I Don't Need You
I Don't Need You
"I'm going to visit a friend—it's the woman I told you about," Yuan Ning told her. "I'll be back. I assure you."
"Promise?"
"I promise," he said genuinely. He hugged her, and she embraced him tightly. To be giving his mother this much anxiety when all he'd only be visiting an injured (friend?) who saved his life, it made him feel terrible.
Yuan Ning left the house, entering his car, driving towards Wu Genji's apartment, which was a twenty-minute drive from the main estate. While he faked his death, Yuan Ning never left the city. He stayed in Wu Genji's apartment and only made short trips at night, concealing his face with a mask and a baseball cap. He never risked getting recognized, and now he had to get used to not hiding anymore.
He passed the narrow streets and alleys, making his way to an ordinary apartment complex that was identical to the neighbouring buildings. He parked his car by the third and went inside. Yuan Ning made it through the secured doors with the key card he never returned since Yuan Shun had dragged him to his home, without letting him grab his stuff.
He took the elevator to the sixth floor, and he stepped down the hall, remembering exactly how many steps it took to walk from the entrance to the front door of the apartment; he remembered the carpeted flooring, the peeling eggshell wallpaper, and the yellow light fixtures in the halls.
Yuan Ning was well aware that Wu Genji was loaded, but she had picked such a subtle and standard apartment, for a reason he didn't know. In fact, Yuan Ning didn't know much about her at all. He had been and still is too closed-hearted to console or consider her a friend, and she was even more solitary and taciturn than him. She didn't pry into his business, and he didn't pry into hers. It was as if they merely co-existed in the same place without ever daring to cross or step beyond certain boundaries.
And yet, when he watched her shield his body—save his life; he had never been so perplexed.
Why did she save him? There was no reason for someone like her to risk her life for someone like him. He remembered how much she expressed her disinterest in him, and yet he also remembered trembling as he held her, bleeding in his arms. Part of him felt like he was reliving a nightmare he experienced not long ago again, and some part of him felt something else he couldn't describe.
And when he asked her why she did it, she had only said, "To be honest, I don't know."
It puzzled him since.
He knocked on the front door and waited a minute until he heard footsteps shuffling across the floorboards. He knew Wu Genji had seen him through the peephole, as she paused for a moment before unlocking the latches and clasps. The door swung open, and she looked at him, wonderment and confusion crossing her expression. It was as if she thoroughly prepared herself never to see him again.
She was dressed in her typical nightwear fashion: grey sweatpants, an oversized shirt. She had pinned some strands of her long and loose blue-black hair over her ears with clips. The dark dimmed her amber eyes, which, under the sun, it would look more like molten gold with lovely pecan hues.
Her bewildered expression changed. "So, you've finally come to get your stuff?" She questioned.
Yuan Ning let himself through without invitation. He then paused to give her a weighing glance as he said, "I came to see you."
Wu Genji's mouth dropped momentarily, and she shut it just as fast. "Why?" she questioned sceptically, closing the door.
He scanned her apartment. "I wanted to check on how you were recovering," he said, further stepping in.
Wu Genji folded her arms over her chest. "I'm doing just fine, thank you."
Yuan Ning surveyed the kitchen and living room. He noted the overflowing dishes in the sink, the piling pop cans and take-out dishes on the coffee table, and the accumulation of trash. He then looked back at her with an arched brow.
"Fine," she said, "I haven't been able to do much. Not even do something as mundane as taking out the trash."
She then stalked toward the couch, slumping on it, propping her feet next to a days-old, unfinished meal.
She turned on the television, and Yuan Ning sighed. He then rolled up the sleeves of his neatly pressed white shirt, walking towards one of her lower cupboards in the kitchen, displaying familiarity. He took out a new trash bag, along with some cleaning bottles, some cloths, and a broom and dustpan.
He then began to clean.
Wu Genji sat up. "I don't need you taking care of anything," she said vehemently.
Yuan Ning ignored her, as he continued to sort dishes from the trash, not acknowledging Wu Genji's annoyance.
"Mr. Yuan," she said bitterly, slightly breathless. "I know that you feel partially responsible for what happened to me. But that didn't change anything between us. I still detest you."
She'd been calling him by first name lately, that he'd almost forgotten how much she resented him before. They may have been roommates, but there was no friendship, no confiding, only presence and simply space sharing.
Yuan Ning considered what she said for a moment before his mouth curved into a half-smile. "So," he began, "taking a bullet for me doesn't change anything about us?"
Wu Genji's expression was blank and solid. "Nope," she answered. "And before you ask, I saved you because I didn't want to watch you die in front of those who came to save you from yourself."
His eyes narrowed. "It seems like you care a lot about someone you detest—even if your morals told you to save me."
Wu Genji gave him a sardonic smile, nothing kind. "Not at all," she said. "You have a family, a proper one. I can tell they care about you. You're not alone, and it's more than what some of us have, Mr. Yuan."
His eyes widened slightly. Did she save him—shield his body, all because she felt like he had somewhere he belonged?
It hadn't occurred to him that she might be alone. They both made a pact never to ask questions about the other. But from the eighteen months, they've lived together, he had never seen her bring a friend, a family member, an acquaintance or a lover.
"Well," he said, continuing his work before she interrupted him. "You're right about everything. I do have a family, and I'm with them again because of you. And yes, I do feel responsible for what happened to you. So, I want to repay you in any way I can."
"I don't want any favours," she responded flatly.
"Let me help you until you've fully healed, then we can part ways," he replied dryly.
Without looking at him, she kept her arms crossed. "Fine."
Wu Genji allowed Yuan Ning to put away, sweep, wash, and mop, until she began to snooze on the couch with her hand propped over her aching torso.
When he finished, she felt him place a blanket over her body, adjusting her pillow while she was half-asleep. She felt her heart stop, and she wanted nothing more than for him to leave and never come back, but she knew he was stubborn and fixated on something if it needs to be done. And despite her reluctance, she needed his help.