Shady dealings

Hao Sheng sat on his bed and opened his inbox in silence. Right at the top he found a message from an unknown number. He opened it with focus. There he found multiple pictures attached and sent to him. After looking through the pictures, he finally smiled, satisfied.

He quickly sends money to an unknown account and came back to the chat and typed one little message.

: Good work. You know what to do next.

The other party didn't reply but Hao Sheng wasn't bothered. He closed his laptop with a bright smile and finally settled into bed.

That was when 333 finally spoke.

[Host what are you planning on doing with those?]

'Shhh. You'll see soon'

333 mentally shrugged and went back to his business. He was starting to grow numb to this host of his that never told him anything.

*****

Shortly after Hao Sheng got up and left, Malakai called his own driver to come pick him up. After Hao Sheng left, he suddenly felt like the party had no meaning to him anymore and decided to leave. He went around saying his goodbye's to some of his acquaintances before making his way to the door with a sigh.

He didn't wait too long before his driver arrived. He got into the car with a brief greeting to the driver and soon they were off.

It didn't take them too long to get back to his house. As soon as they arrived, he didn't even wait for the driver but directly opened the door and went up to his room.

As soon as he closed the door behind him, a wave of exhaustion hit him. It seemed that despite his lack of activity, he was pretty tired.

He felt too tired to even take a shower so instead he just freshened up and brushed his teeth. He too off his shoes and just directly got into bed.

As he lay there falling asleep, Malakai suddenly thought about the events of the night. He felt a warm feeling flood his heart as he thought about Hao Sheng and the time they spend together. He subconsciously smiled as he thought about he smiled and teased him and how gentle he was with him.

He burrowed his nose into the collar of the jacket he was still wearing, taking a big whiff. Malakai couldn't help but think that the jacket still smelled like Hao Sheng. He immediately blushed when he had such a thought.

He shook his fiercely to rid himself of such weird thoughts. He burrowed into his covers and fell asleep. His last thought being that he couldn't wait to go back to school Monday.

*****

Hao Sheng woke up the next morning a bit late. He took his time getting ready and then started packing his bags. By the time he was done, it was already 11am.

Just then he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in!" he shouted.

Luxia pushed the door open with a smile.

"Come on. It time for breakfast we're all waiting for you".

Hao Sheng turned to her with a smile.

"Sure, let's go. I'm about done here anyway".

They both head downstairs, to the dining room, where Diana and Benjamin are waiting.

They both greeted Hao Sheng with a smile.

"Good morning sleepyhead" Diana said and Benjamin nodded in his direction. "Ignore him. He's not really a morning person" she added with a sly smile

"Good morning" Hao Sheng greet with a smile, sitting down. Immediately, someone appeared and placing a plate of food in front of him. Disappearing as sudden as they appeared.

Hao Sheng got down to eating.

"So how was the party you two?" Diana asked.

Luxia practically beamed. "It was honestly great! It was so much fun and there were so many people to talk to and meet!" she said with sparkling eyes.

Hao Sheng snorted. "Well of course you had fun".

Luxia whipped to him a faint blush on her face. "You aren't one to talk. Think I didn't notice you were with that one person all night!"

"Well I ain't afraid to admit it".

Their back and forth continued for a while and Diana just watched them with a soft smile. She was really glad Hao Sheng appeared in their life. Her baby had been smiling a lot more often since they had met and now she was trying out new things with her friend and just being happy.

Her eyes softened as she watched them. From under the table she felt a hand settle on her thigh. She turned to Benjamin and saw a similar expression to what must have been on her face on his face. He didn't say anything and just gave her a reassuring smile, leaning in to give her a soft kiss.

"Ew! What are you guys doing in front of children" Luxia suddenly said with a smirk.

"My eyes have been defiled for life!" Hao Sheng said, joining in on the fun.

Diana and Benjamin gave them a deadpan look.

"Well what else were we supposed to do? You guys were just going off ignoring us so we had to keep ourselves busy somehow." Benjamin said with a small smile.

"That didn't mean you could do that! We're trying to eat here!" Luxia said cheekily.

Diana and Benjamin just laughed.

"Anyway, when do you plan on leaving Hao Sheng?" Benjamin asked.

Hao Sheng raised a brow. "Is that code for you've overstayed your welcome. You can get out now?"

Diana swatted Benjamin with a glare. "Look what you did! Made the poor boy think we were kicking him out", she turned to Hao Sheng with a softened look. "Don't worry dearie. You can stay as long as you want".

Hao Sheng chuckled. "I was kidding. I actually plan to leave shortly after breakfast".

Diana's expression immediately crumbled. "What do you mean? You have to at least stay until lunch! We still haven't seen you enough. How can you say you're leaving?!"

Hao Sheng smiled. "I really enjoyed my stay here but I still have some work back home that I have to round up so I think its best if I left early".

