When he got off the plane, he saw Zeyang's car parked at the edge of the runway and him walking toward him.
He started moving forward in surprise, feeling a strange sensation inside: an unfamiliar warmth and a kind of relief.
Zeyang reached him and took the duffel bag from his hand.
"I didn't tell you what time I'd be arriving."
"I'm a police officer, remember?" Zeyang replied with a smile.
"There was no need for you to come. It's night."
"All the better! That way I didn't have to ask for time off work, and there was no traffic."
Lu Shen looked at him and laughed. A laugh that melted away all the tension he had built up over those days.
When they reached the sorcerer's house, Zeyang set the bag down in the living room. "Have you eaten?"
"I'm not hungry, thanks. I'll just take a shower and go to sleep."
"Go wash up. I'll make you something."
Lu Shen watched him walk away and said nothing. He didn't want him to leave yet…
After showering, he returned to the living room and sat down, watching Zeyang in the adjacent kitchen, busy at the stove. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the backrest.
When the detective came back into the living room, he saw that Lu Shen was asleep. He made him more comfortable, took a blanket from the bedroom, and covered him.
Then he sat and watched him. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked thinner as well. His magic, usually shimmering, was faint.
Realizing how much the favor he had done for him and Andrea had cost him, his heart tightened.
He wrote him a note telling him that there was food ready in the fridge, turned off the lights in the house leaving only the lamp near the sofa on, then left, closing the door behind him.