An Almost Lan

Chapter 38

A/N: AU and OOC, just a reminder.

Thank you for your votes and comments, they really encourage me!

Thanks to @CALActorsTypist on Twitter for editing this, remaining errors are all mine.

Warnings: Lan Huan's POV.

The fitting session was running longer than expected. He could watch his family members and sense several degrees of desperation in some of them. A-Cheng looked ready to pluck his own hair out, one by one. A-Li looked torn between the joy of seeing the family getting proper attire for her brothers' wedding and her need to be somewhere else.

After graduation, she decided to take a position in Jiang Holdings' board of directors and slowly but surely, more and more responsibilities regarding the control of the company were falling into her lap. Jiang Cheng was, for now, just an intern, the same entry position Jiang Yanli held at the beginning.

A-Ying and A-Zhan were forced to be apart for the fitting. Mianmian was acting as Lan Zhan's personal guard to ensure he didn't have a sneak peek of Wei Ying's wedding robes. They decided on a traditional ceremony, just like Uncle Qiren and Aunt Ziyuan.

He took the day off, foreseeing it would take at least half a day to complete the task for his family plus the members of the wedding-planning team, as Aunt Yu had dubbed them.

In truth, they were a sight to behold. Watching Xue Yang and Madam Jin working in tandem was like watching a war room in times of a fierce battle. They were barking orders, coordinating legions of assistants, both of them were perfectionists to the core so they actually got along pretty well in that regard.

Xue Yang never ceased to amuse him. Since the first time he visited the manor as Wei Ying's friend and he was at home he realized he was a unique character.

Lan Huan had to accept he found Xue Yang very attractive, he exuded some kind of animal magnetism, a rough sensuality that did something to Lan Huan insides for a brief period of time. Of course, he was off limits for him since he was too young when they met, but also the fact that he was A-Ying's closest friend deterred him so his passing infatuation died very soon.

He found out he was equally attracted to men and women so it was not an issue for him that Xue Yang was a very masculine guy, but his feeble attraction towards him died out very soon.

Then he realized Xue Yang was a truly odd person, but in a positive way. At least for Wei Ying. Xue Yang was there for Wei Ying in his darkest hour, when he had isolated himself from the whole family. It gave Lan Huan some peace of mind to know that his little brother was not alone.

He also was charmed by the fact that years later, he found out that Xue Yang also had a slight thing for him. Xue Yang's nickname for him was hilarious and cute. He would never, ever acknowledge it, but he was extremely flattered to be called Adonis.

The fact that Xue Yang's nickname for A-Zhan was not as amusing as his own made him uncomfortable, but he had to accept it was a fit description from an outsider's point of view. He knew his brother, he was way more than the facade that he showed to the public. Of course, Xue Yang, at the beginning, was not very partial towards Lan Zhan.

In the end, Lan Huan respected the fact that Xue Yang's intervention had been crucial for his brothers to clear the air between them and to finally confess their feelings to each other. He was indebted to Xue Yang, and he vowed to someday repay him somehow.

Another thing that really surprised him was the bond that formed between Xue Yang and Madam Jin when the wedding planning started. He was still scared shitless of Madam Jin even after so many years of knowing her. He remembered the cold sensation of pure fear that traveled along his body the day his uncle made him apologize for breaking Jin Zixuan's nose back in his high school senior year.