Over the Edge

By Nasu Hasami

"And though she is but little, she is fierce."

~William Shakespeare~

Fa Mulan was a nomad without a home who'd shared Li Shang's bed on occasion, sometimes, in the past. It was something she still did, even though Fa didn't like to stay anywhere too long or be attached to anyone for too long. In fact, she had arrived earlier that evening, prepared to squander a few more days in Li's company, and waste a few more nights in his bed.

Whenever Fa was in Hong Kong, now, it seemed that was invariably where she would end up: tucked in beneath Li Shang, whispering his name. She didn't lease an apartment in the city anymore. Fa just found her way to Li Shang and his bed. She didn't even bother trying to run in the mornings.

She stayed. They ate breakfast. It was civilised.

Except on the mornings when they lingered in bed and enjoyed each other instead of pursuing some other mundane adult routine.

Those mornings were far from what Li Shang would call civilised, or tasteful, or convivial.

Fa Mulan had been his nomad for nearly three years now. Three years of these lazy mornings and sweet nights together; three years of this.

Although, this particular incident hadn't happened before, not as far as Li Shang could recall anyway. However, that didn't mean it hadn't ever happened before—he just might not have been able to remember it. Li certainly hadn't meant for Mulan to sucker-punch him when he'd egged her on to hit him. Although, what his intentions were in encouraging his girlfriend to assault him were presently a mystery, to both Li and Fa.

Li Shang had taken Fa Mulan to a Wushu class once. But that was years ago—the first week she had stayed with him—and as far as Li knew, Fa wasn't formally trained in any martial art. If she had been, Fa Mulan obviously abided by the rule of never speaking of Fight Club.

The idea of a self-defence class had been, at first, an excuse that learning a martial art would good for Fa's confidence. Gradually, however, this excuse fell through, and it didn't take Fa Mulan long to discover Li Shang forced the façade simply so he could throw her about his living room in a shirtless state, with a pretext (though he wouldn't have needed it if he'd asked her) to have her hands on him at all possible times when they were otherwise unoccupied.

It was a darker shade of grey still as to whether it was her confidence or some misguided heavy petting that had led to Li Shang's current state. After all, it was his semi-prone form lying on the lounge with a piece of frozen steak smacked onto his face.

'Can I see it?' asked Fa. Her small hands were pestering his wound.

She didn't exactly sound upset or concerned. The warmth in her voice was something closer to a sycophantic fascination. Fa probably just wanted to photograph the blow to his head and post it onto her Weibo account; brag about beating the shit out of some pretentious Red Prince.

'No,' grumbled Li Shang. 'Just leave it alone. The bruising will settle soon. I have great genes and don't scar or bruise easily.'

Li pressed the frosty lump of meat closer to his skin, shivering slightly at the contact. Fa's fingers were still poised just beyond his vision. She poked him in the eye in an attempt to pry the wagyū away.

'It looks bad. Should I call an ambulance?' Fa's voice was wavering with concern. 'Shang, your eye is bleeding.'

Li Shang knew it looked bad. The bruise burnt like hell. His face was throbbing, his nose was bleeding, and there might have even been a molar loose in his mouth. Still, he didn't really want to explain to a paramedic how foreplay had resulted with him incapacitated, or how his girlfriend's fist had gained enough momentum and force in its small flight path to nearly render him unconscious.

Nor did Li Shang want to explain why he'd encouraged his girlfriend to punch him in the first place.

Then there was the small matter of who his girlfriend was, her identity, and the potential for problems that could result in if anyone recognised her. More than anything, he'd promised to protect her, and he wasn't welcoming a situation that could possibly see her arrested and extradited to the PRC to be tried and executed.

'Don't call an ambulance. I'll be fine!' said Li, resolutely. 'I promise.'

'Clearly, we both know you're not fine.' Fa was trying to pull the steak from his face again. 'I could always call an ambulance and leave.'

'I'm fine, Mulan!' snapped Li Shang. 'You don't need to leave.'

