Wei slowly opened his eyes and he found himself in front of a ghost he hadn't seen in a while.

"Nari?" he called, instantly realising that he was at Yunlan's house. "What happened? When did I get here?"

He heard the doorbell and stood up slowly. That was the noise that had woken him up. He frowned a little, staring in the direction of the noise, but was brought out of his own thoughts by a distressed ghost.

Wei looked back at Nari. She was frantically trying to tidy up the bed. The ghost's immaterial fingers were passing through covers and pillows, to her utter frustration. He considered doing it himself, but a bout of sympathy stopped him.

He wondered for a moment why she cared so much. The only answer he could come up with was that this room and this bed were what kept her behind. It had to be extremely important to her, and he felt moved.

"Here, touch my hands."

Nari did, and was rewarded with mortal energy for the second time in her afterlife. Wei smiled, seeing how delighted she was at realising that she could now make the bed. She certainly didn't like it when someone messed up her room. Wei took a mental note of that fact.

Wei heard the doorbell again, more insistent this time. He moved closer to the door and looked through the peephole. Seeing who it was, he took a step back in surprise. What was officer Hong doing here? Was she looking for Yunlan? At his house? Why didn't she call? Was it alright for him to answer the door? Did Yunlan want her to know that he was in his apartment? Maybe he had better ignore her and pretend he wasn't there...

"Shen Wei! Open the door, Shen Wei. I know you're in there, are you still asleep? It's...damn, it's already 10.45, you can't possibly be still asleep. Shen Wei!"

She kept ringing the doorbell, she was obviously aware, sure even, of his presence in the house, so there was no point in pretending. He opened the door and regarded her with a shy smile, unsure of what to expect.

"Zhao Yunlan wants you with us, are you ready?" she asked with a disdainful look at the crumpled clothes he was wearing.

He stared with his mouth open. "Where? Why are you here? Where is Yunlan?"

She rolled her eyes. "He's working, we need to check out something but he wants you to come along. Apparently you're his lucky charm or something."

That morning, they had received word from another department that they had been using Ling's program to track down the missing persons and they had two hits. Yunlan had decided immediately that he wanted to be present to check personally if they were indeed two of the missing cases and to make sure that there were no troubles.

Because of this, he had asked Chu to go with him, while he sent Hong to pick up Wei.

She would certainly avoid telling Shen Wei of the slight blush that Yunlan had tried to hide when he had to call her back to inform her that she would find him at his house.

"Can you wait for me? I need a shower, and I also need to go home and change." Wei felt very conscious of the fact that he was still wearing the same clothes of the day before.

She eyed him without voicing her opinion; she had precise orders to bring him along as soon as possible. "There is no time. Just change into some of Zhao's clothes, I'm sure he won't mind."

Wei made no comment and she sat in the living room while he went to change feeling very uncomfortable knowing that she was waiting while he rummaged through Yunlan's wardrobe and drawers.

He was able to find a shirt his size. It wasn't exactly his style, with those palm trees scattered all around, but it was the only one that didn't make him look like a child in a man's clothes. Working as an accountant didn't exactly help building muscles.

He blushed when he had to go through Yunlan's underwear drawer. He had seen him naked already, but in some way this seemed such an intimate thing, something that only married couples were allowed to do.

He chose one and changed. He was taller than Yunlan though, so he opted to keep his own trousers on.

After a discreet wave in Nari's direction, he followed Hong to her car, only now remembering that he had left his own near the park last night.

She started the car and drove in silence, but it was unnerving him so he looked for something to say.

"Thanks for picking me up," was the only thing he could think of.

"It's not like I really had a choice. Zhao would make a scene if I refused."

Wei considered that she didn't worry too much about that when she hid his badge out of spite, but he didn't say it. Instead, he wanted to make things better, he might see more of her from now on. If things went his way, he wanted to be a constant presence in Yunlan's life.

"Maybe we didn't start on the right foot. I'm sorry if I did anything to annoy you, it was never my intention."

She seemed like she was debating something with herself. Her voice was slightly hesitant when she finally spoke.

"I didn't make it easy for you either."

A small part of Wei's brain wanted to ask what had he ever done to make it difficult for her, but he said nothing. Peace is the goal, he reminded himself.

"Well, it's not like you were completely off after all. In a way, this whole thing was my fault."

She sneaked a peak at his face but he didn't meet her eyes.

"How? Did you do something to these people?"

Wei shifted uncomfortably. He had to start this conversation, couldn't he just shut up?

"No, it's not about what I did, it's more about... who I am."

