down lightly as he caressed her neck.

“Is it not good?”

“That’s not the point.” She stared at him, her hands still tangled in his shirt but she made no move to push him away when his arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her flush against him.

“I can stop, if it’s not wanted.”

They stood there, wrapped around each other; held in a bubble of tension. She searched his eyes, not sure of what she was searching for. He was looking at her as if he wanted to drown in her, like she wasn’t in just her bra and covered in beer.

She had never been kissed before, though her sisters had schooled her well enough in how to do it. They hadn’t mentioned the way her heart would pound so hard in her chest that she wouldn’t be able to think straight. Her skin was on fire where his hands touched her bare back while his thumb traced over her cheek as he kept that same look of enraptured attention on his face.

“I said something that bothered you, on the phone this morning.” His voice was low, quiet even though they were the only ones in the room. “I wanted to apologize, but you wouldn’t take any of my calls.”

“I don’t need your pity.”

“My concern isn’t pity, Maomao.” He leaned forward, his nose brushing against hers. Her breath hitched at the contact. “I wanted to ask you on a second date, before things got like this.”

She pushed him away then, her face heating too much to stand being so close to him. He released her, a light flush on his own face as he averted her eyes from her nakedness.

“The aquarium wasn’t a date.”

“I said it was a date.”

“It wasn’t a date.”

They glared at each other, both of their looks dulled by the mutual blushing. Finally Jinshi blew out his breath, a hand going to his head in exasperation.

“Fine. Then I want to take you on a first date. This weekend. Though, it won't be as fancy as the aquarium I’m afraid.”

Somehow she doubted that.

She opened her mouth to say…something but she was interrupted by knocking on her door followed by the door knob twisting to no avail. She looked at Jinshi accusingly.

“You locked my door?”

“You didn’t have a shirt on.”

“I still don’t.” She pointed out, “and yet you’re in here.” The words brought a stronger flush to his face. He turned away from her but still spoke over his shoulder.

“This weekend?”

It was easier to answer when she didn’t have to look at his face. When nobody could see how much the words embarrassed her.

“Alright.”

Chapter Text

Jinshi’s absence was quickly replaced by the presence of her sisters, still dressed - if you could even call it that - in their strip club attire. For once Maomao was glad to have them there, their scandalous looks only urged Jinshi to leave quicker and she was glad to be out of whatever tension he had brought to the air of her apartment.

That was, at least, until her sisters saw her lack of attire, and their scandalous looks turned towards her instead.

“I can already tell you’re misunderstanding-” Maomao spat out, holding her hands out to ward off her sisters as they swarmed her.

“What misunderstanding?” Jyoka perched on the edge of her bed, delicately eyeing her nails with a guise of being uninterested. “Were you not alone with the man in your apartment, half naked?”

“My shirt was soaked in beer.” So was her bra, but Pairin seemed to already be sifting through her dresser to remedy that. “And I didn’t let him in, he followed me. Again. Do the bouncers do nothing around here?” She grabbed the bra Pairin handed to her, changing despite her original intention to shower to get the smell off her.

“One of them tried to keep him from following you - Jinshi cowed him with a single look.” Maomao tried to imagine Jinshi scaring anyone; even a glare from the man had to come off as a childish pout in her eyes.

Though she supposed she would never have thought he would punch someone either.

“So what were you two doing in here?”

She stared at the wall, begging for the emotional self control that seemed to be absent when it came to Jinshi to return to her. Maomao had always been adept at hiding her feelings, her sisters often used to joke that she was wasting her potential by not learning to play poker. Yet she couldn’t find that same calm now, and she could tell by the uncomfortable warmth that she was losing the battle with her blood vessels.

“He asked me on a date.”

“Was that before or after you two kissed?”

Meimei, who had been silently watching her interrogation, spoke finally. Pulling on Maomao’s arm so that she was sitting on the bed between her and Jyoka. Pairin grabbed the only chair in the apartment and sat down in front of her.

She was well and truly stuck now.

“We didn’t kiss.”

“Your flushed cheeks and smeared lipstick say otherwise.” Meimei reached a hand over, wiping at the corner of Maomao’s lips like a small child despite her protests. “We thought we could give you some time before pestering you about your first date, but it seems you’ve let him under your skin already.”

“Shouldn’t you all be working.” Maomao spat out through gritted teeth and heated cheeks.

“The Madam had to shut down for the night, on the account of your man physically assaulting someone on your behalf.”

“I’m sure she’ll make him pay for lost revenue.”

“He paid that and then some for the VIP section I heard.”

Maomao felt the beginnings of a migraine starting as her sisters seemingly forgot her for a moment as they prattled among themselves.

“Handsome and stupid with money; just how I prefer men.”

“Too bad for you, Jyoka, he seems completely entranced by our cat here.” Meimei’s hands were in her hair, brushing out the drying knots with her fingers. “The real question is - does the cat reciprocate the feelings?”

“No.”

“Poor guy.” Meimei laughed, tugging on Maomao’s hair lightly as she teased her. “He’ll be devastated to hear that I’m sure.”

“Will you tell him before or after your second date?” Jyoka prodded Maomao’s cheek, pinching it harshly to contrast Meimei’s gentle hands. “I suggest after; you could use some practice with men before you find someone you actually like.”

Her sisters had always teased her that she would find someone just as odd as her and magically fallen in love - and though Maomao had to admit Jinshi was weird she had never believed she would find the kind of love they always talked about. Yet even if she wasn’t in love with Jinshi, the idea of using him as practice of all things still felt cruel.

“Tell us about the first date.” Pairin tossed a sweater that she had given her a few years ago, a soft pink thing that Maomao had proceeded to bury in the back of her closet the moment she got home.

Reluctantly Maomao told them as she dressed; it wasn’t terribly exciting or long but her sisters seemed enthralled as she spoke - constantly exchanging looks with each other that Maomao couldn’t interpret. When she finished they all stared at her for a moment before Pairin sighed and left her apartment without saying anything.

What did I say wrong?

The other two waited silently until Pairin returned with a duffel bag, tossing it onto the floor of Maomao’s apartment.

“We’re sleeping over.” Pairin said authoritatively. Jyoka stood, making her way to the bathroom and turning on the shower as if it was her own place.

Maomao watched as her sisters made themselves at home, though it wasn’t the first time they had done so; it had been a long time since all three had commandeered her space.

“Do you not have food, Maomao?” Meimei said from the kitchen, the fridge and cupboards already opened as she sifted through the few things Maomao had to eat. She cringed, it had indeed been a long time since she had done any sort of grocery shopping.

“You need to take better care of yourself.” Maomao cringed; it was always awkward when her sisters were reminded of how scarcely she preferred to live. She usually ate at the Verdigris when she was working, and on the rare days she wasn’t working she would eat whatever she had lying around.

“I’ll make a trip to Luomen’s.” She offered more as an excuse to get some time alone than anything else - her sisters were clearly planning something and she was entirely not looking forward to it.

The walk to Luomen’s convenience store wasn’t that long, but Maomao made sure to take her time. Despite her best efforts, her body seemed insistent on reminding her of how it had felt to have Jinshi’s hands on her bare skin - if she didn’t know any better she would have been inclined to check her skin in the mirror to ensure that she actually wasn’t branded in some way.

Her sister’s had always been touchy and though she wasn’t a fan of it her skin had never reacted in this way to any of them. Maomao was having trouble deciding how she felt about it all; it wasn’t entirely unpleasant but she couldn’t quite say that she wanted it to happen again either.

The bell announced her entrance, and for a moment Maomao stood in the doorway trying to remember what she had come for in the first place.

“You look like you’ve had an interesting night.” Luomen smiled at her from behind the cash, instinctively Maomao touched her lips - suddenly worried that her lipstick was still smeared. When her fingers came away clean she realized that he could probably smell the beer from her still damp hair.

“A customer threw his beer on me.” She regretted not insisting on a shower first, but Jyoka claimed it first and she would probably use most of the hot water on her own. Luomen’s smile never left his face, he looked at her the way he always did - like he was looking through her. He had always been the one person that could read her despite how much she tried to hide her emotions. She sighed. “He was throwing it at someone else, I just got in the way.”

Luomen nodded as if that story made more sense to him.

“I’m afraid I don’t have anything to help with beer soaked clothing, my professional advice would be to shower and change.”

“Jyoka is currently in my shower; my sisters have decided we’re having a sleepover tonight. I’m here to get snacks.” And yet she walked towards the counter instead of the aisles, her eyes drifting over everything if only to avoid Luomen’s knowing gaze. “I think I might be in for some unpleasant, sisterly bonding when I get back.”

“Family is important.” Silence fell over them, but she knew Luomen was waiting for her to speak again. It was how he was - he always knew when she needed to talk things over but he never pushed her to speak.

The problem was that she wasn’t sure an old, retired doctor could help her with this particular issue.

“If you were unsure about a reaction a patient was having to something, but needed to know if it was negative or not…?” She wasn’t quite sure how to word it, but if there was one thing Luomen and her connected on it was medical questions.

He hummed, leaning against the counter as he no doubt pondered what her question was really referring to.

“I normally recommend against doing unnecessary testing on patients; are you sure that this is medically required information to know?” The glint in his eye told her that he knew they were playing a game, but pride wouldn’t allow Maomao to drop the ruse and just admit they were talking about a boy of all things.

“The patient could live without knowing, but I’m not sure that the…ailment will go away anytime soon.” There was nothing short of disappearing that seemed to convince Jinshi to leave her alone, and even if she did disappear she had a feeling he would somehow manage to find her.

“Would knowing help the ailment?”

“Probably not.” If she knew that Jinshi’s touch would always set her skin on fire it probably wouldn’t help much. It would only satiate her curiosity. Or perhaps make it worse.

But her curiosity was hard to ignore.

“Do you have a control reference?” Maomao shook her head - she had never been kissed before Jinshi and she certainly didn’t go around allowing men to touch her bare skin. There had been men with grabbing hands at the Verdigris but she was always covered in the places they chose to pinch. “You can implement a slow exposure of the substance to the patient, provided it doesn’t cause harm to them.”

“I doubt there would be physical harm.” She mumbled. Maomao wasn’t one for physical contact even if you ignored the fact that she had never been romantically inclined. Her sisters were the only ones who got away with touching her freely, and it was mostly because they pouted when she refused and Maomao hated dealing with that more than she disliked the touching.

“New experiences are often uncomfortable, Maomao.” Luomen’s voice was soft, but she recognized the tone that he often used to lecture her. “That doesn’t mean we should avoid them, but I understand your apprehension.”

“Apprehension isn’t the word I would choose.” Annoyance maybe, bordering on disgust. There was just that little kernel of intrigue to it all that she couldn’t quite get out of her mind. “But thank you, for the advice.”

She bought snacks quickly and blindly, hardly paying attention to what she put on the counter before paying and leaving with a wave to the man.

If she interactions with Jinshi as an experiment, it would be easier for her to manage him. Ethically she couldn’t do it without informing him of her intentions, she was oblivious to matters of the heart but even she knew that leading someone on for personal purposes was cruel. Jinshi didn’t deserve that - even if he was a brat.

Her sisters were all on her bed when she returned, a bottle of wine opened between them as they argued over something on one of their phones.

“She needs something to counteract her constant glaring though!”

“He clearly likes the glaring - we should play into it.”

“If you can get her into something like that I’ll buy you a new pair of shoes, Pairin.”

Maomao sighed; she didn’t even want to know what they were looking at buying for her. Dumping the snacks on the bed, she quickly hid in the bathroom - locking the door behind her.

“Maomao, where is he taking you for the date?” Meimei called to her, she groaned - pulling out her phone to check her messages.

“I don’t know.”

Xiaolan and Lihaku had texted her asking if she was okay, she sent them both the same reply of “I’m okay” followed by a thumbs up.

Jinshi hadn’t messaged her though. She frowned down at their messages for a moment.

Maomao 2:47: Ice your hand.

She sent it before tossing her phone on her shelf, quickly stripping and starting a shower before she could see if he answered or not.

When she was done there was still no reply. She glared at the phone, slightly offended that the one time she had chosen to message him he suddenly found himself unable to respond right away. Her offence was quickly forgotten when she returned to her living room to find her sisters were actively sorting through her undergarments.

“At least you were wearing your nicest bra, Maomao. Imagine if you had been wearing any of these monstrosities.”

For a moment she stood there, but her delay was her mistake. Before she had a chance to lock herself back up in the bathroom her sisters dragged her to the bed to be a forced participant in their mission. Most of the night consisted of them showing her various matching underwear ranging from pastel colors with bows and lace (Meimei’s pick) to black, strappy numbers that barely looked like they covered anything (Pairin’s pick). Jyoka seemed to be on the side of no underwear at all, and Maomao wasn’t sure which of the three she was more concerned about in that moment.

It was, however, not as bad of a night as Maomao had anticipated. She lay in the middle of the three of them, her face heated as they peppered her with stories of their own first loves and gave her tips and warnings for her own firsts. She protested, her face hot and mortified, but it had been so long since they had all been so doting on her that by the time they all fell asleep Maomao couldn’t help the small smile on her face.

Chapter Text

The weekend came faster than she had hoped for; Jinshi had been relatively unresponsive to her few texts but in the times that he did text her he apologized profusely - claiming that something had come up at work that required his attention. She had tried to suggest they cancel the date, but that had been met with an immediate ‘no’ and promises that he would even pick her up early to make up for his lack of communication.

Even Basen had seemed more exhausted than usual when she asked him about Jinshi’s sudden change.

“Work has just been busier than usual.” It was punctuated by a yawn that he did his best to stifle.

“For you or for Jinshi?” Basen glared at her.

“Despite what you might think, Jinshi works hard. Harder than he probably should, he’s not as carefree as he appears.”

It was that comment that she had in mind when she opened the door to the Verdigris Saturday afternoon, to see Jinshi leaning against his car with a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

She stared at him for a moment, noticing the bags under his eyes and how he seemed to be resting fully against the car as if standing would take too much of his energy. Maomao frowned at him, which caused him to smile more as he took a step towards her with the flowers outstretched.

“I guessed that roses might not be your thing, but I must admit I’m a little out of my depth when it comes to flowers.” The bouquet was made of darkstone lilies, their color deep and purple-red. He was right about the roses, though Maomao wasn’t particular towards any flowers that weren’t used in medicine or poisons; she supposed lilies were toxic to small animals.

“Thank you…” She took them awkwardly, unsure of what to do with them as they stood on the sidewalk.

“I can wait if you want to put them inside.” Jinshi suggested, giving her an encouraging smile. Nodding, she dipped back into the Verdigris to deposit them on the counter of the bar before returning.

“Are you sure this is okay?” Maomao asked Jinshi quietly when he opened the car door for her. “We can reschedule to when you aren’t busy.” Or not at all.

Jinshi just ignored her, pushing her shoulder lightly to urge her into the back of the car. Rolling her eyes she slid in, taking up her customary spot as far away from him as the car would allow. She was relieved that she hadn’t let her sisters dress her how they had wanted to; Jinshi himself was in jeans and a t-shirt so perhaps he had been truthful about this…date being not fancy.

“How is your hand?” She asked to break the silence. Instead of answering, Jinshi held his hand out towards her.

She glared at it for a moment, which made him laugh.

“You act as if my hand offended you somehow.”

“Maybe it did.” She mumbled, remembering the trail of fire it had left down her skin. She looked at his hand though, it was void of any swelling and though there was a slight bruise on one of his knuckles he seemed relatively unharmed. “You should be more careful, it is possible to break a bone if you throw a punch hard enough.”

“I assure you, I have been lectured enough on why I shouldn’t be punching people in bars.” He let his hand drop, his head falling back against the seat behind him. Maomao caught Gaoshun shaking his head in the mirror - she felt a little guilty that Jinshi may have been scolded for something that she had some part in even if it wasn’t her fault.

“I won’t lecture you, then.” She said, gently tapping his hand with hers. On the last tap, Jinshi turned his hand over to catch hers. The heat seeped through her fingers, and though she shot him a look of disgust she allowed it.

Slow exposure. She reminded herself, turning to look out the window to avoid the glowing smile Jinshi was now throwing at her.

They remained like that until the car stopped in front of what appeared to be somebody's house - or what Jinshi would consider a house. It wasn’t half as big as Gyokuyou’s had been, but it was no less impressive to someone who lived in the back of a strip club.

Jinshi got out on his own, and Maomao waited for him to open her door this time. He offered her his hand, but she ignored it as she climbed out and followed him to the door.

He knocked, and a few moments later a young man opened the door.

“Jinshi, it’s good to see you again.”

“You as well, Tianyu.” Jinshi stepped aside, his hand sweeping out to encompass Maomao. “Maomao, this is Tianyu. An old friend, with an…interesting hobby.”

“Interesting enough that he’s finally come to see it.” Tianyu winked at her, motioning for them to both come inside. Maomao raised her eyes in expectation of some sort of explanation from Jinshi but he simply smiled and waited for her to enter first.

The inside of the house was unremarkable, very much what Maomao expected for someone who clearly had money. Tianyu and Jinshi chatted as the man led them down the hall, and Maomao let herself settle into a neutral expression.

It wasn’t until they reached a room at the back of the house that appeared to be heavily locked, that Maomao found her curiosity piqued.

“Now, Jinshi told me that you’ve had some medical training so I’m going to assume you’ll know the importance of my warnings, Maomao.” He fished a key off his belt as he spoke, though he still smiled his voice was serious compared to how they had been greeted. “No touching unless I say you can, don’t go opening any of the enclosures and if I let you feed any of them you have to be very, very careful.”

Maomao nodded, her curiosity growing more and more until the doors were open and she was allowed inside.

She could feel how wide her eyes got, bouncing on her feet as she took in the massive room.

There in front of her was a very well organized, very big collection of snakes. Not just any snakes, mind you, but illegal - venemous - snakes.

Tianyu whistled appreciatively, smiling between her and Jinshi.

“Y’know when Jinshi messaged me to ask if he could bring a girl to see my collection, I thought he was the world’s worst date but clearly you hit the nail on the head.”

Maomao ignored them; she was the equivalent of a kid in a candy store - one that she didn’t ever think would exist.

“Can I look at them?!” Tianyu laughed, waving her forward.

“Just remember the rules and you can look as much as you want.”

She was gone almost as soon as the words left his mouth. Maomao was completely enthralled with a wide variety of venoms, completely disregarding Jinshi as she decided to start on the left side of the room and work her way around. Their mumbles of conversation barely reached her, but she ignored them as she quizzed herself on the specific species of snake and their poison’s symptoms.

The collection was vast, ranging from barely venomous with high survival rates to extremely venomous with high mortality rates. Maomao spent a long time at every enclosure, wishing she had brought a notebook and a pen so she could take notes. Most of these snakes she had only ever read about since they weren’t native to their country, it was a surreal experience seeing them in person even from behind a glass.

“You seemed most interested in the poisonous fish, so I thought this might be something you would enjoy.” Jinshi’s voice reached her as she stood in front of a particular enclosure, watching it as closely as it was watching her. Despite the glass separating them, Maomao felt the goosebumps of the proximity to danger rise along her skin.

“How does he even have these? Half of these are from African continents and I’m sure all of them are highly illegal.”

“He’s an underground collector. It’s best not to ask too many questions.” She tore her eyes away from the snake to see Jinshi standing a good few feet away from her, his arms crossed and clearly uncomfortable.

“You don’t like snakes?”

“Not particularly.” He smiled at her, “but I enjoy your reactions to them.”

“You could have settled for a normal date; an amusement park or dinner or something mundane.”

“There is nothing normal or mundane about you, Maomao.” She paused, unsure if she should be offended or take it as a compliment. There was a distinct fondness in his tone that told her he hadn’t meant any offense, but she still found herself staring at him for a few moments longer before she begrudgingly moved back to stand beside him.

“That is a green mamba.” She said, pointing at the snake she was just staring at. “They’re highly venomous, and aggressive. They have a toxin in their venom called a dendrotoxin, it’s a protein that causes havoc in the central nervous system. You would mainly die by suffocation when your respiratory muscles become paralyzed.”

“I…see.” Jinshi took a small step back as if the snake might lunge through the glass at him.

“Death can occur in roughly thirty minutes if bitten.” Maomao had often let snakes bite her to study the effects of their venom - of course they had all been non-fatal varieties. She didn’t have a death wish. “By injecting small amounts of venom into other animals and then harvesting the antibodies that they produce to fight the venom we can create an antivenom that can save lives.”

“I’m not allowing you to inject yourself with poison.” When she met his eyes he seemed to look more distraught at whatever he saw in her face than when he was looking at the snake. “Please tell me you haven’t ever done that to yourself, Maomao.”

“I don’t have the equipment to extract antibodies.” She huffed, avoiding answering the question. “Besides you can only take an antivenom once in your life, I wouldn’t waste it like that.”

“Of course not, because that’s the part that makes this whole thing ridiculous.” One hand on his forehead, he placed the other on her shoulder. She did her best not to recoil from it, but she did stand perfectly still. In a room full of deadly snakes, Jinshi was the one that stood to cause her the most concern. “Don’t let me stop you, look as long as you want.”

Maomao bit her lip. Despite Jinshi proclaiming that this date wouldn’t be as fancy as the aquarium, he had clearly put a lot more thought into this outing than anyone had given her in her whole life. That coupled with the fact that he was obviously uncomfortable being in the room had her conflicted - this was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to see and study these creatures first hand, but she felt selfish inflicting it on Jinshi who wasn’t enjoying his time.

She opened her mouth to reluctantly tell him that they could go, but was interrupted by him leaning down too close to her face.

“If you want to thank me,” he whispered low enough that Tianyu couldn’t hear, “you can give me another kiss.”

Instantly she felt her sympathy towards him fade, pushing his face away as she ducked under him to stand by the snakes again. She could feel his eyes on her, making her hair stand up as she pointedly ignored him to search for the most venomous snake in the room to stand next to as a deterrent.

A while later, Tianyu approached her as she was examining one of the various species of cobras that he had.

“You may be the first person to spend a whole three hours in here without once looking bored or terrified.” Maomao blinked, pulling out her phone to check the time to see that she had indeed spent just under three hours walking around without saying anything. She looked over her shoulder for Jinshi, who was asleep in a chair by the front door.

“I’m sorry for taking so much of your time.” Guilt gnawed at her; she hadn’t even known if Jinshi had anything planned for after this she had been so lost in her own mind.

“No need, it isn’t every day that I find someone to show off to. I’m afraid most people that are impressed by my collection are more interested in how much it would cost for me to part with it.”

“Or how you got it?”

Tianyu winked at her, placing a finger over his lips in a mock shushing gesture. Maomao had learned enough in the redlight district to know not to pry, though she so very badly wanted to know if she could get her hands on some of the venom just to study it.

“Thank you for letting me look.” She turned, but Tianyu caught her elbow. Maomao looked down at his hand, her face carefully blank as her instincts kicked in.

“I was wondering how you met Jinshi? He was being shy about my questions, but perhaps you might have friends that share your interests that I could meet.”

“I’m afraid I’ve been told I’m an anomaly among my friends.” She pulled her elbow free, wondering for a moment if it would be a good idea to shout for Jinshi to wake up. He had to have trusted the man enough to bring her here, but clearly not enough to tell him the truth of how they had met. “Thank you, again.”

Thankfully Tianyu didn’t seem to want to push it, he simply followed her over to the sleeping man with a small smile of his own.

Maomao shook Jinshi gently, watching him as he groaned and struggled to open his eyes. When he saw her he smiled, it was a sleepy, gentle smile that seemed to reach inside her chest to strangle her heart for a moment. It quickly slipped away, confusion replacing it as his eyes searched her face for a moment before he seemed to realize where he was.

He jumped up, nearly knocking Maomao over as she moved to get out of the way of his head hitting her. Jinshi reached out to steady her, his face red as he apologized for falling asleep.

“It’s okay…” The tightness was still in her chest, making it hard to get words out past it. “We can go now, I’m sorry I took so long.”

They said their goodbyes to Tianyu, walking back to the car with equal measures of bashfulness from both of them. The feeling in her chest had gone away, but Maomao wasn’t sure what had even caused it.

They were silent for the ride back, a weird tension in the air that kept them both from speaking. It wasn’t until they pulled up to the Verdigris and they both got out that Jinshi spoke.

“I had intended to take you out for dinner, but I’m afraid we’ve missed our reservations.” Jinshi said apologetically, standing outside the car.

“It was my fault, I lost track of time.” Not that she was particularly upset at the thought of missing a dinner date with Jinshi - the whole scenario seemed incredibly awkward for a date in her opinion.

“I was happy to see how much you were enjoying yourself, though.” He smiled as if at the memory of it, one of his hands raising as if to touch her face. Maomao took a step back and his hand immediately went to his own hair as if that had been its intention all along. “We can have dinner another time?”

Maomao had never been asked out so persistently, so she wasn’t quite sure how to turn him down. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to turn him down or the dinner.

“Pairin’s birthday is tomorrow.” She said instead, letting her mouth get the words out before she could stop herself. “We’re all going to a high-end club for it…” Jinshi waited, looking at her with confusion and hopeful expectancy. She took a breath in and blew it out harshly. “Did you want to come?”

“Pairin is your sister?” She nodded. “Is she okay with you inviting me?”

“She won’t mind.”

“Are you bringing me as your date?”

“It’s a birthday party, not a wedding.”

“You’ll need to introduce me as something.”

“They know who you are.” Jinshi looked like he would keep arguing on this forever if she left him, so she turned away from him. “I’ll text you the details, show up if you want to.”

Inside her flowers were still where she left them, though somebody had added them to a vase with water. She glared at them for a moment before she grabbed them and hurried back to her apartment.

Chapter Text

The music thrummed through Maomao, the bass pounding in her skull rhythmically as she leaned back on the couch of the VIP section. As much as she disliked socializing, she honestly didn’t mind going to clubs - there was something about a bunch of people intoxicated on music and alcohol in the same space that made her feel oddly comfortable. Everyone was so lost in their own minds that she could move around practically unnoticed.

Xiaolan flopped into the seat beside her, reaching down to take off her heels as she groaned.

“High end clubs suuuuck, why do I have to wear heels?” She rubbed her foot, leaning her head on Maomao’s shoulder as she complained. “Why couldn’t we have picked something a little less…”

“Classy?” Maomao finished for her, leaning her head against Xiaolan’s. “You know Pairin won’t go anywhere that doesn’t have a dress code.”

Pairin was sitting across from their section, drinking wine that probably cost more than Maomao’s rent daintily out of a glass while Lihaku tended on her hand and foot. She had picked her outfit to match the bag that he had gotten her, but Maomao was surprised to see she was also wearing the earrings he had gotten her.

“I thought you invited Jinshi?”

“I did.” She had texted him the time and location of their outing, but they had already been here for an hour and he hadn’t shown up or texted her back. “He doesn’t drink, so this probably isn’t his thing.”

She wasn’t disappointed. The offer had only been out of guilt for making him wait around while she indulged herself.

“His loss!” Xiaolan strapped her heels back on, standing with her hands on her hips in front of Maomao with her cheeks puffed out cutely. “We’re gonna dance and forget all about him then!”

She resisted lightly when the girl pulled on Maomao’s arm, but she stood and followed her to the floor anyway.

Maomao wasn’t a particularly good dancer, but then again the club wasn’t really about dancing. Most of the people around her were simply swaying with the music, moving their hips in attempts to attract the opposite sex. Xiaolan pulled her into the throng of people, holding onto her hands as she moved in her own ways. Maomao let herself be pulled into it, moving the way her sisters had taught her to merely because it was the only way she knew.

One song bled into another, sounding like it never ended until Maomao had no idea how long she had been dancing. It wasn’t until Lihaku interrupted them that the spell was broken.

“Jinshi is here.” He yelled over the blasting music, Maomao’s eyed snapped to the VIP table to see that Jinshi was in fact sitting where she had been.

Staring right at her.

For some reason Maomao felt very aware of herself in that moment, like he was able to see only her among the hundreds of people in the room. She was suddenly self conscious about the fact that she had allowed her sisters to bully her into wearing the matching bra and panty set they had bought for her.

“When did he get here?” Xiaolan bumped her hips into her, making Maomao break her eye contact with Jinshi to look over at her teasing face.

“He’s been here for like twenty minutes; he said not to bother you but I thought you might want to intervene on your sisters.”

