It's difficult to live a normal life when nobody else can see your 'friends' and everybody thinks you're a crazy man who speaks to himself.
Wei is a lonely man with a special talent and an unexpected crave for sweets.
After helping a stranger he fi...
Usually Shen Wei never read newspapers and only watched the headlines of the television news programs, but lately he had been personally involved and as much as he tried to believe that he was indifferent to the outside world, he was actually concerned and had started buying a newspaper every morning since the girl he helped woke up.
Yesterday he had felt warm inside reading of the child being reunited with his family, and the picture provided with the article showed a woman frantically hugging the child while her husband hugged them both.
Maybe Gelan had been right again. Every time he said 'the poor child' she always replied 'oh the poor woman!' It must have been an atrocious experience indeed for the boy's parents, and as always he marvelled at Gelan's motherly attitude.
He had no doubt that she would have been a great mother had she lived long enough.
Today he opened the paper to see if there was more news, he skipped all the politics blah blah and went directly to the local news section.
A man had apparently disappeared the day before, and his wife spoke furiously of the police saying they insisted she needed to wait for him to come back since something might have come up to delay him and he might be home for dinner. Wei wondered if he had returned or if he had really disappeared, the woman seemed really concerned.
He turned his attention to the next page and his heart almost stopped.
It had been years since he saw that picture but he still remembered doctor Wang like it was yesterday.
His eyes scanned the article with his full name in plain view, and he felt like throwing up.
He went to work like an automaton, avoiding everyone like he always did, but he felt the eyes on his back.
He thanked again Jay's obsession with numbers. Without him he would have done a disaster today.
His cellphone rang and he saw an unknown number. He answered half-heartedly and heard a male voice saying, "Mister Shen Wei? I wondered if you could answer a few questions for me."
A journalist! Wei hung up on him without remorse and blocked his number.
Not enough time had passed for him to forget about it that another call arrived. This time it was a female voice who at least had the courtesy to introduce herself first, but she received the same treatment.
When his cellphone rang again and he saw the name and number he memorized three days ago, his heart ached in anger and disappointment, and he closed the call without answering.
~~~~~
"He hang up on me again!" Yunlan was frustrated.
"Your new friend doesn't talk to you anymore?"
"Shut up Hong!"
"Oh how moody you are today. So much fuss for a nut head."
"Stop calling him that, and if you see him just pretend you know nothing about his past, understood?"
"It might be a little difficult don't you think? How could anyone not know about him?"
Yunlan felt something strange in her voice, and got worried. "What do you mean?"
"Haven't you seen the news?" She had a surprised face that annoyed him to no end, what was up with this woman today?
"No I haven't, I have enough of that at work, I want to relax when I'm home, now spill it, Hong, I'm tired of your games."
"You should remember who your friends are, Zhao Yunlan, and learn to be nicer to them!"
He was losing his patience and she saw it.
She smirked and answered his question. "Somehow his secret is out already. The journalists these days, they know everything!"
Yunlan immediately grabbed his cellphone and checked the news app. He scrolled down until he caught sight of a familiar face.
"When doctor Wang asked him why he kept talking to himself, twelve-year-old Shen Wei answered as if it was obvious. "I'm not talking to myself, I'm talking to my friends!". Doctor Wang as a well-known specialist in treating pubescent and adolescent troubled kids, had been called by the school headmaster with Mr and Mrs Shen's approval after the child displayed an unreasonable attitude in class. Many classmates had witnessed his uncalled for behaviour, but Shen Wei refused to admit he did anything wrong. They all exchanged a few words when doctor Wang tried to establish why he had bullied a classmate. Doctor Wang: "Why did you push your friend? He fell down the stairs, weren't you worried he might hurt himself?" - Young Wei: "I didn't! But Takeo didn't want to hurt him, it was an accident!" - "Who is Takeo, Wei?" - "If you can't see him, why do you bother asking? You wouldn't understand if I told you!" - "Look around Wei, there's only you, me, your parents, your teacher and your friend Jiu with his family, there's nobody else here." - "He's not my friend, you're not my friend either, they are the only friends I have!". Doctor Wang tried to reason with the child before his parents accepted to put him under his care to try cure him, making him accept that this behaviour wasn't acceptable and that the school had zero tolerance on bullysm."
Yunlan read the article with wide eyes, wasn't this the same article that Ling found yesterday? There were even the same pictures, of a young Shen Wei with challenge pouring from his countenance but something like dejection in his eyes and a smartly-dressed middle-aged man with an all-knowing smile that had to be doctor Wang.
How did it get into the newspaper? Only two days after Wei signed his statement? Oh shit, did Wei think it was his fault? That he did that? Wei once said he would always answer his call, but today Yunlan had called three times already and Wei hung up on him each time.
Good thing it was nothing too important or work-related, he had simply wanted to check up on him.
He needed to explain to Wei that he had nothing to do with that, but how could he do that if Wei didn't answer his calls?
He looked at the time, it was still early, it would be hours before he could find him at home, and Yunlan wanted to talk to him now.
Would it be considered abuse of power if he barged into his office? The doubt only lasted three seconds, then he shouted, "Chu, if you're free come with me."
Chu gave him a nod and took his jacket. Yunlan ignored everyone else and stomped out with a determined look on his face.
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