September 14th, 2015

Yifan had changed from sweatpants and a white t-shirt into black suit pants and a dark blue button down. Afterwards he had told Yixing to follow him and about twenty minutes later the two men got out of a black Bentley with a personal driver and two bodyguards that looked like they were ready to kill a man any given second. The prince had decided to have lunch at the China Grill atop of the Park Hyatt Beijing. Yixing did not have any say in the choosing of the location and he felt hopelessly underdressed in his simple jeans, shirt and black cardigan. If only he had known what he had gotten himself into, he would’ve chosen a different outfit this morning. When they arrived at the 66th floor and Yifan stepped out, a man in his late thirties and a black suit approached them.

“Mr. Wu! What a delightful surprise!”

“Hello, Mr. Li. I’d like a table for two, please.”

Mr. Li threw a nervous look into the dining area and then on his wristwatch.

“I’m… I’m really sorry Mr. Wu, but our Lunch hour’s over in five minutes, I actually am not allowed to take any more customers in.”

Yifan frowned and said:

“Mr. Li, that is indeed a problem, I wanted to have lunch with my friend here.”

The employee bowed while he said:

“I am really really sorry. What about I reserve you a table for dinner? With the best view over the city?”

“Aaah, I think I don’t want to have dinner here,” Yifan muttered and Yixing asked himself why in the hell Yifan wouldn’t just drive down one floor and have lunch in the restaurant beneath them.

The employee did not dare to look up and got nervous. The Prince rubbed his head, then he reached for his purse in the pocket of his pants.

“Let’s do it like this, I’m paying for the overtime. 400 for you, 400 for the cook and 400 for the waitress. And I’m giving 200 extra if you fix us a place in five minutes.”

Yixing blinked in confusion when Yifan handed a total of 1,400 Yuan to Mr. Li who shot up and babbled:

“Of course, of course! Please wait to be seated, Mr. Wu!”

And he ran off to grab one of the waitresses to tell her she’d be working overtime for Wu Yifan and his friend. Yifan seemed content with the situation and turned to Yixing who was eyeing him in disbelief.

“What?”

“That’s… corruption.” Yixing stated and he thought of the article he had written last month about a corrupt parliament member of the Chinese Democratic Party.

Yifan frowned, looked back to Mr. Li who was now giving instructions into the kitchen, and then back to Yixing.

“Noooo, I just gave them a little extra to their wage. Trust me, they’re not earning a lot, even though this is a five star restaurant. See that waitress that is setting our table?” Yifan pointed to a young woman in a white shirt and a black pencil skirt who skillfully placed two sets of plates and silverware on a table right at the big windows, “She’s a student. I’m sure she’ll be happy about the 400 extra bucks.”

“This Mr. Li is wearing a Rolex, I doubt he’s not earning a lot.”

Yifan snorted and said:

“It’s a fake one.”

And right when he had closed his mouth, Mr. Li came back and told them their table was ready. The few other guests eyed Yifan and gasped when they realized who just walked in, while the two guards stayed at the entrance, always on alert. Wu Yifan was very tall for a Chinese man. He held his head high and when he walked his presence seemed to fill up the whole room. His body language showed that he was above everyone by nature. The second they had sat down on the chairs, the waitress hurried to serve them tea and Yixing doubted that this was the same beverage he drank at his office.

“Here’s the menu,” The young woman said with a bow to Yifan and when she turned to Yixing to bow down before him, he objected:

“Please, don’t, you don’t need to bow before me. Really. I’m not that important.”

She was startled, but nodded and went to the next table to ask the businessmen to pay at the counter and leave the restaurant. Five minutes later, Yixing found himself alone with the Emperor’s son and if it was possible, he even felt more uncomfortable than before. Yifan did not seem to notice, since he was looking at the menu, contemplating whether to get the Kobe beef steak or the Sushi platter. When Yixing took a look at the prices, he closed it immediately.

“I cannot possibly order anything off that menu.”

“It’s okay, I’m paying,” Yifan mumbled, his gaze not lifting to face the other one.

“I still don’t see the necessity to order a steak that’s over 800 Yuan. Even if you pay.”