Maomao looked back and finally noticed that her sisters were sitting around him, she didn’t need to hear what they were saying to know it wasn’t good. The sly looks on their faces already told her that they were doing irreparable damage to Maomao’s image.

Pushing through the crowd, Maomao made her way carefully through the moving people until she was within earshot of the table.

“...her first, at least that we know of.”

“Trust me, it was definitely her first.”

“You should have seen how red she was, I thought her brain might have exploded.”

“Don’t listen to them.” Maomao interrupted, glaring at her sisters who had turned to her with laughter and sly smiles. “They don’t know nearly as much as they think they do about my life.”

“Maomao! As if you could hide your first kiss from us.” Meimei vacated her seat beside Jinshi, pulling Maomao into it before she could protest. “She thinks she’s so much harder to read than she is.”

Maomao was pushed into the seat, sliding against Jinshi as she pointedly avoided looking at him. She could feel her face heating, hoping that the dim lights would be on her side to hide it.

“Lihaku, get us some drinks.” Pairin waved her hand at him, giving him a sultry smile. “Make dear Maomao’s a double - she looks like she might need it.”

“Something non-alcoholic for Jinshi.” She said, not bothering to argue about her own drink order. She drank enough at work that her tolerance was high enough that it wouldn’t really affect her.

“Thank you.” Jinshi whispered towards her, she waved her hand to dismiss his thanks, still not looking at him.

“I thought you weren’t coming.”

“I’m sorry I’m late.” He sounded apologetic, but Maomao just nodded. She was aware that everyone was looking at her and she felt uncomfortable with the scrutiny. Xiaolan saved her, coming to sit beside her while she leaned forward to look at Jinshi.

“Hi! I’m Xiaolan, we haven’t met yet.” Jinshi leaned forward too, reaching across to shake her hand with a polite smile that sent the girl blushing and giggling. “You don’t seem like a brat.”

“Excuse me?” Jinshi blinked at her, confused. Maomao jabbed an elbow into her ribs but she continued on anyway.

“That’s your name in Maomao’s phone.” Her sisters giggled, Xiaolan stuck her tongue out in response to Maomao attempting and missing another jab as she pushed away from her.[

“Is it now?” He poked her side, and Maomao met his pout with her own glare.

“You are a brat.” She poked him back, harder than he had poked her.

“What is Maomao in your phone, Jinshi?”

The way his pout instantly melted into a look of guilt made Maomao suspicious. She stared at him, her eyes narrowed as his silence stretched on. He mumbled something under his breath and Maomao leaned in further expectantly.

Instead he just pulled out his phone, opening it to their messages.

The words “My Cat” floated at the top beside a picture of her that had clearly been taken at the aquarium when she wasn’t paying attention.

“Huh?!” She tried to reach for his phone but he held it away from her quickly. She kept reaching for it, her outrage flickering back and forth between embarrassment and offense. “Change it!”

“Yours is worse!” He protested, his long arms giving him the advantage in their war over the phone.

“Mine is factual! Yours is…it’s…” Possessive. Embarrassing. Inappropriate. Her mind fumbled over the words, unable to figure out which one was more fitting. Her sisters often called her their “cat” on account of her apparent attitude but it wasn’t something she wanted other people calling her.

“Woah, what’s going on here?” Lihaku had returned with the drinks. Maomao stopped scrambling for Jinshi’s phone long enough to realize the position she had put herself in.

She was practically in Jinshi’s lap, having climbed over his knees to give herself a better chance at reaching his phone. Jinshi still held it away from her with his left hand, but his right was hovering around her rear as if wanting to hold her to ensure she didn’t fall but unsure of where to place itself appropriately. Her own hand had landed on his shoulder, practically putting her chest right into his face.

They both froze. Maomao suddenly became aware of his breath against her bare collarbone - hot as it puffed against her skin and sent a shockwave down her spine. She was sure that he could hear her heart pounding in her chest from how close they were, and when his hand finally landed on the small of her back it felt like fire searing through her skin to settle in her stomach.

A nose escaped her, something caught embarrassingly between a squeak and a groan at the contact. It made Jinshi’s eyes widen and her own face far too warm but it broke the tension that held them. Maomao retreated, scrambling off his lap unceremoniously as she moved to sit farther away but Jinshi’s hand hooked her hip and pulled her back until she was forced to sit as close as possible.

She kept her head ducked, her hands in her lap as everyone looked at her. How she had managed to forget their presence enough to put herself in such an inappropriate position was lost to her, but she blamed Jinshi fully for it.

“My, My. I think that might be the best birthday present I’ve ever gotten.” Laughter and Lihaku’s protests made Maomao shrink further down, Jinshi’s arm still around her lower back was a band of heat and pressure that fed into the buzzing in her chest.

Slow exposure. Slow exposure.

Lihaku handed her her drink and Maomao drank nearly half of it in one go, letting the burn of the alcohol momentarily distract her from what was happening.

“What other firsts will you take, Jinshi?” Pairin cooed, a devious look on her face. “Certainly not her first lap dance, tragically that’s already been taken.”

“By you!” Maomao protested loudly, horrified by the implication her sister was trying to present.

“Not the first time seeing her naked either.”

“Also by you! You walked in on me changing, that’s not my fault.”

“Those don’t even matter.” Xiaolan chimed in, clearly trying to be helpful in the situation. “Being her first kiss is so romantic! So is taking her on her first date.” Maomao shot her a warning look, but her friend had her eyes closed and her hands on her face - lost in whatever fantasy she was conjuring. “You could be the first one to hold her hand, or buy her flowers - or hear her say ‘I love you’.”

“Or hear other noises.”

Maomao stood, overstimulated by the amount of emotions and sensations her body was throwing at her in that moment. Between the mortification and horror at her sister’s words and the over awareness of every place that Jinshi was touching her it was only her knowledge that human spontaneous combustion was only pseudoscience that kept her from being sure she wasn’t about to burst into flames. She drained the rest of her drink, slamming the glass on the table before strangling out that she was going to get another one and quickly leaving to enter the crowd of people between her and the bar.

She found herself lost in the thrall of bodies, being bumped at every side as she tried her best to regain her sense of direction. Her nerves were frayed, her heart still pounding in her chest, helped along by the beat of the loud music and the swaying of dancers.

Jinshi was a mistake, everything about him brought ruin to her carefully placed walls. Somehow he had found a crack, and now everything about him managed to get under her skin in ways that she had long thought impossible. Maomao, so always in control of her emotions and reactions, found herself overwhelmed for the first time since she was a small child - when she first realized that the adults around her had more pressing concerns than a small, scared child. Nobody was coming for her, nobody ever came for her.

Someone turned, bumping into her and causing her to stumble back. She fell into somebody, and hands were quick to pull her away from falling to the floor and being crushed under dancing feet.

“Hey, hey!” Arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her roughly away from the center of the throng until she was safely on the outskirts of the dance floor. “Are you okay?”

Jinshi leaned down so as to not have to yell over the music, his hair falling over her shoulder as his breath tickled her neck. His arms still held her against him, but there was a gentle concern in his voice. She nodded, not bothering to yell over the music to answer him.

“Let’s go outside.” She nodded again, letting him release her before taking her hand and pulling her towards the door.

The cold air from outside quickly brought her back to herself, biting at her skin and chasing away the heat that Jinshi’s touch brought her. She filled her lungs deeply, blindly following as Jinshi pulled her away from the lineup of people trying to get in and around the corner so they were out of sight of people. Maomao closed her eyes, forcing her brain into some sort of functioning order before she opened them to face Jinshi with a calm, neutral expression.

“Did you drink too much?” He asked, taking off his coat and offering it to her.

“I’m fine, my tolerance is quite high.” She waved away his coat, but Jinshi wrapped it around her shoulders with a frown. “I’m sorry about my sisters, they go a little far with their teasing sometimes.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Awkwardly they stood there for a moment, Maomao wanted to bring up their teasing to clear up some of the misconceptions they seemed to be putting out about her but she wasn’t sure how to do it easily.

“About what they said.” Jinshi started for her, looking down the alley towards the street as he spoke as if he too was unsure about how to bring it up.

“Don’t listen to them, most of what they said was highly exaggerated just to poke at me or straight up lies.” She would have to get back at Pairin specifically for the lap dance comment - the reality was that her sisters had been teaching her how to give a lap dance when she was first considering the possibility of having to work in the strip club to pay for med school. It had been a horrendous attempt and she had refused to partake in any further ‘lessons’ after that.

“So I wasn’t your first kiss?”

“If you don’t count my sisters, I suppose that would be accurate.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She raised an eyebrow at him, he was pouting for some reason as he continued to look away from her. Why on earth would taking her first kiss make him pout?

“I wasn’t aware that I needed to.”

“If I had known that was your first, I wouldn’t have-”

“Kissed me?” The words came out a little more bitter than she intended, clearly more bitter than Jinshi expected too as he finally turned to look at her. “If you’re looking for someone with more experience then I’m sorry to disappoint.” She shrugged off his jacket, making sure to keep her face as neutral as possible but Jinshi stopped her, his hands holding it closed in front of her chest.

“That’s not what I meant.” He was blushing, she could see it even in the dark of the unlit alleyway. He shifted on his feet, his eyes meeting hers for only seconds at a time before he looked away again. “If I had known it was your first, I wouldn’t have kissed you the way I did. I would have been less like-”

“A brute?” He winced, but nodded. Maomao sighed, gently knocking his hands away. “It’s fine, it’s really not a big deal.”

“I’m sorry regardless. Can we pretend it didn’t happen?”

“Sure?” She didn’t see how that was possible - the whole concept of a first kiss confused her regardless but even if they pretended there were people that knew she had already been kissed. “I don’t see why, though.”

“So I can kiss you now and do it right this time.”

Silence. Maomao opened her mouth a few times to say something, probably to tell him to get lost but the words wouldn’t make it out.

“You can say no, if you don’t want to.” His finger tapped against his thigh, shifting his weight back and forth but he finally met her eyes and held them. There was a determined look in his eyes, contrasting the redness in his face and the nervous energy in his body. “I want to kiss you. Properly.”

Their first kiss had been fine as far as she was concerned, even as inexperienced as she was she could confidently say that it hadn’t been bad in terms of his skill. The only thing she could think of as ‘improper’ about the situation had been her state of dress and perhaps the fact that he had caught her off guard with it.

Her damned curiosity.

“Fine.” She was proud of how even her voice came out, more at ease with the concept of kissing him when she knew it was coming and it was hers to control.

Jinshi took a step towards her, she watched every move he made intently. His hand reached up to her face, brushing her bangs away from her eyes with his fingertips before tucking hair behind her ear. She followed the path of his fingers with her mind, her eyes still locked to his as he stepped in further.

“You watch me like how normal people look at poisonous snakes, y’know.” His palm covered her cheek, immediately chasing the chill of the wind away from her.

“Snakes are venomous, not poisonous.” He smiled at her, leaning in until she could no longer see his entire face. Her head tilted until it was against the wall behind her, his other hand came up until her face was cupped in his hands.

He moved slowly, giving her plenty of time to mouth her head away from the path of his lips. Maomao closed her eyes at the last second, as his lips gently pressed against hers as if it was his first time rather than hers.

She wasn’t quite sure what to do with her hands, they hung at her sides loosely until she slowly brought them up to his chest. It was where she had put them the first time, though mostly to push him away. When they touched him he stilled for a moment, as if expecting her to do it again but after a moment he relaxed into her.

It was gentle and soft, but wholly unexciting. It was clear that Jinshi was doing it purposely for her benefit, clearly deeming her inexperience synonymous with innocence. Maomao thought back to her sister’s lectures, how they had told her the ways to incite a man and teased him without much effort.

Opening her mouth slightly, she pulled his lower lip into hers until her teeth could lightly bite the edge of it.

A shudder ran through him, but his response was still gentle as if he was refusing to rise to the bait.

She hated that he maintained control of himself while he constantly undid her years of emotional restraint in the short time she had known him. The kiss became her own, an experiment of sorts to see what it would take to make the man break the way she had come so close to doing inside the club.

Her hands moved up, wrapping behind his neck until she could pull him down to her with the force of her weight. This time when she opened her mouth, she ran her tongue along the seam of his lips the way she had been told to. Jinshi groaned, his mouth opening to her and it felt like a victory when their tongues clashed.

A bright light breached the darkness, the sound of a shutter snapping shocking Maomao into pulling away. Jinshi pulled back too, a look of confusion and wonder on his face for a moment before shouting, reached them from the mouth of the alleyway.

“Jinshi, sir!” Basen was running to them, his face contorted in anger.

“Which way?” Jinshi released her, stepping to put himself between Maomao and whoever had clearly just taken their picture. She stood there, dumbfounded with her mouth throbbing while she listened to them talk.

“He’s gone, I was too far away to get a good look at him.”

“It’s fine, Basen. Call Gaoshun and let him know.” The man nodded, moving back towards the street while pulling out his phone. Jinshi seemed to take a deep breath before he turned back to look at her.

“I’m sorry, Maomao. I need to go. Will you guys be staying much longer?”

“Knowing Pairin, probably until they close. What’s happening?” He looked at her, clearly torn on what he was going to say. Eventually he just sighed, reaching a hand out to smooth out her hair.

“I’ll explain tomorrow, or later tonight if you’re still up. Basen is going to stay behind to make sure you get home safe - please let him walk you to your door.”

With that he turned to leave, not bothering to retrieve his jacket from around her shoulders though she was also too stunned to remind him until she watched him get into a car and drive off.

Chapter Text

She had let her mind linger on what happened for a moment, standing in the alley as she stared down the street that Jinshi’s car had disappeared on.

The flash of light was certainly a camera, and both Jinshi and Basen’s quick and irate responses told her that not only was this not the first time, but it was wholly unwelcome.

Both of those facts meant that Jinshi was both important enough that someone thought taking his picture was worth it, and secretive enough that he didn’t want it taken.

Not my problem. She shrugged, returning to the building to rejoin her sisters with an antsy and irritated Basen following behind her like a guard dog.

“Maomao! You’ve traded your man out already?” Meimei joked as she rejoined them at the table. Maomao folded Jinshi’s coat neatly, placing it on the couch where he had been sitting.

“He had to go.” She didn’t need to look at Basen, she could feel the warning look on her skin. “He wished you a happy birthday Pairin, and his apologies for his abrupt departure.”

Her sisters exchanged looks, but otherwise didn’t push. They would no doubt hound her about it later, but for now she had a moment to come up with some sort of believable reason as to why the man showed up for thirty minutes before abruptly leaving without goodbyes.

The rest of the night was uneventful, at least for Pairin’s birthday standard. They drank and danced until the bar began shutting down, and though Maomao had kept up with everyone’s drinking she was the only one not drunk by the end of it.

“Put your coat on or something.” Basen grumbled to her as she waited for her sister’s taxi to arrive. She was too warm, a symptom of drinking that she had never quite gotten a tolerance for but one she didn’t really mind.

“I’m fine.” She held both Jinshi and her own coat on her arms, her eyes shifting between her sisters to make sure that neither of them did anything unseemly or dangerous. Xiaolan had gone home early, the first to get too drunk to stand. Pairin was hanging off of Lihaku - much to the man’s delight - while the other two clung to each other, giggling about something she couldn’t hear.

“You’re drunk, you can’t tell how cold it is.”

“I’m hardly anywhere near drunk, and I’m perfectly aware of how long I can manage the cold before I’m at risk.” It was warm enough that she figured that time would be around forty minutes, and she could already see the taxi pulling up so she wouldn’t be outside for much longer.

She helped her sisters into the car, giving the driver Pairin’s address and making sure that at least one of the passengers had their card in their hand for payment. She suffered through her sister’s drunken kisses and goodbyes, half pulled into the back seat of the car after them before she managed to extract herself and shut the door.

“I suppose I couldn’t convince you that I’m fine to get home on my own?”

“Not a chance.”

She followed Basen to his car, grateful that he didn’t open the door for her as she slid into the passenger seat. The club they were at was only a fifteen minute drive from the Verdigris, which Maomao was thankful for. She needed a shower and water if she planned on getting any sort of decent sleep.

“You haven’t asked.” Basen broke the silence after a few minutes, she glanced over at him from the corner of her eye to see him tapping the steering wheel aggressively, his face formed into a scowl so deep that she was tempted to give him Jyoka’s lecture on wrinkles.

“It’s none of my business.” She hoped it stayed that way.

“You were there too.”

“I clearly wasn’t the intended target of the photo.” She leaned her head against the window, her fingers playing lightly with a button on Jinshi’s jacket while she spoke. “It was dark, and he’s much taller than me - I doubt my face was even visible.” They way Jinshi had been holding her; his hands on her face as he towered over her, she would be surprised if any part of her was visible. Even if she was visible, on the off chance that somebody cared enough to know who she was they would have a hard time figuring it out with how different she looked in makeup and dressed the way she was.

“You’re not concerned at all what the image might do to his reputation? A picture of him…being intimate with a random woman at a random bar?”

“His decisions are not my fault nor my concern.” She had invited him, sure, but it certainly hadn’t been her decision to makeout in an alleyway. At least not initially. “I would hardly call a kiss being ‘intimate’.” She ignored his slight of calling her a ‘random woman’. Basen had always been kind enough to her if not a little frosty, but she could hardly blame him - she also had no clue why Jinshi constantly decided to seek her company.

The rest of the drive was done in silence, she half expected Basen to disregard his instruction to walk her to the door but he begrudgingly got out and did just that. She thanked him, which he acknowledged with a grunt before closing the door to the clinic and letting out a long sigh that had been building inside her all night.

She checked her phone, but other than Lihaku letting her know that her sisters had made it home okay and Xiaolan drunkenly trying to do the same for herself, she had no messages.

The shower she took was longer than it needed to be, sleep pulling at her as soon as she turned off the water. She checked her phone one last time before heading to bed, leaving it on the other side of the room to ensure Jinshi wouldn’t wake her up if he decided to see if she was awake at a ridiculous hour.

She woke up when her phone hit the floor, vibrating so incessantly that it had made its way from where she had put it on her small table to the edge. Maomao ignored it, waiting for the vibrations of whoever was calling her to stop so she could go back to sleep, but as soon as there was a moment of silence it was quickly replaced by another call.

Groaning, she got out of bed to retrieve it, purposely waiting until she was back under her covers before she looked at who was going to annoy her today.

Gyokuyou’s name was on her screen, shocking away some of her sleep and replacing it with a minor drip of panic. She had expected Jinshi, or one of her sisters, to know what happened last night. Despite having given her number to the woman, she had never texted or called.

“Hello?”

“Maomao!” Her voice was too loud for her head, excitement and worry mixing in her voice to bring up the pitch a little too high. “Jinshi said you were always up early but I’ve been calling for an hour and you haven’t answered.”

Maomao quickly pulled the phone back enough to look at the time, it was only nine - after a night of drinking she felt that was far too early for most people to be up.

“I was out late last night.”

“I know, that's why I’m calling. Or part of the reason at least. How soon can you be ready?”

“Ready?”

“Yes! Have you not checked any of your messages? I sent a car to you; Jinshi wants to talk to you in person but he can’t come to you at the moment. Things are…delicate.”

“Right…” So much for it not being my problem. She debated the merit of telling Gyokuyou that she couldn’t care less about Jinshi’s situation, but it didn’t quite feel like the truth. There was a small kernel of guilt that she might have caused trouble for the man.

She did agree to kiss him, and it wasn’t like she hadn’t enjoyed it.

“I’ll be down in five.”

The car was waiting out front just as Gyokuyou had promised, though she didn’t recognize the driver. While they drove, she finally took the time to go through her messages.

As expected, all three of her sisters had texted her with varying degrees of insistence on telling them what had happened last night. She ignored them, knowing that as soon as she let them know she was awake they would begin their harassment all over again.

Gyokuyou had in fact texted her a few times before she called, politely asking her if she would come spend time with her today before the request became insistent.

But it was Jyoka’s texts that really caught her eye. She had lamented that her purchase of Maomao’s underwear had gone unused, despite the fact that she had seen Maomao put them on herself, before sending her links to a celebrity gossip site.

Maomao clicked on it, keeping her face neutral as she read the headline.

Ka Corporation’s COO Caught with Mysterious Woman Outside of Nightclub.

Underneath was the photo taken of her and Jinshi last night, though as Maomao suspected she was hardly visible. The only thing of her that was even remotely identifiable was her hair, the distinct green caught in the camera flash. Maomao stared at the picture, she could hardly see why this picture would cause any sort of scandal. Jyoka, who was unusually obsessed with keeping up with the socialite gossip, had shown her far worse articles and to her knowledge the subjects of those had ended up just fine.

Yet she couldn’t stop looking. She had felt Jinshi’s reaction to her, but it was another thing to see it from someone else’s perspective. Even with his eyes closed he looked…enraptured. He had been so gentle and safe with her, and yet the picture made it look as if he had been completely at her mercy.

She quickly scrolled away from it, her stomach oddly tight and uncomfortable.

The article continued with speculation, lamenting that women ‘everywhere’ were heartbroken to hear that Li’s ‘most desired bachelor’ was either off the market or more of a playboy than he let on.

Maomao: You knew who he was, didn’t you?

The reply was nearly immediate, as if Jyoka had been waiting for her to text her back.

Jyoka: Be careful with his type.

The car pulled into Gyokuyou’s manor, the long driveway felt like an eternity as Maomao stared at the home. She let herself out, not waiting for the man to come open her door, but before she could knock the door was thrown open and Gyokuyou was there smiling and hugging her as if they were long time friends.

“It’s so good to see you again! I’m sorry it isn’t under better circumstances. I’ve been so busy I couldn’t find a good time to have you over.”

Maomao was ushered in while Gyokuyou chatted happily about all the things she had been up to. She seemed relaxed enough, though Maomao hadn’t been around her long enough to know if her chatter was out of nervousness or not. She did seem to be looked at Maomao with a knowing glint in her eyes that reminded her uncomfortably of the way her sister’s did when they knew something Maomao didn’t.

She only ceased talking when they arrived at a room, and Maomao was unceremoniously pushed into it, the door closing behind her. Jinshi stood by the window, turning at the sound of her entrance.

“You look like you haven’t slept.” She said before whatever he had opened his mouth to say could come out. He frowned at her.

“Usually people say hello before critiquing.” She shrugged, he did in fact look like he hadn’t slept. The bags under his eyes were more pronounced than they usually were, and he held himself too straight as if trying to overcompensate for exhaustion through sheer willpower.

“Sit. You look like you’ll fall down any second.”

He grumbled something but did as she told him too without any fuss, practically falling into one of the armchairs. Maomao sat across from him, her hands under her legs if only to keep herself from fidgeting. Gone was Jinshi’s usual playful demeanor, he wasn’t even attempting to appear pleasant. Whatever this conversation was going to be about, she had a distinct feeling she wouldn’t like it.

“I’m sorry for leaving so abruptly last night, did you enjoy the rest of your sister’s birthday?”

“It was fine.” She waited for him to say his piece, watching him closely as he shifted and avoided her eyes.

All this over a photo and an article on a sleazy gossip site.

After a while of Jinshi’s silence, Maomao determined it would be better to just get it out in the open.

“I assume this is about the article, though I hardly know why you would need to speak to me directly about it.” Unless his determined course of action was to cut contact with her, in which case she would have accepted a text message.

“I wasn’t sure if you had seen it yet, you don’t strike me as the type to care about such things.”

“I don’t. Jyoka sent it to me.”

Jinshi nodded as if it made sense, but let silence overtake them again. She waited, imagining what he would say next.

She could only imagine the issue would be in regards to his reputation. She knew the Ka Corporation - everyone in Li did. It was an incredibly wealthy company, and for Jinshi to hold the position of COO meant that he answered to nobody save the CEO or board of directors. One only got to such a position through hard work or a pristine reputation, and Jinshi didn’t strike her as someone that worked particularly hard. An article insinuating that he was a playboy or a womanizer would call that reputation into question, perhaps even incentivize women in his company to file false allegations against him if only to earn themselves some more power.

The best, most logical course of action, would be for them to stop whatever one might call their tenuous relationship. It suited her just fine, she could return to her life without the constant annoyance that was Jinshi’s presence causing chaos. It would also perhaps serve to get her sisters to leave her alone for a little while.

She schooled her face into a neutral expression, watching as Jinshi seemed to gather his courage to say it.

“Would you become my girlfriend?”

“I understand- what?!” Her reflexive response cut off mid sentence, neutrality on her face slipping into incredulity.

Jinshi looked at her suspiciously, though his cheeks were red.

“What did you think I was going to say?”

“I thought you would make the sensible decision to not see me again.”

“Sensible?!” She glared at him, but he only glared back. “Why would that be sensible?”

“‘The most eligible bachelor in Li’.” She quoted the article, “the only thing worse for your reputation than being called a playboy would probably be dating a stripper.”

“You’re not a stripper.”

“Most people won’t care. I work at a strip club, have no higher education or money and I’m hardly attractive enough for any of that to be overlooked.” She wasn’t belittling herself, to Maomao these were all just facts. It served no purpose to be delusional about the facts of her life. “You’re more than attractive and popular enough to find someone more suited to play the role, it's not like I was recognizable in the photo anyway.”

“You…” Jinshi struggled with the words, his cheeks were still red but he seemed to be caught between anger and embarrassment. “Maomao, I’m not looking for someone to play a role. I’m asking you to be my girlfriend.”

“And I’m giving you alternative, more suitable solutions to your problem.”

“I don’t-” He cut himself off, pinching the bridge of his nose as he breathed loudly. Clearly she was making the situation worse but she couldn’t see how. Sometimes truths were hard, but it didn’t make them any less of the truth. “Forget about the picture and the article for a second, Maomao. They have nothing to do with what I’m asking you other than spurring me to ask sooner than I meant to.”

“Why would you ever ask me? Even excluding the article and your reputational damage, I’m hardly the best choice for a partner.”

“Do you care, even in the slightest, that I’m the COO of a multi-million dollar corporation?” Leaning forward, he caught her eye. His elbows on his knees as he clasped his hands together as if praying. She scowled at him, was his status supposed to impress her?

“No.”

“Then can you believe me when I say I don’t care at all about where you work, or what education you have?”

She opened her mouth, but she really didn’t have much of a retort. Logically he would have more reason to care about her social status, but there were also women in her position that would care a lot that someone in his position was asking them to be their girlfriend. She would be doing him a disservice if she lumped him in with others when he hadn’t done the same to her.

“Fine. You might not care, but others certainly will.”

“Then it’s a good thing neither of us care what other people think.”

He was smiling now, like he had caught her in a trap.

“I still think this is a horrible idea.”

“You haven’t said no.”

She hadn’t. Why hadn’t she?

“You don’t really take no for an answer usually.”

“I would for this, Maomao.” Jinshi’s voice was quiet, his tone serious. She hated when he looked at her like this, it made her feel like she could tell him things that she had buried deep inside her walls. “If you say no, I won’t ask again. This isn’t some kind of business deal or plan to get me out of trouble. I…I like you.”

It was her turn to blush, she could feel the heat seeping up into her skin as she tried to fight some sort of taunt or insult to provoke his less serious side.

“I’ve never dated before. I’m not sure I’d be any good at it.” The admission came out instead, but it worked slightly in her favor. Jinshi softened, his seriousness sliding off of him as he smiled. It reminded her of the photo, it made her chest itchy.

“Fine.”

“Fine, what?”

“Don’t push your luck.” She stood, glaring at him. “Was that all? I have things to do today.” She had absolutely nothing to do that day, but if she stayed there much longer she had a feeling Jinshi might start chipping further at her walls.

“There is one other thing…” He stood too, coming around the table to stand beside her. Maomao felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up at the apologetic look on his face. She stepped back, but his hand went to the small of her back to hold her next to him. “My company is having an event, I would like you to attend as my date.”

“No.”

“But Maomao~” It was astonishing how quickly the man devolved into childish pouting when he had just been so serious and considerate of her feelings on the matter.

“I don’t like social gatherings.” Since she imagined a company event involved fake smiles and introducing herself to hundreds of people as Jinshi’s date she would rather be home in her clinic. She would honestly rather be anywhere.

“We just need to make an appearance, be there for a few hours and then we can leave.”

“You can go without me.”

“I’ll make it up to you.” He pulled her closer, forcing her to be flush against him. Maomao tried to push him away but he ignored her as if she was a child. “I know a chef who specializes in blowfish.”

