Meeting Again

Of course Yu Zechuan hadn't noticed.

Back when he worked at the company, he had barely paid Lu Yan any attention. After getting out of prison, he had only glimpsed the other's ID photo in the files: thick, stiff bangs and black-rimmed glasses, like a blot of ink accidentally dropped onto white paper. Every edge was clear, yet his true face remained impossible to make out.

If they had met before a run-down rental on a rainy night, Yu Zechuan would have recognized Lu Yan at once as the enemy he wanted to kill with his own hands. But inside a brightly lit apartment building, he would only think they looked somewhat alike.

After all, there was no coincidence that absurd in the world. One second, the man you wanted to kill; the next, he moved in next door.

This strange neighbor had not minded the vicious scar on his face. Nor had he shown the slightest fear or disgust at Yu Zechuan's condition when an episode came on. He had even cared for him attentively all night.

No matter how hard Yu Zechuan tried to pretend nothing had happened, he could not stop himself from caring.

He began going downstairs to take out the trash and collect deliveries more and more often. He normally ate irregularly, only one meal a day, but now he was ordering takeout so frequently that he was nearly surpassing most of the building's residents.

And Yu Zechuan did all of it simply to glance at the tightly shut door next door while he was downstairs. Unfortunately, he did not run into that neighbor again over the following days.

It was like a one-night stand: tightly embracing in bed at night, entwined to the point of death, then slipping away quietly after daylight broke, vanishing from his world like a gust of wind, never to be encountered again.

Or perhaps it was not that they could not run into each other, but...

Was the other man avoiding him on purpose?

Yu Zechuan stood downstairs waiting for the elevator with a takeout order in hand when the thought abruptly occurred to him. He frowned, lost in thought.

In any case, he was not in a good mood. He felt oddly irritated, as though someone had provoked him and then tossed him in the trash.

"Ding!"

The elevator chimed softly in front of him. Its doors opened, and a tall man stepped out. He wore a white hooded sweatshirt and black-and-white sneakers, looking handsome and youthful. A mask covered his face, making it impossible not to wonder what lay beneath it.

It was Lu Yan, who had not shown his face in some time.

Ever since leaving Yu Zechuan's apartment the last time, Lu Yan had worried that his identity had been exposed, so he had hardly gone out for several days. Today, he had finally come downstairs to buy some supplies at the supermarket. The moment he stepped out of the elevator lobby and saw Yu Zechuan, he froze.

Lu Yan casually glanced at the takeout bag in Yu Zechuan's hand, then decided to greet him first. "What a coincidence. Did you come down to pick up your delivery?"

Yu Zechuan had not expected to meet Lu Yan here either. He shifted the takeout bag to his other hand and gave an unreadable hum. "What about you?"

Lu Yan slipped both hands into the pockets of his hoodie and smiled. "I'm going to the supermarket to buy a few things. The elevator doors are about to close. You should get in."

He was about to leave when Yu Zechuan turned on his heel and suddenly followed him. "What a coincidence. I just realized there are a few things I forgot to buy. Why don't we go together?"

"..."

Lu Yan had no way of knowing what Yu Zechuan intended, but the situation did not seem to allow him to refuse. He did not want to arouse suspicion. After a brief pause, he resumed his usual manner. "Of course."

There was a supermarket downstairs from the apartment building. They walked out side by side, each with his own thoughts, the distance only a few hundred yards.

Yu Zechuan walked with his eyes lowered, seeming to ask casually, "Why do you always wear a mask?"

At first, he had assumed Lu Yan's face had been damaged like his own and that he wore the mask to hide it. But the other day, he had seen the man's true face in his room. It was no less striking than a celebrity's, which made the habit seem rather strange.

Lu Yan's fingertips twitched lightly inside his pocket. Just as he had expected, Yu Zechuan was beginning to suspect him. He raised a hand to tug the mask higher, stepped over the fallen plane tree leaves piled across the ground, and came up with a reasonably plausible explanation. "The air's been too cold lately. My nose is a little sensitive, so I wear a mask to block it."

