WARNING! Slightly (18+)
Most people must be using their weekend, especially on Sunday, to recover from tough five surviving days of the week. However, this precious day doesn’t have the same meaning to others. One of them is a woman who just finished her breakfast and goes straight to locked herself inside her room. No matter how she looks, she seems to be just frustrated, none other than Wuying. Her phone is vibrating on the bed sheet and a message notification pops up on the top of the screen. Second notification, third, and count it until six then stop as the screen is slowly turned off. Her eyes only glance at it, almost looking glaring, as she keeps ignoring all of it. “Hah…” Another heavy sigh comes out, lost count of how many it is this morning, as she keeps messaging forehead and rustling her hair, totally messed up. In times like this, she really just needs the alcohol to hit her in order to take her away from the world, a painful reality. Wuying stays like that, sitting on the cold floors, and focuses on calming herself down. Slowly, she raises her head and takes her phone to check it. But her frustrated expression disappears as she just raises one of her eyebrows in confusion. Four messages came from an unknown number that she completely doesn’t know. What makes her more confused is that this number is not sending a text message, instead it’s photos. Since her curiosity takes over, she decides to open the messages from that unknown number. And what she sees there almost rolls the two of her eyeballs out and her jaw drops on the floor. It’s pictures of her older brother, Xiao Bèi, who passed out with a cigarette still hanging in his mouth. What makes her even more disgusted and terrified at the same time is that he and the other two women, completely much younger than their age, look like a newly born baby. Totally naked and there are lots of bruises on the woman's face, neck, arms, and body as if they were just getting assaulted. There is one bubble chat below the photos but her finger hasn’t scrolled it because it is stopped by the loud voice coming from outside of the room. The sound of a slammed door. “WHAT?!?!” Quan’s shouting voice can be heard after that as it looks like rushing himself to get out of his room and heads toward the garage to grab his car. Obviously, hearing that, Wuying goes out right away to check on her brother. Unfortunately, Quan takes out the car from the front yard and drives away from the house. But her eyes quickly get distracted by seeing Hui who is closing the front gate. “Hui! Hui!” She calls her out in a hurry while running towards Hui. “Yes, Jiejie? What can I help you with?” Hui asks casually with her flat face. “Where is Gege headed off to?” Just from this simple question, Wuying’s voice sounds almost out of breath. Her adrenaline must kick in since she opened those disturbing messages from anonymous along with how Quan suddenly acted in a rush. “Sorry, Jiejie… I have no idea where he is heading off to because he didn’t say anything earlier.” Hui replies with an apologetic voice and bows down. The reply only boils Wuying’s uncontrollable emotions which makes her glaring deadly at Hui. “Cih! Useless!” Of course, before storming out leaving a not so innocent house maid outside, Wuying scolds angrily without thinking which obviously that’s not Hui’s fault at all. While Wuying stomps her footsteps to get inside, Hui piercing stares as there is a fire in it at her as the grip on the gate gets tighten. Meanwhile the person who just got back inside her room, doesn’t have any clue of it. Once she locks the room, she gets back to her track of scrolling down the chat room to reveal the last message. Can you rate these photos? Or should I ask people around the world about it? Hhhhh After reading that, Wuying is still left in shock as her blood starts boiling on her face. Her venomous eyes show up, lips curl with disgust, and jaws clench. Of course, she already knew that her brother is such a drug addict but she never expected something like this would happen. Just looking at the photos and the last message, it is obviously a threat for her, for the Bèi family. What do you want? Is the only thing that comes across in Wuying’s mind to reply. Not even a second, a sign of the other person typing shows up. A Bèi can be so empty headed, huh? From the first message, it makes Wuying twitch her eyebrows in an instant and grip tighter on her phone by reading that insult. What else could it be? Next message comes up then follows up with a three emoticons packs of money. Now Wuying realizes why from all of the other siblings, she is the one they choose. This person must have been targeting her from long ago. However, there is someone who suddenly crosses her mind if she puts it in that way. None other than Quan’s wife, Niu Sartika. “That bitch…” Wuying cursing underneath her breath as her eyes go like a predator who is ready to devour its opponent. While she is in the middle of her own thoughts, another message comes in to break those things away. It’s coming from the same unknown number who is just playing with her. I wanna see a duffle bag filled with 5000 yen before noon in this locker. That is the message above a photo of lockers with the numbers and codes to open it. Based on the photo, it is a familiar place for Wuying because somehow they choose a place that is in the center of this city. One of the lockers in the subway where many people will surround the place, especially on holidays. At the moment, the amount of money is not really bothersome as her focus right now is figuring out who is behind it then stopping its action to spread the photos of her brother. It won’t affect only Xiao but also to other siblings, especially Quan is the most concerning since he is going to take over a big company. If his partnership knows about it, most likely they are going to cut off the contract. With that being put in mind, Wuying quickly gets prepared for everything and somehow her previous thoughts full with last night's accident get swept away.
