Chapter Text
The first thing that Yong registers as his eyes opened was that it was cold. Very, very cold.
Murmurs. Someone exclaiming something.
"Holy Shit, he's awake!"
Yong couldn't move, and he realises he was overwhelmingly numb. He couldn't feel his arms or legs. He couldn't even feel his head.
It was as if he was a floating in an abyss that was cold.
"His heart rate is slowly coming to normal."
Yong tries then- to move, to do something, but he couldn't. He tries to speak, but nothing comes out.
"Registering the de-cryogen now. Mr. Hua? Can you hear me?"
Yong tries to nod. He tries to say something.
"I think he's trying to say something?"
"Mr. Hua, I'm Dr. Sheng. Sheng Shaoyou. Nice to meet you. You'll be up in no time, okay? Stay with me!"
Shaoyou.
The man had a comforting tone that sounded strangely familiar.
Shaoyou...
"I see movement in the eyelids. His heart rate is stabilizing at sixty seven."
"The administration is done. He'll be defrosted in an hour."
"You sound like you're talking about meat."
Yong wanted to laugh, and then registers what was said. Defrosted? He'd been administered with a de-cryogen? What did any of that mean?
A feeling of quiet dread filled him as he realised he couldn't remember anything except his name.
This must be a nightmare.
Slowly, a feeling of warmth shoots up from his arm, and spreads through the rest of his body, gradually replacing the feeling of coldness with warmth. Bit by bit, the numbness starts to fade away into sensation.
"He's moving his fingers! Double check the station and mask up immediately. I'm gonna open the pod to prepare him for extraction."
Sounds of things being moved, and more murmurs, but this time, it is clearer.
Then, Yong hears a loud hiss, and his body tingles as a gust of humid hair hits his skin. He moves his fingers again, and feels that he could move it.
"Mr. Hua? Can you hear me now? Can you try to open your eyes?" Shaoyou requests, his voice closer to where Yong was now.
It takes Yong a second- but he does it.
His vision swims at first, but slowly, a man wearing a surgical mask comes into view. Yong blinks a few times, his eyes slowly adjusting to the brightness and his surroundings.
The man- probably the one named Shaoyou, watches him carefully, occasionally glancing at some machine next to the bed- or the pod as he'd called it earlier. There were few other people in the room too, all masked and covered in white.
Yong tries to speak, but it takes a tremendous amount of effort. "I.. where... am... I?"
The man leans closer to hear him properly, and moves away, looking at Yong with concern. He furrows his eyebrows. "We found you in an abandoned cryogenic facility few weeks ago, Mr. Hua. Do you have any recollection of this?"
Cryogenic facility?
Yong slowly shakes his head. Shaoyou's eyes widen for a fraction of a second. "Mr. Hua, do you remember anything?"
Yong tries again. But it was as if his mind was wiped off everything except his name. He was a blank slate.
"No.." Yong says, panic slowly creeping up on him. "No!"
Shaoyou gently places his hand on Yong's shoulder and presses down when Yong tries to get up. "Please wait! Take it slow. Based on the information in the pod, you've been in this for a hundred years. You need to take it easy."
Hundred years?
Yong had somehow ended up in a cryogenic pod and had been asleep for hundred years. A whole century. His heart rate speeds up at the thought- panic engulfing him along with a growing sense of helplessness. This was not true. There was no way this was true.
"I- what? Why?" Yong questions, finding it slightly easier to speak.
Shaoyou's eyebrows furrow even more. "You should have signed up for it. It was done for medical purposes in the past."
Yong shakes his head again feeling anxious. He didn't remember. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember. Maybe this was a nightmare, but Yong couldn't wake up.
Shaoyou's dark eyes examine him carefully- noting the confusion and the distress. He takes Yong's hand in his gloved ones.
"Don't worry. We'll figure it out. I'll help you figure it out."
It takes around a week for Yong to be able to move on his own. Shaoyou was with him through it all, patient and gentle. He never pushed Yong beyond what he was comfortable with, but at the same time, ensured that Yong made progress every day.
Inbetween the moments of frustration, Yong found himself slowly relaxing when Shaoyou was around. He enjoyed the titbits Shaoyou shared about his own life inbetween. Shaoyou owned a cat named Nugu, and he spoke of it fondly, animated as he shared what Nugu did every day. It made things almost... normal.
However, he was still masked and wore a suit to prevent any kind of infection to Yong, so Yong was yet to see how the doctor looked. But it didn't matter, as Shaoyou's kindness made him beautiful in Yong's eyes already.
"Wow," Shaoyou says, his eyes wide and attentive as he let go of Yong's hand, and Yong managed to take a couple of steps on his own. "Mr. Hua, you did it!"
Yong smiles, and tries to turn around quickly, but his head spun at the action. Shaoyou is by his side immediately- his hand firm on Yong's waist. He gently eases Yong into standing position. "There you go- easy. Let's take it easy for today. You've done so well!"
"Thank you," Yong smiles, and Shaoyou looks at him, frozen in place for a couple of seconds. Yong tilts his head. "What?"
Shaoyou shakes his head, seemingly snapping himself out of whatever it was. "Nothing. Uhm. So!" The doctor clears his throat. "We found a bag under the pod containing some of your valuables."
