1. Puzzles

Ben Jie Ming sat with his long legs stretched out, his feet very improperly propped up on the trunk at the end of Qin Xiaoman’s bed. He was quietly playing with a small wooden puzzle that Xiaoman was pretty sure had been on Luo Fei’s desk that last time she was in his apartment.

Susu was staring at him but he ignored her.

“Susu. Susu!” Xiaoman poked at her landlady-cum-auntie.

“Oh! Yes. Here, let me put the hat on,” she said with a final sharp look at Ben Jie Ming. She attached the feathery fascinator with a couple of hair clips then stood back to admire her work.

Xiaoman appreciated the help. She had been taught how to dress like a lady by her own aunt and the teachers at the girls dormitory school she had attended, but they all were stuck in pre-1915 ideas of fashions. Susu, at least, helped her fix her face with a modern flair. “Thank you!” She stood up and smoothed down her dress, examining herself in her mirror. It was the same dress she always wore on the blind dates Susu set up for her, but that was fine with Xiaoman. If history proved correct, Luo Fei would bomb the date anyway. She liked dressing up but knew better than to think that it made a difference to the outcome.

“Why so down?” Ben Jie Ming asked, still looking at the puzzle.

Susu narrowed her eyes. “Should you be here? In a single lady’s private rooms? Shouldn’t you—”

“Ah! Thank you, Susu! I’ll finish up on my own!” Xiaoman grabbed the older woman by her shoulders and shoved her out the door.

Ben Jie Ming watched the proceedings with his usual placid, if blank, expression.

Closing the door, Xiaoman spun around and put her hands on her hips. “Why are you here? Can’t you go…go bother him or something?”

He focused on the puzzle again with a sigh. “He’s pouting and being a brat.”

“And this is new?” She crossed her arms and stared him down.

He shrugged. “Not really. Especially not on date nights.” He set the puzzle aside. “Going to the Naval Club again?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes. I want a spicy hotpot but now, we have to go to the English restaurant and order something impressive to eat with the stale French wine.”

“You could just not go, you know.” He folded his hands over his stomach. Sitting deep in the heavily upholstered chair with his feet still up on the trunk, he looked like he was getting ready to take a nap.

She walked over and knocked his feet off the trunk, sitting down in their stead. “Susu is trying,” she offered instead of excuses.

Ben Jie Ming nodded. “Aunties do feel it’s their job to marry you off.” He blinked slowly. “So I hear, anyway.”

She giggled. “True. Anyway I suppose I’ll need to get married some day, right? Why not date around a little first! I’m a modern woman! I can pick and chose!”

“Hm.” He looked conflicted for a moment. For a man most people called inscrutable and mysterious, Ben Jie Ming was someone who wore his heart on his sleeve.

Xiaoman patted his knee. “Are you worried for me?”

“Oh, no. For Luo Fei.”

She sat up straight. “But he’s…ah.” She rubbed the back of her neck, thinking how to put it delicately. “He’s got you. Right?”

That made him sit up straight too, only to lean over and brace his elbows on his knees, bringing their faces close together as if sharing a secret. “Yes. He does. But why do you think he busts up every single date you have on a whim?”

“On a whim? No! He very carefully plans it out like the villain he is!” She shook her fist in front of his face. “He needs a better hobby! Why don’t you stop him! You should.” She waggled her eyebrows, trying to convey the idea that it was Ben Jie Ming’s role as Luo Fei’s boyfriend to prevent him from crashing the dates of their mutual good friend, Qin Xiaoman.

He chuckled. “I don’t want to stop him. I like you.” He shrugged and fell back into the chair.

“You. What?” She squinted at him.

“Not like that. I’m. You know.” He waved a hand around with a feminine air, an obvious act, before smiling at her and clasping his hands on his stomach again. “I like you as a person. As a friend.”

“Ah. Good? I guess.” She put her hands on her hips and sighed in frustration. “I’m confused.”

“I can tell.”

“Hey!”

He laughed, but motioned for her to settle back down. “He likes you. I’m fairly sure he is falling in love with you, and has been for a while.”

“Ben Jie Ming! I joke about Luo Fei but he is not so faithless!”

“He is not.” Ben Jie Ming nodded in agreement. “But that doesn’t change his feelings for you.” He crossed his arms. “Do you think it is impossible to be in love with two people at once?”

Xiaoman, remembering some of the terrible love triangles of her school friends, frowned. “It’s possible, of course. The human heart is capable of so much love. But it’s not…normal.”

One edge of his mouth lifted up in a smirk. “Am I normal? Is Luo Fei?” He paused and cocked his head. “Are you?”

She snorted in a very course fashion of which neither her aunt nor Susu would approve. “Of course not.”

They sat in silence for a few moments. Xiaoman was not a fool, she knew what Ben Jie Ming was saying, but it still seemed like a path fraught with danger and broken hearts. She stood up and inspected herself in the mirror again. “He’s never said anything to me,” she said to herself, softly.

“He’s never said anything to me, either.”

She spun around and stared at him.

