Little Fish. Chapter 15

Other than a few small touches, if someone supplied photos from five years ago, they’d have lined up perfectly with the current state of Gu Lang’s apartment. Splashing cold water on his face, Wei Zangchen wished there’d been enough water there to drown himself. Gu Lang wasn’t about to let him go.

“Wei Zangchen?”

The apartment owner seemed to ignore the concept of privacy, opening the bathroom door. Wei Zangchen thought Shu Min would provide him with enough time to calm down and formulate a new plan to deal with Gu Lang.

“You’ve been gone so long that Gun Wen’s worried.”

Hadn’t he only been in the bathroom for moments? Reaching over, he took the hand towel and dried his face.

“You can talk to them but you can’t talk to me? Isn’t that a little rude? You have to have some idea of how much work I put into tracking you down.”

“The military knows you’re alive, but not that I have you. Shouldn’t that earn me some points? Don’t you feel you owe me an explanation? Or should I make things personal? Should I ask about what Chi Ren found? The removal of your left ovary and tube? The damage to your gland? Your son? How you managed to end up in such a remote place without making any effort to let your old team know you were alive?”

The hand towel began to smoulder. Gu Lang walked into the bathroom, taking it from Wei Zangchen’s hands and promptly putting it out in the sink.

“I seem to have hit a nerve. Let’s go back and eat.”

Shu Min had left. Wei Zangchen wheeled over to sit at the head of the dining table. Xiao Li had a rather pitiful Clam Soup in his lap, neither fond of the plastic cone around his neck. Gun Wen was seated next to Xiao Li.

“Sir… uh… I hope you like it. Gu Lang gave orders over the menu so the food might be a bit rich.”

Knowing his troubles, Wei Zangchen’s food was all softened down. Gu Lang sat on the opposite end, placing space between them as if he were there simply to observe.

“Thanks, Gun Wen. Thank you, Xiao Li. This looks good, but you can’t go feeding Clam Soup. You need to put him back down.”

Xiao Li turned his now-aggrieved gaze to Gun Wen, who reached over to ruffle the little boy’s hair.

“He’s right. Clam Soup needs to eat his own special food. We don’t want him getting sick.”

With his favourite uncle not backing him up, Xiao Li’s gaze dropped to Clam Soup. Wei Zangchen felt for him.

“How about we buy him some special treats? You can have your special food, then give him his. Our Clam Soup deserves the best.”

Xiao Li pushed his chair back, gathered up his friend, then ran out of the room. Gun Wen reassured Wei Zangchen before he could ask.

“He’ll put him on his bed and close the door. He seems to think if it’s in his new room, then it’ll all be safe. He shut me in last night and wouldn’t let me go near the door all night.”

Wei Zangchen lowered his head. He’d given Xiao Li another psychological scar. The poor boy had been through too much. Seeing his expression, Gun Wen tried to brighten him back up.

“Chi Ren said there was absolutely nothing wrong with him and says he’s very well-adjusted despite his communication problems. You know he’s shy when he… well, he’ll settle down. He loves his new bed, and Shu Min bought quite a lot of toys for him to play with.”

Wei Zangchen kicked himself all over again. He hadn’t been left alone with Gun Wen long enough to hear his side of things. If only his friend had taken Xiao Li with him, then the little boy never would have faced his flames.

Gu Lang snorted.

“He’s an interesting child. You must be incredibly proud of him. More than once you said you wanted to become a parent, and when it happened, it’d happen. I knew you’d always achieve what you wanted.”

Wei Zangchen picked up his knife. He tried to change the topic, but he was so rattled that he ended up putting his foot in it further.

“There’s a playground down the road. We should take Xiao Li to play there. They used to have a massive swing set. I think he’ll like it. Then we can get him cake from the bakery…”

Gun Wen was shocked by both their words.

“Wait. You two were close?! But you don’t like him and he doesn’t seem to like you… Just what in the hell happened between the two of you for things to turn out like this? Are you the reason we’re not properly detained?!”

Wei Zangchen stabbed the knife down into the table. He was done after digging the hole deeper. His appetite was completely gone. Gu Lang laughed.

“He really didn’t tell you? He’s my fiancé.”

As Gun Wen spat a mouthful of blood, Wei Zangchen wheeled himself away from the table. His mental cloud was starting to turn chaotic. His chest felt tight at the reminder.

“Ex-fiancé.”

This was exactly why he didn’t want to spend time with Gu Lang. The guide called out.

“When I came back and found you were dead, I thought the world had ended. I fought tooth and nail for the truth. Wei Zangchen, I’m not someone to let things go. It took four years to find you. I won’t let you throw it all away.”

