Lune turned as he overheard the drama taking place behind him.
'Ah... Maybe I should have gone to look for him instead,' he thought to himself.
While the manager and the three men continued to argue with each other, the little receptionist gave a nervous chuckle and clutched the tablet close to her chest. "Well, we don't have to worry about that," she tried to convince herself. "I've never seen these types of situations before but I'm sure Manager Xiu can resolve it...she's a little scary."
"I can tell," Lune agreed, a hint of amusement in his voice.
The lady grinned, feeling glad that she had a guest to distract herself with so that she wouldn't have to listen to the bickering. "U- Uhm, anyway," she started again, "I think you'll have to wait for the president here. He usually comes very early in the morning, but I don't know why he's so late today..."
"It is fine," he answered simply.
The young lady scratched the side of her cheek with her finger sheepishly. "Er, what is your name again, sir?"
"Lune," he said. "What is yours?"
After hearing the question pop out of his mouth, her face flushed a bright red, and she stammered. "Oh gosh! T- that's not what I meant! I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, jumpy. "I meant to ask for your name so that I could check if we have you on our list of appointments! ...B- But my name is Gu Surong!"
Lune twitched at Gu Surong's unexpected outburst of nervousness, feeling a bit stressed that he somehow messed up. Anyhow, Lune forced an awkward smile, not knowing what else he was supposed to do. "Apologies, Miss Gu. I suppose I was mistaken-"
"HEY, YOU!"
The man that was being held up at the entrance shouted across the main lobby, and it took everyone a moment before they figured that he was shouting at the tall man standing at the resting arena with the short lady: Lune.
"Um, Sir Lune," Gu Surong whispered. "I think he's talking to you."
Lune turned around towards the direction of the loud voice, confused on why he was suddenly being pulled into the drama.
"Yes, you!" the guy proceeded to shout. "Do you work here?!"
"...no..."
Manager Xiu frowned at Lune as if she wanted to stop him from answering, but she was overshadowed by the man's crude, defiant yelling, his expression filled with annoyance.
"Do you have a card?! Did you have to make an appointment before coming here?"
Lune furrowed his brows, not entirely sure what the man was trying to get at, as Channing was the one who wanted him to come to his building. "I do not have a card," he answered truthfully.
"WHAT?! Then why'd they let you in, but not me?" he cried in disbelief. He shook his fist angrily as Manager Xiu had the three security men block his way before he could push further inside.
"That's not fair!" he screamed. "I want an explanation!"
Suddenly, a sharp, icy voice made itself known, thundering, "Why the hell are there people blocking the front of my headquarters?"
Gu Surong gasped in surprise, holding the tablet up to her mouth as Lune smiled.
So, he finally arrived.
.
.
Channing was already in an uptight mood the moment he got off his car, June He right behind him.
If only he remembered to feed his dog before leaving his home, then he wouldn't have had to drive back to do so when he was already more than halfway to work and back again.
Geez, and he couldn't believe he slept in as well. He never slept in, and arriving at his office later than his usual schedule irked him greatly.
But what he saw waiting for him at the front doors only pissed him off even more. He glared at the backs of the three pretentious men in distasteful gray suits, burning holes straight through.
His security men backed away at the sight of his stormy expression.
"Why the hell are these people blocking the front of my headquarters?" he fumed. "You have the guts to disrupt my employees during business hours?!"
The three dawdlers that stood at the entrance turned around at his voice, but neither of them seemed to know who he was until Manager Xiu impatiently pushed them aside and said, "Good morning, President Yue."
Their jaws dropped synchronously, and they stood there frozen like idiots, completely dumbfounded.
Channing cast them a dark glare before turning his attention to his manager. "Who are these people?"
Manager Xiu shook her head. "I don't know, they just came barging in so I had to stop them." She gestured at the black-haired man standing in between the other two, and said, "He claims to have an appointment scheduled with an 'assistant'."
Assistant?
Channing and Xiu Yingqiao both turned to stare at June, the only one with the 'assistant' title who was permitted to schedule meetings inside HQ's main building.
"Ah! It's him! He called me here!" the man desperately exclaimed, pointing his finger in June's face.
June dodged the man's hand and frowned, pushing up his glasses with scorn. "Sir, we have never met before," he stated flatly. "Someone has paid you to make a fuss here, isn't that right? I suggest you get going and not waste your time."
At this point, the man had no idea what else to say. He was exposed, just like that. Someone did, in fact, pay him handsomely for him to mess around at KoTech in hopes to raise a scandal. He thought he was doing wonderfully, and he salivated at the thought of how much money that was supposed to be transferred into his bank account soon after.
But the people that appeared in front of him were not part of the plan, as none of them had expected Channing Yue and his assistant to arrive in person to the scene, which only made things harder.
The two held such a powerful aura, and he suddenly wasn't sure if the amount of money agreed to him was worth the consequences he was to face if he messed with the one and only President Yue, someone way out of his league.
He quickly scrambled for his thoughts, darting his eyes left and right, trying to come up with some way to save himself or turn the focus point elsewhere.
"Still have something to say?" June calmly asked without even looking at him.
With a burst of confidence, he raised his arm and pointed behind them, and they all turned around to see Gu Surong yelp and hide behind some tall, blind guy-
Channing nearly choked on his saliva once he saw Lune standing there with his hands resting inside the pockets of his dark coat, waiting patiently for him to finish and move along. He cursed to himself and frantically buried his reddening face in his one hand, feeling ashamed.
Damn, today was off to such a bad start; how could he even forget about Lune and leave him hanging like that?