'Okay, okay!' Fa conceded. 'But please give me something to do. I feel really bad, Shang. I didn't mean to hurt you. I told you I didn't want to hit you, but you just kept goading me!'

Fa did feel bad, that at least was obvious. Though, whether it was because she'd injured her lover, or because their first night together in eight months was likely now going to be a sexless one, remained up for debate.

'I have to fly to Chengdu on Tuesday morning. Early,' said Fa. 'You've got meetings all day tomorrow. We really won't get time to see each other if you need to sleep that off.'

'I know,' sighed Li. He didn't need reminding that this trip left them with less than thirty hours together. Thirty hours that could have been spent sans wagyū à la carte.

'And you have your London conference next week,' Fa continued. 'I'm booked out until late September, and that's if everything goes smoothly until then. Realistically, it could be next year by the next time we see each other. Maybe February or March.'

It hadn't taken too long of this for syncing their calendars to have become a thing for Fa Mulan. She was going to hack his phone anyway if he didn't hand it to her and fill in his blank weekends with her name. It always started the same way. They'd sync themselves with each other. Fa Mulan would steal his phone. She'd sync their calendars and schedule in his free days for more syncing. How their relationship had lasted for so long on that basis alone was a mystery to Li. It had been nearly three years to the day from that morning after Chu Su-wen's wedding, when Fa stayed for breakfast instead of running off into the sunrise. Li Shang had once calculated they'd spent less than two hundred hours with each other, and most of those hours had been expended in bed.

He'd never considered any of that time wasted by any means. Neither did she.

'Can you get me some water, and some aspirin?' asked Li.

'Sure. Top cupboard, right? In the kitchen? The one I can't reach?' asked Fa.

'Yes. The effervescent tablets, please,' said Li.

The swelling in Li's cheek made it feel like there was more 'F's than there should have been.

He watched, amused, when he witnessed Fa swing herself over the kitchen counter and throw herself up on the bench. She wasn't tall, his beautiful girlfriend, as much as she was long and lean, Fa Mulan was rather petite but menacing all the same, if she wanted to be. A little bit like a Terrier or a Maltese-Cross, barking at your ankles and jumping for your throat. Li Shang had described her to his colleagues as willowy, but she was skinnier than that, and she wasn't really tall enough to pull off willowy. However, willowy was ambiguous and Li needed to keep his lover's ambiguity ambiguous or her right hook might clip him a little lower next time.

Li's girlfriend returned with an armful of boxes and containers, pitching them onto the coffee table. Fa ducked back into his kitchen, opened stainless steel door after stainless steel door until the blue glowing lights informed her that she'd found his fridge, and then swooped back in with two bottles of Badoit.

Fa had laughed at him the first time she'd stayed long enough to share more than breakfast with him. Of course, the pretty Red Prince only consumed bottled water, and it was all sparkling too, wasn't it?

Sadly, yes, it was, and imported from France.

The fizzing water now assaulted his mouth as the tablets crackled and dissolved on his tongue.

'Shouldn't you dissolve them in a glass of still water?' asked Fa Mulan. She had folded her arms, standing over him like a sentry as she tapped her foot.

Li Shang was the one with a piece of raw meat stuck on his face. He'd decide how he took his tablets.

'Usually,' mumbled Li, stoic despite the pyrotechnics behind his teeth.

Fa checked her watch. He sighed.

'You've got to go, don't you?' asked Li.

'I told my contact I'd meet them at nine. I don't really want to leave you alone like this, but I don't have a cell number I can ring or anything—'

'Go,' said Li, shooing his lover towards the door with his steak free hand. 'Go. Go and meet with your contact. Just come home when you're done. I'll still be sitting here, still feeling sorry for myself.'

Fa kissed his head then scampered off. Then she stole his keys, offered Li a heart with her thumb and index finger, and slammed the door shut in her wake. A moment later, Fa returned, grabbed her handbag and slammed the door a second time as she fled.

