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There was no longer any sun at that hour, making the office seem more like what it really was: a place where the living and the dead were in the same position.
This position meant that everyone there was Zhao Yunlan's subordinates. Except the cat. Da Qing might be second in command, but the line between who served and who was served was thin there. Cats were magnificent creatures, Xiaoge would say - and he was very pleased to work with a talking one.
Wu Xie watched as the cat took a nap, curled up on the pile of files on Xiaoge's desk. To begin with, Xiaoge having a desk in an office was not something Wu Xie had ever imagined seeing. But the desk came with a free cat, so that made some sense.
The three of them were the only ones left from the day shift. Pangzi and Liu Sang had already gone home. Not before Pangzi had food ready in the fridge for the night shift workers.
Zhao Yunlan said that he had never thought of hiring someone for the kitchen, but now that he had Pangzi, he was afraid that the SID would never work again if he lost the kitchen agent, field officer, and bomb expert. Da Qing, receiving fish, milk and other special snacks meticulously prepared for him, completely agreed.
That coexistence that, every day, became more successful, between his friends and Zhao Yunlan's Department, made Wu Xie really satisfied with all the progress in a few weeks.
On his own desk, Wu Xie observed files of the latest cases, flipping through them disinterestedly. Usually, that new job was exciting, despite the paperwork. It was a new world for his friends, but not for him, somehow. Because Zhurong, Kunlun and the little Ghost King used to hunt those who disturbed the peace of the most fragile and distressed the souls of the innocent.
How incoherent his human life had been until the day he met Shen Wei again...
In which he remembered who he had once been. Who, deep down, he had always been. It wasn't the past. It had just been dormant for a long time.
Looking every now and then in the direction of Zhao Yunlan's office door, he always waited for the Chief to come out, scold some employees, give instructions to others and go back inside. Wu Xie always looked forward to seeing him a little more. And sometimes he wouldn't actually listen to what Zhao Yunlan was saying, just nodded - and it would end up being Xiaoge who had to go over the Chief's words afterwards.
Because Xiaoge knew that Wu Xie missed that person. Although he could only vaguely understand what it meant to have been married for millennia and to awaken other millennia later knowing that someone who just a moment ago had loved him immensely, now didn't even remember him. Xiaoge sincerely hoped that he had never loved someone he had forgotten about and ended up accidentally leaving a broken heart behind.
Wu Xie usually didn't say anything even though he was an open book to his friend. Wu Xie didn't complain, he didn't lament out loud, he just looked with veiled sorrow at the one who had once stood next to him. He didn't think he should say anything. After all, what was he, awakening memories after such a long time, in view of Shen Wei, who had spent all those millennia awake, in complete loneliness and mourning?
He didn't notice that the paper between his hands was getting crumpled. From the next desk, Xiaoge pointed to this, but Wu Xie didn't notice it either.
"Wu Xie," Xiaoge called, "the report."
"Oh." Wu Xie stopped fidgeting with the paper and tried to correct the edges that were already in a not very presentable state.
In the next instant, the sound of the Chief's office door made Wu Xie drop the paper on the table.
If Zhao Yunlan had ever noticed that Wu Xie was anxious around him, he had completely ignored it. When he stepped out of the office, the usual grumpiness was expected.
Wang Zheng stood in the middle of the hall with the folders she had been carrying, waiting.
Zhao Yunlan took the cigarette out of his mouth and turned to see his cat lying on the table of one of his rookies.
"I suppose the reports are finished," Zhao Yunlan addressed Xiaoge.
"The cat has been sleeping on them for three hours," Xiaoge said, thinking it was obvious that he couldn't move the folders that were under the Deputy Chief. But it would be the same with any other cat.
"If you're going to let Fat Fuck sleep over all your paperwork, I think you'd better go with Lao Chu to the field." It wasn't a criticism. Zhao Yunlan knew what that specific employee was capable of—and he was sure that what he had heard and what was recorded about that man was only a small fraction of his true capabilities.
Xiaoge nodded. Field work was exactly what he needed. Although the table with the cat was nice too.
Wu Xie just watched the interaction, again not paying much attention to the words. That voice was still the same. And it still sounded a little arrogant, even when that wasn't the intention.
"Who are you really?" Kunlun asked, as he watched the other being play with his kitten.
"I already told you," Zhurong replied, without looking up, as he sat cross-legged on the floor and shook a string from his own clothes to entertain the black kitten.
Kunlun huffed, throwing back the sleeves of his long green robe impatiently. "You gave me nothing but a name and a ridiculous explanation, after making me humiliate myself to get to know you. What are you hiding?"
"I did no such thing!" Zhurong finally looked at the Mountain God. "I just wanted you to play with me, I didn't mean to offend you!"
