Monday 38 days left for the Full Moon Festival

Wei Ying opened his note book and began making a list, ignoring the way his fingers fumbled with the pen.

He was so jittery...thoughts of Lan Zhan’s last words as he had left the kitchen still echoing in his head.

"I intend to pursue him fully" and "Do you understand?" were words knocking against his ribcage sending shivers coursing through his body.

And then, and then, he had asked for permission.

Wei Ying had never heard of something so hot.

If it wasn't for that stupid bet, he would have jumped Lan Zhan then and there...but he was no quitter, and A-Yuan was more important than having a fling.

But...even that word left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Would it be a fling? Just a fling?

He didn't think so.

Lan Zhan was so intense, and his magical ability to obliterate any thoughts he might be having was just mind-blowing...literally.

He thunked his head on the table in defeat.

Who was he kidding? Lan Zhan had stolen his heart and wasn't going to give it back any time soon, if ever.

The only thing that made this slightly better was XiChen telling him about the Lan family legend. That Lans fell in love and that was it.

He wanted a drink.

He missed the days when he could go out drinking with A-Qing and have no responsibilities. But he wouldn't give up A-Yuan for anything.

And everything depended on this job.

So he took a deep breath and cleared his mind of all distractions, even the persistent,  biggest one of them all and started writing.

If Lan Zhan was going to move in as soon as possible, he would need somewhere to shower and somewhere to sleep. So both the bathroom upstairs and the master bedroom should be tackled first, followed by the kitchen, but that wasn't as urgent because he could always return home sonance it wasn't far, or order in.

He filled up the paper, chewing his lip when a warm hand fell on his shoulder. He looked up to find a fully dressed complete with jacket Lan Zhan looking down fondly at him.

He rubbed his eyes, feeling the day's toils catching up with him.

"Huh?" He blinked up at Lan Zhan.

"It is time to go. I have locked up everywhere and JingYi is waiting."

"Oh...yeah, sure thing. Let me get my jacket too." He stood up and Lan Zhan took the notebook up, skimming through it.

"Bedroom first?" He inquired, his gaze heating up Wei Ying from the inside.

"Um...cos if you wanted to move in straight away...and even if everything isn't finished by then..." Wei Ying squirmed under his observation, feeling unreasonably hot.

"Mn. It is a good idea." Lan Zhan approved.

Ever since Wei Ying had offered to be a bed tester, he couldn’t get the image out of his head, of being able to throw Wei Ying onto their bed and....pouncing.

He shivered at the thought.

"So...we've been kind of messing around today...but from tomorrow, I need to get here earlier." Wei Ying was making himself promise this by saying it out loud, hoping he wouldn't throw out his alarm clock.

It had been known to happen before.

"Will Wei Ying wake up in time?" Lan Zhan smiled doubtfully.

"Yes, and it's better if I sleep in my own bed from now on." He replied firmly, determined not to let Lan Zhan’s pouting get to him.

"What time will we start?" Lan Zhan asked him, adopting the same tone as Wei Ying.

"I'm aiming for six. There's a lot of work and it's probably best to start as soon as possible and stop as late as we can. Wen Ning is coming to pick up A-Yuan tomorrow at nine for Daycare." He shrugged his jacket on.

"What about Uncle?" Lan Zhan followed him out and closed the lights.

They walked down the hall together.

"I'm going to ease A-Yuan into it. Plus Wen Qing and Wen Ning are his family too and I want him to spend time with them as well." Wei Ying told him, opening the front door. "Plus A-Ning was saying he and A-Qing were finally going to get some time off together and they were thinking of taking A-Yuan on a trip." He smiled at Lan Zhan’s frown. "Don't worry, it won't be long."

"I will miss him." Lan Zhan said, surprised that he'd said it, and surprised it was true.

"Uncle will probably miss him more." Wei Ying snickered.

JingYi was waiting for them outside the white sports car. He handed a wad of cash to Lan Zhan. "First day was quite busy." He grinned.

"You've got a knack for selling." Wei Ying told him, making him grin back.

He elbowed Lan Zhan in his ribs to say something, when the boy was looking up at him expectantly.

"Good job..." Lan Zhan told him, searching for the words.

JingYi flushed with pleasure and closed the door behind them, getting in behind the wheel straight after.

Wei Ying gave Lan Zhan two thumbs up, also smiling up at him.

Lan Zhan could feel his treacherous ears getting hot again, and instead reached over Wei Ying’s body to grab his seat belt. He fastened it for him, glad of the distance between them.

He could not trust himself at this moment.

He had spent the whole day with Wei Ying, half of it with a mostly naked Wei Ying, and only now was he feeling as if he might have made a mistake by making them have a bet.

How would he fare tomorrow? And the day after that? And the next day?