Yu Zechuan lifted a brow faintly, though it was impossible to tell whether he believed him. "I thought you were a celebrity, afraid people would recognize you."

Lu Yan amused himself. "Just an ordinary wage slave."

They had reached the convenience store as they spoke. Lu Yan really did need to restock his fridge, so he picked up a basket and began selecting food in earnest: yogurt, potato chips, spicy snack strips, instant noodles, jelly. The dazzling assortment of snacks piled the basket high, making him look like an omnivore.

Yu Zechuan had nothing to buy, but he still pretended to browse the shelves for a while and casually picked up one item.

When it came time to pay, Lu Yan took out his wallet and held out a hand to Yu Zechuan behind him. "What did you get? Give it to me. We'll pay together."

Yu Zechuan refused. "No need."

But Lu Yan did not withdraw his hand. He crooked his fingers at him. Beautiful people were beautiful everywhere, even their hands. His knuckles were distinct, his fingers long and lean, making one unable to resist imagining how they would feel clasped in one's own. "Give it to me. It's only a few dollars, and it'll save us the trouble. You can send it to me when we get upstairs."

Yu Zechuan had no choice but to hand the item over.

Lu Yan felt his palm sink. The sensation was strange. Looking down, he saw a stainless-steel kitchen knife. Though plastic wrap had been wound around the edge, it could not conceal the blade's sharpness.

The shadow of his deaths in the previous two rounds still hung over him, not yet dispersed. Lu Yan looked up at Yu Zechuan in surprise. "What are you buying a kitchen knife for?"

With a half-serious, half-joking smile, he asked, "Don't tell me you're going to kill someone?"

Yu Zechuan's lips curved slightly. "Of course not. A kitchen knife is far too cumbersome for killing people."

Only after he spoke did he realize how abnormal that sounded, and he corrected himself. "I'm taking it home to cut fruit."

Lu Yan remembered how Yu Zechuan had let the fruit he brought last time rot without touching it. His tone turned peculiar. "That's good, then. I thought you didn't like fruit."

Yu Zechuan had clearly remembered the fruit he had thrown away as well. He suppressed that faint, indescribable embarrassment and turned his head to look elsewhere.

After Lu Yan paid, he divided their purchases into two bags. One was stuffed full, while the other held only a kitchen knife and hung nearly empty. Yu Zechuan reached to take it, but Lu Yan evaded him. "It's fine. I'll carry it upstairs and give it to you then. A kitchen knife isn't heavy."

Yu Zechuan could only withdraw his hand and walk back beside Lu Yan. The sky was still overcast, fine rain drifting down as the leaves of the plane trees fell one after another.

He looked down at the wet ground, and that strange feeling inside him intensified.

"That day..."

Though he found it difficult to say, Yu Zechuan still frowned and spoke. "Thank you for that day."

Lu Yan was inexplicably flattered. Perhaps it was because he had died twice at Yu Zechuan's hands and had seen every variety of the man's cold sarcasm, mocking smile, sneer, and vicious grin. This expression of thanks sounded like heavenly music. "It's nothing. It was what anyone should have done. Even if it hadn't been me that day, someone else would have helped you."

Someone else?

Yu Zechuan scoffed inwardly. Who? Jiang Boyun? Or the secretary he had fired?

The latter had once accidentally witnessed one of his episodes. Terrified, the secretary had stumbled out without even closing the door. At the time, countless people were gathered outside the office, pointing at him and laughing at the spectacle.

Within less than half a day, the news had spread throughout the company. Almost everyone knew he was mentally unstable.

Some things seemed to have passed, but when he truly thought back on them, he realized the humiliation and resentment from that time had long since been carved into his bones, breaking through the ground in some drifting moment of thought.

"Not necessarily..."

The words were quiet, carrying a trace of self-mockery. Only Yu Zechuan himself could hear them.

The road from the supermarket to the apartment was far too short. Before either of them had fully come back to himself, they were already at their doors. Lu Yan handed Yu Zechuan his shopping bag, then seemed to remember something. He took a bar of dark chocolate from his own bag and offered it to him. "I've heard that eating something sweet can make you feel better. I don't know if it's true. You didn't eat the fruit I gave you last time, but you'll accept a chocolate bar from me, won't you?"