The man held his nose high in triumph as he noticed Channing's bad mood, mistaking it for anger towards the other man for entering without permission. "See?" he said. "I just want to know. That man said he didn't have a card, but why is he inside and I'm being-"
He swallowed his words as the president suddenly whirled on him, glaring darkly at him with great malice. "Kick! Him! Out!" he seethed, saying each word through his clenched teeth.
And with that, the security grabbed the three troublemakers by their arms and dragged them out, not batting an eye when they flailed their limbs and shouted in protest.
Hell, he wanted to do more than just let those bastards go so easily, but when he laid his eyes on Lune once more, all the pestering troubles flying wildly in his mind quickly vanished just by his smile, and Channing wasted no more time and made his way over.
He didn't even realize how happy he was to see him.
June pushed up his glasses as he watched his young master leave him, all of a sudden in a significantly better mood than the blazing monster he was when he first got off the car in the driveway.
Actually, the assistant was pretty satisfied seeing Channing smile at Lune, one of the first ones he'd seen that simply contained pure bliss, and not one of the ones filled with crazed-joy from finishing a new project by binge-working.
Whoever the heck Lune was and what he wanted, he didn't care. He just hoped that he would stay longer this time around; he seemed like someone who could keep Channing's workaholic side in check.
Manager Xiu Yingqiao leaned over and tapped on June's shoulder, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "The president...he feels different than before," she whispered. "I thought he hates it when he comes to work late though?"
"Of course he does," June whispered back. "But remember when I had to help the Young Master look for someone?"
Xiu Yingqiao raised her eyebrows in subtle surprise. "Are you saying that man is Lune? How come he-"
"Correct...now get back to work. You can ask more questions later."
.
.
"Zhu Tingyao, thirteen years old, female, gray eyes and light-brown hair, unknown address..."
Channing read off the information they collected the moment the papers came out of the printer, and he skimmed down the files, annoyed when he found most of the blanks were filled with the words, 'not available'.
He flipped through the papers, and on the third page, he found something a bit more useful.
"Ah, so it says here, Zhu Tingyao attends public school in XX Junior High," he said before flipping to the last page. "And it says her only known relatives are her grandmother, Zhu Zhen, and her aunt, Zhu Ganyu."
Lune, who was listening while standing near the glass panels to enjoy the sunlight shining directly on his face, finally spoke up. "Look into Zhu Ganyu, Zhu Zhen has already passed...," he informed promptly.
Channing frowned, and he glanced over his shoulder at Lune, who remained facing towards the windows while consistently rotating something in his right hand. "Are you sure?"
Lune stopped turning the object in his hands and turned around, the bottom of his lengthy black hair sweeping past the back of his waist. "Yes," he said simply, making it sound as if it were supposed to be the obvious answer. "Zhu Zhen has already died of old age."
"...o- oh."
Channing reached over his cluttered desk and shifted the mouse to his computer, turning it back on. He proceeded to search the name 'Zhu Ganyu' in hopes of an address. "What do you plan to do after you find what you need here?" he asked.
"I will go to them, of course. A promise is a promise, and after that, I will go back south to where Zhu Zhen awaits."
Now, Channing was totally confused. He stopped typing and looked above his desktop, flashing Lune a baffled look. "But...didn't you just say the grandmother is already dead? Why do you have to go back south?"
"Because she died there, and naturally, the ghost is bound to the body's death place."
Ghost? What-
Never mind. Channing shook his head, finding himself at loss for words as he found himself failing to understand Lune's unique logic and understanding. Again, he decided not to pry, ran his hand through his hair, and went back to focusing on his research.
Perhaps Lune simply meant that he needed to visit the grandmother's grave..., he thought.
What was Lune's relation with these people?
A while passed by as he continued to dig through the internet, and Channing found it a bit unnerving sitting within the dead silence, not a word or even a sound from Lune. Usually, he would love the silence, it was perfect when he was trying to work and perfect when he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts.
But with Lune...it was just too quiet. Way too quiet. It was like he wasn't even there in the first place, and Channing would only confirm his presence when he answered one of his questions. He'd at least expected the slightest shift of his clothes moving or just the smallest tap of a footstep when he moved.
That guy was like the silence itself.
And it was beautiful.
Only it was just a little creepy, he wasn't going to lie.
All of a sudden, Lune was in front of him, nearly shaking Channing out of his wits. How the hell does he walk without making a sound?
"Uh, y- yes?" he asked uncertainly. Why in this situation, it felt like Lune was the one who was some important young master from a ruling family, while he, the president, the top of the social chain, felt like a mere secretary?
From his point of view, it felt so reversed, but strangely, he didn't mind the slightest.
He watched Lune raise his hand and place it on the top of the flat-screen device, the tips of his fingers lightly tapping the bright screen.
Channing blinked at his hesitation, waiting for something to come out of his half-opened mouth. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't this question:
"What is this?"
Channing stared at him, perplexed. "E- excuse me?"
Lune tilted his head down, and Channing looked down as well, at the contents on his computer screen. "Oh, this is what I found on Zhu Ganyu-"
"No. I meant this. This peculiar...device. What is it?"
...did he hear correctly?
Even if he couldn't see his eyes, the soft crease between his brows and the confusion in his voice confirmed his thoughts.
The corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
At that moment, Channing didn't know what to say as he felt his soul leaving his body to fly up to the heavens, and he felt as if he were struck in the chest, dying a little inside. In this modern era dominated by technology, who on earth wouldn't know what a computer is?