Loyalty and Betrayal

We'll brave the bitter grief that comes.

Ghosts

They leave

And act like it never happened

They come back

And act like they never left.

Rupi Kaur.

                                                  ──────⊱◈◈◈⊰──────

In the car, Wei Wuxian sat silent.

For a few short minutes he just stood there, looking at his own reflection through the rear-view mirror. He thought he was already used to it, but how can someone ever become used to death? Even more when... when...

No, stop thinking about it, focus. Wei Wuxian shook his head trying to brush those thoughts away, trying to push the memory to a dark corner in his mind.

He tapped his fingers restlessly on the wheel, he needed to stay calm, even more so in this situation. He mused, then breathed as he drove toward the exit of the Cop Central garage.

Along the way, he felt as if a knife pressed between his ribs, piercing his lungs and keeping him from breathing. He could feel the trepidation in his heart, his fingers trembled at the wheel, why was this happening again?

He felt the ice crawl into his stomach, he felt helpless, for himself and for the boy. A victim too young to even understand what grief was.

What was he going to do with the kid? What was he going to say to him when he became old enough to understand that his parents had been murdered? He bit his bottom lip. It would be hard...

His mind turned to old memories. He thought of him and the afternoons they spent together watching cartoons on TV. He thought about himself and how he should have taken him to the park more often to play. And he thought of the weekend dinner that would never come...

Wei Wuxian was teaching him to draw and Wen Ning was teaching him to write. He was only 5 years old, but he already had an exceptional vocabulary, and a vast knowledge about the world and the people around him. He could talk about everything and anything; about his favorite story, or the way he loved chemistry because it was his uncle's favorite subject, or even how amused he was to start his first year of elementary school.

The boy was a little genius, and Wei Wuxian had never been so proud of him.

"Please God, keep him safe... let me find him alive." He said to himself, his voice trembled, and thickened. His mind had gone dead, as if some electrical current had been shut off. He couldn't feel his hands on the wheel, he couldn't feel his heart.

He showed his badge at the entrance of the condo complex. One look at Wei Wuxian's badge had a shadow moving into the security's eyes. Everyone knew his reputation and how good he was, he was simply the best in everything he does. He had a record of closed cases. The cases were many, it was abnormal, and he was only 26 years old. He was a prodigy that ended going up in the police hierarchy very fast. His co-workers even dubbed him, as "The hero", or "The Police pride."

However, that same reputation made him seem scary to outward looks. People dreaded him, they were afraid of him, and he didn't really understand why. Some would bow their heads in respect whenever he passed by, but there were also those who would invent lies about him, in an attempt to tarnish his image.