Immediately she stopped struggling. Her mind blanked for a moment while she processed his words, when they registered in her mind she grabbed his face in his hands.

“You mean it?!” She felt herself smiling maniacally. Jinshi faltered for a second before he smiled back at her, clearly proud of his plan.

“Yes. If you come with me to the event, I’ll make sure that he’s ready when we’re done and you can have blowfish for dinner.”

“Deal.”

Chapter Text

Luomen had always cautioned her that she was too quick to jump when someone offered her something she liked, it was a weakness that very few knew about but was clearly too obvious to Jinshi. He had failed to mention that the ‘event’ was very formal.

And tonight.

I’m starting to think blowfish wasn’t worth this

“No, not that one.” Gyokuyou stood in front of her, tapping her foot on the ground as she looked over Maomao. From the moment she had agreed to the deal, Gyokuyou and Hongniang had dragged her from the room and into another and she had been stuffed into dress after dress that was either much too long for her or too big in certain areas.

“I think once the tailor took it in, it could be really nice.” Hongniang grabbed fabric in her hands, pulling it tight around Maomao’s waist and stomach. Maomao could only glare at the woman in front of her in response.

“Oh don’t get me wrong, Maomao, it looks really nice on you. I just don’t think it’ll work for tonight’s purpose.”

“What exactly is tonight’s purpose?”

“A couple things.” Gyokuyou turned, sifting through the rack of dresses that had been pulled from another room as if pre-ready for her acceptance. “These events are always some form of social posturing; a way for people in higher social standing to flaunt their status and for those below them to try and raise themselves up.”

Maomao watched with suspicion as the woman picked a dress from the rack that looked as though it belonged more in a bedroom than in any professional event. She held it up in front of Maomao, and devious glint in her eyes.

“Jinshi of course already has high standing, the only thing he’s missing is a gorgeous woman on his arms that makes the men and the women envious of him.”

“I don’t have the required anatomy to keep those straps of fabric on me.” Maomao eyed the ‘dress’, feeling very much like she wanted to run from it rather than put it on. “The only thing you’d be doing by putting me in that would be to embarrass the both of us.”

Gyokuyou pouted while Hongniang shook with silent laughter behind her, but the dress was put back on the rack and exchanged for something more appropriate.

Hongniang helped Maomao out of her current dress, though she was pretty sure she could let it drop and step out of it on her own. Gyokuyou had offered her a change room but Maomao wanted this over with as quickly as possible and has grown used to changing in front of other women regardless.

The new dress was black, simple but long and strapless. It felt like silk, but that also meant it clung to her body anywhere it touched leaving nothing to the imagination in regards to Maomao’s lack of curves. Even so, Maomao preferred this one to the other more extravagant dresses she had been forced to try on in the past few hours.

“Pull up the hem, Hongniang.” Hands grabbed the fabric from behind, lifting the hem up until Maomao’s ankles were showing. “Higher, please.” Silk dragged against her legs, raising higher and higher until Gyokuyou singled to stop just below Maomao’s knees. “Excellent! Pin it there and I’ll have the seamstress hem it.”

“You really don’t have to ruin one of your dresses for me, Gyokuyou.” Maomao had no idea about the price of fabrics, but she knew good quality when she felt it. She was sure this dress cost more than she could ever hope to earn, and if the woman hemmed it where she wanted it would effectively ruin the dress for the much taller Gyokuyou.

“Nonsense! That one is yours to keep, consider it a favor finally paid.”

Maomao wanted to protest, but how did you tell someone that they were far overvaluing their favor when it was in repayment for saving their life?

“Isn’t this a little high for a formal event though?” Not that she had experience with formality, but her knees were showing and somehow that felt a little inappropriate.

“Honestly, I would have liked to go higher but you have scars on your thighs and I thought it might be best to keep those hidden.”

Maomao shifted at the hidden question behind her words - not that it was something she was ashamed about but she supposed she did keep them hidden as much as possible. Not being in medical school meant that she didn’t have easy access to the suture practice skin they used in class. When Maomao had extra money, she sometimes bought pig meat and practiced her sutures on those but more often than not she would use her own thighs.

It was not a topic to bring up in high society, she knew that much.

“Jewelry next!” Gyokuyou clapped when it became apparent that Maomao wouldn’t comment on the scars, clapping her hand as she wheeled the dresses back into the other room.

She wondered where Jinshi had gone off too, assuming that he hadn’t left because she had spotted Gaoshun a few times as she was used like a human barbie. The man had given her apologetic smiles when he had ducked in a few times to ask Gyokuyou questions but otherwise hadn’t commented on the events of the day.

By the end of the hour Gyokuyou had picked out a necklace and some earrings, both diamond and uncomfortably heavy against Maomao’s skin, as well as a few rings that were dainty enough not to overpower he hands.

Finally released from standing in the center of attention, Maomao sipped her green tea as she slumped on the couch in Gyokuyou’s living room.

Gyokuyou was giving Maomao a lesson in high society manners when Jinshi finally reappeared, suffering her glare with a far too pleased smile as he invited himself to sit down right beside her.

“This was an unfair trade.” She hissed at him, her shoulders hunched as she tried to slide away from him.

“If you still feel that way after the blowfish we can discuss what else you want.” He leaned towards her when she tried to move, but having made the mistake of sitting on the end of the couch to begin with there wasn’t much she could do about the intrusion of her space.

“Now that you’re both here, it’s time for the hard part.” Maomao didn’t think there would be any part of this night harder than what she had just suffered, but Gyokuyou’s voice was serious so she sat quietly and listened. “We need to come up with a convincing story for both of you that’s hard to disprove and easy to remember.”

“A story?”

“Gyokuyou has not told anyone of the attack on her, and it would be in everyone’s best interest if we came up with some alternative reason for meeting.”

“And as much as Jinshi might hate to say it, telling people he frequented a strip club to stalk you for weeks doesn’t do wonders for his reputation.”

Jinshi grumbled about the woman’s word choice but otherwise didn’t argue, though he did lean further into Maomao’s shoulder almost as if in comfort to her.

“I also would prefer that people not know where I work, but where else would we have met?” She didn’t actually know what Jinshi did in his free time other than annoy her, and her past times were hardly something she wanted to offer up to public knowledge.

“Perhaps an introduction through a mutual friend?” Gyokuyou offered, “that is close enough to the truth if you say that I introduced you two.”

“Where would we have met?”

“We could say Hongniang visited your clinic?”

“No.” It was a little more forceful than Maomao intended, causing both Jinshi and Gyokuyou to look at her in surprise. “My clinic is illegal. I’m not licensed to practice medicine, and if I’m caught doing so I would be barred from re-entering med school.” Not to mention that it would bring the wrong kind of attention to the Verdigris. The Madam was good about doing everything by the book, but Maomao still had suspicions that some of her business practices were unethical if not bordering on illegal themselves.

“So you could be arrested if you’re caught?” Maomao side eyed Jinshi, the shocked look on her face told her just how sheltered he was.

“Most likely I would just be heavily fined and barred entry from school, but yes - getting charged formally would be a possibility if they searched my clinic and found my stash of medications.”

Jinshi was looking at her like she had just told him she planned to jump off a roof, his hand halfway outstretched to her as if he was debating grabbing her.

“How about at that club the photo was taken at? You were both invited to a birthday celebration there and hit it off.”

Maomao thought about the picture again, and when she snuck a look at Jinshi the redness creeping up his neck told her he was too.

“Excellent, settled. Now then, I’ll go check on how Hongniang’s doing, you little lovebirds can mingle with yourselves.” With a wink she stood, far too pleased with herself for Maomao’s comfort.

“I really have to go to this thing?” Maomao looked down at her nearly empty tea, imagining herself in a room full of people that all thought they were better than her. It normally wouldn’t have bothered her, she had dealt with her fair share of rich snobs in med school but she had never had to pretend to be nice to them.

Jinshi sighed, reaching for his own cup as he poured himself some tea.

“You don’t have to, Maomao. But if it’s any consolation, I’m going to hate it just as much as you are.” She watched him closely as he leaned back, turning in his spot so that he could face her and allow her some more space. “Asking you was my own selfish need to have someone there that I know isn’t faking their politeness with me.”

“I don’t recall even once being polite to you.”

“That’s my point.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Almost everyone there treats me well, but I can’t tell if they would if I wasn’t in the position I’m in. They all want something from me, good or bad, and it's like…like walking through a minefield - constantly having to be careful with every word or smile.”

“You’re really not selling this to me very well.” But she couldn’t deny that she felt sympathy for him. “There’s still time for you to change your mind.”

“On what, exactly?”

“This. Me.” She still didn’t understand what exactly he saw in her. If honesty was the only criteria he wanted in a partner she was sure he could find someone with far better other qualities that suited him. “I’m not very good at faking pleasantries, I might end up causing you more headaches than I’m worth.”

Jinshi surprised her by laughing.

“Maomao, I have no doubt you’re going to cause me a multitude of headaches but I also already know they’ll be worth it.” He reached a hand out slowly towards her face, moving as if she was an animal that needed to consider whether she would allow the contact or not.

He wasn’t that far off, she supposed, but she still watched him closely as he touched her cheek with his fingertips lightly.

“We’ll have to set some…ground rules.” She knocked his hand away with a scowl, but he simply moved it to play with the edges of her hair.

“What ground rules?”

“Don’t scowl, I already know better than to ask you not to work in your clinic. Perhaps just some more safety measures, and a little more…legality.”

Maomao snorted, opening her mouth to tell him that his concerns were ridiculous but she was interrupted by Gyokuyou returning. She poked her head in the door, smiling at Maomao a little too widely.

“Maomao! We need to start getting you ready now.”

Maomao shuddered but stood, leaving her cup on the table but as she turned to leave Jinshi stood. Grabbing her hand he pulled her back to her, planting a soft kiss on her forehead before she could move away.

“Thank you, for coming with me Maomao. It means a lot.”

–

Not only had Gyokuyou hired a seamstress and a hairstylist, but Maomao soon found that she had a team of people in her house with the sole goal of making Maomao look like a completely different person.

She stood while the seamstress pulled and pinned the black dress, making side comments about how nice it would be if Maomao simply put on a little weight in the right places. Maomao suffered through it in silence before she was stripped of the dress and pushed into a chair that had been setup with a startling variety of makeup products.

After a long conversation about colors and complexions, Maomao was turned away from the mirror while the makeup artists painted her face with gentle touches and Gyokuyou made the occasional comment about how beautiful she was going to look.

Then it was hair, pulled back and styled up with hairpins that scratched along her scalp as she moved and hairspray that made her want to sneeze every time she smelled it.

By the time she was back in the dress, hours had passed. Maomao made a mental note to never agree to another event with Jinshi again unless she was allowed to wear sweatpants.

“Oh, Maomao!” Gyokuyou nearly screamed in joy when she finally got her heels on. “You look stunning, exactly what I imagined for you. Are the heels too high?”

Maomao gave her a smile, the woman did go above and beyond for her tonight she had to admit.

“I’m used to them.” They were higher than she usually wore but she would manage.

“Hopefully Jinshi is ready by now.”

“I am.”

Maomao turned.

To say Jinshi cleaned up well was doing him a disservice. It was hard to imagine him looking professional with his attitude, but he looked like he really did run an entire company on his own. The black suit he wore was clearly tailored to fit him, and though Maomao had been close enough to his body to know that he was well toned, the fit of the suit made it perfectly clear that he took care of himself.

If she was a vain person she might complain how unfair it was that he achieved celestial beauty without the hours it had just taken her to look even half as good.

“You’re drooling, Jinshi.” Gyokuyou teased, causing an audible click as Jinshi’s jaw shut. He cleared his throat, fiddling with a watch on his wrist as he looked around the room at anyone but her.

“We should go.”

Maomao followed him silently out to the front where a car waited, Basen in the driver’s seat.

“No Goashun?” She asked quietly, her eyebrow raised at him.

“He will be attending separately.”

Jinshi opened the door for her, and Maomao did her best to slide in without having a wardrobe malfunction. Jinshi slid in beside her, keeping his distance for once which earned him another confused look that he pointedly avoided.

Not that Maomao minded, she had had enough slow exposure to him to know that Jinshi’s touch was a poison of its own kind to her and poisons were best taken with enough time to recover from in between.

The ride was silent, but it wasn’t comfortable. There was an awkward tension in the air between the two of them, and Maomao spent the whole ride wondering where it stemmed from. Usually Jinshi was easy enough for her to read, but even as she snuck glances at him she found him oddly closed off from her.

When they arrived Jinshi took a moment after the car stopped. Maomao watched as he took a deep breath before plastering the fakest smile she had ever seen onto his face and leaving the car before opening her door. She couldn’t help the look of disgust she gave him when he held out her hand to help her, it cracked his facade a little and he leaned down enough that his face was hidden in the car.

“Just a few hours, bear with me.”

She took his hand, distracting herself from its warmth with Gyokuyou’s lessons on how to get out of a car gracefully in a short dress. He tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow, leading them flawlessly into the venue while Maomao tried to make her face a mirror of his own fake mask of pleasantness.

The second they were inside Maomao felt all eyes on them, crawling across her skin in a way that reminded her of her first days working at the Verdigris. Customers always paid very close attention to the new girls at the club, watching them to see how they handled themselves and trying to push against the usual boundaries and rules to see how far they could get. Though the attention was the same, the intention was certainly different and Maomao held herself straight with what she hoped was pleasant indifference.

“Jinshi, sir!” It didn’t take long for someone to approach them, barely three feet into the event and Jinshi was already smiling and shaking hands with a group of older men who moved with confidence of people who had been around a long time. “Fashionable late as always, I see.”

Jinshi laughed; it was beautiful, charming and entirely forced. It was sheer willpower that kept Maomao smiling instead of glaring at him.

“There were a few things I needed to do before I showed up, forgive me for not being the ones to greet you.”

“There is of course nothing to forgive. Please have a drink with us.”

“You’re too kind.”

A man held out a drink with what Maomao assumed was whiskey, the amber liquid barely reaching the middle of the short glass. Jinshi took it, nodding his thanks and brought the glass to his lips without missing a beat. Once the men saw that Jinshi had accepted their drink, they excused themselves with glances at Maomao that Jinshi politely ignored.

“I thought you didn’t drink.” Maomao whispered through her fake smile.

“I don’t, but I’ve tried to refuse people here with that excuse and it’s just easier to accept it.” She pinched the inside of his elbow, her eyes on the glass in his hand as she thought.

“Take me to get a drink.” Jinshi nodded, and she let him lead her gracefully in the direction of the bar. When she saw more people approaching them she quickly slipped her proverbial leash and left Jinshi to deal with him as she made the rest of the way on her own.

Thankfully it was empty of patrons currently, and Maomao dropped her false smile.

“Excuse me, do you guys have barley tea back there?” The bartender looked at her oddly, but nodded nonetheless. “Can you do me a favor?” Maomao motioned for the woman to lean in closer, sliding a fifty that she had on her across the bar under her palm so that only the woman could see. “If I come and order a whiskey, could you pour me two shots of barley tea instead?”

The bartender looked from Maomao to the fifty and then back to Maomao. She was aware that her actions were not matching up with how she was dressed and she hoped the woman didn’t ask her why. After a few moments the woman nodded, taking Maomao’s bribe and returning with a glass of barley tea.

It didn’t quite look like whiskey, but it was a fairly good dupe and a trick that Maomao had used a few times in the club when she didn’t feel like drinking.

Jinshi was caught up in conversation with another group of men, though this group was much younger and exuded nervous energy. Her sisters would have eaten them up if they ever walked into the Verdigris.

Jinshi for his part looked a little uncomfortable with whatever conversation they were having, though his mask remained firmly in place she could see how he inched away from the men. One of them held another drink half outstretched towards Jinshi. Internally she sighed, high society seemed to be no different than the crowd at a strip club except this time Jinshi may as well be a stripper for how they flocked to him.

“Pardon my interruption.” Maomao put on her most charming voice, smiling slightly in the way that her sisters had taught her to when she wanted men to believe whatever was coming out of her mouth. “Jinshi~ I asked the bar for a drink but I think it might be too strong for me.” She drew out his name, fluttering her eyelashes at him as if she had done it a hundred times. “It would be such a waste to bring it back, would you drink it for me?”

She saw the confusion in his eyes, but whether it was for her act or the drink she was offering him she didn’t know. Her face hurt from keeping up the smile, but Jinshi took the drink regardless and took a sip without hesitation.

The smile he gave her after was real, glowing with wonder and appreciation as he took one of her hands in his lightly.

“Thank you.” Maomao blushed, though she supposed it only helped with the act but she still turned her head away from him.

The man with the drink half held out to Jinshi frowned, looking disappointed that Maomao had beaten him to the punch.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Maomao turned the full force of her smile on the man, watching with satisfaction as his cheeks reddened. “Was that for Jinshi? That’s very kind of you, if I had known I would have just brought my drink back to the bar.”

“N-no, it’s okay. Here you have it!” He stammered, holding the drink out to her instead. “It’s vodka soda, it’s probably much easier to drink for you.”

“Thank you.” She took it with both hands, inclining her head politely to him before they all left. “Sucker.” Maomao mumbled under her breath, drinking heavily from the glass before she turned to Jinshi. “You know this was a double, with barely any soda water in it.”

“You shouldn’t drink it then, we can get you something else.”

“Not a chance. If people are going to keep handing you free drinks they shouldn’t go to waste.”

The night continued on, with Jinshi and Maomao falling into somewhat of a routine. Jinshi nursed his barley tea, using it as an excuse when offering apologies to those who had brought him a drink. Maomao would take them for him, thus ensuring nobody felt slighted and Jinshi remained sober. Any time Jinshi’s drink would start to get low Maomao would excuse herself to the bar so that Jinshi was never caught not drinking by his coworkers.

It gave her something to focus on other than the suffocating pleasantries and introductions she was put through and Jinshi’s light touches against her skin that had started to feel less like an inferno and more like a pleasant warmth as the night went on.

But it did nothing for her growing annoyance. Every person that came up to them only had eyes for Jinshi, which was fine as far as she was concerned, but in their eyes she recognized various degrees of hunger.

Some of them merely wanted to speak with him to tote their accomplishments, to make themselves seem better than they were in probable hopes of Jinshi praising them. Those were the least offensive. Others came to him with unhidden lust in his eyes, both men and women, completely ignoring Maomao as if she had merely been a server waiting on the fringes of the conversation. Others came with contempt, trying to trip him up in conversation and passing him drinks that were far too strong for someone who didn’t drink alcohol.

All of them were poisonous, as far as she was concerned, and her earlier comparison of Jinshi being alike to a new girl in the club became more and more real.

“Can we go yet?” Maomao hissed quietly when a particularly handsy group of women finally left them alone. One of them had even touched Jinshi’s cheek, shooting Maomao a contemptuous look as she did so. The smile on her face ached where she held it, and she had long forgotten about her promised blowfish. She just wanted to leave before she did something that might make Gyokuyou’s lectures pointless.

“Soon.” He patted her hand, his own smile still glued in place as if it was natural to him.

Another man came up to them, older and on his own. He smiled at Jinshi, but it in no way reached his eyes.

“Jinshi, I’m surprised to see you still here. You’ve usually excused yourself by now.” The words were polite, but the tone was surprisingly unkind.

“Shisou, I wouldn’t dream of leaving before saying hello to you.” Jinshi’s hand was on the small of her back. Maomao felt it twitch against her, pulling her slightly closer.

“Always so kind. I don’t believe I’ve been introduced to your guest?” The man, Shisou, had been the first person to inquire directly about who Maomao was. The others had given her looks, and she had caught some whispering and pointing at her from the side having obviously seen the article but nobody had had the balls to bring it up directly to Jinshi.

“Of course, where are my manners? This is Maomao, my girlfriend. Maomao, this is Shisou - a director at my company.”

“A pleasure to meet you.” Maomao smiled, nodded, but never moved her eyes from the man. Clearly Jinshi was weary of him, more so than anyone else and she wanted to understand why.

“I saw the article. I must admit I was surprised that you wouldn’t have introduced her sooner.”

“Maomao is quite busy most of the time, I’m afraid.”

“Yes, I imagine clubbing leaves one most drained. What did you say your surname was?”

Maomao opened her mouth, she had already determined to use an alias, but another - most unwelcome- voice answered from behind her.

“That would be ‘La’, Shisou.”

The voice grated against her ears, and Maomao was unable to hold back the visceral reaction she had to it. She was glad Shisou’s attention had redirected at the interruption, but she could tell by the way Jinshi seemed to pull back from her that he had seen the look on her face.

“Lakan, I hardly expected you to be here.”

Chapter Text

“How could I miss it if my dear, precious daughter would be attending.”

The shock that vibrated through Jinshi was hard to ignore and Maomao found herself conflicted on what to do about the current situation. If she were anywhere else she would have just left, ignored the man like she had been doing for most of her life and simply walked out without responding.

Unfortunately that wasn’t an option in their current position, not only because that would leave Jinshi alone with Lakan but also Shisou.

“I didn’t know you had a daughter, Lakan. Seems like something people usually mention.” Shisou was looking at her again, a cold calculation in his eyes as if he was re-assessing her threat to him.

Great.

“For my Maomao’s sake, she’s quite a private girl busy with her studies.” Lakan’s hand landed on her shoulder, a heavy weight that made her skin crawl. She had no choice but to endure it and he knew it.

Jinshi stood beside her, somehow he had managed to plaster his damn fake smile back into place but it was obviously forced. It seemed frozen there, and his hand had fallen away from her back leaving a chill on her skin under the fabric.

“What is she studying?”

“Medicine, she’s quite a gifted student.”

Maomao grit her teeth, she hated that they were talking around her as if she wasn’t standing right there. She couldn’t tell if Lakan was purposely lying to protect her or if he genuinely still thought she was in school - the last time she ever encountered him was right before her mother was moved to the hospital and the Madam was the one that pulled him into her office to speak. After that she never saw him again.

Jinshi’s hand crept back towards her hip, laying gently against it as if he could sense her discomfort. It was pleasant, and she found herself leaning into it as if she could extend the warmth it gave further across her skin. She ignored the men talking about her, her entire focus on the small movements Jinshi’s fingers were doing - tapping on her back as if he was impatient to get away from the situation. Each tap seemed to shoot right through, until all it was all she could focus on…

Huh?

Maomao stepped back mentally, examining the way her body was feeling as if it wasn’t her own in the way she usually did when she experimented on herself. She was hot, as if the heat was inside her and she was merely containing it. The inferno of heat that Jinshi’s hand usually left on her, making her uncomfortable, had changed into something…pleasant. But it wasn’t just pleasant, she was enjoying it - reacting to it in a way that was unfamiliar to her.

Not unfamiliar. She had experienced this once before, when Pairin had shared one of her special chocolates that she often took before one of her shifts at the strip club.

She had been drugged.

The revelation made her smile.

Maomao hadn’t eaten anything at the event, which meant it hadn’t been slipped into any of her food. She could be certain it hadn’t been in anything she had taken at Gyokuyou’s house - she highly doubted the woman was capable of drugging someone even if she had the means to obtain it. Which meant it had to be in one of the drinks that she had had that night - which also meant it hadn’t been meant for her.

The revelation dampened her mood slightly. It was one thing to consume an aphrodisiac willingly or in good fun, but to attempt to drug someone unknowingly was far beyond what Maomao could morally accept.

Still…this was far better than consuming blowfish that had already had its toxins removed - even if part of her wished that someone would have attempted to lace Jinshi’s drinks with something a little more interesting. Whatever aphrodisiac had been put in the drinks, it was hardly recreational if it was actually affecting her considering she had long built up a tolerance for it.

“Speaking of classes.” Maomao interrupted the men speaking, unable to dampen the genuine joy on her face as she spoke. “I hate to leave abruptly, but I do have a morning class. Jinshi?”

He blinked at her, caught off guard by the smile on her face but thankfully took the hint.

“Oh yes, sorry Maomao. I’ve kept you too long.” He turned to Shishou, giving a polite nod of his head. “If you’ll excuse us.” The man inclined his head, but kept his eyes on Maomao as they walked away.

They barely made it halfway through the room before Lakan caught up to them.

“Maomao~” His whine grated against her ears, she pulled away from his outstretched hand - leaning heavily into Jinshi to avoid the man. His hand on her arm sent pleasant shivers down her spine, and while her body rejoiced in the contact her mind revolted.

What a position she had gotten herself in, stuck between the two men and the wildly different reactions to them she was having.

“Leave me alone.”

“What are you doing here, Maomao?” Maomao ignored him, she could feel her body getting uncomfortably hot, the fabric of the dress dragging along her skin as she walked. She wanted out of this event and back in her apartment where she could study the symptoms without prying eyes. “Tell me you aren’t actually here as his date?”

“Who I date is hardly any of your concern.”

“What does he have on you?” Lakan whined, pulling on her arm while Jinshi kept a firm hold on her other. “Tell your Dad, I can help you.”

Maomao pulled her arm away from him with force that knocked her back into Jinshi’s chest. His hands went to her bare shoulders to steady her and she could feel his body heat seeping through her skin from behind. She held onto her disgust through sheer willpower, glaring at the man in front of her who looked as if he might start weeping at any moment.

“You’re causing a scene.” She hissed, aware that others had started looking at them. If she were anywhere else, with anyone else, she would have no issues with telling the man where he could shove his help in no uncertain terms. “As if there’s any blackmail in the world that would convince me to come within three feet of you.” If she had known he would be at the event, she would have turned down Jinshi no matter what he had offered her.

Jinshi squeezed her shoulders and it was all she could focus on for a moment, completely ignoring whatever Lakan was whining to her about as her whole existence focused on the pressure his hands were putting against her skin.

Whatever she had ingested was certainly powerful, and the freak in front of her was holding her up from being able to test the full extent of its effects. Would a long, hot shower feel better than usual? Was it limited to eliciting reactions from her only when another person was involved?

Was it only with Jinshi?

She shook her head, holding up a hand to cut off whatever Lakan had been saying.

“I am here because I wanted to come with Jinshi, that’s it.” Lakan had turned to glaring at Jinshi, clearly unhappy in her choice of company. “Now if you’ll excuse us, me and my boyfriend will be returning home.”

The distraught look on his face brought her a little satisfaction, but nothing more than what she would normally feel. She frowned as they walked away, mentally filing away the interaction and her rather monotone reaction to it away for further review.

Jinshi’s hand remained on her shoulder, a distraction that she was far too aware of as he led her to the car that seemed to be waiting for them.

“You didn’t tell me Lakan was your father.” Jinshi said as the venue disappeared from sight. She looked at him, slumped in his seat as if he had used all his energy to maintain the stupid smile that hadn’t left his face all night.

“It wasn’t relevant.” Even if she had known he worked with the man, it wouldn’t have been something she would have disclosed to Jinshi.

“It would have been nice to have prepared for that.”

Maomao felt a slight twinge of guilt. It was clear that Lakan already held some sort of dislike for Jinshi, but whatever amount it was would surely be doubled now that his only daughter was dating him.

“Just ignore him.”

Now she just had to figure out the best course of action. She was obligated to inform Jinshi that someone had attempted to drug him so that he could take whatever action he needed to ensure he was safe at his next event, but if she informed him now then she would have no reasonable explanation other than to tell him she had been drugged. Then again, he seemed to be able to read her well enough to know something was up if she suddenly asked to be taken home instead of eating the blowfish he had promised her.

She had closed her eyes while she thought through it, but they flew open as a burned touch against her cheek turned her head until she was face to face with Jinshi who had leaned over with a look of concern on his face.

“Are you feeling okay? Your face is really red and warm.” His thumb was making gentle passes against her cheek, every swipe sending a jolt against her skin. For a moment she forgot how to breathe. “Maomao?”

“If you could…remove your hands.” She managed to get out, resisting the urge to do it herself to avoid more contact with him. “And back up a bit.”

To his credit, Jinshi did just that. Though his eyes held even more concern than they had before.

“Are you sick? Should I take you to the hospital?”

“Absolutely not.”

She took a deep breath, noting that the worst part of her symptoms was that she wanted him close. Wanted him to keep touching her.

Troublesome.

“One of your drinks was drugged.” Maomao watched as Jinshi’s face went from concern, to confusion, to outrage. Waiting for him to process the words. Only when he opened his mouth to no doubt tell the driver to take her to the hospital did she continue. “It wasn’t harmful, and there’s nothing they could do for me at the hospital other than to wait for its effects to wear off.”

