Wo Ai Ni, Yong Yuan

By DragonMage

Chapter 3

Things Going Through Wufei's Head at the Moment....

Problem #1: Fiancée is waiting to be married except you're too busy to get married and she's frustrated but loving about it.

Problem #2: Going to America to meet with ex-boyfriend so both companies can come to a deal. NOT good!

Problem #3: How do you confront an ex-boyfriend after six years of separation??

Problem #4: You're not even sure if you guys are broken up, it was never official.

~*~

Wufei schooled his features to a total calm as he spotted Duo sitting at a table dressed in black. It looked like he never changed at all except he was older and maturer. The baby fat had disappeared and in its place was a well-defined body and face. His face was stronger and much older although he still had the same eyes. He still had his impossible long braid, and did it look longer?

Taking a deep breath, Wufei headed for the table.

Duo stood up as Wufei approached him and managed a small smile while his heart beated faster than a marathon runner. His arms and legs suddenly felt numb and heavy and he couldn't feel anything. He was surprised he managed to hold out his hand to shake Wufei's. He tried not to think about how good it felt to have Wufei's smooth, firm hand in his own as he pulled away and gestured to a seat while sitting down himself.

"Thank you," Wufei sad softly as he sat down and placed his briefcase on the floor. A waitress came and he ordered some tea. Then an uncomfortable silence fell between them.

Duo looked at everything except Wufei.

Wufei stared at the counter. When his tea came, he stared at his tea. <This is such a productive meeting. We should be close to closing the deal by now if things were done right. Okay, maybe in three days or less.>

"So, how's life?" Duo suddenly asked.

Wufei almost spilled his tea.

"Sorry, here." Duo passed a napkin to Wufei and their hands brushed for a brief moment. Duo took a deep breath to hide his gasp. <The electricity is still there, or is it just me?>

"Thank you," Wufei said as he wiped up his small mess and crumpled up the napkin. He glanced up at Duo and saw the American staring at him.

"Um, life is good," he managed to say before lifting the tea to his lips and taking a slow gulp.

"That's good," Duo said, nodding enthusiastically. Then there was silence again. <This sucks. I can't even talk to him without being uncomfortable. This is the boy I used to hold and kiss when we were fifteen. Now, oh, I hate this distance between us. All I want to do is kiss him!>

"What about you?" Wufei suddenly asked.

"Good. I mean, I'm working for a really big time company, right?" Duo tried for a grin but it kinda died.

Wufei nodded distractedly as he played with his cup of tea. <I'm 21-years-old and I'm playing with a cup of tea like a nervous child.>

"Why don't we get down to business?" Duo suggested desperately.

Wufei looked up and nodded, relieved. <Thank the gods. That is why we're here in the first place, right?> He picked up his briefcase and Duo produced a folder of his own. Then they got into business, neutral territory for now.

~*~

"All right, I'll talk to my superiors and we'll see what happens," Duo said, nodding as most of the details got settled in a three hour debate and negotiation.

"That's wonderful. Well, I guess it's getting close to being settled, huh?" Wufei said, relieved and disappointed that it was all coming to an end. <Oh well, there's always next time when we meet to finish up the deal.> He stood up and closed his briefcase with an audible 'click'. Then he looked up at Duo and smiled slightly. "It's nice to see you again, Duo. Good bye."

Duo stared at Wufei for a moment, anger welling up in him. "Yeah, well. Who knew, right? Musta been the fates or something."

Wufei stiffened. Then he nodded and shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not." He held out his hand.

Duo reached out and shook Wufei's hand slowly. "Hey, what do you say we go have dinner? It's late already and I think we should catch up on old times," he said casually.

Wufei was a bit stunned at the offer. But then he smiled at Duo and nodded. "Yes, you're right. That would be nice."

"Wonderful. Let's go. I know this great Chinese place that you'll love," Duo said as he picked up his folder and led Wufei out of the cafe. They walked to the parking lot and got into Duo's car. Wufei didn't have one since he took a taxi. There was no point in renting a car since he was only staying for a little while and he wasn't going to be site seeing since he had more important things to do.

