Light Against Shadows

Chapter 5

Wei was still dwelling on that when the doorbell rang.

He stood still where he was, did he hear right? Could it be that maybe they were ringing at the neighbours?

It rang again. No, it was too loud, it had to be the bell to his own apartment.
It never rang once since he started living there, but it was definitely his own.

He walked to the door and heard, "Wei? Are you in?"

Yunlan...

What could Wei possibly do with him?

Wei opened the door. Yunlan's face showed a big grin while he raised his hand to show a takeaway bag. "I thought you might be hungry, so this time it's my turn to provide you with food."

Wei had no other choice but to open the door and invite him in.

He was rolling his eyes and had all the appearance of a victim of circumstances, which was his natural spontaneous reaction to whatever happened out of the ordinary.

Out of his order of things, that is. Most people would consider his whole life out of the ordinary, but to him it was just normal, so he behaved naturally-pissed by habit, but deep down he appreciated not having to cook. Andrew had just lost a chance, but he didn't know about it and Wei wouldn't be the one to tell him.

Yunlan didn't notice his annoyed expression or pretended not to. Either way, he barged in and into the kitchen where he put the bag on the counter.

Wei watched him take out of it a number of fried, oily dishes and sugar-filled desserts that instantly made his mouth water. Yes, this day might indeed be full of exceptions, he could go back to his old life tomorrow after all.

Yunlan looked at him and smirked. "Don't worry, this is for me, I got it that you're the healthy-food type of guy, so I brought these for you," and he emptied the bag displaying some indeed healthy though less mouth-watering foods.

Wei's heart sank.

"Thanks, that was... very considerate of you."

They set the table together and started eating.
"The girl is doing better, you know."

"I'm happy for her," Wei replied absent-mindedly, his eyes lingering on his food.

"I don't think it will be necessary, but the officers might need to talk to you."

"Huh?"

"Because you found them, I mean, nothing to worry about. They asked me about you, but I didn't even have a full name to give them."

Wei didn't react as hoped, so Yunlan tried again. "I'm Zhao Yunlan, maybe I didn't introduce myself properly the other day." There, now the polite thing to do would be to give him his full name in return, but Wei simply said, "You told me your name, that was enough, no need to be formal."

Yunlan opted for a different approach. "Well, as I said, the police might need to talk to you, so it would be better if you gave me your phone number, don't you think?"

"Why?"

"Why??" Yunlan stopped eating to stare at him. "Because if they ask me about you, either I give them your number and they call to ask you to go to the police station to talk to them, or I give them your address in which case they'll show up directly at your doorstep to take you there in a police car. Which choice seems more appealing to you?"

Wei groaned, Yunlan handed him his cellphone and he put his own number in, under the simple name 'Wei'.

Yunlan put his phone away as if that was a boring task he didn't have to worry about anymore.

"The doctors said she's recovering well after the operation, but a few minutes later might have been too late for her. You saved her life."

"Actually, you saved her life."

Yunlan didn't miss the way he kept diverting the attention from himself, nor the way his hand sneaked forward to steal pieces of his fried fish.

Yunlan smirked and started picking at the vegetables. "Only because you lead me to her, I haven't been able to figure out how did you find her."

"Luck, I guess."

"The luckiest case of luck indeed! Come on, there must be something you can give me here, luck doesn't just happen that way."

"I... had a hunch, I guess you can call it that."

Yunlan narrowed his eyes, "A hunch, huh?"

"Yeah, I... saw something on people's faces and thought something must have happened... you're a cop, aren't you supposed to believe in a good hunch?"

Yunlan chewed on his steamed carrots. "Just good old intuition, huh? My old chief respected intuition, he told every one of us, 'always trust your guts, never ignore a hunch', good thing you didn't!"

Wei nodded in agreement, now nibbling at the inviting slice of chocolate cake since the fried fish was long gone.

"Such a good intuition is not common though, I could really use someone like you."

No response, more cake-nibbling.

Yunlan raised an eyebrow. "Would you?"

"Would I what?"

"Help me? Your intuition might be precious in my line of work."

"I already have a job."

Yunlan had finished eating, he sat back against the chair. "What is it that you do?"

"I'm an accountant."

"Really?" Somehow that didn't fit the image of the man in front of him.

"Really. A good one, too."

Yunlan laughed. "Yeah, I bet you are."
He looked intently into his eyes. "I bet you're good at a lot of things."

Wei didn't reply. The cake was gone as well, causing a charming frown on his beautiful features.

Turning serious, Yunlan tried again. "You could really make a difference. Will you help me if I called you?"

Wei raised his eyes. "I told you I have a job already... but if you call, I will answer."