It was one of those days, when luck was on their side and both Luhan and Yifan could come to work a tad later, so they were in a great mood. Although it could possibly be because they had an-oh-so-good sleep. Anyway, they didn't expect to see Mei in the elevator, standing in a sport shirt and looking the the mirror trying to tighten the hair into a ponytail. It seemed like it hadn't been her first attempt to do that, because there was the hint of irritation written on her face, and when she had finally tied her hair, she looked at the boys with the look that seemed saying "Are you getting in, damn it?" Both quickly entered the elevator and began watching the girl with utter interest, while she acted like she didn't even notice their presence. Checking her hair for the last time, Mei took her compact out of the backpack and Yifan decided to play with her nerves.
"You're late?" The said boy crossed his arms and slightly smiled at her. Mei froze for a few seconds and gave him a murderous look. Yifan just smirked. "Thought so."
While Mei tried to make herself look at least a little bit presentable, Luhan noticed two stripes of black ink circling her hands just below the elbow and made a mental note to ask her about them, but as he was averting his eyes from her, he saw some inscription on her spine that could be seen from under her shirt. He never thought that Mei had any tattoos, but it looked like she did. He reached into his pocket for a Chupa Chups and tried to open it.
"Listen", whispered Yifan in a couple of seconds. "I think someone's possessed her today. She seems all ready to bite your head off."
Luhan looked up at Mei and saw her looking at him with not the kindest face of all. He crooked a smile at her and, at the same moment, the wrapper finally got torn. Luhan exhaled with relief, mentally thanking everyone he could think of, that the damn wrapper had mercy on him, and stuffed the candy in his mouth.
Finishing dolling herself up, Mei pulled a bottle of water out of her backpack and leaned against the mirrored wall of the cabin. When the doors opened, Yifan showed her his impudent smile again.
"You're such a cutie today."
Mei narrowed her eyes and threw a bottle at him. At that moment Yifan cursed himself for not knowing how to keep his mouth shut, because the bottle hit him right in the stomach and the man involuntarily bent almost in half. The girl smiled triumphantly and Luhan, although shocked, laughed at the scene. Coming out of the elevator, Mei took the candy out of his mouth and almost flew out of the building.

Xiao Lu: That was my Chups!
yi mei: Your teeth will fall out
Xiao Lu: And yours won't?
yi mei: ahahaha
Good morning
Xiao Lu: Good morning :-)

"Dude, I understand, that you're insanely busy with your phone, but your girlfriend just nearly killed me", croaked Yifan, straightening. 
"I would've done the same thing, if you played with my nerves like that."
"So, you're not even denying that she's your girlfriend anymore?" Now Yifan was smiling broadly.
"You know, I can also throw this bottle at you."

yi mei: I'm so tired... You've no idea
Xiao Lu: Tough day?
yi mei: Everything's falling apart around me today
Xiao Lu: You're home already?
yi mei: No, I'm on  my way
You?
Xiao Lu: Lying on my bed staring at the TV
yi mei: I want to be you rn. So much!
Xiao Lu: That's the first time I hear that the girl wants to trade places with the guy. Not that I'm against it... Thou, no, I am. I never want to be a girl.
yi mei: Why?
Xiao Lu: Well, for starters, you girls have period every month, you have to carry a baby... Plus, we men often are just big kids ourselves, so women have to babysit us too.
yi mei: :-)
Xiao Lu: What?
yi mei: Nothing :-) I just realized once again that you're not like everybody else :-)
Xiao Lu: I'll pretend it's a compliment
yi mei: Don't need to pretend, it is
Xiao Lu: Thanks, Mei
BTW! I wanted to ask you something! You have tattoos on your arms and back?
yi mei: Oh, yea... One on my arm and the back I got when I was still in China, and the one on the other arm I got here already
Xiao Lu: What kind of tattoos?
yi mei: "lex talionis" on my back. It means "an eye for an eye"
"if there’s something wrong with your soul, seek music" on my right arm
and "하늘이 무너져도 솟아날 구멍이 있어요" on my left hand
Xiao Lu: What does the last one mean exactly?
yi mei: "Even if the sky is falling, there will be a hole in it." No matter how hard the situation might be, there's always a way out.
Xiao Lu: That's deep.

