"I love you."

The words sat upon the heavy air between them. Lan Zhan stood up, ready to catch hold of the wily man, so fast on his feet. He had just found Wei Ying and wasn't about to let him go. He remembered his promise to himself, three years ago, that if he found Wei Ying again, he would tell him exactly how he felt.

But something was wrong...because Wei Ying didn't look at all happy about it. And then, Lan Zhan had another thought: what if Wei Ying was no longer single? What if he already had met someone? That thought produced more tears. Was he too late?

He tried to blink them away because now his vision was blurry and he couldn't see if Wei Ying was still standing there or not. This was terrible...

"Lan Zhan...Lan Zhan...First, you have to stop. I'm right here." Wei Ying used his long sweater sleeves to wipe at his face for him. "Come on, let's sit down first." He made his voice calmer, trying to soothe the other.

Things had changed, that was for sure. In the past, it was always Lan Zhan who was the more level-headed of the two, always ready to calm Wei Ying who wore his emotions on his sleeves, always overly dramatic with how he was feeling. Wei Ying had never seen Lan Zhan cry...ever.

So just what had happened to make him like this?

Wei Ying had shut himself away from the fashion world as a whole; why look at something that was the equivalent of the forbidden fruit now? If he was not allowed to design for any major houses, there was no point in keeping track of trends, or rumours to do with what they may be going for. Plus the House of Lan was far too prominent in social media, and there was no way Wei Ying could avoid seeing anything to do with them or Lan Zhan. It had been too painful walking away in the first place, and daily reminders would have killed him. He didn't have a phone anyway; they had seized his laptop and his cell phone, both being their property, when he had left. But he had managed to make that one last message, sending it to Lan Zhan's voicemail.

Wei Ying made Lan Zhan finish the rest of his hot chocolate, hoping the sweet hot treat would restore some balance to wildly out-of-control emotions. He drank some of his own too, deep in thought.

"Why did Wei Ying leave me?"

Another difficult question...but this one, Lan Zhan should know the answer to...shouldn't he?

"You know why." Wei Ying did not want to clarify.

But Lan Zhan was shaking his head.

"Lan Zhan...don't make me bring it all up...please..." Wei Ying grabbed his mug, trying to stop his fingers from trembling.

This wasn't fair at all. He had just about put everything behind him...Well, nearly everything. But evidently, some things did not want to stay there.

"I heard rumours, but I did not believe it." Lan Zhan pulled out his phone and searched for something. Then he laid it on the table in front of Wei Ying, on speakerphone.

"I didn't do it."

The voice of Wei Ying, from three years ago, spoke loud and clear.

"I didn't...I didn't do it. You have to believe me, Lan Zhan. If anyone knows how important it is to keep the new stuff under wraps, it's me. Is that...is that why you came to find me?" He couldn't keep the tremor from his voice.

"I believe you. I believe Wei Ying."

The sincerity in those words stung.

"Then why...why did you come looking for me? Can't you people leave me alone?" Tears clogged his throat, spilling from his eyes now.

Lan Zhan picked him up and held him closer, letting him cry.

It was exhausting, holding back everything he felt, keeping it a secret from those closest to him, trying to keep it together every day. The torrent of feelings rushed out of him, purging his heart. His eyes burned with the force of what he was dealing with, raw and festering, along with his own confusion at what had happened to him. His throat felt shredded and rough. He smiled sadly.

"I've ruined your shirt." He whispered, looking at the fabric still clenched tightly in his fists.

"Don't care." Lan Zhan told him, meaning it.

Wei Ying picked up a spare tissue and tried to dry it where the material was sticking to his chest. It was a light blue silky cotton. The colour comforted Wei Ying; at least Lan Zhan's colour preferences had not changed.

"Why did you...y-you kept that message...?" Wei Ying stared at his phone, still sitting on the table.

"It was the only thing I had left of you." Lan Zhan nuzzled closer, embarrassed. But it was the truth.

When Wei Ying had left, he had removed every single trace of him ever living in that apartment they shared. There was nothing to suggest he had lived there at all, except for the memories in Lan Zhan's mind.