For three years they'd had this ridiculous relationship, Li Shang mused, staring at the ceiling and his bespoke light fittings. Fa Mulan would flap into his life, they'd have dinner, they'd go to bed, (sometimes they'd skip dinner), there'd be some more dallying in bed, they'd sleep—eventually—and she'd still be there when he woke, mostly, unless there was an early flight that separated them. If that was the case, there was always a note left for him on his bedside table, or on her pillow.

Sometimes they'd meet at a prearranged destination amidst standing travel plans. Li Shang was particularly fond of the weekend they'd wasted in Morocco nearly a year ago. He got a kind of sick satisfaction that his father's company had paid for a hotel room he never used, not for anything more then to check in and shower after a fourteen-hour flight. Fa's hotel had a better view anyway, and no one ever recognised him at any of the hotels she used.

Li had decided to propose to Fa Mulan after that weekend. He didn't know exactly how they would be married, or even if they could be married. Fa was still a fugitive from the PRC, and he was the heir to Li Enterprises Limited. Not to mention Li hadn't actually introduced her to his parents yet and wasn't too hopeful for how that would proceed when he was brave enough to face it. His mother would probably have a stroke when he told her he wanted to marry a criminal, and that he'd sort of been sleeping with her for about five years. And if they did manage to become husband and wife, Fa Mulan would have to do a better job with her syncing, not simply scanning for the odd weekend they were both free.

Li Shang fell asleep with that thought swimming in his head. Fa Mulan, his lovely, tiny, skinny wife, and her sharp right hook, all his, from then on, one day. Hopefully. She would say yes, wouldn't she?

Li may not have fallen asleep though. It could have actually been the concussion taking over. The one he'd been valiantly fighting since he tricked his girlfriend into slugging him in the face.

This was precisely why Fa Mulan didn't date. This. This reason. The half-dead man on the lounge. Fa didn't need this in her life. This moaning and groaning and oh god he was handsome wasn't he? Even if he was half-dead. And that was her fault anyway. Deciding on a swift course of action to wake Li Shang, Fa kissed him until his face turned blue.

His eyes popped open as he gasped for air, looking around; looking stunned and drowsy still.

'Did you pass out on the lounge?' asked Fa, innocently. Li Shang remained looking a little dazed as his eyes searched the room.

'Must of,' mumbled Li. Sitting up, he peeled the now defrosted beef steak from his cheek. He smelt sickly-sweet of raw meat. The smell made him throw up a little in his mouth. 'What time is it?' he asked. Fa didn't answer, not immediately.

'Nearly two,' she muttered quietly. 'Can you get up to the bedroom yourself?'

'I might need some help.' Li Shang half-grinned. He'd enjoy every minute of being a burden to his girlfriend, especially if it meant feeling her petite body curled into him, supporting him.

'Good thing I actually did National Service,' Fa grumbled to herself as she pulled him to his feet. 'Come on, soldier; let's get you cleaned up and into bed.' She prodded the tender part of Li's face, despite his grimacing and flinching. 'It doesn't look so bad now, Shang. It's only red—not purple—and the swellings gone down.'

'Great!' said Li. He'd still look like he lost a fight, or a bet, tomorrow at work. Yao and Ling would let him know it, too.

'My meeting went well, if you care.' Fa rolled her eyes. 'I'm guessing you don't by the dumb look on your face. My contact thought we could meet again in October. You'd like that I think: if I was yours for nearly a month. You could tell your colleagues I'm real, not imaginary, and I might even commit to a business dinner with you to prove it to them. I'm fairly certain they think you're probably working too hard and that you've created this whole romance.'

'I see you're hacking my iPad now?' teased Li.

'You know I go through your emails.'

'Ling thinks you're make-believe,' said Li. 'He thinks I had one too many Manhattans that night, passed out, and made you all up. I don't even have a photo of you proving you exist.'

'Deal with it,' said Fa. There was an edge to her voice a stranger might not have noticed, but Li Shang picked up on it.

'I do,' he said. 'I told them you couldn't have any photos released that your publicist didn't approve. It sounds better than: Oh, yes, you can find her by a quick internet search. Both her criminal record and mug shot are available online.'

