Relating to Episode 20 of Love O2O

The dialogue from the meeting has been pulled directly from the series.

To Mei's surprise, not much was said when they returned to work the next day. Well, at least, not much was said about KO carting him off in the middle of the day. A lot was said, however, about KO's 'chivalry'.

"Hey! Mei-ge! You're back today?"

"We thought KO would keep you home for at least one more day."

"Hmm... especially considering how worried he was about you yesterday."

"Worried? About me?" Mei felt like someone had stopped the earth from turning and he was left trying to adjust while everyone else had already found their feet.

"That's right, Meiren." Yu Ban Shan came up behind him and slung an arm over his shoulder. "He told laosan he was taking you home because you had a fever."

Mei pointed at himself. I had a fever before that pervert got a hold of me?

"Hmm. He emailed the office to explain yesterday afternoon and made sure we all knew that you'd gone home against your wishes." Wang Wei joined the teasing. "We never knew you were so dedicated. Staying to work when you were sick."

Was this feeling in his stomach the same instinct that makes ants climb higher before a heavy rain?

"Yeah, Mei-ge. So industrious. A workplace paragon."

"Eh... you look red. Do you still have your fever? Are you sure you should have come to work?"

Ban Shan, under the guise of testing Mei's temperature, pinched his cheeks. "Maybe KO should take you home again and put you back to bed?"

His cheeks felt hot enough to spontaneously combust, and Mei stammered a denial. Denial of what? He wasn't sure. But somehow he extricated himself and reached the illusion of safety at his desk. Dropping his head on his arms he sighed. It wasn't my fault!

That afternoon, Xiao Nai called a meeting between himself and the programming team. Bei Wei Wei had successfully completed Newbie Village Task One, and a copy of her report was handed to each programmer.

"We've adjusted our game to make it compatible to all phone models." Hao Mei scowled as A Shuang reported on the issue, not acknowledging Wei Wei's involvement in the report. KO saw the fury building in Mei's eyes and, when the younger man opened his mouth, kicked him under the table. Mei jumped and turned his glare on KO. The hacker returned it calmly, and Mei made a visible effort to bite his tongue.

Unaware of the byplay next to him, A Shuang continued. "But due to a display card problem on two phone models, the screen will black out occasionally. These two models aren't very common, so perhaps we can leave it for now."

You knew it wasn't a very common problem when you set the task to Saosan. You made her waste two days, confirming what we already knew just because you're a misogynist! Silently railing at A Shuang, Mei was careful not to look in KO's direction until his inner rant was over. One of these days he would work out how he always knew what Mei was thinking, but until that day came, he would have to take preventative measures.

"Hmm. I spoke to Feng Teng this morning and we've brought forward our product launch to the end of September. So we must try and solve all the problems quickly." Xiao Nai looked past Hao Mei to address A Shuang directly.

"Ah." A Shuang nodded.

"After a month of hard work we've already finished the first stage of our demo. But there's still room for improvement. For example, the smoothness of fighting actions, as well as other connections." The insane perfectionist at the top of the table looked at the programmers, and Hao Mei felt moved to object; he knew which one at the table would be given that job.

"I don't think it's necessary to rush it. Our game's operation smoothness is already much better than many other games. Also, not everyone has an eye for flaws, like you do laosan." He pulled a little on his tie and caught KO looking at him strangely. The hacker abruptly focussed his attention on the wall behind Mei's shoulder. "Who would notice such a slight lag when they're playing? I'm very confident that we'll win the bid. Perhaps we can adjust it after we've enhanced the game?"

Xiao Nai raised an eyebrow at Hao Mei's confidence, and he got the feeling that laosan had seen through the fa?ade to the real reason he was so confident; he just didn't want to get stuck doing fiddly codes and miss out on the real fun of designing the meat of the game.

"I'll do it."

And with that, Hao Mei's objections melted away. No one, apart from Xiao Nai, knew better than Hao Mei just how much work KO was doing after hours once the office was empty. No on else knew that the reason he never stayed over at Mei's, was because he would go home and work for a few more hours before going to bed. Whatever demons were driving the hacker, throwing himself into work seemed to placate them. But there was throwing oneself into work... and drowning in it.

"Alright, I'll do it. You've got your job to do, right?" Mei sighed and shook his head at KO. "Laosan, but if our games are designed for everyone, would low-grade display cards be able to support it?"

"That's why I'd like to enhance its resolution and try to produce the same graphic quality by compressing its model surfaces and dynamic resolution." (A/N: I have NO clue what I just wrote. I pulled it straight from the series and my husband says it makes sense so... I'll be running all the IT stuff past him. He knows just enough to tell me if it sounds legit. So if you're in to IT and something sounds legit but isn't... please feel free to pm me with what it should say. Ta.)

The table fell silent as the other three considered Xiao Nai's suggestion. Mei clapped, slowly. "Laosan, why are you torturing yourself like this? Are you going to work on it alone?"

Xiao Nai nodded, however KO spoke up. "Theoretically, it's not that hard. But it'll be very difficult to execute. We don't have a lot of time. I'll work on it at home."

What? Mei stared at KO from across the table. Work on it at home? But then when would they see each other? The time was already being eaten away with work as they got closer to the launch date.

"One month is actually quite a lot of time." Xiao Nai dismissed them. "That's all for today."

The three programmers relaxed before Xiao Nai appeared to remember something. "A Shuang, I'd like your opinion on something."

Stuck like a hare before a hungry tiger, A Shuang froze.

"I'm running a bit short of staff lately. I'd like to borrow some people from your team."

Hao Mei choked on his apple juice.

As Mei and KO left the meeting room, the hacker thumped the coughing Mei on the back.

"Laosan is a sneaky man. Never turn your back on him."

"Laoda and I understand each other. Do not worry."

"Pah. Who's worried?" Mei pushed KO away as they reached their desks. "You'll never be at loggerheads."

"Why?"

"Because laosan and you are the same; neither will do anything to hurt me. So you can't oppose each other because that would hurt me and neither of you would allow it."

"We are not the same."

"Yes you are." Mei looked at KO pityingly. Had he not realised it yet? "You just love me in different ways."

KO smiled. "So, you do know."

"Know what? Don't look at me like that. We're at work."

"My beauty."

"Shut up."

And so, Mei's flushed cheeks once more raised the concerned teasing of his friends.