"But Lan Zhan...what you said...it can't be true. Uncle Qiren...I mean, Lan Qiren...h-he said you hated me...because...b-because of what happened. I don't understand..." Wei Ying rested his forehead against the strong chest.

"I will never hate Wei Ying." Lan Zhan stated firmly. "Love Wei Ying." He repeated.

"You can't...you can't love me. He'll ruin you...your career..."

Lan Zhan looked confused over that.

"He cannot. It is impossible. Uncle needs me."

"But..."

"No."

Wei Ying stared at him for a moment.

"Alot of this doesn't make sense." He gestured between the two of them. "Let's try and catch Wen Qing. She'll know what to do." Wei Ying took off the coat Lan Zhan had made him wear, grabbed his phone and checked they weren't leaving anything behind. Then he took hold of Lan Zhan's hand, letting himself feel comforted when it was squeezed back in return.

"Come on."

They ran across the street, where Wen Qing was just closing the lights. She scowled at first him, then Lan Zhan, who bravely stood in front of her without flinching.

"You made him cry. Again." She jabbed his chest, not at all intimidated by his height, for Lan Zhan stood at least a foot taller than herself.

"Wait, A-Jie, it's not...what it looks like." Wei Ying stood in front of Lan Zhan. "We need your help in figuring out what happened. So much doesn't add up." He looked around. "Since you've pretty much finished up here, let's go upstairs."

Wen Qing glared at both of them, before switching off the lights and locking the door. She pulled down the shutters, all the while mumbling under her breath, and throwing vicious looks Lan Zhan's way.

Then, they opened a side door, and climbed up a single flight of stairs to an open living area. A single wall separated the kitchen from the sitting room, and Lan Zhan concluded that Wei Ying's bedroom must be behind the other closed door. It was small but smart, more than enough space for one person to live comfortably.

And it seemed Wei Ying was comfortably living there; he rushed around picking up laundry, random shirts lying on the back of the couch and finally, his sketch book which he shoved into the coffee table drawer, all the while, awkwardly laughing.

"Anything to drink?" He offered, staring at his reluctant guests; one who looked as if she was going to skin him alive for just talking to Lan Zhan, and Lan Zhan who was trying not to stare at him longingly.

"Just get on with it. The sooner he's out of our hair, the better. And you!" She jabbed Lan Zhan's chest again. "Don't think you can bully us into closing either. I've worked too damn hard for you to just waltz over here, like you own the place. We've got lawyers too!"

Lan Zhan looked more and more miserably confused.

Wei Ying was actually starting to feel sorry for him now.

"The thing is, A-Jie, I don't think he knows everything. From what he's been saying...and look at him!" Wei Ying went to stand with him.

"Alright, then you start. Tell him how broken you were, how much his uncle made you suffer, how much his uncle went around using his influence to make sure not another fashion house employed you, how his uncle promised to run you into the ground if you worked in the fashion industry in New York." Her chest was heaving as she finished, dislike on her face towards Lan Zhan.

"What? What did you say?"

Lan Zhan took the three steps needed to reach her, standing too close, towering over her petite frame.

"I'M NOT SCARED OF YOU!" She shouted. "YOU DON'T KNOW HOW I FOUND HIM!"

Wei Ying wriggled into the tiny space separating the two, facing Wen Qing.

"A-Jie! Stop! Stop it!!"

"AND YOU! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE ACTUALLY TALKING TO HIM? AFTER EVERYTHING HE AND HIS FAMILY DID TO YOU? YOU'RE CRAZY! THERE'S NO OTHER EXPLANATION!"

"He might be innocent." Wei Ying defended him, but now the words were out, he hung onto them like a lifeline.

What if it was true? What if Lan Zhan had no idea what happened to him, three years ago? In fact, he wouldn't put it past Uncle, no, Lan Qiren not to have explained anything to his nephew.

He turned around and pushed Lan Zhan into his couch, and then put Wen Qing in the furthest seat away from him, in the single seater. Of course, then the only other seat left was right next to Lan Zhan...

He had no choice but to go and sit there.