These coming five weeks were looking mightily difficult all of a sudden.

It was going to be a slow torture.

Lost in thought, he hardly noticed the journey home.

They pulled up outside the Lan Mansion and Wei Ying was struggling with his seat belt, urgently wanting it released so he could go to A-Yuan. Three times he pulled it only for it to get stuck, until Lan Zhan batted his hand away with his cool, pale long fingers.

Wei Ying blushed.

He didn’t want to think about those either. He jumped out of the car, barely waiting for Lan Zhan to catch up.

He raced inside once the door opened, and then bashfully waited because this wasn't his home, and he realised he had no idea where A-Yuan was.

Lan Zhan led him to the library, and they could hear lots of chortling laughter and giggling.

Two voices.

Lan Zhan gave Wei Ying a quizzical look.

He had never heard his uncle laugh, certainly not like this.

It was...unnerving.

They opened the door to find Mr. Marshmallow lying fast asleep next to an energetic baby with crayons in his fists, laughing at something Uncle Qiren had drawn.

"Baba!" He shrieked and stood up.

Wei Ying couldn’t wait any more and gathered him up, kissing him all over his face, welcomed him joyfully.

"I missed you so much, my little Radish!! Did you have a good time with Uncle Qiren?"

"Ahuh, Baba I did!! And he thaid to call him Lan Laosthi..." A-Yuan said, confidently, unable to pronounce the word properly just yet.

Wei Ying looked over to where Uncle Qiren was sitting with the reddest ears, stroking his whiskers calmly.

"Thank you so much for looking after him today. I hope he wasn't any trouble?" Wei Ying said, feeling ever so grateful.

"He's a delightful child. Reminds me of my nephews." Uncle Qiren replied proudly. "We even had a nap together, and then-"

"We ate iath cweam!!" A-Yuan shouted gleefully.

"You had ice cream, my love?" Wei Ying giggled while Uncle Qiren had the good grace to look guilty.

"Ahuh, ahuh...and it wath delithus!"

Wei Ying kissed his nose and beamed at Uncle Qiren.

"Thank you. It sounds like A-Yuan had a great time today. Tomorrow your Uncle Ning is coming to get you, okay? So we should really get going now." Wei Ying told A-Yuan to wave but Uncle Qiren was frowning.

"What do you mean, time to leave? It is dinnertime now. You will stay." He stood up and took A-Yuan from Wei Ying’s arms.

He thought about it. He was really tired and cooking was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

"Wei Ying and A-Yuan should stay." Lan Zhan told him gently, with a soft smile.

"Alright, then. But you guys should know, once you start being nice to us, we'll never leave!" He laughed.

"Mark your words." Lan Zhan said, once he was sure Uncle Qiren and A-Yuan had walked on ahead.

He had leant forward and said it directly into Wei Ying's ear.

And how he was looking at Wei Ying as if he was dinner?

It was toe-curlingly intense.

How could he go from nothing to one hundred percent hot in mere seconds was beyond Wei Ying.

A-Yuan, bet, A-Yuan, bet, Wei Ying chanted in his head, darting out of the room in a hasty exit following the other two.

They met XiChen as they left the library and he looked excited to see them.

"WangJi, can we talk after dinner? And A-Xian...perhaps you could join us? I value your opinion." He said, enthusiastically.

Which Wei Ying read as "I need your support".

"How long will it take, Xiongzhang? Wei Ying has to go to sleep early tonight. Tomorrow we are starting work at six am." Lan Zhan explained, not in the least bit interested in what his brother was going to say, because he had a feeling he knew what it was about.

"I think A-Yuan will be okay for about twenty minutes after dinner." Wei Ying winked at XiChen when Lan Zhan wasn't looking.

XiChen positively beamed back at him.

"Come on then, let's get a move on. We don't want to make anyone late." He replied and they all traipsed into the dining room.

Dinner was a quiet affair with A-Yuan sitting next to Uncle Qiren again, both quietly playing and eating together, though neither spoke so no rules were broken. They definitely were laughing too, and trying to hide it.

Wei Ying and XiChen had an agenda, so they were eating as fast as they could, while Lan Zhan was chewing meticulously slow, suddenly taking an interest in how well his digestive system worked and needing to help it along more.

Still, they managed to finish quickly and when Uncle Qiren found out that Wei Ying was staying for a bit longer, he suggested he and A-Yuan go and say goodnight to the bunnies.

Wei Ying could tell that Uncle Qiren had thoroughly enjoyed today and spending time with A-Yuan, but then A-Yuan was a remarkable baby. He hardly ever cried and was patient and content most of the time.

Uncle Qiren looked like he wanted the day to go on forever, and he didn't want to let A-Yuan go.

