Life with Qiqi was easy, she was a sweet girl and tried to be of help in any way she could to repay him of what he was doing for her.

This was her chance to pursue her dreams while at the same time escaping her parents' plans. She had no intention of getting married, not to her doctor's son or any other man, she didn't want to become the perfect wife waiting at home for her husband to come back from work, she wanted to become a great chef and open a place of her own, one day.

She was aware of why she was here, but she hoped it wouldn't come to that. She had discussed the conditions with Chu, he himself had exchanged a lot of mails with Wei, so she knew she had to play the part of his fiancee, but for now there had been no definite talk of an actual marriage.

She was living by the moment now, and if that case presented itself she would make a decision when the time came.

Wei seemed as nice as Chu had said, and she thought that marrying Wei would still be better than that arrogant man with sneaky-eyes set on her as if she was a prey. She had never liked her doctor's son, but he was good at hiding that side of him when he talked to the elders. He had won her parents over, charmed by his good manners and his father's reputation.

No, she'd die before she'd agree to marry that guy. Wei was a different matter though. From what she knew of him, Wei was his complete opposite, and with him she had a chance.

She could always run away again, if he turned out to be bad after all, but she still had hope that she could be free to follow her dreams here.

The language barrier would be an obstacle of course, she couldn't speak Italian yet but she had the will to learn, she had never imagined she'd come here but she had always dreamed of travelling so she had some knowledge of English that she hoped would help her a little.

She had also some money to start. Wei had paid for her ticket and provided her with a place to stay, so she  planned to use the money she had brought with her, everything that she could call her own, to fulfil her dream.

It would be hard at first, not knowing how to ask and being unable to read the local language, but she wasn't alone.
She needed help, and there was only one person she could ask.
Unfortunately Wei knew even less than she did since he only spoke Chinese, so he needed help as well.

~~~

Wei looked around for Yunlan, he was feeling nervous because they had spoken very few words to each other since last week, and he wasn't even sure why. Yunlan hadn't stopped being extravagant but things were back to normal anyway, nobody paid him too much attention since it wasn't a novelty anymore.

Wei finally found him and approached him hesitantly. Yunlan's gaze when their eyes met was hard to decipher, and Wei didn't know how to start the conversation.

Yunlan gave him a smirk, lowered his eyes then opened his arms in a 'you see?' gesture. He looked him in the eyes and said, "You can talk to me now, nobody will think badly of you."

Wei was stunned. "What do you mean?"

"Weren't you avoiding me because of all the fuss? As you can see it's already over, so you don't have to fear the stares."

"I wasn't avoiding you," Wei said, but Yunlan's look told him he was not convinced.

"Well, I for one don't care at all if people stare at me or what they think of me, and I will not live my life putting that before my happiness. See? Everything's over already and nothing bad happened."

Wei was speechless, was that why he did it? To show him that he didn't care, that he wasn't bothered by such things, to prove the point he had made the other night?

"You're right," Wei said surprising him, and it was true, Wei knew Yunlan was right, but it was so damn difficult not to care.

After a pause Wei cleared his throat.
"I wanted to ask you a favor."

Yunlan tilted his head. "A favor? Go ahead, we're still friends aren't we?"

Wei wasn't sure how to deal with a passive-aggressive Yunlan, so he lowered his eyes.
"It's for... a friend, she wants to find a cooking course or something but she doesn't know the language so it's a bit difficult for her, and I'm not much help either."

Yunlan considered his words.
"Can I meet her? To talk about what she's looking for exactly?"

"Of course, maybe we could... meet tonight? Wherever you want it's fine."

Yunlan agreed to meet them at the same tea place they went that first time.
Wei said, "I'll go home to change and we'll meet you there," then they both got back to work.

That night Wei found Qiqi at home and explained the situation to her. She thanked him and agreed with enthusiasm.

Yunlan was already there when they arrived and Qiqi found herself a bit embarrassed not knowing how she should introduce herself: they hadn't discussed that yet, should she say girlfriend or fiancee?

Luckily Wei made the introductions himself and she didn't comment when he just called her a friend. It was his decision and everything was alright for her.
Yunlan was very kind and she explained to him that she wanted to find a practical course or some kind of apprentice job, anything that could give her the chance to cook and learn more about it.

Yunlan listened intently but she didn't miss how his gaze would often shift to Wei. There was something in it that told her there was much more behind the phrase "this is my coworker Yunlan".

She didn't say a word about it though, because neither of them had told her anything and she didn't want to pry.
She might ask Wei later when they were alone, she thought.

When it was time to go back, there was a moment of embarrassment because Yunlan suggested walking her to her home first. Wei said he could do that later, and the smart girl realised he hadn't told him that they were living together.

It was clear that Yunlan wanted to stay behind to be alone with Wei and the hesitation in Wei's voice made her believe he'd like that too, but what could she do now? She could say that she'd return home alone, or that she would wait there for Wei's return if he walked Yunlan home first... but it wouldn't work, they both gave out enough of a gentleman-like aura to make her sure that they would never agree to it.

She didn't have much time to think so she came up with the easiest plan possible.

"Where do you live?" She asked, and upon hearing the reply she insisted that he would have to come back a long way, walking her home would take him the opposite direction so the most logical choice would be to go all together to his place and then she'd walk back with Wei.

Wei agreed very quickly and Yunlan could no longer fight the decision. When they reached his home, she asked if she could please use his bathroom, apologising with a feeble, embarrassed voice. He invited them in and showed her the room. She went in and closed the door.

Wei and Yunlan were left alone in the latter's living-room.

Yunlan looked intently at him and Wei lowered his eyes.
"Did you really think I was avoiding you?"

"Yes," was the reply. "Yes, I thought you were too embarrassed to speak to me in public. Weren't you?"

Wei questioned himself, was there any truth in those words? He couldn't say.
"I thought it was you avoiding me. I thought you were too angry after our last discussion."

"I wasn't angry at you, only frustrated,"
Yunlan said, raising a hand to touch Wei's arm. Was it for comfort, reassurance or simply to establish a contact after so long?
Whatever it was, Wei felt his arm burn and his eyes well up, how had he missed being near him... he put his own hand over Yunlan's fighting back a treacherous tear, and when their eyes met, he shivered from the intense emotion and lowered his own to the other's lips; Yunlan saw it, he leaned closer ever so slightly, and Wei closed his eyes, tilting his head a little.

He only had to wait a second before Yunlan's lips joined his, and his heart went crazy. He responded to the kiss with growing passion, only now fully realising just how much he had missed him.