Something Beautiful and Wicked

Someone knocked on the door with casual grace. The sound, the pattern, was always the same. She wouldn't forget it. But Yuan Ning was early, and she was barely dressed. Her white shirt was translucent, and her shorts were scandalously small. Yuan Ning had seen her wear less around the apartment, but she couldn't help but feel the awareness creep up on her.     

Since their last encounters, she had suddenly become conscious of the fact that her nipples were peaking through the fabric, that her shorts barely covered her thighs. She never cared before, but things were different now…and though they were friends, she could not deny the fact that they were still a man and woman, attractive ones for that matter.      

She opened the door with a small smile, pretending to be careless. He met her with his cool, watchful gaze. His hair was slightly damp from the rain, a tangle of black messy curls that would soon dry and flatten. His expression was stoic, but it softened and relaxed once he saw her.      

She stepped aside, and he went in.      

"Do you need a towel?" she asked.      

"If you don't mind," he replied.      

Wu Genji quickly went to the bathroom pantry and returned with a fresh towel. Yuan Ning took it and wiped his face, then patted his hair. He paused to look at her; his eyes met hers, heavy with an inquiry, questions only his gaze dared to ask. Wu Genji realized she had been staring at him. "I—" she stumbled. "—I'm going to change. I will be back."     

He nodded.      

Wu Genji stalked into her room, shutting the door behind her. She lingered by the door for a few moments, heart racing, before she went to wash up and change. She put on casual black clothing. Her blue-black hair was sleeked into a ponytail with some loose strands framing her heart-shaped face. When she finished, Wu Genji caught up with Yuan Ning.      

"Are you ready?" he asked.      

Wu Genji nodded.      

He then walked ahead of her, and she followed him to the car, and in their seats, they covered their faces with masks.      

"Do know what we're doing today?" She asked.     

"Hm," he answered. "We have to check on the Scorpions. Luo Tian says he lost control of them since his brother left. Their domain suspected that someone was pretending to be their leader in his absence. And since the hierarchy is currently unstable, they no longer listen to him."      

"Whom do they listen to now?" Wu Genji questioned.     

"That's where we find out," Yuan Ning replied.     

Wu Genji swallowed.      

It took them half an hour to arrive at their destination, to find one of the seven warehouses Shi Yen owns.      

They investigated outside the building. And on the inside, they stumbled upon a group of members, who looked young and rebellious and shy of eighteen and twenty. They were tatted on their neck, their chest, or their hands with a black scorpion. They were sitting lazily on tables and chairs, smiling wickedly as they stared at them for entering unwelcome.      

A brown-haired young man jumped off the table, approaching them with a gleaming smile. "Who are you, and why are you here?"     

"We're here on behalf of the Empress and Emperor, or did you forget that your leader listens to them."     

"The King is not here, and we could care less about what the Empress and Emperor want."      

"You know the consequences for betraying them," Yuan Ning warned them. The young man's smile did not falter.      

"Yes," he pointed a finger, "but you see, I heard that the Empress no longer fights or do missions. She hasn't commanded any punishments since she returned, so to my observation, I'd say the Empress has grown soft. Her partner pretends to be harsh and unforgiving, but he is just the same. We're already traitors, and yet they haven't sent any assassins. You hadn't killed us when you walked through the door. Why is that?"      

Crap, Yuan Ning thought. He had hoped that they didn't take note of Shi Yen's leadership, but they have.      

"The Empress is reconstructing the system by taking on new measures. She feels that there shouldn't be punishments anymore. That is the old way."      

The young man's smile never widened. "But yet she's adding new rules. There are things we can no longer do by her orders. If we break them, we'd be dismissed, and that's not fair."     

"Why is it not?" Yuan Ning questioned.      

The young man laughed, as did his friends, a rumble echoing in the warehouse.      

"The Empress is changing things far too quickly. She's commanding us to be more civil, mundane. We are not those people. Soon she'd have us conformed to be regular members of society. She wants to dismantle the underworld under our noses when it's impossible to do so."      

Wu Genji's lips tightened into a line. "If you're so confident that it's impossible to dismantle the underworld, then why are you afraid of her?"     

The man's eyebrow rose. "Do I look afraid?"      

"I'm sure you are," she said. "If you're looking for help on the outside just to achieve your goals."      

"Now who said that?" the young man demanded from her.      

Before Wu Genji could reply, she heard someone say, "Gentlemen, please." Her head snapped to face the voice, a deep and familiar one. She made a displeased expression as the man stepped forward. "Genji. You could unmask yourself. There's no need to hide."      

"How did you know?"     

The man, Meng Huan, looked at her up and down as he replied, "your voice for starters." He paused, "and you still have the same figure, lithe but round in some areas."      

"You have no right to talk about my body like that," she spat.      

"Well, given the times, we shared a bed. It's hard to forget."      

"You're disgusting."      

Was he her ex-lover? Yuan Ning thought.      

"We were bound to speak again. You can't escape me forever."      

Wu Genji removed her mask, her eyes flaring. "Just because you work for my father doesn't mean I want anything to do with you. Not anymore."      

"It was a mistake," he told her. "All humans make them."     

She scoffed. "You can shove any excuses up for ass."      

"Enough," Meng Huan said. "This isn't about our relationship problems or lovers quarrel."     

Wu Genji crossed her arms. "You're right because there is no relationship."     

Meng Huan glared at her. "You should leave while you still can. Just because we have a history doesn't mean I have to be nice," he said to her. "I'm not even sure whose side you are on."      

"I'm on father's side, as I always have been."     

Meng Huan grinned widely. "Prove it."     

Wu Genji raised a brow. "How?"     

"Now that you've exposed yourself. You can start by killing him."     

"Who?"     

Meng Huan turned her body around to face Yuan Ning. "Him," he clarified.      

"I can't."     

"Why not?"     

"He's the son of a powerful family. Besides, I trust him to keep quiet."      

"Trust?" he questioned, the word dancing on his tongue, almost unfamiliar to him.      

"Yes," she answered. "But you wouldn't know that"     

He laughed, dark and menacingly. He chuckled until his smile died, and it was no longer funny. "Well. I don't trust him. So kill him. Think of it as a sport."     

"To hell with you."      

Meng Huan forcefully pinned her against him as he stood behind. He unstrapped his gun, pointing at Yuan Ning as if he was going to pull the trigger himself at that moment. He could have.      

Instead, he pointed directly at him. "I want you to kill him. Prove that you're on our side and that you've been lying to him all this time." But Yuan Ning had already known. She had trusted him enough to tell him before.      

Meng Huan pushed the gun to her hand forcefully, cupping her hand with his, aiming straight at Yuan Ning. "Do it," he fed her ear.      

"You've always been such a demanding asshole," she replied.     

"Do it," he yelled impatiently, startling her.      

She looked at Yuan Ning. She could only see his eyes, so narrow and beautiful, a colour that reminded her of citrus fruit.      

"I wish it didn't have to be this way," she said to no one in particular.      

She then shot the round.