1. Chapter 1

Xiaoman stops just inside the door, stares, tilts her head.

“Who are you, child, and what have you done with Luo Fei?”

He looks at her balefully. “You do not want to know.”

She perches on the edge of the desk. “Oh, but I do! What happened to your face?”

“Have you never seen a clean shaven man before?” Luo Fei yells at her, pointing at his chin.

“You look like you are twelve!” She cackles in delight and quickly darts her hand out to pinch his cheek. He slaps her away.

“Stop it! Stop!”

“You have such cute cheeks!”

He stands up and points at her, mouth open for blistering rebuttal, but after a moment he slowly sits back down. Taking a heavy breath and sighing, he glares at the ceiling. “So I’ve been told.”

“If you hate it so much, why did you do it?”

He sighs again. “It’s for a case.”

“You are going undercover at a boys school?” She smirks.

“Please leave.” He waves at the door.

“Nope!” She settles into the chair next to the desk. “Tell me about the case!”

He pauses for a long time, looking at her. There is a question there in his eyes, and she has no idea what it is about, but eventually he nods. “A slave trafficking ring.” He purses his lips in displeasure, and despite the awful topic, he looks adorable.

Xiaoman coughs. “And?”

Luo Fei nods once and launches into a straightforward description of a straightforward case. The only thing that is holding up Superintendent Savoy from shutting the criminal enterprise down is a critical breakdown in information due to an overly-smart gangster. No one has gotten close to him or his minions, so Savoy enlisted Luo Fei’s help to ferret out the information on the gangster’s own turf.

“Naturally, Savoy does not trust most of his officers, and certainly not Detective Ye, to have the delicate touch needed to find out this information. The case itself is utterly dull but this will be a challenge, I admit.”

Xiaoman nods thoughtfully for a moment then clucks at him. “That was a very thorough explanation that completely left out the reason why you need to shave your delicate face.”

He gives her a frustrated glare, but too bad, she is smart! She knows when he is trying to distract her. She slaps one hand into her other palm in a “pay up” motion.

“The traffickers have specific tastes. Very. Specific.”

She sucks at her teeth before replying. “So, not just girls, then?”

He harumphs at her but nods. “Furthermore, the person of interest I am targeting enjoys socializing at a particular underground nightclub that caters to such tastes.”

She flaps a hand at him. “Hurry up with the shaving.”

“I will be dressing as a woman!” He barks at her.

She blinks. She looks him up and down. She shakes her head. “You have a tiny waist but no one will believe you are a girl with those skinny hips and wide shoulders.”

He gapes at her. “That’s your only commentary?”

She shrugs. “It’s for a case. Why do I care how you dress for it?”

He stares at her for a long time before replying. “My shoulders are not a problem, as I will not be pretending to be a woman. I will be a man in a dress. That is what this villain likes to see. If I do a good enough job at it, and of course I will, he should be intrigued enough to court me and I will get close to him.”

“But?”

“But?” He squinted at her.

“You are still leaving something out.” She wags a finger at him.

He groans like she is pulling a toenail off with pliers. “The club is very exclusive. They only allow people in who have invitations, and only couples are permited.” He lowers his head but glares at her from beneath his long, feminine lashes. “But I do not have a date.”

“You have an invitation, though?”

“I have connections.” He looks offended that she would even ask.

“You only need a date, then. Can’t you ask—” She stops, because no, he can’t. There is no police officer they know he could ask to accompany him who could pull off that kind of subterfuge comfortably.

Except...

She picks up the heavy stapler on his desk and toys with it, considering how to approach the topic. It’s not like Luo Fei has lied about it to her face, but he has always been protective of Ben. (As protective of Ben as he is of her, which is an interesting thought she files away for later.) But his reactions can be mercurial in situations like this, and she wants to help, not hinder. On the other hand, neither she nor Luo Fei have much use for being circumspect when honesty will do.

“Have you considered asking Ben Jie Ming? He might, ah, have some familiarity with the establishment?”

Luo Fei actually snorts(!!!) and pinches the bridge of his nose. “He claims he has plans with a medical colleague to discuss a difficult patient case at that time.”

Xiaoman frowns. Ben has other friends?

“Over dinner,” Luo Fei adds, raising his eyebrows at her. When she doesn’t clue in, he throws out his arms in defeat. “He has a date.” He looks like he has bitten into a sour fruit.

Xiaoman tries to process the words, but fails. Who would Ben be willing to go on a date with, if not Luo Fei himself? “A date? He—he told you this?”

“He never tells me this.” Luo Fei sits back in the chair and crosses his arms. Unfortunately, with his new fresh face, it just makes him look like a pouty kid. Xiaoman does not mention that.

“Then how do you know?”

“Because he uses that same excuse every three months and I am his only friend!” He bangs the desktop with his fist to accentuate the last few words.

She nods. “You followed him.”

“Only a few times,” Luo Fei concedes, without a shred of remorse.

“That is very rude, you should not do that to friends.” She wants to say, “friends like me” because Luo Fei has crashed as many blind dates as she has been on, and neither of them can pretend that is coincidence at this point. “Can’t you just go when he’s available?”

He waves a hand at her in dismissal. “I don’t think he would agree to go to the Black Lotus with me at any time.” He sounds very bitter about it. “He keeps that part of his life distant from me. Out of respect? Fear? I don’t know.”

It’s a big thing for Luo Fei to admit that he doesn’t know something, especially concerning someone he cares about as much as he does Ben; but on the other hand, he seems oblivious to the fact that he has been flirting with and acting possessively over her for more than a year. Su Su is already making wedding plans but Luo Fei has yet to even ask Xiaoman out on a real date.

None of this is anything she can solve right now, though, and Luo Fei needs backup and a companion to get into the club. “I’ll do it, then.”

He gives her a scathing once over. “No.”

“I will be your date!” She grins at him.

“No!”

“I should not wear a dress, if you are. Oh! I’ll wear a tuxedo!”

“ NO !”

“I will be Marlene Dietrich and you will be Hu Die! Everyone will be jealous of us. We will be so pretty!”

She knows she’s won when Luo Fei buries his very sweet, cherubic face in his hands.