Chapter 13- Cooking a Frog in Warm Water

During Episode 18 of Love O2O

A very replete Hao Mai put his chopsticks down with a sigh. "You make the best food, KO. Why would a culinary genius like you, want to hide in the shadows and live the hacker life? A talent like this should be shared!"

"I like the shadows." KO leaned back in his chair, arms folded over his chest as he watched Hao Mei. His hotel room didn't have a kitchen so he'd set up a gas camping stove on the coffee table and had made hotpot for the two of them. The lack of equipment hadn't appeared to mar Hao Mei's enjoyment of the meal, and KO felt a sense of calm contentment settle over him.

"You know, it doesn't surprise me; you liking the shadows. You even dress like a shadow." Hao Mei waved a hand, gesturing at KO's all black outfit, then swooping in to pick up the last piece of meat on the side of the wok. Popping it in his mouth, he grinned at KO before licking his fingers clean.

KO froze, eyes fixed on the fingers Mei was licking clean; his skin tensed and flushed hot. A smear of sauce lingered in the corner of Mei's mouth, and before he'd thought about it his body was already moving, already leaning across to wipe it away with his thumb, their faces close and breath mingling. The other man's eyes widened and he froze; an imperceptible tremor the only reaction to KO's touch. With a jolt, his mind caught up with his body and he backed away, busying himself with cleaning away their dishes. There was a plastic tub, under the coffee table, that he was using as a makeshift sink; dumping dishes and detergent in it before putting it in the shower to fill with hot water.

The bowls clinked together, breaking the silence that had fallen over the pair. Mouth dry, KO refused to look at Mei, hesitant to see fear, or disgust, on that charming face. Instead, the act of clearing away received his unwavering attention.

Mei cleared his throat. "If that happens every time you cook for someone, then I'm glad you're not sharing your talent around."

Shocked, KO raised his eyes to meet Mei's twinkling ones. The laughter creasing the corners of Mei's eyes, and making his dimple dance, brought a smile to KO's face. This time it was Mei who leaned forward, tracing a finger over KO's lips. "Especially this... don't share this smile with anyone else. You don't know what a difference it makes when you smile; and there's only room for one beauty at Zhi Yi."

"This is called handsome." Relief made KO's voice light.

"So is this!" Mei framed his face with his hands.

"No."

"You saying I'm not handsome?"

"Mr Beauty." With a gently chiding tone to his voice, KO felt his face soften.

Mei frowned at him. "Don't call me that." Leaning back, he crossed his arms and pouted. "See if I help with the washing now."

KO grunted. It wasn't like there were a lot of dishes to do. Or the room in his pokey little bathroom for Mei to help. As he scrubbed the dishes, he looked around the bathroom. The toilet was the yellow that cream turns due to decade long neglect, the tiles were cracked with mould in the grout, and the window was swollen shut. It wasn't the worst place he'd lived, but it was the first time he'd felt shame knowing someone was seeing his living conditions... the first time he'd cared about someone else's opinion. Draining the dirty water from the tub and putting the clean dishes back in it, he reluctantly made his way back to the lounge area. Had Hao Mei taken a good look at the rest of his living area while he'd been washing plates? What would he think? It wasn't like he couldn't afford somewhere nicer but he was so used to bouncing from job to job, scrimping from pay check to pay check, that he couldn't bring himself to spend more money on a roof over his head. At least, not until he built his savings back up. Which reminded him, Xiao Nai had given him his first payslip today, and he'd folded it into his wallet without looking at it further. He wiped wet hands on his pants before fishing his wallet out and looking inside.

"Laoda isn't likely to make a mistake, is he?"

Hao Mei scoffed, not looking up from the game he was playing on his phone. "Do you really need to ask?"

"Hmm." He looked at the amount on his payslip once more, running through numbers in his head; once, twice, three times with the same outcome. His heart danced behind his ribs and he cleared his throat- it was the fault of the mould in the bathroom, nothing else- as he put his payslip back into his wallet.

"You busy tomorrow?"

"It's Sunday. No work."

"Eh, stupid." Hao Mei looked up at that and KO held up a hand to forestall his complaint. "Plans?"

Mei was starting to look intrigued. "No plans. Why? Do you have something in mind?"

"House hunting."

"It's about time." Mei bounced up and slapped KO playfully on the shoulder. "I wondered how long you'd live in a place like this. Then I can hang out without remembering what it smelled like in the dorm when we'd all run out of clean socks and underwear."

"Eh?"

"We used to have to go without while we tried to get everything washed. I think we really over did the washing when we'd reached that stage. What am I saying," Mei chuckled and his dimple cut KO off at the knees. "I still only do the washing when it gets that bad."

KO couldn't help the way his eyes travelled up and down Mei's body. After all, his friend had complained during dinner, about needing to go home and do washing... did that mean...? His skin grew tight and he contemplated investing in a mini air conditioning unit for the room, something to cool him down.

Mei laughed at the carefully blank look on KO's face. "I'm not that bad anymore. Have more money now, after all, so I just buy new underwear when I need to."

His stomach dropped, and KO wasn't completely sure if it was from relief, or disappointment. Dragging his attention back to what Hao Mei was saying, rather than his clothing situation. Thank goodness he had the excuse of going house hunting, to make plans with Mei... all his previous ideas sounded a bit too obviously date-like, and he wanted Mei to get used to spending time with him before realising his intentions. Maybe if he found somewhere with a laundry, Mei could bring his clothes over and that would be another handy excuse to see more of him. He hid his smile and happily let Mei ramble on with their plans for the morning.