“Why didn’t you mention it sooner?!”

“It didn’t seem like an appropriate topic to bring up in high society.”

“I..You..!” It was almost funny to watch Jinshi struggle with what to say.

“As I said, it’s not harmful. It would be best if you took me home and I’ll be fine in the morning.”

“I am not taking you home!” He pinched the bridge of his nose, leaning his head back against the window of the car. “When I said I knew you would bring me headaches, this was not what I had in mind.”

“I did try to warn you. I’m not good at this.”

“This isn’t your fault, Maomao.” He leaned forward again, and Maomao shrunk as far back into the car door behind her as she could. He noted her reaction, pausing to look her over. “If it’s not harmful…what…?”

Her face was already warm so she could hardly tell if she was blushing, which she hoped meant he couldn’t either.

“It’s an aphrodisiac of sorts…I think.”

“You…think?”

“I have a fair enough tolerance to most of them, but this is...” Maomao trailed off, unsure of what exactly to say. More potent? Or was it just that she happened to be around Jinshi this time.

“A tolerance?! Do people spike your drinks often?”

“It was your drink they spiked.” She gave him a pointed look. “Which you don’t seem to be concerned about in the slightest - but I built up a tolerance in my own time specifically for situations like this.” Well not entirely like this, she mentally corrected.

“I’m adding this as one of our ground rules, and believe me I never thought I’d say this - please do not consume illegal substances willingly to test on yourself.” Pouting, she watched as he leaned forward and spoke with the driver. “Please return to my residence instead, and send a driver to Miss Gyokuyou’s house to pick up Maomao’s things.”

“I said to take me home.” This time Jinshi glared at her.

“It’s only 11, Maomao. If I take you home I’m almost sure you’ll either go to work or open your clinic. Neither of which is something you should be doing while drugged.”

“I can-”

“I don’t care.” They locked eyes. “Even if you were not my girlfriend, which you are, I would not feel comfortable with you being in a strip club of all places when you’re…” A moment passed between them until they were both looking away awkwardly.

The air in the car was thick, though Maomao couldn’t tell if that was just another effect of the drug or the unspoken insinuation of her current condition. She very much still wanted to go home but she had to admit Jinshi had been right - she would have absolutely gone to work if only to see how she reacted to other people. A control, like Luomen had said.

The rest of the drive was done in silence, but it only managed to make Maomao more acutely aware of her own nervous system. Her skin was tingling, and every breath Jinshi took seemed to float across it despite him maintaining as much distance as he could in the small confines of the backseat.

When they arrived at Jinshi’s place she quickly let herself out, not bothering to wait for Jinshi or the driver to offer her assistance. The cold air against her skin was soothing, and for a moment she just stood there.

“It’s cold, come inside.”

“It’s nice. My body temperature is too high right now.” The car pulled away, leaving Maomao and Jinshi standing outside his door. It was nearly as large at Gyokuyou’s place.

“I want to help, but I’m afraid I’m a little out of my depth at the moment.”

“There’s not much to be done other than wait out the effects.” She glanced at the man. He looked pitifully lost, hovering near her but clearly farther than he wanted to be. Every now and then he opened his mouth as if to say something but then thought better of it. She sighed. “A shower would be a good start, and a change of clothes if it’s not too much trouble.”

Jinshi nodded, leading her into his home. Despite its size, it was far less ostentatious inside. Sparsely decorated but clean, as if he barely lived in his own home. They were greeted shortly after entering but an older woman with a kind smile. She reached for Jinshi’s coat immediately as she welcomed him home with curious eyes on Maomao.

“Suiren, this is Maomao. Suiren is my housekeeper.” Maomao nodded in greeting. “Suiren, take Maomao to the guest room for a shower. Could you also find something for her to change into after?”

“Of course.”

“Can you eat?” He asked her.

“Something light should be fine.”

She watched him nod then disappear through a door before Suiren ushered Maomao to follow her upstairs. As she walked and looked around the feeling that Jinshi barely spent time in this place became more apparent. Unlike Gyokuyou’s house which was furnished in nearly every corner she had seen, with paintings and pictures on the wall - Jinshi’s home felt more like something that had been recently moved into. The hallway was bare of anything except the lights and a rug that ran along the middle of it, and many of the open rooms she managed to peer into were empty of any furniture at all.

“He isn’t much for interior design.” Suiren joked as she noticed Maomao’s wandering eye. “And it’s far too big of a place for me to manage on my own.”

“It’s a nice home,” Maomao said, hoping she hadn’t offended the woman. “It just feels…”

“Empty?” She opened the door to a small room, lightly furnished but still far nicer than anything Maomao had ever seen. “He rarely spends any time here, and other than Gaoshun stopping by every now and then it’s just me in this large house.”

“That sounds lonely.” It was all Maomao could think to say.

Suiren left her with a promise that she would put a spare change of clothes on the bed and instructions on where to find any toiletries she might need for her shower. She turned on the water as hot as she could manage, taking her time to relax in the water as she assessed herself.

The effects of the drug were still there, but they were far more manageable alone. Her own touch on her skin stroke her nerves slightly but it was nowhere near the level that Jinshi’s touch seemed to evoke in her. It was the first time she felt like cursing her inexperience when it came to the opposite sex; she had no intimate experiences that she could refer too and the thought of calling any of her sisters to ask for their opinion on the matter made Maomao want to crawl in a hole and die.

She ran the water cold at the end, shivering as she forced herself to sit in the icy stream in hopes that it would help. When she exited the shower, there was a pair of men’s sweatpants and a large sweater neatly folded on the bed. They were far too large for her, but she did her best to make it work. At the very least it covered all of her skin so she could avoid any accidental contact.

“Maomao?” Suiren knocked on the door, opening it enough that she could peak in. “I apologize for the size of the clothes, I thought perhaps Jinshi’s might fit you better than anything I have.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Come, there’s some food in the kitchens. You must be hungry.”

Maomao followed the woman downstairs, entering a kitchen that looked much warmer and more welcoming than the rest of the house.

“Jinshi said you weren’t feeling well, so I thought maybe a light meal of some broth and bread would be best.” Maomao sat as Suiren placed the dishes in front of her as Jinshi walked in on the phone. A look passed between Jinshi and Suiren before she excused herself, leaving just the two of them in the small kitchen.

“We’re looking into who drugged the drink; do you have any idea when it happened?”

“It was tasteless or else I would have noticed, but most aphrodisiacs have an onset time of around twenty minutes.”

“And you didn’t start feeling it until the end of the night?” Maomao thought back to the events of the evening. While it was true that she hadn’t noticed the effects until they were in conversation with Shishou, she couldn’t be sure they hadn’t actually started sooner. Her reactions to Jinshi were already out of the norm for her; she could have easily overlooked the beginning of the drug’s effects by merely assuming he had been the cause of them.

“I can’t be sure.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, mildly disappointed in herself for her lack of awareness in the matter.

Jinshi stepped back out of the room, clearly speaking with whoever would be handling the investigation before he returned. She noted that he hadn’t changed out of the suit he had been wearing, only his jacket had been removed.

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am for this, Maomao.” He placed his hands on the chair across from her, leaning against it as he looked her over.

“It’s hardly your fault.” She shrugged, focusing instead on eating some of the broth Suiren had brought her. “I’m perfectly capable of managing the symptoms on my own, there’s no need for you to hover.”

“How can you be so calm about this?” She wished she had thought to ask for something cold to eat, the broth warmed her stomach - chasing away the chill she had given herself with the cold shower.

“This is just life.”

Maomao had lost track of how many girls she had treated for having their drinks spiked, both at the club and in her clinic. The Madam did her best to ensure her girls were safe, but new drugs and new tactics of spiking drinks were coming out faster than most people could manage. When she first started at the Verdigris there had been more female bartenders, but there were few that could manage to take the harassment and assaults that were far too common in a place like that.

Jinshi slammed his hand on the table, causing the broth to spill over the edges of the bowl. Maomao looked up at him sharply.

“I should have known.” He seemed to be having some internal war with himself.

She stood, moving around the table to get a paper towel to clean up the mess he had made.

“I take it this isn’t the first time someone has spiked your drinks at an event like this.” He made himself an easy target for it. Not only did he not have an alcohol tolerance, allowing the effects of most drugs to be blamed on inebriation, but he insisted on accepting every drink handed to him out of some political politeness. His silence answered for her. “There are things that I can bring next time to avoid it - testing strips and the like.”

“Next time?” She turned to return to her seat, but Jinshi stepped in front of her. As well as she had been managing her symptoms up until that point, it was hard to ignore the heat that was returning to her as his close proximity. “There won’t be a next time, Maomao. I’m never bringing you to one of those events again.”

“So next time you’ll just be the one to get drugged?”

“I’d be fine.” She couldn’t help but snort at him.

“If you had been the one drugged tonight, you’d have been on the floor back at that event hall right now just waiting for one of the many women who want you to take advantage of you.” She wondered if he noticed all the eyes that lingered on him the way she had, there certainly had to be limits to his obliviousness. “You being there is already bad enough, walking around there with people looking at you like that. You wouldn’t even know you’d been drugged until it was too late. At least I can normally tell when I’ve been drugged far quicker, this time was just…”

“Just…?” He was looking at her far too intently, but there was no way to get around him without having to touch him in some way. She glared at him, hoping it would disguise the heat rushing to her face.

“I was otherwise distracted.”

“By…?” She could tell by the childish gleam in his eyes that he wasn’t about to let it go. She grimaced, fully aware that this entire night’s events had all happened because she had been baited with blowfish that she wouldn’t even be eating anymore.

“You’re a brat.”

“So you’ve mentioned.”

Maomao stood there, biting the inside of her cheek as she decided whether to tell him or not. She knew if she told him he would tease her for it, insufferable as he was, but it might also make it easier to conduct proper experiments if Jinshi was aware.

“You.” She spat out between gritted teeth, her eyes looking anyway but at the man in front of her. “I couldn’t tell the difference between the effects of the drug and how it normally feels until the effects got stronger.”

“I…” He paused, blinking at her with a confused but hopeful look on his face. “I think I need you to clarify a little more than that.”

“Forget it.” She pushed past him, only for him to grab her wrist lightly and pull her back. Even through the sweater she could feel his hand like a burn. The heat spread fast like a fire, but she forced herself to sit with it as she stared at him.

“I don’t want to misunderstand what you’re saying.” He lifted her hand, moving slowly as if to give her the chance to pull away as he gently placed it against his cheek. “But when you touch me, it's like touching a live wire to my skin” He leaned into her hand, pressing it harder against his cheek as he nuzzled it. “I hope you mean that you feel the same way.”

There was an awkward tension in her chest. Jinshi was looking at her with such tenuous vulnerability and her heart was pounding awkwardly in her chest.

“It’s not exactly the same, but the general premise is.” She mumbled, splaying her fingers against his cheek and watching with curiosity how his eyelids fluttered in response.

“I would very much like to kiss you right now.”

“I may not have much experience but I’m fairly positive people generally don’t ask every time.”

“It would be frowned upon if I took advantage of you.”

She couldn’t tell if he was teasing her or not, his tone was light but there was an intense look on his face that she couldn’t quite read. It surprised her how…comfortable she felt in that moment. There was of course the heat inside of her, not entirely from the drug alone, and her heart was threatening to strangle her with how hard it was beating in her throat, but she didn’t feel any desire to leave the precarious bubble of tension around them.

Bending her fingers, she dragged her nails lightly against his cheek causing him to inhale sharply as he closed her eyes.

She did want to test the effects - she supposed having a willing partner for it would make it easier.

Maomao used her other hand to pull his mouth down to hers, the action felt far more natural than she had remembered it being but the feeling that shot through her was entirely new. The last time they had kissed she had been focused on his reactions, on pushing him the way she felt he had been pushing her, but this time she was paying attention to how her own body reacted.

She was acutely aware of every inch of him, as if his body was some sort of magnet that called to her own. His hands had landed on her hips but had not moved even as he kissed her back, his lips were gentle and tentative as if he wanted her to decide the pace they moved at.

Maomao pulled back enough that she could meet his eyes.

“I want to test the effectiveness of the drug.” She made sure her voice was clear, using the clinical side of her mind. An experiment, that's what she was running. Just medical curiosity. Nothing to be embarrassed about.

He laughed silently against her lips.

“You are the strangest person I’ve ever met.” She frowned at him, earning a smile as Jinshi leaned in and pressed gentle kisses against the corner of her mouth. “Feel free to lead the way.”

“I’m sure this is obvious, but I have no experience with any of this. The only knowledge I have is whatever my sisters have imparted and I’d rather not take their advice on this.” Not that she didn’t trust their advice, but she wasn’t nearly ready to attempt anything they had told her.

“I don’t want to overstep…”

“I’ll tell you if you do.” It earned her another silent chuckle against her cheek before suddenly his lips were back on hers.

There were no gentle kisses this time around, his tongue ran along her lips and she opened up to allow him access as he pulled her hips against him. He tasted of barley tea, it lingered in her mouth as their tongues entwined and Maomao let herself get lost in the feeling. Her hands drifted from his face to the back of his neck, running along the edges of his shirt as she pushed herself onto her toes to kiss him back properly.

Jinshi leaned down, his hands sliding from her hips to the back of his thighs before suddenly she was being lifted into the air.

“Wha-”

He turned, sitting her down on the kitchen counter so that she was level with him. Standing between her legs, Jinshi was able to lean forward until Maomao’s head was against the wall behind her and he captured her lips once more.

Her head was spinning, her body heating up as his hands dragged from her hips to her thighs. She clutched at her shirt, debating on whether to push him back for a moment of reprieve or to see how much of it she could handle. After a moment longer she did push and immediately Jinshi broke away from her, leaning his forehead against hers as their labored breathing mingled between them.

“I need air.” Maomao panted, feeling the rise and fall of Jinshi’s chest just as harshly against her hands.

“Still okay?” Maomao nodded.

Jinshi’s lips moved to her jaw, kissing along it lightly as if once again giving her a moment to reject his advances. Speaking while he did so was too much effort, so Maomao merely tilted her head so that he had access, closing her eyes to revel in the feeling of her skin being on fire.

“How are your observations going?” She opened her mouth to answer at the same time that he bit down on her neck. The surprise of it and the shock it sent through her caused a strangled noise to escape her instead of the response she had intended.

Maomao stiffened in embarrassment and Jinshi paused.

“They’re…fine.” She swallowed. Her mind was screaming that this was all shameful, but her body was hot and there was a part of her that was enjoying it. “They’re good.”

“I can stop, Maomao. Whenever you want.”

She pulled on his collar, and his mouth returned to her neck.

“Thank you, for tonight.” His words tickled her neck, his lips brushing lightly against the skin as he spoke between kisses. “That trick with the barley was so genius, I wanted to kiss you right there.” His hands slid up her thighs, squeezing her hips lightly before they dipped under the hem of the sweater to touch the bare skin of her stomach.

“Next time-” Jinshi bit slightly harder, pain cutting through her for a moment - cutting off her words.

“I meant it when I said there will be no next time. I’ll find a way out of them if I have to.” His mouth trailed down as his hands trailed up, the twin sensations made Maomao’s head fuzzy.

The tips of his fingers brushed the underside of one of her breasts and Jinshi stilled. Maomao had forgotten that she had removed her bra, tossed in the corner of the guest bedroom’s bathroom with Gyokuyou’s dress. She was hardly busty enough to require wearing one in most shirts, but in Jinshi’s oversized sweatshirt she figured it would be a complete non-issue.

Maomao held her breath, trying to focus on coherent thoughts for long enough to decide whether she should tell Jinshi to stop or not. She was enjoying what he was doing, much to her internal dismay, but she wasn’t sure if she should allow him to go further.

With a small groan Jinshi pulled back, his hands trailing slowly down her skin until the sweater covered her heated skin again.

“You should eat, and sleep.” His voice was husky, and when Maomao finally caught a look at his face it was flushed and red. “As much as I very much want to continue, I don’t want to do something that you might regret once everything leaves your system.”

She almost told him that she was fairly positive that the drug had already begun to leave her system, but it was an easily offered excuse and she needed some space to process what was happening to her.

Jinshi helped her down, steadying her wobbling legs before they both sat down at the table again. She ate in silence, her eyes pointedly avoiding Jinshi’s while her cheeks remained painfully hot.

“The guest room you’re in is across the hall from my room.” Jinshi explained when she had finished. “If you need anything at all, just knock on my door.”

“Are you not going to sleep?” Jinshi remained seated at the table. Shaking his head, he offered her a tired smile.

“I have some things to take care of first.”

“Suit yourself.” Maomao left him there, retracing her steps back to the room Suiren had shown her too. When she arrived she noticed her clothes had been delivered from Gyokuyou’s, folded in a bag that was clearly far more expensive than anything packed into it.

She had not brought anything to sleep in, thinking she would be home by now. Instead she climbed into bed in the clothes Suiren had given her and did her best not to think to hard about Jinshi’s hands on her skin.

Chapter Text

Anger mingled with embarrassment had her banging on Jinshi’s door the next morning. She had woken, deciding to use the toiletries Suiren had left her to brush before she sought the woman out in an attempt to get a ride home without having to interact with Jinshi.

Instead when she got into the bathroom, she had seen the state of the skin on her neck.

Hickeys and bite marks littered her skin in varying stages of color. They clearly showed the path Jinshi had taken the night before, trailing down from her jaw to the edge of her collarbone. They would take days to fade, and there was nothing she could wear to work that wouldn’t draw more attention. She wasn’t talented enough with makeup to cover them, but asking her sisters for help would defeat the purpose of hiding them in the first place.

Jinshi opened the door, shirtless and clearly haven been woken up by her knocking. His eyes were alert but confused as he looked over her with concern.

“What happened?”

“You!” She hissed, stepping past him and into the room in case Suiren happened to be lurking around. Jinshi shut the door behind them, still looking at her with confusion. “How am I supposed to go to work like this?!”

She pulled down the sweater, showing him her neck. He looked at it for a moment, a light blush forming on his cheeks, before he just smiled at her with only a slight apologetic tone.

“I really was trying to not leave marks, I promise.”

“Bullshit.”

“You can always not work until they’re gone.” He yawned, though he seemed like he tried his best to hold it back. Maomao glanced at the clock on his bedside table.

It was 5am. She frowned, her anger subsiding slightly as guilt tinged it.

“When did you go to bed?” Jinshi smiled, moving to sit on the edge of his bed.

“It amazed me how quickly your demeanor changes when you think someone else’s health is suffering.” She glared at him. He sighed, relenting as he lay back onto the bed. “I think it was four when I finally finished speaking with Gaoshun.”

“You should sleep. I’ll arrange a way home.” She turned, reaching for the door and heard the bed shift. Jinshi’s arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her back to him with a strength that brooked no arguments at his actions.

“I’ll take you home in a bit.” She could feel him nuzzling his face into her back, his hands remained decently on the outside of the sweater but his fingers were splayed to cover her entire stomach. It reminded her of last night and a heat began to bloom low in her stomach.

There was no drug to blame her reaction on, glad that she was faced away from him she began the fruitless attempt to pry his hands from her with her own.

“I am more than capable of finding my own way.”

“I never said you weren’t. But I don’t want you to leave yet.”

“You need to sleep.”

“I do.” He said, humming his agreement into her spine. She shivered, feeling the vibration of it shoot up her back to the back of her neck.

Suddenly she was pulled, her sound of protest nearly incoherent as she was tossed unceremoniously onto Jinsh’s bed. His hands still firmly on her stomach, he dragged her into a position that left him curled around her body. After a few moments of pointless squirming to get out of his grasp, she settled for glaring at the door as if she could intimidate it into opening and releasing her.

“Let me go.”

“Stay.”

“This is childish.” He laughed, the air from it ghosting across her neck.

“I needed to talk to you before you left, about last night.” She stiffened. Maomao had fully intended to pretend none of it had happened to the best of her abilities. It had just been an experiment, her body’s reactions and her desire for more solely because of the drug she had ingested.

At least that’s what she had repeated to herself as she lay in bed last night. It had seemed a solid plan until she had woken up with the evidence on her skin.

“Not that.” Jinshi consoled her, his tone as gentle as he could make it. He squeezed her lightly, pressing her ever so closer to the hard lines of him. “At least not first.”

He fell silent, waiting until she relaxed a little in his arms before he spoke again. His voice was more awake, but Maomao could still hear the exhaustion in it.

“I’ve reported the incident to our security. They reviewed the footage and found the woman who laced your drink.”

“Your drink.” Maomao emphasized.Jinshi shifted behind her, but otherwise ignored her comment.

“She’ll be questioned today, if all goes well we should know where she obtained the drug soon.” Maomao nodded, it was how she expected things to go. The woman would be fired and depending on how benevolent Jinshi was feeling she would most likely be charged with assault.

It didn’t concern her. She didn’t work for him, nor was she the intended target of the assault.

“Due to the nature of the incident, we had to disclose the…nature of the drug to our…internal security head. As well as the fact that you consumed it instead of me.” His voice was nervous, the way he paced his words indicating that he was selecting them very carefully from his mind.

“So someone knows you took a woman home who had an aphrodisiac in her system. I will be sure to inform anyone who might ask that you were a perfect gentleman.”

She waited. And waited. Jinshi seemed to be holding his breath, and she felt in the air the distinct feeling that whatever he was about to say next he was quite scared to do it.

“I had no choice, Maomao. Please keep that in mind.”

“Tell me.” She said, despite the sudden urge to plug her ears and run. Jinshi sighed heavily, his arms tightening around her waist in preparation for her reaction.

“Lakan is the head of our internal security department.”

Oh.

As if disconnected from herself, her mind connected what he was saying.

Lakan knew she had been drugged with an aphrodisiac. Knew that she had gone home with Jinshi because she had insisted on the parting jab at her estranged father. Vaguely she wondered if Jinshi had told him directly or had given some other poor soul the task of delivering the news.

Thank god she had blocked his number long ago.

“To say he was upset would be an understatement, but he wants to speak to you directly.”

“Not a chance.” She renewed her struggles in his arms, wondering whether she could maneuver herself enough to kick him somewhere delicate. Surely he would have to let her go then.

“He’ll be here at noon.”

She did kick him then, though she only got his shin. He groaned, but didn’t let her go. Holding her tight through what could only be considered a tantrum. They struggled, and eventually her captured her legs between her own and her hands against her stomach.

“Let.Me.Go.” She spat out, fully aware that she could feel every inch of him pressed tightly against her. It did nothing to quell the growing heat building inside of her, which in turn did nothing to quell the anger at having her father unceremoniously imposed on her life.

“I am sorry, for what it’s worth. I tried to get around telling him it was you that got drugged, but he knew you were there with me and he’s sharp enough to pick up on my half truths.” He sounded sorry, but it did nothing to soothe her. “I even tried to insist that you didn’t need to speak with him, but I was trumped by someone with more authority. I had to relent.”

“I don’t work for you, or whoever you answer to. I don’t have to do anything you tell me.” It was a pointless argument, she knew. If she avoided Lakan here, he would simply show up at the Verdigris. Despite the fact that the Madam had banned him and she was fairly positive he didn’t know she actually lived there, he would get to her somehow. She could fault the man in any ways, but his intellect was never one of them. All it would take would be to threaten to bring police to the club and the Madam would relent - police would be bad for business and the Madam put her money above all else.

She sighed, ceasing her struggles in grim acceptance.

“I’m keeping this sweater for the meeting.” If Lakan saw the hickeys on her neck it would only add fuel to the fire, and what she had worn to Gyokuyou’s would not cover them.

“You can keep it forever.” Jinshi’s lips touched the back of her neck, the pressure light but deliberate. “Which brings me to our next topic.”

*

“I couldn’t imagine what you mean. Our discussion is over, and you’re going to sleep.”

“I want to hear the results of your test last night. Was it a success?”

“Inconclusive.” She meant it to come out louder, but his hands were making circles on her still captive wrists and her mind was zeroing in on the contact.

It was less intense of a focus than it had been under the effects of the drug, Maomao noted in the back of her mind, but it was consuming nonetheless.

“Why inconclusive? Did you find it unsatisfactory?” His voice was husky, an unfamiliar tone that sent a shiver down her body that reached her toes. She flexed them involuntarily, feeling them touch against Jinshi’s bare feet.

His nose was training against the hairline on the back of her neck, his lips just barely touching the skin as if to tease her. There was a distinct air of waiting in the room, the same one that had held them the night before while he waited for her to make her admission that his touches cause her skin to light on fire.

Had she found it unsatisfactory? Obviously not. Though she had nothing to compare the experience to she distinctly remembered wanting it, wanting more. If Jinshi had not stopped when he did, she couldn’t honestly say she wouldn’t have given him permission to continue his exploration under her clothes. Drugs or not, the sensations had been new and foreign but enjoyable.

Maomao licked her lips, opening her mouth then shutting it again. She knew with unwavering certainty that if she told Jinshi to stop he would. Despite his willing refusal to listen to her in any other matters, like pestering her at work or texting her at all hours of the day, he had so far been very respectful of her boundaries regarding physical touch. Whether that was natural to him or he read her reluctance in her eyes, she couldn’t fault him on the matter.

It was odd to have power over the situation. Maomao had lived her entire life having things just happen to her, willing participant or not. It had all come crashing down when her mother became ill, forcing Maomao to give up the only thing in life that she had actually wanted to take care of the woman. Since then she had given up hope on ever wanting anything, thought it best to just take what life gave her and be unbothered by it - it meant she never got to express what she wanted but she was also less disappointed by the people around her.

But here was Jinshi. Despite the annoyance he brought her, he had always taken her wishes into account. Even the dates, which she hadn’t necessarily agreed to, had been catered to what he thought she would want. Every kiss with the exception of the first one had been asked for, and only taken when she had granted her approval.

Would it be so awful to ask for what she wanted for once?

“It was satisfactory.” She ventured, not quite sure of how to go about the burden of asking for something.

“I sense a ‘but’.”

“I don’t have any reference to compare it to.” She breathed lightly, as if the sound of her heart pounding would be heard if she took too deep of a breath. Surely he could feel it pounding under her hands? “Every experiment with a drug needs a control experiment, to be able to tell the difference between the two.”

Jinshi nipped lightly at the back of her neck, and Maomao just barely managed to contain the surprised squeak that rose in her throat.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re impossibly indirect?” Of course they had.

“I’m afraid I don’t know how to be direct in this matter.”

Jinshi’s heat disappeared from behind her, his hands releasing her leaving her cold where his skin had been.

Then she was turned gently onto her back, looking up into Jinshi’s face now looming above her as his hands caged her on either side of her head. His hair hung down, the strands tickling the side of her neck and face as her heart stuttered.

The ceiling light was on behind him but covered in her view by his head, the result was a heavenly glow that seemed to shine around him.

It’s unfair how beautiful he is.

“Tell me what you want, Maomao.” He whispered, his eyes seeming to trail from her face downwards before coming back up to meet hers again. “I couldn’t deny you anything, but trust me when I say I wouldn’t want to.”

She bit her lip, watching as it seemed to steal his focus for a moment.

As much as she hated to admit it, she knew what she wanted in that moment. She supposed it was a biological instinct, or perhaps her long denial of her own urges - however few and far between they were - had finally reached a limit now that she had indulged ever so slightly in them.

“Kiss me.” She whispered, hating the way he has always seemed so composed when he announced that he wanted to kiss her and yet she struggled getting the two words out. “Like last night.”

Jinshi leaned down, acquiescing to her demand.

When their lips met it was like the fire from her stomach exploded, flaring through her brightly as she reached her arms up to lock behind his neck. Jinshi groaned into her mouth and she opened for him, letting her mind go blank of thoughts of experiments and whatever lame excuse she had previously had for kissing him. Her only focus was on his lips, the feeling of his hair tickling the side of her face and the smoothless of his bare skin under her hands.

It was her baser instinct, but she found she wanted him more and more with every kiss they shared. It was equal parts infuriating and addictive, like she had stumbled upon a new poison that hadn’t been discovered by the rest of the world yet.

Jinshi disconnected them, his lips quickly finding her neck as if afraid that if he did it slowly she might tell him to stop. She was prepared this time for his bites, holding back the embarrassing noises she had let him hear the night before. He kissed and bit a twin trail down the left side of her neck, no doubt leaving marks that matched the right side of her.

