Shen Yuqi noticed him before she saw him.
It was the way the space behind her shifted—subtle, unhurried, as though someone had entered the room without disturbing it. She was standing in line at the café near the office building, one hand wrapped around her phone, the other absently holding the strap of her bag. The smell of coffee was thick in the air, comforting but sharp, and the line moved slowly enough to make her aware of every passing second.
She checked the time again.
Still manageable. Barely.
Someone stepped in behind her.
She didn't turn immediately. There was no reason to. It was just another customer on a weekday morning, probably another employee from the building, probably—
She glanced sideways.
Li Wei.
For a moment, her mind stalled. Not dramatically, not in a way that felt important—just a brief pause, like a sentence interrupted halfway through.
He wasn't dressed the way she usually saw him. No tie. His coat was open, the fabric relaxed, his posture looser than it ever was in the office. If she hadn't already known his face, she might have missed him entirely. He looked… ordinary. Almost anonymous.
Their eyes met.
"Morning," he said.
His voice was neutral, steady, without emphasis.
"Morning," she replied.
That was it.
No follow-up. No polite comment about the line or the weather or the time. They stood there, a reasonable distance apart, facing forward again. The person ahead of her moved, and she stepped up, ordering quickly, efficiently. When she finished and moved aside, she realized she had hesitated longer than necessary over the menu.
"Sorry," she said, reflexively.
Li Wei shook his head slightly. "It's fine."
She took her coffee and left.
Outside, the air was cooler. She adjusted her grip on the cup and walked toward the building, not looking back. She didn't feel watched. She didn't feel anything at all, really. Just mildly aware that something unexpected had happened and passed without consequence.
At the entrance, she slowed to swipe her card.
The door opened behind her.
She didn't need to turn this time.
They walked in together, still not speaking. The lobby was busy—footsteps, low conversation, the sound of the elevators arriving and departing. Shen Yuqi headed toward the elevators without thinking much about it.
So did he.
They stood on opposite sides while they waited. Someone else joined them. Then another. The doors opened, and they stepped inside with the rest of the crowd.
The space was tight, but not uncomfortably so. She faced forward, her reflection faint in the mirrored wall. Li Wei stood near the panel, one hand loosely at his side, the other pressing the button for the top floor.
The elevator moved.
She was aware of him in the way one is aware of furniture—present, unremarkable, part of the environment. Her mind drifted to her schedule for the day, the emails she needed to respond to, the document she hadn't finished revising.
The elevator slowed at her floor.
She stepped out.
"Have a good day," he said, just before the doors closed.
She paused, surprised—not because he'd spoken, but because he'd remembered.
"You too," she replied.
The doors slid shut.
By the time she reached her desk, the moment had already settled into something small and unimportant. She turned on her computer, placed her coffee beside the keyboard, and went about her work. There was no reason to dwell on a morning coincidence.
And yet, somewhere between opening her inbox and replying to her first message, she found herself thinking—not about him, exactly, but about the way he had looked outside the office.
Less distant. Less contained.
Just a man waiting in line for coffee.
She shook the thought away and focused on her screen.
Late morning passed quickly. Meetings, notes, quiet efficiency. She moved through her tasks without distraction. When lunchtime came, she gathered her things and stepped into the hallway, already planning what to eat.
She rounded the corner too quickly.
"Oh—sorry."
She stopped just in time to avoid colliding with someone.
Li Wei stopped as well.
"It's fine," he said.
He stepped slightly to the side, allowing her to pass. Their exchange lasted less than three seconds. She nodded and walked on.
It was only after she'd taken several steps that she realized something odd.
This was the third time.
She frowned slightly, then dismissed the thought. The building wasn't small. It made sense. People crossed paths. Especially people who worked in the same place.
By the time she returned from lunch, she had forgotten about it.
In the afternoon, she delivered a document to another department. On her way back, she waited for the elevator again. The doors opened.
Li Wei was inside.
She stepped in without hesitation this time.
"Good afternoon," she said.
He inclined his head. "Good afternoon."
That was all.
The doors closed. The elevator moved.
She stared at the numbers lighting up above the doors, feeling nothing in particular. The silence wasn't uncomfortable. It wasn't charged. It was simply quiet.
When the elevator stopped at her floor, she stepped out.
She didn't think about him again until the end of the workday.
She left a little later than usual, her bag heavier with unfinished thoughts than actual work. The lobby was quieter now, the rush of the day softened into a low hum.
She pushed open the glass doors and stepped outside.
Li Wei was already there.
He stood a few steps away, phone in hand, coat draped neatly over his arm. He looked up when he noticed her.
"Leaving now?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Good evening."
"Good evening."
They walked in opposite directions.
That night, at home, Shen Yuqi sat at the dining table while her mother prepared dinner. The familiar sounds of her parents' apartment—running water, the muted television, her younger brother talking on the phone in his room—wrapped around her like something steady and known.
"How was work?" her mother asked.
"The same," Yuqi replied.
She meant it.
Later, lying in bed, she scrolled through her phone absentmindedly. The day replayed itself in fragments—not in sequence, not with emphasis, just loosely connected moments.
The café.
The elevator.
The hallway.
She frowned, then turned onto her side.
It's nothing, she told herself.
The next morning, she saw him again.
This time, it was raining.
She had forgotten her umbrella and was standing under the building's awning, hesitating. The rain was light but persistent, enough to soak through clothes if she walked long enough.
Li Wei stood nearby, holding an umbrella.
He glanced at the rain, then at her.
"Do you need one?" he asked.
She paused.
"Thank you," she said after a moment, "but it's fine. I'll wait."
He nodded. "All right."
He opened his umbrella and walked away.
She waited.
Ten minutes later, the rain eased. She walked home.
At work, the day unfolded without incident. They exchanged brief greetings, nothing more. In meetings, he was composed, distant, focused. If not for the past two days, she might have believed the encounters outside the office had never happened.
But when she stepped into the elevator that afternoon and saw him already inside, she didn't feel surprised.
She felt… accustomed.
By the end of the week, it had become a pattern.
Not daily. Not predictable. Just frequent enough to notice.
Sometimes it was the elevator. Sometimes the lobby. Once, the convenience store across the street. Always brief. Always unremarkable.
And yet, one evening, as she walked home, Shen Yuqi found herself thinking:
We keep running into each other.
The thought lingered longer than it should have.
She didn't know why.