Love O2O- Beyond a Beautiful Smile

Chapter 34- The Talk. Take Two. Kind of.

A/N: this chapter is brought to you by the big M and is fuelled with the high shrill of young children playing on an indoor playground, and mochas with whipped cream. (Feel my pain)

By the time Hao Mei realised that they had, once again, left work in the middle of the day, it was too late to go back in. The damage had been done and even though Mei had sent Xiao Nai a text apologising he couldn't help feeling guilty. He wasn't meaning to take advantage of the fact that his boss was also one of his closest friends... it just kept turning out that way. It's not my fault!!! He sighed and buried his face in his hands. Why did he get the feeling he'd been thinking that a lot lately?

    All night, his phone had received a near constant influx of texts. Initially they had just been from Yu Ban Shan and Qui Yong Hou, touching base and making sure he hadn't killed KO, and vice versa. It appeared as though getting no response from Hao Mei had given them the green light to share the story with the rest of the office; his phone had vibrated non stop with messages from everyone in the office until he'd finally gotten tired of it all and turned the damn thing off. Of course, that hadn't stopped anyone and all the messages had been there waiting for him this morning. To make matters worse, the messages had encouraged KO in his teasing.

From the moment Hao Mei had dragged himself up the stairs and into the office, KO had been not-so-subtly pushing his agenda. Everyone in the office thought it was a great joke and their teasing and ribbing kept egging KO on.

When he turned his computer on and discovered that his password had been changed; "Marry me." (One word, no capitals and he noted that there was no question mark at the end- arrogant bastard.)

When he asked KO to send him the updated patch so he could adjust the coding; "Say "yes" first."

When he got up to get a drink and asked the rest of the programming team if anyone needed anything; "a marriage licence."

He slumped forward in his seat, hiding his face in folded arms. Diagonally opposite him, KO lounged back in his computer chair, barely restrained humour making his eyes dance despite the lack of expression on his face. Around Mei, hemming him in from all sides, were Yu Ban Shan, Qui Yong Hou, Wang Wei, and Li Qiang... all pestering him about when he was going to take responsibility and set a date!!!!

The ding from the elevator was like a life line and Mei bolted towards the doors- Laosan and Saosan would save him!

"Laosan, you're finally here! As soon as he got here, KO started harassing me!"

Bei Wei Wei's eyes sparkled. "How is he harassing you?"

She cleared her threat and tried again, lowering her voice so she didn't sound quite as excited. "Hao Mei, how is he harassing you? Tell us all the details. Don't leave anything out."

Xiao Nai pinched her side and she flinched slightly, gave him a dirty look and then continued. "We'll definitely uphold justice for you."

The by-play hadn't gone unnoticed by Mei but he wasn't going to say anything when he finally had someone on his side.

"He insists that I log on to that old game and pair up with him."

"How can he do that? That's absurd." Wei Wei shook her head at KO's actions but laughter was starting to creep back in to her voice.

"Exactly." Mei just knew that Saosan would support him. "He said that he was ridiculed before so he insists that I make up for it."

He could help pouting at the injustice of his situation. All he could complain about to everyone was KO's insistence on marrying him in the game- he couldn't fully explain that he'd initially thought it was a real proposal, or that KO was enforcing a celibate life until he agreed. All he could do was grumble about the game... so he did. "So many people have come and gone from the game- what's the point of doing that now?"