He smiled. “He is not a man who openly admits to such deep affections, much less claim undying love. Half the time I don’t think he even understands his own emotions. Yet, he spends time and energy crashing every date you’ve ever been on. Perhaps at first he thought it was a lark, a fun way to antagonize you, but I assure you he takes it very seriously now. He’s committed to keeping, I quote, ‘those horny, cow-eyed, feckless boys’ from touching you.”

She laughed loudly, too loudly for a proper lady. She looked over at Ben Jie Ming again. “And you?”

“I want him to be happy. I make him happy, as he makes me happy. You make him happy too. I am not a man who enjoys sharing my toys,” he paused, picking up the wooden puzzle and handing it over to Xiaoman. She looked at it and realized he had already solved it, then looked up at him again. He tapped the puzzle with one finger. “I only share with people I genuinely care about and trust. Right now, the only person who fits that description is you.”

His affection was clear in his warm eyes and soft expression. He nodded once then relaxed in the chair once more. She turned the complex puzzle over in her hands, admiring how he had solved it. She was fairly sure that Luo Fei had been fighting with the puzzle for months, and she laughed at the thought of how annoyed he would be that someone else solved it.

Thinking of Luo Fei’s adorable pout, she smiled. Ready or not, she was already in the midst of this — of them — and she had to admit that the idea appealed to her. She had never made her interest in Luo Fei known out of respect for him and Ben Jie Ming’s relationship, had never seen any way to advance their nascent attraction beyond “almost maybe.” They were their own sort of puzzle and maybe, now, Ben Jie Ming had found a way to solve them too.

She stood up and rolled her shoulders back, holding out the puzzle for Ben Jie Ming, who took it from her hand with a broad smile. “Yes?”

She returned the smile with all the hope in her heart. “Yes. Thank you. I will try not to let you down. For all our sakes.”

---

Luo Fei usually showed up before the main course arrived, but Xiaoman had just put in her dessert order and he still wasn’t there. She tried to act like she was not filled with anxiety about that, especially since her date was a modest and sweet young man who had obviously been forced to go on this date by his mother.

He talked about his mother a lot.

It was clear after the first few minutes that the date was merely perfunctory for both of them, and once that had been settled they relaxed a little and managed to dredge up conversation about some new movies they had seen recently, comparing their reviews. It was peaceful and moderately enjoyable, for a blind date, and Xiaoman’s nerves were wrecked.

“Are you expecting to see someone?” Her date finally asked, looking toward the door.

“Your desserts!” A waiter pounced on them with cake, smiling far too much behind his large mustache and beard.

“Oh, there you are,” Xiaoman said with relief. “I wondered what was taking you so long.”

“Who? Me? I am merely a humble waiter, here to serve you! With cake!” He nearly dropped the plates on the table as he slid them off his serving tray.

“Ah, yes. Thank you!” Her date said with obvious confusion, looking between them. The three of them stared at each other for a moment.

“You don’t want the cake?” Their “waiter” asked, eyes wide.

Her date blinked. “I ordered ice cream.”

They all looked at the slice of white cake in front of him.

“In that case I’ll just have it myself, then!” Their “waiter” pulled up a chair.

“Luo Fei, take off the ridiculous fake beard first.” Xiaoman picked up her fork and pulled her plate closer to her.

He glared at her. “How did you know it was me?”

“I always know it’s you, why do you keep asking me how?”

“Ah. I’ll just…take my leave, then?” Her date stood up and bowed to her before skittering away.

She watched him go, feeling a little bit bad about it. Maybe she would call him up for a friendly lunch later, as he seemed to need friends.

“You like him!” Luo Fei hissed. He had, at least, removed the absurd disguise.

“I do!” She smiled sweetly at him and took a bite of cake.

Luo Fei shoved cake into his mouth like a vengeful hamster.

“He’s a sweet boy who was forced to go on this date by his overbearing mother.”

“Hmph.”

“Maybe I’ll see him again!” She ate more cake while Luo Fei fumed.

“You shouldn’t!” He finally snapped, shaking his fork at her.

“Oh? Why not?”

“Overbearing mother,” he repeated back to her with a serious expression. “She will make your life miserable if you marry such a man. She will hate you and force you to mop floors.”

She wasn’t sure where the mopping floors part of things came from, but he wasn’t wrong. She tried not to laugh. “I know.”

“Then why would you see him again?” He asked, aghast at the very idea.

She shrugged. “He seems lonely, and could use a friend.”

His eyes narrowed, glittering like a snake’s. “A friend.”

“A friend.” She nodded. Then she reached out and cut a piece of his cake and ate it.

“Hey! That was rude! Were you raised by barbarians?” He acted shocked but his smile was definitely smug and pleased.

“Why are you here?”

“Saving you from collecting an overbearing mother-in-law, obviously.” He ended with a loud “harumph” and focused on his cake again.

“Oh really. Not because you don’t want me dating anyone?”

“Of course not!” He all but shouted, then stopped himself and took a breath. “I only want what is best for you.”

“Hm.” She kept eating her cake. “Who is that, I wonder?” She tapped the fork against her lips, and noticed that his eyes followed the motion. She pursed her lips as if deep in thought and he quickly averted his gaze.

