8 8_"Are you alright?"

It was finally weekend and Mu Lihai was on his way to hang out with his friends as promised. He went to the living room to see his mother currently on the phone.

"Going out?" Mu Ruan asked her son as soon as she put down the phone.

"Hm.. with Cheng and the guys." he answered lazily. His mother's countenance brightening upon hearing him.

"That's great, have fun!" Mu Ruan said excitedly as Mu Lihai walked closer to the door.

"It's fine if you don't come back tonight!" she continued.

"And don't forget to wear protection!"

'What the hell mom!'

Mu Lihai shook his head as a sigh escaped his lips.

What was he? A teenager?

And why was his mother so excited about this anyway?

Mu Lihai forced himself to stop thinking nonsense as he saw his BMW X3 waiting for him. He quickly got on the passenger seat as Zhu Kang was the one to drive.

"What's wrong?" Zhu Kang asked him since Mu Lihai was wearing a weird look over his face.

"Nothing." then they drove to the city's most private and most exclusive club for the riches.

Unlike Mu Lihai who was born rich, his childhood friend Zhu Kang was from a normal middle class family. And now he worked for Mu Lihai as his personal assistant.

But so far Zhu Kang wasn't having difficulties with his life, since his family was considered normal, his parents were both in the education sector. His father was a lecturer while his mother was a high school teacher. Life was okay for him and working for Mu Enterprise as the president's assistant? Hell yeah the pay was high.

After driving for some time, they arrived. Zhu Kang walked behind Mu Lihai as they were escorted to the back of the club where all private rooms were located. Here, the interior was even more grand and extravagant compared to the front where the dance hall was.

They went inside a room and Mu Lihai immediately recognized the people inside.

"Lihai, there you are!" Liu Gaonan waved at him excitedly when he saw his friend coming over.

"Zhu Kang?" Xu Cheng noticed the man behind Mu Lihai and he knew who he was.

"Xu Cheng?" Zhu Kang asked the man back, bewildered.

"Oh, he's my assistant now." Mu Lihai explained as he took a seat between Xu Cheng and Liu Gaonan.

Zhu Kang went to Xu Cheng's other side as they shook hands.

"It's been so long! I haven't seen you since you moved to city S." Xu Cheng was pleasantly surprised to see Zhu Kang again. Before he got into the picture, Zhu Kang had always been with Mu Lihai. They were childhood playmate as aunty Zhu frequently brought him to the Mu estate. And that was when he got to know Zhu Kang through Mu Lihai.

"Who's this fellow? Introduce me!" Liu Gaonan couldn't keep quiet as he was delighted to finally be able to hang out with his close friends again.

"Zhu Kang, my childhood friend aka my personal assistant." Mu Lihai took the chance to introduce them.

"Oh hey, the name's Gaonan. Liu Gaonan. This guy beside me is Yan Weili." they shook hands and exchanged number very quickly.

Liu Gaonan had always liked to be near Mu Lihai and everyone that Mu Lihai befriended, he liked them too. Yan Weili was very quiet but they could see that he was comfortable with Zhu Kang.

The guys chatted over some wine and whiskey. They all were reminiscing about their school life. Liu Gaonan quickly became drunk and he threw tantrums. He was lashing out at Mu Lihai for going abroad without telling him anything as if he disappeared into thin air and suddenly popped up back.

"I had planned for us to go hill climbing but you just had to ruin it!" Liu Gaonan whimpered as he kept saying rubbish.

Thinking of the many plans he ditched when he went abroad so suddenly, Mu Lihai turned quiet. He really missed those days. He started wondering how he was surviving all this time in overseas.

"My life was dull." he blurted out. Xu Cheng who heard him obviously knew what he meant by that. His life was definitely not dull, it was depressing.

"Then how about we plan all those things again? Pleaseeeee." Liu Gaonan seemed like he has come to an enlightenment. His face was pitiful like a kitten deprived of food.

"We are not that free like we were in school, Gaonan." Yan Weili told the man. He shook his head lightly upon seeing that Liu Gaonan's pitiful look now switch to him, pestering him more.

"How come you aren't free? We are just 24 for damn's sake! The night is still young and so are we!" Liu Gaonan countered childishly.

"And why does the young night have something to do with us?" Xu Cheng asked while he tried to stiffle his laughter. But then it still broke out. He laughed while holding his face.

"Stupid." Yan Weili muttered slowly but it didn't go unnoticed by the man beside him.

"Hey!" Liu Gaonan smacked Yan Weili's arm in protest. This guy always found fault in him even till this day. Liu Gaonan remembered how Yan Weili would always go against his plans when they were in middle and high school.

This guy was too righteous.

But in the end, Yan Weili always went along.

"Stop talking like you don't want to go along with my plan. You're going to jump in too at the end of the day!" Liu Gaonan said with a mocking tone.

Yan Weili felt like punching the bastard but he calmed down rather easily. Liu Gaonan sure knew his personality best.

Looking at how his friends hadn't change after six years, Mu Lihai felt a sudden sense of calmness over his head. How he was thankful to have them at this time. He drank more than he planned to that night and he was no more near okay to even walk.

Zhu Kang didn't get himself drunk as he was responsible for his employer aka friend's safety. He will be driving Mu Lihai home after this so he needed to stay sober.

"Lihai must be worn out. Look, he drank more than he should." Xu Cheng nudged at Zhu Kang. As a doctor, Xu Cheng also had this responsibility to always stay alert whenever he was. So he didn't get wasted easily as Liu Gaonan and Mu Lihai.

That was why these two men really clicked well together. Such lightweights...

All of them bid farewell to each other after a few hours and Zhu Kang dragged Mu Lihai to the car with all of his efforts.

When they arrived at the car, Zhu Kang noticed that he had left his wallet with the key on the table in their room.

"Damn.. wait here. I'll go get the key." Zhu Kang ran back to the club across the road.

As Mu Lihai waited with his back against the car door, he became impatient. The drinking just now made him a bit tipsy and he was suddenly reminded of how careless he could be once he was drunk. The emergence of memory in that rainy night made him lose his footing. He suddenly became scared to even stand near the vehicle.

Mu Lihai took a few steps back from the BMW and he didn't see that he was in the middle of the road.

He heard a loud honk coming his way but the blinding light was too much for his eyes to endure.

"Mu Lihai!" the sudden call made him turn his head to the sound and just then he saw that a hand was coming his way and it pulled him along to the roadside.

Mu Lihai stumbled on his feet but he didn't fall. He slowly looked up and saw the same hand again. He realized that it was too small to be a man's hand. His gaze trailed off to the arm then to the petite shoulder. Then he saw a woman just right in front of him. Her hand was still on his arm.

"Are you alright?" she asked him. But he remained silent.

"God.. It's dangerous, the car almost got you!" Zhu Kang went to his friend's side. He regretted leaving Mu Lihai behind by himself. What if something happened to him? He was not just his friend, he was his employer!

The sudden thought of how he almost failed at his job to keep Mu Lihai safe made him feel bad. Zhu Kang took a deep breath to calm himself down.