A long and arduous rappel climb later, Huojin is leaning against the gray wall near his client’s window with his feet resting on a conveniently placed row of bricks. He notices somebody stepping outside of the apartment from the front entrance below him. A small flicker of red light flashes near the antlike figure, and a puff of smoke rises toward Huojin. He anticipates a nicotine-filled nimbus’ dissipating trek upwards, and holds his breath when it reaches his story.
He waves the hot and slightly bitter mist away form his face as he breathes again. He looks into the window and notices a woman taking off her…
…(what was that color again?)…
…burgundy leather coat. Odd. He doesn’t remember a woman answering the phone. “是挢居室吗?” he thinks to himself. Huojin steps back to the wall. He takes out a boxlike black phone from one side of his back, and extends an antenna from the other side. He takes out the now-crumpled floorplan from his pocket, and dials a phone number on it. A phone rings on the other side of the window. The hammer on those bells are so powerful that the window vibrates. He looks to the window again, and the woman answers the phone with the coat’s hood hanging off her hand.
“Wai. uh…Lei de ju shi.” Her accent is foreign and toneless. It’s unmistakably American. Huojin contemplates for a second whether or not to go into the apartment and scare a woman who has nothing to do with this job. This is probably the only chance he will get to give this man, and his woman, a chance to sleep comfortably.
“Hello, This is Xiang Fu…” In his short, frustrated pause, Huojin wonders why he answered her in English. He’s horrible with it. “a…pl…iansze departman. This is a pur…pre screening call. can you check the…tem…tempature model in the ki..kichan and tell me what it reeds pleece?”
The woman goes to the kitchen on the other side of a wall between it and the spacious living room as Huojin unlocks and opens the window.
He worms his way into the apartment when an answer from the phone comes back. “There is no temperature module in the kitchen, It may be in the bathroom”
Not only were his plans wrong, but he was close to being made, so he went to 策二. Huojin hung the phone to the receiver on his back, and took his pistol out from behind him on his belt. the woman comes back and sees Huojin’s dark figure. A quiet but shaky gasp and exponentially opening eyes convey her reaction.
“Not a ward. Hands up”. Huojun takes one bag strap off his right shoulder when a buzz comes from the beige intercom on a wall conveniently placed behind the woman. “Ansa it”. The other strap comes off Huojin’s shoulder and slides down into the palm of his hand.
“Wai?” Her voice has tone this time, but only because it’s the English questioning tone.
“Farah. It’s Lei, can you let me in?”
This is getting too difficult for Huojin to handle. As much as he wants to go forward with this repair, too many uncalculated factors are creeping in. Houjin reluctantly accepts that he cannot save a dreamer tonight.
“Face the wool”. She complies, and Huojin puts the bag back on his shoulders, and steps backwards. “Not a ward. Not even to ya boyfriend”.
“He…he’s not my buh..boyfriend. Please don’t take anything. He’ll think I did it. I…I don’t live here, I’m only watching his flat while he goes outside for a smoke”. the woman presses the open button.
“I’m not taking anything, I wanted to fick…fix the Ey See”
“Sheeyang Foo is coming anyway, so why are you…” she turns her head and glances from the corner of her eye. Nobody is there.
Huojin leans to the gray wall like before. His eyes stick out of the black mask as they look down to the street in sorrow and regret. In his four years of donning black and nurturing the imaginations of many tired and scared people, he has never failed this miserably. There were a couple of times where he almost crossed paths with Xiǎng Fú, but he always hid long enough to fix appliances.
This time, the plot failed before the white and yellow Xiǎng Fú truck could even arrive.
Huojin worries about the newly fated daydreamer Lei. Huojin hears the apartment door open.
“Thanks for watching my flat for me. I wonder what’s taking Xiǎng Fú so long…”
“Uhh…beats me.” Her intuition convinces her to investigate the window for the escapee “You w…wouldn’t mind getting me a glass of water would you?”
“No, Problem”
As Lei goes out of sight behind the wall, Farah investigates the window for a sign of the intruder.
The pistol that held her hostage a minute and a half earlier pops out from the window at her once again, the only difference being that it is the other hand that holds it. The pistol retracts as quickly as it is replaced by a peace sign from the other hand. As soon the peace sign jumps out of sight, Farah hears a faint zipping sound. Perhaps a rope.
“I hope you don’t mind if your water a little warm”.
Farah stares out the window blankly.
“Is everything ok?” Lei waves a hand over her eyes
Farah snaps out of her slight trance “ Uhh, yeah”. She accepts the glass and takes a small enough sip to convince Lei that the water wasn’t an alibi.
The heavy hammer strikes the bells on the phone once again. Lei answers.
“喂…那 迟…明天?” Frustration replaces his previous face.” …行, 明晚是 好. 再见 ” Lei places the phone to the receiver to end the call. He tries to place it gently to hide his anger. He exhales deeply and slowly in a way that suggests that he is about to announce something unfortunate.
“Xiǎng Fú isn’t showing up here tonight. Thanks for watching the flat for me, but I guess it was all for nothing. You can leave now if you wish”
Apprehension catches Farah off guard. She nervously gulps more water as she stares back at the window. She doesn’t want to leave Lei behind to the mercy of that scary ninja guy. At that moment, she has a stupid and reckless idea, but it seems like the only idea that will keep Lei safe tonight.
“Lei. Would you like to sleep over at my place tonight”
“I can’t help but feeling a little weird about accepting your offer. Also I wouldn’t want to impose”
“It’s not a problem, I…I’ve got a futon couch in my living room I can set up for you, and the AC works.” She starts second guessing her big plan. What if Lei takes this the wrong way? She starts contemplating little defensive measures in order to avoid anything funny; lock her bedroom door, or wake up earlier than the businessman’s 8am and dart out for breakfast. Both just to be safe.
“Alright, I’ll just get some stuff together and I’ll be there soon.”
Farah briskly walks out toward the door, dropping off the empty glass of water on the closest table to her.
“The door will be open, just knock. It’s room 2046½”