He dipped below her neckline, nipping at her collarbone and eliciting a gasp from her that caused him to laugh. Her hands tightened on his shoulders at the teasing sound. Jinshi always seemed to have the upper hand in these moments.

He had experience, of that she was sure, but she had knowledge that her sisters had imparted on her. The tricks of their trade, to have men trailing at their heels without giving them nearly anything.

Her hands trailed into his hair, tugging none too lightly until Jinshi lifted himself away from her skin with a groan that was half pain half disappointment. She used the space he gave her to sit up, her other hand pushing on his chest though she knew she would get nowhere if he didn’t let her.

He allowed her to push him, first to a sitting position so that she could crawl herself out from under him, and then further until he was lying the wrong way in the bed and straddling him.

Looking at him from her vantage point, flushed and wide eyed as if he hadn’t expected her to turn the tables on him, gave her a rush of confidence. Her sisters were nearly famed strippers, her mother had been the best there was. She had grown up around the delicacies of the trade and it was time he stopped translating inexperience as ignorance.

Leaning over him she mimicked the way he had caged her in, it brought her much closer to him due to the shortness of her arms but she remained hovering until she felt him start to squirm slightly under her.

His skin was so fair and unblemished, and she had the overwhelming urge to ruin it.

She moved forward, letting her breath ghost over the skin of his jaw then his neck. Never touched, just moving. His hands were at his sides, as if shocked into stillness by her actions. But that wasn’t what she wanted.

“Maomao…” It sounded like a plea, and she smirked where she was hidden in his hair.

“Hands.”

He paused for a moment, the breath stilling in his chest before he ever so tentatively brought his hands to her hips. She let her tongue touch his neck, a reward for giving her what she wanted. He groaned, his hands moving painfully slowly under the hem of the sweater as it had done before.

Jinshi waited, his fingertips on the bare skin of her stomach. His hesitancy and habit of giving her time to adjust showing even now when she had expressly asked him for it. She bit his neck, sure that she was leaving a harsh mark well above any area that could be covered by a shirt.

She had wanted to ask him if it was alright, if she was doing it correctly. Knowing the steps in theory didn’t make her able to do them in practice, but he hissed through his teeth before moving his hands fully under her clothes and she figured she must be doing something right for him to give her what she wanted in return.

They fell into a pattern, their own odd give in take in place of words. Maomao copied his moves, increasing and decreasing the pressure of her kisses and bites to the tune of how much he shivered and how his hands roamed her skin. His blunt nails dragged against her hip and she retaliated with dragging her tongue over a particularly sensitive spot on his throat. He groaned again, his hands moving higher until they found themselves in the same position they were in last night.

She had come to him prior to changing, her state of undress the same as it had been on the kitchen counter below the room they were in now.

She could end it here. If she allowed him more it was the same as admitting that the drug had not been her motive though she was almost positive he already had guessed that. She placed a hand on his chest, pushing herself until she was sitting up on him.

“Am I to assume I can still ask for what I want?” Her own voice was rough, unfamiliar to her own ears as she stared down at him.

“Anything you want, Maomao.”

This was not something she could bring herself to voice out loud. She was hardly the type of person to be embarrassed about speaking about acts of intimacy but they had always been in reference to someone else. Placing both of her hands on his stomach, she trailed them ever so slowly until they matched where his own were positioned on her. Holding his gaze she moved them up, covering his pecs where she held them as she waited.

Jinshi swallowed, she watched his adam’s apple dip before his own hands mimicked her movement.

The sweater still hid her from his eyes, but she could do nothing about her facial expressions. She closed her eyes, her head whirling from the sensation of his soft hands against her breasts. Unexplored territory, unmarked and untouched now being caressed as his thumbs did a sweeping motion of the skin where breast met sternum.

He was back to being slow, giving her moments in between his actions for her to voice her disagreement with them but she didn’t mind. His touches were causing an ache low in her stomach, increasing in intensity when his thumbs finally passed over her nipples causing her to finally let out the noise that had been trapped inside of her throat for what had felt like centuries.

She dragged her nails down his chest in response, relishing in the feel of his stomach muscles quivering under her touch. There was no need to ask if he was enjoying himself, the evidence was hard against her bottom where she did her best not to let her mind wander to.

“It seems unfair.” Jinshi’s whisper broke through her revelry, “that you’re clothed and I’m not.”

She opened one of her eyes, looking at him intently. He smiled at her teasingly but it was diminished by the flush that was present on his neck and face, his stunted breathing and taunt muscles as if bracing for the proposition to be met with physical retaliation.

Was this the feeling that her sisters’ craved when they worked? The idea that the man below her was asking her to remove her clothes but sounded and looked as if he was asking for her to part with her most precious possession? It was enthralling.

“I suppose it is.”

Her hands moved to grab the hem of the sweater, but Jinshi sat up quickly - halting her movements.

“May I?” She raised her eyebrows at him, her hands caught between their stomachs and unable to move. He sounded like he was asking her for the world, his breath shook in his chest - she could feel the way he seemed to shiver slightly against her hands.

Slowly, keeping her eyes on him with what she hoped was a neutral expression, she removed her hands. Holding them above her. Jinshi took a breath, held it, let it out. He moved his hands up to her collar, the sweater gathering on his arms as he slid them higher until she could no longer see him as the sweater slipped over her head and tossed to the floor beside the bed.

She wasn’t shy about nudity, she didn’t have much to hide, but her cheeks still burned as how exposed she was to him.

Jinshi kissed her, his hands on her back as he pulled her as close as she could get against his skin. Her breasts touched his chest and the noise that slipped out of her was involuntary, the result of experiencing something new and unknown but entirely welcome. His response was hard to ignore, both in the way his lips pushed against hers more fervently and how his fingers dug into her back reflexively as if trying to cling to the sound - chase it back into her in order to draw it back out again.

“You’re so beautiful, Maomao.” He prayed against her lips. Maomao pulled back, staring at his face.

“You haven’t even looked at me yet.”

“I am looking at you.”

His eyes were intensely focused on her own, a fire lit inside them that she could name.

“Don’t say weird things!” She pushed against him, but he wouldn’t let her squirm out of his hold on her. He laughed, a genuine laugh that caused her heart to clench weirdly as if the sound of it was burrowing deep somewhere. It made her want to scratch at her chest, an itch settling in her sternum that felt deeper into her skin than before.

But then Jinshi leaned down, and his mouth was kissing it as if he knew that was where her discomfort was. The warmth and desire that it brought to her made her head fuzzy, making it harder for her to pay attention to whatever was burying itself deeper and deeper into her being.

His mouth moved, his breathing hot against her nipple as he paused for a heartbeat before his mouth was on it and Maomao’s mind blanked completely. All she knew was the feel of him, kissing and biting at untouched and neglected flesh while her hands clung on to his shoulders as if to anchor herself in the world.

Her sisters had mentioned that some people, both men and women, found the nipple to be a particularly sensitive spot. Meimei especially enjoyed it, while Jyoka preferred stimulation elsewhere. Pairin enjoyed everything so Maomao had always taken what she said with a grain of salt.

Biting her lip only saved a little of her dignity, trapping the small moans in her throat but the sound of them still encouraged Jinshi as he moved to repeat his treatment on the other side.

Imagine what this would have felt like on the aphrodisiac. Part of her mind whispered to her, chastising her for not insisting on doing this the night before. If you could get access to that drug you could sell it to the Madam for a fortune.

Teeth bit down on her and she moaned, her thoughts too distracted with the possibilities to contain it.

She froze. Jinshi froze. Both collectively absorbing the sound of her undisguised pleasure.

“I-” Whatever protest she had been about to spit out was cut short as her back hit the bed, Jinshi once again looming over her with such an intense look of desire that she could no longer grasp at whatever words she had been about to say.

Her legs were still hooked around his hips, one of his hands under her thigh to lift it up so that there was no disguising the feeling of just what she had done to him as the evidence of it pressed against her.

“Maomao-”

*

His phone rang. The default chimes of his phone cutting through the moment loudly and the phone vibrated against the bedside table. His eyebrows twitched slightly, the only sign of annoyance touching the hungry look on his face. The phone went silent, but just as Jinshi opened his mouth to continue whatever he had been about to say it rang again.

“You should get that.” Maomao managed to get the words out, the bubble of whatever confidence she had had breaking as she dropped her arms to cover her chest. “As well as get off of me.”

For a moment he looked like he wouldn’t, like he was about to argue with her about it, but the emotion passed from his face and slowly - as if it pained him to do so - he pulled away from her.

While he reached for his phone she reached for the discarded sweater, slipping it over her too hot skin as he sighed at the caller ID screen.

“It’s Lakan.”

“I take it back. You should turn your phone off.” Jinshi turned, frowning when she saw she was now once again clothed and standing beside the bed as if nothing had ever happened.

“I can’t ignore him, though I do wish his timing was better.” He leaned over, a hand going to his hair as he answered the phone with barely concealed annoyance mingling with corporate fake politeness.

Maomao slipped out of the room as he talked, returning to the guest room to change into her own clothes. Keeping the sweater only to cover the marks on her neck as she adjusted it in the mirror to make sure it did exactly that. She had enough time to take care of the necessities of the morning, brush her hair into something more presentable and hoping that nobody else would see how bruised her lips really looked, before Jinshi knocked on the door fully clothed and annoyed.

“Lakan is here. He apparently thought that if he didn’t show up early enough you would escape through a window or something.”

“I would never.” Maomao responded, her voice dead serious. “The chances of me breaking a bone trying to jump from the second floor and being unable to walk any farther are too high. I would be better off hiding in one of the many abandoned rooms and letting you assume I jumped.”

“I can’t decide whether I’m insulted or concerned by the amount of thought you put into escaping your boyfriend’s home.” He yawned, and Maomao was once again reminded of how little sleep the man actually got.

“You should really go back to sleep. I’ll deal with Lakan and then head home.”

“I’m not leaving you to speak with him alone. I’ve texted Gaoshun to come and drive you home after he leaves.”

“Then you’ll sleep?”

“If time permits.” Jinshi smiled sadly at her, his hand coming up to brush a stray hair from her face. She batted his hand away, frowning at his disregard for the necessities he needed to survive. It only made him smile more, before he turned and they made their way back downstairs.

The room they waited in was some sort of reception room, similar to the one Gyokuyou had received her in when she visited the woman’s home before. Suiren had clearly done her best to make it appear welcoming, but it still felt more like a display than anything else. Maomao sat on the couch, her hands folded perfunctory in her lap as she steeled herself for the unpleasantness to come.

Lakan entered the room moments later, his scowl not hiding the sharp look in his eyes as he scanned the room as if looking at every little thing and storing it in his mind for later use. Maomao vaguely wondered if this was his first time entering Jinshi’s personal residence or if business had called him here before. Whatever musings the man was having seemed to vanish when he laid his eyes on her, his eyes lighting up as he rushed over to her.

“My Maomao! How are you feeling? Have you seen a doctor yet?” Jinshi intercepted him, earning a sharp glare from Lakan.

“Please sit, Lakan. Would you like some tea?”

“I would like to speak with my daughter, if that means you’ll leave to go make some then sure.” Jinshi’s smile twitched, but he held himself between Maomao and Lakan.

“Please, sit. I’ve already asked Suiren to prepare some.”

Lakan grumbled but apparently thought better of arguing further. Sitting down in the seat across from her, he stared at Maomao with sharp eyes.

“I’m told I have to answer questions from you, that’s the only reason why I’m here. Ask them.”

There was a pause, both father and daughter staring each other down. Jinshi forgotten to the side as they sized each other up.

“How have you been?”

“That’s not what we’re here to discuss.”

“How is school going? Are classes okay?”

“Please refrain from going off topic.”

“How is your mother?”

Maomao’s composure slipped for a moment, her face darkening at his words. She could feel Jinshi’s eyes on her and suddenly felt far more exposed than she had when she had been half-naked in his arms. She stood, making as if to leave the room before Lakan called out to her.

“Alright, alright.” She paused, taking the moment to school her feature back into something more neutral as he spoke. “Tell me about what happened.”

She returned to her seat, giving a concise recount of the events. She told Lakan that she had been drinking the drinks offered to Jinshi on account of his low alcohol tolerance, that she hadn’t noticed the effects of the drug - tactfully not reminding anyone of what the drug actually was - until she had been in conversation with Shisou. She advised him of the onset time but caveated the knowledge with the fact that she had not been paying attention to herself coupled with her general tolerance for drugs in general. As she spoke Lakan looked more serious, his mind taking her words and fitting them together like puzzle pieces in his head - she could almost see them physically playing out on the table in front of her.

“We know who drugged the drink, though she said her motive was nothing more than to seduce him. Did you notice anyone paying particular attention to the fact that you were drinking on his behalf?”

“Nearly everyone was paying attention to us, but nobody knew beforehand that I was coming.” She looked at Jinshi for confirmation and he simply nodded. “Regardless of whether they figured out I would consume it prior to handing the drink over, they brought it with them with a clear target in mind. I had assumed this was a common occurrence?” Lakan nodded.

“There’s been several attempts to lace his food or drink with something, though not always of the same kind. They started with roofies and the like but luckily we were able to get him out of the event before the effects were too noticeable.” Maomao side-eyed Jinshi, hoping that she conveyed her disapproval in his failure to take better care after a single attempt.

“So they switched to something that would be harder to distinguish from the effects of alcohol until it was too late.” Lakan nodded, his smile full of pride.

“Each attempt was done by someone different, all of them have been fired but not charged with any crime. The company felt criminal charges would bring too much attention.”

There were many reasons why companies wouldn’t watch to draw the attention of law enforcement to themselves. None of them were respectable. Maomao frowned, feeling that she was missing key details of what was happening.

“So whoever is orchestrating the assaults is still in the company.”

“We’ve already tried narrowing down the list of people by who were hired around the time they started but with no luck.” Jinshi piped in, earning himself an eye roll from Maomao and a smirk from Lakan.

“That would be sloppy and far too obvious. Whoever is doing this is being careful - if he started convincing people to drug you the second he was hired he would be an idiot at best.” Maomao had to admit she was intrigued, finding whoever it was that was planning this might also bring her knowledge of where he was getting such a vast array of strong drugs. As a regular civilian she didn’t have the access she wanted to medications for her patients, opening an underground connection of some kind like that…

“The woman claims she got it from some guy in the red light district, peddling it outside of strip clubs to its vendors.” Maomao scoffed.

“That was far too potent to be some random dealer’s product, though she may very well be telling the truth as far as she knows it.” She turned to Jinshi then, her brain starting to connect thoughts. “Does your company have a policy against fraternization?”

“Not entirely. It generally frowned on for most people, but not a fireable offence unless it’s non-consensual.”

She looked at Lakan, he smiled at her like she had finally figured out something he already knew. She glared at him in response.

“Tell us what you think, Maomao.” She ignored the man, turning fully to Jinshi.

“I believe someone is trying to get you out of the picture, through increasingly harmful means. First they were merely trying to get you fired under the assumption that you were using drugs recreationally - you most likely would have been let go but not charged. Then, when that didn’t work, they tried to force you into an intimate situation with another employee who could then claim it was non-consensual. Again you would have been fired, but they could also go public with the accusations and smear both you and the company’s name.”

Maomao couldn’t imagine why anyone would go through such lengths; she knew people in corporate situations were often power hungry but this was bordering on psychotic. Surely there were far easier and less expensive ways to get a promotion.

“I imagine they might try again, I was an anomaly that wasn’t factored into their plans, but if it doesn’t work they might escalate to something more drastic.”

The idea hung in the air, a solemn blanket thrown on the three of them as they all contemplated their own thoughts.

I thought agreeing to be his girlfriend would mostly bring him headaches, not draw me into a potential assassination plot.

“For the meantime we should decrease your presence at events.” Lakan broke the silence, his tone even and serious. “You can still attend but there will be extra precautions taken.”

“I have an array of testing strips I can bring for drinks-”

“No.” Both Lakan and Jinshi said at the same time, both of them watching her with varying measures of disapproval.

“You will not be attending any events, precautions or otherwise.” Lakan was staring at Jinshi, who for once looked at the man with understanding.

“I’ve already told her she won’t be accompanying me to any of them. This is as far as I’m willing to bring her into this matter.”

Maomao had her own arguments to make, but she wasn’t about to make them in front of Lakan. Despite it being distinctly none of her business, she did have a far better chance of surviving any poisoning attempts than Jinshi did.

“If we’re done here-” She stood, but Lakan held up a hand to cut her off.

“We aren’t. There are still more precautions we need to discuss.”

“I don’t see what that has anything to do with me if I won’t be attending the events.”

“They aren’t for Jinshi, they’re for you.”

“Huh?!”

“People know you’re Jinshi’s…girlfriend.” Lakan nearly spat at the word, twisting his face into something far worse than disgust at the idea. “If Jinshi becomes a harder target as we intend him to be, they may be inclined to go after someone else to get to him.”

“I’m hardly anyone worth noting. Has any past girlfriend been targeted?”

Maomao looked at Jinshi, noting the uncomfortable embarrassment that had settled onto his face. She raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

“I…I have never had a girlfriend before.”

Maomao blinked.

“You mean you’ve never brought any of them to any event?” Jinshi looked at Lakan pointedly, as if begging her with his eyes to not make him clarify. She just looked at him, waiting for him to speak again before he sighed, his face tingeing with the beginnings of a blush.

“No. I mean I’ve never…dated anyone. Public or otherwise.”

Maomao continued to stare, confused. She had assumed that he had been with other girls, he had been far too competent for someone who had no experience. Though she supposed one didn’t need to be dating someone in order to engage in sexual acts.

“I can see what you’re thinking and you’re misunderstanding.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Can you save whatever this is for when I’m not in the room, please?” Lakan interrupted. He looked as though he’d rather be anywhere else at that moment and Maomao found the reversal of roles slightly amusing. “It would be best if you lived somewhere more secure than the Verdigris.”

So he knew. Maomao scowled at the satisfied smile on the man’s face, feeling as though she had lost a game of chess she hadn’t even been aware she was playing.

“I’m not moving.”

“I have more than enough room to have you stay with me.” Lakan smiled at her creepily, clearly lost in a fantasy world that she would accept his proposal now after having rejected it many times in the past.

“I’m definitely not moving in with you.”

“You could stay here.” Jinshi said, looking at her with such joy and budding hope that she wanted to puke. “There’s plenty of room as you know, and Suiren would love the extra company.”

“I’m not living with you either.”

She suddenly very much wanted to go home, not caring that both of them were switching from glaring at each other to smiling at her so fast she could almost feel the whiplash they were giving each other. She stood, reaching into her pocket to pull out her phone as she held it up to wave at them to avoid them seeing her bluff.

“I have a call. Finish whatever this is without me.”

Chapter Text

Maomao had found Gaoshun waiting in the front hall, who thankfully had been instructed to take her home without Jinshi tagging along. He texted her while she was driving, apologizing that he couldn’t accompany her but that he would come to her soon to discuss her ‘new living arrangements’. Maomao looked at the message with disgust that didn’t go unnoticed.

“If I may say, Jinshi is just concerned for your wellbeing.” Maomao turned her glare on Gaoshun’s image in the rearview mirror before tucking the phone back into her pocket.

“I’m not moving in with him.” Sure, her situation wasn’t ideal by most people’s standards, but she hardly found it unsatisfactory. She lived where she worked, making the cost and time of commuting non-existent. She had her clinic, which she would not give up. The neighborhood wasn’t the safest, but she had lived there for years without any issues. At least none that she thought serious enough to warrant moving.

“I’m sure you’re aware by now that he’s not going to let it go.” He said it apologetically, and Maomao felt a twinge of sympathy. It must be hard to serve someone so persistent with his childish ideas, and though it was ultimately between her and Jinshi she remembered the exhausted glare Basen had given her when he found out she had blocked Jinshi. Clearly she wasn’t the only one that would have to deal with him if she held her ground on this.

“For what it's worth, I’m sorry you’ll have to deal with him.” Gaoshun sighed, and when he dropped her off at the Verdigris he placed a hand on her shoulder in an oddly paternal way.

“Be careful, Xiaomao.” She could only nod, and watch as he drove away before she let herself into the club.

Jyoka was sitting at the bar, spinning her straw delicately around the rim of the empty glass as if she had been waiting for Maomao for quite some time. Their eyes met as the door closed, and Maomao recognized the look in her sister's eyes.

It was the same look the woman gave her when Maomao had first decided to drop out of school and start working and living at the Verdigris. The look that told her that Jyoka felt Maomao was making a decision that might alter the course of her life, though she couldn’t for the life of her figure out what she had done.

Maomao instantly thought of Jinshi’s mouth against the skin of her chest.

At least not anything that Jyoka should be aware of.

Maomao walked behind the bar, dumping her bag on the floor as she reached for the bottle of wine that Jyoka had no doubt opened for herself. She grabbed an extra glass, refilling the woman’s before pouring herself one. Wine was never really her choice of poison, but if Jyoka was going to take accountability with the Madam for the open bottle she wasn’t going to join her by opening a different one.

“It was a great deal of effort to keep Pairin and Meimei from staying in your room last night.” Maomao grimaced. No doubt Jinshi had texted Lihaku at some point out of the good intention of ensuring nobody worried about her. Not that he could know that she had often disappeared in the dead of night and nobody bothered to worry about it.

They drank in silence for a few moments. Jyoka clearly had something she wanted to say and Maomao wasn’t about to offer up anything until she knew what it was. After a few moments Jyoka sighed, her eyes roaming over Maomao as if she could see the marked skin underneath Jinshi’s sweater.

“How was he?” Maomao choked on the sip she had just taken, coughing in the face of her sister’s knowing smirk as she struggled to get air back into her lungs.

“I didn’t sleep with him!” Jyoka just raised an eyebrow, her eyes pointedly looking at the sweater she wore. Maomao resisted the urge to pull it off, knowing that the marks on her neck would only add fuel to the fire. After a moment Jyoka sighed, pulling out the chair beside her on the other side of the bar as an indication for Maomao to come sit with her.

“I suppose you wouldn’t. I can’t imagine how he convinced you to spend the night, it’s not like you.”

“There was an…incident.” Maomao opened her mouth to explain but she really didn’t have any idea where to start. She started at the beginning, finding herself surprisingly open to telling her sister about Jinshi asking her to be his girlfriend. The event, the lacing of the drink. She skipped over their shared moment in the kitchen, and their morning activities, ending with Lakan’s visit and the double offer to move in with both of the men. When she finished, Jyoka’s face was serious but her eyes were twinkling with a hint of laughter.

“Knowing you, you were probably thrilled at being drugged - even if it wasn’t intended for you.” Maomao rolled her eyes; Jyoka had been there the only night someone had ever attempted to drug Maomao at the club. Her reputation had preceded her ever since. “I wondered when it might be time to have the talk.”

“I know how sex works, Jyoka. I’m not a child.” Maomao threw a disgusted look at the woman, the idea that she might have somehow gotten this far in life - and medical studies - and not understand the process was just as insulting as the embarrassment of potentially having her sister explain it to her.

“Of course you do, that’s not ‘the talk’ I was referring to.” Jyoka turned in her seat, her empty drink forgotten as she fully looked at Maomao. “You’ve always been a strange child, Maomao. Honestly I would have been less concerned if you had just slept with him that first night than I am now.”

Maomao didn’t understand where she was going with this, but she allowed Jyoka to speak without interruption. A nagging feeling was beginning to start in her chest, itching at her uncomfortably as if trying to urge her to leave but Jyoka’s eyes kept her pinned to her seat.

“Not that I’m not happy that you’re finally showing romantic interest is someone, I supposed I just always imagined it would be someone from med school, or someone who walked into your clinic one night. Someone who you would have the upper hand on. Not someone like him.”

Maomao wasn’t sure which statement she wanted to argue first, her mind struggling to organize her points mentally. Jyoka, despite her usual demeanor and appearance of caring more about how she looked than anything else, had a sharp mind. If Maomao had to argue with any of her sisters, Jyoka was the last one she would choose. She was a deceptively shrewd woman, catching all of the little details that others missed and storing them away in her mind to use at moments that benefitted her more than anyone else.

“I would hardly call my interest romantic.”

“What would you call it then?”

“Experimental.” Jyoka’s mouth twitched, clearly fighting back a smile as she raised a delicate eyebrow at her.

“And what, exactly, are you experimenting with?”

“I…” Maomao struggled to vocalize her initial excuse for initiating intimate contact with Jinshi. The touches, the heat against her skin…deep down Maomao wasn’t so ignorant as to not know what those were indicative of. She could be as stubborn as she wanted by refusing to admit it to herself, but Jyoka would not be so kind. “Fine. I suspect you might be on the right track, but I haven’t quite fully figured it out myself yet.” The itch in her chest was getting far worse, and Maomao desperately wanted to talk about anything else. “I wouldn’t say, however, that I don’t have the upper hand on him.”

“Oh Maomao.” Jyoka patted her knee delicately, as if consoling her. “It only takes one look at the two of you together to see that this man is completely smitten with you, and he knows it.”

“Shouldn’t that mean I have the upper hand? Seeing as I’m not?”

“Normally, yes. But the key to dealing with difficult men is not letting them know that they’re getting under your skin. It is so painfully obvious that when he’s with you, you don’t know how to deal with him - it’s like I can see your brain shutting down in real time. It would be amusing if I didn’t know you so well.” She pinched Maomao’s cheek lightly, pulling the skin away from her face until Maomao swatted her hand away.

“If all you wanted was to tease me.” Maomao stood, but Jyoka pushed her back into the chair.

“Not tease, just warn.” Maomao watched as the laughter died in Jyoka’s eyes, her face becoming completely serious. “I’ve had experience with men like him, men in his world. It is not a place for you to be trying to figure out what love is for the first time.” Her hands pushed hair behind her ear, the skin on skin contact doing nothing to Maomao as she stared at her sister. “The world he lives in is different from ours, it’s not suited for first loves.”

“Who said anything about love.” Maomao grumbled, turning to finish off her drink. “Besides, between him and my biological sperm donor, I doubt I’ll be able to keep staying here without issue.” Jinshi showing up to her work was annoying enough with all the attention he garnered, distracting her from doing her job and getting tips. If Lakan showed up, she might have to kill herself to escape the embarrassment of what he would probably do.

But living with either of them opened up a whole new bag of headaches that Maomao wasn’t quite sure she would survive. Lakan wasn’t even an option; she had spent half of her life finding ways to avoid being shipped off to live with him that even considering it as a possibility now felt like a slap in the face. Living with Jinshi was definitely the better of two evils, but still an evil she wouldn’t choose if she had a third option.

Though she supposed…

“Excuse me.” She left Jyoka sitting there, not seeing the concern in her sister’s eyes as she walked away.

–

“Oh, Maomao. I’m so thrilled you decided to take me up on my offer!” Gyokuyou was clapping her hands delightedly in her tea room. The woman had been quick to pick up Maomao’s call and even quicker to have a driver come to pick her up with the things she had packed. Maomao wasn’t entirely sure she had made the right decision, all she knew was that Gyokuyou seemed to have the power to keep both Lakan and Jinshi at bay and she had needed the space to think of a better way out.

“You’re very kind for agreeing, I apologize for imposing myself on you.”

“I told you before I owed you, and you’ve given me the double pleasure of being able to see the look on Jinshi’s face when he finds out.”

Maomao grimaced at the thought, but it had been an odd compromise that she was more than willing to hand over in exchange for allowing her to keep working at the clinic without Jinshi’s knowledge. Gyokuyou had hummed about the dangers, but understood why it was important to her. She liked the woman, reminding her much of her sisters with how sharp her mind seemed under her soft and delicate appearance.

She was shown the room she would be staying in, Gyokuyou hovering in the doorway as Maomao unpacked the single bag she had packed. Since she would be returning to her clinic at night it didn’t really feel as though Maomao was leaving her apartment; she wouldn’t be working at the Verdigris for the time being, though she had enough in savings to keep the Madam off her back for a few weeks before she would find herself with a tab that she needed to pay off right along with the medical bills from the hospital.

Maomao sighed - she hadn’t quite figured out how she allowed herself to end up in such a situation but she was here now and she would have to make due.

It didn’t take long for Jinshi to arrive after Gyokuyou called him, though Maomao had been in her room and couldn’t hear what the woman told him she could hear her laughter after.