yi mei: Sorry, it took me a while to respond. Just got in.
I got the last one a month ago. The girl with the heart attack told me about this saying. I went and got it tattooed almost the next day :-)
Do you have any?
Xiao Lu: No, I don't. I'm a
yi mei: Hm... Excuse me?
Xiao Lu: I mean my skin! My skin is to this stuff... Damn, no, there's no way out of it.
I'm just... Gonna go and choke myself with the pillow
yi mei: Oh, jeez, relax
Go sleep
Xiao Lu: Yes, ma'am

yi mei: Asleep?
Xiao Lu: No. Why aren't you? It's 2am
yi mei: Just not... Wanted to say goodnight
Xiao Lu: Dummy :-)
Sweet dreams, Mei
yi mei: :-D

Yifan was generally quite a tolerant person. He had no prejudices, and he treated people the same way they treated him. He didn't have a permanent girlfriend, but he often "hang out" with different girls. He was the man after all and his libido also required women's attention every now and then, so he never looked askance at the couples he saw at the club, who met an hour ago and couldn't take neither hands nor mouths from each other. Yifan himself sometimes got together like that with the candidates for the night in his bed. He often caught himself thinking, that after meeting Luhan his life had become fuller: it was a pleasure to spend time with him and they always had something to talk about. By some miracle, Yifan met a friend, he wished to have his all life: someone he could call at 4 in the morning and chat with till dawn, and then whine his way into making Luhan make him breakfast and pass out in his bed. And besides, whenever they went to a club, there were twice as much girls gathering around them. At some moments, he almost felt like the center of the universe, though he understood that he shouldn't think like that. But he was single and, while he didn't have the girl he'd like to date in some sort of way, he was free to do anything and everything he wanted, which was partying and have fun.

Seemed that he, just like Luhan, had a rough week, so they decided to go get boozed. Although "getting boozed" were pretty strong words to say, because for the first two hours the only thing Luhan did was checking his phone every few minutes. Yifan tactfully observed that Mei wasn't going to write him, since she told them to go get loose. It was fun for the guy to see Luhan slowly, but surely go crazy. At least, as of that moment, love was akin to madness for Yifan. But, it seemed that his friend categorically didn't notice his behavior. So when Luhan pulled out his phone again, Yifan tore the device from his hands and replaced it with the bottle of beer.

Yifan: I got his phone, you can sleep peacefully
yi mei: Hi :-) I'm not sleeping, tho. Friends came to visit and we're hanging out
Yifan: Glad, you're not alone. Be carefull!
yi mei: There are guys here too, it's ok
Yifan: Don't mention that to the Deer. He might be a little one, but he's the jealous type
yi mei: Ahahah Oh, dear XD oh, I'll count it in when we'll be getting married XD
Yifan: ?! What about me?! How quickly you dismiss our possible future love affair... What? How? Why... My heart's broken
Gonna go get drunk now
You're cruel
yi mei: Yeah, I was told :-*
Hail a taxi to get home, ok?
Yifan: Mmm, worried bout us?
yi mei: You bet... Two drunk guys just out of the club... Who knows what you might do.
I'm off
Good luck!
Oh, and...
Don't forget about protection XD
Yifan: Nice to know you care about us that much, mommy