**Quan’s side**
It is already around 45 minutes since he left the house and headed off toward somewhere that is far from his place, outside of the town. The usual time he needs to reach the destination place is at least more than an hour. Thankfully, it’s Sunday morning, not on weekdays where there will be a lot of heavy traffic jams. In addition, he also drives the car as if he is in a race or battling with the remaining time. Arriving at one of the houses in a residential area outside of the town, a familiar looking one. “GEGE CHANG!” Quan shouts angrily right away when he steps out from his car then rushes to the front door. Surprisingly, what makes him into this state is because of the first sibling, not the one from the photos sent on Wuying’s phone. “GEGE CHANG!” He calls him once again while slamming the wooden door harshly which causes loud noisy voices that are probably going to gather Chang’s neighbors. Fortunately, it only lasts for a few seconds because there is a sound of keys rumbling from the other side to unlock the door. “Ugghh!! Stop making trouble, will ya?!” Chang says annoyedly once he opens the door with that disrupted face. The way he answers the door obviously only pours oil into Quan’s anger which makes him closing the distance only a few inches away. “You are the one who causes trouble! Why did you do that?!” Quan attacks back. “So you’re that type of person who woke up on Sunday morning and chose violence, huh? Great.” Instead of calming his younger brother down, Chang prefers to mock him which only makes his body get slammed on the wall. “Don’t. Mess with me.” Another threat comes from Quan and it's more intimidating than before as his hands move to grab Chang’s collar, making Chang choke a little bit by the sudden movement. His loud shouting voice and from the way he rushed in then slammed his sibling's body on the wall, obviously makes Chang’s wife, Kaili, to show up and look at them terrified. Chang realizes that if they keep going like this, it only brings trouble into his household. With that put in mind, Chang quickly holds Quan’s arms that are on his collar and the other one he uses to close the door behind him. “Just– calm down, will ya?” He tries to speak even though it sounds stammered. The anger on Quan’s face doesn’t go away in a flick of finger as he still stares at him deeply but the grip on his brother slowly loosening till the point that Chang gets his arms off by himself. “Moron.” The word that comes out from Chang as he rolls his eyes and approaches Kaili first, trying to comfort her by caressing his cheek and touching their foreheads together. Meanwhile Quan is still standing and staring toward the wall without blinking and his knuckles start to grip tighter once again until it loses the color of his blood. After comforting and telling sweet words to his wife, Chang tells her to prepare some drinks for the two of them and get back inside to play with the children. “Stop being a weirdo. Come here and sit.” Chang orders Quan without looking at him as he just leads the way toward the main room. Quan only glances at him from his shoulder as he slowly realizes that Chang still has a wife and two of his children in this house. He shouldn’t act like this, especially on Sunday morning where they should spend their time together. Ironically, that thought never shows up whenever it comes to his own family. They are now sitting on the couches, leaving the room in a freezing cold atmosphere as none of them try to break this dead silence. Not to mention that, the rage on Quan’s face doesn’t slightly fade away which makes him look like trying to bottle up all of his anger. Just sitting there with two of his hands on his thigh and staring into one point with those fierce eyes. Chang, who is seeing that from the other side, can feel the chills running down to his backbone. Even though he puts on his poker face, his eyes can’t hide the truth of his inner soul. Not long after they stay like that, Kaili comes back with a tray to bring two cups of hot black coffee for them. Even Kaili that just enters the room, can feel the menacing aura coming from Quan who is technically just sitting there. She looks at his husband but Chang signals her to leave and just do what he just told her previously. With that being said, now it is just the two of them and most likely nothing will interrupt them. Chang takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out as he takes a sip from his cup. “Okay. So what do you–” “Don’t play dumb with me, Gege. You’re the one who sold one of our father's land properties in Panzhihua, right?” Without any warm up, Quan strikes in and doesn’t let Chang to distract or lightening the suffocating atmosphere. “Wai– wha–? What are you–” Chang wants to deny Quan’s claim but Quan stops him by showing his phone’s screen. It shows a photo of him making a secret transaction with an unknown man in one of the hidden bars in the town. Quan swipes his phone screen to show a more detailed photo which is the one that got zoomed in to have clearer vision. “Tell me. Why.” Quan speaks with more pressure for demand to answer his question. Seeing those photos, Chang’s eyes open widely, in disbelievement that he will be found out in just two weeks after that. However, Chang is not the type of person who will mourn about what seems to be wrong in other people’s perspectives. Instead, he looks back at Quan, just as sharp as him before. “What do you think, lil bro?” Chang replies and leans his body to look more relaxed at the same time giving Quan a posture of mocking him. He also knows that his brother hates people who are just playing around in such a situation. As expected, it makes Quan’s knuckles tighter as he squints one of his eyes. “I told you once. Third chance never shows up. Answer me.” Quan doesn’t need to raise his voice like how most people do whenever they get mad. That’s it. He already gets into his limit and if Chang tries to disobey that, there will be bloodshed in just a blink of an eye. But, that’s not going to happen because Quan never lays his hand on his siblings. “It is just one of our parents’ properties! It’s not a big deal!” The