Chapter 67 - Cinderella

Every time Wuming got back to an urban area, he found that he could rarely sleep. If he could, he would always go back to his wooden house up in the mountains to catch a good night sleep after a mission. But unfortunately in his line of work, sometimes he would be sent half-way across the world and during his stay in that foreign country, he would not find peace and had to exhaust himself to be able to lie down the bed without waking up every fifteen minutes or so.

After years of having left Chengshi, even though this was the place he had grown up in, the reality remained the same. It had been more than a week already and he still could not find a way to fall asleep in this house. Most of the time, he spent it on the bas.e.m.e.nt, hitting something, shooting at the targets, lifting weights, and running on the treadmill.

He would exhaust himself enough that when he was finish showering, he would just plop down the bed and lose consciousness. But any sudden noise, even just the slightest sound would make his eyes pop open.

That was what exactly happened to him almost everyday. He was even thankful to have something better to do in his sleepless nights. Over the past few days he had been grilling members of different mafias—to find something that would give away that they knew something about the murder at the hotel, or who could have possibly dared to put a target on the Qings' backs.

It was just standard protocol if your organization was under Enigma. The members would be chosen at random. It was not exactly torture. But he could not also say that it was.

"Shut up," Wuming said to the man strapped to the chair. He was drenched in sweat and his face had a couple of bruises.

"Do you want me to cut off his tongue?" another man asked, this one was wielding a small knife—it looked sharp but one look at it, Wuming knew that the man never really spent an hour learning how to use it. The only thing he probably knew with the knife was to stick it with the pointy end. Wuming shrugged in his head, after all, that was the first rule of knives and the like.

"No!" Wuming grimaced. "Protocol rules: bruises, not scars."

"Please, please," said the man strapped to the chair. He had straight hair way past his shoulders and a full on beard going on his thin face. He would have looked intimidating on a normal day—like a proper mobster, but look at him crying for his life. "Don't kill me."

Wuming rolled his eyes. "No one's going to kill you," he said. "Let him go. I had enough of his wailing."

"Thank you! Thank you!" the man said, tears flowing from his eyes.

Wuming only glared at him as he was dragged out of the metal door. Another man approached and handed him a phone. "The Chairman," the man said.

Wuming took it. "Yes, Father?"

"Wei, you have not been home for three days already!" his father barked and he moved the phone away from his ear. "Get back here and get some rest!"

"I am having breakfast."

"At the warehouse?"

"Yes, breakfast of screams and tears," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose and let some of the pressure out as he tilted his head. "This is going nowhere, Father."

He heard his father sigh. "Get some rest, Wei. Come back home and we'll figure out our next move after the party tonight."

Wuming pursed his lips. "I'll find somewhere to rest. I'll be at the party."

**

Ever since Kang Mei had graduated college, she had never bothered to wake up early during the weekends. It was the only time she could replenish all the energy she had put on credit during the weekdays. Her grandmother knew well that she should not be waken up when she was resting.

But this morning had been different. Her grandmother had shook her shoulder and calmly told her to get up and that it was already nine in the morning. She turned to her side and said, "Five more minutes."

She had just shut her eyes for a second when she felt another shaking. "Grandma, I said five minutes."

"It had already been twenty minutes!" her grandmother whisper shouted.

"Why are you whispering?" she asked and pulled a pillow above her head.

Her grandmother started toeing the side of her body. "We have a visitor and he's waiting outside!"

"He?" she asked. Who could that be? Another one of her suitors? A classmate? Her boss?! She shot upwards. "Who is it?!" she demanded.

Her grandmother's white hair was on a bun on the nape of her neck and she was wearing a checkered shirt underneath a yellow apron. Her grandmother only glared. "Get up and you will know!"

As soon as Kang Mei's grandmother went out of the room, she pulled herself upwards and folded the foam she had just been sleeping on. She looked around her small crowded room and pulled on a decent shirt. When she went out, she immediately jumped into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.