“He’s here, Maomao.” Hongniang had knocked on her door, a look of annoyance and pity on her face as she told Maomao she had been asked to join them in the drawing room. Maomao sighed, doing her best to school her face into a neutral expression as she followed the other woman downstairs.

“How bad is it in there?” Maomao asked as they approached the door, she could almost see the gloom of Jinshi’s tantrum leaking through the cracks in the closed door.

“Lady Gyokuyou is enjoying herself, but I doubt you’ll have the same experience.” Was all she said as she opened the door.

Gyokuyou was in fact smiling like she had just been handed the best gift, her eyes alight as she caught Maomao’s eyes as she entered.

Jinshi on the other hand…

He was sitting on the couch across from Gyokuyou, his back to Maomao but she could already tell what kind of expression he was making.

“Maomao! Perhaps you can help clarify to Mr.Jinshi that this was, in fact, your decision?” Gyokuyou patted the seat beside her, moving over to make space.

She got the sudden feeling that sitting beside Gyokuyou would only make the situation worse, instead she sat in the seat in between them, a single person seat positioned slightly off to the side.

“It was my decision, though if I had a real choice I would have stayed at home.” She met Jinshi’s pout with what she hoped was an unimpressed glare. “Though I will reconsider my decision on a condition.” Both Gyokuyou and Jinshi looked at her with surprise, though Jinshi quickly recovered. His surprise morphed into one of his false smiles, with suspicion lingering on the edge of it.

“And what would that condition be?”

Maomao looked at Gyokuyou; she wasn’t sure how much information the woman was privy to in regards to Jinshi’s company. In fact, she wasn’t exactly clear on how she tied in to Jinshi much at all. Would she be allowed to bring up the poisoning in front of her?

“I want to be able to attend the next event you go to.” She gave Jinshi a meaningful look. His smile faltered, but he turned to Gyokuyou.

“Would you mind terribly if I had a moment alone to speak with Maomao?”

“Of course not.” Gyokuyou stood, giving them both smiles as she left them alone.

As soon as the door closed Jinshi slumped in his seat, his hand going to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Maomao-”

“You make yourself too easy of a target.” Maomao cut him off, knowing that he was already aligned with Lakan to keep her away. She had to make a compelling argument to make it worth angering the man. “Not only do I have many ways to identify a drink that is spiked with something, I also have a fairly decent tolerance to most of the common choices.”

“A tolerance is not the same as being immune.”

“Of course not, but it’s far better than having nothing.”

“Assuming the person doing this is kind enough to select something you do have a tolerance to.”

They were glaring at each other. Maomao knew it wasn’t going to be easy to have Jinshi agree to take her along, but she had hoped the leverage of her moving in with him would have been enough to tip the scales.

Clearly his affections were inflating her ego.

“Maomao…” Jinshi sighed, moving to the edge of the couch so that he could reach out for her hands. Maomao reluctantly allowed him to take them, though she glared at him even harder as his thumb began brushing over the skin. She forced herself to ignore the warmth of his hands, the gentleness of his caress that made her chest warm. “I will not put you in danger to satisfy my own need to have you close.”

“Putting yourself in even greater danger is a stupid decision.”

“How is what I’m doing any less stupid than what you’re asking me to do to you?”

Maomao opened her mouth to repeat everything she had just said; that she would have a better chance at surviving any poisoning attempt, that she would have a keener eye at determining if the drink was drugged before ever consuming it. That her life was far less of a loss than his would be if things went south.

All her words were cut short when Jinshi leaned forward, pulling her against his chest as his arms instead wrapped around her tightly, protectively.

It was the first time, she realized, that he had hugged her. Despite their shared kisses, his insistence on physical contact, the brief moment she had been half undressed in front of him - it felt far more intimate to be in his arms in this way than anything before. Of course she had been hugged before, even Gyokuyou had hugged her as many times as they had met, and yet the way Jinshi held her felt like something…more.

“I am grateful for your concern, Maomao.” Jinshi whispered into her hair, the words barely audible over the blood pounding in her ears. “It means more to me than you know that you’re being so insistent with this, but I can’t bring you into this.”

“Let me go.” At least her voice didn’t stutter the way her heart seemed to be doing in her chest. She pushed against him but it did nothing but tighten his hold on her. “It’s not concern for you.” But the words rang false, even in her own ears she could tell it was a lie.

“You’ll stay with Gyokuyou for now, but when this is all over and dealt with I hope we can revisit this with better conditions.” He did let her go then, and her hand reflexively reached for the retreating warmth. Both Maomao and Jinshi froze, their eyes collectively falling to the hand that had betrayed her.

She pulled it back quickly, sitting on it to prevent it from doing something embarrassing.

“If you get poisoned, don’t come crying to me.” Jinshi laughed lightly, and stood. Placing a hand on her head as if she were a child to be consoled.

“I won’t.” She moved her head out from under his head, glaring at him. He smiled genuinely at her, the look easing a tension in her chest that she hadn’t been aware was even there. “I’ll have Basen take you to work and back.”

“The Madam has excused me from work for a few weeks.” He nodded his approval, but didn’t mention the clinic to her relief. She would lie if asked, of course, but something told her she would not feel good doing it.

“Then I’ll leave you to settle in.” A ghost of a pout went over his face. “Gyokuyou enjoys annoying me, so it might be hard for me to visit you as often as I’d like.”

“I’ll survive.”

He met her eyes, and for a moment it was like Maomao could see what he was thinking as clearly as if his thoughts were a video on a screen. The look in his eyes told her he was thinking about that morning, about her underneath him - half naked on his bed. How would it have gone had they not been interrupted by Lakan? She had felt his rather…impressive desire against her, had seen the hunger in his eyes. What had he been about to say?

It felt like an eternity that Maomao was trapped in that look, but eventually it passed from Jinshi’s face and he turned to leave.

–

Weeks passed, Maomao found her own new rhythm that slightly resembled her life before Jinshi. At night Gyokuyou would have a driver drop her off at the Verdigris, but instead of going in, Maomao would walk around to her clinic. It had slowed down considerably, most likely due to her random absences. Before Jinshi, she would work in her clinic every night. Since meeting him there had been stretches of days where it remained closed - how many patients had come and gone in those days without medical care?

On slow nights Maomao would post up in the clinic with a medical textbook, reading until the sun started to climb in the sky and Gyokuyou’s driver arrived to pick her up. She would return to the woman’s house, have breakfast with her and Hongniang before heading up to bed for a few hours.

A few times Gyokuyou had managed to drag Maomao out to whatever errands she had to do for the day, usually shopping or a hair appointment. Her only contact with Jinshi had been texts and a few calls that made it seem like he was preoccupied with something else.

“There’s a big event next week, that’s probably what he’s busy with.” Gyokuyou said when Maomao finally got unnerved enough to ask her about it. She gave Maomao a knowing look. “Jinshi is planning most of it, and from what I’ve heard Mr.Kan has insisted on being part of the planning as well.”

An uneasy feeling settled in her chest, her fingers tapped against the cup of tea she had been nursing in Gyokuyou’s warming room. A big event meant he would most likely be forced to attend, but the more people there were the most chances of Jinshi allowing himself to be poisoned. Would they attempt something as easy to manage as the aphrodisiac again? Or would they move on to something more lethal?

Jinshi and Lakan had assured her that they would take the necessary precautions, but even the best-laid plans…

“I’ll keep an eye on him for you.”

“You’ll be in attendance?” Maomao looked at the woman with surprise, making the woman giggle.

“Of course. My fiance is the head of the company, afterall. Even I am forced to attend events every now and then.”

So that’s how she fits in. It didn’t surprise her that Gyokuyou was engaged to the richest man in the country, given how generous she was with her money despite not having a job, but Maomao saw an opportunity.

“Could I attend with you?” Maomao asked, keeping her face as neutral as possible. She didn’t know what Jinshi had told her about why he wasn’t taking her himself, she hoped he hadn’t given her a reason. It would make this easier.

“Hongniang will be attending with me.” Maomao nodded, she had expected as much. After a few moments of silence where Maomao tried to think of another angle to be able to attend, Gyokuyou put her cup on the table with an unneeded clink. “I assume you’re concerned about the poisonings.” Maomao looked at the woman, but she just waved her hand. “I’m not as dense as I look. People tend to let their guard down around pretty women, you’d be surprised by the little tidbits I pick up by just smiling and nodding.”

“You would have done exceedingly well as a dancer.” Gyokuyou laughed, not in the slightest offended by Maomao’s crude compliment.

“I know my strengths, and I know men’s weaknesses. I imagine that comes in handy in that line of work.” Maomao could imagine what chaos the woman could cause if she joined her sister’s at the Verdigris, the Madam wouldn’t have need of any other dancers with the attention the four of them would garner. “I assume Jinshi doesn’t want you there because he’s concerned for your safety.”

Maomao rolled her eyes.

“He doesn’t seem to consider the fact that I’ve been around unsavory incidents like this far more than not. Me being there to identify and treat someone until paramedics arrive could be the difference between life or death in the worst case scenario.”

“Unless as his guest you end up taking it yourself.” Gyokuyou seemed to be contemplating something, so Maomao bit back on her retort and waited patiently as the woman sorted through her thoughts. “A family friend is catering the event. I’m sure if I called I could pull some strings and get you in as a server.”

A server was even better than what Maomao had hoped for. Nobody paid attention to the help, especially at rich events like this. She would be able to move through the crowd without garnering any suspicion, and she would have direct access to any food or drink that could possibly be served to Jinshi. She would, of course, have to be careful that neither Jinshi or Lakan caught her there but some makeup and a wig would solve that issue. As long as she didn’t interact with either of them directly she could go the whole night without anyone knowing she was there.

“I would greatly appreciate it if you could get me into the event, Lady Gyokuyou.”

“I’ll make a call.”

Chapter Text

The event was far more extravagant than the one she had attended as a guest. The venue was three times the size and packed with people in the most expensive looking gowns and suits. It was clearly some sort of important event, and Maomao wondered if everyone in the company had been forced to come. The amount of employees astounded her, despite knowing the corporation was large, even accounting for everyone bringing a plus one there was still at least a thousand people shoved into the main banquet hall alone.

Gyokuyou had gotten her in as a bartender given the experience Maomao already had as one and during dinner service Maomao posted up behind the bar rail of her section in the back corner of the room. From her spot she could easily pick out all of her ‘avoid at all costs’ targets.

She was closest to the freak, though she wasn’t as concerned about him. She knew he didn’t drink, and his table had been stocked with a bottle of fruit juice. She could see him looking around though, and every time his eyes glanced her way she did her best to smile in any other direction to avoid being recognized. Maomao had commandeered a wig from the dressing room at the Verdigris the night before, the chestnut hair much longer than her own and left down to further hide her face.

Jinshi sat at a table at the head of the room, Gyokuyou sat with him along with an impressive looking man that Maomao could only assume was the CEO.

It would have been smart of me to do some research on who was who. Her thoughts had mostly been consumed with wondering what kind of poison she would get to taste that night, and if she might be able to try it more than once.

If it was another aphrodisiac or something that she could easily manage she had resolved to just push through it and stay but she had promised Gyokuyou that if she took something with consequences to her health that she would inform the woman immediately which would also mean Jinshi and Lakan would soon find out she was there.

She would therefore leave “dangerous to her health” up to her own personal interpretation.

Dinner was uneventful, Jinshi drank what she assumed was barley tea that she was smug to see had been stocked at every bar rail. When dinner service ended Maomao quickly found a server to trade spots with. The girl had been complaining about how her feet were already hurting from walking around with the trays of food and Maomao had kindly offered to swap positions with her. It suited her plans much better to be able to roam the floor rather than being stuck behind a counter, and it made getting caught far less likely if she was actually able to move without seeming suspicious when someone came close.

It had been easy to spot Jinshi in the crowd, she just had to look for the most concentrated cluster of women and the direction of envious glances from the men. She snorted when she saw him, holding a drink out in front of him as if it would protect him from the six being shoved in his direction.She kept him in her sight as she walked around offering people appetizers only leaving his general area when she was forced to refill her tray.

It didn’t take long for the drink in his hand to become empty, and Maomao could see his false smile straining as he attempted to extricate himself from the group of women holding him in conversation. One of them pressed a drink into his hand and Maomao frowned as he accepted it.

He has the survival instincts of a child.

Maomao became annoyed, she had intended to not let Jinshi know she was there - unneeded complications aside she needed him to act normal. Yet if he got poisoned because he didn’t have an excuse to refuse a drink then this whole night would be in shambles far quicker than she intended.

“Could I get a Barley tea?” Maomao asked as she returned to the bar with her empty tray. “One of the guests asked me to fetch it for him.” She made sure to inject the correct amount of annoyance into her voice. The girl she had swapped with rolled her eyes as she reached for a glass.

“You’d think it would kill them to get their own drinks.” Maomao took the drink, giving the girl a grateful smile before turning and heading into the crowd. She wandered with purpose until she spotted another serving girl heading back with an empty tray.

“I’m so sorry, could you deliver this drink to that gentleman over there?” Maomao picked up the glass, putting it on the girl’s tray before she could argue. “I really need to use the restroom but everytime I go over there another woman asks me for a drink and I can’t get away. Apparently “His Cat” ordered it for him?”

“His…cat?” The girl raised an eyebrow at Maomao.

“Don’t ask me, that’s what the girl who gave me the drink asked me to tell him.”

“Rich people.” The girl rolled her eyes but took the drink. Maomao watched her closely as she weaved through the crowd - ensuring that nobody touched the drink until it was in Jinshi’s hand. She watched his face look confused, then alert as he scanned the crowd looking for her. Maomao fingered the strands of her wig with a satisfied smile when his gaze slid over her without issue.

He’ll know I’m here now, but at least he’ll know to trust the drinks I send him. It had been necessary, and one less thing to worry about.

She kept her eyes sharp as she wandered through the crowds, making sure to avoid anyone that could possibly know her while keeping in sight of Jinshi. She wasn’t sure exactly what she was hoping to accomplish, it wasn’t as if whoever was behind the attacks would be openly talking about them in any of the groups of people she encountered, but as long as she kept Jinshi from being hurt she would consider the anger she could see brewing under his fake smile worth it.

It was Lakan she was worried about catching her, since dinner had ended she hadn’t seen even a glimpse of his infuriating face. It was possible he had excused himself as soon as he was through with his obligation, though more than likely he was somewhere out of sight watching the events unfold. Maomao resisted the urge to raise her eyes up to the balconies, instead she kept walking and smiling - tending to guests as if she really did work there.

She spent the night wandering, her ears open to any conversation within earshot of her - paying particularly close attention to any of them that even mentioned Jinshi’s name in passing. Yet nothing jumped out of her as particularly suspicious. She had had a few close encounters with Gaoshun, who seemed to be in attendance separately from Jinshi, and she did he best to stay out of Basen’s sight who was posted against one of the side walls of the room with the same look he had when he was working at the Verdigris.

And yet, despite all of the distractions and countless things going through her mind, her eyes always seemed to know exactly where to look to find Jinshi.

After she had had the third drink delivered to him, his annoyance became nearly visible on his face. He began to move through the crowd with an urgency that told her that he had decided it was time to find her, excusing himself from people who tried to stop him to speak with a smile that seemed to be cracking at the edges.

A shiver went through Maomao. Despite having the advantage in this weird game of cat and mouse, it was an odd sensation to know someone was looking for her.

Being invisible was a special sort of boon in her life. Maomao was so used to being able to walk through a crowd of people with the knowledge that none of them were looking at her. Even at the Verdigris, where the patrons were constantly reaching for her to pinch or pull on her clothes, she knew with certainty that if she saw any of them outside of the club they wouldn’t even be able to recognize her face. Others might have found it lonely, to know that in a crowded room nobody cared to really look at you, but Maomao had grown comfortable in anonymity.

Yet it was like she could feel when Jinshi’s eyes passed over her, even with her back turned he was a burning spot in her mind. The burning warmth of his touch on her skin seemed to extend to his eyes even if he didn’t realize he was looking at her.

She was quickly reminded of how it had felt to have his hands on her bare skin, how even without the aphrodisiac in her system it had felt like her skin had burned under his touch, sending shivers through her. She had never heard of someone describing the same sensation coming from someone’s gaze, but the acute awareness she had of every time Jinshi even glanced in her direction was both disconcerting and intoxicating.

Heat was quickly rising to her cheeks, her mind wandering without her consent to the memory of how he had looked at her when she had been underneath him on his bed; like she was prey that he had caught.

She certainly felt like prey now.

A quick glance over her shoulder told Maomao that Jinshi was currently caught in conversation with what appeared to be a group of stuffy old men, dressed to show their importance in the company. While nobody was above her suspicion, they didn’t seem to be forcing drinks into Jinshi’s hand at the moment and she determined that he would survive the few minutes of fresh air it would take for her to quell the heat rising up her neck and to wrangle her thoughts back into business.

There was a small juliette balcony near the back of the room, unused mostly due to its size but also relatively abandoned due to its proximity to the part of the venue that had been marked as ‘off limits’ to non-employees. Maomao made her way there, doing her best to seem innocent as she opened the door and quickly slid into the small outdoor space before shutting the door behind her.

The air was cold enough to quickly give her a chill, Maomao leaned against the balcony as far as she was comfortable to avoid being spotted by the crowd inside.

“What a boring night.” She mumbled to herself as she fanned her face with the tray she had been carrying.

She supposed she should be happy about the lack of excitement; she had come to keep Jinshi from getting poisoned after all but if the night turned out completely uneventful then the scolding she no doubt get from the man would be entirely justified.

Maomao took a deep breath, intending to go back inside when she heard voices from the balcony beside hers, she couldn’t make out the words but their tone was enough to catch her suspicion. She inched as far as she could towards it, leaning precariously over the rail of the balcony as she strained to hear the words.

“...always with people. How am I supposed to…”

It was definitely the voice of a woman, she was angry enough that her whisper was bordering on her regular speaking voice.

A voice answered her, much quieter but with the deeper tones of a man.

“I get it, okay? I’ll do it…” More mumbling that she couldn’t quite make out before the distinct sound of a door being shut.

That’s the employee quarters. Maomao laid out the map of the place in her mind, despite it being off limits to anyone but employees there was nothing down that hallway that any of them should need. Merely unfinished rooms that were being worked on before being open to the public.

Soon the door to the main room opened, Maomao knelt down, hoping that whoever had just left wouldn’t notice her.

A waitress came out, wearing the same uniform Maomao had on herself - carrying a tray that held a single, dark liquid drink.

Maomao’s heart stuttered, dread and excitement mingling in her chest in equal measures.

She would be willing to bet her meager savings that that drink was poisoned.

Standing with the intent to go after the woman, Maomao was stopped when another figure left the door to the employee’s quarters. A man, wearing the uniform of a server awkwardly as if it didn’t quite fit him the way it should. The arm cuffs were too high and too tight for it to have been given to him by such a high class employer.

As he walked by, their eyes caught each other. The man looked uninterested, but a click sounded as he walked by that caused Maomao to hold her breath.

There’s no way.

As nonchalantly as she could, as if pretending she hadn’t heard the noise would somehow make it untrue, Maomao’s hand reached for the doorknob to the balcony door.

Only to find it locked.

Damnit. Maomao tried again, a little more forcefully this time. Damnit, damnit, damnit!

She leaned her head against the window, peering inside to see people being ushered politely away from the employee’s quarter by the same man who had locked her out. Banging and screaming against the door would hardly call attention to her, and if it did it wouldn’t be the kind that she could easily slip away from to track down the serving girl.

Out of all the questionably hobbies she had, why hadn’t lock picking been one of them?

Maomao looked around, assessing her options.

The balcony was on the second floor, certainly high enough to cause some damage if she jumped but even if she could get down safely it would take far too much time to make her way back to the main hall. She hadn’t brought anything out with her that would be able to break the glass of the balcony door.

She had her phone, but who would she call?

Gyokuyou might be a good option, she could make her way through the crowd to Jinshi and make up some excuse to get him away. But her suddenly getting a phone call and then immediately going to Jinshi would make it clear that they were on to them, and the two people would be gone by the time Maomao was released from her makeshift prison.

She didn’t have Basen or Gaoshun’s numbers, though she made a mental note to collect them after tonight.

Jinshi would answer her if he had his phone on him, though it seemed unlikely he did since he hadn’t attempted to call her since finding out she was hiding somewhere in the crowd.

She needed someone who would answer her call without hesitation, who was far enough away from prying eyes that nobody would notice, and would act on her word without questioning her.

I can’t believe I’m about to do this.

She opened the blocked list on her phone, the cold had started to make her fingers number but she quickly pulled up the freak’s number and hit dial.

It was barely half a ring until he answered.

“My dearest, sweetest-”

“A serving woman, blonde hair pulled back into a high bun.” Maomao cut him off, closing her eyes to try and bring the woman’s image back to her mind. Her freak of a sperm donor had issues with remembering faces so she tried to focus on other details. “Nails painted black, a single silver ring on her left hand. She has a tray with a single poisoned drink on it.” She hoped it was enough, Maomao had been so focused on the attendees that she didn’t know how many serving women fit the description she had given him.

There was muttering on the other end, muffled as she imagined Lakan had placed the phone against his chest while he relayed her description to someone else.

“We see her.”

“Has Jinshi been given the drink yet?” Maomao resisted the urge to look through the door again, not wanting the man to see her on the phone.

“Not yet, we’ll wait till she’s given it to him before we move in.” Maomao bit her lip; it made sense - if they apprehended her before she actually gave the drink to Jinshi she could claim it was for someone else. Or that she was going to toss it. It sat uneasy with her that they would let Jinshi get that close to being poisoned without his knowledge, what if he took a sip before they got to him? What if it was something more dangerous than just an aphrodisiac this time?

What if it was strong enough that the single sip he might take would kill him?

She bit her lip, the idea that she would get so close to protecting the man only to have him die because she was locked on a damn balcony didn’t sit well in her chest.

It did more than that, it weighed on her chest. An edge of panic creeping in at the edge of her usually rational mind.

She had seen many gruesome things in real life; people had come to her for injuries that ranged from broken bones to gunshots and stabbings. Never once had she ever felt the clamminess of panic and disgust, her stomach was made of steel and she knew that death was an inevitability that they all faced. The thought of one of her patients dying despite her efforts displeased her, but she wasn’t God - she couldn’t save everyone.

And yet the image of Jinshi, lying unbreathing on the ground when she finally reached him…

A voice broke through her unpleasant thoughts, dragging her back to the realization that she was still on the phone with the freak. She hung up, looking around with a renewed determination.

If Jinshi drank the poison before anyone could stop him, he would need medical aid. She had to make it to him before it became too late.

Her only other option was to the balcony to her right, where the assassins had been speaking. She eyed the gap between the two balconies; it was close enough that if she was careful she might be able to reach it.

Or she might fall to her death.

Maomao climbed over the railing of her balcony, thankful that she had been given pants to wear as the wind blew the hair of the wig in front of her eyes. What she was doing was inherently stupid, she chastised herself, the correct approach would have been to just tell Lakan where she was and have him send someone down to let her out.

But that would be the same as announcing that they knew. If they were going to catch the people behind the constant poisonings, they needed to be delicate about their timing.

Carefully, Maomao stretched out her right foot - her cold hands dripping the railing as she tried her best to wedge her foot into the breaks in the bars. Once her foot was secure she took a breath, wondering why on earth she had ever allowed herself to be in this kind of position in the first place before she pushed herself as hard as she could.

Her hands met the concrete rail of the second balcony, cold and unable to find a grip she panicked as she felt herself slipping. She tried to move quickly, readjusting her hold as her other foot slipped - pulling harshly on the one that had been jammed in between the gaps.

She heard a crack but ignored it, pulling herself up until she had enough leverage to climb over the banister to land safely on the balcony floor. It wasn’t until she attempted to stand that she realized her right ankle was refusing to hold her weight.

The whole point of going this way was to not break bones. Yet she didn’t have time to do anything about it, if this balcony door didn’t open she would be in a far worse situation than she had just been in.

Saying a silent prayer to anyone who happened to be listening, Maomao tried the doorknob on the door - smiling to herself when it clicked open and admitted her into the warmth of inside air.

Wasting no time, she ditched her heels and limped as quickly as her ankle would allow her to the door to thankfully find that also unlocked. Immediately the sound of music and people talking assaulted her, her head starting to hurt from the quick change from cold to hot as her ears started to defrost.

She edged to the doorway of the main hall, thankfully seeing no sight of the man who had locked her out on the balcony. Keeping to the outskirts of the crowd she moved until Jinshi was in her sight.

He stood in a group of men and women, all talking to him as his fake smile changed targets just as easily. She could see he was tired, annoyance lining his brow as he waved off an offered drink. Relief bloomed in her chest at the sight of his empty hands, at the clear rise and fall of his chest and he spoke words that she couldn’t hear from the other side of the room.

Until the serving woman approached him, leaning forward to speak quietly in his ear before offering him the tainted drink on her tray. Maomao looked around, hoping to identify one of Lakan’s men ready to intervene in the exchange - it was futile, she wouldn’t recognize anyone even if they were working for him but she didn’t see anyone that appeared even remotely concerned that Jinshi now held potential death in his hands.

There was a reasonable way to go about this, she was sure. She should just wait for Lakan to intervene, surely he wouldn’t let Jinshi die - it was his job to keep him alive, wasn’t it? Were they waiting for him to drink it and see if it was truly poisoned before detaining the woman?

One breath, two breaths; Maomao waited in her silent panic for anyone to intervene as Jinshi cheers’ed the people standing around him.

She was too far. Even if her ankle wasn’t broken as she suspected it to be, she wouldn’t make it to him on time to stop him from drinking it.

A server walked in front of her, carrying a tray of empty glasses on her way back to the kitchen.

A reasonable way… Maomao’s rationality seemed to evaporate into thin air, she reached out - knocking the tray to the ground along with her own body as her ankle gave out on her. The sound of glass breaking and the shouts of the closest guests caught in the chaos erupted throughout the room.

Maomao ignored the shards of glass that she could feel digging into her legs, looking up to see if the commotion had caught Jinshi’s attention in time.

She met his eyes, saw the recognition flash in them right before it switched to outrage.

Now I’ve done it.

Chapter Text

It took Jinshi all of three seconds to reach her, his eyes burning with a mixture of concern and anger that should have set Maomao on edge.

Alive. Was all she could think as he knelt down in front of her, oblivious to the glass on the floor.

Then he smiled at her - that same fake, sickly sweet smile he had given her the first time they had met at the Verdigris and Maomao felt the hair on the back of her neck immediately stand up in disgust.

“Poor thing, are you alright? Come, I’ll help you.” He reached a hand out to her, noticing how his charm had effectively turned the looks of horror and anger that had previously been turned her way into cooing of how kind and sweet Mister Jinshi was to help the clumsy serving girl who had just potentially ruined their evening.

She wanted to bat his hand away, to stand on her own and excuse herself but now that she could see he was safe the adrenaline was melting away, being replaced with a painful throbbing from her ankle and the acute awareness of glass piercing her skin.

Besides, he had offered her a graceful out for the mess she had created. It would be stupid not to take it.

She allowed him to take her hand, choosing silence to avoid saying anything uncouth in front of others. His grip was harsh, betraying how upset he truly was as he helped her to her feet.

A few more kind words and sultry smiles had other servers rushing to clean the mess as Jinshi carefully navigated her to the room she had just left, leaving Basen to stand by the door to ensure they had privacy.

“I don’t think you’re helping your reputation by being in here alone with a serving woman.” Maomao remarked dryly as soon as the door was shut. “You’ll be branded as a womanizer.”

Jinshi stared at her, his mouth seemingly caught between multiple retorts before settling on one.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” It wasn’t quite a shout, but it was loud enough to bring Maomao back to herself. “I thought I made it fairly clear that I didn’t want you at this event!” Her hand was still in his and he was squeezing it awful tightly.

“If I hadn’t been here you would be dead right now.” Probably. She still didn’t know what kind of substance the drink had been laced with, but she wasn’t about to play it down right now. “Where is the drink you were just handed?”

“The drink?” Jinshi seemed to be warring with his anger and confusion, unsure of what to settle on as his hand twitched around hers. “I…I don’t know, I just shoved it in someone’s hands when I saw you.” It seemed to remind him of how he had found her, because suddenly his hands were on her face and he had moved far too close for propriety. “Are you okay?!”

