A Go Go Squid story

"Don't go to sleep without me"

It had been three weeks since the attack. The police was still investigating but it was taking some time to find clues about the three masked men who destroyed everything. Three weeks during which Tong Nian had done her best to rest and take care of herself. The bruises on her face were slowly disappearing, and her foot was doing better day after day. To everyone, Tong Nian was her old self again. She was laughing with the boys at lunch, having fun with her best friend, enjoying her time at her University and sleeping well in her husband's arms - most of the nights. But Han Shangyan knew her better than anyone else. He knew that behind that smile she was giving to all of them, there was some pain and fears. He knew it because he was the master of hiding his feelings. Everyone who looked at her would have thought that everything was finally ok, that she was focusing on her work and her couple, and that beside the police investigation, the attack was just a bad memory.

But Han Shangyan was not everyone. And when she was studying in their meeting room, in front of her laptop, he could see her blank stare, doing nothing but watching her screen as if she was completely empty. He could see that sometimes, she was holding tears, not allowing herself to let it go. Everytime he asked if she was ok, she answered that she was fine, giving a soft kiss on his lips or his forehead. And everytime, it broke his heart a little bit more. 

Was she feeling that she was not allowed to be in pain? Was she forcing herself to be fine because that was what people waited from her? He didn't want to push her, he tried to convince himself that she would finally let it go, when she would be ready. But the only time she really talked about what happened was when she testified for the police. This was the only moment she had cried, the only moment he had felt that she was not holding it. But since then, she never shared any memories of that night. She was so good at it that even Han Shangyan had believed, at one point, that everything was ok now. But it was not ok. He knew it. 

He was hopeful, though, that the next competition planned for the team would give her a good breathe. This time, he didn't give her the choice and forced her to come with him. And she gladly took the invite. 

Gun knew how much she loved going on a trip with the team. They were alway sitting at the front of the bus while the boys were behind, making fun of their cuddlings with fake disgusted faces. If the trip was long enough, she would put her head on his shoulders and he would try his best to make her super comfortable, not moving and barely breathing not to wake her up. Sometimes they listened to music together, other times he would just pretend to be sleeping when he was in fact watching her in secret. Once at the hotel, he would have to spend a lot of time with the boys, training, so he would just let her have fun in her own way - which mostly involved computers and coding - and would join her for diner, just the two of them, in their hotel room. And he would always, always, take half a day to escape somewhere with her, not telling the rest of the team where they were going. And all of them knew they better not asked anything. He was a married puppy to his wife but still a very scary boss to them. So he was confident that this time would not be any different.

And it all started well. The trip was exactly like expected, Demo, 97 and the boys made fun of how much Gun was feeding his wife with candies and chips, Wu Bai was being his broody self again, and since they were sharing the bus with Solo and his team, they all had hours to talk about game strategies. When she discovered the hotel room, Tong Nian jumped in her husband arms, so small hanging on his giant body like a panda. The view was amazing, the wifi was working very well, and he even brought some good romcoms in his bag. 

"It's perfect", she whispered to him, hugging him just in front of the large window, contemplating the beautiful sunset on the skyscrapers. He left her after diner to join the boys at the training room, making sure everything was fine and that she would not be bored.