“Leave me alone.”

The ghost hummed under his breath but made no move to follow Wufan’s instructions, much to his frustration. Wufan groaned aloud and knocked his head repeatedly on the tiled bathroom wall, clenching the fluffy white towel in his huge hand.

“Hitting your head against the wall isn’t going to make me go away,” the ghost commented smartly where he sat in the bathtub. “You know I’m not a figment of your imagination.”

Wufan pressed his face into the towel and screamed before sitting down on the toilet bowl in defeat. It had been 3 days since the ghost followed him home from Kim Junmyeon’s cinema and the past 3 days had been hell. The spirit spent every waking second with him, when he was having his dinner, when he was watching television, when he was sleeping and as seen, when he was showering. There was basically no privacy for him. At all.

“What do you want from me?” moaned Wufan. “I just want to lead a normal, quiet life.”

“I hardly think being a scam artist would bring you that normal, quiet life,” the ghost said sarcastically.

Wufan looked up from his towel and scowled. Of all his luck. If he had to be stuck with a ghost, why couldn’t he get one who was nice? “I’m not a scam artist,” he snapped. “I’m a mediator.”

Wufan never thought the day would come where he’d be arguing with a spiritual being. The ghost rolled his eyes again (he seemed to do it a lot – or was it only around Wufan?) and floated until he was in Wufan’s face. It was a little unnerving to see the other move like this. He very much preferred it if the ghost would at least attempt to walk – that way, he could pretend this thing here was a human.

“I want you to help me.”

A loud derisive snort escaped Wufan’s nose before he could stop himself. “And why would I do that?” he asked dryly. “Are you going to pay me in hell money?”

“Must everything be about profits with you?” the ghost sighed. “Please. I need your help.”

“Why me?” whimpers Wufan pathetically.

“Because you’re the only one that can see me.”

“But I don’t get anything in return,” Wufan pointed out, immediately inching backwards when he saw the expression on the ghost’s face twist into a dark frown. He was, thankfully, saved from hearing whatever the ghost had to say when the shrill sound of his telephone rang in the living room.

“Hello?” Wufan said breathlessly after practically running out of the bathroom. Being stuck in an enclosed area with a ghost – not ideal.

“It’s me.” Ah, Jongdae. He always had such good timing. “We have a last minute task tonight. Rich businessman wants to talk to his late grandmother. Probably wants to find out where she hid her money, the bastard.”

Wufan sat up straighter. Rich businessman meant he was willing to pay more. He could really use the extra cash.

“Text me the address and time. I’ll meet you there straight,” he told Jongdae. No time to shower then. He hung up the phone and eagerly went to his bedroom, pulling off his shirt on the way. He almost had his pants off too until he heard a very soft but audible whistle and Wufan immediately stiffened.

The damned ghost.

“Are you looking at me?” he demanded to know without turning around. He felt nervous all of a sudden even though he had a great body – modesty was not a word in his vocabulary – because what the hell could he do if the ghost molested him?? He didn't know how to do an actual exorcism!

“Yep,” chirped the ghost. “Just leaning against the door here, checking you out. Go ahead, don’t let me stop you.”

Of all ghosts, he had to be stuck with a erted one.

After 10 minutes of arguing with the translucent thing, Wufan had to give in because he was running out of time and really, he had better things to do than to quarrel with him. Growling under his breath, he changed out of his loose cargo pants into a tight-fitting tailored black pants and smart striped shirt in record time and was out the door in a heartbeat.

"I'm here, I'm here," he panted when he reached the manor where Jongdae had been impatiently waiting outside. Jongdae glanced at him, opened his mouth then decided against whatever he was going to say.

A servant took them past the heavy iron gates into the estate. Wufan marveled at the walls, the carpet and the furniture and wondered quietly how long it would take for him to own a place like this. (“Probably never,” the ghost whispered next to him.) They paused in front of a huge oak door and waited while the servant disappeared inside to let their client know they were here.

“You have a wonderful home, sir,” was the first sentence Wufan blurted out when he saw him. The client was remarkably handsome, chiseled face, tanned skin… he fit in the description of ‘tall, dark and handsome’.

“Please, call me Jongin,” the client murmured with a pained smile and stood up from the armchair. “You’re the Ghost Whisperer?”

The annoying ghost from the cinema snorted. Wufan resisted the urge to snarl at him and instead fixed a polite smile on his lips. “Yes. How can I help you?”

Jongin’s eyes darted to the door and to Jongdae and he gestured for the servant to leave them. “It’s my grandmother. She had a collection of gold bars and the old woman died before she could tell us where it was.”

“Didn’t she… write it in her will?” Wufan asked tentatively.

“No.” Jongin folded his arms. “Her will is dated a year before her passing. She hasn’t met up with the lawyer since. I need you to talk to her ghost.”

Wufan nodded and closed his eyes, once again murmuring a jumble of Chinese words. Subconsciously he could hear the damned cinema ghost inhale loudly before letting out a ridiculously long laugh that never seemed to end.

