One fateful meeting on a lone raining day will change Yezun's life completely. Not only he meet with his long-lost brother, but also finds out a secret running through their family. There, in between white roses and blood, he finds answers to his lo...
They joined the other guests in a luxurious dining room around a big table. Yezun was assigned a chair next to Da Qing's left side and soon he noticed most of the faces near him are somehow familiar by now as he saw them all before in the lounge. He saw everyone except from the man sitting at the front of the table, on the place of honor. Yezun deducted he has to be a man of importance as everyone addressed him very politely. And because of that reason he decided not to even look into that direction.
The jingle of cutlery commenced and many whispered conversations started. The lunch consisted of several courses and Yezun marveled upon seeing all the delicacies. He remembered the funeral of his uncle, the last funeral he attended. The air was heavy with incense tobacco. The whole family ate their simple meals in silence and afterwards accompanied the dead man to the place of his final rest, the cemetery. The whole event ended as it started – filled with tears and pleas, and it was almost identical with any other funeral he visited. Yezun would never guess this decrepitation is held because of the same reason as the one for his uncle. Every single person around the table seemed to be serene, no one cried and many people already planned their next business. Right there, during the funeral lunch.
„How long do you know each other, Mr....?" Da Qing asked.
Yezun glanced across the table and his eyes met with Shen Wei's for a millisecond. He cleared his throat, nervous from being watched. „My name is Yezun," he turned to Da Qing and finally introduced himself, with name only to not gave away the link between him and his brother. „And I have known Shen Wei since I can remember. It has been many years, really." He looked at Shen, but his brother did not pay him any attention.
„I thought so," the younger man nodded and stretched his hand to him. „My name is Da Qing."
„Nice to meet you...." Shen Wei, again, did not react to their interaction, so maybe it was allowed to speak with this man. „I have to say I am a bit taken aback by this whole event. Shen Wei did not plan on inviting me, we met by chance this time."
„I bet you had other plans for today," Da Qing smiled. Indeed, Yezun was supposed to go to his office, to do his boring job, to return to his small empty apartment in the city suburbs. Maybe to stop by the dry-cleaners to get his coat cleaned. But one small spark of fate, one encounter, and his monotonous day turned into something exciting.
„Yes, I had..." Yezun glanced to Shen Wei, this time his brother's eyes were firmly fixed on him. At first Yezun did not understand him, but after a few short seconds he realized Shen Wei's twitching of eye means to follow him.
He slightly nodded and turned back to Da Qing: „Do you know a place I could call from? I shall inform my office about my absence."
„Oh, sure," Da Qing put his fork on the table and jumped from his seat. Yezun noticed the poor young man was only raking through the food, not interested in actually eating any. Probably he had no appetite, in contrast to others who filled their stomach hungrily. „Come with me, I will show you where the phone is.
After Yezun made the hasty call to lie to his boss he was terribly sick that day and could not come to the office, he realized Wei was standing in the shadows behind him.
„Let's go," he heard him whisper and without a second thought followed him into the coffin room.
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Shen Wei quickly took out the hidden cooling box. He made space on the nearby table and was about to prepare everything, but stopped momentarily to think of what to say to Yezun. He had to explain it somehow.
„Yezun..." he turned to his brother, suddenly calmness claimed his features. „I know I have not been the best brother, but please let me explain why." He walked to the other man. „We have been born with something unique within us. Someone call it a blessing, others a curse. When we were little our mum noticed how much you struggled to keep hold of your own mind and so she decided to seal your powers, to protect you from yourself."
Yezun could not make much sense from what Shen Wei was telling him, but he listened attentively.
„When we wanted to seal me as well, it was too late. The only thing I could do to protect both, you and our mother, was to travel away. I have abandoned my family to protect it." By then Shen Wei was squeezing Yezun's shoulder with is hand. Yezun felt the urgency in Shen Wei's voice, the unsaid plea for forgiveness. His whole life, Yezun lived in the conviction his brother just run away from him to study at some university abroad. He would never thought something mystical was the reason. Was that even possible?
„I... I am not sure. How can I have some powers? I am just a normal man."
„I know it is hard to believe," Shen Wei sighed. „But I need to ask you a huge favor. You need to help me, because I might... I might not make it on my own. And I need him." His eyes slid to look into the coffin and his shoulders shook. Yezun was afraid his brother could collapse, so he hugged him tightly.
„I don't know how can I help you, but whatever you want, whatever you need, I am here to help you. You are my brother, my only family. I am not letting you down."
Shen Wei inhaled deeply in Yezun's embrace and then straightened up. „Thank you."
Yezun smiled, putting all his mind into helping Shen Wei. „What shall I do then?" He did not understand most of the things which happened in the past few hours. And the revelation only added to the confusion already mixing in his mind with anxiety.
„I will unseal your powers and channel it through my body. Here, sit down."
Shen Wei motioned Yezun to sit on a stool beside the coffin and then proceeded to unpacking the items within the cooling box. Four packages of blood, hoses, injections, clamps and several bandages were placed on the table. Shen took off his suit jacket and folded it neatly. He then folded up his sleeves and prepared the blood.
„What?!" Yezun's jaw dropped when he saw Shen Wei putting the injection into his vein, but a terror took over his body, when he watched him placing the other end of the hose to the body in the coffin. The two blood packages were soon connected to the lifeless man as well as Shen Wei's other hand. This whole atrocious display was a gruesome blood exchange circle. And Yezun could not help but only stare with his eyes wide opened.
At first, the dead body refused to take in the offered life essence. The crimson colored the white roses around the body. Shen Wei twisted his hand in the air and thin streaks of black mist appeared, irradiating from his fingers. It looked his effort helped the cells to clasped around the hoses to keep the vital fluid inside.
Yezun gasped for air. Never could he imagine such a horrific scene. His brother was giving his blood to a dead person and he seemed to posses some powers as well. This way out of anything Yezun could have imagine. He watched Wei breathing in and out slowly, the red-filled hoses and then the hand Wei extended for him to take.
The look in Wei's eyes... he could not interpret it. With fear and numbness Yezun hold up his hand and when Shen Wei took it into his own, blackness took over Yezun's consciousness immediately.
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