The ride was mostly made in silence, only broken by the music playing from Duo's radio. They soon reached the restaurant and went inside. It was a very casual place and it seemed a bit awkward to Wufei to be dressed in a suit and not something more comfortable. But then Duo didn't look at all fazed and quickly found a seat for them.

A waiter came and took their orders. Duo ordered in English while Wufei ordered in Cantonese. The waiter nodded, took their menus and then left.

"So, how is it in China?" Duo asked in a conversational voice.

Wufei shrugged. "It's nothing much. I had a hard time adjusting to it when we first moved there but after a while everything became normal and I was all right. Mom opened up a restaurant and I helped out. We lived with our relatives for a while before finally moving out and into an apartment when we made enough money. After that, everything went pretty easily."

"That's good to hear," Duo said, nodding. "Where did you go to college?"

"Oh, I went to Tokyo and studied computer programming and software since China didn't offer that many schools for it."

"Looks like you've done a lot of traveling," Duo remarked as he poured himself some tea and sipped it.

"Yeah, I suppose so. What have you been doing with yourself?" Wufei asked.

"Oh, I actually managed to graduate high school," Duo joked. They both knew Duo didn't have exactly outstanding grades in the past. Wufei smiled at the joke and nodded. "Heero's doing very good. You know him and his obsession for computers. He managed to convince me to take all these computer classes with him--Lord knows how--and I got into it. He went to M.I.T and I managed to get a scholarship for it. We roomed until we graduated and got jobs."

Wufei nodded, happy to know that Heero had been a big success in life. Although, he felt a bit of bitterness and jealousy that Heero had went through high school and then college with Duo when he had to leave for China and never got to see Duo ever again. <Remember, Chang. You're engaged now. No more thinking about Duo. It's not fair to Meiren.>

The food came a few minutes later and they both began to eat and talk at the same time. And they talked a lot. They talked about everything that they had missed out during the years of seperation. Although Duo had a bad feeling that Wufei was keeping a secret from him and that it was something that was keeping them apart. He was happy that he and Wufei finally found each other but...Something was in the way and he didn't know what it was.

"How's your mom?" Duo asked as he slurped some noodles into his mouth.

Wufei smiled at the messy way Duo ate and shook his head. "She's fine. In fact, I don't think she could be any happier."

"Why?"

Wufei froze. <Oh shit. Mom's happy because of the engagement. I can't tell Duo that...> "Oh, it's nothing. Life's just been good to her lately." <Okay, that's final. I finish up this deal as fast as possible and leave! I can't stay. Not if I don't want to hurt Duo...>

"That's good to hear," Duo said as he looked down at his noodles again. <He's keeping something from me. I know it! I just wish I knew what it was.>

Wufei nodded mutely and concentrated on his noodles.

"Hey, Fei, can ya hand me the soy sauce?" Duo asked as the taste in his noodles began to fade a little.

"Sure," Wufei said. He picked up the small bottle with his left hand and gave it over to Duo.

Duo took the soy sauce and spotted a large gold ring with a Chinese character impressed in the gold on Wufei's ring finger. Suddenly, he felt something cold slice through his heart very, very painfully. He almost dropped the soy sauce but he caught himself and began to add the sauce to his noodles while his mind raced at 200 mph.

<Wufei either likes to wear his rings on his ring finger on his left hand, or he's engaged or married. Gods, please let Wufei have a habit of wearing his rings on his ring finger. Don't let it be what I think it is.>

"That's a nice ring," Duo said, smiling slightly at Wufei while he silently pleaded with Wufei to tell him it was only a ring and that was it. And if it wasn't, have him lie. Tell him that it was only just a ring and that he still loved Duo. <I love him so much. I can't lose him!>

Wufei froze as he stared at his food incredulously. <Oh gods, he saw the ring. Oh gods, no.> He looked up and his heart shattered when he saw the pleading in Duo's beautiful amethyst eyes.

"Where did you get it?" Duo asked in a strained voice.

"Duo," Wufei said softly as he slowly placed his chopsticks down and looked his ex-boyfriend in the eye. "I...I'm engaged to a girl named Ron Meiren back in China."

