"Yes," Blair replied with a nod. "I wonder how your brother's doing. Should I call him? Did you call him?"
Wesley's brows knitted. "No. He deserved it." He felt Niles had crossed the line when he lied to their grandfather.
"What? I heard him screaming in pain over the phone when I called your grandpa. Don't you care about him at all? He's your brother."
"He was asking for it. So he screamed. He's always been loud, anyway. If he could still scream, it means he didn't get hit hard enough." Sometimes, Wesley thought that Niles should become an actor instead of a doctor. He'd be a superstar.
Blair knew Niles. He could be melodramatic sometimes. Still, she said, "Listen to you! I'd like to see you take a beating and see how well you do. You should call him later to make sure he's okay. He probably needs a friendly voice."
"I don't want to. Niles is a grown man. If he can't take his lumps like a man, then he needs gender reassignment surgery. It was just a ruler," Wesley retorted stubbornly.
'A ruler? Was that what his grandpa punished Niles with?' Blair wondered. "Fine. Then I'll text him on WeChat. You still busy?" she asked quietly. It felt so good to talk to him on such a serene night.
It bugged Wesley that Blair worried about Niles. He couldn't take his mind off it. "I'm not. Don't worry. I'll call him. I'll tell you how he is when I'm done."
"Okay. Coming back any time soon?" She missed him and couldn't help scrawling his name over and over again on a notebook.
Then her name. Blair. Wesley. She imagined their names as they'd be printed on their marriage licenses.
"No, I can't make it. If you need anything, call those guys I told you about."
"Oh…"
She was disappointed. Then for a moment, neither of them spoke. Pouting, Blair doodled over Wesley's name. "Call Niles. Talk to you later."
"Okay."
"Bye."
"Bye."
Blair hung up reluctantly.
She sat at her desk, dispirited, reading the WeChat updates, waiting for Wesley's message.
The minute Wesley got off the phone, he set the cell on the desk. He took a deep breath and commanded, "Come out, now!"
Instantly, a group of men came out from around the corner, pushing and nudging each other. Lenard was pushed to the front of the group. He smiled at Wesley awkwardly. "Evening, Chief."
Wesley shot them a cold glance without a word and took out a cigarette from his pocket.
Seeing him light it, Talbot and Bowman walked over quickly. "Hey Chief, can we borrow your lighter?"
They were all off-duty tonight and wanted to have a smoke to kill some time. But they had no lighter. They knew Wesley had one, so they came as a group to borrow it.
Unexpectedly, Wesley was on the phone. His usual authoritative, commanding voice was gone. The striking softness in his tone made the soldiers slow down. They walked as quietly as they could and hid around the corner.
Wesley looked at the lighter in his hand. Instead of giving them the lighter, he handed them his burning cigarette.
Lenard took it and lit his cigarette with it.
Talbot held out his hand towards Wesley and asked, "Can I have your lighter, please?"
Wesley ignored him and lit another cigarette, which he handed to Talbot.
Obviously, that was what he wanted the soldier to light his cigarette with, but Talbot didn't get his point. He scratched his head and asked again, "Chief, may I borrow your lighter, please?"
This time, Wesley put his lighter in his pocket and said, "Find another way to light your cigarette."
Then he turned to call Niles.
The soldiers were confused. He was acting pretty weird about this. It was just a lighter. Why did he refuse to lend it to them? Before, Wesley had even lent them his place and his car.
While Wesley was on the phone, they talked among themselves. "That lighter must be something special. Limited edition, maybe?"
"He's had it for some time."
"Any of you guys get to borrow it?"
"Not me. Maybe Sherman. I'm not sure. I saw him smoking once."
"Maybe it's an heirloom, or a gift from someone special."
Hearing this, they exchanged knowing looks and said one name simultaneously, "Blair!"
"Are you done?" Wesley asked as he edited his message to Blair.
"Are you done?" he asked again when he didn't get a reply. He stressed the last word, indicating he was running out of patience. "Fine. Every one of you gets to train tonight!" he added.
The soldiers pulled a face when they heard that. "Ch-chief, it's our day off. We—"
Wesley sent the message. "Run five laps!"
Talbot thought it unfair. Since they were not on duty, he summoned up some courage and protested, "This is bogus! We just said her name."
Wesley looked at him and asked, "You think it's bogus?"
Talbot regretted what he said immediately. But he still nodded at Wesley. "What do you think, guys? Let Talbot know," Wesley said to the other soldiers.
Sensing an opportunity to "bully" Talbot openly, the rest of the group all stubbed out their cigarettes and got ready to make a move.
Talbot didn't like where this was going. He pulled pranks on others before. He knew what was going to happen to him, and it would be bad. "Chief, I was wrong. It's fair. Very fair!" With that, he ran away as fast as he could.
Wesley looked at Talbot's receding figure and said to the others, "If you can catch him, you won't have to train tonight."
The others' eyes sparkled, and they went chasing after Talbot like lightning. It seemed tonight wasn't Talbot's night after all.
It wasn't long before Blair got Wesley's message. "He's fine. Don't worry."
"That's good. Then I'll let you go back to work." Not wanting to disturb his work, Blair wasn't planning to send him any more messages.
But Wesley replied, "I'm not busy right now."
Blair wondered, 'So? What am I supposed to say back?' "Can you take some time off in the next few weeks?" she typed. But she deleted it. It didn't feel right.
"Then, take care of yourself," she said in the end.
"All right. Thanks," he replied.
Something suddenly struck Blair. After she talked with Wesley, she walked into her bedroom and found the lipstick he bought her, and put it on.
She looked in the mirror. It looked awesome. So she took a few selfies.
But she only kept the best one and deleted all the others.
She opened a photo editor and beautified the selfie. Afterwards, she sent it to Wesley. "I'm wearing the lipstick you bought me. You like?"
When Wesley's phone buzzed again, he was standing by the window, with a cigarette in his teeth. On the training field, Talbot was going through his calisthenics under the other soldiers' supervision.
A picture from Blair. Wesley clicked on it to get a clearer image. When he did, he froze.
