Growing up was not an easy thing for Yunlan.

Losing his mother as a teenager was tough. Very tough. She was his heart, she was what kept him and his father together, he didn't know how they could live without her.

They had to, of course, but without her Yunlan closed himself, shutting his heart to everyone else.

His father was left with a kid to raise, but he never knew how to show him love; he was always strict and cold, and the time they spent together was always dedicated to teach him how to be a cop.

Sometimes Yunlan hated him, but he was his only parent now, and in a way he hated more the fact that he couldn't hate him.

When he was old enough he couldn't help but follow his father's footsteps, joining the police academy and starting a brilliant career.
He liked it and was damn good at it. Maybe because it was the only life he knew, or maybe because it was in his dna, whatever the reason was he managed to do well and be respected for his own merits.

He made friends easily and flirted a lot, but he could never truly open his heart to anyone, so his relationships never lasted long.

When his father was promoted and took a higher position he was the logical choice to replace him, so he became the youngest chief in Dragon City history.

When his black cat turned into a man in front of his eyes, he was obviously surprised but not as much as he should have been, as if somehow he knew already that it would happen.

The cat had always been his best friend since the day he found him and he called him Da Qing because that was the name written on his collar, where a small bell was hanging.

He still was his best friend, even more now that they could talk to each other.

From the day he started earning his own money he moved out of his father's house and rented a small place that he shared with Da Qing. It was an open space with a kitchen, a couch and one bed; being a cat Da Qing didn't need one for himself.

He liked his apartment, but never learned to take care of it. If he never learned to take care of himself, he would certainly never waste time tyding up the place.

Working at Sid he always had to deal with rather peculiar cases, and it was during one of these that his life took an unexpected turn.

When a girl was killed at the local university, he was called to the scene. His team was already there, and he truly enjoyed how the other cops looked up to him with reverence.

It had started like any other day, waking up and going to work, quarrelling with Da Qing and giving orders, until he met Shen Wei.

He thought nothing of it when he saw him through the window, he was there to work after all, but when they shook hands Yunlan felt something weird, as if he had met him already, and stared at him with a puzzled expression on his face until he noticed that he was still holding the man's hand.

He frowned, trying to understand that feeling, trying to remember if he had met him before, then noticed that the other was looking at him confused and released his hand.

Shen Wei... he had a feeling that he was important to him. It was absurd, he couldn't remember ever meeting him before in his entire life, and yet he couldn't shake off that feeling.
Zhao gave him his card and then left.

~~~

Shen Wei hadn't called, and why should he? There was no real reason to see each other again but Yunlan couldn't stop thinking about him so the next day he was back at the university, watching the professor from afar, like an inexperienced stalker.

As he saw him alone, he walked ahead, planning a casual encounter.

Yunlan faked surprise at meeting him, but then he soon admitted that: "When I look at you there's a comfortable feeling, like I know you already," to see the man's reaction.

Wei had noticed him looking and he went along with it, pretending that it  was nothing more than a casual meeting to find out the man's intentions... but then, when Yunlan said those words, Wei looked at him weirdly, trying to understand the meaning behind them. "Is he hitting on me?" he thought inwardly. He never encouraged anyone to get close to him so he wasn't used to this, but he liked it.

It was nice to pretend that he was just a normal man, and there was something in Yunlan that charmed him instantly.

He had his job as a university professor that he truly enjoyed, but his true identity always weighed on him, keeping him apart from the rest of humanity.

There was nobody that he could call his friend, he had always kept his distance knowing that he wasn't one of them, but with Yunlan he felt different, and he wished he wasn't the Black Envoy but a simple man who could live his life freely.

~~~

When a shadow attacked his student Li Qian, Wei tried to protect her without revealing who he was, and he called Zhao to keep his cover in front of the girl.
He told himself that it was the only logical thing to do, but deep down he knew that there was another, more selfish reason to call him.

Hearing his voice, Yunlan recognised him immediately and rushed over with his team.

Wei kept the girl safe, but as soon as he sensed that they had arrived, he pretended to fall down letting them save her. This gave him the chance to reappear as the Black Envoy, and once again Yunlan felt like he knew that figure already.

Of course, in a way he did, he had overheard his father talking about the Black Envoy when he was younger, and he had learned everything he needed to know when he took the job.
And yet, it seemed more than that. Yunlan knew they had never met before, but somehow he felt like he had seen him before.

As the Envoy took the shadow away, Yunlan's eyes went looking for Shen Wei, and his heart was clutched in fear realising that he had fallen down.
It was so high, a man could die falling from up there, but his soul protested.
This was wrong! He couldn't be dead just yet.

Seeing him alive, he felt relieved of course, but he also felt like things were back in their right place.

~~~

Li Qian was admitted into a hospital, and he met Wei again when he went to visit.
He felt uniquely interested in him, everything about Shen Wei was a mystery that he was determined to solve. He felt a connection with the man, something that went beyond his beautiful face, and he wanted to know more about him.
He asked him if he was married or if he had a girlfriend, and Wei smiled.

Shen Wei felt guiltily happy that this man kept turning up in his life; he knew he shouldn't waste time thinking about himself, and more than once had thought that he needed to keep a distance, but then Yunlan would say things like that and his resolve would crumble.
Why would he ask if he was married? Was he trying to find out if he was single?

Yunlan asked him why was he smiling, but he couldn't really say what he was thinking, what if he was wrong?
So he simply said, "I thought chief Zhao was trying to get to know me."

Zhao stopped walking, feeling busted; what could he say, that was totally true.
But he didn't want to let him go just like that, so he added, "When this is over I'll invite you to dinner to celebrate."

Shen Wei's heart skipped a beat, was he asking him out?
So he smiled despite himself, he wouldn't mind that at all, so he replied, "After your hard work in solving the case, I should be the one inviting you," thinking that it was not too forward but encouraging enough.

He was definitely losing himself, but staring into those deep dark eyes there was nothing he could do about it.