Facade

Smoke rose into the air, the loud blasting sound making everyone in the ballroom panic, all of them heading straight for the entrance; afraid for their lives.

“Mmph!” Emi exclaimed, the sound coming out muffled as she shoved harshly at Bartholomew, glancing towards Kris’ direction, realising that the source of the smoke was originating from there.

There’s someone else here other than Bart.

Something stirred in Emi’s stomach, and it was a dreadful feeling, one she most certainly didn’t welcome. Almost instantly, she stomped on Bartholomew’s feet, making him pull back as he yelped in pain and she didn’t hesitate to grab his arm; throwing him over her shoulder.

He landed on the ground, hard, emitting another pained groan from him.

“Goddamnit, Emi!”

“I can’t believe I let you kiss me twice.” Emi huffed out, wiping at her lips as she made a disgusted face.

Bartholomew’s painful expression slowly contorted into an amused one, a chuckle escaping from his lips. “You are too-“

“Goodbye, Bart—and don’t ever let me see you again.” Emi cut him off abruptly, glaring fiercely at him.

“What?” Bartholomew frowned at Emi’s words.

“Hey, wait—where are you going?” Bartholomew questioned, staring at Emi as she quickly ran off, blending into the throng of people scrambling towards the door.

Looking back, the smoke slowly started to clear up and Emi could see three men on the stage; two of them she recognized clearly. However, just a glimpse at the third man made her stumble as she quickly recovered, hastening her pace towards the door.

Sergi.

He’s here, it’s impossible for me to remain here any further now.

Meanwhile, Yun tackled Sergi to the ground, both of them exchanging punches with one another. Amidst the chaos, Kris snatched the gift away, tearing a large part of his sleeve away and he felt relieved that it wasn’t his own clothes that he was wearing.

Wrapping it around the birthday gift, turning out to be a beautifully coloured jewel which was small enough to wrap around, Kris stared up at the chandelier. He took a few steps back, narrowing his eyes to a certain spot on the chandelier before he dashed up the stairs, trying to get closer to it.

Just then, Sergi broke free from Yun and started to chase after Kris, who was already halfway up the stairs. Yun hurriedly chased after Sergi too, and the three of them headed up the stairs. Sergi eventually managed to catch up to Kris, his hand grabbing onto Kris’ ankle and Kris clicked his tongue in annoyance, trying to extricate himself from Sergi’s tight grip.

Taking a step back, Kris lifted up his other leg and swung it at Sergi, who instantly let go, due to avoiding his kick. Before Sergi could stop Kris again, Yun threw a punch at him and Sergi quickly dodged it.

“There’s no way I’m letting you steal that jewel, bandit.” Yun spat out, his eyes blazing with determination.

Sergi only responded with a smirk, his fist flying towards Yun who avoided it with ease. At the same time, Kris swung the makeshift satchel he made from his torn sleeve around his arms, looking up at the chandelier again; and he was closer this time.

Aiming it precisely, he hurled the small satchel up into the air and it soared, hooking onto the chandelier. Glancing back at Yun, Kris observed their fight for a moment, seeing Yun land a harsh kick on Sergi, who blocked it with his arms, wincing in pain after that.

He knew Yun could hold him for a while and he scoured the room for Bartholomew. His eyes landed on a familiar man, standing in the almost empty ballroom and staring at the door. He slowly started to head for the door, before breaking into a sprint and Kris realised that Emi was no longer beside Bartholomew; his mind clicking as he hastily followed behind Bartholomew.

She must have escaped during the confusion.

It’s just another twenty five days until I can deliver her.

Twenty five.

Emi dashed outside the mansion, automatically rushing towards her horse that was kept at the stables the requester kindly provided them with. Her eyes landed on her beloved horse and she heaved a sigh of relief, climbing onto her horse without hesitation.

“Go, Luna! Hurry!” Emi urged her horse and she took off galloping, proceeding to speed up and canter across the street, which almost seemed deserted except a few other people scampering around. Everyone assumed there was a bomb hidden around the whole mansion and took shelter in the woods, houses or further down the streets.

Hearing another set of hoofs hitting against the pavement, Emi’s heart skipped a beat and she held a nervous look on her face, glancing back.

Bart.

“Stop, Emi!”

“I’m not stopping!” Emi exclaimed, knowing that Bartholomew was somehow cooperating with Sergi all along, probably to steal the jewel.

