149 Chinese New Year

February 5, 20XX (Tuesday)

The Palace Residency- Condominiums

When Yang woke up the next morning, Mei Li was already gone on his side. He had slept late due to the fireworks from the countdown to Chinese New Year. Yang then desperately tried to sit on the wheelchair beside him but had hit his left arm in the armchair in the process of his struggle to turn causing him to yowl in pain. Mei Li's footsteps hurried to his room and had instantly hugged his waist and lifted him a little. With her help, he finally sat on the wheelchair with a grin as the inactive and sports-hater painter was panting for air like she had run a triathlon.

"Do you want to go somewhere?" Mei Li asked him.

"Are you preparing food?" Yang continued, "I want to help."

Mei Li hesitated. The first time he had wanted to help her, he had stared at the rice hopping it would cook itself. She doesn't want to add more things to do in her list because he would make mistakes but at the same time, he had nothing to do, and it would be great to have a pair of helpful hands. Mei Li had first wheeled Yang to the bathroom and wiped him down like she did when they were in the hospital. Yang blinked with surprise; she was continuing her nursing duty to him without pause even when she was busy with her preparation for today's food. Yang fell for her deeper than yesterday. "Do you want to pee?" She asked him while offering him the white plastic urinal he had grown familiar to use. Yang did his business fast, and they washed their hands thoroughly before they went to the kitchen. Mei Li positioned Yang on the table head before taking the two kinds of filling and a pile of thin dough wrappers. The painter showed the CEO how to make spring rolls, and Yang had done magnificently with his rolls, so Mei Li left him to do that while she began to cook the dumpling she had made early in the morning by steaming. The oval-shaped and turned up at the two end dumplings were easily cooked while she and Yang finished with the spring rolls. Mei Li excitedly tasted the dumplings using her dominant right hand and took one with her left hand. She thoughtlessly offered the extra dumpling in her other hand to Yang. Mei Li realized what she was doing when Yang had opened his mouth to eat it while his eyes stared at her eyes with a passion that could melt like lava.

Poor Mei Li's blush extended from her checks to her neck. Yang made sure to lick her fingers clean with his tongue in the process of eating the dumpling in her hands while his eyes remained connected with hers. He chewed the dumpling slowly, savoring the food that came from her hand. The inside filling was made with green leafy vegetables, but because it came from her hand, it became Yang's favorite. Yang grinned at her red face and teased her, "Very delicious, but I think your hand is more delicious." Mei Li's eyes slowly widen and her red face worse. She has tried to return most of his teasing, but sometimes his words were just too shameless for a response. Mei Li hastily got the finished spring rolls and went to the kitchen to fry them. She busied herself with cook to avoid Yang's shamelessness.Moments later, Mei Li had plated dumplings, spring rolls, steamed fish and chicken, and glutinous rice cakes bought already made. The guards had greeted her, "Happy New Year" when she called the nearest once to give the dishes so they can share them with the rest. Yang had noticed that most guards were going to fawn at her now. The best way to a man's heart is through his stomach.For breakfast, Mei Li and Yang ate at the table after greeting each other, "Happy New Year." For Lunch, they ate their leftovers from breakfast while watching animal planet and sat on the sofa with Yang's right foot on the center table in the living room. For dinner, they dined on the table again, and this time, Mei Li was seated beside Yang's so his feet can rest on the opposite chair. When they were about to sleep, Yang had gotten a text from Hao Chen that had made him want to murder the man. Mei Li was the one to notice it, and she read it like the rest of his texts. Yang watched as her eyes glinted with curiosity. "Hao Chen said that they need you in the warehouse, " Mei Li said while handing Yang his phone. She then crawled beside him. It was a large bed, but most of her side was unoccupied, and she hogged his side of the bed while she was glued to his body. He was not complaining about it though."Yang, where is the warehouse?" She asked. Zhao Yang sweated in nervousness. He hadn't prepared himself for the set of questions that he knew will surely follow. She was amazingly observant but would sometimes keep her observations to herself. When she would ask about it, she'll have follow-up questions that would take time to answer. After a time of contemplating his next course of actions, Yang decided to tell Mei Li his story. He made sure that Mei Li's head would rest on his chest with his left arm wrapped around her while his bandaged left arm stayed still on her left shoulder. Now, which part of his life should he begins?