Perfection

Chapter 3

"No."

"Please!"

"No."

"But-"

"Mei." Theo warned.

Mei pouted, crossing her arms. Out of everyone she thought Theo would be the easiest to persuade. She was wrong.

"I only wanted to do thirty minutes. It's not even that long." It had been a week since her trip to the hospital, and Mei was practically bed ridden. Today was the first day she was allowed to do anything other than lay on the couch.

"You need rest to recover and that means no dancing, you still have two  days of no activity before the doctor said you could start being active again. And even then it will be limited." Theo continued cooking dinner as he scolded her.

Mei felt a spark of panic. If father found out she hadn't been training...she didn't want to know the consequences. What if he made her leave? What if he made her live somewhere closer so he could watch her more closely?

A whine came from beside her leg. Loki pawed at her leg sensing her rise in panic. Hades huffed from where he sat standing tall like the guard dog he was. Wrapping her arms around Hades she momentarily forgot about her father. She loved her babies more than life itself.

The clink of a plate drew her attention, making Hades growl at Theo for stealing her attention. "He doesn't like me." Theo said stating the obvious.

"Well, if it makes you feel better he doesn't like anyone but me...and Kioshi." For some reason.

"I'm determined to make him like me." Most unlikely. But she didn't say that out loud not wanting to ruin the adorable look of determination on Theo's face. "Now tell me the real reason why you wanted to train today." His voice was soft, yet left no room for discussion.

Mei sighed, not really wanting to answer truthfully. What was she supposed to say, 'as a nineteen almost twenty year old woman I am deathly afraid of my father'. But on the other hand she really didn't want to lie to him.

"My father...I just." She sighed pulling her knees to her chest. "I'm afraid he'll find out that I'm not training."

Theo sighed. She hadn't moved her eyes from the coffee table where her lunch sat. Mei didn't want to see the disappointment on his face, she couldn't bear it. Over the last week she had gotten even closer to the guys. Especially after their...conversation.

"I know that your relationship with your father is...different." Jaw clenching he did his best to hide his anger, he failed miserably. But she appreciated the effort. "But you shouldn't feel panicked for keeping yourself healthy. I know it's easy for me to say that, since I'm not in your position, but your health is more important than training. At least to us."

Us. Mei's heart fluttered. For years it has been drilled into her head that nothing mattered more than ballet. Now she had four....men who cared for her. Four men who not only put her health as a priority, but wanted to make her feel...important.

"I guess I'm just not used to...this." She tried not to linger on the fact that what she said was really sad.

"Well, now you have us." Warmth spread through her. "We still need to finish the conversation we started the other day."

Sitting on the couch, Theo patted high thigh for Loki to jump on. Happily the not so little doberman flopped on his lap. Hades was the only one out of the two of them that liked the guys. It was kind of amusing.

"And what conversation would that be?" Owen obnoxiously made his way down the stairs, jumping across the sectional landing next to Theo.

"A damn man-child." Theo grumbled before kissing Owen's forehead.