Hey. Slow update but update anyway.
Some asked questions. The answers will come out in the next chapters.
Chapter 15 - Chasing Ghosts
The shy rumor of the city outside hardly disturbed the quietness of the big modern apartment Shienhan was calling his home. Lunch stepped silently along the dim corridor, her backpack hanging loosely from her grip.
Despite the lack of light she made her way easily up to the living room where she knew she would find the computer. It was the first time Shienhan had brought her to his place, but she hadn't been long to make herself home.
She paused at the entrance of the room and checked any sound coming from the bedroom. There was none. Shienhan was sleeping sound, certainly dreaming of something nice after the night they had. Somehow, this thought stung her guts. She resumed her walk nevertheless and sat at the desk where the computer was plugged.
Guilt had never been something familiar to her. It was a feeling lost in the hazy memory of her childhood and she'd always thought her heart was done with such crap. Yet, as surprising as it sounded, it seemed it wasn't the case. She didn't like the wicked feeling twisting her heart whenever it was about Shienhan and she struggled it forcefully but, as her grandmother liked to say, it was of no use to chase ghosts with a shotgun. Her grandmother had known a lot about ghosts and shotguns.
Lunch turned the computer on and waited for the screen to light up, the dull feeling still creeping in her guts. She caught a dark blue lock dangling down into her eyes and contemplated it blankly. No need to lie to herself, if she wasn't careful, she might screw up with Shienhan exactly the way she'd screwed up by trying to dye her hair black.
She slid the strand behind her ear and sighed in annoyance. She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be doing what she was doing.
Goku had basically requested her to do a single thing, get Shienhan's phone number. And she got it. It had been a quick matter - hardly two hours of work - and she hadn't been supposed to linger around the guy. At first. Why she had offered him to have lunch with her, she had no clue. Well, afterward it had happened to be a good way to get even more tips and to make even more money with Goku. This was the official excuse and it made sense. However as Goku urged her to get more information from Shienhan, guilt had showed up. Her bad conscience had become sharper and sharper and it reminded her that the true reason why she kept seeing Shienhan had nothing to do with money. If it had only been about money, there would be no guilt and Lunch was too smart to ignore that fact.
She needed a moment to realize the computer was ready and waiting for her commands. It was more exactly waiting for a password. She took a device out of her bag and logged it to the computer. A green light flashed in the shadow letting her know the device was handling the situation. She didn't know much about hacking so she was hoping that Shienhan's system wouldn't be reluctant to deliver all she needed. If truth to be told, a tiny part of her was hoping that Shienhan's computer would be a bitch and refuse to disclose anything. After all, she didn't truly give a damn about Goku's work, so if the operation didn't work out it would only result into him denying her any payment. She could live with that.
She frowned at this thought. She'd never turned her nose on money. She'd suffered enough the lack of it to despise it. She was obviously losing her mind.
The screen of the computer changed and displayed colorful kites flying in a blue sky. She couldn't help a smile as she thought the wallpaper was so unlike Shienhan's life. She browsed swiftly the files but she found out that most of them were locked by passwords. She pressed a button on her device to have it work further on the issue.
She realized pretty soon this might take some time. She shouldn't be surprised. The guy was Chief of Security of the Capsule Corporation so she couldn't expect to crack easily his computer. She glanced at the door of the living room. Everything was quiet and the room where Shienhan was sleeping was at the end of a long corridor. Should he wake up and come to see what she was up to, she would have time to hear him.
She felt nervous nevertheless. In normal time she was rather cool blooded and fearless but although everything was running out fine so far she couldn't prevent her heart from racing. If he found out… Well, what? He would fulfill a complaint against her? He didn't even know her true name and she had no doubt she would be able to run away before he understood what she was doing. Hell, he was even clueless about the real color of her hair, so why should she bother?
She bothered though. She was worried at the thought that he could blow up her cover because he would jump out of her life in the process. She gritted her teeth. She was pathetic and yet she couldn't struggle her fear.
As a matter of fact, she'd never met anyone like Shienhan before. As unbelievable as it sounded, this single guy was a massive deny of everything she had learned about men in her whole life. Men craved control, she'd always known that. Some used their fists, others used their words or their money but no matter the means, control was all they longed for. Her grandmother had warned her about that and life had never proved her wrong. Lunch's father beating her anytime for no reasons and leaving her on her own after drinking all the house's money proved it right. The handsome bastard who took her virginity and left her behind, pregnant and lost at fifteen proved it right. The boss of the bar where she used to work as a teenager seven days a week for five zenis an hour proved it right.
Actually, Lunch's childhood had been the complete demonstration of this theory. Her mother had died in a car crash as she was a baby and she'd been raised by her drunkard of a father. Fortunately enough, Lunch's grandmother had been living nearby and she had always been a refugee for the girl each time things had escalated to something unbearable. Still, Lunch's father had always denied the possibility to have his kid raised by the old woman. Men craved control. You remind him of your mother and he treats you the same, her grandmother had told her when she was only seven. Lunch had never forgotten her words. She only needed some more years to understand them properly and although her grandmother was now long gone, she was still right.
As soon as Lunch turned 18, she ran away from the small town where she'd grown up and once rid of her father, she'd sworn to never let anyone have control on her life again. Since guys were unsurprisingly the same all over the world, she decided that the best way to deal with them was to act the very same as them. It was quite simple. Just take what you wish for and leave the rest behind.
Her usual policy wouldn't work with Shienhan though. She had no time to take anything from him because he would give her everything she hadn't even suspected she wished for and she still hadn't figured out what she would like to leave behind. It was disturbing.
