Jiang YanLi measured out the flour and added the eggs, the baking soda and the other ingredients.

"Are you sure I can't help you?" Wei Ying wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"I'm sure, and didn't I tell you to go stand in the shop out front..." She said with a laugh.

"But Shijie...it's my day off...I really wanted to spend it with you!" He pouted.

"But I'm really late this morning." She said, her voice cracking slightly.

"Is my nephew playing up again?" Wei Ying rubbed her arms sympathetically.

"I dunno...I just can't keep anything down these days. And look at me, I'm fine if I'm baking for the shop, but if I so much as think of tasting it, or if I thought it was for me, my tummy decides to upend itself. Hair-triggered." She sighed and began kneading the dough.

"This is all the Peacock's fault." Wei Ying muttered, irrationally.

His sister was expecting a bundle of joy, but it was all the Peacock's fault...

The doorbell of the shop chimed and Wei Ying reluctantly left her when she looked pointedly at the door leading there.

"Okay, okay...I'll go. But save the bowl for me...I get dibs...not JC!" He shouted, smiling when she agreed.

He pushed open the door and took his place behind the glass counter displaying a wide variety of baked goods.

He grabbed a purple apron and cap that both say "Lotus Cakes" embroidered with gold thread, remembering when his Shijie had asked him to design her logo.

And then, he looked up into the most beautiful pair of golden eyes, blazing with intensity.

*********

Lan Zhan was late.

Lan Zhan was never late, but today...he was going to be.

It made his skin crawl.

When he and his brother were growing up in the Lan mansion, on the Lan Estate, their uncle had read them three thousand rules which they had to memorise. One of them was about tardiness and approximately twenty to do with punctuality. And if he didn't hurry, he would be breaking all of them...

But XiChen had asked him specially.

Lan Zhan loved his brother.

There was no way, not in this lifetime, that Lan Zhan would not drop everything to do whatever his brother wanted.

"Please WangJi, I was going to pick up the cakes and pastries on my way in to work, but A-Jue isn't feeling good. Be a dear and collect them for me?" He'd gone on to rattle off an order, knowing that Lan Zhan would remember it.

Plus if Nie MingJue wasn't feeling well, it was highly likely that XiChen was going to cry off the meeting, which meant Lan Zhan had to be there to man the ship, so to speak.

So he power walked to the bakery one block away, because Lans didn't run, trying not to let his irritation show.

The tiny silver bell hanging on top of the door chimed delightfully, but Lan Zhan was in no mood to appreciate it. He tried not to scowl, but the fragrance of baking bread, and the tang of sweetness hit his nose and his stomach rumbled. It was such a delicious smell, and he wondered if he opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out, would he be able to taste it? Taste the smell?

It was wonderful.

Warm, and loving and reminded him of home...and his mother.

Lan Zhan remembered baking once a month with his mother, the first Friday of every month. He would look forward to the beginning of the month, getting excited days in advance, jittery with joy at being able to spend this time with his mother. Madam Lan loved to bake, and while she did not have the time to pass on her skills to her children in time, Lan Zhan could not believe how this tantalisingly lovely smell had taken him right back to that kitchen when he was six.

One time, she had made him chocolate rabbits. They had decorated them together and Lan Zhan had thought his little heart would explode from happiness. Two of his very favourite things in one. And for his sixth birthday, she had baked him a rabbit shaped cake...with a splendid bow tie.

That had been the last cake she had ever baked for him.

And here, in the glass display case, there were white chocolate rabbits, milk chocolate rabbits and dark chocolate rabbits.

Of course, they weren't decorated in the same way, and Lan Zhan found that he did not mind at all. His eyes had filled with tears at the fond memories of his childhood, and he was extremely glad there was no one manning the store for now.

No one to see him remember and connect to the memories of the Past, something he tried not to do as he got older.