'Well, that's almost true, about the publicist thing,' shrugged Fa. 'Well, if it will make up for the face-slugging, I'll put something hideously inappropriate on your phone when you're asleep; something that you'll be too embarrassed to show them. Unequivocal evidence you're definitely in a relationship with a woman, and that that relationship definitely involves sex.'

'If you're insinuating that you're going to sext me, please don't. I have a reputation to maintain.' Li Shang had slumped into the landing wall. The stairs, it seemed, were too great a feat for present endeavours, and much too great for his esteemed reputation to contemplate. 'I don't need my face in tabloids or social columns saying I've succumbed to soliciting pornographic photographs from some unknown temptress.' Li Shang continued panting, drooping slowly to the floor. 'Mulan, can you please get me another two aspirin?'

Fa Mulan disappeared, returning moments later with more Badoit and a white container.

'The contact…' Fa started then stopped, twisting her hands together and knotting her fingers nervously. 'The contact I met with tonight, Shang, it wasn't exactly a contact. You see, I know our fathers were Red Guards together. And I know—well I thought I knew—that my ba had helped your ba get to Hong Kong, which he had, but I didn't know that my ba, well, he was—or is, rather—still in contact with your ba. And, so...so you know, my ba talks about me to his friends, and he remembered me to this Cantonese friend of his, one Li Guangling, about how I had a Cantonese boyfriend, a businessman…'

'Are you trying to insinuate that you met with my parents?' asked Li, spluttering slightly.

Badoit dribbled across the parquet flooring of the landing, pooling across the smooth surface. A second (proverbial) punch had just socked Li Shang in the stomach. Fa Mulan meeting his parents was an operation that he was going to undertake with military grade precision. His mother, being half French and therefore believing she was infinitely superior than pure Han blood, would hate Fa on first sight without the proper precautions and the right introduction. Li Shang had planned to talk up her academic career, her polyglot skills, and how polite and humble his girlfriend was. All the things that made her look like excellent wife material.

'I had dinner with Li ma and Li ba,' said Fa, meekly. 'They were polite enough, I suppose.'

Li Shang was still just staring at Fa. He popped three more aspirin in his mouth and swallowed them dry.

'Your ma wasn't exactly what I was expecting. My ma had said to be careful, but I didn't realise I was going to be greeted with an accusation of being pregnant with your illegitimate child. Li ma told me she wanted grandchildren, one day, in the proper order of things, but that I looked too thin for a pregnancy scandal.' At this Fa Mulan rubbed her taught stomach, examining it a little. 'Your ma didn't think you'd get messed up with someone like me unless I was pregnant to you.' She pouted a little, again. 'Despite who my father might have been, apparently, I'm just some ingrate that should be locked up. I don't think your ma understood that I speak French as well as I speak English.'

Oh, shit. Fa had met his mother.

'You're everything to me,' said Fa. 'I don't think your ma understood that. I don't think she could accept that I love you and choose to be with you, even though it's hard for us.'

Fa Mulan said it with such a simple shrug that Li Shang froze up a little. It was the first time, as far as he could recall, that Fa Mulan had ever said she loved him, or that she wanted to be with him.

Li told her all the time because it annoyed her, and she didn't believe in Chinese saying those words. So, it was shocking that she'd said it so easily. Fa Mulan loved him. Fa Mulan wanted him.

Oh, shit. Oh, shit.

'I'm not going to risk my life like this for anyone. And I haven't, before. I was a virgin when I met you, at that bar, all those years ago. It's certainly not how I planned for the first time to go, but I wouldn't change it. And we have this, whatever it is; we have us. We're worth it, I think.' Fa was smiling. 'And I don't have plans of finding anyone else. I like what we have too much.'

Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.

Fa looked at him funnily, bending to his height and folding her hands over his knees.

'Are you all right, Shang? You look like you're tripping? How many of those things have you taken?'

Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.