Finally, the prince lowered the menu and looked at Yixing as if he couldn’t follow.

“So you don’t like Kobe beef?”

“What? No! I… I don’t know if I like it, I’ve never tried it?”

Yifan snapped his fingers and the waitress hurried over.

“Yes, Mr. Wu?”

“We’ll have the Kobe beef steak. Please make sure it’s medium.”

“I’ll get the information to the kitchen. Have you taken a look at the wine card already? I think a Bure Cabernet Sauvignon goes best with Kobe beef.”

“I fully trust your judgement, love.”

He patted her arm and gave her a radiating smile. The young woman blushed a little before she disappeared into the kitchen to give the chef the order.

“Did you just order for me?”

“You said you never tried Kobe, so I figured we might as well change that.”

“Have you also ordered for Mr. Deng everytime you had lunch together?”

“No, he always knew what he wanted to eat.”

Yifan shrugged his shoulders and the waitress came back with a bottle of wine and served the two men the red beverage. Yifan made Yixing clink glasses with him and after taking a first sip, he said:

“So, if you’ve got any question, now’s the time.”

“When am I getting my pictures?”

“You can take pictures anytime you want. Mr. Deng did it this way.”

“Wait, when you say ‘anytime’, do you mean it this way?”

“Yes.”

“That’s convenient…”

“Mr. Deng and I kept it simple.”

Yifan pulled out his phone, and even if it was an ordinary iPhone 6, it looked a lot more expensive than Yixing’s version. Maybe everything in Yifan’s presence looked more important, more special and more exclusive.

“Give me your number, so I can send you my schedule.”

“You’ve got a schedule?” Yixing asked surprised, but typed in his number when Yifan handed his phone over.

“Very funny…” Yifan said, took back his phone and read the characters Yixing had typed in for his name, “Yixing.”

“People tend to tell me that.”

Yifan did not react, but dialed Yixing’s phone which went off next to him. Yifan smiled satisfied.

“So, do I just save you under ‘Wu Yifan’ or do you want me to add any special titles?”

“You’re kind of cocky for your first day,” Yifan noticed and supported his head with his left hand, “That’s interesting.”

“Why is that?”

The prince cracked a naughty smile, tilted his head and said:

“It’s challenging.”

Yixing did not know how to react, so he grabbed his drink and took a big gulp. He was sure he’d never survive a dinner or lunch with this guy without getting wasted. Never in his life he had met a person like Yifan, who was so full of himself it was disgusting. Before one of them could say anything more, the waitress came back with two plates of the Kobe beef Yifan had ordered.

“Your dishes, gentlemen.”

Yifan got served first, and his plate was more delicately decorated than Yixing’s. It was obvious the chef had put in much more effort into Yifan’s plate.

“Um, excuse me,” Yifan said when he noticed and pointed at Yixing’s dish, “Is this some kind of joke?”

The waitress, who was just about to leave, blinked in confusion and her eyes widened in panic.

“I… I don’t know what you mean, Sir.”

“His plate looks like the chef threw up on it, give him something that’s served in a proper way.”

Yixing who didn’t even mind that his dish differed from Yifan’s was shocked when the waitress mumbled a “I’m really sorry about this, Mister. I’ll take care of it!” and snatched his plate away before he could even voice his protest. He looked after her and turned to Yifan.

“What the…? The plate looked fine for me!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, it didn’t.”

Yixing sighed heavily, but sensed that an argument wouldn’t bring him far. A few minutes later, the waitress came back, with a new plate.

“Much better, thank you.” Yifan said and Yixing added:

“But it was also fine in the beginning, really.”

She gave Yixing a thankful smile, then she stated:

“I’ll be at the counter if you need anything else.”

Yixing had to admit that he was really hungry. The last thing he had eaten were two Youtiaos on the way to work, and since these only consisted of deep fried dough, it was no wonder his stomach was empty. When he put the first piece of beef into his mouth and chewed on it, Yifan looked at him in high expectations.

“And?” He asked, when Yixing had swallowed.

“It’s… beef.” Yixing answered unimpressed.

