Strings of Fate || Mafia AU (hiatus)

Ch. 16

Xichen immediately got out of his car after arriving at the apartment complex, anger, fear, and anxiety building in his chest as he marched with heavy feet. His heart throbbed anxiously in his chest.

He just hopes it was just a fluke, that he'll see his lover behind the door of his apartment. 

Upon arriving in front of the younger's door, his heart thumped faster than before. He reached for the knob and inserts the key he had to Wuxian's apartment, he swallows the lump in his throat first before twisting it open. 

The room was silent when he entered. His anxiety picks up with every step he makes inside the apartment. Until he reached the bedroom. When he entered, his eyes immediately flicked in the bed's direction. 

His heart sank to the bed's emptiness, then his eyes darted to the bedside table. A paper that was sitting under his phone caught his eye. 

Without hesitation, he immediately picked up the letter. 

"Dear landlord,
I will forward the remaining balance of my rent to your bank account and the penalty for canceling the lease so soon. Thank you for welcoming me until now!"

Xichen's brows knitted. So he meant to really leave him? But why so suddenly?

He ponders, thinking of the reason why his lover suddenly wanted to flee that badly. 

He clicks his tongue, teeth gritting in anger as he remembers, if not for his stupid people he wouldn't be able to escape. 

He drops the letter on the bed furiously before stomping his feet out of the bedroom to face the guards he appointed to guard his lover. 

His eyes drop to two men whose knees are dropped on the floor, faces already beaten up from his other guards' excessive beating for their failure. 

"I only gave you one job to do," he utters, trying to seem calm, though the gritting of his teeth was too obvious to be ignored. 

The two men are shaking in fear, heads lowered to the ground to hide the shamelessness of their failure. 

Xichen clicked his tongue for the second time, the front of his leader shoe reaching to tip one of the men's heads to raise. He took quite a few looks before spitting at his face, brows contorted in a frown. 

"I will spare you today. But! You dumbfuckers better be giving me his whereabouts tomorrow or your heads will blow. Got that?!" he threatens before blowing a kick on his face causing him to lie on his back with his nose and mouth bleeding while kicking the other's stomach enough for him to vomit his saliva and writhe in pain. 

"Let them go," he commands to his guards before turning his heels away. 

He'll probably go back to his penthouse for tonight and hack all possible transactions he might have done. It was only a few hours, he was sure he didn't get away that far yet. 

.

Wuxian found himself withdrawing all his money from his bank account before closing them, in fear that his lover—no, his ex-lover— finding out where he is. He has a vague idea of how big Xichen's group is, he doesn't know the extent of the older's influence to be able to track him down. 

He shakily sighs to himself, hugging his belongings so tight, finding at least a little comfort from the cold feeling. His eyes have become swollen from crying his heart out while he flees from his situation. 

He even threw his phone away, though it was a lot sentimental to just threw something that will connect him to his family that he will leave, he needs to discard any connections that will make him easy to find. He'll just buy a new one after he's been able to move away. 

He then proceeds to book a flight, he's glad he already has a passport ready to be used whenever. And that whenever is today, now he just needs to face a new problem in the country he'll be arriving at. 

He can probably put up a small business in the country of his choice with the money he was able to earn from his part-time.

His flight would be an hour from now. He anxiously waits, hoping that that one-hour Xichen won't be able to find him. 

After a painstaking hour of waiting for his flight, he immediately boards, and didn't even think twice if what he's doing is the right thing. He worries for his safety, he doesn't want to die early. And if being beside his childhood friend is a threat to his life, then he needs to run away. 

.

Xichen paces back and forth in his living room, a glass of whiskey in his hand, chugging them one after the other like it's some water. He's in his robe, loosely tied on his hips, his hair still wet from the shower, and a big scowl on his face. His teeth gritting together.

Anger, worry, sadness, and pain has been circulating his head and whole body for the whole time, together with the warm flow of whiskey in his throat that doesn't help much to ease his uncontrollable emotions. 

He swears to himself that he'll search every nook and cranny of the world just to find his boyfriend, even kill whoever comes his way. 

He keeps cursing under his breath, hissing and swearing furiously whilst filling his stomach with none other than whiskey. His feet still pacing back and forth in front of the sofa until his phone rang.

He had never been fast picking up the call, in the hopes that it was his underlings who were doing the job of looking for his lover. 

But hearing a familiar voice made his adrenaline drop.

"Brother, how's the raid?" 

It was Wangji, voice sounding worried. 

A sigh left the older before his feet finally felt the urge to let him rest. 

he plops down his sofa and chugs what's left in the glass before pouring another batch. 

"We killed them all, the boss was not there though," he answered as he puts down his glass and pinch the bridge of his nose. 

Wangji sighs from the other line, "At least their operation was unsuccessful this time," he says in relief, but it would be a failure of being a right-hand man if he didn't notice the tiredness from the older's voice. 

"You sound awful," he points out.

Xichen scoffs, "You think so?" he utters, voice sounding tired, almost to his limit. 

"Hm, yeah. Something happened?" Wangji asked a brotherly concern far from his professional way of speaking. 

"You could say that," he mumbles. He never have cried since he was a kid, but hearing Wangji's concern and the messed up situation he has, the walls on his tear ducts slowly loosened. 

Wangji sets down the documents on the table he was busying himself with and plops on his swivel chair and turned to face the ceiling-to-floor windows of his office, and drops his gaze to the bustling city lights of Turkey.

"I'll listen," he offers.

"I needed that," the older confirms.

---------

A/N: Sorry for taking too long to update, I sometimes have a mental block and that sucks really. lol! Thank you for always waiting! I love you all~