Li tried to calculate the tablets in his head, but the numbers all jiggled and morphed together. Two with the steak; another one when he woke up earlier, though it might have been two; three more when Fa handed the bottle to him; another few when she mentioned his mother. His fingers were fast unscrewing and screwing on the lid.

Li Shang didn't want to propose to Fa here, on the landing, smelling of stale meat with water spilt on the floor and the taste of vomit in his mouth. It was supposed to happen in December, in Macau, in a hotel with a spa suite, an imported bottle of Krug Clos d'Ambonnay and his grandmother's ring. But it was there, swollen on his tongue, just behind his teeth, trying to escape.

'What is it?' asked Fa as she leaned closer, her hands on his thighs now. 'Shang, what's wrong?'

Li shook his head, eyes intent on the bottle in his hands. Fa lifted his chin so she could look at him, smiling gently as she patted his puffy cheek. He shook his head again, afraid to meet her gaze and look beyond it. If he did, Li was certain he'd ask her to be his forever. He'd ask her to marry him, tomorrow, before she left the country. Surely, the CFO wouldn't mind him being late if he had an appointment at a family registration office.

'You want to say something,' said Fa.

'Not like this,' he stuttered.

Fa looked affronted, her hands falling away.

'What's that supposed to mean?' she asked, eyes narrowing. 'Not like what?'

Li choked.

What if Fa did what women usually do and jumped to conclusions? She'd assume he was trying to break up with her, mumbling something like that in this situation. He needed to clear things up with her before that happened. Oestrogen did strange things to eardrums.

'There's something I wanted to say,' he started, reaching for her. 'But I don't want to, not like this. I had a plan, and it was a great plan; seriously, you'd love my plan. But I want to, like this. It's there, right now, in my mouth, and I'm really, really trying, Mulan. Really, I am. But I want to, like this. I want this. I want us. A lot.'

Fa carefully took the bottle away from his hands.

'How about you go up to bed? Maybe you need to sleep it off.'

She dragged him up the stairs and helped him onto the bed. Li fell asleep not long after, a little melancholic and a little annoyed that he had work tomorrow. Fa would be gone, most likely, by the time he got home. He didn't appreciate that aspect of this relationship. Not really. Not the endless flights and secrecy. Was it really such a terrible thing for him to take a photo of her into the offices and sit it on his desk, and tell his colleagues and his clients that this was his beautiful girlfriend, the one that he loved and wanted to marry?

Yes, apparently, it was.

Li Shang was delayed at work on Monday night, as he suspected he'd be with a conference call from America. The technology might have been fantastic compared to where the technology had been three years before, but technology couldn't change his client's time zone.

By the time Li finally pulled into his driveway he knew Fa wasn't inside the house. It was that feeling, the knowing that lovers have. A different kind of loneliness had settled over his home; a loneliness that was the void where Fa stood, and where she belonged. It was nearly midnight. He knew she wouldn't be there. But he'd hoped she would. Hoped, foolishly, that she'd skipped her flight and her next assignment for him. But she wasn't inside, and she hadn't skipped anything for him. She was on her way to Chengdu, or wherever 'Chengdu' had been code for by now.

It was early on Tuesday morning when Li Shang's cell pinged to life. The pinging went off before his alarm did, and loudly too. It was a message from an unknown number. The sun wasn't even peeking through his curtains yet as he read the text.

Message received from Unknown Number: Have arrived safely. Thought I would let you know. This is my number, now. It's me, by the way—your girlfriend. The one that you should probably have charged with battery or assault. The one that confessed her enormous love for you Sunday night while you were drunk on analgesics.

Li Shang sat up and propped the pillows behind him, rearranging himself on the bed. His fingers were slow and lethargic, slipping across the screen messily. Mentally, he noted the ungodly time. How was your flight? he typed.

Message received from Fa Mulan: Turbulent. Nearly died over the Pacific Ocean. LOL. I'm not telling you where I am. Flight was fine. How did your conference call go?

