53 Chapter 53- The Lull Before the Storm

Lunch was relatively uneventful. When they'd all gathered on the patio near their rooms, Mei fully expected some teasing from at least Yu Ban Shan and Qui Yong Hou, but the pair were surprisingly silent. There was the remark Ban Shan made about Mei eyeing off the cook the way you usually eye off the food you're eating, but Mei was confident he'd got him back for that by feeding KO the lamb skewer he'd pretended to offer to his oldest bro.Then there was the comment Wang Wei made, when they were all swapping accounts to battle each other for food, about Mei being so successful on the Lu Wei Wei Wei account because they were both wives. But Wang Wei had taken it back when Mei trounced him so emphatically he wasn't able to make a single hit on the Red Xia character. He'd lost almost as badly as Ban Shan and Mei couldn't help feeling proud of himself for giving as good as he got.

He was feeding the chef lamb skewers (couldn't have the cook go hungry after all- then who would feed the rest of the horde?) when Xiao Nai took Wei Wei off for a walk. Whistles and jeers followed them before barbecue and beer proved too enticing to ignore.

"Eh... so good. This is why I told laosan he should hire you." Ban Shan licked marinade off his fingers.

"Who told laosan to hire him?" Mei waggled his finger at the bald faced liar. "You were pacing in the foyer determined that laosan was hiring a thug who was going to murder us at our desks."

"You weren't any better," Yong Hou grabbed a fresh beer, twisting the cap off with a satisfying hiss. "As I recall, you were armed with the toilet mop."

"Toilet mop?"

"What were you going to do with that?"

"I was going to stink him out. If he tried anything I was going to chase him with the mop and the smell would make him faint."

"Good plan."

"Didn't work though."

"Well, when I saw KO I didn't think he was going to murder us at our desks."

"He saves the stabbing for underneath the desk huh?" Ban Shan's mumble was only heard clearly by Mei who immediately took offence.

"Ya! What did you say! I'll murder you." The chair toppled over when Ban Shan scrabbled out of it, scuttling away from Mei's grasping fingers. The pair chased each other around the tables, knocking over empty bottles that had been left on the ground and sending their friends into a panic as everyone tried to save their plates of food. An impasse was briefly reached when Ban Shan and Mei found themselves on opposite sides of the largest table.

"You can't win this, Mr Beauty," Ban Shan's laughter was raspy as he tried not to pant. "Truce?"

"Truce my arse."

"I'll leave that to your husband over theeeeeeeeeere.... grab him!" At Ban Shan's taunt, Mei launched himself over the table. His plan was foiled when Wang Wei and Yong Hou obeyed Ban Shan's direction and grabbed Mei's arms. Before he had a chance to blink, Mei was pinned to the table and Ban Shan was pulling his shirt over his head.

"Bastards," he tried to kick but quickly discovered that it was useless. Why do I keep getting ganged up on like this? It's not fair!

"Mei-he," Ban Shan's voice was somber, all hint of teasing disappeared. "What happened?"

"What happened? You cheated! Calling in reinforcements, bah." Opening his eyes, Mei looked up at his eldest brother. The seriousness of Ban Shan's expression made him gulp. Who knew his playful friend could look so cold? It suddenly occurred to Mei that with his shirt on the ground, his chest and stomach were left bare and that meant... "Oh. Ah... nothing? Nothing happened?"

"You're covered in rope burn. That's not nothing."

"Let me up." All Mei wanted at that moment was to cover himself with his arms. Or a shirt. Preferably a fluffy parka so he could bury his face in it too.

"We're not letting you up until you explain." Yong Hou gently touched one of the bruises corded around Mei's stomach. The younger man flinched slightly which only made his friend's faces tighten even further. "Who did this to you?"

Mei stared at them and clamped his lips shut. He wasn't saying a word. Nothing. They could wait here all day until laosan returned and rescued him. Why am I waiting for Xiao Nai to rescue me? Where's KO? On cue, his partner in crime stepped forward, parting their friends with a single look so he could reach the table. When Ban Shan and Yong Hou refused to move away from Mei, KO glared at them until they slowly released Mei's hands. With an arm under Mei's shoulder, KO helped him sit.

"It was a joint effort."

The silence was deafening. Blood rushed to Mei's face and he hid it against KO's chest. The arm around his shoulder tightened.

