Wei watched in horror as Yunlan's arm hit Hong's face. She stumbled and fell down.

He hurried to help her while Yunlan stood frozen. "I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

He tried to lend a hand but Wei yelled at him. "Stay away from her!"

Yunlan stood back, he had never hit anyone in his entire life, he felt so bad he didn't know what to do.

Wei helped her up and shot a deathly glare at him. "Did you drank your sanity along with all that alcohol?"

"I... I had a beer but..."

"One? Yunlan, you stink!"
Wei wrapped his arms around Hong's shoulders and lead her towards the car. He turned to say: "Don't come near me ever again!"

Then he got in the car and drove her home.

~~~

Mr Zhu was home when they arrived. As soon as he saw her face he became furious and demanded an explanation. She tried to calm him down, she told him it wasn't Wei's fault but this time there was nothing she could do.

All Mr Zhu knew was that since she was around Wei she already got hurt twice, he wasn't going to let it happen again!
Wei really couldn't blame him, he was a father worried for his daughter and Wei understood that.

Mr Zhu fired him, of course. Wei remained calm and bowed.
"I understand sir. Thank you for giving me a job when I needed it. After my brother's death I wouldn't have known what to do without your help. I'm really sorry your daughter got hurt because of me. Goodbye sir."

He turned to her. He said, "Goodbye miss Hong," and left the house followed by her teary eyes.
Mr Zhu felt sorry for him, but he didn't change his mind.

Once Wei was outside, keeping calm proved to be more difficult. What would he do now? He called Chu who said that he was home, he had the afternoon shift and would start working in an hour, so Wei went home to talk face to face.

Chu was very understanding, told him they were friends and that he would pay his part of the rent whenever he could, but Wei felt guilty about it.

He would have to start looking for a new job, but he had no qualifications of any kind, so it wouldn't be easy.

~~~~~~~~~~

Yunlan took a few days off work. He couldn't believe he had hit a woman. What had happened to him?

Sure, he always enjoyed a beer or two, but lately he had drank much more, instead of enjoying what he had he had been consumed by the fear of losing it, and had ruined everything.

He despised what he had become. He threw away all the alcohol he had in the house, but the long hours alone were difficult, and the nights he couldn't sleep.

The first days were the worst, the pain of having lost Wei was too much. Many times he reached the door to go buy himself something to drink, then the image of Wei looking at him horrified stopped his hand about to open the door.

Every time, he shut it close again and went to curl up on the bed, murmuring Wei's name as if it was the only thing that could give him the strength to go on.

He didn't leave his house for days, ordering delivery and drinking only tea.
After a week he felt strong enough to leave the house without entering the first bar he saw.

He knew Wei wouldn't want to see him, but he had to, at least from afar, he had to see Wei's face. He didn't know where he lived, so he went again in front of Zhu's house. He saw Zhu Hong exiting the house and a guy he had never seen before waiting for her with the car door open.

He ran forward. She became pale as soon as she saw him, so he stopped his steps and raised his hands.
"I'm sorry miss, I know I had a problem and I've made mistakes, I want to apologise."

Seeing that he wasn't getting any closer, she relaxed just a little and said, "Are you sure you're ok now? You don't look drunk today."

"I stopped that. I...I've never been violent before, that's not the real me."

She looked at him then said, "There was never anything romantic between me and Shen Wei, you know."

Yunlan looked at her surprised that she knew about them. "Did he tell you about us?"

"He gave you that shirt, I just put two and two together."

Yunlan hesitated just a moment, then he asked, "Why isn't Wei here? Where is he?"

She sighed. "I couldn't prevent it. My father fired him after... after what you did. I haven't seen him since."

She looked honestly sad about it. Yunlan felt horrible, he had caused him so much trouble.

She hurried into the car and left without saying anything else. He understood that, she wasn't comfortable around him and he couldn't blame her.
He wondered what was Wei doing now.

~~~

Hong sat in silence, she didn't like the new driver, he always looked at her with barely concealed envy, and she missed Wei's kindness. She looked out the car window, she thought she saw Wei's face and yelled, "Stop the car!"

She got out, said: "I want something to eat, go park the car and wait for me," then she walked back to where she saw him.

She wanted to run, but her heels were too high and she didn't want to risk another injury.

She reached the diner and looked inside, she was right! She walked in and took a seat. Wei came to take the order and was surprised to see her.

"Hello Shen Wei," she greeted him.

"Miss Hong, what are you doing here?"

"You don't work for me now, you don't have to call me miss anymore. Please, just Hong. Have a seat, I'd like to talk to you."

He tried to refuse. He just got that job and although it wasn't nearly as good as the one he had before he didn't want to lose it on his first day, but she insisted, so he sat down for a minute.

She raised her hand to call another waiter, and Wei shifted on his seat.
The owner saw him and hurried to the table. "Why aren't you working?" he hissed. "I'm sorry miss, he'll bring you your order immediately."

Wei started to get up but she stopped him with a hand on his arm, then she turned to the owner in a regal manner, with that calm I-own-the-world attitude that only people used to being served could manage.

"I never came to this place before, but I thought I'd give it a try since my friend works here. Would you mind bringing us a bottle of your most expensive wine? That is, if you can manage without my friend for just a few minutes."

The owner bowed his head at the mention of "most expensive" and agreed immediately to her request. She added with a smile, "Bring me also two cups of tea, thank youuu."

He looked puzzled but left without a word.

Hong smiled at Shen Wei.
"I missed you."

"Miss Hong, I..."

"As a friend," she hurriedly added. "And it's just Hong, remember?"

Wei remained silent, a waiter arrived with the wine and the teas, and he sipped from his cup.
She ignored the wine and drank her tea. "I saw your friend today," she said startling him.

"Did he... do something?" He was afraid to ask, but why else would she mention it?

"No, he just talked to me. He seemed better actually. He seemed really sorry when I told him you got fired."
Wei lowered his head, so now he knew.

"I'm sorry too, I miss you," she repeated.

"Thank you mi... Hong, but it wasn't your fault. Thank you for trying to help, but I got a new job, and you probably already have a new driver."

"I do, but he's nothing like you!" she said, then after a moment of hesitation she continued. "If you... if you ever have money trouble, I'd be happy to help."
She knew he was about to refuse, so she added, "As a friend, of course, or a sister if you like. I know I'd like that."

Wei gulped, did he still look like he needed saving? He didn't, and he firmly denied needing anyone's help, just like she expected.

"I know how you feel about it, I just wanted to let you know that you can count on me. This is my number..." she gave him her card. "Please, I never had a brother and I'd like to stay in touch."
He took the card not knowing what to say.

"Who is that man anyway?" she suddenly asked, and before he knew it Wei was talking about him, telling her his name, where he worked, everything Yunlan had told him about himself during those nights spent talking.

That they did or did not have sex, Yunlan would then lie in bed talking to him about himself, he had become very talkative lately, and only now Wei realised that he knew quite a lot of things, while he had told him so little about himself. All the time, while Yunlan told him who he was, what he did, what he liked, how did he grow up, he had listened but had never shared his mind and soul with him.
Was that why Yunlan had felt so insecure about their relationship?

Seeing a light in his eyes while he talked about Yunlan, Hong decided to play sister-cupid.