Benjamin place a hand over Diana's shoulder. "Come on love, it's not like you can hold the boy hostage here. He would have had to leave at some point".

"I know but..."

"Besides. It's not like we won't be seeing him again" he consoles turning to Hao Sheng. "I'm sure you'll visit again right?"

Hao Sheng smiled.

"Definitely sir" Probably not.

"I know for a fact that I'll come back" Might be done with this mission by then though.

Despite what his inner thoughts were, Hao Sheng still smiled and kept playing his character perfectly. Soon they finished breakfast and Hao Sheng found himself outside, alone with Luxia, waiting for his taxi to arrive.

"So… you're into guys" Luxia started.

"And you're into girls" Hao Sheng retorted.

Luxia laughed. "What a funny pair that makes us".

"I think it makes us a dynamic duo" Hao Sheng said lightly.

"Oh yeah? Is that a new name you want us to go with?" Luxia asked, amused.

Hao Sheng shrugged with a smile. "Sure. I mean why not?"

Luxia smiled and then things fell into a comfortable silence.

"How long have you known?" Luxia suddenly asked quietly, so quietly Hao Sheng almost doubted his ear. Almost.

It took him a minute to figure out that she was referring to his sexuality. He sighed.

"I guess I have kind of always know. Growing up I never had any interest girls and boys just seemed to be it for me. There was never a moment when I even thought I would end up with a girl". He said after some thought.

Luxia was quiet before she spoke again.

"I guess I would say same. I never really had time to think about this sort of thing since I was always sick. But I guess when looking at all those magazines, women always seemed a bit more attractive to me. Then I got better and I finally discovered just how deep that attraction went. But then, shortly after I started sort of liking this other girl, I got sick again". Luxia had a sort of haunted look in her eyes and she didn't seem to be present.

Hao Sheng didn't say anything. He could sense that Luxia wasn't quite done.

"I thought it was some sort of punishment from god at first… I mean what else could it be? It was time when Homophobia was extremely high and talks of religion were being thrown left and right". Luxia paused and finally a small smile bloomed on her face.

"But that girl. The one I was sort of getting involved with stayed with me. She visited me almost every day and didn't let me go through things alone. We told my parents and they were cool with it. Soon… I decided I didn't care. I didn't care what others thought. I didn't care if I was actually going to hell or not. I was finally happy. And then like a miracle, I got better again".

She turned to look at Hao Sheng. "Now I met you and I'm even happier. I guess I just wanted to say thank you for staying friends with me". She gave him a smile.

Hao Sheng sighed and pulled her into a side hug.

"Silly girl. If I ditched you, who would I hang out with? I can't do that yet." He said

Luxia smirked. "Well don't you have Malakai?"

Hao Sheng clicked his tongue. "That's different and you know it!"

They both laughed.

Suddenly a horn sounded and they both turned to the gate. Outside a taxi was waiting.

"Well looks like it's time for me to go. I'll see you Monday". Hao Sheng said as he made his way to the gate.

Luxia waved form behind him. "Sure thing!"

Hao Sheng got into the taxi and it drove off. He got settled in and waited to get back to his apartment. In the meantime he decided to get a clear idea of where things stood.

'Hey 333, baby, are you there?'

333 hesitantly emerged. The host never contacted him first or when he did, it was never good.

[Yes host…?]

'Come on don't sound so reluctant. I'm not going to do anything. I just need that report I told you to hold off'

333 immediately calmed down when he remembered the assignment the host had given him. In the car on the way to the party he had asked him to block all notifications as they may have distracted him as he works.

[Okay! Sure thing host!]

[DING!]

[Love Gauge +13%]

[Blackening -5%]

[Good work host!]

[You are one step closer to completing the mission!]

Hao Sheng didn't respond to 333 for a while as he thought.

'Darling, could you detail what went up or down when for me?'

333 sighed and complied.

[Blackening -5% when outside by the pool after handing jacket over.]

[Blackening -5% when at the patio later in the night]

[Love Gauge +2% when host first made contact]

[Love Gauge +2% after talking on sofa]

[Love gauge +2% after asking target to watch his drink]

[Love gauge +3% after {explicit content} comment]

[Love gauge +2% when dancing]

[Love gauge +2% when jacket was handed over pt2 on patio]

Hao Sheng fell into contemplation and seeing that, 33 backed off.

From this data and previous encounters, Hao Sheng started to understand exactly what it was that was needed to increase Malakai's affection for him and decrease his blackening. With this information in mind, Hao Sheng started making plans.

Finally Hao Sheng reach his apartment. He immediately went inside and unpacked. He changed into some comfortable clothes and went to get a quick snack while surfing the internet. After that he moved to the study to do any homework he had left to do. When he finally emerged from the study, it was already evening.

He went to the kitchen and made some instant ramen and sat down at the sofa, watching tv while eating. A little later, he picked up his phone and checked on something before smiling and putting his phone back down.

Monday was bound to be an interesting day.