Alimony

Wenjay was seriously doubting his own smarts. He even worried that he might have early-onset dementia. He stood in the kitchen for a solid 15 minutes, racking his brain but couldn't remember if he had ever met Mingyoo before.

After freshening up and lying in bed, he was still obsessing over the note - Mingyoo had clearly used two different handwriting styles, which meant he had seen his English signature before. But Wenjay hardly ever wrote in English in China, heck, even his marriage documents were signed in Chinese.

Could it be that they met when he was in the States?

Why the heck couldn't he remember anything?

Unable to shake off his doubts, Wenjay made an international call to his grandma to make sure Alzheimer's wasn't a family thing. Then he started to wonder if his memory had been zapped - like in "Men in Black". To keep the public in the dark, Will Smith would always whip out that memory-erasing stick and flash everyone, then blame the alien stuff on solar flares or something...

Wenjay even started to think that maybe not getting into an Ivy League school was because his memory got zapped and his IQ took a hit.

If that was the case, Mingyoo would have to take responsibility for messing up his life! That's gotta be lifelong damage, right?

The next morning, Wenjay had totally forgotten about the shadow the shooting had cast over him. His head was buzzing with "How the heck am I gonna win at life with a lower IQ?"

Mingyoo didn't come down for breakfast. Wenjay knocked on his door but got no answer. He didn't know if Mingyoo was dead to the world or had gone out. So he stuffed himself with a baguette and coffee, then plopped down on a lounge chair in the hallway to ponder life.

There was a light drizzle outside. The mushroom that was on the swing was gone, probably picked by Mingyoo for soup yesterday. Wenjay sighed. It seemed that fellow food lovers were always on the same wavelength.

This kind of connection was making him anxious... Wenjay was scrolling through his crush's social media on his phone and noticed she had posted a picture of a meal last Friday night. Judging by the portion, it looked like she was on a date.

This made him even more anxious.

As he was wallowing in self-pity, he heard Mingyoo's voice from above, "Come with me."

"Huh?" Wenjay looked up, dazed, to see Mingyoo poking his head out of the third-floor window, "Get the car, drive me to the Maplewood police station."

Wenjay felt that for his own safety and sanity, it was best not to get involved in any more dangerous and gory cases. But even though his mind was resisting, his body was all in. The moment Mingyoo finished speaking, he sprang up, excited, and darted inside to change.

As he pulled the SUV out of the garage, Wenjay glanced at his adorable panda air freshener in the rearview mirror and felt a wave of melancholy, like there was no turning back.

The roads were slick from the rain, so Wenjay didn't dare to gun it. He handed Mingyoo the baguette he grabbed on his way out and said, "Why didn't you come down for breakfast? Didn't you hear me knocking?"

"Hmm?" Mingyoo took a bite and said, "Maybe I was dead asleep. I've been super tired lately."

Wenjay noticed that Mingyoo looked better today, although still pale, his eyes didn't have that mischievous glint anymore. So he asked, "Where have I seen you before? Can you tell me? I can't remember at all."

Mingyoo didn't answer, so he asked again, "Did you erase my memory? Has your agency ever worked on cases abroad? You can't just go around erasing foreigners' brains, right? Does my current state count as a work-related injury? Can I apply for international compensation?"

Mingyoo looked at him with a pitiful expression and countered, "What work-related injury do you have?"

"Memory loss?" Wenjay pondered, "A decrease in IQ?"

Mingyoo thought for a moment and said, "If you're really worried about not being able to secure your future, I can support you for the rest of your life. If you're not reassured, I can add an alimony clause to our marriage documents, so that after the divorce, I'll pay you, my ex-wife, monthly alimony... This way, even if you become as dumb as a bag of rocks, you won't have to worry about your livelihood, OK?"

"..." What ex-wife? Even if we divorce, I'd be the ex-husband! Wenjay wanted to punch him for his serious nonsense. But before he could, Mingyoo started laughing like a villain, messing up his hair.

Wenjay shook his reddening ear tips, realizing that he would never get a straight answer from Mingyoo. Trusting him would only lead to being played!

At ten o'clock sharp, they arrived at the Maplewood town police station. Wenjay wanted to drive in, but Mingyoo told him to park at the entrance, saying, "You wait for me outside, go for a stroll around town, come back at noon, I'll take you to lunch."

"Eh, don't you need me to go in with you?" Wenjay was a bit disappointed.

However, it was clear that Mingyoo had learned his lesson from yesterday and had no intention of letting him get involved in dangerous work. He casually waved his hand and entered the police station.

Wenjay could only shrug regretfully and drive away.

Maplewood was a small town, but it was nestled against the mountains and by the water, making it incredibly picturesque. The police station was on Riverside Road, just around the corner was the sparkling West Reservoir. There was a row of antique buildings along the river, housing antique shops, cafes, pubs, etc., all very charming.

Wenjay parked his car in the parking lot at the intersection and strolled aimlessly by the river. He tasted the local famous mustard cold noodles, which were so spicy they made his nose run and his eyes water. Then he bought a sour plum soup made with river water, which was so sour it made his teeth ache.