Message sent from Li Shang: Fine. Will have to do a formal meet and greet in New York within a month. My secretary now believes you are real, though.

Message received from Fa Mulan: Because I answered your phone when she rang yesterday morning?

Message sent from Li Shang: Yes.

Message received from Fa Mulan: I can answer it for you anytime.

Message sent from Li Shang: No, you can't—most of the time you're not here to answer it. Ms Huang was very apologetic towards me about that meeting being rescheduled without my notice. Apparently, you sounded very disappointed that I wouldn't be home for dinner. So disappointed that Huang thought I was going to fire her.

Message received from Fa Mulan: It was dessert that I was concerned about.

Message sent from Li Shang: Really. This does not surprise me. Figures you'd only be thinking of your stomach.

Message received from Fa Mulan: Sunday was the first time we've been together since we've been together that there has been no dessert.

Message sent from Li Shang: No. It's the second.

Message received from Fa Mulan: Pardon?

Message sent from Li Shang: When I literally bumped into you in Montreal last year. We didn't have dessert then.

Message received from Fa Mulan: Yes, we did.

Message sent from Li Shang: No, we didn't.

Message received from Fa Mulan: I distinctly remember champagne, chocolates, and a Jacuzzi being involved in that incident.

Message sent from Li Shang: Yes, there was a Jacuzzi involved, but there was no dessert.

Message received from Fa Mulan: I think you've been popping more of those pills. There was definitely dessert.

Message sent from Li Shang: We are talking about the same thing, aren't we? Dessert as a euphemism? I'm starting to think you are literally talking about your stomach and the crème brûlée you wanted to keep ordering from room service that I said was unnecessary. When in Montreal, last year, we didn't make love.

Message received from Fa Mulan: I disagree. I distinctly remember you doing things to me in that hot tub.

Message sent from Li Shang: Yes, I did. But we didn't do anything more than mess around. There was no love making that night.

Message received from Fa Mulan: I'm confused. Please explain to me how what we did in that hot tub does not count as making love?

Message sent from Li Shang: Because it was only my tongue that was inside of you.

Message received from Fa Mulan: I can't believe we're having this conversation at what? 5 a.m. Hong Kong time. How does what you did to me not count?

Message sent from Li Shang: Just think of the things my tongue could be doing to you if you were here with me right now.

Message received from Fa Mulan: No, thank you. I still have some work to do. I'll save those thoughts for later.

Message sent from Li Shang: What time is it where you are?

Message received from Fa Mulan: About midnight. I've checked in and showered. Thought I'd text my man and see if he was thinking about me, alone, in the dark.

Message sent from Li Shang: I'm always thinking about you when I'm alone. Even so, I should probably get out of bed, shower and get to the gym.

Message received from Fa Mulan: Think of me while you're in the shower. I always enjoy our showers, even if they are utterly pointless.

Message sent from Li Shang: Completely pointless. Perfect, though.

Message received from Fa Mulan: The spa in Macau last Qixi?

Message sent from Li Shang: Yes!

Message received from Fa Mulan: We need to get a spa for your place. Your bathroom is big enough.

Message sent from Li Shang: Definitely. Yes. I will look into this later today.

Message received from Fa Mulan: Although, it would be very pointless. And your tongue might get ideas.

Message sent from Li Shang: Perfectly pointless. And I don't know about my tongue. Maybe it needs some inspiration.

Message received from Fa Mulan: Your tongue is fine without any further education. But you should check your photo albums on your phone. I added a new one. Non-descript. But it's all me. I give you permission to use them as material for producing your own dessert.

Message sent from Li Shang: So, you're sexting me now?

Message received from Fa Mulan: I can sext you right now, if you want. I'm wearing that fancy red underwear you bought me for our anniversary. And I've accepted this conversation will prevent me from getting any work done.

Message sent from Li Shang: I'll have to take a raincheck. I need to get up and shower. I'll be late for work if I just keep lying in bed messaging you. I'll never get there if you start virtually harassing me.

Message received from Fa Mulan: So professional. No wonder your ba keeps you around.

