Chapter Text
When Jinshi went to the hospital to visit his brother’s pregnant wife, he didn’t expect to literally run into one of the doctors in the hallway. He had noticed her first from a distance. She was wearing a white medical coat that was too big for her, with her eyes looking down at the chart in her hands and her dark hair pinned back into a neat bun. She wasn’t paying attention to anything around her, instead muttering softly to herself under her breath as she hurried down the hallway. How peculiar, Jinshi thought. He planned on stepping out of her way because she seemed too busy to be paying attention to where she was walking, but his body wouldn’t let him. He was stuck in place, directly in the path of this muttering, hurrying girl, who predictably slammed into him with the full force of her small frame, bringing both of them to a halt. It wasn’t quite enough force to knock him over. “Ouch!” The young doctor yelped, her mouth arranging itself into a sneer as if she was about to give him the lashing of a lifetime. Strangely, that prospect seemed a little exciting to him. Then his eyes locked with her hard gaze, something snapped into place between them, and Jinshi’s vision went white. Oh, God. Oh, God. It was that day he had finally found his Tether, after twenty-five years of an Untethered existence.
Most people would have been ecstatic. Finding your Tether was like getting out of a death sentence. That was because people without a Tether rarely lived past thirty. For reasons unknown, people had evolved to form soul ties—a Tether—with another person, without whom their health would seriously deteriorate. Not having a Tether wasn’t so much a problem when you were young, but because of the effects of lacking a Tether, most people spent their youth desperately trying to find their Tether. They were usually successful, save for a few unlucky ones. Jinshi wasn’t really sure why certain people found their Tethers easily and others didn’t. Not that he ever put much thought into it himself. He always assumed he’d have a short-lived life, and he was perfectly content with that fact. Well, until now.
Judging from the expression on the doctor’s face, which had morphed from utter contempt to something like surprise, Jinshi figured his Tether had come to the same realization as him. He had also gotten a better look at her. She had petite features, a freckled face, and pink, pouty lips. Cute, Jinshi thought dumbly. Before he could probe that feeling further, though, his Tether grabbed his arm and dragged him to a room on the side of the hallway, closing the door firmly behind them.
She began her rambling as soon as the door shut. “Since I’m guessing you’re not a complete idiot, you probably know by now that we are Tethers. I have to say I am quite excited about this development, but not for your usual reasons. As you can tell, I’m a doctor, specifically a pharmacologist, and I work at this hospital. It’s the best hospital in the entire country, and we aren't lacking in resources for medical research.” Jinshi knew that, of course, his brother wouldn’t accept anything less for his baby-to-be. “I’m doing a study to develop a drug that will eliminate people’s reliance on their Tether, so they can live a long life even if they’re Untethered, by taking that drug. So, I’m not asking for your love. All I’m asking for is your help. To buy me some time.” The girl bit her lip, showing her first sign of hesitation since she’d pulled him away to this room.
Jinshi considered what she said. To be honest, he only understood about half of her meaning, but it was enough to know that he was about to be dragged into something quite troublesome. “And if I just leave? Never to see you again?” He wanted to take back those words as soon as they left his mouth, but he steeled his gut. There was no way he would get involved in whatever scheme this girl was running. He had enough problems to deal with on his own. Running into his Tether today, or ever, was certainly not part of his plans, but he figured it would be easy enough to deal with, so he could get back to where he wanted to be—alone.
The girl’s expression shifted, her eyes turning darker than he thought possible. She crossed her arms and jutted her chin up in a show of stubbornness. “You couldn’t leave if you wanted to, anyway.” Her eyes darted from side to side, and Jinshi’s stare hardened at her. What? “I locked us in here, and only I know where the key is.” She sounded almost smug as she said that.
In a flash, Jinshi was crowding her back against the door. He knew he would intimidate her like this, but a part of him leapt at the chance to be closer to her, the heat of her body seeping into his own. That was the Tether, already at work and more potent than Jinshi could have imagined. A whimper came out of her throat when he leaned over her, but to her credit, she didn’t cave in immediately. “You locked me in here?” he demanded, hardly believing what he was hearing. Does she even know who I am? It occurred to him then that she didn’t, which was exactly why she was treating him like this, and he needed to keep it that way, even if that meant dealing with her obnoxious attitude for a bit longer.
