When Bright Moon Encounter the Dark Clouds

My head was hurting so much that it numbed me, and hot tears came flowing out from my eyes. I opened my eyes after some time to be greeted by a faint glow of light from above us. Then, I discovered that I had somehow ended up in Wu Yu’s embrace.

He leaned against the wall with his arms around my waist looking down at me, while I sat on his thighs.

An involuntary shiver ran through my body abruptly as though someone was tickling my waist with a feather; his gaze at me was that feather. I pushed him away, intending to get up, yet he held onto me, immobilizing me, causing my heart to skip a beat.

We exchanged a few words before he wanted to check on the wound on the top of my head. Since I had already come to my senses and was worried about how ugly the wound was, perhaps with hair loss and blood, I did not want to let him see it.

As such, I resolutely refused to not allow him to see the top of my head.

I looked up and was surprised to see him smiling. I asked, “What are you smiling at?”

He replied, “Nothing. I just think that you’re very cute.”

I became speechless all of a sudden, him as well. There was very little space between us, and suddenly, I felt a slight tingle on my chin; it was the gentle touch from his finger.

I felt I must have lost my mind; going out late at night, rushing toward danger, and even sitting on the lap of a repairman I had only known for three days.

I looked him in the eye; it was as though I saw an ocean of black water behind them. While his finger lingered on my face, I felt as if he was going to force a kiss on me for a moment. Yet, he only helped me up and said softly, “To avoid trouble later with the police, we should tell them that we were in the area on a date.”

I replied, “Sure.”

When he brought it up, I finally realized that the sounds of sirens were already very close. Soon, a police car appeared at the end of the alley and several policemen came running out.

The child, who was probably scared silly and tired after crying, fell asleep in my embrace when I picked him up off the ground. Wu Yu stood beside me and placed his hand on my shoulder as we looked at the policemen coming toward us.

As several policemen approached us, I suddenly caught a glimpse of the second policeman; he was tall and thin, with delicate facial features under the police cap. My heart abruptly skipped a beat as I thought, it can’t be this coincidental, right?

That policeman also became shocked when he recognized me.

We stared at each other briefly before I moved my gaze away. Yet, I could still feel his lingering blank gaze on me.

He was just like before, a dull person.

Suddenly, Wu Yu turned to me and glanced at me with a complicated, indecipherable look; then he turned his gaze toward Shen Shiyan. With that, Shen Shiyan suddenly noticed his awkward gaze and quickly moved it away from me.

The policeman in the front took the child immediately before giving the two of us a good look. “Who are you two?”

I answered, “Passers-by.”

Wu Yu recounted, “The two of us passed by the corner ahead when we saw a man carrying this child. At that time, we thought the man seemed odd and figured the child probably wasn’t his. That’s why we gave chase.”

“Where’s that man?” Shen Shiyan asked.

Wu Yu answered, “He ran away.”

The policeman in charge then asked, “What are you guys doing at such a remote place in the middle of the night?”

I took a glance at Shen Shiyan and noticed his clear yet perplexed eyes looking at me.

Wu Yu paused briefly before saying, “We are on a date.” While the other two policemen showed looks of enlightenment, Shen Shiyan looked somewhere else.

I could understand the awkwardness he must have felt.

After all, he and I had been on dates before. I actually felt quite ashamed by the fact that Wu Yu and I, who were supposedly on a ‘secret date’, bumped into detective Shen Shiyan.

The police in charge ordered, “Xiaoshen, record their statements then bring them back to the station to help with the investigation.”

Shen Shiyan replied, “Yes, sir.”

After that, Wu Yu and I were separated. I remained where I stood, while Wu Yu was brought to the other end of the alley for Shen Shiyan to question him with his small notepad. I could not make out what they were talking about, as they were too far away, but the two looked calm and serious. After Shen Shiyan finished up, he kept his notepad and led Wu Yu to the police car. Before entering the car, Wu Yu raised his face to look at me. I showed him an okay sign, telling him that I was fine; then he nodded and went into the car.

While this happened, Shen Shiyan held the car door open stubbornly and stared ahead blankly as though he had not noticed the interaction between Wu Yu and me. After closing the car door, he took out his notepad again, drew a line across it with his pen, and seemingly made some preparations before coming before me.

I stood at a corner with no one else around me. Shen Shiyan was similar in height to Wu Yu, both taller than me by one head’s height. He gently tugged the brim of his hat; he glanced at me before looking at his notepad. “Name?”

I felt somewhat speechless as I looked at him and said, “Shen Shiyan, you know all of this. My name, my occupation, where I live, my height, interests, and the traits I want in my partner. You know all of this, so why are you still asking?”

He fell into a brief lull before saying, “I just didn’t think you would choose to date a repairman in the end.”

Me, “...”