[曦澄 | XiCheng][MDZS Modern AU]: All The Things I Never Told You [~PART 1~]

〽️👁‍🗨 Chapter 17: Midnight Counter Talks.

Note:

Corresponding chapter in WangXian: Trial And Error:  [The Bar.]

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The young man behind the bar was frowning. 

The boss wanted to see him and Bobby today after the shift was over; he didn't say what it was about, but Jiang Cheng was anxious. He could not afford to lose this job, no, not now. And the very fact that the boss had been hanging at the bar almost all the time lately was probably a bad sign. 

He was in his office, talking on the phone, yelling at people. He could hear him even from behind the counter. Was it... about the Sunday party? Or?

He was in a bad mood today, but the good news was that the shift was almost over. 

Bobby arrived at 2:45 a.m., for a strange half-shift, at the oddest of times, as it was supposed to be his day/night off, but the third bartender had totally bailed on them, calling in sick. 

He was additionally annoyed by the fact that Lan Xichen had been hanging at the bar for hours now, and was already quite drunk  -  today of all days. He had told him that he had needed to escape from the office and from the phone,  and he believed him, but today he was in a weird, whiney mood, and the non-stop ordering of one whiskey after the other didn't help. 

Lan Xichen was one of those goofy drunks who were rare, and harmless.

- Ah, but Jiang Cheng, it's really serious!  –  he moaned.

Jiang Wanyin bit his lip. 

Generally, bartenders were supposed to be nice to everyone, especially when those everyone were so terribly rich.  But how could one be nice to someone who was so annoying?!  

He was doing his best to pretend, but lying and wearing a mask weren't always easy, and most definitely  -  not today. He had been quite jumpy after that assault the other day, too ashamed that Lan Xichen had seen it all, and so he was mostly frowning today, often  -  plain and simple just cutting the young lawyer off.

But Lan Huan never gave up. Actually, it was kind of... amazing.

***

Of course, people noticed them  –  how could one keep it a secret when it was happening daily?  In a bar? 

Jiang Cheng wanted things to be very clear, as this job was very well-paid and he wanted to keep it  –  so he had spoken about this with his boss. To his utter surprise, though, his boss had directly told him that he had free rein to do whatever was necessary to keep Mister Lan Xichen happy, even fuck him  there and then on the counter, just: not ruin the corporate party on Sunday! The sole revenue from that one night was about to be extremely lucrative, fabulously so. 

Oh, surely, Jiang Cheng had gaped, stunned. Wasn't sexual harassment at the work place a thing any more?!  Not that he felt particularly harassed...  but... still. It was inappropriate, and sometimes, when very drunk, Lan Xichen would act almost as if... they were... engaged, using his given name too  -  something that most people considered rude. It was utterly embarrassing.

So, all in all, Jiang Cheng  had to  endure this, and he was frowning. 

Tonight he  was stupidly drunk again.

- What is it this time, Mister Lan?  –  he huffed, drying some wine glasses on a cloth distractedly, impatient for the tall lawyer to leave, and for his own shift to be over.