Darren was surprised to see Thorin with her so early in the morning. It was not even nine o\'clock yet. He eyed Thorin suspiciously and then looked at Zi Mei questioningly. She merely grinned at him.

"We are just about to go get breakfast, let\'s go," she told him, pretending not to notice the questions in Darren\'s eyes. She threaded her hand through Thorin\'s arm casually and dragged him with her. Darren\'s eyes widened but he did not say anything.

"Where are we going for breakfast?" he asked instead, opting not to ask them if they are dating or Zi Mei was just being extra friendly with her boss.

"We are thinking that new dimsum place that just opened…what do you think? Old drags…I mean, Thorin here loves dimsum," she said.

Thorin gave her a sideway glance at the \'old drags\' she accidentally let slip. She grinned sheepishly. Darren was bewildered. He didn\'t understand what\'s going on. Noticing his confusion, Zi Mei decided to tell him the truth…or the partial truth….or the embellished truth.

"Thorin and I are dating," she told him without preamble. Darren almost stumbled and Thorin actually tripped but due to his fast reflex, he didn\'t fall, he caught himself nicely without dragging Zi Mei down. He cleared his throat in warning. Zi Mei ignored him and tightened her hold on his arm, squeezing it as if to signal to him to play along and hoping that he will play along.

"But…aren\'t you married?" Darren asked Thorin and then he looked at Zi Mei. "Mei?"

"Oh, he\'s separated," she chipped in before Thorin could reply.

"But still…Mei…come here, I need to talk to you privately," Darren gestured to her to go to the corner of the street with him. She shook her head.

"It\'s alright, Darren, don\'t be such a worry wart," she said flippantly.

She has decided to make Thorin her boyfriend to make sure that Darren doesn\'t have any hopes of becoming her boyfriend, if he really has feelings for her. Also, it is easier to explain Thorin\'s presence at her house if any of her friends were to visit her and sees him there.

All the time.

She plans to get him to come live with her. She has decided that living alone is not all that fun. She wants Thorin with her. She will just have to find a way to get over the aversion of making love with him, somehow, one way or other.

Darren would not let it go easily.

"Mei, please," he said, urgently. She rolled her eyes. She looked at Thorin and the old dragon, being the confident egoistic dragon that he is, merely lifted an eyebrow as if to say \'what\'s the big deal anyway?\'.

"Just a moment, honey," she said sweetly to him and reached up to kiss him on his cheek. She followed Darren to the street corner.

"Mei! How could you be dating a married man!!!" he has no qualms stating the obvious. Zi Mei couldn\'t explain the whole fake marriage, dragon whatever rules thing to Darren.

"Like he said, separated," she replied.

"He didn\'t say it! You did! What if he\'s lying? What if he\'s using you??" he said, glancing back at Thorin to make sure the other man is not near enough to hear him.

"Darren, I have no money, I have nothing for him to cheat me of…" she replied.

"Mei, you are being naive…it\'s obvious what he wants…what all men wants…he wants to have sex with you!" Darren hissed in return. He now sounds like some old lady lecturing her teenage daughter. Zi Mei decided to go for the shock factor.

"Well, we have already had sex…numerous times…so…" she said matter-of-factly as it if meant nothing.

"What??? Mei!!!" Darren was shocked. He stared at her wide-eyed.

"Look Darren, don\'t be such a prude…I am sure you\'ve had sex with your previous girlfriends before," she said.

"Mei, we are not talking about me here," he replied, blushing at her inference. So, it was true. He did sleep with his previous girlfriends. He gestured at Thorin who now looks exceedingly bored.

"He is married. It is just wrong Mei!" Darren said.

"Look, Darren, I understand where you are coming from, but honestly, I am not the third party to his marriage, it\'s already over before I came along," she told him. She sounded like some evil mistress in a TV drama who insisted on stealing someone\'s husband.

"It still doesn\'t make it right," Darren said. Now, he sounded like an affronted mother worried over her daughter\'s affair with a married man.

"Don\'t worry Darren, okay? I promise, I am fine, Thorin is good to me," she tried to assure him.

He spluttered angrily.

"Of course he\'s good to you! You\'re his young side piece…what happens when he gets bored with you? What happens if he gets you pregnant??"

"All the better, I have always wanted children," Thorin replied. He had somehow walked over to them. He stood next to Zi Mei and sniffed haughtily. Darren jumped back, startled.

"Honestly, you are just her friend, maybe stay out of who she sees and sleeps with?" Thorin added. He took Zi Mei\'s hand and lifted it to his lips. He kissed it then linked their fingers.

"If it\'s any consolation to you, I do care for little Zi, I am not some callous uncaring man out for fun," he added.

"Now, shall we go for breakfast? Lil Zi must be hungry and you have classes to attend in an hour or so, no?" he started walking casually down the street, heading to the dimsum place which is quite near.

Darren didn\'t reply. He merely trudged along behind the couple. Zi Mei turned to give him a reassuring smile.

"It\'s okay Darren, don\'t overthink it," she told him.

He didn\'t smile back at her. He looked away. He looked concerned. She only hope he was not heartbroken as well. He didn\'t look it so maybe he doesn\'t have a crush on her after all. He barely spoke a word during breakfast.

Instead, Thorin was the life of the party. He regaled Zi Mei with stories of his workers at his company and how they would come up with weird excuses when they failed to meet their work deadlines.

"Do you know, one man came up to me to tell me that his dog peed on his computer so his project was lost?" he said, chuckling. Zi Mei laughed along.

"That\'s a whole new version of the \'dog ate my homework\' excuse," she said. She turned to Darren, trying to engage him in the conversation. "Don\'t you think so?"

He merely grunted. He tucked into his food quietly. Then he suddenly stood up.

"I\'ve got to go," he mumbled. He dug out some money from his pocket and placed it on the table. "Here\'s my share, I\'ll see you later Mei," he said. He turned and walked away without turning back.

"That boy is besotted with you," Thorin remarked, watching Darren disappear down the street, his shoulders hunched as he walked. "That\'s a really clean cut you made there,"

"I didn\'t cut anything…we are still friends," she said.

"Well, I could have sworn you sliced his heart into ribbons the way you announced my relationship with you and telling him that we\'ve slept together," he said.

She shrugged. It has to be done. Darren is her oldest and closest friend. She can\'t give him false hopes. It would be more cruel to lead him on. Better to make a clean cut now. She told Thorin that.

"Hmmm…next time you want to use me as an excuse, do tell me earlier, I have told you before, I can\'t read your mind," he drawled.

"But…we are sort of in a relationship, aren\'t we?" she asked, uncertainty bloomed within her.

He smiled his mysterious smile.

"If you call our contract a relationship, yes, of course,"

Trust him not to say what she wants him to say. Is it so hard for him to admit to being her boyfriend or lover or at the very least, sex partner?