His voice was gentle. He did not mind at all that Yu Zechuan had thrown out his fruit. His temper was so good that it hardly seemed real.

Yu Zechuan stared at the dark chocolate for a moment. "This is for me?"

Lu Yan asked in return, "Is there a third person here?"

When he saw Yu Zechuan did not reach for it, he simply tucked the chocolate into his pocket. "I'm going home first."

Lu Yan reached his door and lowered his head to enter the code into the lock, one digit at a time. He only wanted to get inside as quickly as possible when a low voice suddenly rang out behind him, making his heart lurch.

"I don't think... I know your name yet?"

Yu Zechuan stood behind Lu Yan. His voice echoed through the silent hallway, inexplicably deep and unfathomable.

"..."

Lu Yan said nothing. The hand entering the code fell still. In those few short seconds, he could clearly feel beads of cold sweat forming down his back and trickling over his skin, leaving behind a faint itch.

His heartbeat thundered in his ears.

Lu Yan gripped the doorknob tightly, then loosened his hand a second later. He turned to face Yu Zechuan, raised a brow faintly, and asked with amused interest, "Why do you want to know my name?"

Without waiting for Yu Zechuan to answer, he suddenly stepped forward and pinned him into a dark, narrow corner. Yu Zechuan's expression shifted. Forced to retreat, he pressed tight against the wall, clearly not expecting Lu Yan to make such a move.

Lu Yan was simply too tall. When he leaned in, his presence was intensely oppressive, throwing a broad shadow over Yu Zechuan. At this close distance, Yu Zechuan could even smell the faint scent of laundry detergent on his clothes.

They were far too close, well beyond the safe distance between strangers. In prison, it would have been even more frightening. Yu Zechuan's body instantly tensed, going on high alert. Then an unusually lazy voice sounded beside his ear.

"Don't tell me..."

Lu Yan looked down at Yu Zechuan, deliberately drawing out the words, pronouncing each one slow and indistinct. It filled the teasing question with boundless ambiguity.

"Don't tell me you've taken a liking to me?"

The words crashed down without warning, booming in Yu Zechuan's heart and leaving him completely stunned. When he recovered, he instinctively looked at Lu Yan, only to find the man gazing down at him intently. His thick lashes cast shadows beneath his eyes, fluttering like butterfly wings yet unable to hide the amusement buried within.

This man deserved to die!

His tongue deserved to be pulled out too!

Yu Zechuan's fingertips trembled with rage. Countless cruel and violent thoughts flashed through his mind, yet none could offset the affront of those words. He seized Lu Yan by the collar and tightened his grip, forcing him to look at him.

"Taken a liking to you?"

A lazy, mocking laugh suddenly spilled from Yu Zechuan's throat. Close to Lu Yan's ear, he ground out each word in a low voice. "Then do you know that anyone I take a liking to never ends well?"

"..."

Lu Yan knew it would be best to remain silent, but he could not resist asking, "Why?"

His damned curiosity.

There was no knife in Yu Zechuan's hand, but when his cold, slender fingertips slowly slid over Lu Yan's Adam's apple and chest, the shiver and killing intent they brought were no less than any blade. His voice was low.

"Because anything I set my sights on can only be mine. No one else is allowed to touch it..."

"Whoever touches it has to die..."

He emphasized those words heavily. His childhood had deprived Yu Zechuan of a complete father's love and mother's love. The absence of family and friendship had made his possessiveness far exceed that of ordinary people.

"I have to know everything he does. I have to know where he goes. And I have to know who he knows. But if he betrays me..."

Yu Zechuan stopped instead. Perhaps he had thought of Jiang Boyun. His expression shifted between light and dark, his chest rising and falling faintly. Every breath carried away what little air remained, leaving only suffocation.

After a long while.

Yu Zechuan's quiet voice sounded softly in the air, carrying a trace of brutality that had not yet faded.

"You wouldn't want to know what happens to him..."