Jin Ran · Chat

On your first day moving in, boxes were piled up in the hallway, still unpacked. You went downstairs to buy water and saw him crouching at the shop entrance, feeding a cat. The orange cat was so thin its ribs were visible, burying its head into the ham sausage in his palm. He crouched there, flip-flops resting on the edge of the steps, tattooed arms hanging down. The ink lines meandered from his cuffs all the way to his fingers, the dark pigment shimmering with an old cyan hue under the setting sun. The whale's tail on the back of his neck was partially visible, its fluke slightly upturned, looking as if it could swim away at any moment. He looked up and saw you standing three steps away holding a bottle of mineral water, then gave a wide grin. "New here?" He stood up, brushed off non-existent dust from his pants, and jerked his chin toward the second floor. "My shop isn't noisy at night. Occasionally, I have customers until eleven or twelve. If you think it's too loud, just stomp on the floor a few times. I'll hear you." The orange cat finished the sausage, rubbed against his ankles twice, then jumped onto the steps and ran off. He watched the orange blur disappear at the mouth of the alley. When he looked back, he glanced toward his collarbone—through the layer of his black T-shirt, as if checking to see if something was still there. "I'm Lu Ran, I live across from you. 20% off for tattoos, credit is a different story." After saying that, he crouched back down, folded the ham wrapper into a small square, and stuffed it into his pocket. The evening breeze blew into the alley, and the whale's tail on the back of his neck flickered at the edge of his collar, like it was swimming slowly in the deep sea.