Red Light

The Room: Part 1

It took a few minutes for everything to settle down after Nie Mingjue's arrival.

Jin Zixuan was dealing with an adrenaline rush for the second time in one day. He had been honestly afraid. Not for himself but for his family. For his wife. For his brother-in-law. For his nephew. For everyone in the room.

When he had first run up and gasped out his warning, he could feel the tension skyrocket. The possibility of impending violence blatant. He had seen the pistols peeking from shoulder holsters.

These officers were prepared for bloodshed.

If he had been right and the immense Nie Mingjue had been a hit man, there would have been a fire fight in the hallway of the hospital.

For the first time since all of this began, he fully appreciated why the officers stood guard.

He explained to Yanli, rather curtly, what happened.

"Are you okay, my love?" Yanli asked.

He just pulled her into his arms.

That would be a no.

She held him tight.

"I just want everyone safe." he whispered into her hair before kissing the top of her head.

"I love you." she whispered.

"Love you too, my heart."

Yanli could feel his hands begin to tremble.

"I fucking hate adrenaline crashes." he whispered not wanting A'Yuan to hear him cursing.

Yanli smiled and tugged him closer so she could whisper in his ear.

"We know the solution to that, don't we?" Her grin and wink was naughtiness personified. His mouth fell open and then curved upwards in a slow smile. He leaned over and whispered back.

"I may take you up on that, my heart." with a soft breath into her ear.

For a moment, despite everything going on in the room, they were alone.

Wei Ying watched and smiled. He wasn't sure about Jin Zixuan when he had first met him. He had seemed stiff and entirely too vain about his appearance. He and A'Cheng had called him The Peacock.

It had taken time but he had eventually realized the stiffness was nerves. Guess meeting both of her protective brothers would be a bit stressful. But what had won the brothers over was Jin Zixuan's obvious love of his wife. If there was something better in life than Yanli, Jin Zixuan didn't know what it was.

That was what Yanli deserved and not one jot less.
-----

Across the room, Nie Mingjue was shaking hands with Yu Bin who looked a little anxious.

"Inspector." Yu Bin gave as much of a bow as he could considering the cradle his left arm was in. "Thank you for the balloon."

"You're welcome. It's nice to meet you." Nie Mingjue answered. "Huaisang has told me a lot about you."

"Oh?" Yu Bin flushed.

"He says you make the best caramel latte he's ever had. If there's a way to my brother's heart, that's it." was the unexpected reply.

Yu Bin laughed in surprise. "I'm glad he enjoyed it."

He looked at his arm, still swollen and pink. "It'll be a bit before I can make them for him again but it'll happen."

Nie Mingjue shrugged off his sports coat and draped it over the back of a chair before having a seat.

"What is the prognosis?" he asked gesturing toward the suspended arm.