"Why?"
No matter how much Lian tried to wipe the tears away, they didn't stop flowing. Frustrated, he got down from bed and headed towards the bathroom. Washing his face with cold water, he leaned against the sink and looked at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were swollen and puffy from all the crying and he looked totally drained of energy. He walked out of the room and headed to the kitchen looking for something to eat. By the counter, he found Cole sipping from a glass.
"Have you been asleep all this time?" he asked before his gaze lowered and focused on his bandaged foot," oh, an injury. Mind telling me what happened?"
"Uh, it's not a big deal," he replied and limped towards the fridge.
Cole's eyes followed him as he moved across the kitchen and he took a long sip from his glass.
"So where did you rush off to yesterday?"
Lian froze at the question and studying Cole's face, he deemed it wise not to tell him anything since he didn't fully trust him.
"Master Tsun called."
"Oh? What did the master want from you?"
"Well..." He rubbed the back of his neck digging his brain for a reasonable excuse.
Cole raised a questioning brow at him and he shrugged his shoulders.
"Nothing much it was merely a prank call, he didn't have anything important to tell me."
"Oh, what a waste of time," he said," that doesn't justify how you got hurt though."
"Well... it's a stupid reason," he admitted and Cole turned to his drink uninterested in his explanation and Lian was glad that he didn't press further.
He finished serving some food on his plate and warmed it up, he sat beside Cole and began eating. Cole refilled his glass with more whiskey and emptied it in a gulp. Lian looked up from his food and turned to Cole who was already wasted.
"Don't you think you've drank enough?" he asked and Cole shrugged and grabbed the bottle drinking directly from it.
Lian stretched his hand to grab the bottle but Cole moved it from his way.
"Wat.. du you... think... you're doing?"
"Stopping you from drinking."
He moved to grab the bottle again but Cole stumbled from the chair and out of his reach.
"Wy don't yu... mind yur own...bushinesh?"
He burped loudly and stumbled away from sight. Seconds later, a loud bang echoed around him as the door to the room slammed shut. Lian looked at the closed door and let out a sigh. He turned to leave when he bumped into Tsun.
"Sorry."
"Are you okay to be moving about?" he asked sternly and Lian chuckled nervously.
"I was hungry so I came out to get some food."
Tsun narrowed his eyes and studied his face. Cold sweat trickled down Lian's back at his scrutinising gaze.
"Oh well, you should avoid any movements so that you can recover faster."
"Of course."
He turned to leave but stopped just a few feet from Tsun.
"Uh... if you don't mind my asking, where's Sir?"
Tsun ruffled his hair and walked towards the door," He'll be back before you know it. For now, you'd better focus on getting better first."
"Oh okay then. Bye."
Tsun nodded and watched Lian disappear into his room before walking out of the apartment himself.
Ding took a seat by the bar counter and ordered a glass of liquor.
"Coming right up," the tender said and whisked around mixing the drink.
Ding's eyes studied the dimly lit room for any abnormal activities but nothing seemed out of place.
"Your drink."
Ding grunted in response and picked the glass taking a careful sip of its contents.
"Are you a new member? I've never seen your face before," the tender said trying to strike up a conversation.
"Yes. It's my first time here."
Ding perfectly knew that his face was not known among the employees and he used this to his advantage, popping into his bars to see how business was doing.
"I knew it! There's no way I can forget a handsome face like yours if I've ever seen it in this place."
Ding raised his empty glass and the tender chuckled and filled it up.
"Wow, you really can hold your liquor."
"It's just not dense enough to get anyone drunk," he replied bluntly and emptied the glass in a single gulp.
"Would you like to try something denser then?"
Ding turned and studied the man before him," Why not. Give me the best you've got."
The tender poured a lime green liquid into the glass and passed it to Ding. He took the glass inspecting and twirling the green liquid before bringing it to his lips and taking a sip.
"Delicious."
The tender grinned proudly and moved to describe the drink he had prepared but Ding had no interest in this. A group of guys walked into the club and one of them, assumingly the leader fired his gun grasping the attention of everyone in the room.
"Urgh, them again," the tender said the hatred in his tone evident.
"Again?"
"Yeah, those guys love causing trouble in this area, word has it that they are a powerful gang with ties in the black market."
"Interesting."
The tender looked at him with a raised brow but dared not speak what was on his mind. The leader of the so called powerful gang commanded everyone to stop their partying and satisfy him. Gasps and grunts echoed around them and the leader walked towards a table, kicked the glasses from it and sat on it his legs crossed.
"Now every one of you, one by one come and prostrate by my feet. Only then would I be forgiving enough to spare your lives."
Whispers arose among the people gathered and the tender clicked his tongue.
"Prostrate by his feet? Now why would anyone want to do that?"
Ding raised his glass indicating for a re fill and the tender immediately refilled the glass without objection.
"No one wants to do it? Fine then, I'll show you what happens to those who don't listen to what I say."
His eyes scanned the room of panicked customers looking for his target before landing on Ding's figure which was hunched over by the counter. Ding was busy drinking from his glass unbothered by what was happening around him. The leader got down from the table and walked towards Ding and sat on the counter top.
"Well well well, what have we here, a new face who doesn't know who rules this area."
Ding ignored his entire existence and drank from his glass appreciating the delicate taste of his drink and this angered the man. The tender sensing that the result of the outcome wouldn't be good immediately spoke up trying to distract the leader to no avail.
"Why bother reasoning with someone like him?"
"Sir?"
Ding emptied his glass and stood up eyes boring into the leader's eyes.
"What was that you said about yourself? 'The one who rules this area?' "
"Don't get cocky boy. I can wipe out your entire existence from the world if I want to."
Ding laughed at this and everyone looked at him like he had lost his mind. He abruptly stopped laughing his eyes landing on the man before him.
"Go ahead."
"Men, kill him!"