“Why are you running away? Weren’t you kidnapped by those men? The Dragoons?” Bartholomew asked, the distance between them shortening.

“That’s none of your business, Bart.”

“Sergi asked me to bring you back.”

“Tell him to go to hell, I’d rather die than go back to the hellhole.” Emi spat venomously, rage evident in her eyes as she shouted those words out.

Bartholomew frowned at her words, a puzzled look on his face as he urged his horse to go even faster, the distance between them becoming shorter and shorter.

“Why aren’t you going home?” Bartholomew questioned, making her scoff, a wry laugh coming out from .

“I don’t have a home, Bart.”

With those words, Emi pushed horse forward and Bartholomew cursed, commanding his horse to go as fast. However, it was impossible, since Emi’s horse was one of the quickest horse he had ever laid his eyes on, she only told him that her beloved horse was a gift from someone.

“Whoa, whoa.”

He slowly arrived to a stop and his horse huffed, an unfathomable expression on his face as he spun his horse to the right, urging it to go as it galloped down the alley. Within moments, Bartholomew cut Emi’s path off, causing her to halt abruptly and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Move, Bart.”

“Sorry, I can’t do that Emi. I promised Sergi to bring you back.” Bartholomew shook his head, stopping his horse right in front of hers, both of them staring cautiously at one another.

“You don’t keep promises, Bart. You are smart and witty, you can’t possibly expect me to believe that, right?”

Bartholomew remained quiet, not answering Emi.

“…you made a deal with him, me—for the jewel, didn’t you?”

“…you are bloody right, Emi Winters. Now, just stay still and let me catch you.” Bartholomew growled out, his mischievous demeanor fading away, his eyes glinting dangerously.

Ah, finally.

The true face of the infamous Bartholomew appeared.

Working with him was always tricky, since I knew he’ll betray me any second to get the treasure.

“Your greed will eventually consume you, Bart.” Emi warned, jumping down elegantly from her horse.

“Shut the hell up! What do you know?” He barked at her, getting off from his horse too.

“You are a greedy bastard who kissed me twice without my permission. It isn’t hard to know that you love money as much as you love women.” Emi hissed out, both of them watching each other for any sudden movements.

“Congratulations, Emi Winters, you are bloody right again but you already knew how I was all these years—now, let’s stop the chit chat, shall we?” Bartholomew responded, charging at Emi after he finished his sentence and she dodged his roundhouse kick with ease.

“Do you truly believe that Sergi will give you that damn jewel?” Emi raised an eyebrow at him and he clicked his tongue in irritation, flinging his fist at her and she blocked it with her arm by smacking it away, countering it with a punch of her own.

Unfortunately, Bartholomew avoided it, like the agile man he was, but he didn’t notice the kick coming towards him and she hit him against his side. He grunted in pain, narrowly dodging the next attack that Emi hurled at him.

Bartholomew’s eyes lighted up in anger and he decided to throw a series of kicks and punches at Emi. Emi dodged the attacks, except one of them which made contact with her stomach.

She stumbled back, clutching painfully at her stomach as she coughed, lifting her head up and felt the blood pumping through her veins, watching Bartholomew smirk arrogantly at her.

“For someone so clever, you are really stupid for trusting Sergi.” Emi gasped out, a smirk on her face when she noticed Bartholomew’s arrogant expression faltering.

“Stop trying to trick me, Emi.” Bartholomew spoke, reaching behind to take out the dagger from his boots and aimed it quickly at Emi before she had time to recover from the harsh attack.

Gesturing for her to stand up, Emi gazed at the dagger that shone menacingly in the moonlight and she slowly stood, tilting her head slightly when the cold tip of it poked against her neck.

“I caught you, Shadow Rogue.” Bartholomew announced victoriously, her back pressed towards him as he spun her around, digging the dagger deeper into her neck now, but it wasn’t hard enough to pierce her skin.

She glanced at the dagger on her neck, staying still for a moment before she swiftly tripped him with her leg and she narrowly evaded the dagger on her neck. Without delay, she pinned him to ground, the dagger dropping out from his hands as she swiped it away from his reach.

“That’s a new trick.” Bartholomew coughed out, a pained chuckle coming from him.

“Someone taught me that.” Emi simply replied, completely trapping his whole body.

“Getting friendly with your kidnappers, Emi?” Bartholomew raised an eyebrow at her.

