Love O2O- Beyond a Beautiful Smile

Chapter 37- Three Matchmakers and Six Proofs

    KO hid it well, but Mei knew his lover too well not to see the twitch at the corner of his mouth. Bastard was enjoying the situation they now found themselves in.

    "Responsibility, your arse." Mei pushed at Li Qiang. "I'm not a girl. I can't get pregnant. So what responsibility to take?"

   For a brief moment, silence engulfed the office. Into the taut vacuum, KO sighed. "Mei..."

    "Eh?" Mei looked up at the man. "What?

    "Sometimes... silence is golden."

    Mei blinked at him.

    "Don't worry, I will take responsibility for you anyway."

    Scowling, Mei turned his back on KO. "Why so certain, who needs to take responsibility?"

    Wang Wei overheard the muttered comment and burst out laughing. "Who else Mei-ge? You? Take responsibility for KO?"

    The crowd around them started laughing and jostling the two men towards the middle of the office. At some hidden signal, Yu Ban Shan and Qui Hong You appeared. Ban Shan was dressed in an elaborate robe, heavy with embroidery around the collar and in the shape of yin yang on the front of the robe. Mei frowned; something about the costume looked very familiar, but it didn't click until he saw Hong You's appearance. His friend was dressed as a warrior from Dreams of Jiangshu 2. In particular, the warrior that he had been the prototype for... and hadn't Ban Shan been the prototype for... Mei turned and tried to flee but eager hands grabbed him.

    "Put me down!" Kicking and squirming, Mei soon found himself spread eagle in the air; two of his peers (see if he ever called them friends again) holding each limb, suspending him in the air and making it quite impossible for him to run. KO hadn't fared much better. At the first sign of violence directed towards Mei, the hacker had moved to help him only to have a large sheet thrown over his head. While he fought to free his arms and head, the sheet had been bound in place and he was dragged, trussed up, to stand in front of Ban Shan.

    "We have the bride and groom before you, Yue Lao." Mei's protest was muffled when a hand covered his mouth. "What should we do with them?" (A/N: Yue Lao is the marriage celebrant AI from Dreams of Jiangshu.)

    Ban Shan smiled, and Mei would have shivered had he not been held too tightly to move. "We can't have a wedding with the Bride and Groom is such a state... get them dressed!"

It wasn't easy for them to get Mei dressed. KO had pushed Li Qiang to the ground in retaliation for the sheet, but had otherwise restrained himself. While he made no move to help the rowdy group change him, he also made no move to hinder their actions. Mei, on the other hand, had taken one look at the outfit prepared for him, and baulked.

    "No."

    "Mei-ge... see how well KO lets us dress him... be more like him, eh?"

     "Shit. No."

    "Such language from such a beauty. Mei!" Wang Wei sounded scandalised but the grin splitting his face in half was mirrored on every face around them.

   "I'm not wearing that." Mei refused to look at the costume draped over the back of his chair. "If you're going to force me to wear an outfit for this farce, then why not one like KO's?"

    Hong You chuckled. "You can't have two grooms at a wedding. And look at KO... so handsome in traditional robes. Yang Ying from the Art Department even has a wig for him to wear to match his outfit. He will look just as handsome for you, as you will look beautiful for him."

    "Beautiful my arse. I'm not wearing that."

    With that last refusal, Hong You nodded at the men standing near Mei and they grabbed him. At that, KO finally spoke up. "Let this be my first duty as husband."

    As Mei shot him a dirty look, KO grabbed the costume for the bride, took Mei by the hand, and commandeered Xiao Nai's office. As sea of faces pressed against the glass and he glared at them before closing the blinds.

    Putting the costume on the table, he slowly approached a pacing Hao Mei. "They don't mean any harm. It's just jest."

    "You think I don't know that?" Mei stopped his pacing to push his fingers through his hair. "It's not the jest that bothers me... do you think they'd all be doing this for fun if they knew the truth?"

    KO frowned. "Your brothers won't care. The rest don't matter."

    "But how do you know?"

    The broke through the clouds as KO suddenly realised what was bothering Mei so much. "Xiao Nai already knows what you mean to me. He gave me his blessing. If laosan approves, then the other two will as well."

    Coming up behind the smaller man, KO wrapped his arms around his waist and leaned his check on Mei's soft hair. "Those costumes weren't made overnight. Your brothers have been planning something like this for a while... they've just taken advantage of the situation and turned it in to what we have to face today."

    His words made sense. Darn it. It was easier to rail against the whole thing before logic was brought in to play. Mei sighed. "So, what? We just go along with it?"

    "Hmm..." KO tilted Mei's head back, pressing a soft kiss on his lips. "To an extent. No one else needs to know how we really feel about the words they make us say."

    Closing his eyes, Mei leaned against KO's chest. "True... but..."

    "I will promise you this: I will not say anything I do not mean. Hmm? They can not make me speak, only you know that secret." That startled a laugh out of Mei.

    "I will promise the same to you: I will not say anything I do not mean."

    The pair shared a gentle kiss before KO gently pushed Mei towards the costume on the table. Now that he looked at it, the blue silk looked remarkably like.... he lifted it up... his Heavenly Healer's costume?

    "A dress? Those bastards have given me a dress!!!!!!"

In the main office, Ban Shan shivered. Did someone just walk over his grave?

A/N: this will be continued in the next chapter and possibly even the one after that. Either way, the office wedding scene will be completed by the end of this weekend. 😊 It just got too large to put in the one chapter (my eyes are starting to blur and autocorrect is acting like a cow so that's getting frustrating- time to sleep and recharge and finish it off tomorrow).
What do you think Xiao Nai will say about it all? In the series, he has the day off with Wei Wei but for the sake of this story, they're both coming in to work.