It's almost the end of a workday, Wu was sitting in his office alone, playing around with the USB (so apparently I mistook USB as disks so the footages he has copied weren't in a disk but in a USB :P ), plugging it in and ejecting it again, playing the footages and paused it over and over again. As Shuai has said, this thing is eating away Wu's heart inside, if he doesn't solve this case earlier he will eventually get sick from this.
After pulling the USB out, Wu was feeling indignant, he plugged it in again.
Because he has seen it so many times now, he has no interest in watching it once again, Wu was waiting for a day where the moment he plugged in, there will be a hidden window popping out, and that will lead him to his 'truth', how wonderful will that be.
A hidden window...Wu was mumbling to himself.
Suddenly he came to a realization, his heart was pumping crazily fast.
Right! There was so much space left in the USB, there might be a hidden document somewhere! Wu excitedly moved his mouse, went on a journey to find that hidden file.
In the end, none.
He refused to give up, he calculated the space that the footages took up, in the end, they were the same as the occupied space, so that also means there were no hidden files.
Wu's relit hope has been put out again.
'Mr. Wu, there's a beauty waiting for you outside.'
Beauty? Wu's declining mood has revived a little, he followed Lin down and scanned the whole lobby, he didn't see anyone so he gave a punch on Lin's stomach.
'Where's the beauty?'
'She's outside, she doesn't dare to come in without your permission.'
Wu smiled, 'Wow, she's the shy type?'
Then he walked right out.
After stepping out, he looked to his side and saw the 'beauty' that Lin was talking about, of course, he was regretful to give that comment before even seeing the actual person.
Yue Yue turned to Wu, 'Long time no see.'
Wu was rather polite, 'Yeah, long time no see, what brings you here?'
Yue Yue said, 'My house is renovating, we're installing the lights recently, someone recommended your company so I came by to take a look, and also to look at you.'
'Right on time', Wu thought to himself.
'Are you well?' Yue Yue asked.
Wu smiled, 'Barely getting by, how about you?'
'Me? How do I put it, it's alright.'
Wu found out Yue Yue has changed a lot since last year, her eyes weren't as despiteful as before, her tone wasn't as offensive as before, her movements and expression were similar back when they first met, even so, he knew this is just an illusion.
'I'll take you to look at some lights,' Wu said.
Yue Yue nodded and followed Wu in.
Wu let Lin get the product catalogue and patiently explained every detail to her, Yue Yue's gaze was drifting all over, sometimes she would blank out from staring at Wu's defined features.
'You can just take these lights, just as a gift from me,' Wu said.
Yue Yue displayed the classic protocol, 'How can I accept this.'
'Why can't you accept them?'
Not sure if it's because last time Yue Yue always scolded him for being petty, he has a scar from that past so now he treats Yue Yue generously. No matter if it's the breakup fee from last time, or the lights this time, if he was giving to Yue Yue he wouldn't even blink for once.
Chi's car is pulling up from afar.
Yue Yue spotted a familiar face from her peripheral vision, she hurriedly told Wu, 'You can return to your work, I'll be going now.'
Then she turned around, running away from Chi.
But this didn't prevent Chi from seeing her, plus he recognized her from first glance.
After he got into the car, Chi asked him, 'Why is Yue Yue here?'
'Her house is renovating, someone recommended her to me.'
Chi looked suspiciously, 'She knew our relationship, she still came here to buy lights?'
'Didn't Shuo come to buy as well?' Wu cleverly pushed the conversation back to Chi, 'Whenever a competitor comes to buy lights, I'll just gift them, I guess she heard about this so she came to pick up this deal.'
'You're rather generous,' Chi said,
Wu simply replied, 'I learnt from the best.'
His thighs have been pinched, Wu cried out but then soon acted as if nothing has happened, continue chatting and laughing.
These nights, Jealous hasn't been sleeping alone in a room, but it has been snatching spaces on Wu's and Chi's bed. In the past, Chi would think of a way to get rid of it, but recently he has been letting it do what it wants.
In the middle of the night, Wu woke up, he noticed Jealous was wrapping around Chi very tightly.
Chi's huge palm has enveloped Jealous' small head, this moment seems extra precious and warming.
Wu now looks like an extra.
Before this, Jealous has always stuck around Wu, but not sure since when he has been sticking back to Chi. Maybe after the first time Jealous met Shuo since a very long time, maybe when Wu started to be missing from home, it then grew closer to Chi, slowly occupying the space in the bed.
..........
After a few days, Yue Yue has been carrying gifts to pay Wu's mother a visit, but she didn't inform Wu beforehand.
Wu's mother was walking back to her house with a cane in her hand, Yue Yue jogged her way to the front, she wrapped her arm around Wu's mother's arm and smiled to her, 'Auntie.'
Wu's mother was taken aback, where did this miss pop out from?
Then she took a closer look, isn't this the girl from that picture! It felt like she was dreaming, she had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down.
'You...'
Yue Yue smiled sweetly, 'I heard you were sick so I came to pay you a visit.'
Wu's mother's lips trembled, she didn't say anything, then she allowed Yue Yue to walk her to the house.
The two sat in front of the fireplace, happily chatting away.
