Nie Huaisang walked into the hospital room tapping his fan against his leg. Everyone in his department would have run at the sight. They all knew what it meant - Nie Huaisang was seriously peeved about something. He noticed Jiang Cheng was holding A'Yuan who was in tears.

"What happened? Is he okay?" he asked Lan Wangji in a quiet voice.

"He will be. Wen Chao is the one who beat him." was the equally quiet response.

The fan started tapping again. A night with no sleep, watching Yu Bin hurt, sending out a team for a last minute undercover op, waiting for search warrants from a judge who was up to her eyeballs in corruption and being confronted by Yu Bin's sister each time he saw her did nothing for his growing irritation. Add the situation with Wei Yuan and he was ready to pull out his new favorite fan.

'Wen Chao could always do with a visitor.' he thought with grim satisfaction.

"A'Sang?" the voice was low and concerned. He looked up to see Yu Bin looking at him with worry in his eyes. "Are you okay?"

Nie Huaisang gave an unconvincing smile. "Just tired, A'Bin."

"You aren't okay. Come sit. What's wrong?" Yu Bin gestured to the chair next to his bed.

"Too many things coming to a head all at once." he stroked Yu Bin's good hand gently as he thought. "I have an undercover op going out in a little over twelve hours. There are search warrants waiting for a sulking judge to approve. And I seriously want  to finish what I started with Wen Chao. He has hurt too many. He deserves to suffer through years of torment and die an ugly, painful, humiliating death." His voice was flat. Emotionless.

Yu Bin watched Nie Huaisang. He had seen The Spider before but this was something else. A glimpse of the darkness lurking within The Spider.

Nie Huaisang saw the look on Yu Bin's face. "I'm sorry, A'Bin. I promise, I have never crossed the line. I may work in the gray areas regularly but I've never crossed over." He paused. "Yesterday may have been the exception. Grinding Wen Chao into the glass. It wasn't strictly necessary but..." his voice trailed off.

"I owed it to Lu Jianmin and I couldn't let him get away with hurting you." he fiddled with his fan before suddenly rubbing his face. "I'm sorry, Yu Bin. This is neither the time nor place to display my annoyance with the world." His smile was the cool facade of The Spider again.

"A'Sang?"

Nie Huaisang looked up almost tentatively at Yu Bin.

"Just be you. With me anyway." The smile was warm, accepting, and snuggled right into Nie Huaisang's heart. It took him a second to swallow the lump in his throat.

"Thank you, A'Bin. I don't think I can tell you how much that means to me." His voice shook slightly before he cleared his throat. "I will be just me with you." The look they shared was private and it was obvious they had dismissed the world around them for the moment.

That was when Yu Qing walked in. She had never seen her brother look that way at anyone. He hadn't dated much but she had met each one. At no point had she ever seen him look so happy and content with any of them as he did at this moment. It gave her another reason to pause and find out what exactly was going on between her brother and this inspector.

She waited near the door, not wanting to interrupt. It was obvious something was going on by Wei Ying's bed. Wei Yuan was crying and Jiang Cheng was holding him. The sniffles and hiccups seemed to be slowing but Jiang Cheng wasn't trying to put the boy down. He just held him and gently rubbed his back from time to time. There was something about his face at that moment. A tenderness. A gentleness perhaps. Whatever it was, she liked it.

"Jie-Jie!" Yu Bin's enthusiastic voice cut through her thoughts. She smiled at him.

"How do you feel, Di-Di?" As she walked toward the bed, Nie Huaisang stood. A quick squeeze of Yu Bin's hand then he gestured toward the chair.

"Please be seated. I'll let the two of you visit." He smiled affectionately at Yu Bin, a guarded smile for Yu Qing and then headed to the other side of the large room.

"Have you already met, A'Sang?" Yu Bin was all smiles.

"Yes, I have." Yu Qing answered. Her voice was non-committal.

Yu Bin's smile faltered. "Why did you say it like that, Jie-Jie?"

"No reason. It's not important. You didn't answer me. How do you feel?" She tried to divert the conversation but her brother was having none of it.

"It is important. He saved my life last night. Wen Chao was about to put a knife through my throat just like he did through my hand. A'Sang was the one who got him off me. A'Sang was also the one who put a tourniquet on my wrist so I wouldn't bleed out. He's important to me, Jie-Jie." Confused, Yu Bin looked at his sister. Nie Huaisang had saved his life. Yu Bin had no doubts on that score but Yu Qing was acting like he had done something horrible.

"Would you rather he not have been there, Jie-Jie?" His voice was a whisper. "If he wasn't, you'd be visiting me in the morgue right now. He sat up with me all night. Gave me water the few times I woke and soothed me back to sleep."

When Yu Qing just kept staring at her hands, Yu Bin got curt. "Fine. I'll answer your question. I am fine. Thank you."

Silence descended between them. Yu Qing finally shifted awkwardly in her seat.