A loud laugh and incomprehensible shouting drew him from his mind and he hastily wiped his eyes. But when he looked up, he saw the most gorgeous man standing in front of him, smiling broadly while his silver eyes danced with merriment.

"Wow!" The young man coughed and cleared his throat, terribly serious now, a blush highlighting his cheeks and dusting across his cute nose like tiny little freckles.

Lan Zhan saw him biting his lip, and a bolt of desire shot straight to his stomach. And his heart...it was like going like the clappers, thud-thud-thud, the only sound he could hear.

"H-how may I help you?" He grinned.

Lan Zhan could only look on, captivated by him.

His exuberance at being here, the sheer joy melting in his starlight eyes, that sinfully  red mouth...Lan Zhan was smitten.

But because he had taken so long to answer, the smile so bright and wonderful, so bold and filled with mirth began fading away.

"Er...sorry, I'm not normally here. If you were expecting JC, I mean, Jiang Cheng, he's out of action. I told him not to kick that bin, but he just had to do it. Ended up breaking his little toe. Heck, even that was funny, but obviously...not for him...." Wei Ying's voice petered out as the stranger/customer stared back silently.

He really wasn't sure how to proceed. When Jiang YanLi had suggested he help out in her shop because it was kind of his fault that Jiang Cheng couldn't come to work right now, and Wei Ying was working from home these days, and today was his day off, he had thought it was easy enough. He'd seen Jiang Cheng scowling at the customers and it looked pretty easy at the time.

Maybe he should have done that instead, because this gorgeous hunk of a man, surely wasn't expecting a smile. He wasn't even blinking....

Wei Ying wanted to know if all of YanLi's customers were going to be like this...because no matter how good looking this one was, he was starting to worry. Maybe he should call his Shijie? Would she know what to do? It was her business after all, and Wei Ying wanted it to be successful, or at least more successful than it already was.

"Um...hello. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot? My name is Wei Ying." He stretched his hand over the counter.

Lan Zhan grabbed it immediately, feeling the soft, smooth skin grip his hand tightly before letting go. But it wasn't enough for him, and Lan Zhan held on for moments longer than it was polite to do so. His thumb unconsciously traced the ridge of hard knuckles, watching the way those beautiful silver eyes widened.

"Normally, people respond with their own name?" Wei Ying tried not to pull his hand back...but the stranger kept staring at him...and things were getting weird.

He didn't really need that hand much...he could just leave it there.

The bell chimed again, startling them both. Lan WangJi scowled at the interruption.

"Jeez, you could come around and open the door for me!" Jiang Cheng was already scowling, as he hobbled and limped, making his way in.

But when he saw who was standing there, he did a double take at the stranger.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Lan WangJi. What hole did you slither out of?" Jiang Cheng  changed directions and came at the stranger.

Wei Ying was first elated, because now he had a name...but there was a problem because both of those two were scowling at each other now. And Jiang Cheng was looking angrier than normal, and was that a I'm-going-to-hit-you-right-now look in his eyes?

He leapt across the counter and stood in front of the stranger, Lan WangJi, his mind helpfully supplied, and stopped Jiang Cheng with a hand on his chest. But, there hadn't been too much space between them to begin with, and Jiang Cheng had momentum, so he pushed into Wei Ying, and Wei Ying had nowhere to go except to fall back on a strong, muscular chest.

Two warm hands steadied him at his waist, and Wei Ying did not have the faintest clue what was up with his body today, but he trembled. And he was sure Lan WangJi noticed...

"Oh look, it's the Purple Grape. Yay." Lan WangJi replied, his lips so close to Wei Ying's ear, each warm breath was felt. His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

And Purple Grape was kind of funny...but Jiang Cheng went red with rage.

"That was years ago. How dare you bring that up now?" He shouted. "Why don't you just leave?"

"Jiang Cheng, he's here to buy something...right, Mr Lan WangJi?" Wei Ying turned his face and was dismayed to find he had accidentally kissed a very soft cheek.