This truly was the best steak Yixing had ever tried, but he wasn’t quite fond of the idea to give Yifan that kind of satisfaction. The other one sighed disappointed, but refrained from teaching him the differences between ordinary beef and Kobe beef. While they ate, the prince showed his skillful smalltalk abilities: He asked Yixing about his work as a journalist and even mentioned some of his big articles that had brought Yixing some fame and a name in the journalistic scene, laughed at the right moments when Yixing slipped out another sarcastic statement, listened carefully while Yixing told him about how he decided on becoming a journalist and asked questions to give their talk more depth. It was rather pleasant, with no awkward silences, but Yixing had the feeling that Yifan had conversations like this every day with fifty other people. He was sure that he’d have forgotten most of it the next day.  When they had finished their plates, Yifan’s cell phone rang. When he saw who the caller was, he shot Yixing an apologetic smile and answered it, putting the phone on speaker.

“My dearest cousin, what an honor you called me!” Yifan beamed.

“Am I disturbing you with something?” The other man on the line asked, his voice a little distorted.

“I just finished lunch, so we’re good.”

“Aaah, I see, I see.”

“Okay Tao, what’s up? Why are you calling me?”

“I wanted to inform you that I just got out of the airport in Beijing. I’m on my way to my hotel.”

Yifan made a surprised noise.

“What? You did not tell me you were coming!”

“It’s supposed to be a surprise. But I thought I’d break the news now. – Ah, yes, thank you for taking my luggage.”

One could hear the sound of car doors being opened and the caller who went by the name of Tao sighed.

“Ah. Finally. Sitting again,” he said sarcastically and Yifan chuckled.

“Is there any special occasion for your coming?”

“Jesus, Yifan, I just wanted to visit you, do I need a valid reason to do that?”

“It’s just that nothing in this family happens without reason.”

Tao clicked his tongue and gave his driver the address of the hotel he was staying in and the name alone sounded extremely expensive. Yixing barely could keep his poker face. This Tao guy sounded just as spoiled as Yifan was. In the back of his mind he tried to remember if he had ever read Tao’s name in Mr. Deng’s articles before. It seemed Tao and Yifan were close, so Mr. Deng must have known Yifan’s cousin too.

“Believe me, I came solely for you. Don’t we have some parties for your birthday to organize?”

Yixing froze. Parties? Plural? What was going on?

“Riiiight, Yili told me you talked some stuff through already.”

“It’s going to be amazing, believe me. We’d better set up the guest list as soon as possible.”

Yixing cleared his throat to get Yifan back into reality. Yifan looked up and only then he seemed to realize that Yixing was still here.

“Ooooh, right. Tao, I’ll swing by your room around five, I’m on a date.”

“What?! Really? How is she so far?”

The third personal pronouns in Chinese were kind of tricky: They were spelled the same and only differed in their written characters. Spoken out loud it was always ‘ta’, no matter the person was talking about a male or a female. Yifan tilted his head and then said, eyeing Yixing:

“He’s quite a handful. But I like it.”

Yixing’s mouth dropped open, but he was too shocked to say anything. It was like his brain had shut down for a second and needed to reboot.

“Aaaah, I see. Okay, okay. Five. I’ll be there. If I ever get out of this horrible traffic alive.”

“It’s Beijing, not your little province town Qingdao we’re talking about.”

“ you. I’ll see you.”

“Sure. Bye!”

“Bye!”

When Yifan hung up on his cousin, Yixing found his voice again:

“We are not on a date!”

“Relax, my cousin and I always talk like that.”

“I’m still not your date!”

Yifan chuckled and then called the waitress:

“I’d like to pay, love!”

The woman nodded and hurried to get the bill ready. When she came with the small piece of paper on a golden plate, Yifan placed his Black American Express on top of it without a word.

“Would you like to take the wine with you, Mr. Wu?” She asked when she saw that the bottle had barely been touched.

“If you’re not taking it, they’re going to pour it away.” Yixing heard himself say when Yifan made a face as if he was about to say ‘No’.

Yifan looked at him and then said to the waitress:

“My friend will take it with him.”

“Very well. I will be back in a minute.”

She left with Yifan’s credit card and the bottle.

“I did not mean…” Yixing started but then gave up.