"Ah..." Ban Shan started to speak, then stopped. It was a miracle to see him speechless but Mei wasn't sure he appreciated being the reason behind such a miraculous event.

"Please explain?" Yong Hou folded his arms and narrowed his eyes at the pair. With Mei's face hidden against KO's chest it was hard to tell what he was thinking, however everyone could see the tips of his ears turn red. "Are you saying that Mei wanted to resemble a goose trussed for roasting?"

"No. That part wasn't deliberate. But it was still a joint effort." Mei pinched KO's waist. Damn the hacker and his sudden verbosity when talking about sex. Did he not realise that now was he perfect time to keep quiet?

"Ah!" It suddenly dawned on Li Qiang what had happened. "Didn't you organise a safe word beforehand?"

KO shook his head and unconsciously stroked Mei's back.

"Idiots. It's Kink 101. Always have a safe word."

"How do you know that?" Wang Wei eyes Li Qiang suspiciously.

"I'm the Creative type... we have imaginations," not at all perturbed by the fact that he'd revealed more about himself than the others wanted to know, Li Qiang focussed again on KO and Mei. "If you had used a safe word then it probably wouldn't be as bad."

KO opened his mouth and Mei sprung up, kneeling in the table with his hands over the hacker's mouth.

"Do. Not. Speak." He narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him, not at all trusting the warmth he could see on the hacker's face.

"Oh ho..." Li Qiang chuckled. "Maybe it would have been as bad. Mei-ge, I never picked you for an M."

Waving his middle finger at his grinning friend, Mei plonked his butt on the table, legs on either side of KO's waist and once more buried his face against the man's chest. "I can't deal with this. Just talk."

KO wrapped his arms around Mei and took him at his word. "He never said stop."

Li Qiang looked surprised. "Never?"

"Never."

"Huh." Their friends shifted uncomfortably and Li Qiang took pity on everyone. "We can talk in your room, without an audience."

"Hmm." KO inclined his head.

"So... we're not worried about Mei looking like a kidnapping victim?" Ban Shan looked between KO and Li Qiang, still not completely sure he knew what was going on. When Li Qiang and KO both shook their heads, Ban Shan sighed. "Okay... I think I'm better off not knowing. I feel like a father finding out his daughter is no longer pure."

A burst of laughter greeted his words and that acted as the cue for everyone to once more take their seats. When KO went to lift Mei off the table, Yong Hou held his hand up.

"We're not finished with you two yet. I believe you both have something to tell us." When neither man rushed to fill the gap, Yong Hou sighed. "Particularly you, Mei-ge. I believe you have something to tell us about your parents?"

"It's a family matter," Mei's voice was muffled against KO.

"And we're not family?" The hurt in Yong Hou's voice made Mei lift his head, twisting around to look at the brother he'd chosen.

"Monkey Hou... don't say that. You're family."

"Then share, Mei. A load shared is a load halved. Let your family help."

When Mei looked up at KO, his partner nodded at him, silently encouraging to fill everyone in on his situation. With a sigh, he twisted around to sit cross legged on the table with KO as a backrest.

"I need beer." At his words, everyone grabbed more bottles from the cooler, placing them in the middle of the table and dragging their chairs to sit together. "It started before I came to Beijing..."

"That long ago?" Ban Shan whacked Yong Hou over the back of the head.

"Shut up and let him talk."

"I told you I needed beer to tell it."

"If it's that long a story, shouldn't it start with 'long long ago'?" Wang Wei raised a valid point.

"In a galaxy far far away?" Li Qiang raised his bottle in cheers with Wang Wei before both were shouted down.

Mei rolled his eyes, the teasing and joking making it easier to share.

"Long long ago in a province far far away, a young boy dreamed of being a game designer...."

It was a relief to just speak. To tell his brothers about his part time modelling, his propensity for playing the stock market like some people play online games, and his parents adamant refusal to acknowledge that he had studied IT rather than business. Ban Shan and Yong Hou were both taken aback with how much they didn't know about someone they had shared a room with for four years. Mei knew that keeping secrets had hurt them, but he also knew that if they'd found out earlier he would have been the subject of teasing and he hadn't been confident enough in himself to stand up to his friends as well as his parents. It was different now- the warmth at his back a constant reminder that he wasn't alone; he had KO now.

