Colt sat poised and stared expectantly at the man on the bed, "tell me again what she looked like".
Marley's brows furrowed, but faced with the expression of the young man that seemed to radiate warmth, he took a deep breath and started to narrate.
"Look-"
"What colour was her hair?"
"Listen kid, if you want information from me you-"
"Her hair" the eyes that held warmth showed hints of impatience, exasperating the poor man who wondered why such a pretty boy was in this job to begin with.
"Brown I think, look I was half drunk and –"
"Do you remember any particular features on her face, like a mole or..."
"Dimples, she had two dimples, I remember seeing them when she smiled," a bitter-sweet expression appeared on the face of Marley. Swallowing the feelings of remorse and slight embarrassment he went on to describe all he could about the lady he wished he'd never encountered, and somewhere down the line sharing stories about his family, and this is the scene aunt Woe walked into with Fran in tow.
The shock on the married couple's face mirrored one another, one because of the rarely seen smile on the husband's face and the other because he couldn't figure out at which point he had began to laugh with a stranger he had decided he disliked over silly stories about his daughter.
"Well it seems like all is well here, but I do remember telling you that you couldn't over exert the patient isn't that right detective Lew?" aunt Woe chided in an unconvincing reproachful tone.
"Oh we were trying some laughter therapy ma'am, and you can just call me Colt, I'm off the job now" the ensuing grin wiped away the slight frown etched on the elderly lady's face, causing warmth to appear in its place as she regarded the young man.
"Your colourful friend said to tell you that he would be in the car before walking off all quiet like."
Colt laughed in response as he stood up, not noticing the three pairs of eyes had been fixated on his face until he had done so.
Conjuring up an awkward smile he said his goodbyes and jogged towards the door, "we'll come visit again uncle Zhuang, and bring you some of the snacks you mentioned"
Marley grunted in response, still unable to fix a proper frown on his face as he watched the young man wave his sketch pad before dashing out, he hadn't even realised he had been sketching throughout their conversation.
*In the car*
"That wasn't a beating someone would be able to pull off without a motive unless we're dealing with some sort of psychopath, but our psychopath wouldn't do such a sloppy job"
"Not every psychopath is as smart as you Kai" Colt stated with a grin as he sat beside his friend, noticing the brown eyes losing their cloudiness he continued to tease, "so would my smartest friend like to deduce what's on my mind at this very moment?" leaning in until their noses were mere inches from one another, he saw the slight annoyance crease his friends brow and felt satisfaction.
"You're thinking about food you won't want to pay for and alcohol you have a low tolerance for, now get your stupid face away from mine before we start another rumour in town" shoving his face away from him only to be met with exaggerated caresses and kissing sounds, Kai wrestled his friend, putting him in a headlock and ruffling his hair while laughing in spite of himself.
The two made their way to the local chicken place owned by the wife of one of their colleagues, a scrawny man who was known for being yelled at by the chief and managing to maintain a big heart only rivalled by that of his wife. Walking into the store filled mostly by students due to the time of day, Colt inhaled deeply, once again lamenting internally at his bad luck for only discovering such a thing as whole deep fried chicken after living 25 years. As his eyes were fixed on the board, he almost walked into the owner whom everyone affectionately called Linlin, a kind young lady who had kept her store open past closing time to feed him chicken and beer as a form of comfort when he had hit rock bottom after just arriving here.
Grabbing her one elbow to anchor her and the tray he smiled down at her in apology, "sorry sister Linny, let me take that, which table is it for?"
"Colt! It's for table 6, table 9 also wants some beer if you don't mind Kai, I'll be in the kitchen when you boys are done"
"Got it" the two answered simultaneously as they headed into different directions.
By the time the store had emptied out it was already 9PM and the three friends had settled down with various flavours of fried chicken and some beer. The dimly lit room was already cleaned; all the tables had been arranged neatly and the floor mopped to a shine. Sounds of laughter occasionally echoed in the room, followed by teasing accusations and an occasional clink of glasses. Anyone watching would be able to see the closeness and feel the warmth that existed between the trio, and the close friendship which tied them together.
This however was not the scene Linlin's husband walked in on. Soon after walking through the glass doors he was met with the notoriously off-pitch voice of his wife singing along to a song he vaguely remembered hearing when his neighbour's teenage daughter was home alone. As his eyes followed her slim figure prancing about the room he caught sight of Kai seated on the table, concentrating on playing drums on some empty bottles of beer with a pair of chopsticks, his brown hair messy and covering one eye, a half smile adding a roguish air to him as he drunkenly swayed to the beat. A little sliver of jealousy started to sprout before withering in the wake of his wife's drunken smile that still sent flutters down to his stomach. Knowing she would soon follow, he made his way outside to bring the car closer to the store entrance, trying to drum up enough words for a scolding despite the smile playing at lips at the memory of his wife's antics, it would make for good teasing tomorrow.