Author's Note: Here we are back at Ju and Yao. I was stuck between doing this or Japan this week. The lovely people of Discord helped me pick China. I got distracted while writing this, but I managed to pull it off. Next week, we'll be looking at Japan and see how his suffering is going. I have a couple of good ideas. Friday will be the premiere of my seventh -Man fic, Red Bones. For now, enjoy this match.

Match Eleven: Date, Lunch, and Conversation:

-Ju-

Yao and I went out on our date on Sunday. I decided to keep everything simple. I waited for the front door. Usually, it's the woman that takes time to get ready. I'm surprised that I got done before Yao did this morning. I looked at my phone.

"Babe, are you done yet?" I asked.

"Just a second," Yao said. He said that five minutes ago. I sighed and rolled my eyes. And I thought I was bad to get ready to go somewhere. If he keeps this up, most of the date will have to be tomorrow morning. I looked up when I heard footsteps. Yao walked down the stairs dressed in his finest. I smiled and shook my head.

"You didn't have to dress up," I said. "It's just a causal date."

"I still wanted to look nice," he said. I smiled and walked over to kiss him. He pulled me into his arms.

"Ready to go?" Yao whispered.

"Oh yes," I said. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. My husband chuckled and pulled me along with him.

Today was going to be a nice day out. I held onto Yao's arm, smiling.

"What?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing," I said. I giggled. "I love you."

"I love you too, dear," he said. We walked up to a crosswalk and waited for the light.

"So what do you want to do today?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said. I cuddled up, smiling.

"I don't really want to go anyway," I said. "We can just walk around the city." Yao looked down at me.

"That all?" he asked.

"Well, I figured we could stop somewhere to eat too," I added. "You can come up with certain stops that you want to check out on our walk."

"Sure," Yao said. I giggled. We began our walk when the crosswalk light changed. Yao's suit made him look so much older. He probably looked like my grandfather next to me.

"You didn't have to wear the tie at least," I said.

"What's wrong with my tie?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Nothing, dear," I said. I didn't forget the full objective of this date, though. I had to be delicate about how I wanted to go about it. It would be best to start off light and then go into it throughout the day.

"I don't want to raise Little Bean like a boxed-up statistic," I said aloud.

"Huh?" Yao asked.

"You know," I said. "Pink is for girls and blue is for boys. It's so dumb and old-fashioned."

"What's wrong with old-fashioned?"

"It's not good all of the time. I want Little Bean to be treated like an equal and to respect others no matter the gender. That goes for naming the child. I want to go unisex names."

"Where is all of this coming from? Did Tina suggest all of this?"

"No."

"What's with all of the modern stuff?"

"It's not that modern." I looked over at the shops to my right. "Actually, I'm kind of hoping for a boy."

Yao gave me a strange look. "Why is that?" I shrugged my shoulders and moved my head around.

"It's kind of a long story," I muttered. "It's a family curse thing."

"Family curse?" he asked. I pressed my lips together. I've told this story before and telling it now just makes me worried.

"Well…" I began. "Most of the babies born on my mother's side have been girls."

"So?" he asked.

"It's kind of weird, actually," I said. "After the girls were born, the parents couldn't have anymore children. They've tried, but the men couldn't get their wives pregnant again. Sure, grandma had twins, but one was a boy and the other was a girl."

"How is that even possible?" Yao asked.

"I don't know. It's never been explained to me. I think the sperm count dropped after the girl was born. It doesn't make sense, but that's the best I can come up with. Same thing happened to my father." I moved my hand over my stomach.

"And you hope that Little Bean will be a boy?"

"Yes." I pressed my lips together again.

"You sure you don't want to find out the sex?"

"Yes, I just want to wait until the baby's born," I said. Yao patted me on the head.

"Okay," he said. I smiled and rested my cheek on his arm.

"How did I end up with a good man?" I asked.

"Luck, I suppose," he said. "And your father." I looked up at him with a confused look on his face. Yao pretended like he didn't say that last part. Somehow it doesn't surprise me that my father would be in on this whole relationship.

But, I won't complain.

Our walk was a welcome change from paperwork and being in the home office. Yao looked so relaxed for a change. It's so nice to not think about work for a change. Hen-to and Fei have us covered. They could handle whatever scheme that Jianjun and Junjie are cooking up.

Damn it, I'm thinking about work on a date. I'm not supposed to be doing that.

"Would you like to check out a museum today?" I asked.

"Sure," Yao said.

"Let's do it after lunch," I said.

"Works for me," he said.

"You know, we've never really had a date like this before."

"We haven't?"

I shook my head. "Our relationship just kind of got thrown together. If we weren't having sex, we were working. I had the clan to manage and school. Heck, we got married to keep the clan together." I paused and shook my head.

"We've never just had time to ourselves, you know?" I asked.

"I understand," he said. "We'll try to have more dates more often."

"Yeah," I said. I started to get lost in my own glow. It looked like it would rain soon, but that didn't change anything. Right away, an idea came into my head.

"Hey, let's go stop somewhere for tea," I said.

"Where do you want to go?" Yao asked. I broke into a huge smile.

"I know just the place," I said.

We ended up at a small and trendy café downtown. I think opened last week. Yao had an odd look on his face.

"Why is this so pink?" he asked.

"It's supposed to be romantic," I said. I began to frown a little bit. "Though, they could tone it down with the pink decorations." The hearts were enough to make my teeth hurt.

"Let's just get a table," I said.

"Right," he said. We chose a table by the window. Even the glass was tinted pink. Lately, these cafés were trying to look like the ones over in Japan. The maids were dressed up like little cherubs. Cotton candy clouds and gold heart hung from the ceiling. Old Chinese music filled the room. I looked around with my lips pressed together.

"I heard the food's nice here," I said.

"Hm," Yao said. I quickly looked around.

"Is it a little…?" I began to ask.

"Much?" he finished. I slowly nodded. That's when a waitress dressed in pink walked up to our table.

"Welcome!" she said. "I will be your server today. What can I get you to drink?"

"Just tea, please," I said.

"Okay!" the waitress said. "I will be with you in a minute." Her skirt pounded as she walked away. My eyes shifted back to Yao. I guess now would be a good time to talk to him for a little bit. I cleared my throat. His eyes shifted back to me.

"Yes?" he asked. Best to go about this gently.

"How have you been lately?" I asked.

"Good," he said. His tone isn't giving too much away. Just keep things causal. I drew in a slow breath.

"I know that things are stressful lately," I began with. "The baby coming in a few months. The clan business is trying a risky move. Jianjun and Junjie are on the loose…" Yao gave me a strange look.

"What are you saying?" he asked. I gently took his hand.

"I'm saying that if you want to talk, I am here," I said. "I don't know if I can help, but I want to at least be an ear you can spill your heart out to." That came out just right. I didn't sound too prying and I think got the message across. Yao looked away.

"Thanks," he mumbled. I think I got to him. It would be up to him to say it first. I shouldn't push it or else I will scare him off. No matter what happens, I will get to the bottom of what's going on with him.

The waitress came back with her tea.

"Here you are," she said.

"Thank you," I said.

"Are you ready to order?" the waitress asked.

"Give us about five minutes," Yao said. I only nodded.

"Okay," the waitress said. She bowed and walked away. Yao picked up his menu and started looking at the items. I narrowed my eyes as I did the same.

"The sandwiches look good," I said.

"Yeah," he said. This will do for now. I will have to do much research and wait for him to talk. I pushed the thoughts out of my head to enjoy the rest of this date.