"Do you like him because he saved you? Is that what it is? It is, isn't it?" She wasn't sure why she was pushing this so hard.

"No. We began before last night." Yu Bin's face was stony. She had never seen him look that way at her.

"When did it begin?"

"Yesterday on Lan Wangji's deck when I kissed him." He looked her in the eyes.

"He kissed you?" Her voice rose and got glances from others in the room.

"No." He was serious. "I kissed him. I do not know what we have yet but we make each other smile, Jie-Jie. That's a good thing. If him saving my life isn't good enough for you, maybe that is." He was hurt to the quick. He had looked forward to sharing his happiness with his sister and she wasn't even happy Nie Huaisang saved his life?

"I'm tired. I-I think I'll rest now. Thank you for visiting me." If he could have turned his back to her, he would have.

Across the room, Nie Huaisang was watching Yu Bin's face go from happy excitement to crushed despondency in a matter of minutes.

'What the fuck is she doing?' Nie Huaisang was beginning to wonder if there was something seriously wrong with the woman. The fan was tapping his leg faster.

Yu Qing was stunned. Yu Bin had dismissed her. "Of course I don't want you dead, Di-di. I-I just don't want you to attach yourself to someone out of gratitude. Thank them of course but it doesn't mean you have to have a relationship with them. Plus he seems to be quite a bit older than you. You're young and this is awfully sudden and - "

Yu Bin looked at her hard. For the first time, she saw her brother the cop.

"Do you honestly think murder attempts come pre-scheduled? Perhaps you would have liked Wen Chao to drop me a note. Planning on killing you so drop by? I'll be providing a knife and pain. You bring the blood?" He scoffed and was unconsciously tugging at his arm again. "This is  not  about gratitude though the gods know I am grateful to him for caring about me. For driving wildly through the city to save me. For leaping on Wen Chao when I slipped on the broken glass and ended up on my knees. For improvising a tourniquet so we could remove the knife. For standing by my side when I was hurt and scared. It never occurred to me you would have criteria for who could and couldn't save me." Yu Bin was furious. His voice didn't go above a fierce whisper though. He wouldn't be the one to scare Wei Yuan again. 

Her mouth fell open.

"I don't understand why you're being this way. I'm sorry if you don't like that I care about Nie Huaisang. I was so excited to see you. Introduce you to someone who has been nothing but kind to me. Who cares about me. And you're worried I would be too grateful? Who taught me to be grateful for everything we had, Jie-Jie?"

Yu Qing hung her head. "You're right. I'm sorry, Di-di. I am grateful to Nie Huaisang. I am so grateful he saved you. I'm sorry."

He suddenly really was tired. He was still tugging at his arm.

"So am I, Jie-Jie." He leaned back against the bed again. His fury had consumed what little energy he had causing him to tremble.

That was it. Nie Huaisang walked across the room. He wasn't watching this anymore. Not one second longer.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" He gently brushed Yu Bin's bangs off his forehead and placed a hand on his arm. 'Stop tugging. You'll hurt yourself." His voice was soft and calming.

Pointedly, he ignored Yu Qing's presence.

"Tired, A'Sang." His voice sounded like he was almost in tears. 

"Shhh... rest a bit. I'll wake you when the food arrives. You can eat and then sleep again. Okay?"

"Mhmm." Yu Bin looked away. "She wasn't happy you saved me, A'Sang." It was such a tiny whisper. He looked up with tears in his eyes.

Nie Huaisang put his anger to the side. Yu Bin was more important. "Of course she is happy, A'Bin. I think she is still reeling from everything that has happened. Add fatigue and humans do stupid things. She'll sleep. You'll sleep and it will all be just fine by tonight when she comes back." He turned his head.

"Right, Dr. Yu?" his mouth said.

His eyes said, 'You'd better make this right in a fucking hurry.'

There was no mistaking the anger on his face.

"I'm sorry, Di-di. I'm scared and worried and not thinking straight." Yu Qing was as surprised as Yu Bin. Her real feelings had unintentionally fallen out of her mouth.

"Maybe, we can rest and see each other later?" Yu Bin asked. He didn't like fighting with his Jie-Jie but he had to be honest. This was all too important not to be.

"Of course. I have to do my rounds. Then I'll sleep and be back. Does that work for you? We can eat dinner together." She was watching his face. What had possessed her she didn't know but she had seriously hurt her baby brother.

"That would be nice."

Nie Huaisang was still mad as hell but he recognized the doctor was at least trying to fix things. "Thank you, Doctor. I look forward to seeing you this evening "

Yu Qing gave them a small bow. Her peek at Nie Huaisang told her everything she needed to know.

Hurting Yu Bin carried consequences and Nie Huaisang had a very long memory.

A final smile for Yu Bin and she was gone.

"A'Sang? Who is Lu Jianmin?"

~♡~♡~♡~

Enjoy your weekend 🥰 and make sure your loved ones know they are loved. ❤️

❤️🍫🫖❤️