He helps Yong to sit down and then gets a bag from a locker nearby. The bag contained a phone, a police badge and a chain with a pendant that said S ♡ Y.
All of a sudden, Yong sees a brief flash of something- a person on the ground, in a pool of blood.
He gasps, clutching his chest, and Shaoyou is by his side in an instant. "Mr. Hua?! What's wrong?"
Yong takes around a minute to snap out of it, and he clutches Shaoyou's hand. "I- I saw something. Blood. There was blood. Someone- someone was there. Dead. Someone was dead."
The doctor listens, his eyes widening. He furrows his eyebrows, and rubs his thumbs on Yong's hand, the action calming. "Mr. Hua, you were a detective in the past, and you given the fact you don't remember anything, yet you were put in the pods, and abandoned... We need to get the law involved. Whoever it was, must have wanted you gone."
Shaoyou's hold on his hand tightens. "The device in your bag, it's a phone right? We don't use it anymore, but I'll find someone to get it working. Maybe that could give us an idea of what happened."
Yong nods slowly. "Okay."
But, who was this person he'd seen in that brief flash?
Shaoyou takes off his mask around three weeks into Yong's rehabilitation.
Yong didn't know what he had expected, but Shaoyou was handsome with a lot of unexpected cuteness in his mannerisms.
Shaoyou had also taken Yong under his wing, and had helped Yong move into his own place till they could figure out everything else.
"They told me it'll take more time to get your phone working. It seems like it is damaged and degraded because of how long it has been. But don't worry, it won't take longer than a month to get it working properly," Shaoyou says, watching Yong play with Nugu. He had stepped out briefly, and held a bag that seemed heavy in his hands.
The two had bonded instantly after he'd moved in, and even though Yong had moments where he panicked or felt anxious, he was slowly getting used to his new life.
"Thank you Dr. Sheng," Yong says, truly grateful. Shaoyou smiles easily, placing the bag on the table. "No worries. I'm happy to help."
He settles down next to Yong, giving Nugu belly scratches while they talked about random things. Yong found that Shaoyou really liked to read books and watch movies that were from the past.
"I've been told I was born in the wrong generation many times," Shaoyou chuckles. "But when I see the older stuff, I feel almost nostalgic, even though I've never lived in that era. Isn't it strange?"
Yong shakes his head. Another thing about Shaoyou that Yong liked, was that he spoke of the past freely, unlike some of his other colleagues who seemed to be worried about mentioning it to Yong. Shaoyou treated Yong with care, but didn't make him feel like a frail being.
"I can understand that," Yong says. "Time ages everything, and the older it becomes, it carries the memories and feelings of the people who made it or engaged with it. You get to experience what the person who made it thought about in a way. That's probably why."
Shaoyou nods slowly, his hands brushing against Yong's as the two of them gently pet Nugu, who was on the verge of falling asleep. Yong looks at her and smiles. "She's adorable."
"She is, isn't she?" Shaoyou agrees. "I found her abandoned near the local store one day. Stray cats are quite rare these days, and when I found her she was sick and shivering in the rain. I took her in because I couldn't leave her there. The way she was for the first few days, I almost thought she'll die. But look at her, she's made it. And she's made my life happier."
"And you've taken me in too. You're a good person, Dr. Sheng. Thank you for taking care of Nugu and me," Yong says. Shaoyou looks at him for a few seconds and shakes his head. "You don't have to thank me. I'm happy to have you here too."
The moment stretches into something softer, and Yong's heart skips a beat. He focuses his attention on Nugu, warmth creeping up his neck.
Shaoyou chuckles softly. "Are you not gonna check the bag?"
Yong looks at the bag, glancing at Shaoyou, who nodded at him encouragingly. He carefully cradles Nugu in his hands and places her next to him, in the small bundle she loved to sleep in.
When he checks the bag, he finds clothes. A lot of clothes, all brand new, and soft to the touch. He lets out a small sound of surprise. "What's this??"
"For you," Shaoyou says simply. Yong shakes his head. "Dr. Sheng, I can't accept this. You've already done so much for me."
Yong had been wearing older clothes which belonged to Shaoyou, and they were more than enough for him. The thought of buying something hadn't even crossed his mind yet.
"Consider it a gift," Shaoyou says easily. Yong shakes his head, but Shaoyou holds his hand gently- something they did easily, but it made Yong's heart flutter recently. "But-"
"I enjoy having you around. I don't have any family left, and I was lonely before you came. But now, I have a friend," Shaoyou says, squeezing Yong's hand gently before letting go. "Please accept it."
Yong looks at Shaoyou, noting the way he looked at Yong softly, his dark eyes reflecting the light fixture above their head, making it look like stars.
This man, a total stranger- felt so familiar to him in that moment, filling him with a sense of deep nostalgia.
Like he'd known Shaoyou all his life.
That night, Yong has a dream- one that felt too real, too vivid. It was like he'd lived in it.
He wakes up with a start- remembering only parts of it. He'd been baking, and there was someone else with him. They'd been laughing, pressed closed to each other with the other man's hands around his waist. They'd kissed afterwards, deep and passionate and familiar, their bodies molding together easily, like they'd done it a million times already.
Then, Yong had seen the man's face. It was brief, yet the image was burned in his mind.
The man looked like Shaoyou.