“What. Did. You. Just. Say,” wheezed the ghost, by now laughing so hard he was doubled over on the ground. Wufan gritted his teeth and ignored him.

“Halmeoni,” Wufan called in a deep shaky voice, eyes dilated until only the whites could be seen so that he looked possessed. “Are you there? Your grandson Jonginie is looking for you—”

“THAT’S HIM! HE’S THE QUACK!”

Wufan snapped out of his pseudo trance with a start to look at the source of the voice, flushing slightly as Jongin jumped up to hold the woman back from storming up to him. He noticed, with an inward groan, at the man next to her, dressed in uniform. Fantastic, she brought a policeman with her.

“Is something the matter?” Jongdae asked politely through a tightlipped smile.

“YES,” screeched the woman. “THE TWO OF YOU. TRYING TO MAKE A FOOL OF MY BROTHER!”

“Krystal, calm down—”

“Policeman, you have to arrest them,” she shouted. “They’ve been going around telling people they’re the ‘Ghost Whisperer’ – what bull is that? Ghosts don’t exist!”

A low rumble sounded from the ghost but Wufan couldn’t be bothered to deal with him now. He had to defend himself! He opened his mouth to say something when, from the corner of his eye, he saw the ghost stand straighter and bowed at an empty space. At once, he forgot about Krystal and the policeman and gave that cinema ghost his full attention.

“Halmeoni,” the ghost was saying, “Don’t be sad.”

“SHE’S HERE!” interrupted Wufan suddenly, much to the surprise of everyone in the room. The ghost gave him a bewildered look and Wufan could almost see the thoughts going through his head when he narrowed his eyes. Wufan hurried over to where the ghost was standing and waved at the empty spot. “Jongin, your grandmother is here.”

 Jongin’s eyes widened. “H-h-halmeoni?” he called weakly.

“She misses you, Jongin,” Wufan rambled on, eyeing the annoyed woman. “And your sister too.”

“He’s making it up,” Krystal interrupted with a scowl. “Prove it! Prove you’re talking to our grandmother.”

. Wufan shot Jongdae a look. He didn’t get any information on the family before he came over. He glanced over to the frowning policeman and inwardly gulped.

“Krystal has a mole on her ,” the ghost said unexpectedly and Wufan didn’t even stop to think twice before repeating his words. Krystal let out a loud scream but the look on her face told Wufan that he was spot on. A slow grin spread across his lips.

“Am I right or am I right?” Wufan said delightedly.  

Jongin nodded eagerly and pulled away from Krystal’s grasp. “Did halmeoni tell you that? What else did she say? Ask her about the gold.”

“She doesn’t want to say.”

“She doesn’t want to—” Wufan began to echo before he stopped short. He shot the ghost a look and arched an eyebrow at him almost pleadingly. He couldn’t possibly tell the siblings he couldn’t help them now. Not when there was a cop here! He could be arrested! Wufan didn’t fancy being placed in jail, no matter how temporary.

“They have to do something for her first. Halmeoni wants them to bury her body in their family home in Jeju Island.” The ghost cast the empty spot a sympathetic smile. “She doesn’t want to be buried here.”

“Done!” Jongin said immediately when Wufan reiterated what the ghost said. “I’ll do it. So where’s the gold?”

“You have to follow her instructions first,” Wufan said firmly. He didn’t know what was so bad about being buried in this estate but he figured the ghost wouldn’t sabotage him. If that was what the old woman wanted, then Wufan would try his best to get her grandchildren to listen.

The group of 5 people (and 1 – 2? – spirits) trudged down the stairs, out of the manor to the yard where Wufan could see a little tombstone under a huge willow tree. A shiver ran down his spine at the realisation of what they were going to do. They were going to dig up an old woman’s grave. Was this ethically right? He cast an uncertain glance to the ghost on his right and found, to his surprise, the other looking at him.

“Don’t worry,” the ghost told him softly. “I won’t put you in trouble. I need you.”

Well, that was reassuring.

Ignoring the woman’s cries of how outrageous this was, Wufan and the rest of them watched as servants dug up the grave with shovels. He swallowed thickly when the shovel hit something hard and made a ‘thunk’ sound, not realising he had his hands clasped together tightly when the servants reached down to pull the coffin up.

There was a collective gasp.

Wufan was momentarily blinded by the sparkle of the shiny gold bars under the setting sun. The gold bars laid next to each other, not a millimeter out of place, and gosh, how they twinkled in the light. There were so many of them he couldn’t even estimate a number.

“Me too, Jongdae, me too,” he mumbled when his overwhelmed assistant grabbed his arm. Wufan looked up in time to catch the ghost smiling at him.

Hmmm.

Maybe he could find a use for him.

A/N: Eeks, I promise there will be more Kray interaction soon. You will finally learn more about the ghost tagging along Wufan in the next chapter. I'll try to update more often if you guys are keen to read!