"I'm so sorry!" He gasped but those hands tightened so he could not move at all.

"Let my brother go." Jiang Cheng bit out.

The door that led from the kitchen to the shop opened and a tired looking Jiang YanLi came out. The glass displays were in her way, so she could not possibly see what was going on, but she saw Jiang Cheng's twisted face full of anger.

"What's going on?" She called out.

"Nothing!" Both Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying called out to her simultaneously, neither wishing to cause her more distress.

Wei Ying twisted out of Lan WangJi's death grip and went behind the counter once more, as Lan WangJi turned to speak with her. Lan WangJi was shaken by those soft, sweet lips landing on his skin, and goosebumps had broken out all over him. Once again, he was incredibly glad that his face gave nothing away.

"Perhaps madam can help me." Lan WangJi rattled off an extensive list of pastries and cakes.

Wei Ying helped her pack everything, and YanLi told him to add a few chocolate bunnies in for free because of the inconvenience of waiting.

"Thank you so much!" Wei Ying was smiling harder than normal, trying to apologise for his earlier mistake.

Their fingers brushed gently as bags were handed over; and even as Wei Ying shivered again, he saw those golden eyes darken...so he wasn't as unaffected as he seemed.

"Will you be here tomorrow?" Lan WangJi asked him, his gaze unwavering.

Wei Ying shook his head. "I was only here to spend time with my sister. It's my day off..." He replied by way of introduction.

Lan WangJi looked incredibly disappointed.

"Then, my name is Lan WangJi, but you may call me Lan Zhan."

His deep voice was making Wei Ying's knees weak.

Behind them was the sound of someone gagging.

"Please call me." Lan WangJi handed him an ivory calling card, still gazing at him with intensity.

Wei Ying took it, but he could not look away right now, trapped within the sight of a hunter.

He watched as Lan WangJi opened the door single-handedly and walked out, carrying bags of cakes.

Jiang YanLi turned to them both.

"What was going on, boys? Why did it look like I'd interrupted a Mexican standoff?"

Oh, so her sharp eyes had caught everything...

Wei Ying looked at Jiang Cheng who was hobbling towards the next available seat, a stool they kept behind the counter when there was no more cleaning to do and the shop was empty. He pointed at Wei Ying.

"You better stay away from him. He's bad news."

Wei Ying slipped the card into his jeans pocket, pretending nonchalance.

"What do you know of him?" He asked, grabbing a rag and wiping the counters down by means of keeping his hands busy.

Jiang Cheng blushed.

Wei Ying took the time to stop what he was doing.

"ChengCheng...that looks horrifyingly embarrassing...what happened between you two?" Wei Ying leaned forward, captivated.

"Nothing!" He replied, sulky.

"Aww, come on Cheng Cheng, spill the beans. Give us the tea...why are you so against Lan WangJi?" Wei Ying prodded.

"Fine! Okay!" He threw up his hands. The scowl was back in full force. "I had a crush on his older brother when we were in high school. I thought, because Lan WangJi was in our year, I could ask him to give me Lan XiChen's number."

"Ah...I see what happened. Let me guess, that one wasn't too thrilled?" Wei Ying jerked a thumb towards the door.

"He shot me down, man! Like, I was only asking..."

Jiang Cheng looked so down about it, Wei Ying had to pat his back sympathetically.

"So are you going to call him?" He asked, a little calmer now.

"I don't know." Wei Ying answered truthfully. "I'm not looking for anything, you know? And things are hectic at work."

Jiang YanLi walked in with a tray of doughnuts then, and she smiled, holding it out for him.

"There's always excuses from the both of you. Work will always be there...but if you don't call him and you carry on as you are, you might come to regret it." She rubbed her still flat stomach. "When I met A-Zuan, I hadn't been looking for anything either. But look at us now. I don't regret a single thing." She patted his head as he bit into the sweet treat. "Just think about it."