Jinshi backed away from her carefully, and she tossed him an ungrateful glare once he was at a safe distance. “I’ll let us out as soon as you’re able to see reason,” she snipped at him. Jinshi quirked an eyebrow, but he only gestured for her to continue, which made her appear to lose some verve. She had obviously expected more resistance from his side. It felt good to defy expectations. “As I was saying,” The girl continued, her voice quickly returning to the kind of brashness that only came from years of never being told she was wrong—or, if someone had dared to tell her that, at least never having believed it. “Romantic reciprocation isn’t a necessary part of the Tether, only proximity is. Then, we should both benefit from simply being near each other, and nothing else.”
“I like my life how it is, doc.” Jinshi leaned his weight back on the wall opposite her, attempting to put as much space between them as possible. “I don’t have any reason to change that. Obviously, you’re desperate, for whatever reason—”
“For whatever reason?” She cut him off in the middle of his sentence, shrill. “This is a problem that’s plagued our society for generations, and generations of the best scientists and physicians have not been able to figure it out. You don’t see why I’d be desperate to find a solution? Not only for myself, but for those countless others who had their lives ended prematurely?”
He wanted to laugh, but he had a suspicion that would have been the worst thing to do at that moment. “If it’s for the greater good,” Jinshi drawled out. “You should still be able to make progress without me. You can’t be happy with just doing your piece, is that it?”
Judging from her reaction, what he said wasn’t much better than laughing at her. Her face pinched as she explained, “Besides the fact that I literally can’t live without you, I can’t even begin on a solution. The National Research Committee won’t approve studies that are proposed by an Untethered—something about the risk they’d die during the study, and it couldn’t be carried on.”
So, she was being held up on a technicality that only Jinshi could fix. There had to be a way around it, though, some way to get her off his back without Tethering himself to her. When it came to laws and regulations, there was always a loophole. He knew that well enough from his own experience. The girl took his silence as an opportunity. “How old are you?” she asked suddenly.
Jinshi glanced at her, suspicious, before deciding to respond. “Twenty-five,” he answered. It was only about five more years until he was free of all this. And he didn’t want to spend that remaining time tied down to someone else.
“Okay.” She closed her eyes, thinking. When she opened them again, her gaze was clear, determined. That was even more unnerving than anything else she’d said so far. “Give me five years. That’s how long I need for my research study. After that, you’re free to live out however long you have left, the way you like.”
“You won’t make me stay Tethered to you?” Jinshi asked, not bothering to hide the mild surprise in his tone. For most people, a Tether was more precious than anything else in the world. It wasn’t something that was easy to let go. If it was anyone else, Jinshi would have accused her of lying, but he somehow sensed she was genuine in her offer.
The girl shook her head. “Like you said, it’s for the greater good.” When he had said that he was being sarcastic, but he suspected she was not. “If I can make real progress with this study, then I won’t need a Tether by the end of it. Neither will you. And if not…” She trailed off, getting lost in her head for a moment. “If not, then I’m not the right person to solve this problem.”
Now it was her turn to fall silent. The words were heavy in his ears, and Jinshi understood how important this was to her. And how important she is to me. Jinshi tried not to shudder when that thought involuntarily inserted itself into his mind. Fundamentally, he shouldn’t want to get involved in anything to do with a Tether, but he suspected that avoiding it would bring more issues than it was worth. After all, his body had been screaming at him to get closer to her ever since he’d laid eyes on her. In the meantime, he would figure out how to get what they both wanted, and he was sure he could solve that issue in much less than five years. “Alright, let’s do it.” Jinshi finally said begrudgingly. He ignored the skip in his heartbeat when she looked up at him with hopeful eyes. “When does the Tether kick in?”
“It was activated the minute we met,” she said in a way that suggested she was telling him about the most basic fact in the world. While he was certain that she was uniquely fixated on the whole Tether thing, Jinshi could admit that he never cared much to learn about Tethers, even as a kid. While everyone around him obsessed over finding their Tether, Jinshi was more than happy to live his own life, the master of his own will, much to the chagrin of his family. They had desperately wanted him to take responsibility for something other than himself. If it wasn’t so tragic, it might have been funny how things had ended up like this. “Though we’ll have to go to the courthouse to register the Tether officially. The bond will strengthen over time, but it will also weaken with time apart. After five years, I suspect it will be strong enough to extend your life for a bit, even when we’ve separated. At least you’ll get some of it back.”
