36 Chapter 36- Donst Talk With Your Mouth Full (1/2)
”We're going to play a game...” Mei dumped the basket of clothes on the floor and sat himself down next to it, opposite KO who was glued to the couch in confusion. ”I'm going to ask a question. Your answer determines what I do next.”
KO nodded to show that he was following along.
”Answer quickly, truthfully, and with a response I like... and I take a piece of clothing off.” KO's eyebrow rose. This was not what he'd been expecting but so far he thought he might like this game. Mei wasn't finished explaining the rules though.
”Hesitate, and I'm going to assume you're trying to work out what I want to hear. And I'll put something else on.”
And.... there was the catch.
”Tell me something I don't like, and I'll put something on. Tell me a lie, and I'll put something on.” Mei rattled the washing basket. ”If I empty this basket... we're done.”
”Then what?”
”No. Not done for the game. Done. Completely.” A clear coldness settled on Mei's face and KO felt his heart clench. All of a sudden, he really didn't want to play this game... he sighed. All Mei was really asking for was honesty, and he'd only resorted to these measures because he'd been too chickenshit to speak openly.
KO nodded. ”Let's play.”
”Start from the beginning: How long have you known I was E-Mei?”
”Umm...” As KO fumbled with the very first question, Mei reached in to the basket and grabbed a shirt.
”Fuck. Slow down, Mei. It's not that simple an answer.” He rubbed his forehead. ”How about I tell you in stages, you decide what each stage is worth?”
Pausing while doing the shirt up, Mei thought about it for a moment before his hands fell away from the buttons. ”Okay. But the shirt stays on for not doing this from the get go.”
”Fair trade,” KO took a deep breath, then held up one finger. ”First- did I know E-Mei was a man? No. I suspected- there were things you would say that made it seem like you were male- but like you said, we both left the question of gender unasked.”
Mei unbuttoned the shirt he'd just done up.
”Aren't you taking it off?”
”It doesn't sound like you were finished.”
”Shit. Okay. I knew E-Mei was in Beijing and you'd let slip about being at Qing University. So I took the cafeteria job.”
”Why?”
”To meet you. That day we arranged to talk, if we got along well then I was going to suggest meeting at the cafeteria before my next shift.”
”But I never spoke to you.”
”No... but you disappeared as soon as you heard my voice. That confirmed it for me- E-Mei was a renyao.”
Mei slowly took off the shirt. ”So you knew you were talking to a guy?” He wanted to ask were you attracted to the renyao or to me? But he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer. Dealing with his own shift in sexuality was confusing enough... he didn't want to add his partner's confusion to the mix.
”I didn't know for certain. I just knew that the first person I'd been interested in, enough to find myself in the start of an online relationship, was a gamer going by the name of E-Mei. To be honest,” KO cleared his throat. ”It was a relief to find that I could still be interested in someone. I'd never had a relationship like this before. And I'd started to think there was something wrong with me.”
”What?” Mei stared at him, wide-eyed. ”Never?”
”Never.” KO held his hand up. ”Those are questions for another day. So...” he looked pointedly at the work shirt Mei had started the 'game' in.
Mei smiled and slid it off his shoulders. ”Then?”
”Then...” another deep breath. He closed his eyes so he couldn't see Mei's face. ”Then I met you in the cafeteria.”
”And you knew I was E-Mei.” The disappointment in Mei's voice was clear.
”No!” KO hurried to correct his misunderstanding. ”I didn't. I looked up one day and someone was standing in front of me with a smile that made my heart stop and when I got home that night I realised that I didn't remember a thing from the afternoon except that smile.”
He was rewarded with the same smile, and the removal of both socks.
”I started looking for you at lunchtime but couldn't even say hello.” He shrugged. ”I thought that was because I was feeling guilty- I'd never stopped wondering if maybe, one day, I'd overhear someone calling E-Mei in conversation. So it was confusing to be attracted to someone while being interested in someone else.”
That surprised a laugh from Mei. ”Well, that's honesty.” He pulled his undershirt over his head and KO's breath caught in his throat. ”Earth to KO?”
”Huh?”
”I asked, when did you find out E-Mei was me?”
”Ah...” he rubbed the back of his neck but when Mei reached for the undershirt the words tumbled from his mouth. ”The night you all came to the restaurant celebrating Laoda finding Bei Wei Wei. Somehow, you got my number and I had yours and when you got drunk I heard you telling Xiao Nai that he was lucky Wei Wei wasn't a renyao like E-Mei because you would have turned him down.”
A blushing Mei buried his face in his hands. ”I didn't.”
”You did!” KO laughed at the memory. ”You have no idea how relieved I was... the person I was interested in, and the person I was attracted to, were one and the same!”
”That does make it easier.” Still refusing to look up and his ears tinged pink, Mei pulled his belt free.
KO looked at it contemplatively. ”What do we do if you end up naked but still have questions you want to ask?”
The pink of his ears darkened. ”Wait and see.”
They sat in silence for a moment, each thinking about what had already been disclosed. It was Mei who spoke up next.
”We were friends very quickly, but you never asked me about my gamer tag. What if it wasn't me?”
KO shifted uncomfortable on the couch.
”You checked?”
He bit his lip and looked away. Movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention and he jerked his head back around to see Mei putting the undershirt back on.
”Maybe if I reword it, you'll answer. Otherwise I'm putting the belt and the shirt back on... When and how did you confirm that I was E-Mei?”
KO sighed. ”I set an alert to your account in the game and had the trace already set up to go. When you signed in it was easy to follow you back to your computer and access the webcam. All I had to do was wait for you to sign back in. Which you eventually did.”
Mei thought back to the last time he'd logged in to the account... and the timely text message he'd received. The undershirt stayed on, but KO counted himself lucky that nothing new had been added.
”So you've known since then... and never said anything...”