Sunday afternoon was golden and lazy and Wenhao was bored.
He had worn the skirt all morning and changed back into his jeans after lunch because the fabric started itching but the feeling of freedom was still there under his skin like a low hum. He wanted to chase that feeling. He wanted to keep moving.
"Weiwei," he said from his spot on the bed where he was lying upside down with his legs against the wall and his hair pooling on the floor. "Let's go out."
Shen Wei looked up from his textbook and his eyes were tired because Wenhao had kept him up late talking about nothing and everything. "Go out where. We went out yesterday. We bought clothes. My wallet is still recovering from watching you pay for things."
"Not the mall," Wenhao said and he rolled off the bed and landed on his feet like a cat. "Somewhere else. Somewhere we haven't been. There's a market on the other side of the city. The night market. I saw pictures. They have grilled skewers and sticky rice and that drink with the bubbles."
Shen Wei closed his textbook slowly. "The night market. Wenhao that's two hours from here. By the time we get there it'll be dark and then we have to come back and I have a quiz tomorrow and I haven't studied."
"You're always studying," Wenhao whined and he pulled Shen Wei's arm until Shen Wei stood up. "You need a break. Your brain is going to melt and leak out of your ears and then who will make me terrible eggs."
Shen Wei sighed but he was already reaching for his shoes because Wenhao had that look on his face. The look that said he was going whether Shen Wei came or not and Shen Wei would rather go with him than stay home and worry.
The bodyguards were waiting in the alley and Wenhao told them to stay because he wanted to walk and the bodyguards looked at each other and called Mr. Liang and Mr. Liang said no.
Wenhao grabbed the phone from the guard's hand. "Father. I'm going to the night market with Weiwei. The guards can follow in the car. But I want to walk. Just for a little while. Just to feel like a normal person."
There was a long pause on the other end of the line.
"Fine," Mr Liang said finally. "But they stay close. And you answer your phone."
Wenhao handed the phone back and grinned at Shen Wei. "See. Easy. You just have to ask the right way."
"You threatened him with silence for three days," Shen Wei said. "I heard you."
"Same thing."
They walked through the streets with the bodyguards following in the black car like a shadow and the afternoon sun was warm on their faces and the city was alive around them.
Shen Wei walked close to Wenhao because the streets were getting narrower and the buildings were getting older and the people on the sidewalks looked at them in a way that made him uncomfortable.
"Weiwei," Wenhao said and he bumped his shoulder against Shen Wei's. "Relax. Nothing bad is going to happen. I'm with you."
That was exactly what Shen Wei was afraid of.
They walked for forty minutes and the bodyguards' car turned a corner behind them and Wenhao took a wrong turn because he was looking at his phone instead of the street signs and suddenly the buildings were different.
Dirtier. Darker. The windows were covered with metal bars and the shops were closed even though it wasn't that late and there were no people on the streets.
Shen Wei stopped walking. "Wenhao. This doesn't look right. We should go back."
Wenhao looked up from his phone and frowned at the street. "The map says the market is this way. Maybe it's just a quiet part of the city."
A door opened somewhere behind them and Shen Wei turned around and his blood ran cold because three men were standing in the middle of the street blocking the way they came.
Wenhao turned around too and his body tensed because these were not normal men. They were big and they were dressed in black and their faces were hard like stone and their eyes were cold like winter.
"Liang Wenhao," the biggest man said and his voice was low and rough like gravel. "We've been waiting for you."
Wenhao stepped in front of Shen Wei without thinking and his voice was steady even though his heart was pounding. "Who are you. How do you know my name."
The man smiled and it was not a friendly smile. "Everyone knows the Liang family. And everyone knows the youngest son likes to wander where he shouldn't."
Shen Wei grabbed the back of Wenhao's shirt and his fingers were shaking. "Wenhao. Where are the bodyguards."
Wenhao looked at the empty street behind them and the empty street ahead of them and his phone buzzed in his pocket and he knew without looking that it was his father calling.
"Don't answer that," the man said. "Put it on the ground. Slowly."
Wenhao didn't move.
The man took a step forward and two more men appeared from the alley beside them and suddenly there were five men and they were surrounded.
"Put the phone on the ground," the man said again and this time his voice was harder. "Or we take it from you and we break your friend's fingers one by one while you watch."
Shen Wei made a small sound and his grip on Wenhao's shirt tightened.
Wenhao pulled out his phone and crouched down and placed it on the dirty ground and his hands were not shaking because he refused to let them see him scared.
"Good boy," the man said. "Now both of you. In the van."
A black van pulled up from nowhere with its side door already open and inside it was dark and Shen Wei couldn't see anything and every part of his body was screaming at him to run.
But Wenhao grabbed his hand and held it tight and walked toward the van and Shen Wei walked with him because there was nowhere else to go.
The door slammed shut behind them and the van started moving and the only light came from the small cracks around the windows and Wenhao's hand was still holding Shen Wei's in the dark.
"Weiwei," Wenhao whispered.
"Yes."
"I'm sorry. This is my fault. I should have listened to you."
Shen Wei squeezed his hand and his voice was shaking but his words were steady. "Shut up Wenhao. We're going to get out of this. We're going to be fine."
Wenhao laughed a little in the dark because even now Shen Wei was trying to protect him.
"Okay," Wenhao said quietly. "Okay."
The van drove on and the city fell away behind them and neither of them let go of the other's hand.