“I don’t understand any of this.” Jinshi groaned out, wishing he had never decided to visit his sister-in-law in the first place. His carefree days were slipping away by the second, all thanks to this headstrong girl who just happened to be his Tether.
A small smile played on her lips then. “Leave that part to me. I’m Maomao Han,” she offered her hand to him, rather belatedly. It was sort of a moot point now that they were Tethered, but Jinshi took her hand and shook it anyway, glad to at least know her name.
“Jinshi,” was all he said by way of introduction. He didn’t bother with a last name, but she didn’t seem to mind. “So, Maomao, you’re some sort of genius, aren’t you? I don’t meet many doctors who are barely twenty.”
“I’m twenty-two,” Maomao huffed, an indignant look screwing itself on her face which certainly didn’t help her case for maturity. “And genius is a point of view. But I have an MD, and a PhD in pharmacology.”
Jinshi raised his eyebrows, slightly impressed and somewhat wary. He suspected someone as sharp as Maomao would not miss any shady details about his lifestyle. How troublesome. He would have to be on even higher alert around her. “You are a genius, then. I suppose that makes me feel better about the success of the study.” It would certainly make convincing the National Research Committee that she could run the study without a Tether easier.
“Well, isn’t that just overwhelmingly optimistic of you?” She bit out with a frown, clearly displeased. Jinshi never could have imagined having a Tether would be like this. Tethers were meant to make a life worth living, not make it harder than it already was. Even for Maomao, it seemed she wasn’t too happy about the arrangement, either. She acted like she barely tolerated him, even knowing that he was her Tether. At her age, she should have been nearly consumed with worry over finding a Tether, and he supposed she was, although not for the typical reason. “Anyway, I suppose we should move in together soon, to strengthen the Tether as quickly as possible. Where do you live?”
“The financial district,” said Jinshi automatically, the lie coming out like second nature. Technically, he did have an apartment there for legal reasons, but he spent most of his time at his family’s estates further beyond the city’s outskirts.
Maomao's nose wrinkled. “Really?” Her eyes gave him another once-over, as if she was assessing the likelihood of that statement. His sleeves of ink might have brought that into doubt, but Jinshi was well-dressed enough to pass as a young, if not unconventional, professional, and the heavy watch on his wrist was another confirmation that he had the money to afford a place in the city’s most expensive neighborhood. “Well, that’s quite far from the hospital, so I’d rather stay at my apartment. It might be a bit small for your taste, though.”
Jinshi stopped himself from rolling his eyes. That was probably a gross understatement, but still an insignificant detail in the grand scheme of things; he knew it wouldn’t be hard to find a suitable place in this area. “I’m sure we can work that out.”
“Alright.” Maomao checked her own watch, a sensible digital face on her small wrist. “I don’t get off from work for another twelve hours, but you can start moving your things in the meantime. I’ll give you the address and passcode in.”
He showed up at the address she’d sent him, a place downtown near the hospital, and immediately determined that it was indeed too small for his tastes. It only took one call to the real estate office to find several promising multi-bedroom units in the same neighborhood, but he settled on the biggest one that her building had to offer. Somehow, Jinshi got the sense that Maomao would throw a fit if she had to move too far away, and it was strange to him how confident he was in his instinct despite having only met her that day. He enlisted the help of a cleaning service and an interior decorator to work on the new apartment while he went back to his—now old—apartment in the financial district to gather his essentials.
It occurred to him several times throughout the process that he was making a mistake, or otherwise acting irrationally. But at the same time, it all felt perfectly natural. His new life fit into one black duffel bag: two weeks' worth of clothes, some books, and a pack of cigarettes, although Maomao most certainly would disapprove of the smoking. The other things he could leave here, for now. Even if he would be moving into the new place with her, there was no reason he should give up his bachelor pad for good. It wasn’t like affording the rent for two places would be an issue, either.
Jinshi finished making some calls to change his work arrangements to better evade any potential suspicions and headed to the new apartment, which was by now suitably cleaned and furnished. He’d had all the things from her old apartment moved to the one they now shared, with separate rooms for each of them, of course. After settling in, he found himself waiting eagerly for his Tether to return home. He had only known her for a day, and already she was the most curious, maddening, and intriguing woman he’d ever met. Even so, he’d never planned to share his life with anyone. That wasn’t going to happen, not like this. Still... The Tether tugged at him like a leash on a dog. Would it be such a bad thing?