"Playing with you... I can think of much better ways than that..." Although he played offended, he had been interested in that one for a while - long enough to have submitted to accepting his stupid challenges.
Zhurong, however, didn't know the dubious meaning of words or even was able to understand flirting - because if he had been exposed to it before, he couldn't remember it. Of all the things Kunlun could be annoyed about someone, he didn't expect being naive to be one of them.
"What can I do to make you stop being mad at me? It was just a silly thing."
"I already told you. You'll stay on the mountain with me from now on. Because it's only right that you belong to me after what you made me do."
"I'm not complaining about staying here with you, I said I'd come. But I don't understand what was so bad about running in the rain."
The problem is that it hadn't been bad. But Kunlun wouldn't admit it. And it would take some time before Zhurong realized. In the beginning, he was really very simple.
"I've walked the world long enough. And I've only found one creature that's as silly and naive as you," Kunlun considered, looking into the distance, mountains ahead, in a direction Zhurong knew.
"There's nothing wrong with him like there is with me. He's just too young. I'm too old," Zhurong said, absently-minded.
Kunlun was surprised by that, but before he said anything else, he understood: the being before him had been sincere the entire time. His mind was just… broken. So he himself wasn't sure what he was. But Kunlun knew who to ask, if doubt still remained despite what he could feel emanating from the other. In any case, whatever that being was, Kunlun still wanted to keep him by his side.
"There's nothing wrong with you. What you can't remember might not be good for you. It's alright if you forgot. But if you can keep something in your memory... I wish you could remember me."
Wu Xie looked at the man who now had the fat cat in his arms, in what appeared to be an argument, while a worried Xiaoge clearly showed interest in stealing the Chief's cat.
He tried not to leave Kunlun and Xiao Wei behind. He wished he had returned to them. And he just didn't know why it hadn't been like that. He had made them promise that they would continue to move forward and keep the promises they had shared. Protect what they had vowed to protect. In the memories of that past, Kunlun was beside him and Xiao Wei. Always with them. Wu Xie had forgotten how he had started, before Kunlun. And how it had ended, in a battle in which he had won, but from which he had never returned. But everything else about them... all those memories he held dear still kept Kunlun there, where he belonged in Wu Xie's heart.
Kunlun's wish for Zhurong not to forget him had come true. But now, he was the one who couldn't even remember ever wanting such a thing.
Zhao Yunlan gave up the fight with Da Qing and returned him to Xiaoge's desk. "You can keep him. Lao Chu will send the address on your phone. Take Da Qing with you, he needs some exercise," he instructed Xiaoge, who immediately agreed. Fieldwork with the talking cat sounded great.
But he still glanced briefly at Wu Xie, worried about his friend. Sometimes he wanted to talk, but he didn't know what to say. So, he just hugged Da Qing, who continued to meow, protesting against the insults he claimed to have heard from Zhao Yunlan.
"Wu Xie," Zhao Yunlan called, turning to the other desk, where the man was standing absolutely still, "are you finished?"
Wu Xie didn't even look at the slightly crumpled papers that he might have to redo. "Yes. Everything is under control here."
"Good. Then let's go out for a beer, because I'm going to go crazy if I stay locked in the office for another minute." And the Chief was already heading towards the exit, without waiting for a response.
Wu Xie exchanged a look with Xiaoge - and by extension, the cat - as he stood up and tried not to trip or bump into anything as he recovered from what he thought he had heard.
"Is going out for a beer part of my job now?"
"Do you need me to formally include this in your employment contract?" Zhao Yunlan held out the pack of cigarettes on offer when Wu Xie caught up with him, almost at the door.
"It's just that I'm not on night shift today, I just stayed late, so I need to-"
"I know, you need to text your husband. He won't be mad, will he?" Once Wu Xie accepted a cigarette, Zhao Yunlan took out the lighter from his pocket.
"No, he's not that type. I just need to text him so he doesn't worry.” Wu Xie knew that Shen Wei was actually quite that jealous type - he always had been, but so were Kunlun and Zhurong, in different ways. This way, of course that now Shen Wei's exception was Wu Xie and Zhao Yunlan's situation. But Wu Xie didn't need to, at that moment, tell Zhao Yunlan that he was the exception.
"You seem to have such a good partner..." It was the last thing Xiaoge and Da Qing heard Zhao Yunlan say before the door closed. In the end, that was left with them and Wang Zheng, who hadn't even had the chance to say what she wanted.
Xiaoge wondered if it was comforting for Wu Xie to be able to get closer to Zhao Yunlan or if it just made the wound hurt even more. Reflectively, he resigned himself to just stroking the cat's fur.
...