Chapter Text
“I’m telling you Wei Ying, he won’t wear it.” Jiang Cheng was adamant that the homemade scarf Wei Ying had bestowed upon their aloof superior would never be removed from the box Wei Ying had wrapped it in.
“How do you know? He might!” Wei Ying retorted.
Nie Huaisang cocked his head to the side and looked sympathetic. “I know you're new here sweetie, but you can’t be this naive. Mr Lan is….well he’s…a bit of an asshole.”
“I refuse to believe that,” Wei Ying retorted.
“It’s the truth,” Jiang Cheng stressed as he finished his coffee and threw the cup into the recycling bin. “I once gave him a bottle of wine from our dad's private collection and I found the janitor drinking it that very same afternoon!”
Wei Ying frowned. “Maybe it was just some sort of mix up?”
Nie Huaisang cocked an eyebrow at him. “I once gifted him with a set of sterling silver cufflinks. Cost me an arm and a leg but I thought he would appreciate the expense.”
Wei Ying winced. “I’m guessing he didn’t?”
Nie Huaisang pulled up his suit jacket and flashed the cufflinks at Wei Ying. “He threw them on my desk later that day along with a pile of files he wanted me to go through.”
“Maybe he will appreciate the fact that my gift was homemade!” Wei Ying cried desperately.
Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang looked at him as if his kitten had just died.
“Okay, maybe it was a colossal waste of time,” Wei Ying mumbled as he started going through the piles of paper on his desk.
Nie Huaisang put an arm on his shoulder and Wei Ying turned to look at him. “If it helps at all, I love mine.”
“I sort of like mine too,” Jiang Cheng muttered with his eyes on his computer.
Wei Ying smiled back at them. “Thanks guys.”
They all sat down at their desks, conscious that the very topic of their conversation Lan Zhan, junior executive of LAN Industries would be heading past in less than a few minutes and would not be happy to see anyone who was not huddled over their work.
Wei Ying had only worked for the company for six months, having been lucky enough to get a tip off about the position from his brother Jiang Cheng. Of course he knew all about their beast of a boss before he began working for the company but Wei Ying liked a challenge. He refused to believe that there wasn’t a likeable guy under all those layers of hostility and that had nothing to do with the fact that Lan Zhan was the most handsome man he had ever laid eyes on. Nope. That wasn’t the reason he was so keen to prove he had a good side. Okay. Maybe that was a small part of it…
Wei Ying groaned. He should have really known that Lan Zhan wouldn’t want the gift. When he had shyly knocked on Lan Zhan’s door and let himself into his office following Lan Zhan’s gruff order for him to “enter!” Lan Zhan had shown no interest in the shiny box tied with a pretty red bow while Wei Ying stumbled over his words explaining how he was learning to knit and wanted to show his appreciation to the team for making him feel so welcome. Lan Zhan barely looked up from his computer, and just nodded a few times as Wei Ying placed the box down in front of him and made a sharp exit.
Wei Ying winced as he typed. What had he been thinking? Of course he was going to find that the janitor was sporting a new scarf that very afternoon. He just knew it. Then they heard the tell tale heavy footsteps coming along the corridor.
“Gird your loins!” Nie Huaisang hissed as everyone hurried to reach their desks and look busy before their boss passed through. A hush fell over the office as he approached. Wei Ying didn’t look up. He kept his eyes on his screen. So he didn’t see Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang gawp at Mr Lan and then at each other, he didn’t see his boss take a detour from his usual route, he didn’t notice anything until Lan Zhan was standing right next to his desk. He cleared his throat and Wei Ying jumped. He turned and his eyes connected with Lan Zhan’s crotch. Wei Ying gulped and looked up and noticed Lan Zhan was wearing the scarf. Lan Zhan was wearing Wei Ying’s hand knitted light blue wool scarf! It was wrapped around that deliciously muscular neck of his.
Holy Shit.
Then Lan Zhan smiled. He actually smiled. Wei Ying wondered if he was dreaming.
“I just wanted to say thank you for the gift,” he said gently, touching one end of the scarf with his long fingers. How many times had Wei Ying day dreamed about those fingers touching him? “You’re welcome,” he managed to stammer in response.
“I thought perhaps I could take you out to lunch today, to say thank you?” Lan Zhan offered.
Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.
“Yes, that would be lovely,” Wei Ying beamed.
Another smile. Wei Ying worried his head was going to burst.
“Excellent, I’ll collect you at twelve,” Lan Zhan said, then he was gone and Wei Ying was left to learn how to breathe once more.
Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng crowded around him.
“He’s in love with you,” Nie Huaisang whispered.