In response, she punched him twice in the face, letting out a short sigh. “That’s for kissing me without permission.”

“Alright, you win, Emi Winters.” Bartholomew grunted out in pain.

Emi held a gleeful look in her eyes, until her whole expression twisted into one of pain when she felt something hard striking against her neck. She glared at him in the last few moments as a hazy look appeared in her eyes.

“You dirty bas…” She muttered out, fainting and collasping onto his body.

“Sorry, I lied.” Bartholomew spit out his tongue, seeing the person standing behind Emi.

“You are lucky Sergi decided to bring me along at the last minute.” The person, who was one of Sergi’s best henchmen, said.

Reverting back to his mischievous façade, Bartholomew grinned sheepishly at him. Slowly sliding himself out from an unconscious Emi before carrying her over his shoulders, until the bandit saw him struggling under her weight, making him roll his eyes at the pathetic thief.

“I’ll carry her instead.” The bandit said, easily carrying Emi onto his shoulders, especially since he was two times more muscular that Bartholomew. He muttered how pathetic and weak Bartholomew, who was completely oblivious to the offensive comment he just made.

They started to walk off with an unconscious Emi in their arms as people inside their houses slowly started to exit from their houses, staring curiously at them.

*******************************************

Yun panted heavily whereas, Sergi was only panting slightly and Yun suffered more injuries compared to Sergi.

“Thank for the fun but I have somewhere else to be.” Sergi suddenly declared, smiling wickedly at Yun who furrowed his eyebrows.

Damn it.

He’s almost on par with Kris, but I managed to buy some time for Kris to put the jewel away.

“It’s too late, the jewel isn’t here anymore.” Yun panted out, wiping a drop of sweat away from his face.

“Who said I was here for the jewel?” Sergi’s wicked smile grew wider as he directed his eyes towards the chandelier where the satchel was still hanging from, shrugging nonchalantly at Yun. Yun instantly widened his eyes at his words, his eyes searching wildly for the others, realising they were gone.

Spinning back around, he opened his mouth to speak to Sergi, only for his vision to be blinded by smoke. Coughing violently, Yun fanned the smoke away with his hands and the smoke slowly cleared up overtime. Without waiting, he raced to the stables, sighing and leaning against one of the support pillars, running a hand through his hair when he noticed something amiss.

Where did the both of them disappear to?

Their horses are no longer here.

Yun rested against the pillar, sliding down to the ground and he knew he couldn’t do anything until the both of them returned.

***************************************

Bartholomew climbed onto his horse, along with the bandit, who placed an unconscious Emi on her horse that reluctantly obeyed the two strangers. The horse let out a huff, feeling worried for her master who wasn’t moving at all.

“Come on, horsey! Move!” The bandit yelled and the horse neighed loudly, taking a few hesitant steps forward on the gravel path, unhappy at the stranger sitting on her.

“If you don’t move, I’ll hit you with this.” The bandit growled threateningly at the horse, revealing a whip from his satchel, smacking it loudly against the ground.

Luna gazed at it in fear but she refused to move, sensing the evil intentions these people had for her beloved master. She neighed loudly again, standing on her two of her legs while the raising the other two into the air, kicking it wildly, daring them to hit her.

This movement caused the bandit to slide down and fall flat against the gravel while Emi was still safe on the horse, since she was blocked by the bandit. He raised an eyebrow at the horse, standing up and dusting the dirt off his pants.

“Fine, I’ll just hurt your precious master then.” The bandit grinned maliciously at the horse, eyeing the bandit as he took out a knife, spinning it around his hands as he pressed it gently against Emi’s arm.

Meanwhile, Bartholomew just sat back, watching the whole situation with amusement in his eyes at the horse who was so passionate about his master.

Luna started taking a few steps forward again at this threat and the bandit got impatient, irritated at the time being wasted here as he lifted the knife up into the air, preparing to stab Emi’s arm with it.

“Ugh!” The bandit groaned out, an arrow stuck in his back as he turned around.

“What the hell?” Bartholomew yelped in alarm, spinning around and the both of them saw a man standing behind them, a small crossbow being held tightly in his hands as he pointed it towards them.

“Don’t you dare lay a hand on her.” The man growled out, his voice lacing with rage.

“Ah, the kidnapper. Are you here to get back your prey?” Bartholomew said and the bandit winced in pain, wondering or not he should remove the arrow from his back.

