CH 25

Caught and Chased

Victor noticed something unusual: "Yi, are you a bit out of it?"

Yi Zhize casually explained, "Sorry, I'm a bit tired."

"Did you handle a lot of work today?"

"En."

"You're always like that, the work never stops, what's the rush?" Victor refilled his glass with some red wine: "Take a sip to relieve your fatigue."

Yi Zhize lifted his glass.

The glass reflected the figure of Ou Tingyun not far away.

He was looking at him.

Yi Zhize choked on his drink and coughed gently.

Victor pulled out a tissue and handed it to him, gently rubbing his back in the process, "Yi, are you okay? Why are you so careless?"

"No...nothing."

"Haha, this reminds me of a scene when you first arrived at UCL, do you remember?" Victor raised his eyebrows, "At the bar near the college."

Yi Zhize wiped the corner of his mouth with a tissue, "Do, not, remember."

"You were so, so innocent back then." Victor chuckled, "Naturally you attracted a lot of interested eyes due to your handsome oriental looks."

"You can stop now."

"No, I'm going to go on." Victor's grin was very unpleasant: "You were approached by a beautiful woman with a hot body, but unfortunately your English was atrocious. She spoke to you like a chicken and that's all, and you blushed and spilled your drink on her skirt, haha!"

Yi Zhize was so embarrassed that his ears turned red: "Victor, I'm warning you. If you keep talking, I'll leave."

"Ah sorry, I'll shut up immediately! I'll just say one more word." Victor smiled, "It's because of that that we met, isn't it?"

"En, you're the one who got me off the hook." Yi Zhize asked, "I always wanted to know, why?"

"I'm half Chinese. My mother is Chinese, so I was naturally curious about you. And, well..." Victor pretended, "I thought I should meet you."

"You were just trying to learn Chinese."

"Haha, don't be so blunt."

"I know you well." Yi Zhize said, "You don't do meaningless socialising."

"Yi, it's a win-win, isn't it? You teach me Chinese, I teach you English. A perfect friendship is born!"

"I didn't think so, I learned that back at UCL." Yi Zhize's voice was indifferent: "For you, only interest can make you interested, right?"

Victor's smile froze on his face.

The atmosphere suddenly dropped to a freezing point.

Yi Zhize continued, "If it weren't for that international criminal case tonight, we wouldn't have crossed paths at all, would we?"

Victor was silent for a long time, his pale blue eyes rippling, "Yi, you misunderstand."

"It doesn't matter." Yi Zhize said, "Let's get right to the point and get straight to business."

"Yi!" Victor stopped caring about gentlemanly manners, took his wrist and whispered, "I've already apologised to you for what happened at the dinner party back then! Why do you keep alienating me because of it?"

"Let go."

"No."

"You're being rude, Mr. Victor."

"My manners are supposed to be disguised, not that you don't know that."

"What do you want?"

"Yi, forgive me, okay?"

"Is there any point in talking about this now?" Yi Zhize got up from his seat, "I'm going to the washroom, so you should calm yourself down. When I come back, I want you to regain your sanity and we can continue to talk about the case."

Yi Zhize left his seat and walked in the direction of the washroom.

As he passed a dark corridor, someone pulled him in.

It was Ou Tingyun.

The corridor was twisted and this corner was hidden from view.

Ou Tingyun pinned him against the corridor pillar and asked in a low voice, "Who is that man?"

Yi Zhize spoke deliberately, "Dr. Ou, I don't have to explain to you."

Ou Tingyun didn't listen, "Tell me, Zhize."

Yi Zhize could not resist him and sighed, "A colleague."

"Zhize, you don't like to have personal relationships with people." Ou Tingyun pursued, "What's more, that man must have something else in mind for you. You stay away from him."

Yi Zhize laughed, "Dr. Ou, why is this always the case? Do you have a prejudice against everyone around me?"

"Indeed," Ou Tingyun leaned closer to him again, "I loathe those who surround you."

"What about yourself?" Yi Zhize said, "A beautiful scene, flowers before the moon?" (Angel: These are two sayings put together, the first meaning good time and scenery, and the second meaning a place to talk about love.)

Ou Tingyun looked at him in surprise for a moment, then laughed lowly, " Zhize, you have misunderstood."

He seemed to be in a pleasant mood as he spoke in Yi Zhize's ear, "She's a colleague of mine at the hospital. I'm conducting clinical research in psychology and need her help, that's all."

"You don't have to explain." Yi Zhize said, "It's none of my business."

"Really?" Ou Tingyun teased him, "I thought you were jealous."

"No," Yi Zhize immediately denied, "how is that possible? We are not in that kind of ambiguous relationship."

"Then what do you think, what kind of relationship do we have?"

"A doctor-patient relationship in psychotherapy and a cooperative relationship in legal matters." After a long pause, Yi Zhize said, "In a personal sense, a relationship of friends."

Ou Tingyun listened patiently to him finish and said gently, "For me, it's a little more than friends."

Yi Zhize's breath stalled slightly.

His heart skipped a beat.

Ou Tingyun said, "More than friends, a little more, a little deeper."

———

At night, returned to his residence.

After washing up, he lay in bed.

Yi Zhize could not sleep.

It was not simply because he was anxious, rather it was a mixture of inexplicable emotions.

Ou Tingyun's words lingered in his mind and he felt like he was drifting.

No.

This was not right.

This emotion, Yi Zhize thought, seemed to have crossed the line a little.

At that moment, his phone lit up.

It was a call from Ou Tingyun.

Yi Zhize stared at the screen for a long time, not knowing whether he should answer it or not.

Before the phone hung up, he pressed the answer button.

"Zhize."

"En."

Just hearing his voice was all it took, but it seemed to raise some great sense of satisfaction.

"The moon is beautiful, do you see it?"

"En."

He didn't actually see it, but he felt that if Ou Tingyun saw it, he saw it too.

"I was watching you while we were dining tonight."

Enough.

Don't say any more, thought Yi Zhize.

He felt his heart beating fast and furious.

He didn't know how to reply.

So he kept silent.

Ou Tingyun said, "Are you free tomorrow night?"

"Yes."

"Shall we meet up?"

"Okay."

"First we'll go to dinner, then I'll hypnotise you."

"En."

"Actually, these are all excuses," Ou Tingyun suddenly whispered, "I just want to see you."

Yi Zhize's mind exploded.

He felt as if he had lost his footing and had fallen into some great whirlpool.

Sanity began to fall apart.

He was being,

devoured inch by inch.