The Little Mermaid umm Merman

Saturday

Waking up at five in the morning no longer required an alarm clock as he'd been in California long enough to get used to the time zone. It was drizzling, so instead of heading out for a morning run, he headed to his basement and the treadmill he'd purchased. He was supposed to have a three mile run; he ran until the sweat was pouring off his body and his legs were so shaky he wasn't sure he'd be able to climb the stairs to go shower.

Today was going to be one of the worst days of his life.

His invitation to the Wen Productions, USA's launch party arrived almost two months ago. He'd politely responded 'no', and threw the invitation in the trash. He did not like the CEO, Wen RuoHan, and he didn't like the sons, either. The younger one, Wen Chao, was going to be heading the new operation. A week later his father's secretary emailed him that he would be the sole representative of Gusu Lan Talent Agency at the party. He'd called his father, reminding him, "I don't work for Gusu. I work for Cloud Recesses."

"And who owns Cloud Recesses? Who is paying for the building and remodeling so you can open a US school? Who is paying the lease on your apartment? You'll go and be polite and get us an in with them. Gusu Lan is actively recruiting talent who are bilingual so we can integrate them into the US market." It wouldn't have changed a thing to let his father know he wasn't living in the corporate apartment, that he'd bought a house. To his father, familial loyalty meant shoving your own wants and needs to the bottom of the list to ensure your parents' (emphasizing father's over mother's) wants and needs were met.

A phone call to his brother had been equally fruitless. "Didi, I'm sorry. I really am. I'm going to be in India that week. I'm courting a few Bollywood stars who are making noises about leaving their agencies. If we can get a foot in India? That's a huge pool to fish from." His brother understood why he didn't want to go. He knew every reason for Lan WangJi not wanting to go. "Maybe he won't be there," Lan XiChen offered. "Or if he is, you're probably not going to meet him. After all, he doesn't do any customer work for Lotus Pier from what I've been told. And you know as well as I that the Wens aren't going to invite him."

He'd even tried to get his uncle to help him out. Not even mentioning, "Uncle... Wei WuXian works at the venue," helped. And his uncle hated Wei WuXian with a passion. Not only was the Jiang's older boy a wildcard in class, disrupting lessons to debate with points not introduced to Chinese high school students, he'd done his best to rile up Lan WangJi on a daily basis. To Lan QiRen's dismay, Lan WangJi had fallen head over heels in love with his antagonist to the point of even applying to the same colleges. Not that he'd been allowed to follow Wei WuXian to the US to study.

Not that Wei WuXian would have wanted Lan WangJi to follow him to the US.

Or maybe he would have. After all, Wei WuXian had spent their three years together claiming he was only trying to make them become best friends. He would probably have suggested they become roommates. What a nightmare that would have been. Pining over his straight roommate? How cringey.

Speaking of cringey. What was I thinking last night? Blurting all that crud out for a stranger to read? He hadn't opened his dating app this morning, half afraid that Laozu would have blocked him. And half afraid that he wouldn't have.

His phone dinged with an incoming text message.

Fùqīn's sec: the car will be by at 4:30 to pick you up. At the apartment or the house?

WangJi: I'll drive myself.

How embarrassing to be driven. Some men liked it, liked the powerful image it gave. Lan WangJi didn't appreciate it. Given that the family chauffeurs drove a Bentley and a limo, he felt old and stuffy climbing out of the back of these cars. Wei WuXian used to call him a fuddy-duddy; he didn't need the assistance of a car to further prove Wei WuXian right.