FENG LANG
I entered the small office, Ruiqing right behind me. It was nothing impressive, just a table with two chairs, a file cabinet and a mini fridge.
I opened the fridge. There was nothing in there, a few bottles of water and some juice boxes.
On the table were stacked files, neatly arranged according to color…I inched closer to it, lifting the cover of one of the files as I peered into it.
A quick scan of its front page, and I was halfway to dreamland. I slammed it shut.
"So this is the humble life you left your family's billions for." I said. My nose scrunched in condescension as I slid a finger across the desk in his office, rubbing the invisible dust between two fingers.
He didn't reply. Not that I expected him to. His eyes quietly followed me. Not even when I gave him questioning look, did he speak.
Already feeling exhausted, I set the small leather bag I was holding on the table, which contained the glass sample I found in the kitchen yesterday—my main reason for coming here.
I plopped onto his seat and groaned when the furniture squeaked under my weight. "What, at least let me buy you a better chair, Ruiqing"
He rolled his eyes, "Shut up and make do with what you get." He said, walking into the office and closing the door behind him.
With a shrug, I decided to make myself comfortable. My legs dropped on his table with a thud and his eyes popped out their sockets.
He blinked at me, and I blinked back.
"Don't test me, Lang." His look turned stern, and I replied his with an innocent one of my own.
"I'm making do with what I get." I shrugged. He rolled his eyes as he came close to where I was seated, pushing my legs off his table.
"Asshole." He echoed, fishing for a pack of tissues from his drawer. "I didn't think you'd actually come here by yourself." He said, wiping his files.
I shrugged. "What's wrong with that? I wanted to see where you worked. Plus, I haven't seen you in what, six years?"
"I saw you earlier this year." He interjected.
"That was in Thailand. It doesn't count." I countered dismissively. "I want to spent time with my best friend. Is that so bad?" I said, blinking at him.
He gave me a skeptical look. The kind he gave when he was trying to figure something out.
"What?" I asked with a frown.
"That night still got you shaken up?" He pulled the second chair in the room, taking a seat across from me with a knowing look.
"What do you mean?" I muttered, diverting my gaze. My eyes looked everywhere, but at him.
"Lang, I've been working here for over seven years. Long and Yichen have been here in my office more times than I can count. At some point I had to beg them not to come by, for my own sanity—"
I chuckled when I remembered a video Yichen sent to me of them making fun of Ruiqing when he first started.
"—In case you don't realize where you are," he continued "this is a police headquarters." His hand gestured to his room, his eyes wide for emphasis.
"So?" I whispered.
"So! You get serious anxiety from seeing officer's uniform. You always have Chen Yu enter the building whenever you want to meet, even when you're parked right outside."
"What's your point, Peabody?" I sank back in my seat, not liking how he was drilling me.
He frowned at the nickname, but continued anyway. "Something's going on with you."
"Nothing's going on with me, Ruiqing." I replied and he chuckled. I frowned.
"Bullshit. I mean, look at you. You're irritable as hell." I sent him a look. When am I not irritable? "More than usual." He clarified. "Like Yichen level irritable. You've not stopped touching shit since you got here." I immediately dropped the pen I was fiddling with and he lifted his eyebrow smugly bringing his face closer.
I flicked his forehead, sending him back into his chair. "Instead of reading inaccurate meanings into people's actions, why don't you spend your time doing something more productive." I chucked the glass cup I brought at him, and he caught it effortlessly.
"Tell that to the dark circles under your eyes. Did you sleep at all?" He touched my forehead with the back of his hand and frowned. "You're running a fever, Lang. Do Z-gen Alphas even fall sick?" He felt my neck and I swatted his hand away. I stood up, walking towards the door.
"You're a doctor now? I'm seeing Yichen after this. Leave some of the nagging for him." As I got closer tk the door, a distinct buzzing sound started in my ear. I shook my head to get rid of it.
The. Ruiqing spoke. "Good. But wait here a bit. You've been pumping toxic pheromones ever since you entered the building." I snapped my head towards him in question, and he nodded.
My hand froze on the door handle.
"I didn't say anything because it was just a little at first, but it's gotten worse in the past five minutes." He pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket, going to wet it with water from his fridge, then bringing it to his nose. "I can withstand it because I'm D-Gen, but some of the officers out there are omegas—"
That was when the first blow hit me. I felt a weight bumping into my chest, and I staggered. I took a second to take in a deep breath, trying to fill my lungs with air.
Just then, my knees buckled. My hand instinctively moved to the door handle, keeping me from toppling onto the cold floor.
"Shit! Lang! Lang!" Ruiqing was by my side in a second. His face looked pained, as he struggled to breathe around me. I saw his head bop, like he was coughing.
Another blow hit me. This time, it felt like electric shock running through my body. Jerking me up. My hand slipped from the handle and my world tilted.
I landed on the floor with a thud, but thanks to Ruiqing body acted as a cushion, the impact was minor.
It all happened so fast. Too fast my brain couldn't register any pain. Just the buzzing in my ears and the numbness of my body.
My vision became blurry. "Feng Lang, control yourself!" I heard Ruiqing's muffled voice, and I turned toward him, seeing that his wet handkerchief was now a makeshift nose mask.
What did he mean I should control myself?
My head was on Ruiqing's arm, and he was shaking me. Slapping my cheeks. Calling my name over the buzzing noise. "Lang! Lang! Keep your eyes open." I wanted to, I really wanted to.
"No don't close—" Ruiqing's voice drowned out. So did all light in the room.
I woke up with a start.
"Fuck" I muttered as my eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness.
I wasn't in Ruiqing's office. This room was significantly larger, much more advanced, with beeping monitors, bright lights on the ceiling, the smell of chemicals and detergent.
Two bags containing yellow and blue fluids, hung on an IV pole beside the bed I was lying on, tubes protruding from them to form a Y-junction, connected to my hand.
I noticed a few people dressed in white nurse uniforms moving about, none of them noticing me.
A few meters straight ahead, a man around my age wearing a lab coat, stood, head bent with his back towards me.
His arm moved in a fashion that told me he was writing something down on an iPad.
I would easily recognize that stiff back if I was blindfolded in a dark room full of people.
Yichen.