When he talked about his mother's machinations in attempting to marry him off, Ban Shan's face clouded over. When his father's determination to reel him back in to line was revealed, Yong Hou couldn't stay sitting anymore; pushing his chair back with a screech and pacing behind the others as Mei kept talking. The arrangement with Xiao Nai was also exposed, as Mei explained that he had financed the purchasing of the properties but they had been signed off on by laosan, sohis parent's couldn't touch them. It wasn't until he reached the latest development in his story that Mei stumbled.

"And? I know you didn't take a phone call in the room when we were all singing karaoke. So what happened?" Li Qiang leaned forward, elbows on the table.

"I was drinking," Mei cleared his throat.

"We all were. It was a celebration. So? What happened?"

He cleared his throat again while his face flushed.

"Ah... they wanted to me to go home again. Thought that they'd left me nowhere to go after selling the unit."

"And?"

"... they wanted me to get married to a girl of their choice...."

"And?"

"He accidentally came out to his parents." Xiao Nai's comment made everyone jump. Engrossed in Mei's story, no one had noticed him and Wei Wei return. With a slight smile on his face, Xiao Nai held onto his furen's hand as everyone turned their attention to their boss. "He rang me straight away to let me know. His father has connections and has already proven he won't play fair; Mei was worried he would retaliate against the company if he couldn't get his son to obey."

A whisper of murmurs rustled through the gathered men. They all knew about filial piety, and all knew that when money was involved, the duality of that piety frequently got twisted.

"Can he harm Zhi Yi Technologies?" Ban Shan folded his arms over his chest, thinking hard about the possible consequences.

"He can try." Xiao Nai's words spurred on a chorus of agreement- everyone nodding and adding their own challenge to Mei's parents. All had been with Zhi Yi and Xiao Nai from the beginning- before he'd found their own office space these men had been coding at home and in Internet cafes. Xiao Nai's company was their company and no outsider, not even one related by blood, was going to be allowed to harm what they had created.

"What do we do?" Wang Wei spoke for all of them- determination clear in each face. "I assume you already have a plan."

"I do." Xiao Nai nodded his approval at his staff's unity. "First, we need to enjoy this break. You've all worked hard and deserve the treat. KO and I already have procedures in place for while we're away. Time enough to worry when we return to the office."

Wide eyed, Mei looked up at KO. "You do?"

"Hmm." Unable to help himself, KO bent his head and dropped a kiss on Mei's nose. "You're mine. And laoda's. You were right- neither of us will let someone hurt you."

"Oh." A brilliant smile lit Mei's face as his eyes locked with KO's. For the onlookers, they could swear the air around the couple had turned pink and filled with hearts.

"Okay, Okay," Ban Shan clapped his hands, breaking the spell between the pair. "You've got an audience and seeing those marks was bad enough... we don't need a first hand demonstration. Mei-ge, put some clothes on."

Mei scowled at his friend as he pulled his shirt over his head. "Who was it got rid of the shirt in the first place?"

"Eh, Eh...." Waving Mei's logic off, Ban Shan returned to more pressing matters. "You all heard laosan? No worry until the office... so back to celebrating! It's almost time for dinner! Let's have another challenge round and loser pays for dessert in the hotel restaurant?"

As the men pulled their laptops out once more, Mei smothered a grin as he heard Wei Wei turn to Xiao Nai.

"How did Senior Beauty get those marks?" She was wide eyed, completely oblivious and Mei chuckled at the look on Xiao Nai's face. It was rare to see his laosan so perturbed... as he logged in to his Dreams of Jiangshu account he made a mental note to stay far away from Xiao Nai until he'd forgotten the incident. Mei really didn't need a sandstorm attack in retaliation! KO lifted Mei and sat on the chair, putting his partner on his lap as the younger man continued tapping at the keyboard. As Mei played the challenge round, KO watched over his shoulder with an arm wrapped around his waist. Although Mei gave no indication ofbeing aware of KO's presence, it warmed him nonetheless. Annihilating Li Qiang with a loud cheer, Mei used the win as an excuse to cheer- loudly expressing his happiness to all around. Even though he knew the peace was temporary- he knew his parents too well to think they'd leave well enough alone- he took a moment to feel grateful for the family he had chosen... and who had chosen him. When the storm came, they'd be ready.

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