Wei Ying rolled his eyes. “Maybe he just had a cold neck?”
Nie Huaisang shook his head. “He makes more money in a month than we do in a year. If he wanted a scarf he would buy one. He is wearing that scarf because you made it. I think he likes you.”
There was a loud tut from Su She’s desk as he inspected his recently manicured nails. “I wouldn’t bet on it,” he scoffed.
Wei Ying glared at Su She. “I don’t believe you were involved in this conversation,” he snapped.
“I’m just going to offer you a little advice before you go out there and make a fool of yourself, I’m betting he is wearing that gift out of pity.”
Nie Huaisang put his hands on his hips. “What the hell are you babbling about?”
Su She turned to them with a patronising look. “There’s only one reason I’ve even known Mr Lan to take anyone to lunch, and that’s to let them go.”
“Shut it Su She!” Jiang Cheng warned him.
Su She put his hands up in mock surrender. “I’m just saying, it’s the perfect way to do it. Public place, less chance of a scene, away from the office…”
Wei Ying went pale. Oh god. That couldn’t be the reason...could it?
Su She smiled and returned to his work.
Nie Huaisang scowled at him before turning back to Wei Ying. “Don’t listen to him, honey. He’s probably just jealous.”
“Yeah, he’s just fucking mad he never got his claws into Lan Zhan’s multi-million dollar ass,” Jiang Cheng growled.
Wei Ying smiled at them but felt sick on the inside. He really needed his job. They all returned to work but Wei Ying could barely do anything but count down the hours. After what seemed like an eternity, twelve o’ clock arrived and Lan Zhan appeared by his desk. Wei Ying noted he was wearing the scarf once more.
“Shall we?” Lan Zhan said in a voice as smooth as silk. Wei Ying nodded and grabbed his coat, following Lan Zhan to the elevator. Nie Huaisang mouthed good luck at him as he disappeared behind the metal doors.
Wei Ying had never spent any real time alone with Lan Zhan before and even just standing next to him in the elevator seemed strangely intimate. He smelled incredible. Wei Ying swayed toward him slightly and Lan Zhan’s head turned towards him sharply.
Shit.
Wei Ying pulled away again. He put a mark on the mental blackboard next to ‘getting canned.’ The other column read ‘on a date’ but sadly he couldn’t put a mark in that column yet.
When they exited the elevator, Lan Zhan explained that the restaurant wasn’t far so they walked the blustery leaf filled London streets for a few blocks. When they arrived, Lan Zhan gave his name to the hostess and when they were shown to their table, he helped Wei Ying into his seat. Wei Ying happily put a mark in the ‘on a date’ column.
Lan Zhan ordered two waters and Wei Ying didn’t know which category that mark should go in. He decided it would remain uncategorised.
They perused the menu in silence. Wei Ying was spoilt for choice but when he saw the prices his eyes must have widened then he heard Lan Zhan huff quietly and he reminded him that he was paying. Date? Or company policy for terminations? Wei Ying was so confused…
In the end Wei Ying didn’t even know what he ordered. He picked at his food wondering when Lan Zhan would end his misery. He was last in so if cuts were to be made it stood to reason that they would start with him. But he was good at his job! He wanted to shout that it wasn’t fair!
“Wei Ying, is everything alright?” Lan Zhan asked softly with a look of concern on his lovely face.
It was the look that broke him. All the hours of worrying came together all at once and he blew. “If you’re going to fire me just do it!” He cried, drawing the attention of more than one surprised diner.
“What are you talking about?” Lan Zhan asked.
“Su She said the only reason you take anyone out to dinner is when you’re going to let them go. He said you were wearing my scarf out of pity.”
“Su She,” Lan Zhan growled, shaking his head. “I don’t usually share my personal life with employees but Su She and I were involved very briefly a few years back before he came to work for us. He doesn’t seem to have…moved on as easily as I hoped.”
Wei Ying blushed from his toes to his crown. “Oh,” he said softly. “So I’m really just here because…”
“Because I wanted to thank you for the gift, yes.”
“Shit. I’m so sorry. It’s just that, well you barely speak to any of us and then everyone told me that you gave their gifts away…” Wei Ying trailed off.
Lan Zhan ran a hand through his hair. “You’re right. That looked ungrateful. It’s just that I don't need expensive things. I have expensive things. I can buy whatever I want so I do tend to give gifts away to others who I think will appreciate them more. Your gift, I could tell, was from the heart and that’s why it means more to me and then there’s also the fact that…”
“What?” Wei Ying asked leaning forward in his chair. At first Lan Zhan looked at if he wasn’t going to continue...but then his expression softened and he leaned in.
“The fact that it came from you.”
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