Wild Creatures

Chapter 27

Wei Ying was awake.

Lan Zhan knew this not only from the change in his breath, but also his heart beat. That was the sound Lan Zhan really loved, and now that he could tell it apart from all others…it felt even better.

But…Wei Ying sounded distressed.

"Mn?"

The sound feels too loud in the quiet of the night.

"I slept…but now I can't stop thinking about JingYi." Wei Ying whispers. "How could someone do something like that to him? He's just a baby, Lan Zhan! Only six years old…did you see his back?" Wei Ying suddenly shivers at the memory.

Lan Zhan pulls their blanket more securely around his shoulders, and holds him closer. His lips kiss the top of Wei Ying's head, hoping to give him some peace.

"We should do something." He says, quietly.

"I was thinking about calling social services. But…I know what the system is like…and if there's a way we can save him from that, then I wish for us to do that instead." Wei Ying sounds so matter-of-fact about it.

"Wei Ying was a Foster child?" Lan Zhan asks him.

He wants to know everything there is to know about Wei Ying. And now he realises how very little they know about each other.

"Um…yeah. My parents died in a car crash…when I was around six. I was in the system for about a year until Uncle Jiang came to find me." He becomes silent.

"Wei Ying doesn't have to talk about it, if he doesn't wish to…but I would like to know…if you want to tell me." Lan Zhan offers.

"Well…there's not much to tell. I had a bad experience with a bunch of dogs and…and it made me super scared of them. Jiang Cheng had little puppies and when I moved in, I was still so scared…and then he had to give them up. He wasn't very forgiving about that."

Lan Zhan feels the softest lips graze his skin.

There's a magnetism about Wei Ying that Lan Zhan cannot resist.

It's more than just the pull of their bodies, more than how they feel about each other. It feels as if their creator decided to weave each other into their DNA, so that now neither one can survive without the other.

Another wave of protection flows through Lan Zhan and he shifts so that Wei Ying is tucked into his side.

From what he's saying about the Jiangs, to Lan Zhan, it feels as if Wei Ying isn't that close to them…if he ever was.

"I don't mind telling you…" Wei Ying says. "We grew up together, Jiang Cheng, ShiJie and I. When I said I was going to adopt A-Yuan…Madam Yu gave me an ultimatum. Basically telling me to decide between my Little Radish and … and them."

Lan Zhan can tell Wei Ying is trying his hardest not to say anything about his true feelings. Whether this is because of some misplaced sense of loyalty, or just because Wei Ying isn't the kind of person who talks behind people's backs…Lan Zhan isn't sure. He does know that even if he has only known Wei Ying for a week, he is an excellent judge of character and can confidently say that he is a good person.

It is a nice feeling.

But the choice that the Jiangs gave to Wei Ying…doesn't sit well with Lan Zhan.

What kind of family asks one of their own to choose between a child definitely younger than six, and themselves? Why not help the person of their own family and have both?

Lan Zhan cannot understand this.

"Why were they so opposed?" Lan Zhan tries to keep his tone neutral, because he tries not to judge people.