Half of My Heart

The Sleeping Beauty.

Wei knew that he was back in the office and took a deep breath in as he raised his head and opened his eyes, finding Yunlan kneeling in front of him, holding his hands.

"Are you alright Xiao Wei?" He asked as he looked at his face and could see fatigue, but Wei smiled as he answered.

"I'm alright, I had to speak to the detective and explain where he was, I offered him a new job. I'm just tired Ah Lan, it's time we went home. As far as I know we had a safe call out, we weren't caught on camera and we will find out why the shifter killed Tye. Possibly he picked him as a hostage because he knew that he would send for our us, I'll work it out tomorrow."

Wei summoned a guard to take them home and made a mental note to arrange a car for Yunlan only for use at work, because the guards could take him anywhere he wanted to go, and much faster than any other kind of transport. But Wei was tired in more ways than one, he had seen another friend die needlessly and he wanted to feel safe with Yunlan at home, not here.

Neves took them. He never had the emotional gift returned but he didn't need it today and they materialised in Wei's bedroom. One look at Lord Shen was enough to tell him that he would be asleep soon, and he led him over to the bed where he carefully removed his jacket and slipped off his shoes. Wei sat on the edge of the bed and thanked him before the guard quietly left and closed the door. Yunlan helped him to lie down and covered him with a light blanket for warmth and loosened his collar before he lifted Wei's left hand, and cradled it as he sat at the side of the bed. He looked at this gentle image in front of him and couldn't imagine his life without him or the strange world that he lived in, and he dimmed the bedside light.

"You have helped so many people by your actions, Xiao Wei and they don't even know or will ever find out," he said as he watched him slowly falling asleep, and wondered how he managed to keep facing the dangers in his life which never ceased. When he'd finished dealing with one, another one surfaced, not giving him time for breathing space to enjoy his life, even though he said he did. But when Yunlan looked into his eyes, he could see the joy and love he held in his heart. Though on days like today when exhaustion kicked in, he worried for him. Maybe one day he will wake up without the energy to move or do anything and he will still smile and look back with love and contentment.

He reached over to switch off the light completely but noticed the golden glow coming from the round flat stone which was lying on the table beside the bed, casting the image of a map on the ceiling. The outline shone brightly, showing the way through a maze of caves to reach the centre where a decorative lamp was hidden. Yunlan found his phone and took several photos of the map hoping that Lin Jing might be able to identify the region, or at least find out some of the history behind the objects. Maybe this is something that would interest Wei and take him out of his usual routine, he would ask him in the morning but for now, he put the stone in a drawer and went to the kitchen for a light supper before bed.

During the night, Wei's memories returned about the plane crash, something that he hadn't thought of for a long while, except it wasn't a real crash. He'd never seen this part before, even though he did recognise some of the details, the people's faces who'd helped build the set and placed the dummies for the film shoot. He remembered the argument with the producer who wanted to skip time on safety checks and save money, but the lead actor was injured and the commercial was scrapped.

It took a while for Wei to make sense of everything he was seeing, because he had two sets of memories after the merge between the two souls. They had both become one person, the stunt co-ordinator's body which was the healthy one, with Wei's mind which was the stronger one. But why was he seeing this now when it happened during his last lifeline? And he shivered.