Demon in Disguise

Stay for the night

"Huh?" Qiang looks at Mr. Wang thinking she heard wrong.

"It's cold out there, and dark. You should stay here for the night, I'll find some blankets and you can sleep here on the couch." He turns away from the window, closing the curtains. "It's not safe to go out alone tonight my child. Or any other night. Not after what happened to... BiYu. You don't know who could be lurking out there. That vile man has people everywhere."

Qiang's eyes widen, quickly nodding. "I'll stay for the night don't you worry Mr. Wang." She didn't want Mr. Wang to think about BiYu's murder anymore than he already did.

"You should uh, invite that young man next door too. It's not safe staying home alone at night. Especially someone as careless as him, his doors or windows could be unlocked." Mr. Wang gestures next door to Chen's house.

"Chen?" Qiang looks at Mr. Wang as if he had gone insane. He wants her to call Chen over? She didn't like the idea of Chen sleeping anywhere near her.

The old man nods, "Yes. Please." He pleads, "I don't want anymore children murdered."

Even though she didn't want to, she took out her phone and dialed his number. He had given it to her once, she thought about deleting it but she was glad she didn't. "Babe?" She hears Chen's voice answer. She rolls her eyes, "Chen, I'm next door in Mr. Wang's house. He wants you to come over and spend the night."

"He does, or you do?"

"Chen." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Get over here please. Bring some toiletries with you, and some extra clothes if you haven't showered already."

"Okay." The seriousness in her voice made Chen obey. "I'll be there shortly."

Within five minutes Chen was knocking on the door. Mr. Wang opens the door to reveal a messy haired Chen with a toothbrush and some cloths in his hands. "So, why am I here again?" He steps into the house and takes off his shoes.

"To make sure that you're safe Chen." Mr. Wang answers, locking the door. He checks the windows to make sure that they are all locked. That evil man probably has the best thieves in town and they could probably open the windows with the right tools but it was worth a try. He frowns, maybe he shouldn't have made Qiang and Chen sleep over.

"You may use the bathroom Qiang, I'll go find you an extra toothbrush. Maybe even find you some of BiYu's clothes for you to wear." He hesitates at BiYu's name but continued as if he didn't.

"It's fine Mr. Wang, I'll just wear these clothes." Qiang didn't want Mr. Wang to go back into BiYu's room. She was sure he didn't want to be reminded of his painful past.

"You can wear my clothes Qiang." Chen offers. "I have a shirt and some boxers." He gives her a kind smile, "I know you don't like me and I know you think I'm disgusting but I'm really being genuine. Here, take these." He puts his folded shirt and boxers on Qiang's lap. "I washed them the day before."

Qiang looks at Chen with wide eyes, Chen was being.... Genuine? She didn't know how to react to his actions or what to say so she just smiled. "Thanks Chen."

Mr. Wang smiles happily at them, he knew that Qiang disliked Chen to a big extent and seeing them get along made him happy. "I'll find you a toothbrush Qiang."

She follows him to the bathroom and watches as he opens a bathroom cabinet, "Here you go." He hands her a purple soft bristled toothbrush, "BiYu had sensitive gums so we always used soft bristled toothbrushes."

She thanked him as he exits the bathroom, closing the door and locking it. Qiang undresses and turns on the water. She had slept over once before. BiYu was out on one of her many out-of-town expeditions and it was raining heavily that night. Qiang thought Mr. Wang would be lonely with the wind and rain blowing harshly, BiYu returned surprisingly early that night and so the two girls slept in the same room. They blew up the air mattress and gave Qiang a pillow and blanket. BiYu was really kind, they talked about their friends though it was only BiYu that had adventurous stories to tell. Qiang remembered asking BiYu why she was always out and never home, BiYu had replied; "I don't like staying home because I always feel cooped up in here, I go out and have fun but I always return before the sun rises the next morning because I don't want my father to be lonely at night when he's dreaming and asleep. I know he worries about me so I try my best to not get into any sticky situations. Since I'm not home most of the time, when I am I take good care of father making sure that he eats before I leave and making sure that he had eaten before I returned."

Qiang didn't like BiYu before that night, but from that moment on she had a bit more respect for BiYu. BiYu braided Qiang's hair and they went to sleep, the cold rain and harsh wind having no effect on the three people inside the small warm house.

Qiang steps out of the shower and puts on Chen's shirt and blue and white checkered boxers. She smiles at the warm memory she had with BiYu and combs her long damp hair. As soon as Chen sees her in his clothes he smiles shyly and looks at the ground, "You actually wore them."

"Of course I did." She gives him a puzzled look, pleasantly surprised by his reaction.

Chen didn't think that Qiang would wear his clothes. He thought that she had said yes just to make him stop insisting. Qiang looked adorable in his clothes and it made his cheeks warm up at the sight. She looked really pretty he noticed, with her long hair down and her cheeks flushed from the warm shower, prettier than she previously was. Even if Mr. Wang hadn't asked, Qiang didn't need to ask him twice to sleep over. He realized that he would do anything for Qiang though he didn't know why. His heart nearly leaped out of his chest when he saw her number on his screen. Seeing her everyday made him happy, even if her response wasn't a kind hello.

"I'm gonna go shower now." Chen says quickly standing up and brushing past her. His cheeks flush at their close proximity but walked up the stairs before Qiang could notice.

Qiang stares at Chen walking up the stairs. "What was that all about?" She says to herself.