"Why don't you tell me everything from the start?" He suggested, keeping an eye on his suddenly restless sister.

For the first time, he regretted the open kitchen plan, because she was eyeing up his knives already.

"Mn. That day, had to go meet the wholesalers. New fabric order." Lan Zhan said, angling his body so that he was facing Wei Ying.

"That's right...you weren't there." Wei Ying remembered.

"Was travelling all day on metro. No signal. Got message at night." Lan Zhan cleared his throat a few times before continuing. "Went home, no Wei Ying. Nothing." He looked so heartbroken about that, Wei Ying reached for his hands. "Went to see Jiang WanYin. No luck."

"I don't believe you." Wen Qing retorted, flatly. "What about when you saw your uncle?"

"Next day, Uncle shouted at me. Said designs were leaked. No time. Middle of winter collection. New designs needed, and after show, Brother put me on plane to Japan. Stayed for a year." That was possibly the worst time in his life...

"And then?" Her voice was full of skepticism.

"One year in China, and last year in France. Haute Couture."

"Really?" Wei Ying squealed in delight, bouncing up and down on that small couch. "You always wanted to go there! What did you learn? Did you meet anyone famous? What did they say when they found out it was you? Famous child prodigy, chief designing consultant for the House of Lan? I bet they pissed their collective pants upon meeting you in person!" Wei Ying sounded so happy all of a sudden.

"Let's not get off track!" Wen Qing glared at both of them.

"Nevermind, you can fill me in, later. When she's gone." Wei Ying jerked his head in her direction.

"It's your turn. And do not leave anything out!" She scowled some more, folding her arms across her chest, and sitting back.

"Alright, alright...jeez." Wei Ying thought back to that day. "When you left, we were in the middle of trying to figure out which belt would go with the silver faux fur, do you remember? In the new winter collection."

"Mn."

"There wasn't much time, and we were working around the clock just to finish ready designs...I thought it was strange then, that he sent you out on an errand that XiChen-ge could easily have done instead..." Wei Ying tapped his nose, thinking hard.

"And then?" Lan Zhan leaned forward.

Wen Qing rolled her eyes; Lan Zhan hadn't stopped staring at Wei Ying since he'd sat down next to him, and even now, his eyes kept drifting towards Wei Ying's lips.

"And then they paged me, emergency meeting in Lan Qiren's office. I thought they had a last minute model change, or maybe he wanted to tweak the design a bit." He swallowed hard.

Wen Qing went and got him a glass of cold water. Wei Ying smiled up at her gratefully before drinking half of it. This next part was going to be difficult; he still had nightmares about it, and Wen Qing was the only one who understood that.

"I don't know how they got their hands on my laptop, but they showed me all of our designs, they'd been leaked to the press and now the other houses were stopping whatever they had ready and were incorporating our designs! It was blatant plagiarism but we had no proof, and your uncle didn't believe me. He said I had leaked the photos, they had evidence of someone sending me a confirmation email to do with transferring money into my account for 'services rendered', which to be fair, was pretty vague to begin with.

"But he was really angry...he wouldn't listen to me when I tried to defend myself, just got angrier and angrier when I said that wasn't my email address, and then he threatened to take you down too. And he said if I ever tried to work for anyone remotely connected to the House of Lan, or anybody in the fashion world ever again, he would make sure I never got employed ever, in New York City. I even contacted MaxPress designs, they were quite small then, and even they turned me down." Wei Ying was lost in thought, remembering those days.

"I stayed with Jiang Cheng for a few nights...in fact I was there that first night when you came around." He murmured.

"Wei Ying was...there?" Lan Zhan scooted closer, holding his other hand.

Wei Ying nodded, looking at their joined hands.

It was funny how such a small touch could bring so much comfort. Palm to palm, there was a warmth that was spreading straight to his chest.

"Everything!" Wen Qing yelled. "Or I'll do it for you. Your choice."

"I'm doing it...!" Wei Ying defended himself, unconsciously sitting closer to Lan Zhan.

She said nothing, smirking at the both of them instead.

