Ch..8 Evening softened the city.
The heat of the day had faded, replaced by warm lights and slow-moving streets. Shops were closing, conversations drifting lazily through the air. Everything felt ordinary.
That was what unsettled Suo Ran the most.
He had just stepped out of a small bookstore when he sensed it that familiar pressure, quiet and deliberate.
"You walk like you're trying not to be followed."
Suo Ran stopped.
He turned to find Cai Lang standing a few steps behind him, hands in his pockets, posture relaxed. No shadows. No urgency. Just presence.
"You shouldn't sneak up on people," Suo Ran said.
"I didn't," Cai Lang replied calmly. "You were distracted."
"By what?"
"By thinking you were alone."
Suo Ran sighed and turned away, heading down the sidewalk. Cai Lang matched his pace effortlessly.
"You're avoiding me," Cai Lang said.
Suo Ran glanced at him. "You keep saying that."
"And you keep proving it."
They walked in silence for a moment. The streetlights flickered on one by one, casting long shadows.
"I don't owe you explanations," Suo Ran said finally.
"I didn't ask for one," Cai Lang replied. "I asked for honesty."
Suo Ran stopped walking.
Cai Lang did too.
"Why are you watching me?" Suo Ran asked quietly.
Cai Lang met his gaze. "Because people who don't look afraid usually are."
"That's not an answer."
"It is," Cai Lang said. "Just not a comfortable one."
The evening air felt suddenly heavier.
"You don't get to decide what I do," Suo Ran said.
Cai Lang stepped closer not touching, but close enough that Suo Ran could feel warmth.
"I know," Cai Lang said softly. "That's why I'm telling you instead of stopping you."
Suo Ran's heart beat faster. "Telling me what?"
"To be careful," Cai Lang replied. "You're standing at the edge of something you don't see yet."
"And you do?"
Cai Lang's lips curved faintly. "I see risks."
Suo Ran held his gaze, refusing to look away. "Maybe I don't mind risk."
Cai Lang studied him for a long moment. "That's exactly what worries me."
A group of people passed by, laughter breaking the tension. When they were gone, the silence returned thicker than before.
"I don't belong to you," Suo Ran said.
Cai Lang nodded. "I know."
Then, after a pause, he added, "But you're still under my watch."
Suo Ran scoffed. "That's supposed to reassure me?"
"No," Cai Lang said evenly. "It's supposed to keep you alive."
He stepped back, giving Suo Ran space again.
"Go home," Cai Lang said. "It's getting late."
Suo Ran watched him walk away, heart unsettled not because of fear, but because part of him didn't want Cai Lang to leave.
As evening swallowed the street, Suo Ran realized something uncomfortable:
Cai Lang wasn't trying to own him.
He was claiming awareness.
And that was somehow more dangerous.
Suo ran was ready to go!
Suddenly his phone vibrating in his pocket.
Once.
Then again.
An unknown number.
He stopped walking.
The street was busy enough people talking, scooters passing but the moment he read the message, the noise faded.
They found it.
They know you still have it.
His fingers went cold.
Everything from that night flashed vividly in his mind the chase, the narrow escape, the reason he never stayed in one place too long.
He had thought he'd buried it. Thought time had dulled the danger.
"You're pale."
Cai Lang's voice came from beside him too close, too sudden.
Suo Ran looked up sharply. Cai Lang stood there, eyes fixed on his face, expression no longer neutral.
"What happened?" Cai Lang asked.
"Nothing," Suo Ran said too quickly, slipping his phone away.
Cai Lang didn't believe him.
"That message," Cai Lang said quietly. "It wasn't nothing."
Suo Ran exhaled sharply. "You don't get to read my face like that."
"I do when your pulse changes," Cai Lang replied.
They stood under a streetlight now, the glow outlining the tension between them.
"Is it about the thing you ran with that night?" Cai Lang asked.
Suo Ran froze.
"…You knew?"
"I suspected," Cai Lang said. "People don't disappear without carrying something dangerous."
Suo Ran's jaw tightened. "Then why are you still standing here?"
"Because," Cai Lang stepped closer, voice lowering, "whatever followed you then has started moving again."
Suo Ran's breath caught. "You're sure?"
Cai Lang nodded once. "Too sure."
The warmth of the evening suddenly felt useless.
"I told you to be careful," Cai Lang continued!
. "You didn't listen."
"I didn't ask for your protection," Suo Ran snapped.
Cai Lang's eyes darkened but not with anger. With focus.
"This isn't about what you asked for," he said.
"It's about what you triggered."
Suo Ran looked away, jaw clenched. "I won't drag you into this."
Cai Lang reached out not touching, just stopping Suo Ran from stepping back.
"You already did," he said calmly.
Silence stretched between them, heavy and dangerous.
"You have two options," Cai Lang continued.
"You disappear again. Or you stay where I can see you."
Suo Ran laughed bitterly. "That's not much of a choice."
"It is," Cai Lang said. "One keeps you alive longer."
Their eyes locked.
"You don't own me," Suo Ran said quietly.
Cai Lang nodded. "I know."
Then, softer but sharper:
"But tonight, you don't walk alone."
Another message buzzed in Suo Ran's pocket.
This one shorter.
"Soon" (message)
Cai Lang saw the tension return instantly.
"That decides it," he said.
He turned, already moving. "Come with me."
"Where?" Suo Ran asked.
"Somewhere they won't expect," Cai Lang replied. "And somewhere you won't pretend you're safe."
Suo Ran hesitated just for a second.
Then he followed.
As the city swallowed them in evening light, one truth settled deep in Suo Ran's chest:
The emergency from that night
was no longer chasing him.
It was closing in.
And Cai Lang was no longer just watching
He was stepping directly into the danger with him.