Ch. 3

The Way We Hurt - Ch. 3

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Lei Lei raised a leg and hit the doorbell again with her foot. Both her hands were loaded with bags of her breakfast and file folders from work, and she was determined to not let either of the items touch the floor, no matter what that entailed. The hall was filthy.

She frowned to herself and then wondered when Rob last swept in front of his door. The words "bum" and "bachelor pad chaos" rang irritably in her head.

Lei Lei raised her leg again, and this time, kept her foot on the little button, tapping it continuously. If he didn't hear the last two rings, he'll eventually hear her like this. Needless to say, she was flexible on top of being stubborn, and if need be, she could easily stay in that position for another half-hour.

Fortunately, after another two minutes, a click sounded and the wood door behind the iron gate swung open. He stood there, bleary eyed, ruffly haired, crabby looking, and wearing the outfit she recognized from the night before.

"Zo son." She smirked, feeling more amused than she should be at his disoriented appearance.

"The only reason I'm letting you in is because you brought dim sum." The reply came out as half-growl and half-yawn as he unlocked the second iron-gate door.

Rob grimaced as his head sang with pain, a dull hangover that was embedded somewhere in his skull, and another sharp sting between his eyes. He'd have very little reservation about punching anyone else who dared to wake him up this early on a Sunday. But this was Lei Lei, and well... she had dim sum.

Familiar. Comforting. That's how Rob would describe their Sunday morning breakfasts together, even if it always cut out four extra hours of sleep for him. But no matter if he is hung over, or tempted to reach for the razor blade, if she just crawled out of her boyfriend's apartment across town, or if either is feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders, they take the time and make the effort. He would sit on the worn brown sofa and she would pull up a chair, the coffee table squarely between them. Lei Lei would set up the food containers while he got the plates and chopsticks ready. Then they would eat, usually quietly, with an unspoken agreement between them to reserve that moment of serenity. News can wait. Excitement, grief, even police work would wait. There was a certain pureness to those moments, when all things are simple and uncluttered, and even the worst of the worst did not seem so bad.

Rob's sleep-ridden eyes regained some clarity, and he eased himself into the leisurely breakfast. As he added more sweet sauce to his shrimp dumplings, Rob found himself staring across the table as he often does on those Sunday mornings. His mind drifts here and there, but it inevitably settles back on the girl in front of him.

Funny really. They each dragged along their own share of issues, problems, and baggage; running from the past, fighting the future, and never quite at terms with the present. Yet when they are alone together, there is only calm, and things don't have to make sense as long as they are at rest.

All matters simplified, Rob had come to realize that her presence made him happy. If doctors could encapsulate a little bit of Lei Lei in a pill and prescribe him a bottle, maybe life wouldn't seem so hopeless. But those thoughts were cleared away along with the empty food cartons as breakfast came to an end, and Lei Lei set about wiping the table clean.

"No fuck last night?" Rob asked as he washed his hands in the kitchen.

"No shower last night?" she nodded at his wrinkled set of clothes.

Rob clamped his mouth shut. Touche.

"Since when is it your business anyway?" Her tone did not sound insulted; in fact, she smirked, defiance behind the raise of the eyebrow and whimsy in a curl of the lips. She didn't bother adding that she knew Rob didn't like Bo. Rob thought Bo was dumb as a rock, when she was pretty sure he was only as dumb as a nail.

"Lei, if men were cigarettes, you'd be a chain smoker."

She chuckled. "Well, actually you're the chain smoker, so why is your sex-life going nowhere?"

Touche again. Rob could have told her about the three phone numbers he picked up last night, but thought it would be wise to drop the matter. It was not an unfamiliar subject, and Lei Lei would only let him get so far with his comments on her sex life before she dropkicked his ass out the eighth story window.

Before long, there were two cups of steaming Jasmine tea on the coffee table as they started flipping through the case files and setting their mind back to work.

Rob lit up a Camel, and inhaled a satisfied breath as she passed over an 8x11 photo. "Remember the name?"

"Su Lo Han," he answered, the cigarette dangling at the corner of his mouth, and his hands fumbling for a utensil to write with.

"Occupation?"

"Kowloon dongbin ga haksiewui yun." He answered in Cantonese. The man was one of Kowloon's east side gang leaders.

"Say it again, and watch your pronunciation this time." Lei Lei was cracking down on his accent. Fair enough, he had to testify in court against Lo Han in three days, there was really no room for error.

Two cigarettes, a cup of tea, and three pages of notes between them later, Lei Lei was finally convinced he was ready for the hearing.

"I know the defense attorney. Lou's an ass, but don't let him fluster you. Your Chinese is fine, just don't be afraid to ask him to repeat a question."

Rob absorbed her words without the benefit of actually listening. Actually, he knew Lou's reputation. If anything, Lou would probably bully him by challenging his credibility, and heaven knows it won't take the most resourceful person to dig up dirt on him these days. The lawyer could start on the fact that he was only a rookie with two years experience behind the badge, and only five months of that time in Hong Kong as an exchange officer from the U.S. He could also pull out Rob's last psychiatric evaluation that almost got him kicked off the force. Lou could and probably would rip him apart on that witness stand.

His mind took off in a hundred different directions, and only snapped out of it when he noticed Lei Lei putting away the case files and reaching for her coat.

"Anne's entering her second tri-mester. I wanted to cook up dinner for her," she nodded at him. "You wanna come to the market?"

"She's the heroin ..."

"I told you not to call her that." There was an edge to her tone and Rob suddenly felt more ashamed than he wanted to feel.

"Sorry. I know... She's been clean three months?"

"Four and a half." She found her shoes by the door. "You wanna come?"

Rob dropped his head against the couch armrest, feeling tired, and yet reluctant to be alone. He didn't want to take any pills today.

A heavy arm raised towards the closet. "Grab my jacket Lei."