Page 2 of He Is My Bride

Li Ying finished the skin suture in a nimble series of buried knots.

“There we are! I think such brave little girls deserve to choose a plaster. Here.” Li Ying offered the child he had been treating a choice from two kinds of children’s plasters, blue and pink ones.

Her choice was an easy one, “Pink.”

“Is pink your favorite color?”

“Yeah.”

Li Ying had been talking to her nonstop throughout the unpleasant procedure in a cutesy, high-pitched voice, and not only had she stopped crying after the lidocaine injection had settled in, now she even managed to smile for him. Li Ying felt rightfully accomplished.

He applied the plaster on her arm and gently smoothed it over the laceration. “There we go. Are you ready to get back on your bike?”

The girl still looked hesitant.

“Hey, it’s alright,” Li Ying said, “everybody falls sometimes, you just have to get right back up after, yeah? Go show that bike who’s boss! ”

He patted her arm before saying goodbye to the kid and her mother.

“You’re pretty good with kids, Ying,” spoke the senior doctor responsible for him. The man had been sitting at his desk, documenting the visit on his computer. “Thought of going into pediatrics, have you?”

“No.” Li Ying had a different dream: I’m going into criminal pathology.”

The senior looked up from the monitor and peered at Li Ying over his framed glasses. “Seems like a waste of your particular talents. They’re a bunch of weirdos over at pathology.”

You don’t know me, sir. Maybe I am a weirdo.

It wouldn’t be the first time Li Ying had been called one. He smiled at the senior. “I get along with all kinds of people.”

“And by the way, buried suture?”

“Improves cosmetic outcome.”

“Correct. I use it myself. You’re the first student I’ve seen do it so confidently. Good job. You should get going though, it’s way past your hours. See you tomorrow.”

“Thank you for today, doctor García.”

Li Ying left the hospital. He lit a cigarette while walking to his bicycle, and took out his phone to send a message to his boyfriend— his boyfriend!

Yes: Wu Hanjun.

Li Ying still couldn’t believe the man had said ‘yes.’

—

Wu Hanjun’s personal phone wouldn’t stop notifying him of incoming messages.

Hanjun was still driving: he couldn’t pick up the phone right now. It was against traffic rules. Nevermind that he was stuck in the infamous New York rush hour and not moving anywhere anytime soon. Glancing left and glancing right, other people were checking their phones behind their wheels.

What if it were something important? Hanjun picked up his phone and let the camera scan his face to unlock the screen. He would only check that it wasn’t an emergency.

If you don’t answer, it’ll be Hunan beef.

Li Ying.

Hanjun smiled.

They had been dating for well over a year, but simply seeing a message from his boyfriend still picked up Hanjun’s mood each time.

Dinner was hardly an emergency, but since he was checking his phone anyway, Hanjun might as well answer:

No.

The app showed there was also a message from Wu Hanrong, Hanjun’s cousin in Shanghai.

It didn’t take long before Li Ying answered: You’re impossible—mapo tofu?

Hanjun gave a thumbs up. Next he opened the message from his cousin:

Uncle Yiheng wants to know when you could call him. He wants to discuss your transfer back to the Shanghai head office.

Hanjun’s heart sank.

A loud honk from the car behind him startled Hanjun. He grabbed the wheel of his white Bentley and hit the gas.

This is why you don’t break the rules!

—

“I’m home.”

Hanjun hung his coat in the closet and unlaced his polished oxfords. Everything the young man wore was tailored to him, his appearance top-notch, but now he was ready to unwind. He loosened his silk tie and popped the topmost button of his shirt. He could smell mapo tofu.

“Welcome home! Come give me a kiss!” Li Ying’s voice called from the kitchen.

Hanjun crossed the hall into the open-plan apartment. There he was greeted by the sight of Li Ying’s naked buttocks before the stove: the man was wearing nothing but an apron.

Not a bad sight to greet you after a long day of miserably important meetings, Hanjun thought, but the message from his cousin weighed heavily on his mind.

Hanjun walked behind his boyfriend, wrapped his arms around his waist, and planted a kiss under Li Ying’s ponytail.

“And what does your husband get?”

“What?” Li Ying chuckled. “His mouth fed!”

Li Ying didn’t mind his boyfriend getting flirty the first thing he came home, but he wouldn’t let him off the hook so easily:

“You know, it was your turn to cook today. And the day before. You’re lucky I’m such a good wife!” he jested.

“I’m sorry,” Hanjun murmured and pressed his nose into Li Ying’s hair. “There’s been a lot of work.”

“Is Junjun stressed?” Li Ying buried his hand in Hanjun’s hair. Hanjun wore his hair shorter than his, but there was enough for a good grip.

