Greetings, folks!

First, thank you very much for your kind words after my last story (Next To You). I will write Nai's perspective on everything you have asked for as I absolutely love his character - I love all of the Love O2O characters.

This chapter took a lot of editing and re-editing as it looks at their first meeting so I wanted to get it right in my head before sharing it.

I hope you enjoy this new instalment.

Love-On-Every-Page

LOVE AT THE FIRST SIGHT OF YOU

By Love-On-Every-Page

"As per our earlier agreement—" his uncle started: smiling "—you won this game, so Uncle will give you a gift."

Even before he heard it—"I'll give you this place"—Xiao Nai had folded his hands together, ready to refuse. His uncle meant well—always meant well—but if Zhi Yi Tech. was going to be what Nai envisioned, he needed to achieve it his way.

For a minute, he listened to his uncle, almost wishing that he hadn't been raised to cherish his pride, because the café would be a perfect base with everything an infant company needed, but he smiled and refused. "Uncle—" Nai said, meeting the man's warm and knowing gaze "—that's your offer. I didn't agree to it." Like he expected, his uncle was surprised, even questioning him, which Nai's parents had ceased doing years ago, but Nai stated "No" and that was final.

Then, his uncle laughed and praised "Good boy! You're quite ambitious!" proudly, and Nai appreciated his respect.

"I just think it's more fun to start from nothing." —And more rewarding to watch his dreams reach fruition.

To appease his uncle, who worried about him as often as Nai's parents did, having no children of his own, Nai told him a little, explaining that he had already "Found a spot" and the man listened intently. It was brief but Nai saw it: the smile that lit up his uncle's face before he stood—one that told Nai the man had faith in his ambitions, and that was enough too.

When they left his uncle's office, which had always seemed more like a lounge but it was not Nai's place to challenge it, his uncle branded them as "genetic mutations"—as he had done since Nai had been a child. It made the younger man recall the hours he had spent in his uncle's company—playing games, learning the basics of coding until it became his passion, and effortlessly becoming a master of whatever game his uncle introduced him to. Though Nai was not the sentimental type, as such things benefitted no one, he could owe his dreams to his uncle's "bad influence"—as his mother had said, whenever she saw the two of them glued to a "brain-numbing machine" and he remembered his uncle laughing.

"I can see—" his uncle's arm was looped around him and Nai allowed it "—that you're just like me."

Nai said nothing. Yes, his uncle had begun his dream, but Nai had become his own person—long surpassing his uncle.

"I don't have the energy to run this place anymore," he sighed, and, in the safety of his trouser pockets, Nai balled his hands into fists, though only for a moment. "If you don't want it—" his ambition, his uncle's dream "—I'll shut it down."

Then, quietly, a member of staff interrupted "Sir, you have a call" and his uncle hurried away, telling Nai to wait.

Obediently, he waited. For a moment, Nai watched his uncle walk away, still lost in memories with a man as devoted to games as Nai himself, he wondered when his uncle's shadow had gotten so small. It was unfair—his uncle had lived his dreams already and he had something new to pursue: finding a wife and starting a family. Only last month, over the monthly meal that was mandatory for both his uncle and Nai himself, his mother had sighed that she had no nieces or nephews to spoil and reminded his uncle that a woman was unlikely to marry a man who adored gaming more than her.

It was why Nai had no aspirations to marry. He knew he would—in years, when it was convenient, when Nai was successful enough that a wife wouldn't contest his occupation—but, unlike his roommates, Nai was not fascinated by love.

Suddenly, his uncle disappeared and, as if a spell had been broken, Nai turned his attention from the man's back and levelled it on the café he had spent many hours in, creating Yixiao Naihe. He expected his uncle to take a few minutes, which gave him time to inspect future consumers of Zhi Yi's games, but, before he could focus, a monitor caught his eye.

Before he noticed the girl—her hand speed, her control of the mouse, her posture which spoke volumes of her ease and confidence—he noticed the game, and the complex move only the more skilled players of A Chinese Ghost Story knew. The opponent stood no chance against it, and that made Nai notice her, and he felt a foreign urge to see more than the girl's onyx hair and snow-white skin—and that surprised him, as Nai had never thought of a woman so intently, nor wanted to be closer to one. Most women—who shrieked and followed him, taking pictures of him—had just become an annoyance.

Yet, as he continued to watch her—admiring the way she handled her opponent: never once allowing the other player the upper hand but never revealing too much of her skill—he felt captivated by her, and he was too enraptured to realise that he was drawing closer to her. Plans to talk to her came and went. Ideas of challenging her teased him and vanished. Words of praise—which his friends of four years rarely heard from him—burned in his mind but he never uttered them. Instead, when Nai was close enough to read her avatar's name—Luwei Weiwei, a name he recognised from the top ten players in the server, who Nai had heard only whispers about online—and feeling a smile lift the corner of his mouth, the woman typed something and logged off. Almost frozen in place—still replaying her perfect victory—the man, who had only moments ago thought that no woman would appeal to him, watched as she removed the headphones and turned, sighing quietly, and Nai felt a foreign thump! from his heart as he saw the profile of her, and, even to him, she was beautiful.

Nai was so lost in her and in Luwei Weiwei that, when she turned fully, collecting her bag and standing to leave, he didn't move. Couldn't move. Though he didn't dare to label the feeling in his heart, Nai knew that—for once—he'd been wrong.

There could be something more important than games.

And that there were women who could stand beside Yixiao Naihe—who could meet his expectations online.

The grip of a hand seizing his shoulder and his uncle's "What's up?" startled him so much that he flinched, because his mind had been filled with her and the swordswoman in red who would be an excellent addition to his team. A necessity.

