Meng Yao noticed the shop on his way back from the hospital.
His steps slowed and he came to a stop just outside. Had it always been there? Had he just never paid it any attention before?
He didn't think so. He didn't trust a lot, but he did trust his memory. He'd never seen the shop before, despite passing down this street at least once a day for the last three months.
It was, he noticed, open. He couldn't tell what was for sale, but something was. There were shadows in the windows, and he had the unnerving feeling that they were staring at him.
He wasn't sure what made him go up to the door. He didn't have any money. All his money from his part time jobs went toward his mom's medical expenses. He'd given up the lease on their apartment two months ago, and had started showering at the company gym, and catching what sleep he could at an out of the way conference room when he wasn't sleeping on a friend or an auntie's floor.
Nie Mingjue was going to catch him eventually, though, and then there would be hell to pay.
Just then, the door opened.
Meng Yao couldn't quite see inside, but he grabbed his keys in his bag like his mother taught him, so they could be used as a means of self-defense if needed, and crossed the threshold.
The shadows followed him down the hallway. The hallway itself felt like it shifted and warped around him, and he heard a few voices behind closed, darkened doors.
Jin Guangyao, he realized they were whispering.
The name sent a chill down his spine, even though it wasn't his. The only thing he could do was keep moving to the doors at the end, with light shining around the edges and through the papered lattices.
These doors, too, opened for him.
Sprawled on a daybed inside was a man in elaborate hanfu with long hair, a fan hiding everything but his eyes.
"There you are," he said lightly. His voice was deeper than Meng Yao had guessed, but somehow strangely familiar.
"I'm sorry," Meng Yao said reflexively. "Do you know me?"
"Mm. Maybe. Who can say, really," he said, his eyes curving up a bit, just over the edge of his open fan. "But you can only be Meng Yao."
Meng Yao's hand tightened around his keys in his bag. "You have the advantage of me," he said. "May I ask what your name is?"
"I doubt you'll need it," he said. "And I can't imagine you've lost any of your passion for efficiency. If you're here, Meng Yao, it's because you have a wish."
Sneak peek at the beginning of my new #untamed fic - this one is #xiyao and #nieyao (and maybe 3zun?). It's a xxxHOLiC AU - you don't need to know anything about the canon, just know that it involves a wish shop. The vibes are definitely creepy, but not outright horror, because I'm delicate. Enjoy!