Chapter 290 - This Is Bliss (The End)

"How about it, Mastermo?" 

Zhihao couldn't help but mentally roll his eyes as he heard this man. 

They had only met about ten or twenty minutes ago, but it seemed that this confident youth was a bit too interested in Zhihao and Zhihao was certainly not enjoying this special treatment. 

"I'm sorry but I would have to decline your offer," Zhihao pushed the file back towards the man as he politely rejected and got ready to stand up, however, the man sitting in front of him stopped him as he covered Zhihao's hand with his own. 

"Think about it carefully," The man spoke with a small smirk, "This might just do you and your company good." 

The man softly squeezed Zhihao's hand as if trying to reassure him or something, however, this action seemed to have pissed Zhihao off. 

"Excuse me?" Zhihao's eyes narrowed down on the man's hand that was covering his own, "Please let go of me." 

The man chuckled but didn't move his hand away which seemed to have pissed Zhihao off completely. 

Zhihao pushed the man's hand off and took out a napkin from his pocket before he wiped his hand. This action should have certainly pissed anyone off and the man in front also looked to be a bit shocked that Zhihao would do something so outrightly disrespectful in front of him, however, before he could say anything about it, Zhihao already spoke up, explaining his actions with a blatant lie.

With a thin smile on his face, Zhihao spoke, "I have sensitive skin and human hands are filled with all kinds of bacterias. I would never know where it has been and it's better to take precautions."

"..."

The man didn't believe it, but he didn't want to lose face either so he dare not call Zhihao out for lying. 

In order to hide his embarrassment, the man chuckled as he nodded in understanding, "Skin conditions are common. As you have said, precaution is better than cure." 

"Thank you for understanding, Mr. Xu."

"You don't have to be so polite to me," Mr. Xu chuckled as he immediately responded, "You can just call me A-Xu if you'd like."

"But I don't like," Zhihao also replied without missing a beat. 

"..." 

"I'm more comfortable with calling you Mr. Xu," Zhihao added with a small smile that was certainly as fake as it could get, "You see, my cousin had a dog named A-Xu." 

Mr. Xu smiled brightly as he heard this and was about to say something but was stopped by Zhihao who continued.

"He was mauled to death by a big cat because he didn't know his own limits. Quite a sad story really but it just comes to teach us all a lesson." 

Mr. Xu was a bit speechless for a few seconds as he muttered, "You don't have cousins..." 

It was true, the story was indeed fake and Zhihao had no cousins. At least, not any direct cousins. 

His mother was an only child and his father only had one sister who was still unmarried. 

So even an idiot who knew the basic information about Zhihao would be able to tell that there was no dog named A-Xu in Zhihao's family. 

Mr. Xu sighed as he once again tried to seduce Zhihao, however, it seemed that flirting with this man was like flirting with a wall. 

"Then can I call you A-Zhi?" Mr. Xu asked as he tilted his head and tried to look innocent. 

Zhihao also tilted his head to the other side as he questioned, "Is there a problem with your neck?" 

"..." 

"And please refrain from calling me that. It would make me wanna puke." 

"..."

After having such an unpleasant conversation with the man, Zhihao was sure the man would no longer have any energy or courage to continue trying to hit on Zhihao, but it seemed that this Mr. Xu was a thick-skinned individual who was full of surprises (and not in a good way). 

"Then how about I call you Zhihao?" The man beamed. 

"No, that also makes me want to puke," Zhihao simply shrugged his shoulder as he stated. 

The man sighed as he picked up his broken self-esteem and continued to try even after being hit so hard with Zhihao's straightforward words, "I guess I'll just stick to Mastermo. It sounds a lot better too, don't you think?" 

"Of course, it sounds good," Zhihao nodded his head as he finally agreed on something with the man, "After all, I'm the one who chose the name so it would be more shocking if it didn't sound good."

The man was left a bit speechless as he heard this but he still decided to awkwardly laugh it off as he commented, "You're quite confident, Mastermo. I like it." 

"I hear that a lot," Zhihao nodded his head as he simply accepted the compliment and didn't even bother thanking the man for it. 

Today, Mr. Xu, who had a crush on Zhihao, finally understood why everyone would say it was so hard to not be intimidated by this Mastermo. 

Talking to computers would be more pleasant than talking to this man! 

"Let's be honest with each other," Zhihao sighed as he leaned back on his chair and spoke, "I don't like your project plan and I have no interest in working together with you. My father thought I would change my mind once I get here and meet you, however, it seems that his plan had backfired on him. Now that I've personally met you and heard more about the plan, my interest in this project has entered the negative measurement scale." 

"..." 

"I hope you don't take it to heart," Zhihao spoke with a smile after saying such words that were certainly considered to be offensive towards a person, "You're a charming individual but I'm just not interested." 