These kind of evenings weren't unusual for Yifan. Especially for him. Because he often brought girls home after club, but this time it was slightly different. This time it wasn't him squeezing the girl between himself and the elevator wall. This time it was Luhan, and Yifan thought that they had moved way too quickly to another level of acquaintance, because they really rode just two floors of parking in their apartment building, and these two were practically trying to the life out of each other. But even feeling a little jealous of not being in Luhan's shoes right now (though he did believe that Luhan needed it much more than he did), Yifan just stood quietly on the sidelines and watched how floor numbers changed on the screen. However, what he didn't expect at all at 4 in the morning is for the elevator to stop at the lobby floor. "Who the heck comes home at this hour?" he thought, but dismissed that thought at the same moment, because, well, they were. He didn't expect to see Mei when the doors opened even more. He instantly stood bolt straight and stared at the girl holding his breath. The moment Mei yawned and caught his eyes, he almost began to pray for her to not see Luhan and the girl in the opposite corner. But after finally seeing the couple in the corner that was too busy with each other to notice anything else, a surprised smile appeared on Mei's face, which was quickly covered with the girl's hand in attempt to not laugh out loud. Yifan did not quite understand what had caused such a reaction and wanted to say something, but Mei only showed him thumbs up, waved for them ride ahead and went to another elevator. This whole situation seemed strange to Yifan: he thought, that after almost 10 months of knowing each other - so to speak - Mei and Luhan would feel something about each other and he was sure that Luhan did like Mei, although he diligently denied everything. But Mei's reaction brought him to a dead end: if she had feelings for Luhan and saw him kissing some random girl, she wouldn't laugh. Not from seeing such a scene. Maybe, the girl had no feelings for Luhan after all? Maybe, she really saw him as just a friend? Maybe, he should stop making Luhan break their weird vow of silence and tell her how he felt before someone else has taken her? Beeping of his own phone brought him back from the trail of thoughts.

Yes, Yifan decided that he won't be pushing Luhan towards Mei anymore. Luhan could figure out himself whether he liked Mei or not, and Yifan won't impose his friend something or someone that can hurt him. Yifan cared about Luhan too much to do so.
The next thing Yifan had to do was telling Luhan about his fiasco. When Yifan came to his friend's flat in the morning, the girl was gone and Luhan was quietly snuffling into his pillow. Yifan approached the bed and pulled the pillow out from under his friend's head to wake him up, thinking that it was probably a good thing that Luhan hadn't seen Mei last night. Knowing the guy, Yifan was sure that he'd feel insanely ashamed to see the girl. But it was better for him to hear everything from Yifan himself than from Mei, because from what he heard of her from Luhan and his own obseravations, she'd certainly tell him something.

Luhan wanted to burn with shame. It wasn't only that he got hopelessly drunk the previous night, he also brought home some random girl. But as if all this wasn't enough, Mei saw how he clamped some obscure girl. With Yifan it was all good - it was Yifan after all. He'd seen worse. But Mei! On the other hand, Luhan got a little sad and offended, when Yifan had told him about her reaction. Was she really not interested in him at all, goddammit? So that she didn't even feel anything. Of course, they didn't own each other anything, but he knew for sure, that if he ever saw Mei in that kind of situation, he would not be laughing at all. He'd feel uncomfortable, out of place, like a third wheel, but laugh? That he wouldn't do. It was Mei after all. The girl you want to protect. Even Yifan once said, that she's so good, all you want to do is take her in your arms and never let anyone hurt her. Luhan felt as if someone slapped him. It was embarrassing and insulting. And if he were completely honest, he'd say that it was very insulting.

Toward the evening Luhan got a message from Mei. He was hoping to bump into her in the elevator as usual, though he was slightly scared to face her.

yi mei: Since I'm a good friend, I'm messaging you in advance to tell you that I'm going to my parents in China and I'll be away for some time.
See, I told you about it. Now you won't worry that I'm not around.
Unlike someone...
Xiao Lu: For how long? Want me to send you off?
yi mei: I'm not sure yet. I haven't seen them for a long time and I miss them.
And no, I don't need you to send me off. I'm at the airport already.
Xiao Lu: And you call that "in advance"?!
yi mei: Exactly. I am still technically in the country.
Xiao Lu: ...
yi mei: I'll text you, when I land.
Xiao Lu: I hope it's not because of me and just a coincidence, right?
yi mei: What does it have to do with you?
I was out with my friends yesterday and they offered me to fly back with them.
Speaking of yesterday...
Xiao Lu: Please, don't.
I'll talk to you about anything you want, like really anything, but yesterday, okay?
I'm already embarrassed enough.
yi mei: We won't be able to talk, my friend, I'm boarding the plane already, but I'll tell you that...
I am well aware that you are an adult man and all people have their needs. Believe me, it's not a big deal.
Xiao Lu: People always think that I'm some kind of an angel or something, but I'm not.
yi mei: You? Never thought you were, you don't look like one.
If it bugs you so much, just wave it off.
Why should you care what they think of you?
You know who you are and that should be enough for you.
See ya, xiao lu