“I’m fine-” She batted his hands away, taking a step away from him that caused her ankle to twinge and for her balance to be lost. Jinshi caught her easily, his arm going around her waist to steady her against him. His face was a breath away, his eyes looking at her with renewed concern as if all his anger had suddenly been forgotten in the face of the possibility that she might be hurt.

“You’re clearly not.”

Why was it so hard to wrangle her brain into something coherent when he was so close? Why was she so focused on the feeling of his arm around her waist and his breath against her cheek when there were people out there who had quite possibly just tried to kill him? She should be out there making sure they were caught, checking the drink to figure out exactly what they had spiked it with, but all she could do was stand there as his eyes looked at her with an intensity she had never seen on anyone else before.

“Whether I’m okay or not doesn’t matter right now.” She finally managed to choke out, forcing her brain back to its logical baseline. “We have to collect the drink and see what they laced it with, make sure the culprits have been apprehended-”

“Others will handle it.” His voice was stern, a tone that was used to having no arguments brought against it.

“If I had planned on letting others handle it, I wouldn’t be here in the first place.” Jinshi’s face scrunched up, annoyance and anger warring with concern on his face.

“Why are you even here, Maomao?” Annoyance seemed to have won the internal struggle, his arms tightening around her slightly. “How did you even get in?”

“I called in a favor.” She wasn’t about to throw Gyokuyou under the bus; her connections and information on things in a society that Maomao otherwise had no access to would most likely come in handy again.

“And the disguise?” Jinshi tugged on the wig she wore, Maomao held it to her head with her hands as she glared at him.

“You would have thrown me out immediately if you had seen me.”

“If you knew that, then why did you come in the first place?” He was angry with her, whether it was because she had defied his order to stay away from the event or because she had gotten herself hurt in the process she didn’t know, but she latched on to the emotion.

“Someone had to keep you from accepting every drink that's handed to you.”

“I only accepted the drinks because they were coming from you!” A twinge of guilt gnawed at her - she hadn’t wanted to deliver them directly to him to avoid being caught, but in protecting herself she had inadvertently expanded his trust in her to the other servers. Yet she remembered him accepting a drink from the woman at the beginning of the night, remembered the way she had smiled at him like she wanted to take him home - it annoyed her, though Maomao couldn’t find the reason why.

“I only sent them to you because I watched you take one from some woman who was making eyes at you!”

They had started yelling, something Maomao had rarely ever done. She was aware that Jinshi had technically done nothing wrong, and yet she couldn’t stop herself from feeling angry at his own lack of caring about the situation he had put himself in. For the first time Maomao was saying things as she felt them, not giving her brain the time it usually took to filter her words into something more palatable.

“What woman?” Jinshi seemed momentarily confused but it only made that weird feeling in Maomao grow stronger. Of course he couldn’t remember which woman she was talking about - every woman he ever spoke to looked at him the same way.

“That’s exactly why you needed me here.” She stabbed a finger into his chest, hard to do angrily when she was still nearly pressed against it. “If I hadn’t been here-”

“You shouldn’t have been here!” Jinshi cut her off, a hand grabbing her finger - forcing her palm to lay flat against his chest. “Whatever happens to me at one of these events is one thing but I didn’t want you to put yourself in danger over something that has nothing to do with you.”

“Are you stupid?” Her mouth spat the words out before she could stop herself. Her sisters had always accused her of being reckless when it came to her experiments but she had always taken the proper precautions to ensure she was as safe as possible. She didn’t need anyone to watch out for her, but Jinshi clearly did. “It has everything to do with me!”

“Just because its poison doesn’t mean you have to be involved.” She was sure she was looking at him like he was an idiot - because he was.

“If I just wanted to poison myself I have plenty of it back in the clinic I could use!” A part of her regretted that revelation but she shoved it back, her anger too fresh and too hot to heed to rationality. “Do you really think I could stay locked up in Gyokuyou’s pretty little mansion, waiting all night to hear if you got poisoned or not?”

“Maomao-”

“I may be new to this whole ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’ thing but last I checked it was normal for someone to worry about the person they love, so I-”

Her jaw shut audibly, horror at what had just come out of her mouth strangling the rest as her brain finally caught up to the tirade she had been unleashing.

There’s no way. She argued with herself. I’ve known patrons at the strip club longer than I’ve known him.

“It is so painfully obvious that when he’s with you, you don’t know how to deal with him” Jyoka’s words rang in her head, a conversation she had spent the remainder of her time pretending hadn’t happened. ”- it’s like I can see your brain shutting down in real time.”

She turned away from Jinshi, a blazing inferno of embarrassment rising into her face as she tried to reboot her brain into a state that didn’t make her want to crawl back out onto the balcony and throw herself over it.

Jinshi was staring at her, she could see it from the corner of her eyes. She couldn’t decide whether she wanted him to speak or not - desperately wanting him to say something but scared at what might come out of his mouth.

Before either of them could find any words, the door opened.

“What are you doing with my daughter?!”

Jinshi made a face at her that she refused to look at.

“She’s barefoot and there was broken glass, I’m carrying her to a seat in case she stepped in some of it.” Maomao held on to the collar of Jinshi’s suit, a strangled noise of protest coming out of her as she was unceremoniously lifted into the air bridal style and cradled against Jinshi’s chest.

The gentle and yet possessive way he held her was doing nothing for her heart, which continued to stammer in her chest.

He settled her gently in her seat, his eyes trying to catch hers as his hands lingered long enough that Lakan coughed pointedly until Jinshi finally extricated himself from her. He stood, but still lingered around the arm of the chair she was now in, looking at her every now and then with an unreadable expression on his face.

It unnerved her that she couldn’t tell whether her blurted admission had upset or pleased him - she couldn’t even tell how she felt about it.

“We’ve detained the serving woman, as well as collected the drink.” Lakan spoke business, cutting through her spiraling thoughts effectively though his unhappy glances at Jinshi’s proximity was a constant reminder of the interrupted conversation that still lingered in the air between the two of them. “It’ll need to be tested to see what kind of substance it was laced with before we can do anything.”

“I can test it-”

“No.” Both men cut her off, Maomao still couldn’t look at Jinshi - and she certainly wasn’t about to give the other man any sort of emotion - so she chose to direct her frustration towards the rug under her feet, glaring at it like it had personally caused her lapse in judgement.

“I didn’t mean I would drink it.” She did, she absolutely did. “I brought testing strips.” Neither of them spoke, but she could feel their skeptical looks on her skin. “Did you catch the man too?”

“What man?”

“There was a man with her.” In her hurry to ensure Jinshi was safe she realized she hadn’t told Lakan about the man or the balcony she had been locked on. “They were talking in this room before she went to give Jinshi the drink. I couldn’t hear the whole conversation but it sounded as though he was the one telling her to do it.” She tried her best to give him a description, but the only thing outside of his facial features she remembered was the fact that his uniform hadn’t fit him right.

“Did you see him poison the drink?”

“I didn’t see anything, I wasn’t in the room with them.”

“Where were you then?”

“On the balcony next door.”

There was a pause.

“How did I see you coming out of this room, if you were eavesdropping from the balcony next door?” Lakan was smiling, but his tone was harsh. She eerily felt like she had been checkmated in a game she hadn’t even known she was playing.

“I hardly think it matters what door I came out of.” Her voice sounded guilty even to herself, and when Jinshi left her side to head towards the balcony she watched nervously as he retrieved her shoe that had still been stuck in the balcony rails.

He carried it back, holding it as if the shoe itself was poison as he stared at it with horror.

“Please, Maomao.” He started as he re-entered the room, his voice strained with some kind of suppressed emotion. “Please tell me you didn’t do what I think you did.”

“I think we are focusing on the wrong thing…” Jinshi ignored the current company, coming around to kneel in front of where she was sitting. Sitting barefoot, Maomao tried to move herself out of his reach but he quickly grabbed her foot causing her to hiss in pain.

Jinshi stilled immediately, frowning down at her feet as he rolled her pants up enough to see her ankle.

Maomao looked at it with her own curiosity as Jinshi stared at it in horror.

No bruising had appeared yet, but the beginning of swelling had appeared around the outside of her ankle - causing it to look deformed and out of shape. Maomao’s medical curiosity immediately kicked in - she had treated broken bones before but she had never actually broken one herself. It was an impractical experiment to perform, breaking one of her own bones would impair her for weeks during the healing process which was unacceptable despite her morbid curiosity.

She reached down, examining her own ankle without the gentleness she usually reserved for patients, wincing every time she touched it until Jinshi seemed to break out of his horrified stupor and pulled her hands away.

<“What are you doing?!” She stared at him, all embarrassment from her earlier outburst lost to her clinical control.

“This is a rare opportunity to fully understand the limitations of movement and touch on a broken ankle without having to trust a patient’s biased lens on the matter.”

“You broke your foot?!”

“Not the foot; I would need an xray to fully confirm but it’s most likely a break in the lateral malleolus. I should have looked at it before the swelling kicked in, it's hard to tell if it's displaced or not like this.” Both the angle and Jinshi’s unwillingness to let her use her hands to examine the break made it hard to tell if the bones were still in the correct placement.

“You…” Jinshi scrunched his face up, taking a deep breath through his nose and out through his mouth in an intriguing display of control before he stood and turned to Lakan. “I trust based on Maomao’s information that you can at least begin a search of the staff to see if we can still locate the man.”

Her hands now released, Maomao began again at her probing. Lost in taking mental notes of pain and mobility as she poked and prodded, she only barely registered the conversation happening around her.

“It will be hard to do so with the event still happening, I can speak with your father about potentially ending the event early but I suspect the man in question is long gone given the obvious commotion.”

“I’ll speak with him before I leave, do whatever you think is best to find the culprits.”

Maomao peeked up at the two men as she continued touching her ankle, watching as they stared each other down - noting the tension in the room before Lakan tilted his head in silent resignation at whatever was on Jinshi’s face.

“Of course.”

Maomao was surprised when they both left the room, slightly put off by Jinshi’s lack of comment to her as he closed the door, leaving her alone.

He must be really angry with me. She frowned down at her foot, wiggling her toes as she thought.

It was understandable to be displeased, she thought, she had certainly done a lot of things tonight that would cause someone to be upset with her.

She had caused a scene in the event hall when she knocked the tray down, despite standing by her decision she could understand that it would cause problems for Jinshi since he had been the one to step in and clean up the mess.

Not to mention she had yelled at him when he had been upset with her, and in her anger she had said something without considering his feelings in the matter.

Her sisters had falsely believed she had been in love once before. When she was in med school there had been a classmate that had immaculate stitches, and Maomao would come home and gush about how clean and neat they always appeared to be - she had spent hours locked up in her clinic learning to mimic the boy’s sutures. Meimei had taken her admiration for technical skill as a budding infatuation for the boy whose name Maomao didn’t even know, giving her unsolicited advice on how to confess her feelings.

”You have to time it right; confess too early and you might scare him off but If you wait too long he might lose interest. The safest thing is to give him little tidbits of your affection until he confesses himself, then you can confess back if you really mean it.”

Maomao had stared at her sister, confusion plain on her face as she asked why she would be confessing anything to the boy. When she had clearly explained that she had only cared about his suture technique, and now having mastered it had no more use for the boy, Meimei had laughed herself to tears before patting her on the head and leaving her alone.

She supposed what she had angrily blurted out at Jinshi could be taken as a confession of sorts, though Maomao had had no intention of saying it. Did she break some etiquette rule by doing so? Did he think she didn’t mean it?

Did she mean it?

The line of thought made her uncomfortable; sure she knew what love was in theory, she loved her sisters and she loved Luomen who had become a father to her in his own way but those were familial loves. It was natural to love your family, chosen or otherwise, something instinctual in her biological baseline that she had never bothered to dissect.

Romantic love was foreign to her, something she had disregarded as unnecessary under the assumption that she would never feel it. It was always presented as some life changing thing, some wild and instant force that would cause people to behave irrationally and say things they didn’t mean…

She rubbed her face with her hands, trying to ignore the part of her mind that screamed that a rational person wouldn’t have jumped across a second story balcony, broken their foot, and then yelled at the person they had been trying to save.

Well, nothing I can do about it now. Resolved to handle it later, she forced herself to stand to test her new walking limitations, wishing she had a notebook to write down all of her findings.

Chapter Text

Maomao was desperately gripping the curtains by the balcony door when Jinshi re-entered. She had wanted to see if the cold, outside air brought further discomfort to her broken bones as so many people claimed but had found walking the short distance to be more of a challenge than she originally thought.

They stared at each other, Jinshi’s face carefully devoid of emotion except for his left eye which Maomao noted internally was twitching every few seconds.

“I’m scared to ask.” He said as he approached her, his eyes still held some kind of emotion that Maomao was unwilling to look into too much, but his hands were gentle as he replaced the curtains in her grip.

“A common complaint among patients with injuries to joints and bones is that the cold makes the pain more acute.” Maomao always stood by her experiments, considering them an important part of her studies - but she suddenly felt like a small child again, caught stealing herbs from a neighbor’s garden. “I wanted to test it.”

Jinshi sighed, a ghost of a smile playing across his face for half a second before it was wiped away.

“I somehow doubt you would advise a patient with a broken ankle to attempt to walk on it.” She frowned at him.

“I am not a patient.”

He released one of her hands, bringing his own up to trail along her cheek ever so gently.

“You are my patient now.” She opened her mouth to protest but he pinched her cheek lightly to stop her. “We are going to have a long talk tonight - about everything.” He had said it evenly, but Maomao’s mind immediately went back to her blurted, half confession.

“I hardly think there is anything to talk about-” The pinch became sharper, he was practically pulling her cheek off at this point.

“There is, in fact, a lot I need to talk to you about - but unfortunately business comes first.”

He stepped to her bad side, tucking the hand he still held into his elbow so she could use it to assist with her walking.

“This is unnecessary.” She grumbled as he guided her slowly and patiently towards the door.

“This is a compromise; I would much prefer to carry you but I thought you would prefer some level of autonomy in front of others.”

She hated to admit how it warmed her that even though he was clearly upset with her actions he was still considerate enough to give her this small thing.

“Thank you.” She mumbled, squeezing his arm a little as she made slow and painful progress with him. He hummed a pleasant note in response.

Maomao was unused to her mind being so scattered; there were several points her brain was trying to scream at her all at once and though she tried to ignore some of the more unpleasant topics, Jinshi’s presence was drawing them out like bait.

The more clinical portion of her mind was trying to desperately remind her to focus on the pain in her foot, to analyse the way placement and pressure affected her pain while she was still within the acceptable window to do so. It was best practice to align a broken bone as close to the time of injury as possible, but typically it took a week before calluses started to form and cause the bone to heal in an improper position.

The other, less rational and less obedient, portion of her brain was searching desperately through her mind for any indication of what Jinshi might be thinking at this current moment.

She would be the first to admit that she was never the best at social cues. The meaning of facial expression and body language - unless highly exaggerated and obvious - eluded her, though the difficulty eased the more familiar she became with the person’s mannerisms so long as she actually cared to note a person’s baseline.

Jinshi was especially tricky for her; he had this fake mask he plastered on his face whenever anyone else was around them. It made it quite difficult for her to establish a baseline, and even more difficult to determine whether his reactions were false or not.

Yet somehow she could tell from the glimpses she caught when she side eyed him that he was either nervous or impatient at the moment. That and the tapping of his fingers on her hand still tucked into the crook of his elbow brought a new direction of thought that she was able to focus on instead of the spiral it was currently going through.

“What business exactly are we tending to?” He had managed to lead her without issue back into the employee hallway, but instead of turning towards the venue proper he instead led her further into the building, Basen following dutifully from a distance behind them.

“The CEO wants to speak with you.” He murmured apologetically after a short pause, squeezing her hand as if he expected her to bolt.

Honestly? She might have considered it if she thought she would make it more than a few feet before collapsing.

The conversation between Jinshi and her sperm donor came back to her, heard though ignored as she had probed at her foot.

I can speak with your father…

“I don’t suppose this will go as mundanely as meeting your boyfriend’s parents usually does?” She had said it quietly to herself, but Jinshi laughed lightly. It was a genuine laugh, and she felt some of the tension leave him.

“No more than me meeting yours did.”

She hoped Jinshi’s father was nothing like Lakan, though she couldn’t expect anyone rational to keep that man on payroll.

They paused before a door, and though it was like every other door in the building she could almost feel that one of the richest and most influential men in the country was sitting on the other side. Jinshi turned her towards him, a hand coming up to pull on the strands of her wig.

“Can we remove this first?” Maomao reached a hand up, slipping it under the wig to pull at some of the clips that had been painstakingly hidden to keep it secure.

“I can, though I can’t promise it’ll be an improvement to my presentability.” Her real hair was mostly likely tangled and wild under the wig cap, and she doubted any of them had access to a brush to fix it. Still Jinshi waited and watched as she removed the bobby pins, placing them in his open hand until she was able to tug the wig and cap off to let her hair fall free.

Jinshi handed everything to Basen, who took it with a look that told her he was not happy about being a human handbag, before returning his hands to her hair to help her straighten out the worst of the mess.

“That’s the best I’m going to get.”

“You’re perfect.”

Maomao cut Jinshi a look; it was an obvious lie but his voice and face held no hint of fakeness that she usually saw when men complimented her. He simply smiled, the hand that was in her hair coming down to cup her cheek lightly.

There was a look of such adoration on his face that Maomao had to look away, batting his hand as she turned back towards the door before Jinshi finally opened it.

More people occupied the room than Maomao had expected.

Lakan sat far too casually in a seat facing away from the door, though she couldn’t see his face she could, however, see his shoes as they were propped up on the table in front of him. When the door opened, he leaned his head back until it was nearly upside down to smile at her stupidly.

Nevermind rational, you’d have to be clinically insane to keep this man employed in a professional setting.

Gaoshun stood off to the side, standing stoically and professionally on the edge of the room as if to indicate that he was not a part of the conversation. A position that Basen quickly took up on the opposite side as soon as he closed the door behind them.

Sitting on the settee facing the door, opposite Lakan, was Gyokuyou and a man Maomao recognized as the CEO.

He was older, with primly groomed facial hair that made the serious look on his face all the more stern. His eyes immediately bored into Maomao’s and she had the sudden feeling that it was against some sort of rule to look directly back at him. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Jinshi had kept moving forward she most likely would have tried to quietly slink back out of the room.

“Come, sit.” He said, his voice carried across the quiet room despite not being very loud. This was a man who didn’t have to raise his voice to be heard, he expected others to listen intently.

Maomao looked at the only seat available, right beside the freak. She made a face before she could stop herself, recovering a second later but not before everyone in the room noted it.

Gaoshun quickly brought another chair from an adjoining room, placing it beside the empty seat so that it was far away from Lakan. Jinshi led her to it, taking more time than Maomao thought was appropriate, ensuring that she was seated comfortably before sitting between her and Lakan. He kept a hand almost protectively on the arm of her chair that Maomao did her best to ignore.

Silence hung in the air for a moment as the CEO seemed to take in all the details he had just witnessed, his eyes lingering on Jinshi as some silent exchange happened that Maomao was sure she didn’t want to be privy to.

Eventually the CEO sighed, the sternness of his features melting into something Maomao would almost have identified as friendly if it wasn’t for the commanding nature of his presence.

“Well, we are an interesting bunch.” He turned towards her, “I hope you understand that I took the liberty of doing a thorough background check on you following the unflattering article that was released about Jinshi. While of course I knew who you were following the incident with Gyokuyou, I needed to be thorough when my son made his interest more…personal.”

“You should have just asked me, I could have told you anything you needed to know about my precious Maomao.” Lakan grumbled, clearly put off - either by the fact he hadn’t been asked or by the comment about Jinshi’s interest being personal. Maomao didn’t know, nor did she care.

“There are things about our children that even we as fathers don’t know, Lakan.”

The look he gave Maomao told her that the man had, indeed, been very thorough.

He probably knows everything. Maomao felt uncomfortable at the thought of it. Most things she wanted to keep private were, unfortunately, easily accessible to people with the right connections. Student enrollments, hospital records; despite Maomao’s hatred of the man she had never bothered to go through the effort of changing her family name officially.

A quick look at Jinshi’s furrowed brow told her that whatever the man had found out, he had not shared with his son.

If his father doesn’t seem bothered, would Jinshi? A thought for a different time.

“I have been eager to meet with you to discuss everything, but timing has never been in my favor. It seems now, this unfortunate incident has afforded us the moment to meet.” He leaned forward, his attention focused solely on her. “Now, I would like to hear your version of both tonight and the first night you intercepted someone attempting to poison Jinshi.

Maomao spared a quick glance at Gyokuyou, who smiled encouragingly at her, before she gave all the details of both nights. She spared certain details - how it had taken her longer to determine the first drink had been spiked with an aphrodisiac because she had been unable to differentiate her own emotions from the drugs’, as well as the unfortunate pet name Jinshi had given her that she used to deliver drinks to him that night. Despite the severity of the events, it barely took fifteen minutes for her clinical delivery of the facts, and by the end of it the man was looking at her with a new gleam that Maomao would almost call respect.

“In your opinion, who do you think is behind these attempts?”

Maomao faltered for a moment, it had been a question she had given idle thought to but it wasn’t until tonight that she felt she might have an answer.

There had been a feeling in the back of her mind when she had locked eyes with the man who had locked her on the balcony, a feeling that she had seen him somewhere before. In any other place she would have just ignored it, it was common to see the same person at a corner store and then again at a mall in the same area of town and get that feeling.

But Maomao didn’t run in the same circle as these people, other than the guests that had been present at the only other event she had attended there was a close to zero chance that she had ever seen any of these people before in her life.

Unless she knew them from her side of town which meant they were either patrons of the Verdigris or patrons of the clinic.

The fact that he had seemingly recognized her enough to know that she was better locked on the balcony for his purposes made her suspect that he knew of her medical knowledge.

That alone would be suspicious, but explained away by her usual clientele. Due to her don’t ask, don’t tell policy she quite often helped people who had criminal intentions .

But the woman who had spiked the drink the first time had said someone from the redlight district had given her, and it had been high enough quality and potency that a lone drug dealer was unlikely. Which suggested some sort of organization with money.

When she had first met Gyokuyou, it had been the Shi clan after her…

In her late night talks with Luomen over the years he had always cautioned her to not jump to a conclusion without proper testing and evidence to back up her hypothesis. Normally it was in the context of a new suture method, or a mixture of drugs that Maomao felt might be more effective than their FDA approved counterparts, but his words hit her now.

Think about what might happen if you’re wrong, Maomao. Luomen had once said when she had shared an idea for a new combination of drugs that could be used as medicine. If you share something before it's been properly tested, people might take your word for truth. Are you okay with people getting hurt because you didn’t want to take the time to test your hypothesis?

If she spoke up now, and she was wrong, she would cause a conflict that would be near impossible to take back. The Shi clan, though still a street gang in nature, had enough money and power in the red light district that if you made yourself an enemy of them you may as well just take your own life and save them the trouble of destroying it first.

And even that probably wouldn’t save your loved ones.

“I have no idea.”

For a few moments she just stared at the man, watching him as he took in her lie - and she had no doubt he knew she was lying, it had never been a skill that she had bothered practicing. She only lied when she had a reason to, and she hoped the man could see that too.

After an uncomfortable moment, he leaned back - sighing as if he had expected her answer but had still been hoping for something else.

“Lakan and his team will keep looking, but until then I’d like to keep everyone involved close at hand.” Maomao immediately didn’t like where this was going. “I understand you live and work in the red light district, we will make the necessary arrangements to ensure your rent is covered while you’re staying with Jinshi.” Maomao wanted to protest, but the man continued on as if he couldn’t imagine anyone arguing with his decisions. “Basen will stay with the both of you for now and will provide updates to Gaoshun who will remain with me. Additional security will be provided to Gyokuyou’s residence, and Lakan and his team will work around the clock until the culprit is caught.” The last part was punctuated with a stern look directed at the man in question, who surprisingly seemed just as serious.

If it really is the Shi clan, they need someone who’s familiar with red light district politics.

But she really shouldn’t get involved; if they already suspected she was onto them it would risk her sisters and the Verdigris.

That was assuming that anyone in this room let her help.

So she bit her tongue, let the chatter of security measures and plans for the future wash over her while she mentally mapped her own actions - forming a tenuous plan in her mind.

When they were dismissed Jinshi helped her stand, his brow furrowed with some displeasure over the situation as he assisted her with walking out of the venue. Maomao was pre-occupied in her mind, running logistics and feasibility of options to get her back to her clinic alone. Somewhere in her apartment there was a card with contact information for the man that had been after Gyokuyou - though she hadn’t quite figured out what she would do when she had it, it was at least a start.

“Whatever you’re thinking, I don’t like it.” Jinshi’s voice finally broke through her thoughts, she looked up at him - surprised to find they had already arrived at their destination. Basen was standing outside of the car, clearly annoyed at having to wait for them, but Jinshi was looking at her with the same expression he had had at the end of their meeting with his father.

It took her a while to take in the surroundings, to realize they were not at his home. Her eyes snagged on the fluorescent lights and dread started to form in her stomach.

“Where are we?”

“At the hospital. You broke your foot, remember?” She shot him a glare, but she could feel it was fighting with a look of horror on her face.

“Which Hospital?”

“North Li.” She let out a strangled breath - she should have been paying attention instead of lost in her own mind. It was unlike her - he could have taken her anywhere and she wouldn’t have even noticed until it was too late.

You trust him. Her mind subconsciously taunted her, as if mocking the fact that she even had the audacity.

“I don’t need to be at a hospital, I’m more than capable of treating a broken bone.”

Jinshi seemed to take a deep, patience building breath. Closing his eyes for a moment while he exhaled. Maomao watched him in fascination, watching how some of the tension bled from his face but remained deeply rooted in the rigid way he was holding himself up. WIth his eyes still closed, he unbuckled his seatbelt and slid across the seat until he was in her personal bubble.

When he did open his eyes, Maomao found herself partially entranced by how he was looking at her. Soft and yet hard, gentle and yet determined. Like he wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to devour her or hold her close.

“Maomao.” His hand was on the door behind her, blocking the handle so she couldn't open it and let herself out to escape him. “I hope you have noticed, but I do always try to consider your personal feelings before I do anything. It is important for me that you are always comfortable with me and what we’re doing, in any sense.”

Against her wishes her mind replayed the morning in his bed - the pressure of his arousal and need against her contrasting with the slow, tentative touches that he let her lead.

“But I am not a saint, and your infuriating disregardment of your own health and safety is testing my self restraint.” He leaned in, settling his head in the crook of her neck and inhaling so deliberately that Maomao felt herself blushing against her wishes. “We are going to get you properly treated for your broken bone and then I’m taking you home and I am adding more ground rules, but please don’t make me drag you in there against your will - because I will and I will hate every second of it.”

His lips brushed against her neck as he spoke, sending a shiver down her spine and straight to her core. Her first attempt to speak was strangled by the graze of his teeth against her skin.

“Fine.” She managed to get out, her hands twitching in her lap as she wondered what she was meant to do with them in this situation. “But no casts - I will take a walking boot which should actually be better for the healing process considering it allows me to bear weight to a degree.”

“I’m carrying you in.” She scrunched up her nose, the thought of losing her final moments of testing her limitations on a broken bone disagreeable…but not as much as she would have thought.

“Fine, but only in.” She felt his smile against her neck before there was the pressure of his teeth digging into her skin. The pressure was perfectly balanced, just a tad painful enough to shock her senses but overall pleasurable enough that Maomao just barely managed to strangle the noise of pleasure it brought from her.

Then he pulled away, leaving her alone in the car for just long enough to unbuckle herself before he was opening her door and reaching inside for her. She stilled while his arms scooped her up with ease, cradling her against his chest gently as he carried her into the hospital.

“For the record, I can walk.”

“I know.” His hand tightened on her thigh. “For the record, I enjoy holding you.”

She had no response to that that didn’t sound inherently childish, so she kept her mouth closed, her hands against her own chest out of uncertainty of where to even put them in this situation. She was acutely aware that Basen was with them, leading the way and opening doors for his employer but he was smart enough to keep his eyes resolutely away from their strangely intimate procession.

They were welcomed in by a nurse who didn’t even say anything. She merely looked up, smiled and nodded, and picked up the phone to speak quietly with whoever answered.

Maomao had never been to North Li Hospital but she was acutely aware of its difference with Li General. When her birth mother had first begun to display signs of deterioration and Maomao had been forced to admit that she needed professional care, she had done her due diligence with all the hospitals in the city.

