6 The ghost
As the clock struck 12.45 pm, Lao Yating and Shen Junru stood before the glass doors of their Captain's office as they engaged in an argument over the biggest crisis of their lives.
"Who will submit the case report to Wan Yi Jun who happened to overhear their conversation?"
"You go." Lao Yating shoved the report into the other's hand and ordered quickly,
"You are the second in command." Shen Junru quickly hid his hand behind his back and refused to take the case file. "You should hand it over in person."
"I may be second in command, but you are captain's favourite."
"You were the one who started that stupid conversation, so you should go."
"Where? When? It was that whiny little Bing who asked his ridiculous questions. Where is he? He should take responsibility of his mistakes."
"He will get away with a mail and captain will ask for a hard copy from us. So it is better that you go and submit it."
"Aisshhhh." Lao Yating almost cussed and looked for a way to escape.
"You should have listened to me when I asked you to stop spreading baseless rumours about Captain, just go now." Shen Junru pushed his senior towards the glass door and for Lao Yating's bad luck, Wan Yi Jun who buried his eyes on the case file, raised his head and caught the arguing duo.
Since he made eye-contact with the beast, he had no other option but to enter it's den.
Taking a deep breath, Lao Yating straightened his posture and pulled open the glass door.
"Captain!!!"
"Hmmm?" Wan Yi Jun replied without reverting his eyes from the desktop.
"Final report."
"Leave it there."
"Yes captain." Lao Yating placed the file on the table and quickly turned around to walk away.
However, just as he reached out for the door handle, he got called by Wan Yi Jun.
"Its over. Captain is going to interrogate me ." He reluctantly turned around and looked at the man who was shutting down the computer.
"Good lord, save me." He began to pray as he feared the consequences of spreading rumours about their seniors. But whatever they discussed, isn't it a widely circulated news in the whole police force.?"
"Chief invited us for lunch." Wan Yi Jun's random statement pulled his second in command back into reality.
"Huh?"
"You didn't hear me? Chief Wu is treating us. Inform the team and meet me at the parking lot."
"..." Lao Yating.exe crashed and stopped working.
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As per Wu Feng's orders, the eagle team arrived at "The Ocean King" a high end seafood restaurant in the entire imperial city. Just as they entered the restaurant, the nicely dressed waiters escorted them to one of the VIP private rooms, with no delay.
While they were left bewildered by the luxurious menu, Chief Wu walked into the private room with a pleasant smile.
"Did you place the order?" Wu Feng's wrinkled eyes travelled around the perplexed faces of his junior officers and finally rested on Wan Yi Jun, who spoke on behalf of them.
"No, chief. We were waiting for you." He replied and moved a glass of water for his Chief.
Since Wu Feng was treating them for a meal, they remained seated while waiting for him to order the dishes first.
"Feel free to order anything you want." Wu Feng suggested and handed over the menu card to Fei Yan who sat opposite to him.
Though Wu Feng made an offer no one was brave enough to order a meal, thanks to the huge numbers written next to the dishes as an indication of the price. The dishes were so expensive that they just sipped on plain water instead of drinking.
"How about lobster?" Wu Feng proposed when he heard no orders from the eagle team. "Or shall I order a seafood platter?" He asked while looking at Wan Yi Jun, who slightly bobbed his head in disagreement.
"It's your welcome party. As your chief, it's my duty to take care of you." Wu Feng tried to ease their discomfort by gentle reminders.
"Oh then we will make sure to leave you bankrupt." Wan Yi Jun replied half jokingly as he finalized the order for the most expensive seafood platter from the menu.
It was his method to get back to Wu Feng, for putting in charge of 'HK Long Wei case' despite his protests.
"I know Fei Yan's family lives in the imperial itself, what about others?Have you all found a place to stay?" Wu Feng inquired as they waited for the food.
"We have. But.…" Lao Yating's words faded away when his eyes fell on Wan Yi Jun, who sat there with bloodshot eyes. All of them barely slept last night due to the mission, but their captain never took a moment of rest from the moment he reported for work at imperial.
He even kept his clothes and luggage in the locker room at police quarters and refused to go home.
Wu Feng glanced at the youngman and asked an obvious question.
"Your captain is not allowing you to go home?"
"No..not like that." Lao Yating quickly refused to avoid any more trouble. His daily dose of fear and anxiety has already hit the sky and he no longer had any strength to endure one more Wan Yi Jun's special torture.
"You have made a mistake by coming here before the new year. You could have gone home and spent time with your family before joining here."
Wu Feng pointed out as he sympathized with the special force team members. Being a loyal and reliable police officer, all of them had to compromise with their personal lives in order to serve their duty. They could have taken a break and celebrated the new year with their family. But instead of that, they all rushed to imperial only to get fooled by a fake intel.
When he noticed that everyone avoided looking at their captain and kept their eyes downcast, Wu Feng was able to figure out who was the reason for the awkward silence in the room.
"I know we don't get enough time to celebrate national holidays. But Yi Jun, when was the last time you went home for the new year?" He gathered everyone's attention to something they overlooked or unaware of until now.