"Ah...so...er...I had to leave Jiang Cheng. His mother...not the most understanding of women...she didn't want me to "contaminate" her son." Wei Ying made the speech marks sign. "So I had to move out. But I didn't know many other people in New York...Shijie's husband, their family asked if I wanted to stay with them, but it was in return for...for...for-" Wei Ying blushed a bright red and shut up, looking at anywhere but Lan Zhan's face.

This time it was Lan Zhan who gave him a hard look.

"What did they want? And who was it?"

"It was the peacock's dad...don't worry." He stared at Lan Zhan whose stubborn streak was showing. "Aish...do you really want me to spell it out, Lan Zhan?"

"Yes! Tell him." Wen Qing said, too loudly.

They both ignored her.

"Er...I'd have to...er...share a room with him."

There. The shameful words were out.

Such a look of fury filled his face, Wei Ying was actually scared of Lan Zhan right now.

"Lan Zhan...Lan Zhan...I didn't go. I couldn't..." How could he when his every single waking thought was about Lan Zhan? Then, he had been told Lan Zhan hated him, because he blamed him for leaking their collection to the outside world.

"We will deal with him later." Lan Zhan growled.

"Anyway," Wei Ying continued, pulling the talk away from Jin GuangShan. "I sold what I could, but even the cheapest rooms cost money, and no one would give me a job. I even tried for a job at Walmart...but apparently, if you don't have an address, you cannot be employed. So...I had to start sleeping rough."

"Rough? What does Wei Ying mean, rough?" He had a tone.

Wei Ying watched him carefully. Lan Zhan had no idea what happened on the streets; the thought of it alone was so foreign to him, Wei Ying could have been speaking in another language.

"Park benches at first, but then the wardens used to look for me. Then I found some cardboard boxes and went to find a spot under the bridges...only thing was, there are gangs that run everything now...and they thought I was trying to corner into their share..."

"He wasn't looking after himself either." Wen Qing provided helpfully. "I work in a soup kitchen on Thursday nights, I found him there. Brought him home. The rest is history." She finished.

"I did not know." Lan Zhan said.

Every piece of information was one shock after another, and inside, he was reeling. His Wei Ying had gone through so much hardship...and it was his uncle's fault...

"Hold on!" Wen Qing suddenly said, leaning forward too. "Did you just say it wasn't your email address?" She directed this to Wei Ying.

"Yes...that's right. I'm with Gmail, but they had one under something else...I don't remember what it was." Wei Ying was confused by her excitement. "Why?"

"Why didn't you tell me that before? You're such an idiot!" She got up just to smack the back of his head.

"Um..ow? What the hell, A-Jie?" He rubbed the spot where she'd hit him, while Lan Zhan glared at her.

"Well, I'm pretty sure we can clear your name. I have to talk to A-Ning, but it's worth a shot!" She got up, ready to leave.

Her words made Wei Ying incredibly happy all of a sudden...but then he happened to glance at Lan Zhan's face and slowly, the joy left him.

"I...er...maybe that's not such a great idea, A-Jie." He murmured.

"Don't be stupid. We can talk more about it tomorrow." She left, closing the door down the stairs, its echoes coming back to the now too silent room.

Wei Ying stared at Lan Zhan, who had not yet looked away. Or let go of his hands.

"Er...so...I'll bet you want to get going too, huh?" He said, feeling terribly sad about it.

But Lan Zhan had a life away from here, and if Uncle Qiren was right about anything, it was that Wei Ying would invariably drag him down too. That was the main reason why he did not want to pursue clearing his name.

If he took any action at all against Lan Zhan's uncle, it would ultimately hurt Lan Zhan in the long run, if not now, then definitely later. And Wei Ying did not want to hurt Lan Zhan.

At all.

Plus, what was so wrong with his life right now? It was fine. They were making enough money to make ends meet and Wen Qing was able to make a sizeable dent in mortgage a little at a time, now there wasn't long to go before everything would be paid off.

"Get going?" Lan Zhan inquired, as if he was only just getting it.

"Yeah? You wanna go home now, right?" Wei Ying asked him, trying to make it easier for him.

"No."

"No?"

"No. I stay here. With Wei Ying."