“She’s not my prey, she’s my-“

“Request, right? Leader of the Dragoons, Kris Wu. You even prevented me from stealing once.” Bartholomew finished the sentence for him.

“Hand her back to me, Bartholomew.” Kris demanded, his tone firm as he tightened his grip on the crossbow.

“I didn’t expect Emi to be the target of such a man. Nonetheless, I’m afraid I can’t let you take her back.” Bartholomew ignored him while the bandit seemed slightly dazed as he struggled to balance himself properly.

Pushing himself forward, Bartholomew spun his daggers around his hands, slashing at Kris who avoided them effortlessly. Halfway through their scuffle, Kris glanced towards Emi who was still lying motionlessly on her horse and he frowned at the sight.

Bartholomew noted the eye movement, along with the flash of emotion flitting across his eyes when he gazed at her. He widened his eyes slightly at the discovery, a tiny smirk tugging at his lips.

How fascinating.

“Why aren’t you killing her? Isn’t that your request?”

“I need her alive, Bartholomew.” Kris barked out, spinning around to kick Bartholomew at the side of his face, which he blocked easily and proceeded to hop backwards, putting some space between them.

“Just barely alive then.” Bartholomew spoke, nodding at his own words as if taunting Kris to correct him. Kris immediately launched his fist towards him as he narrowly ducked from it, the smirk still present on his face as it grew wider.

“What’s wrong, Kris? Aren’t you a little too anxious?”

“What did you do to her?” Kris questioned and Bartholomew managed to catch in the concern mixing in with the anger in his voice.

“Now, this is interesting.” Bartholomew chuckled at the new discovery he just made about the fearless mercenary leader.

“Answer me!” Kris demanded.

Bartholomew ignored him, swinging his fist at Kris who easily blocked it and Bartholomew bend down, quickly scooping a small amount of gravel into his palm and tossing it at Kris.

Kris defended his eyes from the assault, while Bartholomew spun around, shouting at the bandit to use Emi as a bait. However, upon turning around, he observed the bandit that was laying still on the gravel path.

Tranquilliser.

Bartholomew hastily turned back around but it was too late, he felt a sharp pain shooting up his right leg as he yelped in pain. Kneeling on the path, he lifted his head up to stare at Kris, his smirk faltering slightly but it was still there.

“Showing concern for your request—moreover a thief. You are still a human after all, Kris Wu.” Bartholomew said, his words causing Kris to be taken aback.

“Wh-what? Concern?”

Bartholomew stared at Kris in silent shock before bursting out into a loud incredulous laughter. Whereas, Kris only stared at him with a baffled look on his face.

Amazing.

He doesn’t even know what’s wrong with him and why he’s feeling this way about her.

“Emi Winters, you are truly astounding.” Bartholomew muttered, taking out two more daggers that were hidden inside his boots.

Kris, who was too distracted by Bartholomew’s silly words, didn’t notice the movement. He only remembered a surge of emotion rushing through him when he noticed the bandit trying to hurt Emi from afar and before he knew it, he had already got down from his horse and shot the arrow at him.

All loathsome thoughts of her flew out the window at once and he didn’t care what happened next, as long as the bandit didn’t stab her with the knife, he was completely fine with anything that would occur next.

Glancing towards the beautiful woman, her eyes closed as she laid on the horse, he let out a sigh of relief, seeing no signs of visible injuries on her face but his heart skipped a beat when he wondered if there were any on her body.

Something sharp caught his eyes as he looked back at Bartholomew, who was already preparing to throw his daggers at Emi and Kris’ heart plummeted at the sight. Without thinking, he shot his hands out to stop Bartholomew from throwing the dagger by wrapping his hands around them.

Bartholomew struggled to get his dagger back but his grip loosened eventually, slowly starting to feel the effects of the tranquilliser in his system.

Hastily tossing them aside, Kris was too worried about the safety about Emi to notice the blood dripping down from his palms, due to holding the dagger too tightly. Within a few seconds, Bartholomew collapsed onto the ground, too drowsy to even move as he watched Kris scrambling to Emi’s side, the delight in sparkling in his eyes.

A weakness from him.

Finally.

He thought before drifting off into a deep sleep.

Sorry for the late update, I was busy with school and life. This is a pretty long chapter and I hope you guys enjoyed it :)!