Chapter 13

Wei couldn't wait to get home. He should have known better than to get involved in things that weren't his concern, now he would have to face it all again.

"How can you say it's no big deal? He must have thought I was crazy Gelan, I'm sure that's what he thinks... I still remember very well how... if they didn't believe me then who else could..."

He heard someone yelling his name and instinctively turned around. He saw Yunlan running towards him.

Wei quickened his steps heading home.

Yunlan cursed and kept running until he finally reached him.

"Didn't you see me? Why didn't you stop?"

Wei shot him an icy glare but kept walking. "You're a smart cop, I'm sure you can figure that out yourself."

He was almost home, only a few meters and he would be alone to think about that big mess. Well, alone may not be exactly the right word, but his friends' presence never bothered him.

"I'm not being rude! And yes, yes it is his fault..." Wei muttered and Yunlan couldn't stop himself.

"What? Who are you talking to?"

They had already entered Wei's apartment building and were waiting in front of the elevator.

Wei looked at him and for a moment he seemed uncertain, then he startled Yunlan by laughing out loud.

"You are absolutely right, I haven't introduced you two."

The elevator doors opened and they got in together.

"Introduce me?" Yunlan wasn't sure of what was going on.

Wei moved an arm in front of him, slightly on the right and spoke as if there was someone there.

"Let me introduce you to my friend Gelan, she's been with me since I was a small child and has never stopped acting as a mother hen. Gelan, this is officer Yunlan, I just met him and he already ruined my life."

"What?"

Wei got out and quickly reached his apartment door with Yunlan at his heels.

"What are you talking about? I did nothing to ruin your life!"

Wei opened the door and let him come inside. He locked it, put down his bag and took off his jacket.

"Let's see who's home tonight. It's only fair that I introduce you to all of my friends. Andrew is in the kitchen for sure, the others are Takeo, Huan, DongMei, LiLing, Qing and Luca. Guys, say hi to our guest."

Yunlan was speechless.

Wei turned to him with a mocking smile. "You wanted so much to know who lives with me. Maybe lives is not the right word though, you might have tried asking 'who are the souls infesting your house?' Well, now you know. Happy?"

"Look, Wei, I..."

"You didn't even say a word to them. That's not very polite."

Yunlan felt his hostile gaze on himself. He scanned the apartment but his eyes landed on nothing but furniture. "Uhm... nice to meet you?"

Wei smirked. "I'm not sure about that."

Yunlan frowned, he didn't like his tone of voice.

Wei left the puzzled Yunlan behind to go make himself a cup of tea.

He wanted to make just one, but something inside him cringed at how rude that was so he made two instead.

He put two steaming cups on the table. Yunlan still hadn't moved. Wei shook his head. "The tea will get cold if you don't drink it. If you didn't want it you  could have told me."

Yunlan finally came back to himself and joined him at the table. "Why are you angry at me?"

Wei laughed at that but it wasn't a happy laugh.

Yunlan suddenly remembered the main reason he went looking for him. "The article! Right."

Wei's expression was hard. "Yes, the article. Did you have to tell everyone?"

"No, I didn't... it wasn't me, Wei. They didn't hear it from me, it's possible that someone at the station found out and let it slip to the journalists, but it wasn't me."

His tone sounded sincere, but it wasn't enough. Wei spoke again with bitterness in his voice.

"And how did this someone learn about me? I guess you couldn't let it go, you had to find out, you kept asking questions. You researched me, didn't you?"

Yunlan's guilty expression was enough of an answer but he wasn't one to escape when things got tough. "I wanted to know more about you," he admitted.

Wei didn't reply. His anger subsided a little at the admission, which surprised him. He thought he'd be even angrier, but that wasn't the case.

Zhao spoke again. "I told them to pretend they didn't know anything, I never wanted to cause you troubles, I only wanted to know who you are. I know I'm too curious, I can't help it, but rest assured that I'll find out who talked, only three people saw the article and Chu wouldn't volunteer information nor he's the kind of guy who can be forced to speak. It has to be either Ling or Hong. "

Wei shivered but said nothing. He didn't know Ling but he remembered officer Hong all too well.

Wei sighed feeling suddenly tired.

"Why are you here?"

"I didn't want you to think I betrayed you. I care about... what you think of me."

"Why?"

Yunlan didn't answer, he wasn't even sure he had an answer to give. They barely knew each other but Yunlan thought of him as a good person and the fact that he may not be quite right in the head didn't change a thing.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"..."

"It's okay if you believe I'm crazy, even my parents thought I was a clinical case."

Yunlan caught the pain behind his words, and once again his curiosity had the best of him. "Where are your parents now?"

"They died ten years ago."

"Do you... still see them?" Yunlan felt awkward asking that question, but the guy thought he could see ghosts, he would want to keep talking to his parents, wouldn't he?

"No, I haven't seen them since the day they died."

"Why not?" Yunlan should really learn to keep his curiosity in check sometimes.

"I suppose there was nothing keeping them here and they went on to their next life."

"You think they abandoned you?" Yunlan thought that this damn curiosity will get him in trouble sooner or later.

"Can't you stop asking questions?"

"Sorry. I'm not sure I can, my mouth moves faster than my brain."

Wei chuckled. "We agree on something after all."

Yunlan laughed along and some of the awkwardness dissipated.

"When they died, I thought I'd see them again, but not everyone becomes a friendly ghost. Most souls move on to be reincarnated, only a few stay behind."

"How do you find them? Why do you think you're the only one who can see them?"

Wei's smile was less bitter now, Yunlan's curiosity was amusing after all.

"Usually they find me, there's something about my energy that attracts them. I don't know why but they... they like me."

They looked at each other for a few intense seconds then Yunlan cleared his throat. "Well, if they come and find you, it's a relief they're all friendly."

"My ghosts are, but the Shadows are different."

Yunlan forced himself not to roll his eyes. The first person to catch his interest in such a long time, if ever, and it had to be a nut head. "Shadows?"

"When a person's soul is mostly dark, what's left behind is not nice."

Evil shadows. That was just great. When he had started to make peace with the fact that Wei talked to himself because maybe he felt too lonely, the man had to go and speak of evil shadows.

Could he get crazier than that?

Luckily Yunlan did not ask this out loud.