She noticed his discomfort and bit her lip to refrain from more questions.

"Look, I have no idea what you're talking about, but either you harmed them or you didn't. Who you are is irrelevant. It would be like blaming the gun when one gets shot."

Wei frowned at the comparison. He didn't see where she was going, or what it had to do with him. Maybe it's cop reasoning, he thought.
"Guns are dangerous, they hurt people."

"People hurt people. People make the guns. People use them. Guns don't have the will to hurt, and they don't make themselves. They could be used only at a shooting range and nobody would get hurt. If people would just stop hurting each other..."

She stopped talking and he didn't know how to reply to that. He always pictured her like someone who would have treasured her weapons, not spoken against them.

"Why did you become a cop if you don't like guns?"

"Oh, I like my gun! And I know how to use it."

"But you said..."

"Mine is for defence. I don't use it unless other people use theirs too."

Wei wasn't sure he fully agreed with her reasoning, but he sort of understood what she wanted to say. He silently accepted her weird kind of apology and moved on.

"So, why did you become a cop?" he asked again.

She huffed and he worried he had annoyed her again, but instead of a nasty remark she bit her lip and replied in a monotone voice.

"When they see my badge, people don't expect me to be the girly type, and I learned to truly defend myself."

Wei secretly sighed in relief that he hadn't provoked an argument after all and decided to shut up to not push his luck too far.

They kept silent for a few moments then she abruptly asked, "Are you and Zhao together?"

Wei shifted in his seat, uncomfortable at the sudden question.
"We... yes... no... sort of, I think."

"I see, he's as open to you as he is with the rest of us. I suggest you clear things up with him, if I had done that sooner, I would have saved myself a lot."

Wei looked at her, but she had her eyes on the road.

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

"Why? Because he likes you and not me? Don't be sorry, I wouldn't be if things were the other way around. If he was mine, I'd growl at anyone who dared try to steal him from me, and there will be many, I assure you. He's very charming when he wants to be. There's always a flock of predators eyeing him from afar and slowly closing in. I just never knew who he chose. I should have asked, damn it. That was so unlike me, it makes me furious."

Wei had no words. Knowing she was furious made him naturally silent, but that talking of Yunlan's admirers made him jealous. Very jealous, in fact. The get your hands off my man before I cut them off kind of jealous, if he had to be honest. Which made him think how much right did he have to be jealous. He did, didn't he? They were past a one-time-thing now, Yunlan said he had feelings for him. They were together.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Hong spoke again.

"But I'm sorry if I was unpleasant to you." She let those words out quickly, before she could think twice of it.

"It's alright, I hope we will get along," he replied because it seemed rude not to say anything, and also because he meant it, but after that they remained silent the rest of the way.

Finally they reached the place Yunlan had previously texted her. Wei saw that there was a woman in handcuffs, trying to shake off two officers that were currently holding her still. He also saw that Yunlan was surrounded by officers and journalists alike. He recognized one as Li Chang, Yunlan's ex-boyfriend, and he clenched his fists.

They are just working, he told himself. He needed to calm down, he wasn't sure if Yunlan would be ok in making their relationship public, and he didn't want to mess up.

"They all swirl around him. He's like a magnet, what did I tell you?" Hong said, but he didn't detect malice in her voice, only tiredness. That only made it worse, though. If she wasn't saying it to be cruel, then it meant that she believed it to be the truth.

"Come on, let's go. I'm sure it's not over yet."

Wei followed her, and only stopped once he got close to Yunlan. He wanted to get even closer and snatch him away when he saw that Li Chang was now talking to him, but he didn't.

Seeing Hong walking towards him, Yunlan turned, his eyes looking for Wei, finding him right behind himself.

Yunlan eyed him for a moment, then said, "Is that my old shirt?"

Wei saw Li Chang frown, and something inside him rejoiced at that.

"Yeah, sorry, I didn't have a change."

Yunlan smiled. A true, gentle smile that didn't often appear on his face.
"It looks better on you. Green suits you."

Wei stood still and silent, taken aback by that open statement, but even more by his next words.

"You should keep some stuff at my place, in case something like this happens again."

Wei gasped but Yunlan didn't seem to notice. It wasn't an invitation to move in together, but an acknowledgement that in the future Wei might wake up again at Yunlan's apartment. That was enough for Wei and he felt his heart fill with emotion.

When Yunlan couldn't see it, Wei shot a glance at Li Chang that meant heard that?

If he noticed it, the man ignored him, but Wei felt better for it anyway.