Nai caught sight of his uncle's watch and, as the man talked, Nai realised that an eternity had spun into only a few brief minutes, and that the woman was gone, and that he hadn't asked for her name. The fact that he had wanted it confused him again, but, even though it was a new feeling—which was entirely overwhelming—Nai welcomed it without resistance.

Though he would never admit it—because the act alone made Nai feel more shame than he had tolerated in his short existence—he had become Luwei Weiwei's greatest admirer. Or stalker, a darker, more honest side of Nai's mind corrected.

Yet, though it confused and irritated him that his "genius" mind was occupied by a woman he couldn't name, he was unable to escape it, no matter how many times Nai insisted that he had "better things" to contend with. In the days since he had first seen the dark-haired beauty, Nai had dreamt of her—every night, as if she had engraved herself in his mind. When he had woken from the first of those dreams—ones he thought he would never have, because he kept himself above such desires—Nai had been unable to persuade himself that it was her online skill that attracted him. No, the more he considered it, for hours and days, Nai knew—he did admire her skill, but Nai's once unburdened heart had been captured.

Suddenly, Banshan asked "Playing again?" and Nai voiced his agreement. "Whatever you're looking for, we can help."

"I want to catch it myself," he returned—Nai would capture Luwei Weiwei as she had captured him.

"We wouldn't try to take it from you," laughed Hao Mei, and the other two shivered at the thought of such a thing.

Lifting his attention briefly, feeling an unnecessary annoyance as characters swarmed the stationary swordswoman while the wedding parade rode by, Nai stated "I won't allow this to be taken from me" seriously, with the conviction he'd found.

Holding his hands up, smiling, because they knew him, Mei returned "Fine, fine" and changed the conversation.

For a moment, he smiled too. The urge he felt to claim Luwei Weiwei for himself, without help, was overwhelming and reduced the woman—and his mother had always taught Nai to respect and support women regardless of his disinterest in them—to some kind of prize, but Nai couldn't squash the fire in his heart either. If he was going to win Luwei Weiwei's heart as a novice to romantic emotions, Nai had no better path available than to begin as if it were a business transaction.

'Is she storming the wedding? How spiteful!'

Nai felt anger burn in his gut, which was another emotion he was unfamiliar with.

Another post came—'Luwei Weiwei is so shameless! She was obviously not good enough as his spouse!'—and Nai had to curl his fingers into his palms, taking them away from the keyboard and the fierce rebuttals his mind could conjure against them.

It was obvious—from her stationary position, and how she suddenly began selling her wares to those around her—that the dark-haired beauty behind Luwei Weiwei had been away from her computer, but her reaction still lifted a smile on his face. She's intelligent—which he knew, having hunted down every rumour about Luwei Weiwei in the last few days. If he disregarded the general belief that Luwei Weiwei was operated by a man—since most of the female players used A Chinese Ghost Story to also secure partners and thus had to post flattering pictures of themselves—Nai had only heard praises and complaints of her ferocity in battle, which hadn't helped Nai's intention of giving himself a reason to stop thinking of her.

Her character finally stood from the crowd and one player demanded "When will you be here again?" and others agreed.

"It depends on my mood," came in reply, and Nai felt himself smile again.

The crowd dispersed in disappointment but without further comments about Luwei Weiwei being "heartbroken" or other nonsense, and Nai—with a steadying breath—cancelled the concealment charm he had placed on himself. Luwei Weiwei was facing away from him and, when she began to walk away, he typed "Luwei Weiwei!" into the game, and called to her.

Nai had truly been taken by her because, when her avatar turned, which was nothing more than a representation of excellent coding and game design, he immediately pictured the beautiful dark-haired woman from his uncle's café. He wasn't prepared for the sudden rapid beat in his chest and, for a moment, he glanced at his roommates, as Nai was convinced they would hear the thundering rhythm, but seeing them thankfully occupied brought his attention back to the avatar and Nai was humiliated by the fact that his hands were sweating. Nai had researched her and prepared to finally greet her and yet he was reduced to the unnerved wrecks the man had seen on the TV dramas that Mei often enjoyed—and the other two teased him for, though neither seemed to remember their complaints when those dramas were playing.

"Yixiao Naihe?" came on his screen and Nai was proud that she knew of him. "The server's number one player, Yixiao Naihe?"

Though he wanted to say something profound, he didn't. Instead, he watched her avatar move quickly towards his.

When the swordswoman in red came to him, she asked "Yes, Mr Yixiao Naihe?" and even her manners impressed him.

In truth, he hadn't planned to speak to her—not yet. There were still preparations to make. But, now that she was in front of him, Nai began "What did you think of the wedding?" and decided that he would need to hasten his plans to keep her.

"It's grand." —Nai could tell that she was surprised by his interest, as if Yixiao Naihe was like the rest of the gossiping masses.

"Would you like an even grander wedding?" he asked her, and already visions of marrying the player behind Luwei Weiwei filled his mind as she had his dreams. It was too soon to think of such things—and Nai had never believed in fairy tales which spouted idealised nonsense about love at first sight—but that didn't deter the daydream. Then, glad that he could use Yixiao Naihe's confident façade to hide the only time he could recall feeling uncertain, he ordered "Form an in-game marriage with me" and could only imagine how the beautiful woman might react to such an abrupt proposal, but finally, it was done.

THE END

In the words of Warner Brothers - That's all folks!

Please remember that I am attempting to break into Nai's mind which makes him a little less than the perfection Yang Yang made him into (though I do think a person's flaws make them even more perfect).

If there are any scenes your really want me to work on, please let me know.

TTFN

Love-On-Every-Page