Warning: possibly a double update: make sure you've read chapter 9

Weiyi woke to comfort that she hadn’t experienced for weeks.  The bed was almost as soft as the one she’d had in her underground room near Sangchu’s headquarters, and for several moments she revelled in it, scrunching the covers up around her.  Then panic struck.  Had she been taken back?  What would Sangchu do to her when he discovered what she’d taken?  The last thing she really remembered was that doctor with the shark tattoo on his neck.

But something was wrong.  Something was strange about the room, and it was only when she sat up and looked around that she realised what it was.

It was far too light.

And the light wasn’t electric.  It was all coming in through the enormous windows opposite the bed.  Weiyi stared for a moment, almost transfixed by the… had Liyin called them treetops? that were swaying gently in the breeze.  The light bathing her didn’t feel cold or harsh or depressingly yellow, like the light in her room had been.  Instead, the golden glow felt light and liberating.  It was almost like she was outside.

But the doctor had definitely worked for Sangchu because of that tattoo.  What was she doing somewhere so light?  Sangchu had never let her go somewhere light.  Granted, her room had been a lot more sumptuous than this one was – the furniture here was sparse, consisting of an upholstered armchair, a walnut desk and a corresponding chair to go with it, and a large cupboard, whereas Weiyi’s bed had been a lavish four-poster, and she’d had all kinds of drapes hanging from the walls and a thick, soft carpet, as well as bookshelves – though they’d remained empty most of the time – chests of drawers, cupboards… all sorts.  Liyin had called it a golden cage, even though there hadn’t been much gold in there.

Looking around again, Weiyi spotted a tray of food.  She eyed it for a moment, but then decided she was too hungry to care about whether or not it was for her and started eating it anyway.  It was a light meal – a salad, alongside rice and a couple of side dishes, but unbelievably welcome after however many days it was without proper food.  She probably would have preferred more of that broth, though.

The food gave her strength, and after a little while, she got out of bed and started to wander around, a little unsteady on her feet and still rather lightheaded.  There was a brown suitcase in the room by the cupboard, which she opened to discover was empty.  Undeterred, Weiyi turned to the cupboard instead.  A suit and a number of smart shirts, along with several ties, were hanging inside, and in the shelves up the side of the cupboard, she caught sight of t-shirts, shorts and jeans, as well as the odd jumper and hoodie.  Concluding that she was in a man’s room didn’t exactly make her feel comfortable at all.  Weiyi closed the door and backed away, almost tripping over the hem of the hospital clothes.

That gave her pause for thought.  She wasn’t wearing her own clothes, which meant that she didn’t have the memory stick.  Was that a good thing or a bad thing?  Without the memory stick, Sangchu had less of a reason to go after her – as far as Weiyi was concerned – but the memory stick was the whole reason she had had to get away in the first place.  It felt a bit like defeat not to be in possession of it anymore with what she’d so far gone through.  Especially since Liyin had died.

A moment or two later, she decided she didn’t feel bad about nicking some clothes from the cupboard.  She had no idea who the stranger was, which meant that he’d abducted her – well, if it was that doctor, then she sort of did know who he was, and he definitely had abducted her – and so she pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and got changed.  The trousers were far too big, so she used one of the silk ties as a belt and rolled the legs up a bit.  The t-shirt was far too big as well, the supposedly short sleeves actually coming down to her elbows, but that was much less of a bother.  After bundling up more clothes into another of the large t-shirts and stuffing her feet into a pair of trainers that were far too big, she stood back to take stock.  Was it better to get out immediately, or should she snoop around for information?  Where would she go if she left immediately?  What would she do with any information she found out?

As she was trying to solve the conundrum, the door opened behind her and somebody came in with a loud yawn.

Weiyi whipped around.  A tall, black-haired man in an immaculately clean and fitted navy suit was fiddling with the light switch, his other hand covering his mouth as he yawned again, somehow managing to keep a number of files trapped under his arm.  He blinked, startled, when he caught sight of her, and then his mouth twitched up into a smile that made his entire face look utterly dazzling.  He looked a lot younger than Sangchu.  And that smile wasn’t dissimilar from the smile the doctor had had.

“How are you feeling?” he asked in very, very faintly accented Mandarin.

Weiyi snatched up the nearest thing to use as a weapon, alarmed.  Chinese clearly wasn’t his first language, which meant that he knew she only spoke Chinese, and that meant that he was one of them, because only people working for Sangchu knew that she spoke Chinese off the cuff.  The nurses had tried speaking to her in Korean first.

The man looked disturbed at the plate in her hand and backed off, quickly holding his hands up.  The files under his arm slipped and he steadied them briefly before resuming the “I surrender” stance.  Weiyi eyed him warily, her gaze darting between him and the door.  He was definitely stronger than her: he looked healthy and well fed, whereas she’d only eaten a couple of times in… she didn’t even know how long.  And there were the injuries the doctor had told her about, too.

Anything can be a weapon, she remembered Liyin telling her.  You just need to know how to make it one.  If she broke the plate, then she’d have something with sharp edges.

The man seemed to realise that was what she was about to do when she made to dash it against the bedpost, because he quickly spoke up again.

“I won’t harm you.”  His voice was full of warmth.  “You’re safe here.”

Weiyi paused suspiciously.

“My friends rescued you from the hospital,” he went on, slowly lowering his