Mr. Xu couldn't help but cough as he heard all this but the man's thick skin was really like an impenetrable armor.

"Not interested in me or the project?" 

"Not interested in both," Zhihao shrugged his shoulder as he honestly answered. 

"I see," Mr. Xu's eyes seemed to be twitching as he softly responded and Zhihao tried to once again stand up in order to leave this place, however, he was stopped for the second time as well. 

"How about you think over it?" Mr. Xu grabbed Zhihao's hand and held him back as he asked, looking at Zhihao with pleading eyes, "I'll give you my number. If you change your mind, just give me a call." 

Zhihao pursed his lips into a thin line as he pushed the man's hand away and replied, "That would have been great but I'm afraid I don't own a phone." 

Another blatant lie that nobody on this earth would believe... 

Mr. Xu also pursed his lips into a thin smile as he heard this and responded, "You can use your companies phone as well." 

"I'm afraid that is also impossible," Zhihao shook his head as he responded, "After that T.I.A.D. incident, the phones kept ringing nonstop so my father got frustrated and broke them all."

"..." 

"None of my family members have a phone either and there are no call booths near my house," Zhihao added without giving the man a chance to respond. 

To say that Mr. Xu was speechless would be an understatement at this point. 

In this day and age, there was certainly nobody who could live without a phone, especially if that person was the great Mastermo! 

Mr. Xu would have to be an idiot if he were to believe such bullshit. 

"Then, I'll be taking my leave now," Zhihao politely bowed his head before turning around and leaving the place. 

Mr. Xu, who had failed at both flirting and his job, "..." 

Just how the hell did that devilmagiclover get this guy?! 

Zhihao immediately headed back to the office and on the way there, he came across a coffee shop. 

A small smile crept upon his face as he immediately recognized the coffee shop. 

This was the same coffee shop he had gone to on the day when Zhihao and Li Ling had met. 

It had been about four years since he was here so now that Zhihao found this place again, he ought to go inside and buy something. 

.

.

.

Back at home, Li Ling was rolling around on the carpet, the same way a cat would.

The man had the day off and he had nothing better to do so maybe he suddenly wanted to roleplay a cat that was waiting for its master to come back home. 

Today, Zhihao came back home earlier than expected and the cat looked to be excited as he immediately jumped on the man, almost making the package in Zhihao's hand fall. 

Zhihao chuckled as he received such a warm and heavy greeting. Quite literally heavy because Li Ling had both his legs tightly wrapped around Zhihao as he hugged the man more like a monkey than a cat. 

"What's the cake for?" Li Ling asked with a chuckle and Zhihao was a bit surprised to hear this question since he thought that the man was yet to notice. 

"I wanted to celebrate meeting my soulmate."

"Eh?" Li Ling jumped down and looked to be a little confused, however, instead of clearing the confusion straightaway, Zhihao leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Li Ling's lip before speaking. 

"Today's the day we met." 

Li Ling frowned as he heard this and pointed out, "Didn't we meet around spring time?" 

Zhihao chuckled as he shook his head, "That's our second meeting. I'm talking about the first day we met at the arcade." 

"..." 

Such an old memory... It was only natural that Li Ling had forgotten the date, however, for some reason, Zhihao seemed to have remembered and this fact made Li Ling feel oddly happy. 

Li Ling had no idea what he was supposed to say at such a moment so he did the only thing that his heart wanted to do. 

He snatched the packaged cake from Zhihao's hand by distracting him with a small kiss and ran towards the kitchen. 

Zhihao, "..." 

For some reason, the more Zhihao got to live together with the man, the more he came to know that Li Ling was quite a childish person... and weirdly enough, Zhihao came to love this side of the man even more. 

Li Ling was finally being completely honest and completely open with Zhihao... 

This just made them want to love and cherish each other more and more as the days passed. 

Zhihao chuckled to himself as he took off his jacket and walked towards the kitchen, following after Li Ling. 

He had fallen too deep and now there was really no chance of him falling out of this feeling. 

"A-Zhi!" Li Ling called out to Zhihao after taking out the cake and placing it on a plate. 

"Hmm?" 

"Thank you for not giving up on me," Li Ling beamed and Zhihao couldn't help but smile as he nodded. 

"It's nothing to be thankful for. I wouldn't have given up on you even if you had asked me to." 

Li Ling felt a little happy to hear this and his happiness presented itself on his face as his cheeks flushed a tint of rose red. 

"Because I love you," Zhihao added with a warm smile. 

Li Ling clutched his chest as he commented, "That smile and those words... You're trying to kill me, aren't you...?!~" 

"Hmm," Zhihao hummed as a response and chuckled.

To live like this forever...  To be this happy forever... 

This was bliss...  This was heaven...