same rhythm is still going as Chang argues, getting emotional. “It is! We should have kept it together and yet you sold it behind our back! So starving for money then you choose to eat your own family blood?!” Since Quan already reaches his limit but can’t do any violence things toward his siblings, he can only let out his anger through his words and raise his voice. “Heh,” hearing that, it doesn’t shut Chang’s mouth, instead a form of smirk shows up. “You should’ve said that to your most beloved little sister, bro.” then takes another sip from his coffee, making Quan raise one of his eyebrows. Not in a confused way but feels offended by his brother's statement. “Are you trying to guilt tripping Wuying now? Out of the blue accusing her? You sure want to break this family into pieces, huh?” Quan replies and shakes his head in disbelief. “Pft. HAHAHAHAHA'' This is the first reaction Quan gets when he says those words to Chang. Completely an unexpected reaction which makes Quan stare at him. “Haa… I guess mom was wrong saying you’re the smartest among us.” Another insult comes out from Chang as he takes out one of his cigarettes from the carton. Slowly the fury in Quan’s eyes fades away, changing into confusion. “Don’t you dare to our mother like that!” Quan shouts back out of his anger. “Say, little brother. Have you really didn’t notice anything from Wuying? Just a little bit?” How the table turned, now Chang is the one who takes control of the situation to become more dominant to pressure the opponent. However, Quan is not an easy opponent to get controlled with. “You haven’t answered my question before and you want me to answer yours now? That’s not how it works.” Quan replies sharply and lays his back on the coach, trying to test some nerve from Chang. “Alright. Let’s make it short, shall we?” Now the two of them get on the game. Chang leans his body forward and looks at Quan with those challenging eyes while Quan just sits still without any changing movements and replies with a nod. “I want to.” One word comes out from Chang then he grins widely which makes Quan once again raise one of his eyebrows in confusion. “Now you answer my question.” Chang continues but somehow Quan’s face shows that he doesn’t accept that answer. “Don’t give me that crap. Answer it wi–” Quan tries to fight back but gets cut off from Chang right away. “You asked for a reason and I answered that’s what I wanted. Besides, you didn’t give an additional instruction to explain, right?” “Stop messing around. There must be at least–” “Well, that’s your problem not mine.” Once again, Chang just keeps attacking him without giving any chance for Quan to deny his answer. Quan’s position is cornered with no other way out, he can only stay quiet while glaring at Chang. With that being said, Chang notices it quickly which makes the corner of his lips curve up, first victory. “Your turn.” “Nothing.” The exact same reaction without any second comes out from Quan to answer Chang’s question. The difference is that the reaction afterward as Chang starts to show his smug face once again then inhales his cigarette. “Unbelievable.” A word comes out from Chang that sounds completely mocking Quan. However, that’s not Quan’s focus in the first place. “Now, explain.” Getting back to his track, Quan demands for a clearer answer from the previous one. “Because of Wuying.” The answer just flies out from Chang’s mouth with no hesitation needed. This simple answer obviously makes Quan’s eyebrows twitch once again and the anger boils up once again as Quan’s nostrils flared and his knuckles turn into white. “Just spit it out already!” Seems like bottled anger inside Quan finally explodes as he slams the table in front of them with both of his hands and glares at him. The person who gets intimidated just rolls his eyes in annoyance and inhales his cigarette once again. “Have you ever thought that you gave too much for Wuying?” Chang says once he exhales the smoke. Nothing changes from Quan as he just stays in that position, probably still can’t figure it out and it’s just one of the ways Chang is trying to put the blame on his little sister. “Not only gifts but you also listened to everything she tells you to do. Like a dog who always listens to its owner.” Finishing the line with that insulation, something inside Quan kicks him to go forward and chookes Chang once again. Quan breaths in and out unsteadily like a predator in front of its prey. But instead of feeling suffocated or hurt, Chang lets out devilish laughter, enjoying this game so much. “Am I wrong? You took Han’s offer because Wuying told you to do so, right?” Chang states out and from here, the flares on Quan’s eyes slowly put out and the grip also starts loosening. “So I was right, huh?” Chang continues then scoffs. “How did you know about that?” The previous voice sounded like a beast from Quan now already goes back to his normal tone and he slowly pulls himself away. Hearing that reaction from Quan, once again another scoff comes out from Chang. “Is that really the point? Disappointing.” He replies with a smug face with his chin up. From Chang’s perspective, the only emotion that shows up on Quan’s face is just confusion with slight anger on it. The distance between is getting far since Quan slowly takes a few steps back. That’s the end of today’s battle between the siblings as Chang celebrates his victory by inhaling the last bit of his cigarette then puts it out. After that he stands up from his seat and gently pats Quan’s shoulder with a sympathetic smile. “Best of luck for you, huh? Close the gate when you leave. Gotta prepare myself for lunch with the fam.” With that being said, Chang leaves the unfazed Quan there. Standing still in shock with his mind can’t process everything that just happened a couple minutes ago. Because in fact, the one who knows about the offer is literally just four people, Han, himself, Dwei, and Dwei’s assistant. “Dwei’s assistant…” Quan whispers and blinks his eyes multiple times. Slowly a realization and blurry memories start forming in his head. “Have I met him somewhere before…?”
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