Light Against Shadows

Chapter 22

They stared at each other, not sure if they should go back to the apartment to talk about the cases or if Wei should join him in the elevator and go out.

Yunlan's phone broke the awkward moment. He stepped out to answer.

Wei stood gazing at him. Now that he had acknowledged his own feelings, his eyes held longing. They lingered on the other's face and lips, remembering how it had felt good to kiss him.

He hadn't heard a word of Yunlan's conversation with whoever was on the phone, so he was quite startled when he heard him speak.

"Will you come with me?"

"Come? What do you mean? Where?"

Yunlan's eyes narrowed.
"Didn't you hear? Another person has disappeared. We are not waiting to see if he'll come back on his own, after the recent events we are treating any reported disappearance as another missing case. You said you wanted to help, I'm going there now, wanna join me?"

Wei nodded, incapable of saying a word. They entered the elevator together and Yunlan didn't comment on how close to him Wei was standing.

For Wei, it was as if everything had suddenly changed. It was selfish of him, he knew that. He should have talked about the case, but Wei really couldn't stop thinking how much he wanted the man next to him. He had tried to distance himself before, but now that he had made peace with his heart's want, it was as if he could not avert his eyes anymore.

They took Yunlan's car and reached the residential area of the mother that had called the police very much alarmed after her son had interrupted their phone call mid-sentence and had never made it home.

As soon as they got out of the car, Yunlan spotted Chu and Hong. They had talked to the woman already and were able to tell him everything there was to know about the twenty-nine-year-old man that had called home to say he was coming back but had never arrived.

Hong was once again eyeing them but now Wei could recognize her hostility for what it was. They both craved the attention of the same man.

Yunlan seemed oblivious of the silent war going on around him, and his voice when he spoke had a professional tone. They were working now, and the case demanded priority.

"When did this happen? Has anyone else been informed?" he asked.

"She called so many people, from his friends to the hospitals, that I'm surprised the place is not full of journalists yet," Hong informed him. "The mother said that he called h..."

She stopped. The three men turned to stare at her still face. Her gaze had become unfocused and she stood like a statue for a second before her body began to move like a marionette.

Wei was the first to realise what was happening, cursing himself for not paying more attention to his surroundings. Why did he never notice them beforehand? He didn't think twice, he had nothing to hide anymore. His hand shot up and he called, "Takeo!"

It was a matter of two seconds during which both Chu and Yunlan shifted their baffled gazes from the woman slowly walking away to the man with them.

"Free her!" Wei urged, and then watched as his personal soldier, strengthened with his own energy, flew straight into Hong's body and out again, chasing away the Shadow that had momentarily possessed her. No one else did, but Wei could clearly see both.

She fell on the ground, and the three men rushed at her side. She was conscious but under shock.

"What... what?" Hong was desperately trying to clear her mind and make sense of her new position on the ground.