When Jiang Chen arrived home after work one night, he found the apartment covered in darkness. As he went around turning on the various lights, it occurred to him that this shouldn’t have felt so unusual to him. With his erratic hours at the hospital, he often arrived home to find his wife, Chen Xiao Xi, already in bed. On those occasions, it would be perfectly normal to find a darkened home. But today wasn’t like those other days because the hour wasn’t late. In fact, it was only 6 pm. Instead, the difference lay in the fact that Xiao Xi wasn’t already home waiting for him, nor was she expected to arrive any time soon after him.

Indeed, Xiao Xi had left that morning for a book signing in Beijing and she was expected to be away for the next three days.

Jiang Chen didn’t know what he was going to do.

In the past, whenever he and Xiao Xi had been apart, it was because his work had taken him away. This was the first time hers had given them reason to be apart.

Jiang Chen was glad for his wife and proud of her though. She’d worked hard on her manga and slowly, but surely, it had gained traction amongst the public. Now it was popular enough for her publishing company to want to whisk her away for a multi-stop book signing tour in Beijing.

Jiang Cen was glad for her and proud of her, but he missed her.

After fifteen minutes of sitting idly on the couch, he picked up his phone and dialed a number.

“Hello?”

“Lu Yang, it’s me.”

“What’s the matter? The wife’s gone so you thought of me?”

“Have you eaten?”

On the other end of the line, Lu Yang sighed. “Why is it that the husband is just like the wife? Do you know, whenever you go away for one of your medical conferences, Xiao Xi always ends up calling Jing Jing?”

“So is that a yes or a no?”

Clearly resigned, Lu Yang answered, “We’ll meet you at the eatery in thirty minutes.”

Half an hour later, Jiang Chen was seated next to Lu Yang and Jing Jing at their favorite eatery. He tried not to notice that a member of their quartet was missing. At least he’d tried to until Jing Jing brought it up. “Xiao Xi hasn’t called?”

Jiang Chen shook his head and reached for the bottle to pour himself a drink. “She sent a text this morning to say she’d arrived.”

“You’re drinking tonight?” Lu Yang asked with some surprise.

“I don’t have any surgeries tomorrow.”

“Why don’t you try calling her?” Jing Jing persisted.

“She’s probably still busy with work.”

“Don’t think about it anymore! Don’t think about it anymore! Drink!” Ever the peacekeeper, Lu Yang rushed to fill his own small cup which he then clinked against Jiang Chen’s before downing its contents in one swallow.

Several bottles later, Jing Jing wondered what she had done to be stuck with these boys. She refused to refer to them as men for surely no mature person would drink themselves senseless just because they were missing their wife and refused to call her; and as for her own husband, well, he was never mature anyway. Jing Jing poked at Lu Yang who’d slumped over the table several minutes ago and wondered how she was going to get him home as he snorted back at her. Then she looked over Lu Yang’s head and saw that Jiang Chen was also struggling to stay upright.

As he swayed in the distance, she pointed at him and commanded, “Stop that. Sit straight. I can’t handle the both of you by myself.”

Right at that moment, Jiang Chen’s phone rang. He struggled to answer it in his drunken state and eventually Jing Jing had to help him.

“Jiang Chen! Jiang Chen!”

It was his wife.

“Chen Xiao Xi,” he slurred happily.

“Jiang Chen. What’s wrong with you?”

“Chen Xiao Xi,” he repeated.

“Jiang Chen, are you drunk?” Xiao Xi now sounded worried.

“Chen Xiao Xi . . . I really miss you.”

“Jia