XiChen led them into the living room again. He sat down and poured out some tea for everyone.

Wei Ying wished it was something stronger.

"So...WangJi, the lawyers met with the people who want you to endorse their products. Even they are saying it is a lot of money." XiChen said, smiling at him. "It's just a few photos." He told him the figure.

Lan Zhan nodded politely, not really caring but Wei Ying squealed aloud.

"How much? Just for a bunch of pictures? That's insane!" He gushed, even more enthusiastic than XiChen had been.

"It matters not, since I won’t be doing it." Lan Zhan told both of them. He had made his mind up.

"What? Why not?" Wei Ying asked, quite confused.

If someone had offered him a boatload of money to smile a few times, he'd do it in a heartbeat.

"WangJi...think about it this way. If your face shows up on billboards across the country, it all adds to the great image that our company has. Plus, if I'm honest, our business partners think you could do with a little warming up...and I think this is the perfect way to prove it to them." XiChen encouraged. "You know what it's like in our line of work. Image is everything."

"And so what if you have money, Lan Zhan! You can make bigger donations if you want, to that trans charity you were talking about before." Wei Ying remembered.

They both were right, and Lan Zhan hated it.

"What do they want me to do?" He asked just as they were going in for a hard sell.

For a second they were both shocked and Lan Zhan was smug about it.

"Three day shoot next week." XiChen pulled out a file with all the details.

Lan Zhan almost said no, looking at Wei Ying.

He did not want to spend three whole days away from him.

"It's only three days, Lan Zhan." Wei Ying was saying.

But there was something in his tone that made Lan Zhan say, "Acceptable for one day shooting. That is my limit. Uncle wants the house ready by Full Moon Festival and there is a lot to do."

"Er...it's okay, Lan Zhan. I can manage, you know." Wei Ying was saying. "You're paying me, so you don't have to work."

"One day or nothing. Final offer." Lan Zhan had that stubborn tone, the one that told XiChen he had made up his mind.

Further pushing would only lead to a full-on rejection.

"Alright, I'll let our lawyers know. They can negotiate terms and all that." XiChen shuffled some papers around and smiled, standing up. "Thank you Didi, thank you, A-Xian." He left, whistling to himself.

"Lan Zhan...you know you can do whatever you want, right? I don't want you to feel obligated to help me. Once I find my rhythm, nothing can stop me." He declared.

"That was only an excuse." Lan Zhan told him the truth. "I hate publicity. Hate cameras, hate photographers, hate attention, hate being bored, hate standing around." He said in one breath.

"Oh." Wei Ying paused into the following silence. "Gosh, Lan Zhan, don't hold back, tell me how you really feel?"

Lan Zhan waited for a full twenty seconds before smiling.

Wei Ying dissolved into giggles.

"If you hate it that much, you don't have to go through with it. I'm sure XiChen-Ge will understand." Wei Ying said softly. He stood up, ready to go and get A-Yuan.

Lan Zhan pouted.

He didn't want Wei Ying to go. Or A-Yuan.

But he got up dutifully.

JingYi would take them home and one extra person in the car wouldn't make a difference.

The door opened and Mr. Marshmallow walked in.

He was followed by Uncle Qiren and A-Yuan, who was chasing the cat.

Mr. Marshmallow arched his back when he saw Lan Zhan, who did not care what anyone said and stepped behind Wei Ying.

The cat hissed.

A-Yuan grabbed his tail with his pudgy hands and sat down right next to the angry cat.

"Mithter Marthmallow, dats not nice. Pwetty Gege is a good perthon." A-Yuan told him, looking into his eyes.

Those yellow eyes looked deeply into chocolate brown ones, and for a good few moments, no one moved.

A-Yuan and Mr. Marshmallow seemed to be communicating on another level, because the cat then curled around the baby and totally ignored Lan Zhan.

The whole interaction was the strangest thing Wei Ying had ever seen.

"Um....anyway, it's time for us to go." Wei Ying was the first to break the silence.

A-Yuan bent and kissed the cat on his super fluffy head. Mr. Marshmallow opened one yellow eye and purred before falling asleep again.

Then A-Yuan went around the room kissing every cheek goodbye before falling asleep too, on Wei Ying’s shoulder.

Wei Ying silently waved goodbye too, escorted out by a wary Lan Zhan who wasn't taking any chances that the cat was going to play nice.

Outside the mansion, night had fallen in the most prettiest way. Stars were scattered across the midnight blue expanse of the skies, while the horizon held the briefest traces of orange streaks rapidly disappearing at the seconds passed.

Lan Zhan made sure Wei Ying got in the car without banging his head or unnecessarily jostling A-Yuan and he fastened their seat belt without disturbing the sleeping child.