Yue Yue said, 'Auntie, actually me and Wu Qi Wan...oh, no, Wu Suo Wei, we had a misunderstanding. We have been contacting constantly for the past two years and I've missed him as well, he has been missing me dearly as well. If not why didn't he get a girlfriend for the past two years? Plus, I've always been single too.'
Wu's mother smiled to Yue Yue.
Yue Yue said again, 'Auntie, honestly speaking, I regretted breaking up with Wu at first, we both have the intentions to get back together but no one is trying to start the conversation. Your son is a competitive person, I requested the break up first, after all, he must feel like not wanting to initiate this. I'm a woman, it's still not that good for me to talk about this first right?'
Wu's mother nodded.
Yue Yue grabbed onto Wu's mother's hand, gently pleaded, 'Auntie, if you still think I'm fine, please tell your son for me, I really want to get back together with him.'
Not sure if Wu's mother was too excited, she hasn't been able to say a word for a long while.
Yue Yue continued to sugar coat her words, 'Auntie, you have to help me this time! Your son is such a good man, if he were to be snatched by someone else, I have no one else to cry to.'
..................
Today was Guo's birthday, the party was held in Guo's private club.
Unlike the previous years, this year's party was a lot more quietened down, he separately invited parents and elderly since they weren't getting along quite well. The rest were all of his friends, of course, he invited Chi and Shuo, Lian wasn't as close to him but since he was always around Shuo when he goes out so might as well just invite him.
At first, this bunch of people were eating and drinking together, but after having a little too much drinks, they started to talk nonsense.
Shuo, Chi and Guo were sitting together around a table, Lian was sitting on a chair not far from their table, he has never spoken a single word from the beginning.
'I think today is also our 10 years anniversary of dating,' Shuo told Chi, 'I remember we officially made the announcement in Guo's birthday party.'
Chi didn't say anything, but Guo replied to him instead.
'How does this count as an anniversary? How many years have you two been actually together? There's such a huge gap in between, you still have the face to say it's 10 years?'
Shuo snickered, 'To you maybe, to me we have never separated.'
After saying that, he downed another glass of beer, his conscious is still clear.
Chi's eyes were constantly glaring at a place, the emotions in his eyes were hard to tell.
'I realized, the song "Ten Years" suits me quite well, ten years ago, we were walking along with strangers, walking through the familiar streets, ten years after, we are still friends, we can still talk....'
As he was saying, he started to sing it, and as Guo has said Shuo is tone deaf. But his emotions are very much present, his tears started to welling up two sentences in, then after two more sentences he threw the glass in his hand onto the ground, then he laid on the table and cried.
There were drunk people everywhere in the venue, there were a number of people crying as well so no one actually cared about Shuo crying.
But there was someone here who cared.
No matter how tough Chi's heart is, there will a moment where it softens.
Especially the ten years that Shuo was talking about, he was a part of it.
Guo's expression changed, just as he reached out to pat Shuo's back, his palm went empty underneath.
Lian came forth and pulled Shuo up, leaning him against the crystal pillar at the side. Then he swept a slap across Shuo's face, Shuo's lips immediately burst, the mixture or blood and tears stained his collar.
Then followed by another two punches, you could the hear the wind and knuckle cracking, Shuo immediately blacked out on the spot.
Lian didn't stop right there, he laid Shuo on the ground and continue bashing him.
Chi looked on at the side for a while, just like a bomb that has been ignited, flashing a deadly expression, he sprang up to his feet and threw the stool by his hand to Lian.
It didn't crack but rather exploded.
The stool has split into four different halves, even the nails on the stool have broken into two pieces, and was because it's Lian, if it were to be others they would've broken their spine.
Lian has been enraged, he ran towards Chi with a blade hidden in his shoe.
Chi dashed head-on, sending a punch right under Lian's ribs.
This fight has been accumulated for so long, so many things have been suppressed, now all of that has burst into flames. Tables, stools were flying all over the venue, people who got hit by the objects were crying out. The room is filled with bloodiness, some of the most muscular men in the room is screaming as well.
Guo didn't tell Shuai to attend this birthday party, maybe he had predicted something like this will happen.
But not sure when, Shuai actually showed up at the door, and the person beside him, is Wu who was losing his conscious.
He witnessed everything.
Including when Lian started hitting Shuo, Chi raged, started a fight with Lian.
Wu has never seen Chi filled with such tremendous anger before, not sure if he was afraid or shocked, everyone was hugging their heads and running out of the venue, but only Wu stood still.
Up until Chi saw him.
Their eyes met.
Wu then turned around and left the venue.
Up until this moment, Wu realized that Chi is really generous to him. There were few occasions that Wu and Lian got caught for 'accidents', Chi has always kept it in, he didn't even say anything harsh to Lian. But when Lian started hitting Shuo, Chi couldn't hold it in anymore.
Just like watching a great boxing match, the competitors were Chi and Lian, but the winning fight is between him and Shuo.
The expression Wu had before turning away, has engraved deeply into Chi's mind.
He suddenly got distracted, his chest has received a solid punch from Lian, the blood rushed up his throat but he swallowed them back.
Guo's gaze was piercing cold, he strode forward and joined in the fight.
Shuai clumsily ran down the stairs, by the time he caught up to Wu, he has already got into the car.
'Wu, where are you going?' Shuai anxiously banged on the window.
Wu looked at him with soulless eyes, but the words he spoke has no cowardice.
'Don't worry, I will finish this.'