A Gatekeeper & The Celestial Sovereign

Mao Lu enjoyed their reactions and continued eating the hotpot whilst they babbled and gushed.

In your life you need people that will support you throughout your misfortunes and fortunes. Those who aren't happy for your success can't be called your real friends.

Mao Lu chowed down more of the hotpot and tried to control his breathing. He felt rather nervous.

Today would be the day.

He wanted to come out to Zhao Detong and Fei Bing Bing. He'd been hiding for so long. Inside of him he'd still been harbouring love for Detong, and that wasn't healthy. Now that his life was changing so dramatically, he felt that now was the time to at least make some stability with his friends.

He needed to be honest with them. He needed to trust them.

He drank some water. “Detong. Bing Bing. There's something else I'd like to tell you.”

He glanced at them and realised they were giving him their undivided attention.

"You see. When I was younger… I noticed that I was different from others around me. But I couldn't express it, my parents had such traditional values and I was supposed to have an arranged marriage to that bitch Lee Heri. I was afraid that if I told them that I was different, my parents would throw me aside. So, I did everything to hide it. And I was okay with that. I was okay living like that....”

He glanced up and saw them listening to him seriously.

“But... then I fell in love with someone. Everyone has a first love and I… I fell deeply in love with that person, but I swallowed it and I hid it because I was afraid, and I knew there would never be a chance between us. Even now although I'm mostly over it, I still have lingering feelings for that person. And over the years these feelings have consumed me with guilt and anguish.”

“When the bankruptcy occurred, I told myself that if I said anything, I'd break my parent's hearts and I'd ruin my friendship.”

“And as the years went by, I kept giving myself more excuses to stay in the closet, I tried so hard to hide it. But I have since met people like Tanaka and Bei Lao, who are so open and free, and I became jealous and it made me want to be like that.”

Mao Lu gathered his courage.

“Now that my debts are gone, I want to live my life the way I've always wanted to. I want to find love…”

“I guess what I'm trying to say is." He fidgeted somewhat and drank some more water.

"I'm gay. I'm homosexual. I like men." The moment he said it he felt this relief, like a weight was off his shoulders, but at the same time he was apprehensive.

How would they react?

When he finally gathered the courage to look up again, he saw the sparkling eyes and wide smiles of Fei Bing Bing and Zhao Detong.

"He told us!" Bing Bing laughed and extended her hand towards Zhao Detong who gave her 50 RMB.

"I didn't think he would but I'm glad I was wrong. I'm so glad you trusted us and opened up. You need to know that I fully support you, we both do,” Zhao Detong said seriously after giving Bing Bing the money.

"You guys knew!" Mao Lu was beyond surprised. "Since when, how, what?"

As far as he was concerned, he'd never made it obvious.

"Well I found out rather recently. A month ago," Detong narrated the story of how he had overheard two bartenders at Roaring Tiger openly gossiping about Mao Lu's sexuality.

Lu paled a bit, feeling annoyed as he heard this. The only reason all his colleagues at the club knew about his sexual orientation was because of an incident that took place a few months ago.

Mao Lu had gone on a gone a blind date.

It was because Tanaka had been breathing down his neck for almost half a year, pressuring him to meet someone, so he'd caved in and ended up going.

The moment Lu spoke to the guy he knew they wouldn’t get along, so he rejected him and it ended there. It was only a week later that Mao Lu found out that the man from his blind date was the brother of a bartender at Roaring Tiger.

When that Bartender also realised this, Lu had spoken to her privately and requested for her to keep it a secret, but the problem with secrets is that they have a tendency to come out.

Soon all the bar staff had known.

He never even imagined that Zhao Detong would find out about him from the Bar staff, but considering how much time Detong spent at the Club he should have expected it.

Mao Lu could only sigh.

"So, what about that girl in high school you told us about?" Bing Bing was leaning forward in interrogation mode.

"I obviously lied," Mao Lu leaned back in his chair, he somehow felt defeated. In his head he'd made such a big deal about this, but his friends acted like it was nothing.

"What! why would you make up a crush?" Bing Bing was annoyed, "Do you have any idea how many hours I spent trying to find out who this imaginary girl was?"

"Well you were the one that kept interrogating me. Asking me who my crush was and who I liked. You wouldn't get off my back about it, so I had to make up something." Mao Lu explained.

Bing Bing pouted; she knew that she could be a little much sometimes. But she'd always been interested in Mao Lu's love life. Even now he was so beautiful, with those warm big brown eyes, jade like skin, long eyelashes, and glossy black hair. Mao Lu was gorgeous. And with his calm and strict self-disciplined temperament, Mao Lu had the air of a well-versed Scholar that could become a warrior at the drop of a hat.

Mao Lu was a fierce and refined beauty, and Bing Bing always thought that anyone he'd fall in love with would have to be just as amazing. That's why she was always so curious.

"So, who did you have a crush on then, you said it yourself. You fell in love with someone. So, who was it?" Bing Bing leaned in curiously.