Duo dropped his chopsticks. He couldn't hide his shock or his horror or his pain. He looked at Wufei and then down at the table. "I see," he said shakily.

"I--Duo, I never thought we would ever see each other ever again and then I met Meiren..." Wufei trailed off painfully. He knew no matter what he said it could never explain what he had done. But how was he to know that he and Duo would ever see each other again? He thought their love was doomed so he allowed himself to fall in love again.

Duo shook his head and looked at Wufei painfully. He managed a small smile. "No, it's all right. I mean, who knew, right? Excuse me." He threw some bills on the table and stood up. He nodded at Wufei before he picked up his folder and left the restaurant as fast as possible.

"Duo!" Wufei threw some money on the table as well and ran after Duo. He caught up to do at his car. He reached out and grabbed Duo by the arm and swung his...love? around. "Duo, please, let me explain!"

"Explain what, Fei?" Duo sighed and pulled his arm from Wufei's grasp. "There's nothing to explain. Nothing. We didn't know; you deserve to be happy."

"Duo," Wufei whispered. How could he put what he felt into words without betraying Meiren or Duo? He couldn't, he just couldn't. "I'm sorry," he said weakly.

Duo smiled and shook his head while he impusively reached out and brushed the lock of hair out of Wufei's eyes. "There's nothing to be sorry about. It's been done. Be happy and congratulations." Then Duo got into the car and drove off before Wufei could say another word.

<No! Duo! Come back, please, come back!> But Wufei couldn't say what his heart wanted to. He just watched Duo drive away.

~*~

"I can't believe I thought he would still love me!" Duo shouted angrily as he picked up a ball and threw it across the room furiously. "I can't believe I actually thought everything was going to be okay again! Six years! Six years we haven't seen each other! Idiot!"

Duo was about to throw his glass dragon but then he stopped himself. He sighed and stared at the glass dragon in his hand. Wufei had given him it from his own private collection of dragon figurines before leaving for China. Duo couldn't throw it. It meant too much to him. He carefully placed the dragon down and looked up at the ceiling.

"I really thought we would get together and everything would be okay again. But it isn't, is it?" He asked himself. "No, it isn't. Why? 'Cause he's freakin' engaged to a girl back in China!"

Dropping to the ground, Duo told himself not to cry or do any more shouting. He might scare the other tenants. He sat there, leaning against the couch in his living room with one leg pulled up with an arm slung around it and he other leg outstretched. He banged his forehead on to his knee and sighed heavily.

"I love him so much but I can't even have him anymore. He's promised himself to another," he whispered sorrowfully.

~*~

Wufei stared at the letter he had just gotten from Meiren:

Dear Scholar,

How is America? Is it dangerous? I know you've been there many times and grew up there but I do remember hearing America is NOT a safe place to live in sometimes. I miss you already and wrote this letter a day after you left for your plane. Your mother misses you a lot but she knows that you're making money for your life in the future when we get married and have children. Imagine that! Children!

Things are doing wonderful here in China, as you know. The dojo is getting more and more students each week and I have my hands full. I believe I will have to start hiring more people to fill in those classes or I will be having a lot of trouble. I can't wait until it's so full I'll have to start adding to the building and create a huge dojo for anyone and everyone to study in!

My sister and I are working on the wedding preparations so when you come back you won't have much to do except help pay for some things and help pick out certain things that need both of our tastes so there isn't any problems. Or at least that's what my mother and sister keeps telling me. If it was my choice I would have picked out everything and paid and settled all the arrangements before you even finish up whatever you have to do in America. But at their insistence, I won't do it. I'll wait for you like a good little wife-to-be.

Have fun at your business, whatever you do in America that is. Bring home something for the wedding if you find anything perfect for it!

I love you,

Meiren

<I can't leave, Meiren. I love her and she loves me. And Mother would be so upset if I left Meiren for Duo.> Wufei slowly folded up Meiren's letter and placed down on the nightstand beside his bed. He laid down and stared up at the dark ceiling of his hotel room. <I'm so sorry, Duo. I wish you knew how sorry I truly am. I love you, but it just can't be.>

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And that wraps it up for this chapter! Yea! I finally finished it!