A Friend

"Hold still." He commanded. She listened. It was silent and tense between the two as he began to clean the blood off of her face. Her lip had been split, the area above her eyebrows was busted open, and her cheeks were covered in bruises.

"You might need stitches for that forehead, but the rest should heal without scars. Lift your shirt up." Lei Nuwa pushed him away.

"Excuse me???" She stared at him. He didn't look like a pervert, but you could never be sure. She was thinking of ways to incapacitate him, when he burst out laughing.

"From the way you were walking, I know you have some injuries on your body too. You could have a cracked rib, or internal bleeding. You could die!" He looked at her with a shocked expression on his face, but a teasing twinkle in his eyes. Her eye twitched as she resisted the urge to slap him.

'Lei Nuwa, you cannot assault a man.' She took a deep breath. "Unless you are a doctor, I think I will be fine." She subtly scooted away from Zhang Fengge, but he trapped her from fully escaping.

"Listen, I get how it looks. But you look like you have been run over by a mean truck who went back for seconds. I don't want a pretty girl's blood on my hands."

She rolled her eyes.

'Fuck it.' She lifted her shirt up. At the sight of her torso, both winced. Bruises almost entirely covered her. Zhang Fengge, after giving Lei Nuwa a questioning look. She nodded, and he put his hands on her sides, feeling up and down her ribs. After feeling a certain raised area, Lei Nuwa had to restrain herself from punching him. Tears fell down her face at the pain, and Fengge had a concerned, contemplating look on his face.

"You definitely have a broken rib, maybe two. Now, do you remember my second condition?" Lei Nuwa looked at him questioningly. He held her chin, and moved until he was just inches away from her. She felt nervous all of a sudden, and wanted to push him away. But she kept still.

"Tell me who did this to you." Lei Nuwa stayed quiet. She did not want to protect the Yang family, but there was a low chance that anyone would believe her, let alone do anything about it.

"I told you. I fell down the stairs." Fengge set his jaw and looked at her with dark eyes.

"Lei Nuwa, no matter how much I look it, I am not stupid." She sighed. As she looked in his eyes, she wanted nothing more than to tell him everything. His eyes showed real concern, but she knew better.

For once, she felt lucky to see her family. When she heard the door open, she shoved him away, threw the kit in the cabinet, and escaped through the other kitchen entrance. She waited outside, listening to the conversation she knew was coming. As they walked in, she heard her sister gasp. Nuwa stared at the crack in the door. She saw her sister's coy pose, as she blinked her eyes at him seductively.

"Hello, Mr. Yang. I apologize for intruding, but one of your maids had let me in and then left quickly.' Yang Mao was confused, until it finally clicked.

"Oh! Yes, yes. Sorry. Our clumsy maid had been in a fight, so we had given her some time off. She must have felt sick all of a sudden. No need to apologize. Now that you're here, I figure I should give you some time with my beautiful Sui."

As Yang Mao continued to ramble, the puzzle pieces began to click together in Zhang Fengge's mind. He resisted the urge to beat everyone in the kitchen. "I apologize for coming and leaving like this, but I really must go now. I will be in contact." He exited the way Nuwa did, nearly knocking her over. He handed her his phone.

"I will call this phone later tonight. Don't worry about the settings or anything, just make sure you answer." Lei Nuwa was speechless, as Fengge quickly went back into the kitchen.

"I apologize, I must have gone through the wrong exit." There was laughter, and then they followed him to the door. Lei Nuwa ran quickly to her room, locking the door from the inside. She felt uneasy at Zhang Fengge's existence; he had been in none of her past lives, so she was not able to predict what he would do. She stared down at the phone he gave her.

Was it going to explode?

***

Later that night, the phone began to ring. She was contemplating on whether or not to answer it, but eventually decided to do so.

"Hello?" She spoke hesitantly into the phone.

"Hello. I'm assuming this is Lei Nuwa, so your father hadn't taken the phone. Phew." Nuwa became increasingly more confused.

"What is your goal?"

"My goal? For what?" His voice sounded sincerely confused.

"For giving me this phone? For helping me? I don't need pity or charity, and while I really appreciate your kindness–"

"Lei Nuwa." She grew quiet. "Not everyone has an ulterior motive for helping someone. I gathered the situation about your family. I know you're engaged to Liu Yichen, and I know he couldn't care less about you. You are so familiar with injuries as bad as those, and I–" He took an exasperated breath. "I don't want it to sound like I'm pitying you. I just… it feels so natural…" He trailed off.

Lei Nuwa felt like she couldn't breathe, and her heart was beating so fast she was certain Zhang Fengge could hear it.

"Please let me help you."

Lei Nuwa knew she would regret it later, but she went against her instincts. "Okay."

"Okay?" Nuwa laughed under her breath at the image of Zhang Fengge with a puppy-like expression on his face.

"Yes– I won't stop you."

"Good. Don't worry about the phone, I already rerouted it to a new number for you. I also signed you up to get cell service and internet, and my contact is on speed dial. You press the power button three times in the row and it calls both me and the authorities. Oh! I also set you up with a music plan, and a few extras, but it's not really important." Lei Nuwa's mind spun at his torrential ambush of words. Zhang Fengge continued to talk despite her lack of response, which only made her laugh quietly.

Lei Nuwa prayed to anyone that would listen; that she would not regret this decision in the future, that it would not cause her more pain.

It was hard to have no hope, but for Lei Nuwa, it was far more dangerous to have any hope at all.