Mao Lu's fingers became sweaty and he felt his heart pound. "I…"

His eyes swivelled towards Zhao Detong, lingering for a few seconds before he averted his gaze. "I…"

Bing Bing's curious yet playful smile froze. "Mao Lu… You...you liked Detong?"

Zhao Detong's expression had also frozen.

"I…I... I'm over it by now so there's no need bringing it up." Mao Lu gazed into his glass of water; he didn't dare stare at them.

The atmosphere became increasingly awkward.

"Mao Lu… I had no idea you felt that way…" Detong said slowly.

"I told you I don't anymore. It was just a stupid first love, puppy love! So, don't be full of yourself thinking I've been hung up on you all these years." He snapped. He said it in a lot more of a bitter tone than he'd intended to.

The atmosphere went from awkward to dead. No one said anything and the table was scarily quiet.

Mao Lu's hands shook underneath the table. Perhaps this was the part he'd been most scared of when he thought of coming out. It was admitting he'd fallen in love with Zhao Detong.

"It's in the past right? So, it's not like it will affect our friendship, right? There's no reason for this to be so awkward." Zhao Detong attempted to revive the conversation.

"You're right!" Mao Lu looked Zhao Detong in the eye, unwaveringly. "It's in the past and no matter what you'll always be my best friend."

Even though he said this, deep down he was slightly hurt.

He was even more hurt by the way Fei Bing Bing was staring at him, as if she felt threatened by him.

Zhao Detong reached across the table and grabbed Mao Lu's hands in his. "Our relationship won't change just because of some past crush. I will always love you as my best friend and sworn brother."

Through his touch and the gentleness in his voice Mao Lu could feel Detong's sincerity. He yet again felt tears leaking from his eyes.

He'd cried more today than he had in the last 6 years.

He squeezed Zhao Detong's hands back.

When they finally separated and dropped Mao Lu home, there was a rather bittersweet feeling in the air.

"I'm going to be busy with work at the company for a while, but we need to have drinks together soon Mao Lu, Okay." Detong smiled at him.

"I'd like that."

"Then it's a plan."

Detong waved to Mao Lu and then drove off with Bing Bing.

Even though it had been a bit hard closer to the end, Mao Lu still felt relieved by the confession.

"Are you finally planning on training today?" Gates voice popped into Mao Lu's head. It sounded rather annoyed.

"You were busy most of the day tediously working at that convenience store and then you had dinner till so late. Have you forgotten the fourth rule? You must train every day. Please take your responsibilities seriously. Violating the rules bode serious consequences.

"I know I know. Don't worry it's early, only 19:00. We have plenty of time. Plus, I also bear a responsibility to my employers. Just quitting and walking out the very same day is very irresponsible and goes against my principles. So, you'll just have to deal with it.

Tomorrow I'm handing in my resignation to Roaring Tiger and Cafe Éclair, so we'll be training late then too."

Gates groaned. "Fine, but I hope you get serious the moment these responsibilities are out of the way."

"I will."

Just as Mao Lu was heading towards the stairs, Gates swooped him into the air.

"Huh!! What are you doing?!!!" Mao Lu shouted as he watched his apartment building get smaller and smaller.

"Since it's so early, I thought I'd take you too an important place."

"An important place!" Mao Lu shouted above the sound of the whistling wind that smashed against his ears.

"The Gatekeeper offices."

"Gatekeeper offices?!!! I have that?" Mao Lu yelled.

"Of course. Each realm has a Gatekeeper Office. It is your main base of operations. How else do you think you create permits and passes and visas for people going to and from this realm? You are just one Gatekeeper and there are trillions of inhabitants of this realm who would like to travel and just as many who'd like to come here. Did you think you did all of this on your own? Of course, you have an office.

Who do you think have been managing things when Wang Cao died, and you were adjusting to your role? Honestly, you ask the dumbest questions."

Dumbest questions! Mao Lu felt like smacking Gates, how was it a dumb question? None of this fantasy magic-cultivator-practitioner and Gatekeeper nonsense had made any sense so far. Nothing followed common sense or logic to Mao Lu. So, he had assumed that he was capable of dealing with this border and passes business all on his own. He'd just assumed he had some magic power for that.

How was he supposed to know he had an office?

_________

They travelled through the air at a speed that made Mao Lu feel sick. He was sure they were going faster than a plane and he was certain that any normal person would have been ripped apart by the air pressure. But perhaps it was because he'd become stronger or because Gates was working its magic, but Mao Lu was relatively okay.

In less than 5 minutes he dropped from the sky and landed neatly in the middle of a busy pedestrian walkway. Nobody seemed to notice or see that he'd just dropped from the sky.

As Mao Lu looked around the busy street, he quickly realised he was in the busy business district in Guamoa. And when he looked in front of him, he saw the large towering building of B&B law firm.

"This is your Gatekeeper office" Gates announced.