When He Comes, Close Your Eyes [Ding Mo]

5

Jian Yao sits down on the sofa.  She decides to take a nap.  

It doesn’t take long for her to stand up again.  She is wearing a thin jacket and her hands and feet are getting cold.  

I might catch a flu.  She thought to herself.   

She makes her way to the room where Bo Jinyan is in. At the end of the corridor, she gets another surprise.  

Light.  

A narrow streak of light shines through the gap at the bottom of the door. There is emergency lighting equipment!  

Jian Yao stand there, stunned for a moment.  She knocks on the door.  

The door opens.  Fluorescent tubes in the ceiling shines brightly.  She finds it hard to adjust to the brightness after being in the darkness for so long. 

Then she sees a man, blocking most of the light as he stand in front of the doorway.  

Jian Yao blinks.  She is curious what else is inside the room.  But Bo Jinyan quickly stands in front of her to block her view.  

“What’s up?’ says the man wearing a huge white surgical mask.  All Jian Yao can see is his eyes.

“I am cold,  I need to borrow some clothes.” says Jian Yao

After a few moments of silence, he replies :” I don’t like other people wearing my clothes.”

Jian Yao is dumbfounded. 

Then he steps back and closes the door.  

Darkness surrounds her once again.  

While he was closing the door, she noticed Bo Jinyan was wearing surgical gloves.   She also saw some round containers sitting on the shelves inside the room.  She is not sure what’s in them, but they had something in them.  

——-

Jian Yao goes back to the lounge.  She sits down for a few minutes, and then she stands up once again. This time, heading toward the kitchen.

She lights up the gas stove top.  Jian Yao places her hands close to the yellowish green flame to warm herself up.  She looks up and sees a cupboard.  The bottle of wine she gifted to Bo Jinyan is sitting on one of the shelves.  Without hesitation, she opens the bottle and takes a few sips.  

Now that she feels a little warmer, she realises that she is also quite hungry.  She begins searching for food in the kitchen.  

Empty.  There’s nothing in the cabinets.  Not even a piece of fruit or biscuit.  She looks inside the freezer.  Again, it’s empty.  She turns to the fridge next.  Bingo!  

Fish.  Lots of fish.  Neatly stacked inside the refrigerator.  She chooses the biggest one and puts it on the chopping board.    

Using the light from her mobile phone, she makes herself a plate of poached fish fillet pieces.  It is still pretty dark in the kitchen, but it’s enough for her to prepare the food.  

Satisfied with what she has cooked, she places the plate on the dining table and heads back to the kitchen to clean up before she enjoys her meal.  

After she is done, she returns to the dining room, only to find the table empty. 

A tall white shadow stands on the other side of the table. A pair of hands is holding the plate of food. 

“Thump” Bo Jinyan puts the plate back on the table.

“Unpalatable!” He says in his deep voice.