“I’m fine,” Hanjun heard himself say.

“Good. Go sit down.”

Li Ying finished cooking while Hanjun sat with his thoughts for a while.

His work phone vibrated again, so he turned it off.

He was done for today, he told himself, but it was hard to shake the feeling of guilt when he ignored work.

Thankfully, Li Ying hadn’t heard the phone over the clattering of dishes.

Li Ying never said it, but Hanjun knew the man didn’t love it when he brought work home.

Hanjun kept staring at Cousin Hanrong’s message on his personal phone. He had not answered him yet, nor called Uncle Yiheng.

“Help me set the table?” Li Ying asked.

Hanjun put the phone down and went to help Li Ying.

“You know, I’m busy too,” Li Ying said as he sat down and dug in. “I try to play a good housewife, but this internship is really taking it out of me. I haven’t been able to go out with my friends for weeks.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I will try to help out more.”

“Did you have a meeting today?”

“Let’s eat first.”

“Hanjun,” Li Ying began carefully, “I wish we could talk more. We’re both so busy we hardly see each other for most of the day. I want to talk to you. I’ve been waiting to talk to you all day!”

Hanjun frowned. “Do you feel like I’m ignoring you?”

Hanjun knew he worked a lot, but it’s not like he was putting his work ahead of Li Ying, was it? He’d been trying to balance being a good worker and being a good boyfriend, but no matter what, Hanjun ended up feeling guilty when he ignored either work or Li Ying.

“No, that’s not what I said.” Li Ying grabbed Hanjun’s hand over the table. “I miss you!”

“I’m right here.” Hanjun kept his voice steady while Li Ying’s rose.

They had been going steady for a while, but Hanjun knew Li Ying would have appreciated more special attention and grand gestures.

Hanjun’s own idea of romance was one of peaceful coexistence.

But hadn’t it been Hanjun who had asked Li Ying to come live with him, knowing their personalities were like night and day?

Although their relationship had started in awkward circumstances, after giving Li Ying a chance, Hanjun had learned to enjoy the way the lively man filled his silence. Hanjun thought he should remember it was the reason he had fallen in love in the first place.

“We can talk now.” Hanjun squeezed Li Ying’s hands. “How are your studies?”

“Hmmh.” Li Ying pouted, now feeling like he was being a nuisance even if he got what he wanted. “I’ve started looking where I could do my elective rotations next year.”

“Do you think you’ll be finished with your coursework by then?”

Li Ying tilted his head, his ponytail swaying. “Don’t you trust me?”

“I think you should be realistic.”

“I know I’ve not been the best student before, but what else can I do except work hard when my boyfriend isn’t here to distract me properly?” Li Ying pulled that cheeky face he had whenever he had a specific thing in mind.

“Do you want to be distracted?” A tiny smile lurked in the corner of Hanjun’s mouth. He could tease Li Ying right back when he wanted.

A distraction would be welcome to Hanjun, too; his personal phone felt like it was staring at him demandingly.

Li Ying grinned and wiggled in his chair. “Yeah?” He batted his lashes.

Hanjun’s eyes twinkled dangerously. “You’re about to get it, young mister.”

Li Ying trusted that.

—

Li Ying was leaning out of the bedroom window, smoking a cigarette.

“Sometimes I’m tired of this city,” he said.

Out of the window, the incessant sound of traffic and sirens could be heard. The city lights reflected off Li Ying’s pale, naked form. The man was shorter than Hanjun and slight of build, not as muscular as his boyfriend since, unlike Hanjun, he found going to the gym a dull business.

“When will we elope and move to the countryside?”

Hanjun was lying on the bed. “Don’t smoke inside,” he admonished.

“This is technically outside?” Li Ying turned to Hanjun, his cigarette-holding hand extended out of the window.

Hanjun simply glared at him, so Li Ying took a final good smoke, stubbed the cigarette, and stored it in an empty matchbox.

Li Ying slipped back under the covers and cuddled against Hanjun.

“Would you really be happier in a small town?” Hanjun asked, holding Li Ying against him.

Li Ying grinned. “You’ve totally tamed me, I’m almost ready for a quiet family life.”

Hanjun seemed doubtful. Li Ying chuckled.

“Yeah, I guess I would miss it, but imagine: a house and a yard just for us, and… Is it too early to think about kids?” Li Ying thought Hanjun seemed awkward, so he skirted the subject, “Anyway, we’ve been together long enough that we could start thinking about the future.”

“Mm. What about job opportunities?”

“That’s so not what I meant.”

Could Hanjun not take a hint, Li Ying wondered, or was he simply reluctant to what he was hinting at?