The Beauty of Something Broken
(Chapter three)

 

Lu Han stepped into the building silently, following his father obediently. He had promised to stay silent, no matter what. He did not quite know why he had decided to come along with his father, but all this time, he had only been hearing rumors. He had only been gaining second-hand information from everyone around him, nothing close to substantial to build himself a clear picture of the state of affairs. So when his father told him that he was going to meet a kidnapped Japanese soldier, he felt the urge to follow. It might not give him any answers and only more questions, but it was worth it. He needed to see at least glimpses of how things were right now.

What he did not expect was to see such a young soldier lying on the cold ground, wounds covering his entire body. Well, maybe such sight was to be expected, but Lu Han just had not thought it would really be the case.

“Chief Lu, this is the Japanese soldier our troop caught when they were trying to defend from the Japanese forces.” One of the police officers said.

“What happened?” His father asked with full authority as he examined the soldier.

“The Japanese troops near the bridge were suddenly marching and holding onto weapons,” The same officer explained, “and the inhabitants got frightened because of the sudden uproar-”

“And they haven’t given prior notice of it being training?” His father interrupted with a question.

“No, Chief Lu, they’ve been given no such advance announcement to any of us. So we went there to help and fired, in the hope to chase them away, and caught this one soldier. We thought he might be valuable in some way.”

“Alright,” The head of the police force said, his lips pressed tight together in a thin line.

“Chief, what do we do now?” Another officer asked.

“We’ll have to wait for now. The Japanese are surely going to demand their soldier back.”

“They attacked us first! How dare they attack us when they’ve just asked for a negotiation?!”

Lu Han eyed the unconscious soldier, eyes blinking when he noticed the small movement of the enemy. It had happened so quickly he thought he was hallucinating, but then it happened again, and this time, the eyes fluttered open too.

“Father, he’s awake!” Lu Han exclaimed in surprise.

His father quickly looked at the soldier, eyes cold as he did so. They had already have him tied with ropes, so he only managed to sit up slightly, his back leaning against the solid wall tiredly. His big eyes scanned the room, slight fear lingering in his eyes.

“Where am I?”

“What do we do now?” The anxious officer asked while looking at his father.

“If they get to know what you’ve done to me, they’ll kill you all!” The soldier yelled furiously, causing Lu Han to flinch.

“We wait.”

▓

“Could either of you tell me why exactly one of our soldiers is being held captive in the hands of our enemies all of a sudden? Now of all times?” General Oh Soohyun asked, eyes throwing daggers at the two officers.

“Officer Oh Sehun believed it would be appropriate to have an extra training tonight, causing the Chinese inhabitants to think we were attacking them, so they fired back and I believe they’ve taken hostage of one of my soldiers.”

This made the General’s eyes focus on Oh Sehun entirely, “Is that so?”

“I don’t see the point of informing them of every single action we do,” Sehun said bitterly.

It took merely seconds for the General to stand up from his place and hit Oh Sehun harshly on the face, no mercy for his own brother’s son. Oh Sehun held onto his reddened cheek dearly, eyes stinging with the threatening tears because of the sudden slap. His eyes were full with fury, all to the General’s dislike.

“You don’t think you did anything wrong?”

“I’ve never done anything wrong,” Sehun mumbled with wide, angry eyes.

“This is precisely why your father never knew what to do with you,” The general shook his head in defeat, “then again, he never knew how to be a good example in the first place.”

“Don’t you dare speak about him like that! You’ve no right!” Sehun screamed.

“And you have no right to be fooling around, Oh Sehun! Do you think you’re a hero or anything by acting like this? Because listen to me carefully, dear son, you’re anything but that. You’re merely trash, pathetic rubbish if this is how you think a victory should be claimed.”

Oh Sehun gritted his teeth together, trying his hardest to prevent himself from bursting out in front of his powerful uncle. There was nothing to be said that could possibly regain him his justice, and to have it been taken from his uncle was by far the most painful fact to accept. This person he loathed with a passion, respected as much as he would respect his father’s murderers.

“What gives you the right to speak so highly of yourself? As far as I know,” Oh Sehun spat out poisonously, “it had always been my father who stood on the battlefield, fighting for our country’s pride with the passion of a lion, while General Oh Soohyun, dear uncle you’ve always been the person on the shame of the Empire, trembling while watching from the sideline.”

Anyone else, and this would have been his last words spoken with his own mouth before all his life would be drained out of the body that dared to speak so to the General in front of them. However, Oh Sehun was not anyone else, not at all. He was the exactly the gem of the military, but also not the disgrace of it. He was Oh Sehun, the Officer with the will of a leader and a mind of a wandering child. Any power in his hand would either create peace or war.

“I ought to kill you for such thoughtless remarks,” The General spat out, “but I might never be able to meet your father’s eyes in the afterlife if I did.”

“You never had the right to look my father in the life in the first place,” Oh Sehun said with a cold look, “my father deserves no such blood relative as disgraceful as you.”

Kim Jongin watched as two highly powerful men looked straight into each other’s eyes, the desire to curse death upon the other ever so evident. He knew, better than anyone else maybe, just what kind of war this was going to be. Not simply black and white. No, it was never simply black and white. That was just what fools loved to believe, and none of them were blessed to be a fool.

▓

“Zitao,” Yixing called out his name while he rushed to his side, “I’ve gotten a message from Yifan.”

Upon hearing this, Zitao quickly dropped everything he was holding, attention completely on Yixing, “What did he say? Is he coming back soon?”

He raised an eyebrow when Yixing did not immediately answer his question, but instead looked away from him. He knew no reason for the other to do this, for his question had not been too rude and his attitude never too unmannered. Even in times like these, he still made sure to behave like he should.

“Is something wrong?” He continued, eyes following the other warily.

“He… He didn’t say anything, actually…” Yixing looked him in the eyes, anxiety slowly creeping into the gaze, stirring its peacefulness, “It was merely a sentence, to be more precise.”

“A sentence, you say?”

Yixing’s eyebrows furrowed together, “It stated that you… That you’re to arrive at the North side of the Luguo Bridge as soon as possible.”

This caused Zitao’s breath to hitch in embarrassing fear. It was not his intention to show such weakness, but never had he expected to be put into it so deeply, so close, his life put on a thin line so dangerously. He had expected himself to be put as a back-up, a person on the sideline.

“W-Why me?”

Yixing turned around, his back facing Zitao, “You… Do you, by any chance, know Byun Baekhyun?”

The younger’s eyes widened in horror at the mention of the person’s name he never thought he would see again. The name had slipped out of Yixing’s mouth so easily that it was almost painful for his ears.

“What does Yifan want from him?” Zitao asked nervously.

“That,” Yixing glanced back at him with apologetic eyes, “I don’t know.”