An hour passed unknowingly, and Wenjay sat on a bench on the street, looking at the roofs across the street. Beyond a coffee shop was the back wall of the police station. At this moment, Mingyoo was interrogating the cold-blooded Zeeshow behind that wall.

Feeling restless, Wenjay couldn't suppress his curiosity. He walked into the coffee shop, ordered a hazelnut latte, and deliberately chose a seat by the wall. The police station building was just beyond the wall. If Mingyoo and his team were to "use their powers" again, maybe he could sense something.

There weren't many customers in the cafe. The waiter was wiping the coffee machine behind the counter, and blues music was playing softly from the speakers. Wenjay, like a spy, pressed his ear against the wall, but he couldn't hear anything, which left him quite disappointed - if only he had superpowers too!

The doorbell jingled, and a middle-aged man walked in. He ordered a caramel macchiato at the counter, scanned the whole shop, and sat down in the seat opposite Wenjay.

The cafe was by the river, and the window seats had a clear view of the West Reservoir, offering a very open view. Yet, he chose a seat against the wall where he couldn't see anything. Wenjay found it strange and couldn't help but take a few more glances at him. The man seemed to be in his forties, wore black-framed glasses, and looked rather ordinary, like any white-collar worker you'd see in the CBD, with a crisp shirt and neat trousers.

The man seemed to have a keen sense of awareness and noticed Wenjay's gaze. When the waiter brought his coffee, he moved to a position with his back to Wenjay, but still against the wall.

Why was he so fond of this wall? Wenjay, having nothing better to do, started to speculate - could it be that he, like Wenjay, was interested in the police station next door? Could he be Zeeshow's accomplice? Was he planning to blow up this wall, storm into the police station, and rescue Zeeshow?

In a quarter of an hour, Wenjay had concocted a 100,000-word police drama in his mind.

However, the man made no move to act, leisurely sipping his caramel macchiato. He didn't open his briefcase to take out a bomb, nor did he use any superhuman powers. Wenjay got bored and pulled out his phone to play a harem game.

Just as he successfully defeated a time-traveling lady who was trying to win favor, earning 2 points of the emperor's trust, 3 points of the empress dowager's favor, and being promoted to the rank of "Noble Lady", Wenjay suddenly felt a nearly imperceptible vibration in the air around him.

What was going on? He looked around, everything was calm, and there were no anomalies.

But perhaps because he had been spending too much time with Mingyoo recently, he had become a bit paranoid. He felt that his sensation just now was very similar to what Mingyoo described as "electrical tremors in the brain structure caused by supernatural force fluctuations".

Could someone be using superpowers?

Wenjay was instantly excited, hastily put away his phone, nearly knocking over his coffee cup in the process. The clinking of the cup and saucer startled the man in front of him, who quickly got up, left a hundred-yuan bill under his cup, and walked out.

Wenjay's first reaction was that the man was trying to escape. Without thinking, he stood up and said to the waiter, "Boy, check please!" As he turned around, he pretended to accidentally bump into the man.

"I'm sorry!" He steadied the man's arm, feigning surprise, "I'm so sorry I bumped into you, are you okay?"

The man brushed off his hand and said, "I'm fine, please step aside."

"I'm really sorry." Wenjay apologized again, stepping aside.

In that fleeting moment, Wenjay got a good look at him - the man was about four or five centimeters shorter than him, around 1.77 meters tall, of average build, with double eyelids and a high nose bridge. His lips were thin, there was a small mole on the right side of his chin, his ears had no lobes, and he had a faint, indescribable scent that could only be detected up close.

Wenjay watched him leave the cafe, his mind strangely foggy. That scent lingered in his nose like a ghost, and it felt oddly familiar.

Had he met him somewhere before? Wenjay pondered for a long time but couldn't figure it out.

Maybe his memory was playing tricks on him. After a while, he gave up in frustration, suspecting that Mingyoo's "amnesia" act from the night before had made him a bit paranoid.

Wenjay paid the bill, left the cafe, and saw that it was almost noon, so he headed towards the Maplewood town police station.

Just as he reached the entrance, two detectives he had seen yesterday rushed out. Seeing Wenjay, they nodded at him, "You're here? Mingyoo is inside."

"Are you guys heading out on a case?" Wenjay greeted them and asked, "Is Mingyoo done?"

"There's been an incident, go see him inside." The two detectives seemed to be in a hurry and jogged away. Wenjay had a bad feeling and rushed up the stairs, bumping into Highyang in the hallway.

"Officer Chan?" Wenjay steadied him and asked, "What happened? Where's Mingyoo?"

Highyang looked pale as a sheet, pointed towards the interrogation room, and hurried away.

Wenjay walked to the door of the interrogation room and was taken aback - Zeeshow was lying on the floor, blood trickling from the corner of his eyes. He was barely breathing.

Mingyoo was kneeling beside him, performing chest compressions, sweat pouring down his forehead and pooling at his temples.