However, even under everyone's curious gaze, Wan Yi Jun remained unflinched and let them know the truth, so casually.
"Dr Sienna Han is even busier than her son, so it must have been two or three years eversince we met in person."
His reply left the eagle team and Chief Wu speechless and after a long moment, Fei Yan, father of a ten year old boy, finally broke the sombre silence in the room.
"You really haven't met your mother in two years?" He asked, rather in an empathetic tone. After watching Wan Yi Jun's workaholic nature, they started to think that he was a robot who works non-stop. However they never expected that it was inherited from his mother, nevertheless.
"Yeah." He kept his reply short to avoid follow up queries. However, Wu Feng went ahead with his daring attempt to make his austere subordinate to speak up.
"Hmm, where are you staying, nowadays?"
"Office." The reply was quick and short, pouring cold water over chief Wu's attempts.
But thanks to the seafood platter, Wu Feng had more supporters and they readily dived into the conversation to show their undying love and admiration.
"Captain never leaves the office."Bing Wen reported excitedly as he totally forgot about the mess created in the morning and went on with his praise or complaint regarding his Captain,
"He even stays there at night."
As soon as the word fell from Bing Wen's mouth, the rest of the team members wished they could gag him before he spills anymore nonsense.
"What?" Wu Feng's response was rather shocked. Though it is normal for police officers to stay at resting quarters in police stations, he never seen an officer in the rank of a team captain prefers to stay in his office. "Why are you staying there?"
"I'm cleaning my place and there are some renovations left to do." Wan Yi Jun made a valid point instead of giving a full length explanation.
"You should have told me earlier to look for a ready to occupy apartment." Wu Feng chided him and the very next moment, he made a fancy offer that left everyone dumbstruck.
"Or else you can stay with us."
"Staying with the chief commissioner of the police department, Woahhhh !!!!" Bing Wen literally dropped his jaw when he recalled Fei Yan's words about Wan Yi Jun being the second son to chief Wu.
"Thanks Chief. But I'm going home, tonight."' Wan Yi Jun declared with a faint smile.
"Home? Are you gonna stay at Wisteria gardens?" Wu Feng snapped back in utter disbelief and surprise.
"It remained closed and empty for nearly fifteen years.
"Where else do I stay? It's my home." Wan Yi Jun protested.
"Yaaa, it might take days to renovate that place. How can you clean, no how can you live there alone?" For a moment, Wu Feng forgot his position and reprimanded the young man like an affectionate father.
"I'm not going to stay there for the whole day. I just go there to sleep." He elaborated as if it's not a big deal.
Though Wu Feng wished to carryon with the topic, they were interrupted by the delicious aroma of their food.
The sight of the enormous portions and colourful combinations of sea food have left them mesmerized and helped to forget the conversation just happened a moment ago.
While everyone was enjoying the delicious treats, Wu Feng has already lost his appetite because of what he heard from Wan Yi Jun. Unable to calm down his raging anxiety, he decided to continue the conversation where the left it.
"But Yi Jun, how can you live at that place, all alone? Let me ask Butler Ming to send someone." Wu Feng suggested in a worried voice.
"Chief, I'm not a child to stay with an adult." Wan Yi Jun said half-jokingly, "Stop worrying."
"No...no...you have decided to stay there and at least, you need some one to properly take care of the house." Wu Feng argued back on a belief that Wan Yi Jun might re-consider his decision. "What if there are some animals or-"
"Ghosts?" Wan Yi Jun completed his words with an indifferent look on his face and the very next moment a haughty snigger flashed on his lips as he stared at Wu Feng.
"Do you really think that place is haunted with ghosts? The only ghost that existed in Wisteria gardens abandoned that place fifteen years ago." He spoke in a sarcastic tone and turned his gaze back to his food, making it clear that he doesn't want to continue the conversation.
Though he spoke sarcastically, Wu Feng could clearly saw the agony hidden behind Wan Yi Jun's crystal clear eyes.
Wisteria gardens was his home, the place that holds his precious memories of time when he was happy.
As he lingered more on his memories, Wan Yi Jun could hear childish sneers and insults ringing in his ears, rushing his memories back to an afternoon, 16 years ago.
"Ghost!!!!..."
"She is a monster!!!"
A group of children screamed at a girl,who sat on the puddle of dirt with toiled clothes.
Murky water dripping down from her silver hair to her thin shoulders.
"Tzuki!!!!" A boy rushes to her, shouting atop of his lungs and kneels before her.
Hearing his voice, the girl slowly raised her head to reveal a pair of bi-coloured eyes.
Her irises, resembling both starless sky and bottomless blue ocean, coldly stares back at the boy, with immense amount of hatred and anger.
While Wan Yi Jun was lost in his memories, in one of the houses in the busy alleys of imperial city's downtown, a woman stood before the mirror, taking off a coal black lens to reveal with a sparkling icy blue iris.
Keeping her lens aside, she took a tuft full of her shiny silver tresses, with a determined look on her gorgeous face.
Taking a deep breath, she made her final decision to reached out for obsidian black dye and began to apply over her silver hair,
To erase the traits that made her alive in someone else's memories.