Shortly after the waitress came back and handed the credit card to Yifan and a box where she had put in the wine to Yixing, Yifan handed her another 100 Yuan bill.

“For you. But don’t let the chef see that, he did a horrible job today.”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Wu.”

The money disappeared in the pocket of her black skirt and she escorted the two men to the entrance, where Mr. Li and the bodyguards had been waiting the whole time.

“Thank you for your visit, Mr. Wu. I hope you’ll be back soon,” Mr. Li said and bowed numerous times.

Yifan nodded and then took his leave, while Yixing turned around and said:

“Have a nice day.”

The waitress and Mr. Li smiled at him, before they turned around to tidy up the table. Yifan was already at the elevator.

“You two are taking the other one. Let’s meet downstairs.” He said to his bodyguards and they did as they were told without one single word.

“Why are you doing this?” Yixing asked weakly, grabbing his bag with one hand and the handles of the wine box with the other.

“What?”

“All of this attitude.”

They stepped into the elevator and Yifan pressed the button for the first floor.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Of course not,” the journalist murmured under his breath and hoped for this day to be over soon.

“Do you want to join me and Tao later?”

I’d rather die, Yixing thought but then he found a more valid excuse:

“I’d rather go back to my office to work on my exposé on the articles. My boss expects it very soon and it’s better for everyone if I hand it in in time.”

Yifan pouted but then he shrugged his shoulders and said:

“Good, then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Wait, what??”

Yifan waved his phone and grinned.

“You thought I’d let you go that easily, huh?”

Yifan gave Yixing the same feeling his mother had given him earlier - like Yifan was the predator that was looking out for its next prey and had decided that it would be Yixing. The journalist grunted and said:

“Okay, okay. Tomorrow.”

“Great!”

The doors of the elevator finally opened and Yixing hurried to get out of it. The bodyguards were already there and followed Yifan at a 5 foot distance. The Bentley and the driver stood in front of the building, ready to bring the prince wherever he wanted to go.

“Do you need a ride?” Yifan asked but Yixing declined:

“The office is just two bus stations away, I’m fine.”

Yifan looked at Yixing in surprise, as if he wanted to say ‘You’re really taking the bus?’ but he did not say anything, instead he offered Yixing his hand.

“It was nice to meet you, Yixing.”

Yixing took the hand and smiled weakly.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” The prince added.

With a last wave Yifan got into the car and Yixing could not shake the feeling off that this was more of a threat.

In the evening Yixing crashed onto his couch and his roommate peeked out of his room. After college, Yixing’s financial resources had been very limited and he had been lucky enough to find a brand new apartment that he shared with the son of the landlord. He and Luhan got along very well, so he couldn’t even really complain about sharing an apartment.

“Oh my, was today this hard?”

Luhan hovered over to him and looked at the wine box. He frowned.

“What is that?”

“Some super expensive wine, sponsored by Wu Yifan himself,” Yixing mumbled into the pillow.

Luhan who had inspected the box snapped his eyes wide open.

“Wait, what? Are you… WHAT?!”

Yixing sat up and massaged his temple. Afterwards he explained to Luhan what happened that day and with every word the other’s eyes grew wider.

“Wow, so, you’re like friends with the Emperor’s son now?”

“Dear Lord, no! He’s the worst!”

“Oooh, come on. Everybody would be a little crazy growing up like this. This guy’s got everything without even asking for it. Maybe he really is nice.”

“Naaaaaaaaah. I doubt it.”

Luhan chuckled and pulled the bottle out of the box.

“Let’s kill this beauty and have a toast to your high quality journalism.”

Luhan got up and brought two wine glasses.

“I don’t even want to know how much this bottle is,” Yixing murmured but Luhan said:

“Let’s just appreciate it. I mean, I am sick of this Great Wall Wine. It tastes like vinegar.”

Yixing snorted, clinked glasses and downed the beverage in one go. It was only after that did his body relax a little and he felt better. Great. Yifan would turn him into an alcoholic within the first week, he could feel it.

Updates every Monday, how does that sound? Sounds great right? (I will hate myself for posting this fast I can feel it... but well, I'm good at making stupid decisions)

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