Happens to be Zhang

chapter 2

It's eleven at night when Xiaochen reaches home. Seven missed calls. His breath fogs the wash basin mirror and he studies the artful shadows of fatigue falling on his face. WeiWei asked him to meet up on the rooftop but he doesn't know if he can commit to that promise.

His mother might call again. It's a dull ache in his chest, one that traverses to the tips of his fingers and grips it in a frigid hold, paralysing his fingers as they try to work on the tablet. Xius is tired. He doesn't know if Yuan Yang would frown and grit his teeth, keeping his exhausted temper suppressed or he would shatter the glass with his bare fists.

Or none.

Maybe he would go to sleep.

The phone rings again. He groans this time, slumping his head against the desk in an attempt to sooth his fried nerves. Tomorrow's his deadline for the storyboard drafts. He sucks in a deep breath and grits his teeth, suppressing his exhausted temper before answering the phone call.

"Hey!" Shouts an unexpected voice on the other side. "You aren't coming?"

Xiaochen pulls the phone back to check the name. Qi WeiWei.

"It's you," he mutters, careful not to let his surge of relief through.

"I got chicken. Please come upstairs. Please."

"Where's beer?"

"Just come upstairs!" WeiWei hisses in a not so unfriendly tone and Xiaochen straightens up immediately. "Please!"

Xiaochen doesn't bother shimmying out of his faded black t-shirt and hops out of his chair, grabbing the wallet just in case WeiWei runs out of cash while ordering a feast. He runs to the rooftop and stops at the door to catch his breath, but there's sounds of mellow laughter coming from the other side and one of them is WeiWei.

His fingers grasp the doorknob in tainted jealousy. "Hey," he yells while pushing through the door, "if you had—"

There is a child on WeiWei's lap.

"— company... oh, you have company." Xiaochen rubs the back of his head and puts on his brightest awkward smile. "Haha... why didn't you tell me?" His accusing gaze turns to his friend and he thrusts both his hands deep in the pockets of his bermuda shorts.

"That's Xiaochen," WeiWei turns to the who can be supposed as the child's mother, "he lives downstairs. My friend."

"Oh... hello."

Xiaochen bows his head curtly and proceeds to take his place on the empty corner on the cot. A woman sits in his place now, and it's a bitter sensation seeing her; as if he has been removed and replaced by someone newer, perhaps younger. The woman can be anywhere between twenty to forty, since she has a child to boot.

"Ama..." the little baby whines and turns away from WeiWei.

Xiaochen snorts.

WeiWei shoots him a murderous glare.

"Sorry," says the young woman, "she is afraid of strangers. GuoGuo, say hello to ge."

GuoGuo hides her face in her mother's neck and it's WeiWei's turn to snort. So that was why there was no beer. Three boxes of half and half chicken lay open on the cot and Xiaochen itches to lay his hands on them, but the conversations between his friend and the no-name woman won't stop.

"I totally forgot to introduce myself. I am Ji LinFeng. I live on the first floor..."

"Xiu Xiaochen. Fourth floor." Comes his clipped reply.

Behave. WeiWei mouths.

"Actually it's the first time WeiWei introduced me to a friend of hers so this is a big occasion. I didn't know she had friends. Shouldn't this occasion call for beer? Some celebratory drinks?"

Ji LinFeng's face drops like an inflated hot air balloon. "Sorry... I knew you two had plans..."

"Oh please don't apologize to this dum dum. He always has his head in his storyboards and forgets to behave in public."

"Are you an artist?" LinFeng shifts the baby in her lap.

"I draw —"

"Comics. He draws comics." WeiWei grins.

"Comics? Really? I am an avid reader, I might have read some of yours." Ji LinFeng's eyes crinkle into sweet crescent moons when she smiles, and the plot points of what she is doing in his place start falling in his mind. And why was it necessary for WeiWei to drag him up to interrupt their such saccharine sweet date.

"Adventures of a drunken dweeb," he lies smoothly, lazy eyes glossing over his friend. "Quite vulgar, honestly. Not one to be described in front of a baby."

"Oh..." LinFeng's shoulders hunch down.

"Xiaochen!" WeiWei screeches in a whisper.

"What?" He glares.

"So how did you two meet?"

"College. In the rainbow club."

"You two are...?"

"He's gay!" WeiWei clarifies rather loudly. "He's gay and I, well haha... I am an ally."

LinFeng chuckles nervously. "Ally... yes, I am a little of that sort."

"Oh well. Two allies. Recipe for a disaster." Xiaochen smirks. The baby on LinFeng's lap makes a gurgling, happy noise and the attention from him momentarily shifts.

"Xiaochen, a word please." WeiWei flicks her head towards the stairs. The two friends stand up, leaving the mother alone with her baby. "What the fuck, mate?"

"I am not your wingman. And where's my chicken beer?"

"Can you please be nice? She loves your comics!"

"Manhwas? Be a little educated, please. They are different."

"Why are you so sour? You were perfectly alright just this afternoon."

"Oh I don't know." Xiaochen snaps. "You're gonna get a girlfriend. Why do you care about my mood?"

"God no!" WeiWei fists empty air beside her friend's head. "Urgh. Why do you need to be so..."

"So?"

"So impossible. I just wanted to make a friend, and she is a nice person. Can't you be nice for one night?"

"I wanted beer." Xiaochen thrusts his hands in his pockets and looks away at the cloudy skies. "But it's alright. You win this one."

"Thank you. And I called you since she might get uncomfortable with just the two of us? I don't know... she looks like she was in desperate need of company."

"Yeah, I get it. No need to justify your crush."

"She's not!"

"No need to deny," says Xiaochen, and his friend allows him the chance of a last laugh.