Message sent from Li Shang: I can't do whatever I want, Mulan, even if I am being groomed for CEO. I have to think of the shareholders, and the business's reputation.

Message received from Fa Mulan: Okay, Mr Future CEO. I will stop responding now. Have a good day. I'm sending you a big, wet good morning kiss. One of the dessert type persuasion. It's not for your tongue—it's for another part of your body that's a lot lower.

Message sent from Li Shang: You know, you've never actually done that to me.

Message received from Fa Mulan: A girl can't give away everything all at once. Wait. Didn't you just say you needed to get ready for work? How is this helping?

Message sent from Li Shang: If you could see me right now, you could see how it's helping. You can keep texting. I might just be delayed in my responses.

Message received from Fa Mulan: No, I should probably try to get some sleep. BTW, check your study before you go. I left something in there for you—something for your desk at work.

After his message app went quiet, Li Shang smiled as he flicked back over to his homescreen and opened up his photo albums. Sure enough, there was a new folder with about two hundred photos in it.

Fa Mulan had photographed herself nondescriptly, as she'd said, but he knew it was her. It was her fingers and her toes. Fa had photographed her ankle, the left one, from various angles. She had photographed her right knee. She had photographed her clavicles. She had photographed her nose and her eyes and her lips, but there was no photographs of her face, just bits of her face. Photographs of her ears, and her neck, and her shoulders; a few photographs that made Li blush and definitely fell into the sexting category, but nothing that could actually identify her as her. Li Shang knew the photos were Fa Mulan though, especially the one of her bra. He'd recognise those breasts anywhere if he saw them.

Li texted her a photo of his wrist as he drank his coffee and ate his breakfast. About an hour later he received a 'LOL' in reply, then, 'This one', and a link to a webpage specialising in luxury spa baths.

Needless to say, Li Shang ignored the paperwork associated with his New York client that morning while he researched Jacuzzis. His secretary left him alone in spite of the importance of the phone calls she should have switched through. Huang still feared facing dismissal a little. And Ling made no further comments about Li's fantasy romance when he noticed the shiny silver frame on the executive's desk. The photograph encased within pictured a pretty, petite woman in jeans and a sweater, wrapped in the executive's arms, looking both beautiful and besotted as she kissed the executive's cheek. The usually stoic, plain faced executive looked almost happy with that petite thing held tightly within his arms, her lips pressed to his skin.

It was unfortunate the happiness didn't extend to the version of the executive sitting in his office chair, barking orders and snidely sneering at his computer screen. Between themselves, Yao and Ling had guessed that the executive might not have gotten any the night before and was just taking his pissy attitude out on his underlings. However, when Ling looked up again towards Li Shang's office, the executive didn't look so stiff anymore. Li was grinning widely and blushing at his phone, twisting it this way and that. It looked like he was trying to zoom in on something. Whatever it was, the blushing only worsened with every 'Ping' of his phone. Yao smirked as he stood on his chair to look over the cubicle wall. Unfortunately, Li had noticed and slammed his office door shut, locking it and closing the blinds.

Two hours later Li emerged, looking extremely flustered and agitated. His top three buttons were undone, and his tie was hanging loose around his neck. His shirt looked like it had a few more wrinkles in it than it should have. Li Shang stormed passed Yao and Ling, stopped in the doorway of his secretary's office, and demanded she book the soonest possible flight to Minsk she could get. Even if she had to hire someone's private jet and charter a flight, Li Shang didn't care. He needed to get to Minsk before the end of the day.

When asked why—not that it was any of his secretary's business—Li Shang got that menacing glint in his eyes and resolutely stated that, right now, his girlfriend needed him, and he needed her too.

Presently, Fa Mulan was trapped in a hotel room that was much too big for one person, with a spa bath that was much too lonely without Li Shang's tongue. And he certainly wasn't the type of boyfriend to let his woman suffer through that sort of situation, not if there was something he could do about it. He just needed a plane, a carry-on, and his grandmother's ring.

~Fin~