"So where is that man you are talking about grandmother?" she asked as she passed by the kitchen.

"He's out in the garden," her grandmother replied excitedly. "Oh, you have to see him, Kang Mei! He is so handsome. You would make a perfect match!"

Kang Mei grunted. The last time her grandmother tried to set a match for her, she ended up going on a date with the guy who delivered their milk. But alas, they were not compatible. "Who is it this time? The newspaper delivery guy? The butcher at the wet market? Or the guy who delivers water?"

"Oh!" her grandmother swatted the air, picking up the bowl of noodles. "Come on, you shall see."

There was something that made her nervous with the way her grandmother smiled at her. Who was it? Her curiosity was already killing her. She almost pushed through the screen door in her hurry.

Their house was small but it had a small patch of land on its side. That was where she found the man looming over the small table on the grass. He was on his phone and was wearing a black shirt together with black jeans. Had he just came from a funeral?

But there was no denying it. Her grandmother was right. He was handsome. His hair was tousled by the wind, showing off his straight eyebrows and the tall bridge of his nose. His cheeks and nose were chiseled, his lips thin and red.

She was just beginning to wonder how he was able to achieve that color when he suddenly sucked on a piece of strawberry. His eyes raised when he heard the door open.

"Had you been waiting long?" her grandmother said in an overly friendly voice. Where on earth did they meet?

"No," he said with a smile and that made his face look thinner. The rest of him looked slender and long. "I'm really sorry for the trouble of dropping by unannounced."

"Don't think too much of it!" her grandmother said and sat on the blanket. "We were just about to have lunch anyway."

Kang Mei felt her whole being jumped when his eyes transferred to her.

"What are you doing there?" her grandmother called. "Come here!"

As she was walking towards them, she could hear her grandmother explain. "She is always tired with work and weekends are the only days she could really get some rest."

"Pardon the intrusion," said the man with that smile still.

"No worries! I did tell you to come by."

When she sat down, her grandmother immediately clasped on her arm. "This is Kang Mei. She's my only granddaughter. Mei, this is Wei. Oh! Even your names sounded alike."

"You can call me Camille," she said with a timid smile. She was not going to be friendly with him. For all she cared, he might be a swindler. With that, she kept quiet and listened to the conversation—she was looking for signs that might give away the guy.

But then this Wei seemed to be a rich person. He had a golden watch on and a thin band of necklace circled his neck. A thick leather strap rested on his wrist. His shoes were shined and his clothes looked expensive. But oh well, tricksters came in all shapes and sizes nowadays.

She had learned that her grandmother had met Wei on an airplane. Wei was from the north and had to transfer planes for the connecting flight (where her grandmother had boarded when she went to visit her sick sister) that brought him to here in Chengshi.

He was well-spoken and had asked about her basic information but none that were too prying in her life. He complimented her grandmother's cooking and told her it reminded him of home. He said the house looked nice and the garden was well taken care of. When they cleared the table, she talked to her grandmother.

"Why did you invite him here?" she asked as she set the plate on the sink.

"He's a nice boy and I thought you ought to meet more men like him. I am not telling you to date him. It would be impossible anyway."

For some unknown reason, Kang Mei felt a tiny bit disappointed with that fact. "Why not?"

Her grandmother smiled at her, she wished for it to be teasing but there was a little sadness in it. "He said he would drop by before he left the country—that he was only here for business purposes. I think he might be leaving soon."

"Ah," she said. She looked outside at the garden and found that Wei had laid down the blanket and covered his eyes with his forearm. Was he sleeping?! Before she went out, she grabbed an umbrella from the drawer and pushed it open.

She placed it near his head which casted him in a dark green shadow. It would be noon soon and he would be under the attack of the sun. She silently folded the table and was about to leave when his eyes opened and he spoke.

"Camille."

His eyes were startlingly black that she was sure she could see her reflection even from this distance. "Y-yeah?"

"Would you like you to be Cinderella for a night?"