Shen Wei woke up panting, covered in sweat, his breathing erratic, his eyes wild; he felt something soft beneath him and reality hit him, it had been just a bad dream, he was on his bed, in his home away from home, alone. There was no one he could call but that was good, it meant that nobody could see him like this.

He didn't remember the dream, nor he tried to. In fact he was doing his best not to think about it.

He sat up straight and closed his eyes, trying to slow down his crazy heart. The call to his parents had shaken him more than he had realised.

He really wanted to help them, if they only let him, after all it was his fault if people didn't buy his father's products anymore, his fault for being so weak.

Sometimes he wished he was still a nine-year-old with his dreams, his idol, his easy life. He thought of his friend Chu, how close they were until he moved away.

Chu lived far away now, he had lost contact with everyone but Wei, so he was definitely the best chance he had for what he had in mind. Not to mwntion that he was basically Wei's only friend.

After much thought, Wei decided that if he was engaged people would stop blaming him and things would change for the better for his family, and Chu was the only one who could help him, so he wrote him an email.
>I need a wife, can you find me a girl willing to share a fake marriage with someone not interested in a romantic relationship?

Many emails followed. Chu thought it was a joke at first, and it took a lot to convince him that he was serious.

~~~Three weeks later

Shen Wei checked his phone and saw that his friend from China had replied.
>You really sure about this? You went all the way to Italy to be free and start a new life, you can do anything you want now, but this marriage idea sounds crazy.

Wei read it and sighed deeply, 'free' was a nice word but nothing more, Chu didn't know the whole story, so he wrote back:
>I'm sure, it's the easiest way, but I don't want my parents to be involved or know anything. Please, you're my best friend, I can count only on you.

He pressed send than looked at the hour, he had to go back to work.
The store had been opened eight years ago by a Chinese family, and he had started working here right after arriving in the Country ten months ago.

His short absence had not been noticed so he hurried to the clothes section and began putting things in order.

A blonde woman approached him and asked something he didn't understand.
"Che ce n'ha una con Stella? (Do you have one with Stella?)"

He looked at her in a way that clearly showed he had no idea what she wanted.

She repeated the question a little annoyed but Wei was at a loss, he had only learned a few words, the most likely to be useful in his job, but he didn't recognise any of them in all those she had said; he was already panicking when he got rescued by a coworker.

Yunlan had been working there for five years now and was much more comfortable around people than he was. Wei admired his easy bearing, everything seemed lighter when he was around.

Yunlan seemed to understand what the woman wanted, and with his help she quickly found what she was looking for.

Yunlan came back with a grin on his face and Wei thanked him.
"What was it that she wanted?"

"She was looking for t-shirts with Stella on them."

Wei still look puzzled. "What's a stella?"

Yunlan laughed. "A character liked by little girls. Did you see the child jumping up and down? She can't be more than six or seven."

Wei looked impressed. "How do you know about these characters?"

"What? Are you implying that I watch cartoons like the little girl?"

Yunlan faked offence but Wei truly believed he had said something inappropriate, so he blushed and hurried to apologise, causing Yunlan to laugh again.

"I was joking! You naturally pick these things up after a while, don't worry okay?"

Wei nodded and Yunlan added,
"You're cute when you blush."

Wei's heart almost stopped.

Yunlan had spoken so easily, without even a hint of nervousness or doubt. The words made his cheeks redded even more, but Wei couldn't help to admire how open and direct he was. He liked that.

"Back to work now, before the boss comes to yell at us."

Both continued what they were doing, and Wei tried to avoid contact with customers for the rest of the day.

Finally came the time to close the store; Wei got ready and waited outside.

He nervously ran a hand through his short dark hair; seeing his other coworkers he waved them goodbye until he finally saw Yunlan: this was the perfect chance to talk to him after work, but he felt so anxious he worried he might faint, which sent his anxiousness skyrocketing.

"I want to thank you properly for your help. Let me buy you dinner."

Yunlan accepted, saying nothing about  the trembled in Wei's voice or how his eyes shifted to avoid looking directly at him.

Wei began to walk and Yunlan followed him.

They went to a Chinese restaurant where a nice girl called Zheng greeted them and they sat at a table by the far end corner.

"You always eat Chinese? How long have you been here?" Yunlan asked to make conversation.

"Ten months now, but it's more comfortable here, I still haven't learnt the language."

"You should try something different from time to time, I could help you study if that's the problem."

Wei smiled, feeling a bit more comfortable now, it was impossible not to be at ease around Yunlan. He also liked his suggestion, it would certainly be less boring than study by himself; he could live perfectly well without it if he wanted, but it would be good to learn it.

They ate and talked a lot. Actually Yunlan did most of the talking, Wei just listened contributing a word here and there. He liked how open Yunlan was, how comfortable he felt in his company. It was so rare for him to feel like that.

Yunlan had adapted well to life in a Country so different, he knew a lot of places and even talked about some Italian friends. Wei wasn't surprised, he looked just the right type of man to make friends easily.

Wei paid the bill, bid him goodbye and moved back to where they came from.

Yunlan asked, "Where are you going?"

"Home, I have a small apartment above the shop..."

"But why be all alone when we could keep each other company! Come with me, my place is not far."

Wei hesitated, Yunlan pouted; Wei laughed and followed him without thinking.

It was a small but nice apartment, it surely needed some tidying but Wei liked it a lot. It was very similar to his own actually, but somehow it felt less cold and much more homey.

Only when the door closed behind him he started questioning his actions; why had he been invited here? They barely knew each other. They worked at the same place but only recently Wei had begun working in the front so they hadn't really spent a lot of time together up until now.

He felt like he had just walked into a trap, but didn't say anything.

Yunlan showed him around the place; it consisted of a bathroom, a bedroom, and a larger room with a table and a kitchen-space in the corner, so the tour didn't last long.

He asked him if he wanted something just to be polite, but since they had just eaten Wei declined the offer.

"You want to watch something on tv?"

"Uhmm... can you watch Chinese tv here?"

"Of course, there's CCTV, what do you say?"

Wei agreed with a feeble smile, relieved that he would be able to understand what was being said and also that they would have something to focus on.

Being alone with Yunlan in his house was making him very nervous again.