When she had started dating him she had expected to make out rather quickly the nastiness behind the gentleman's behavior. She knew the game. He would pretend he cared for her by rubbing his money in her face - buying her some priceless presents and/or taking her to select places. After that, he would in all logic flirt with her in a pushy manners while considering she owed him one and expecting her to jump into his bed at first command. All that, without ever wondering about her true liking. Yet, none of that happened and each date with him had left her even more puzzled.
His shyness had touched her in the first place, but what hit her mind above all was his kindness. He was a calm and caring nature and it provided her an usual comfort. She was the restless, harsh type in normal times but not with him. She admitted that she had lowered her guard quicker than she'd intended to.
They'd been dating each other for over a week by now and it was the first time they found themselves in bed. Lunch had hinted more than once at that possibility and she wasn't used to guys ever refusing her offers but Shienhan had been hard to coax. He had even ended up apologizing somehow, insisting he wasn't used to sleep with girls such little time after their encounter although she had been the one dragging him to bed.
Basically, her sole intention had been to have access to his apartment as to be able to hack the computer, but she had also found out that she lusted him. He was attractive and she craved to have more of him. Yet, even the sex she had with him happened to leave her confused. Just like she had guessed in anticipation, he was hardly experimented and he hadn't indulged into anything pervert or eccentric. Technically he had been a quite classical lover, but there had been something special in his way. She wouldn't be able to pinpoint what it was but it was different and exhilarating. She wanted more of that. She needed more of him and it called for caution.
The computer's screen flashed for a while until it displayed a list of file named with numbers. Lunch blinked in indecision. Should she copy all of them? There was an endless row of them and she was reluctant to lose more time on that. She watched each name with care and realized the numbers were in fact forming dates. A lot of them were past and she decided she would only copy the days to come. She clicked on the chosen files and launched the transfer.
The process began but it was slow. She sighed in annoyance. She wasn't even sure the copy would be useful. The device had just sorted out the files with the highest protection. Her impatience told her to check out that the risk was worth it and she opened the file matching Vegeta's duty in two days. The text was written in Easternish. She cursed under her breath. Goku will need a translator for that. She scrolled down the page and found the pictures of a house along with a map illustrating the document.
Lunch squinted and tried to spot any hint about the place. She focused on the map. It was a town near the sea. The name of the sea was written in Westernish letters. Coral Sea. She studied the map further while trying to list all the pretty towns near Coral Sea. She noticed the map of the town mentioned a lighthouse and something hit her mind. By sheer luck, she'd been in that town before. It was a quiet seaside resort called Paprika Beach. She smirked. Someone was planning a little trip at the sea, it seemed.
She closed the file with jubilation. This was gold and Goku would have to pay dear for it. She waited for the device to be done and turned everything off. She packed off all her equipment and repressed a sigh. She wasn't exactly done, yet. She scanned the twilight and located Shienhan's jacket resting on the backrest of the couch. She fumbled the pocket and fished out his phone. She had memorized his unlocking code the first day in the car and she did it without a second thought.
Her heart skipped a beat as the first thing showing up when the screen cleared up was their text chat. She couldn't help but read again the messages they had sent to each other. It happened to be a painful reminder of how good she had felt all along while connecting with him. It had been nothing near a classical job. In normal times, whenever she had to go close to guys for professional purposes, everything she said or did was fake. Her every words and acts were hollow and planned in a useful, cold manner. She realized how different it was with Shienhan and the damn nagging guilt pierced her heart forcefully again. She stood numb for a while and the screen turned back again, demanding the unlocking code to be composed one more time.
All this was insane. She'd known him for hardly a week and he was actually nothing more than an average guy with a loser's personal life. She wouldn't give up to control and she wouldn't fall for him. She had been caught off guard because he was somehow different, but she had no doubt that she would find out his flaws soon enough provided she dug a bit longer into his life. She couldn't afford to lose money on pointless feelings. Not to mention, she had a fame to save. She was the best and she intended to stay on top. She chased away the chat displayed on the screen and started browsing the device in search for anything useful. She was disappointed once again as Shienhan had everything written in Easternish.
She switched off the phone and grabbed her bag. Locking herself in the toilets as a caution, she took some tools out of her bag and started working on Shienhan's device. She was done in about ten minutes and contemplated the result. The phone looked untouched, the very same she had found in the pocket of Shienhan's jacket. He shouldn't suspect anything, but Goku would be pleased.
She put everything back in place silently and walked back to the bedroom. Towering the bed, she studied the sleeper's face for a while. He looked innocent and happy. And beautiful. The bitchy guilt kicked her again. She took place carefully back in the bed, but when she laid down, she felt a mighty arm curling around her waist from behind and pressing her closer. "Is something wrong?" Shienhan's low voice whispered.
She rolled over to him and stroke his cheek gently. She couldn't even force a smile on her face and gave him a stern gaze. "Nothing serious. A nightmare. I have a hard time going back to sleep."
He grinned at her. "Is there anything I can do to help? Do you want to tell me about your nightmare?"
She felt a pang at his offer. The real nightmare might be ending the mission and never seeing him again and she had just seriously helped it happen. "Only some old ghosts haunting me," she replied.
He ran his hand through her hair and sighed. "Ghosts are hard to chase, but feel free to share them with me. Maybe I can prevent them from harming you. I hate the idea of anyone doing you any harm."
Her heart wrenched at his words and the guilt turned to an aching knot in her guts. She gave him a weak smile. "Where the hell does a guy like you come from? I wished you showed up earlier in my life."
He frowned in concern. "Is it so bad?"
She chuckled at that. "Don't worry about me and my ghosts. Just stay as you are," she answered before pressing her lips on his.
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