The esper ignored him. Xiao Li hadn’t come back yet. He was going to ignore his ex-fiancé and focus on his son. Some people truly couldn’t let go of the past.

Shu Min had decorated Xiao Li’s room nicely. The little boy’s bed was a single bed all for himself. On the walls were a few posters of cartoon characters Wei Zangchen didn’t know. There was a lot of space for his future things, and it was a room for Xiao Li to grow into. Sitting on his bed, the little boy was feeding Clam Soup patiently.

As Wei Zangchen was checking the hallway for which room was Xiao Li’s, Xiao Li’s door had opened. Seeing him, he’d lit up before tugging him along and into his special space. Everything he’d wanted to give Xiao Li, Gu Lang had. He had it—and in the apartment that held too many memories.

The morning everything went wrong, he’d left from their apartment. Gu Lang had bullied him into slowly moving out of his own apartment and into his. Everyone thought they only tolerated each other outside of work and social events. Wei Zangchen knew Gu Lang had a foolish streak and warned him severely not to tell anyone about them, as he wanted to see how far Gu Lang could rise on his own. The guide wasn’t a grade S, but there was no one quite like him. That’s what had attracted him to Gu Lang first—not the fact he was a strong alpha with a strong presence. None of that had mattered when he’d gotten close to Gu Lang and fallen for the man.

Sitting on Xiao Li’s bed with him, he stroked Clam Soup. The cat seemed wary of him now, and Wei Zangchen didn’t blame him. He’d work hard to make it up to Xiao Li and Clam Soup.

“Xiao Li, I want to make a sign for all Clam Soup’s things. Do you think you can help me?”

Xiao Li nodded, finally putting down the snacks he’d been feeding Clam Soup. Wei Zangchen was able to see the label that had a big cat on it—someone must have already told him it was special food for the cat.

“Great. I know you had to go to a big scary place and you saw scary things, but these people aren’t bad. They’re just not used to dealing with amazing children like you. You need to go easy on them. It’s okay to be scared—I’m a bit scared—but I used to be friends with Gu Lang. You know, I used to live here before you were born. This room used to be Gu Lang’s gym room. I like it better as your room. Do you have some pencils and paper?”

Ideally, he would have coaxed Xiao Li back to eat, but a child’s mood was a complicated thing. He’d have to bring his mood up first, then get him eating something other than a snack. Sliding off the bed, Xiao Li went right to his new desk, pulling out a massive carton of pencils and a kid’s drawing pad. Shu Min had thought of everything.

“I’ll write his name and you can go over it, then we’ll draw a big picture of Clam Soup so everyone knows that they’re his things. No one’s going to take him away again.”

Doing the hard work of writing Clam Soup’s name, Wei Zangchen now had Xiao Li sitting between his legs. Clam Soup didn’t want to be left out, playing with the pencils and making a pest of himself. Since Xiao Li had come into his life, he had no real photos of him—or of them together. He’d like to get one done. He wanted Xiao Li to know he was loved more than he could comprehend, even if he wasn’t the boy’s biological father.

He’d not been dumb to all Gu Lang’s insinuations. He could imagine one of the first things Gu Lang had done would have been a DNA test. By the guide not mentioning it, he felt he was being tested.

“We should make door signs for the doors too. One for you and one for Gun Wen. He’ll probably get lost without them. We could make one for each of the doors down here—it’ll help me too.”

They were still making door signs when Gun Wen came in. He’d brought the food they’d failed to eat at lunch. By now Gu Lang had probably spilled their whole relationship, ignoring how that would make Wei Zangchen feel.

“You guys have been busy! I brought you both a snack. Gu Lang had work to do, so we have the whole downstairs to ourselves. He’s up in his office and said he won’t be going out again today. He said we could watch a movie on the big screen… Wei Zangchen…”

Gu Lang’s big mouth no doubt meant he’d now be nagged by Gun Wen. The guide had truly dobbed him in.

“I’m not talking about it.”

Gun Wen had a complicated look, ultimately not dragging it up further in front of Xiao Li.

“I was going to say I haven’t shown you your room yet. Gu Lang said neither of us were allowed in there before you got here.”

For Xiao Li’s sake, Wei Zangchen allowed the lie.

“Xiao Li is going to take me later. We’re making signs for our rooms.”

“Do I get a sign?”

“We’ve made yours. Seeing you’re now so friendly with Gu Lang, can you ask him for some tape so we can stick these up?”

Gun Wen lowered his gaze.

“It’s not like that. They… they caught me. Gu Lang never mentioned that you two…”

“That’s enough. It’s the past. The very dead past. Please go ask him for some sticky tape.”

“All right. I understand, sir.”