They finished their desserts in peace, which surprised her, and Luo Fei paid the bill with a wave of his hand. He helped her put on her coat and they left the Navy Club to walk home. She thrust her arm into his, forcing him to accept it gracefully like a gentleman or make a scene about shoving her away. It was, as always, a 50/50 shot.

“You and Ben Jie Ming have been close for a long time,” she said as they meandered along. As an opening gambit, she thought it wasn’t bad, but Luo Fei cringed a little under her hand.

“True,” he allowed, but did not follow up.

“Luo Fei. Luo Fei! Do you think I’m stupid?”

“Sometimes.”

She used her free hand to pinch his arm, just a little. He cried out but, again, did not shove her away.

“I know you two are boyfriends,” she said softly, so as not to attract the attention of anyone nearby. The street was busy, which helped cover their discussion.

He sighed heavily. “I thought you might have deduced that much.” He looked very grim.

“Ben Jie Ming is very forthright about it.”

He glanced at her in surprise. “He is not.”

She shrugged. “I suppose that is true with most people. He is honest with me, though.”

“He likes you. A true statement of character, for you. He avoids women the way most people avoid the dead.”

“Mn.” She nodded, because it was true. “He trusts me.”

Luo Fei nodded magnanimously.

“He trusts me with you,” she said, and watched him carefully. He stopped dead on the sidewalk, blinking.

“Did he…did he tell you this?” He asked, looking straight ahead.

“He did. Just this evening, while I was getting ready for my date. He told me that he approves of me.”

“Did he?” Luo Fei still did not move.

“Has he never told you?”

He worked his jaw for a moment, then started walking again, pulling her along. “He has mentioned as much.”

“And?”

“And what? He’s my companion, like you said. Surely that is enough for you to know how things are.”

She sighed deeply, and looked up at the sky. There was enough ambient light in the city to crowd out the stars, but a few strong ones shone through. “It was, for a long time. But now I think maybe we’re all over thinking it.”

“It is not possible to over think,” he rebutted in typical fashion.

“Oh. I disagree!” She stopped, yanked him hard so that he nearly fell on her, then grabbed his face with both hands. He barely had a moment to startle backwards before she kissed him. His fastidiously trimmed facial hair tickled, and she nearly laughed at that before tightening her grip on him and holding the kiss steady. She only parted her mouth enough to really experience his lush lips, softly pressing her own against him, moving slowly. His shock disappeared — she could feel him relax under her hands — and he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling them close together.

Someone whistled at them sharply and they broke apart completely.

He stood there looking stunned, hands still held out where he had been holding her.

She shook her head to clear it, then took out a compact to check her face. She was flushed and her lips were plump, but since she had not reapplied lipstick after dinner she wasn’t a complete disaster. She efficiently put the compact back in her small handbag and straightened up. “See? Much better than over thinking.”

“You kissed me!”

“I have permission!”

“What?” He screeched.

“Ben Jie Ming told me I could!” He had not specifically told her that, but she thought it was just a technicality.

“He did?” Luo Fei, for the first time, looked genuinely shocked.

She nodded, suddenly overtaken with a bout of shyness. Had she overstepped? She wasn’t sure anymore. She coughed into her hand to give herself a second to collect her mind and heart, then stood up straight. “I should have asked first. I apologize.” She could not stop her eyes from drifting away from him, not wanting to see the rejection she felt might be coming.

There was a long moment of silence, and she finally closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, rallying herself and thinking that she was doing herself no favors by being so cowardly about it all, when she felt soft, warm hands against her face. Her eyes sprang open.

“There you are,” Luo Fei said, his voice quiet underneath the hubbub of the street around them. He held her face as she had held his, palms resting against her jaw and fingers splayed out over her cheeks. “You surprised me.”

“I…I didn’t want to over think it anymore,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

He hummed a little, and nodded, then shuffled a little closer so that she could feel his body heat even through his overcoat. “You really did talk to Ben Jie Ming, didn’t you?” He smiled softly at her, eyes bright and happy.

“More like he talked at me but yes. He said he likes me. That he wants you — he wants us all to be happy.”

“He is an awful sap,” Lou Fei said with a raised eyebrow.

She laughed but he did not let go of her, instead slowly drawing her into him, tipping her face up and letting their lips meet again. The kiss was more certain than their last one, steady and stable in all the ways Luo Fei usually wasn’t.

She pulled back, surprised to find that she had wrapped her arms around him. He let go of her face and pulled her into a hug, right there on the sidewalk, right in front of all the people who had been watching them kiss. A few started clapping and Luo Fei groaned.

“Shall we go home?” She asked, her lips brushing against his ear, not that she even cared about the spectacle they were making of themselves. Luo Fei was in her arms and, it seemed, that was enough. Her heart swelled with love and affection.

He had shuddered at her words, nodding. “We’re enough of a spectacle as it is. Let’s stop giving them free shows.” He quickly stepped back and looped her arm through his.

Xiaoman was not entirely sure what would happen when they got back to their apartments, or how Ben Jie Ming would fit into the new puzzle they were building. For once, she didn’t care about the unknowns. They had solved them once and the three of them would solve them again, together.