Ch. 3 Green Light

Chapter 3

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Coming across my life

Unlike no other, you are the green light

The one and only

Green light I’m searching for you

-Green Light, Yanzi Sun

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It’s been a week since I walked out from the cell in Liu Mansion, leaving behind a very badly wounded and unconscious Zhan-ge lying on the bed.

The image of a battered Zhan-ge was haunting me ever since that it kept me waking up at nights to nightmares of a bloodied Zhan-ge. Yet nothing I’d seen or done could be disclosed to anyone because of the contract I had signed that I was regretting about.

What’s more, I was left in the dark as to what had happened to Zhan-ge and why I had to be locked out during the rest of the night in a dingy cell, when I thought my job was chaperoning some girl.

What did he mean by service? And by admonition? Was I supposed to provide another service I wasn’t informed about?

I was beyond baffled and needed a good and hefty explanation. But I had no way of contacting Zhan-ge.

After an intense week of dance lessons, dealing with a bunch of adolescent girls, I was thankful to be back at my apartment. I threw away my shoes, not caring where they landed and sank in the coziness of my couch. What with the sleepless nights and demanding TV shooting, I was worn-out, physically and mentally.

I could see the orange sunset from my terrace windows when I heard someone ringing the doorbell as though premeditated. Aside from my manager who drove me back home, no one really knew I was at my place already. I was determined to ignore the mystery visitor and started massaging my sore eyes. But the ringing grew persistent that left me no choice but to look through the intercom.

And there he was, the tall man in question wearing a stylish ensemble with a turtleneck all fitted in black and with gold rimmed aviator sunglasses covering his eyes. Just by standing there, he looked like a model cut out from a photograph. He had that air of exquisiteness about him. I couldn’t believe my eyes, but deep inside, I was probably craving so bad for this reencounter to happen. While I was surprised to see him at my door, I was also relieved.

I opened the door to meet him and leaned on the door frame, blocking the entrance. My heart was racing in glee, but my mouth spoke otherwise.

“Why, look who’s here? How’d you know where I live? How’d you know I was home? I have a lot of questions and now that you’re here, you better have a good explanation. You owe me that much, Zhan-ge.”

Even after my venomous words, he slowly took off his sunglasses, revealing those eyes, and smiled at me with a twinkle in his eyes.

“Yes, that’s why I’ve come. May I…?”

“You bet.” I gestured him to come inside and offered him a lounge chair next to my couch and set a glass of ginger ale in front of him. That was all I could muster for the moment, having just returned from a demanding TV shooting session.

“So, Zhan-ge, huh?” Xiao Zhan cocked one of his brows, which made me fluster.

“What was I supposed to call you when you just told me half of your name?”

“It’s okay, I like that. In fact, I like that so very much, Bo-di.” He snickered and his eyes glinted with genuine mirth this time, unlike the last time I saw him woeful in every aspect.

“Now you know my name, the place I live, and from the looks of it, even my work schedule… Is there anything you don’t know about me?” I quipped. That wasn’t fair now, was it? He knows everything about me, but I, on the other hand, do not know anything about him.

“I’m Xiao Zhan.” He said softly, almost shyly.

“Wang Yibo, you must already know it, though.” I offered my hand, occidental style, and he shook it shyly. I noted his cooler temperature and how silky smooth his hand was, I could keep caressing it forever. Once the brief introductions were over, Xiao Zhan started slowly.

“So, where to start? I am not allowed to talk a lot, but I do owe you some explaining.” He laced his fingers and closed his eyes for a moment as if in repentance. When he opened his eyes, though, he looked me in the eyes, unwavering.

“Let’s just say that I have certain skills that the Chinese government requires and in exchange, some very powerful people grant me my favors. That’s how I obtained your private information.”

“Skills??” Now it was my turn to cock my brow. He just smiled wryly in return.

“Let’s talk about that some other time, shall we? I’m here to talk about that night. I was summoned to, ah, conduct a ceremony for the guests, and you were to collaborate with me, but there must’ve been some miscommunication because they didn’t inform you about it. I find it quite disturbing when people I get involved with don’t give their prior consent. So, I had to make my point clear that that’s not the way I work with them, but there’s always a sort of quid pro quo exchange. The guests couldn’t leave empty handed, so instead of me conducting the ceremony, they decided to conduct the ceremony themselves and I had to collaborate as they wished.”

My jaw literally dropped.

“That’s what you were going to do to me, if you hadn’t locked me up, is that what you’re saying?!”

“No!” He snapped. “Let me be clear, in my ceremony, no one gets hurt that way. That night, I let them have it their way.”

“You let them?!” My voice went up a notch too high. I was huffing. “Who in their right mind let those old creeps do that to yourself?! Do you know how badly injured you were? You were knocked unconscious! They could’ve… you could have…” I just couldn’t utter the next word, but he understood.

“But I’m fine, now, Bo-di.” He reached out for my clenched fists and held them in his hands.

“You are too kind to me, Yibo. This has happened before, and I know how to handle it. They like to fondle with the idea that they can control me, so I let them have that illusion to my advantage. I’m sorry Bo-di, that this seems more confusing than convincing, and that you got caught in between such a predicament on account of me, but I can assure you I’ll be okay; because they need me, and I need them. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more than this. But believe me no one can really hurt me. In fact, all my wounds from that day were healed… Do you want to see for yourself?”

Zhan-ge almost cooed the last words and pulled his collar to show me his smooth nape. He sure knew how to cool my rage down. A lot of emotions were storming inside of me, anger, confusion, frustration, powerlessness, but quickly subsided at the sight of his supple flesh. I gulped at his sudden demonstration of vulnerability. Before I knew it, I was tracing my fingers over his pale skin that felt just a little cooler than my own. As he had assured earlier, that part of his skin had no visible signs of abuse whatsoever. He then guided my hand to his button and meeting my eyes, nodded. I had to swallow hard at the cue and mustered my strength, so my hand would not shake too bad.

One by one, the buttons of his shirt came undone and revealed his exquisite skin underneath. At that, Zhan-ge smiled seductively from under his lashes.

TBC…

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