They reached the cottage without incident and Lan Zhan helped Wei Ying by opening the door of his caravan for him, switching on the light and then watching as Wei Ying prepared A-Yuan for bed.

All the while, Wei Ying hummed a melody constantly and it was visible how A-Yuan relaxed further, even in his unconscious state. After tucking him into their bed, Wei Ying closed the lights and walked Lan Zhan out.

"A-Yuan is extra sensitive when it comes to saying goodbye." He whispered.

It sounded like an apology to Lan Zhan’s ears.

"Why?"

"I have my guesses." Wei Ying started to say, losing himself in his thoughts for a second. "Who knows what is going through the mind of a three year old? Nevertheless, I reckon his subconscious held onto the fact that he never got to say goodbye to Uncle Four. He was out with A-Ning when it happened, so if you think about it, Uncle Four was hale and hearty in the morning but by the afternoon, he had passed away and I think a small part of A-Yuan has never accepted this." He laughed awkwardly. "It's just silly thoughts...don't pay me any mind." He patted Lan Zhan’s arm, hesitantly.

Lan Zhan hated the unsure tone of his voice.

"Wei Ying is an excellent father." He said, proudly.

But then he was alarmed because Wei Ying’s heartbreakingly beautiful eyes filled with silver tears.

"You think so?" He asked hopefully.

It hurt Lan Zhan’s heart to hear him ask that question so longingly.

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak or wipe away those tears without folding Wei Ying into his arms. But he pulled out his white handkerchief instead and offered it to him.

Wei Ying gladly accepted it, embarrassed about how emotional he had suddenly become.

"Thank you, Lan Zhan. No one's ever said that before about me." He sighed, wiping his own face dejectedly. "I know Madam Yu did a number on me...I guess I have my own issues...but it's nice when someone sees how hard I'm trying. Being A-Yuan's father...it was kind of sudden. I couldn't bear letting him go, not when the only other alternative was foster care. A-Qing and A-Ning...they offered to support me, and that was the only thing that made me feel brave enough to do it."

Lan Zhan considered this. Wei Ying had said he had not graduated college, just high school. That meant he had left home at eighteen...not home...he had left the Jiangs at eighteen. And he had known Uncle Four for four years...that made him around twenty-five now.

To have such a big responsibility thrust into his arms quite literally...at such a young age...Lan Zhan couldn't imagine how he would have coped in the same situation. Certainly not as well as Wei Ying had. And even with his fast depleting monetary situation...this young man was still so chipper and positive about everything.

"Wei Ying is a good father...and amazing." Lan Zhan finished, not able to find the appropriate words while being bombarded by his own thoughts.

And then, because he could not help himself, he turned and took Wei Ying into his arms, hugging him.

"This is a professional hug." He stated firmly. "Wei Ying must be in a peaceful state of mind to accomplish a good night's rest. Then he will be able to work better tomorrow with a hundred percent capacity. This hug is an investment for tomorrow."

Wei Ying laughed softly but his arms came across Lan Zhan’s back, holding him just as tightly.

They stood together like that for a few minutes, enjoying the way each felt against the other. Lan Zhan breathed deeply wondering if there was some way to bottle this delicious scent of lotus flowers and Wei Ying.

Wei Ying took one last whiff of sandalwood and stepped back, smiling broadly.

"I guess this is good night."

"Mn. Good night, Wei Ying. Sweet dreams."

"You too, Pwetty Gege, you too." Wei Ying said over his shoulder as he climbed back into his home.

Lan Zhan stood waiting for him to go inside.

He didn't want to leave and a part of him felt foolish for feeling this way.

But whatever this was...he didn't want it to end.

He went back to the car and avoided JingYi who was looking at him as if he wanted to say something. In the end he remained silent, driving Lan Zhan back to his home.

It felt emptier now.

The car, the ride home felt lonely. And this feeling remained even when he got inside, bid goodnight to his Uncle and an unblinking cat, and his brother.

Alone in his room, Lan Zhan changed into his pyjamas and lay down.

His phone chimed and he opened the screen.

Wei Ying had sent him a message and he opened the chat eagerly, wanting to see what he said.

I hope you dream of bunnies.

It was a sweet goodnight, followed by a string of emojis, some of which Lan Zhan would have to ask him what they meant. He texted back the same, minus the colourful additions.

And then he closed his eyes, letting sleep come.

Tomorrow was another day and he wanted to be ready.

*********

A/N

Dear Beautiful Readers,

Thank you so much for getting this book past 1K readership in just two days!! You guys are amazing!!

I couldn't sleep and decided to be productive instead so instead of tomorrow morning, please enjoy this update now.

Good night and sweet dreams to all of you too.

Dream of chocolate and ice cream...

Charlie.