The Poisoned Pen: A Guardian Story

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Floodgates Open

When Shen Wei woke in the early evening, he was alone, but it wasn't for long.

"I brought some herbal tea."

Zhao Yunlan placed a tray down carefully on the sideboard and smiled broadly at the confused writer.

"How did you...?"

"You started shuffling around in your sleep.  That usually means you're about to wake up."

"Oh.  Okay."

Shen Wei picked at a loose thread on his shirt sleeve as he tried to control his rising body temperature.  The idea that Zhao Yunlan knew him intimately enough to be able to recognise such a tiny little quirk was doing strange things to his heart.

As the detective placed a cup of scalding hot liquid in front of him, he felt a sudden urge to say something.

"Please stop looking after me," he blurted out.

"Why?"  Zhao Yunlan asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Because you don't have to.  I mean, I'm already okay about you not telling me the truth.  I've moved past it.  You don't need to do this to persuade me to keep you here as my bodyguard."

As the younger man stood up and walked towards the window, ignoring the rapidly cooling tea, the detective's face suddenly brightened in understanding and humour.  Getting up, he moved slowly but with purpose, until he was directly in front of the writer.

"Shen Wei, Shen Wei," he said, his voice low and seductive.  "For an intelligent man you can be so stupid sometimes."

"Sorry, what?"

Zhao Yunlan said nothing in response.  He just wrapped an arm around his target's waist, pulled him close, and kissed him.

Shen Wei suddenly felt a rush of sensations, all of which managed to be foreign and yet achingly familiar to him at the same time.  The hands reaching underneath his shirt were hands he had seen and even touched hundreds of times before, but now they were caressing the sensitive skin on his back, moving up and down his spine in smooth, firm strokes.  The mouth that had spoken to him on thousands of occasions was now pressed insistently against his own, seeking dominance that Shen Wei was more than willing to submit to.

Zhao Yunlan felt the man in his arms tremble slightly.  He pulled back so that he could look him in the eyes, but did not release his hold.

"Now do you understand?" he asked.

"Why me?"  Shen Wei replied in a small voice.  "I can't give you anything.  If this is only because you pity me, please stop.  I don't want to be pitied."

"Don't talk nonsense," the detective objected.  "If anyone deserves to be pitied it's me, because of how crazy you make me.  Half the time when we're in the same room I can't even think straight.  You know, you really should take responsibility."  He laughed when he saw the author's wide eyes and confused expression.

"Stop teasing me, Yunlan!" Shen Wei protested, wriggling around as he tried half-heartedly to escape from the detective's grasp.  "You should take responsibility.  After all, you are the one who keeps looking at me as if you want to eat me."

"Hmm."  The older man thought for a moment.

"You know what, my Xiao Wei?  THAT is a very good idea."

Stepping back, he took a firm hold of the writer's wrist, and proceeded to drag him out of the study, up the main stairs, and down the hallway towards the master bedroom.

***

As he gazed down at the man he currently had pinned on top of the crisp white bedsheets, Zhao Yunlan suddenly bit his lip, worriedly.