Wei made the mistake of checking his emails while he was at work.

Chu had replied to the letter he had sent the night before.
>Why are you asking this all of a sudden?
I don't know what's going on in that mind of yours, but you were never a burden, I hope you know that.
To answer your question, I never had any brothers or sisters. You were a shy little thing who kept pestering me for my attention. I thought you had so much potential, but you seemed unable to believe in yourself. You were desperately looking for someone to notice you and I tried to give you that. You were like a little brother, I never wanted to leave you but I had to, my family needed me and you had yours after all. You had become a healthy teenager and I hoped you could stand on your own feet now.
Since we're talking about the past, you never told me much about what you did after I went away. How were things for you?

Wei felt tears fill his eyes and he escaped locking himself inside a broom closet. He was such an utter failure, much more than he ever realised. After all their time together Chu had trusted him to live his own life, instead he broke down. Once left alone he crumbled, he had no other friends and after years of ignoring everyone to spend all his time with Chu making new ones was almost impossible for him.

Wei let his tears fall down his cheeks inside the dark closet, feeling as though a black hole was eating at him from the inside, and he stayed there a long time until he was too exhausted and had no more tears.

He stayed a few minutes more to calm down and wipe his face clean, then he got out to find himself in front of the last person he wanted to see his red eyes.

"How long have you been standing here?" He couldn't help but ask.

There was some hesitation before Yunlan replied. "I just got here, I was looking for you. If the boss asks you anything tell him that you were down the warehouse picking up XXL sizes of the green jackets that we took down last week to make space for the new ones."

"But I didn't..."

"I did, just confirm it if he asks ok?"

Wei finally understood. "Did you cover for me?"

The surprised tone in his voice annoyed Yunlan so much he shot him an icy glare. "What do you think?"

Wei lowered his head in shame, thinking Yunlan was angry at him. He had every reason to be, Wei felt very unworthy of the trouble he went through.

Yunlan sighed, what was wrong with this guy? Of course he covered for him, he would have done it for any friend, he would do much more to help him, why was it so difficult to believe?

They got back to work, Yunlan doing his best to pretend he hadn't noticed his red moist eyes, or the way he kept glancing around to check if anyone else was looking at him.

Yunlan wanted to hug him so much at that moment. Instead he gave him a nod and said, "What about a movie tonight? I've got the last one with Jiang Yang, should be good."

With a smile, they agreed to see each other later.
The more time they spent together the more Yunlan felt himself falling for him, he definitely wanted more from their relationship but most of all he didn't want to rush things and risk ruining everything.

Even if they hadn't slept together yet Yunlan felt that he was in a relationship and it bothered him that Wei insisted on acting strictly like coworkers or friends whenever there might be people around, and he was dying to know the reason.

Was he just shy or was he ashamed of their relationship? Was he hiding something from him or he simply didn't feel the same things he felt?

Every night Wei slept at his own place, checking his emails and thinking of Yunlan.
He hadn't talked about the past with Chu anymore after that day, he had replied with a simple:
>I'm fine, don't worry about me.

After that, he had tried to move on and not think about the past.

Two weeks later he finally received the email he was waiting for.
>I'm sorry to tell you that I have found the right person. I told her everything and she's ready to leave as soon as you send the money. You idiots might be engaged by the end of the month, unless some good common sense strikes you both.

Wei rolled his eyes and replied.
>I haven't changed my mind, one day I'll tell you everything, but rest assured that I have my reasons. If as you say you told her everything then we'll be fine. Stop it okay?
But thank you for being a good friend.

Wei smiled and pressed send. He thought back of his decision to leave his home country, when his mother had suggested it he had discovered that he wanted it too, a new start of a new life. It wasn't as far from home as he had imagined or wished for, but he had a chance here.

He sent another mail.
>I'll send you the money this week. Will you tell me something about her before we meet?

He put his phone away after checking his alarm clock like he did every night.

Maybe he was making things more complicated than they needed to be, but he had thought about it and this way he was trying to make his life good both for himself and his parents.

He laid down on the bed and thought again about Yunlan. It hadn't been just the spur of the moment, a kiss called for by the circumstances, by how close they had been that first time and how undeniably attracted they were to each other.

There was much more between them. Other kisses had followed the first one and he knew he was falling in love, and he could tell that Yunlan wanted more from their relationship, something he couldn't yet give him.

Wei craved more intimacy, but at the same time just thinking of having sex terrified him to no end.

'I guess I should tell him' he thought, but that was one conversation he was not looking forward to. There were a lot of things that he should tell Yunlan, but it scared Wei out of his mind. He wished more than anything for Yunlan to like him, but would he after knowing how weak Wei really was?

He also needed to tell him about the engagement, he wished he could avoid it but he knew he had to, but how to explain to the man you're falling in love with that you're about to marry a girl you don't even know yet?