North Li was privately owned and operated, which came with the distinct perk of being outside of the general health care system - beneficial for those who wanted their medical history to be extra private. It also had access to the country's foremost specialists, and the cost to match it.

It had been more than Maomao could afford - still was.

Jinshi carried her down empty halls, straight to an xray room. He placed her gently on the table, gave her a chaste kiss to her forehead and left her in the care of a nurse who only spoke to give her instructions on where to place herself. Five minutes later, she was back in Jinshi’s arms and being carried to an examination room.

“I thought we agreed you would only carry me into the hospital.” He smiled down at her, a smile that said he was pleased she had brought it up.

“You said in. We are in the hospital.”

“You are such a brat.” Jinshi chuckled, smiling even wider. She had never seen someone so happy to be in a hospital.

The wait for the doctor was just as brief, he entered with a small bow to Jinshi before getting straight down to business.

“Lateral Malleolus Fracture, no displacement. My recommendation is 4 week immobilization via fiberglass casting followed by graduated load bearing and rehabilitation.”

“If there is no widening on the mortise view, then weight bearing should occur earlier than 4 weeks to avoid potentially risks of having reduced circulation.”

The doctor blinked at her, his pen stopping mid sentence as he raised an eyebrow at her.

“There is no widening, but there are risks of it becoming unstable if you begin weight bearing.”

“I have already begun weight bearing; I am quite confident that the risk is minimal. Besides, functional treatment and casting have comparable outcomes in stable fractures.”

Jinshi was staring at her with open awe, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. For some reason it didn’t matter how many times she told people she had been admitted to med school - it only ever really clicked with them when she had a moment to demonstrate her knowledge.

“I’m guessing you want a walking boot then; I would recommend the walking boot be worn for 6 weeks then.” Maomao agreed, knowing she would most likely just take it off herself long before then. “The nurse will provide the boot on your way out. Was there anything else I could do for you?”

“No, that was all. Thank you.” Jinshi finally spoke, standing as the doctor left and waiting until the door had closed behind him before turning to her. “I didn’t follow half of what you were talking about, but I take it you didn’t agree with his assessment?” She shrugged, wishing she had asked to see the xray herself.

“Different doctors have different approaches to treatment. It’s not that his was factually incorrect, but it’s more outdated and money grabbing than what I would personally feel is appropriate.”

“Money grabbing?”

“Casts are cheaper up front, but they have a hidden follow up cost. They are typically removed in clinic and because of the prolonged immobilization the patient will typically need some form of physical therapy to regain range and function of the affected joint. You can get a decent walking boot for fifty dollars and it allows gentle movement and stretching that prevents seizing of the muscles.”

Jinshi was staring at her again, the lost look in her eyes reminding her once again of how different their lives had been.

He probably doesn’t even realize that these things cost money.

“You shouldn’t have to put a price on your health.”

“That is the whole reason I run my clinic, because some people have to.” She pushed herself off the table, only to have Jinshi grab her before she could put weight on her foot. He looked at her like she had pained him somehow, but she couldn’t think of what she might have said that he would take offense to.

He seemed to be thinking hard about something as he picked her up once again, leaving the hospital without speaking to the nurse as Basen stayed behind to pick up the walking boot and what sounded like pain medication. Maomao watched him, her attention fixated and unabashed as his brows furrowed and his mouth seemed to twitch as if he wanted to say something but was thinking better of it.

He’s somehow even more beautiful like this… He looked more…human. Like he struggled with the same things normal people struggled with, like he too found it hard to silence arguments in his head.

And oddly, it made her relax into his hold.

Chapter Text

“Maomao…”

“There are no semantic loopholes - I said in the hospital. This is not a hospital.”

They had pulled up to his home, and though she had made it out of the backseat she found herself trapped against the car door as Jinshi prevented her from walking.

“You agreed with the doctor to stay off it for 6 weeks.”

“No - I agreed to wear the boot for 6 weeks. And I will. When we get inside.”

“There are stairs -”

“That’s exactly why I should walk. I haven’t had a chance to test the stability of the bone on elevated movements.” Jinshi was pinching the bridge of his nose, the frustration and exhaustion from the night evident in the bags under his eyes and the tenseness in his shoulders. She almost felt bad.

Almost.

Just as she was about to try and offer some sort of concession, Jinshi knelt down and suddenly Maomao’s world was tipped upside down as she was unceremoniously tossed over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?!” She beat her fists at his back but Jinshi ignored her, walking past a snickering Basen as he carried her into his home.

“Oh my…” Suiren held a hand over her face, clearly covering a smile as she stepped aside for the odd procession.

“Suiren, please have dinner brought to my room when it's ready. Maomao and Basen will be staying with us for the time being.”

“Of course, I’ll see to their rooms.”

Maomao watched from her rising vantage point as Basen and Suiren disappeared into a side room, giving up on struggling as she was carried up the stairs.

“This is the most childish thing you’ve ever done.” She huffed. Jinshi didn’t answer, he let himself into his own room and shut the door before she was deposited rather gently onto his bed.

“We need to talk.”

Maomao stiffened immediately; with everything that had happened she had completely forgotten about the fact that he was angry with her to begin with.

“I apologize for disobeying your wishes and attending the event, but I stand by my reasoning.” She knew that wasn’t all he wanted to talk about, but she was hoping that if he got frustrated with her enough talking about it he would give up and send her to bed.

“It’s not about you disobeying me, Maomao.” He knelt in front of her, causing her to crawl back on the bed so he wasn’t directly between her legs. He pouted, laying his head down as if he was a puppy begging to sleep in her bed with her. “It’s about you purposely putting yourself in unnecessary danger constantly.”

“Constantly isn’t-”

“You allowed yourself to be physically hurt to protect Lady Gyokuyou when you first met her instead of calling for help.” He held up a finger, staring at her intently as he continued to list things off. “You again allowed yourself to be hurt instead of pressing a panic button that you apparently have in your clinic. You consumed a poison and didn’t allow me to take you to the hospital, and now you’ve jumped a second story balcony and broken your ankle instead of just letting Lakan and his security handle the matter.” He wiggled his four fingers at her, eyebrows raised as he waited for her to dispute him.

“Fine, but unnecessary-”

“Please enlighten me how in any of these situations, it was necessary for you to put yourself in danger.”

“If I hadn’t answered the door to the men after Gyokuyou they would have broken down my door - if they had done that all three of us would have been harmed.” She reached forward, putting down one of his fingers and tapping the second one. “The panic button is for real emergencies; I had my taser and they didn’t appear to have any weapons. Had they, I would have pressed it.” A second finger down. “I didn’t intentionally ingest anything, and it wasn’t a poison. The hospital would have just kept me for observation and I would have ended up with a hefty bill at the end of it.” She put down his third finger, but hesitated before tapping the fourth.

She had already given him her reasons for the fourth incident, had practically screamed them at him along with her slipped half-confession that she hadn’t had time to truly analyze for truth. At her hesitation he reached forward and grabbed her finger with his other hand, bringing it forward to tap against his own expectantly.

“And tonight? Why was anything about tonight necessary?”

“Smashing the tray of drinks got your attention, you were too far for me to yell for you or make it to you on my own.” He shook his head, tapping his finger with hers again.

“I don’t care about the tray, Maomao.”

She grit her teeth, trying to find the next most reasonable action she took that night.

None of them were reasonable.

Jinshi sighed, still tapping her finger against his own. Despite her annoyance with the action, she couldn’t bring herself to pull her hand away from the warmth of his.

“Give me one good, logical reason why jumping the balcony was necessary.”

“I was locked on the other one.” He shook his head, squeezing her finger lightly.

“Lakan told me you called him, there were people on their way to take the drink from me. You didn’t need to step in personally.”

“I didn’t see anyone-”

“You’re still on the balcony.” He cut her off, his demeanor had changed from frustrated to amused. “As far as you know, they could have been standing right beside me when the call was made. So why jump?” She could feel his trap closing in on her, her brain metaphorically flailing to try and get out of it.

“I knew what she looked like, it would be easier for me-”

“Not if you fell.” Jinshi’s face changed then, as if he had never contemplated the possibility of her falling. The hand holding her finger changed grip, pulling her towards him as he straightened to catch her. He held her awkwardly, half in his arms half still seated in the middle of the bed. “God, Maomao. You could have fallen. What were you thinking?”

About you. She knew he knew, it was the only logical explanation to explain her actions - even if it wasn’t logical at all.

The real fear in his voice, the desperation in his hands as he pressed her awkwardly against his shoulder reminded her too much of her own panic when she found the balcony door unlocked.

When she thought of the man holding her like a lifeline lying dead on the floor.

She found herself moving before she could give it too much thought, crawling further up the bed despite the twinge of pain in her ankle. Jinshi pulled back slightly, moving to let her go - but the thought of looking at his face right now felt like too much for her to handle. When she was sure her balance was steady, she reached her arms around his neck to hold him.

Not tightly, not filled with the same desperation he had just shown her - but it was a reciprocation that she was unused to showing and he hoped he knew.

“I’m sorry I made you worry.” She swallowed an uncomfortable lump in her throat. Fighting back the feeling that she was doing something inherently wrong right now. “I couldn’t stand the thought of waiting there when there was a chance he wouldn’t make it on time.”

Jinshi stiffened in her arms, his arms tightening their hold momentarily in a way that made her feel as though she had said something wrong. She frowned into his collar, her hands fidgeting with the fabric of the suit he still wore.

“Maomao…” She could feel him swallow, his breath stuttering against her chest. “What you said, back in the room at the venue…”

It was her turn to tense, her body waiting for him to say the words as if preparing for a physical blow.

What was she supposed to tell him? Her sisters had talked about saying you loved someone too early or too late, but not what to do when you said it by accident. She hadn’t had time to dissect her own thoughts, to even contemplate what love would look like when coming from a person who was incapable of the feeling.

She found she didn’t want to hurt him, but she also didn’t want to lie to him.

Jinshi pulled her to him, effectively dragging her off the bed and into his lap as he kissed the side of her head.

“The next time we’re in your clinic, you’re going to hand over every poison you have stashed away. Willingly consuming poison was on my ground rule list.” It took a while for the words to penetrate the bracing her mind had done - had he read her reluctance to talk about her outburst and changed the direction to something she’d be more comfortable with?

A mixture of relief and disappointment flooded her before she reacted to the actual statement he had made.

“You added that to the ground rules after I agreed to the conditions.” She pushed away from his hold, leaning back on his lap so she could glare at him. “Besides - poisons can be considered medicine in low doses, I need them for treatment.”

“You are wildly unpredictable and a danger to your own health, I think I am well within my rights to have a few free additions to the ground rules.” He didn’t appear put off by her glare, smiling warmly at her as he leaned forward to nuzzle her nose. “Which reminds me, one of those rules is that you need to inform me the next time you think of doing something dangerous - even if you think I’ll try and stop you.”

“Informing you I was coming to the event would have defeated-” His lips cut her off, kissing her lightly mid sentence. She could have kept talking, the pressure so light, but the sheer casual act of it caught her off guard and effectively silenced her ability to speak.

“Just humor me. Agree so I can set my mind at ease for now.”

“Fine.” Her hands were on his shoulders, clenching and unclenching the fabric of his expensive clothing. “You should change, you’re going to get wrinkles in your expensive suit and I need to shower.” Jinshi sighed, his hands nudging at the exposed flesh at her hips.

“In a moment. I have a proposal for you.” Her mind had zeroed in on the contact, a gentle heat creeping up her chest that would no doubt show on her face in a moment.

“Can’t it wait?”

“I asked the hospital to send me your xrays, I thought you might be interested in studying them while I changed and showered.” He said, ignoring her question. She instantly felt her attention sharpen to his words, proverbial ears perking as she began to form images in her head of what she imagined they would look like. Of course she had seen an xray before, but never one for an injury that she could physically touch. She was practically vibrating with excitement, causing Jinshi to chuckle and bring her back to what had led to the revelation in the first place.

“What do I have to do?” Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, already mentally calculating what the images were worth to her.

“I’d like you to stay here tonight - in my room.” This time it was Jinshi’s turn to blush, it crept up his face fast and hard.

The contrast of them always surprised her - Maomao’s blush was always borne of actions. She could give him a very thorough lecture on physical intimacy and she wouldn’t so much as blink and yet the simple action of his fingers grazing the flesh of her hip was enough to set her on fire. And yet she was sitting in the lap of a man who could drag sounds from her that she didn’t think were possible with nothing but hunger in his eyes, but the simple action of asking her to spend the night in his bed was enough to have him flustered like a virgin in a brothel.

Of course she knew he meant the literal action of sleeping with him, but she felt a debt was owed from how hard her heart was still beating in her chest.

She raised a practiced eyebrow, mimicking her sister Jyoka as closely as she could when a customer suggested she do something unsavory.

“I think my sisters would be terribly disappointed if I traded my virginity for an xray of my own ankle.”

Jinshi’s mouth dropped open, his face increasing in its redness so much that it looked as though he had a sunburn. He looked mortified, his hands releasing his hold on her to way in between them as if he could wave her words away.

“N-No! I didn’t - I mean not that I wouldn’t-” She raised another eyebrow, as if surprised he would double down on his insult. “I mean of course I wouldn’t! Not unless it was something you- I mean I’m not expecting-”

His panic flustered was so amusing that Maomao couldn’t keep her face straight any longer, a laughter she hadn’t heard in years bubbling out of her until she could barely breathe. Her eyes scrunched shut, she couldn’t see the way Jinshi was watching her as if he was witnessing a miracle happen just for him.

“Are you…teasing me?” His disbelieving tone only fueled her laughter, to the point that tears were starting to form in her eyes.

It was all so absurd. Mere months ago she would never have imagined she’d be sitting in the lap of probably the second richest man in the country after saving his life from a poisoning attempt and teasing him for accidentally insinuating that he would give her xrays of all things if she slept with him.

Jinshi lifted her up, standing easily while adjusting her so that he could place her back on the bed gently.

“Just because you teased me, I’m showering first.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone and doing something with it before he handed it to her. “Enjoy looking at your broken bones.”

She took the phone gingerly, wiping her eyes with her other hand as her laughter subsided.

“You could just message me the pictures, I don’t need your whole phone.”

“The only thing I ever wanted to hide from you was your name in my phone, so snoop if you really want.”

She watched as he rummaged through his dresser, grabbing clothes before he disappeared into the shower and shut the door. A moment later the water started and Maomao could do nothing but stare at his phone in her hands.

With the amount of moaning and whining she had heard from patrons and the other female strippers about their respective partners hiding things in their phones she had expected men in general to be more protective of it. The fact that Jinshi had given her permission to go through his personal messages was unnerving and somehow strangely comforting at the same time.

Then she saw the images and her mind was completely lost in them, swiping through them slowly and analyzing the fracture from every angle. Her initial diagnosis was spot on, she was pleased to find, and as she suspected there was no widening on the mortise view.

Curled up in bed, practically kicking her feet as she scrolled, she didn’t realize she had reached the end until the photos minimized themselves when she swiped for the next one - returning her to the email from the hospital.

Where the bill for her visit was clearly called out.

“Ten thousand.” She whispered to herself. That was outrageous, even for a private hospital. Even if she gave her most ludicrous estimations for the cost of xrays, reading the xrays, the consult from the physician…it shouldn’t have been more than six. There wasn’t even an itemized bill attached for her to figure out what exactly had costed so much.

There was no way she could pay that back, and no way she could allow Jinshi to front that much money for her. He seemed reasonable enough that he might accept a payment plan, but even if she pushed her budget and worked extra shifts it would take her years to pay off…

Jinshi emerged from the bathroom in the middle of her crisis pondering, managing to creep up behind her and see what she was looking at before he reached over and pulled the phone from her hands. She turned to find him shirtless, water still dripping from his hair as he frowned down at her.

“I didn’t realize they had included the bill in the email, or I would have just sent you the photos.”

“I think you’re being scammed.” She said, rolling over to look at him properly without craning her neck. “Even for a privatized hospital, that’s nearly double what it should be.” Jinshi ran a hand through his hair, putting his phone down on his bedside table.

“The physician is a private physician, he’s on company payroll. The company pays for it - normally I don’t even see the bill but I guess they included it with the xrays for formality.” He seemed embarrassed, which made no sense. She was the one that should be mortified that she had costed him so much.

“Are you allowed to misuse company funds like that? I am not an employee.”

“I will take full responsibility if anyone complains about it.” He held out a hand for her, “but for now you should shower. Suiren should be bringing dinner up soon and then we should sleep.”

She had to admit, a shower sounded really nice right now. Taking his hand she allowed him to pull her to her feet, taking a gentle testing step and wincing as pain shot through her leg from her ankle. Jinshi frowned when he saw, his hands immediately moving to her hips to stabilize her.

“My shower has a seat in it.” He said as he helped her walk to the bathroom. “It's helpful when I'm too tired to stand.”

“What would be more helpful would be healthy sleep habits.”

“Something I am sure you will see too now that you’re staying with me.”

He helped her settle on the edge of the bathtub, showing her the controls for his shower before standing - hovering - over her with a look of awkward concern on his face. Like he wanted to offer more help but wasn’t sure where to draw the line in their current relationship.

“I can manage to shower without injuring myself, I promise.” He nodded to himself, but still moved the towel stand closer to the shower edge so she could reach the towel without needing to get out.

“I’ll be in the room, if you need anything.”

She waited until the door clicked shut before she started to undress, her uniform deposited on the floor before she somehow maneuvered her way into the shower seat and turned on the water.

She reached for soap, her hand pausing as she realized there was an array of feminine products lining the edge of the tub. Not just feminine soaps and shampoos, but specifically the ones she preferred to use. Gentle scents of green tea and lemon verbena, a scent that Jyoka had turned her on to with expensive products that she was always giving her from her own collection. The soap in particular had been one that Maomao had enjoyed so much she had actually attempted to purchase it herself.

Before she had realized it was $80 for a single bottle.

Beside it all was a sage green hand cloth, folded neatly as if he knew she would be taking a shower tonight.

There’s no way he could pull all this off in a single night. He had to have purchased everything ahead of time, had to have asked her sister what she would like in order to know about this specific soap.

Had to think about her comfort and wants.

Against her will, Maomao felt her eyes starting to tear up. Even her sisters, though their intentions were nothing but kind, had never really stopped to consider what she actually liked. Every gift, every gesture - it was expensive and lavish and not at all to her taste.

But Jinshi, a man who had only known her for a few weeks, had chosen the perfect first date at the aquarium, perfectly content to let her walk around and talk for hours about her fascination with poisonous fish. The second date clearly was something he hated, and yet he slept in a chair to let her have her time in a space where she actually wanted to be.

Maomao knew that she could be callous, had been so with him multiple times when she felt the fear of someone chipping away at her carefully constructed walls and yet he kept coming back to her. Against all her attempts, and any form of rational thinking that would tell him that she didn’t want him - he always came back.

He had bought her her favorite soap.

She let herself sit in the water, unsure of where her silent tears started and the stream from the shower head ended, until she felt the water start to go cold and her tears soothe into something warm and soft in her chest.

Only when she had managed to reposition herself at the end of the tub, a towel wrapped chastely around her, did she realize she hadn’t brought a change of clothes. She debated putting back on the uniform but it was tight and stifling and she felt the exhaustion of the night creeping in.

“Jinshi?” Her voice was tentative and quiet, and yet half a second later he was cracking open the door without looking in. “I don’t have anything to change into.”

“I have some old sweatpants and a tshirt…can I come in?”

“I’m decent.”

Slowly Jinshi entered the room, his hair dry and a shirt of his own covering his well sculpted body. His face was already pink, and he clearly did his best to not look at her and he moved to place the neatly folded clothing he had brought on the same towel rack he had pulled closer.

As he pulled away, he stopped. His body tensed as his eyes seemed to be stuck on something. On her? Maomao followed the direction of his gaze to see that the towel wasn’t covering the part of her leg that she used for her suture practice. A battlefield of neatly carved lines, healed and shiny with scar tissue in various degrees of precision as she perfected her craft over the years.

It must look horrendous to someone without a medical eye - even with a medical background she knew how unorthodox her methods of learning were.

“They aren’t what you’re thinking.” She couldn’t quite meet his eyes, but she forced herself not to pull the towel down to hide her scars. “Though it's probably not much better, considering your previous reactions.”

He didn’t say anything, for a long time he seemed completely frozen in his spot until curiosity overtook her and she peaked up to find him staring at her - his eyes roaming her face as if looking for something.

The silence was uncomfortable, and Maomao couldn’t sit in it any longer.

But neither could she let him sit with whatever scenarios his mind was running through.

“Med school is expensive.” She found herself saying, speaking quietly into the air between them as if he wasn’t even there. “I was barely affording tuition, even with the grants I had, and I couldn’t afford the equipment I needed to properly practice new techniques outside of labs in classes.” Jinshi still didn’t speak, but slowly he settled himself on the ground in front of her. His movements reminded her of when Xiaolan had found a stray cat outside of the Verdigris, how she had slowly knelt down in order to not spook it.

The cat had run away in the end, and Xiolan had cried her poor little heart out thinking about how awful its life must be on the street.

Well, I certainly can’t just slink off into an alley like it did.

He bought her favorite soap.

“My grants were dependent on me being top of class; despite what everyone seems to think I am not some prodigy. My knowledge comes from late nights, constant studying, and hours of practical practice. I gave up a lot of myself to try and stay ahead of my peers. While they studied on pig’s skin that couldn’t bleed I practiced on my own skin.” It had been worth it, her professors had praised her technique and steady hand - a steadiness born of learning to ignore physical pain while suturing.

“Why did you drop out?” His question was quiet, almost as if he had asked himself rather than her.

“It doesn’t matter now.”

“It does.” She could feel his eyes on her, but she refused to look at him. Instead her eyes traced the skin of her leg, almost as if she could remember every night she had carved into her skin. “It clearly meant a lot to you, for you to be willing to go this far. People don’t hurt themselves over things that don’t matter to them.”

“I’m-”

“You’re passionate.” Jinshi interrupted her, his hands slowly slipping into her lap to grab her own hands where they were unconsciously frayed at the loose ends of the towel. “You’re passionate to the point that even the thought of your own health and safety gets disregarded. There’s nothing wrong with your passion…your methods could use some work though.”

“My methods got me a perfect GPA.”

“And permanent scarring.” She scowled at him.

“I don’t care about a few scars.”

“It’s not about the scars themselves, Maomao.” He sighed, his head hanging between his arms in what she thought was defeat before he lifted it again - a new look of determination in his eyes. “Next time you need to practice your stitches, you’ll practice on my leg.”

“That would be highly unethical.”

“Why? I consented to it.”

“Consent isn’t the issue.”

“Then what is, Maomao?” He squeezed her hands, pulling them to him almost as if praying over them. “What is the difference between you and me in this scenario, if you’re the one holding the needle in both?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but knew she had nothing to say that would sound logical. She was disposable, damaged - what did a few more scars matter when she never expected anyone to ever see them anyway? He was unflawed, objectively beautiful - a scar would be like taking a brush and drawing a line through a priceless masterpiece.

He was trying to get her to admit that she inherently valued herself less than him, but she already knew he would never accept the truth that her evaluation was based on fact. But the way he was looking at her, like she actually was painting a black mark through his own personal art piece, made her chest ache uncomfortably.

He bought your favorite soap.

“I promise not to do it again, if it makes you happy.” For a moment he seemed like he would keep arguing, but he merely kissed her hands as if she had promised him something far more valuable.

“It does, very much. Thank you, Maomao.” He stood, pulling her up with him slowly so that she could steady herself carefully against him. “You should change - Suiren brought food up if you’re hungry.”

He left her alone to change, though Maomao could tell he was lingering just outside of the door by the passing shadow of his feet through the gaps. The clothes he had given her were warm, like they had been just pulled from a dryer. The sweatpants were too long, forcing her to tie the straps tightly above her hips to prevent them from slipping off. The shirt was just as loose and she was forced to have it hang off her shoulder or else it would dip far too low on her chest. She contemplated putting her bra back on but comfort over decency seemed to be the call here.

It’s not like he hasn’t seen it anyway.

She limped slowly to the door and opened it to find him exactly where she thought he had been.

They stared at each other for a moment, Maomao entranced by the way his throat bobbed as if he was trying to swallow words that just wouldn’t go down. His fingers twitched at his side, his breathing shallow and slow - if she hadn’t been sure he hadn’t consumed something she would assume he was under the influence of some kind of drug.

She reached a hand up, the back of her palm touching his cheek in a clinical fashion. It was warm and smooth, and when she trailed her knuckle slightly down his jaw it seemed to bring him back to himself.

“Come eat.”

They settled on opposite sides of Jinshi’s bed, the man insisting on taking extra time to prop her foot up on pillows and ensure she was comfortable before bringing her folding food tray and effectively locked her in place with her food. He sat cross legged beside her foot, his own food in his hand as they ate in silence for a while.

“I’ll need to return to my apartment to collect things I’ll need if I’m going to be staying here.”

“I need to do some work in the morning, but we can go together in the afternoon.”

She looked up to argue with him, but the exhaustion that was so clear on his face made her pause. His words from the car rang in her ears, his comment on him reaching the end of his restraint with her disregard of her own safety. She supposed he had tried to be accommodating to her…

“Okay.”

A beat of surprised silence.

“I’m not going to lie, I expected more of an argument from you.” She cut him a glare.

“Would you like me to reconsider being amicable?” Jinshi laughed lightly, standing to take her empty plate and tray from her, piling his own on top.

“Thank you.” He pressed a kiss to her hair as her straightened, disappearing for only a moment until he returned empty handed and closed his door.

Awkwardness settled over her, unsure of what to do or say when spending the night in a man’s bed. She had shared with her sisters countless times, mostly against her will, but they had done all the talking while Maomao just silently endured it.

Jinshi appeared to share in her awkwardness, carefully climbing into his side of the bed as if he had never slept in it before and was scared that something might happen if he did it wrong. Maomao busied herself with settling in, pulling the covers over herself with deliberate slowness as she waited for Jinshi to say or do something that required a reaction.

He opened his phone, doing something with it before the lights went out and Maomao could no longer see.

“You have remote controlled lights in your bedroom.”

“The light switch is on the other side of the room.” He was whining, she could already see the pout on his face as her eyes quickly adjusted to the lack of light.

“Maybe I should change your name in my phone to ‘spoiled’ brat instead.” She turned to roll over, feeling the bed adjust as Jinshi himself seemed to get comfortable.

Then his arm snaked around her waist, pulling her lightly until her back was flush against him and his breath was in her hair.

Silence, and then the soft whisper of his voice.

“Is this okay?”

Was it? She could feel every inch of him pressed against her body, every breath he took expanded contact against her until she felt her own breath syncing with his. He was warm, a little warmer than Maomao preferred to be when she was sleeping, but it wasn’t unenjoyable.

If she was in the mood to be honest with herself, it felt nice.

“It’s okay.”

He nuzzled further into her hair, and Maomao could feel the rest of the tension in his body bleed out of him instantly.

“Goodnight, Maomao.”

“Goodnight.”

Maomao kept her eyes open, finding it hard to sleep with another body wrapped so closely around her. She instead focused on Jinshi’s breathing, waiting for it to even out and deepen, for his hold to loosen as sleep finally claimed him and she found herself rolling her eyes as he started snoring lightly.

“Of course you snore.” But she found herself smiling, amused more than annoyed at the revelation.

Carefully she wiggled out of his hold, putting a little distance between them as she turned to face him.

Even in the darkness she could see the outline of his features well enough to know he was well and truly asleep. His brow finally clear of any lines he looked at peace for the first time that night.

She still couldn’t comprehend why he was still here, with her. She gave him nothing that she considered worth the stress and anxiety she appeared to be causing him and she was hardly delusional to think she was conventionally beautiful enough to make it worth it for him.

He bought your favorite soap.

The warmth in her chest was still there, settled in deep in her bones in a way that made her suspect it had found a home there despite her best attempts to keep it out. She hadn’t thanked him for it, hadn’t wanted him to know just how much something so simple meant to her.

She looked at his sleeping face, leaned in before she could second guess herself, and placed a light kiss against his lips so as not to wake him.

“Thank you for the soap, Jinshi.”

Closing her eyes, she let the soft rhythmic sound of his breathing lull her to sleep.