บท 66: President Du's Birthday Party (19)

Back in AVENGE, when he heard the cold voice of DX, Phantom finally released the breath he was holding.

He had heard what had happened to Kai Xin over the microphone. When she removed her clothing, she had forgotten to disconnect the call.

Even though the sound was muffled by the clothes, he could hear clearly as she begged for help and the fear in her voice was evident to anyone who was listening.

Phantom gripped tightly onto his thighs as he blamed himself for being useless.

It was incredibly hard for him to continue listening without hearing the young voice of another girl crying for help.

When he heard her cries, he wanted to just pull off the headphone but he was afraid that something might happened to her.

"Kara, baby...We will go to my room for now."

When he heard DX's words, he sighed in relief and not long after that, he hung up the phone. He then started to work on deleting his presence from the Du's network.

Even though it would take him quite some time, he had to be careful as he erased every little hints of his presence while avoiding any possible detection.

Once he was done, he went down to the bar to resume his duty as the owner and manager. For their safety, his persona must be maintained at all times.

When he returned two hours later, he noticed a drunk red-headed guy sitting on the couch humming a song that Phantom had heard a million times. Phantom sighed when he saw Ghost massaging his left hand as he gazed blankly at the wall.

His $2000 a piece shirt was wrinkled and torn and there was a nauseating smell in the air that made Phantom wrinkled his nose.

He frowned at the sight of the grey wig and the empty cans of beer scattered all over the floor before covering his nose with a handkerchief as he complaint loudly, "What the fuck was that smell?"

Ghost glanced at him and smiled, "Oh hey! It's our dear ZiYan. Oh wait! Should be our dear Phantom..."

He lifted a can from the table and air cheered him.

Phantom looked at him in contempt as he snarled, "If you aren't so pathetic looking right now, I would fucking beat you up for your dumb stunt."

He wheeled himself closer to Ghost only to wrinkled his nose even more. "Seriously! What the fuck is that smell!"

"Huh?" Ghost took a sniff at himself and shrugged, "That's probably the smell of the prostitute I banged earlier."

Before Phantom can say anything to insult the drunken idiot, the latter started laughing. In his laugh, it carried a heavy tone of sadness that crept into Phantom's heart, making him unable to beat up that idiot.

"A cheap skank that smells horrible and uses drugs. That's who I deserved."

"I don't get you." Phantom wheeled over till he was right next to him and grabbed the freshly opened can of beer out of Ghost.

He downed half of it before saying, "If you are going to be this pathetic, why do you still hurt her?"

Ghost frowned as he grabbed back the can of beer and downed the remaining beer.

To the disgust of Phantom, he belched loudly and dropped the empty can of beer on the floor before saying,

"What are you talking about? I didn't hurt the pro. She's still alive and kicking... and $4,000 richer. Man have to live up to his rep as a filthy rich bastard."

Ghost was about to pop the tab from a new can of beer when Phantom grabbed it from him.

"You know what I'm talking about."

Ghost sighed and glanced at him with an annoyed face, "You are not going to stop, aren't you?"

"Not unless you tell me the reason why you put her in such a dangerous situation."

Ghost leaned back against the couch and after a moment of silence, he laughed softly, "She was never in danger. Not a serious one anyway."

Angered at his lack of seriousness, Phantom reached out and grabbed the collar of his shirt, and yelled, "She was not?! That fucker woke up and he almost raped her! Again! How could you make her go through such a horrible thing again?!"

"He would never get the chance to do anything."

"Du XiAn did not managed to get there in time! Luckily-"

Ghost glanced at him wryly as he interrupted him, "Luckily Shenlong Xun arrived in time?"

Letting him go, with his voice still tinted with anger, Phantom snapped, "How can you know that? How can you predict whether Shenlong Xun or anyone would arrived on time?"

He had only agreed to the original plan because he knew Kai Xin can handle it. Unlike 12 years ago, she was a lot stronger and even if she was tied up, she would be able take care of herself.

However, when he heard that Ghost fed her the aphrodisiac, he panicked! The experimental pill was an aphrodisiac that not only had the ability to lower one's inhibitions, it would also intensify everything that the person felt by a thousand times!

Ghost sighed and leaned back down on the couch. He rolled the empty cans of beer on the floor with his feet as he murmured, "I knew either DX or Shenlong Xun would arrive in time to save her."

When Ghost was undressing the 'trash', he noticed the faint smell of a unique type of cigar that he was familiar with. A Gurkha Royal Courtesan. At $1 million per pop, it was not something commoners or even the rich would use.

Only the filthy rich like his grandfather would burn their money that way. Even then, his grandfather usually reserved it for joyous occasion. Ghost happened to know that one of the inhabitants in the Du Mansion was a big smoker of fancy cigars.

The smell of the cigar triggered a childhood memory and he recalled that Callum's room was directly above the room they were in.

Ghost had took note of the time the smell started and knew that it was when Kai Xin was on the way.

Based on his estimation and his private knowledge of Shenlong Xun, he would still be smoking for a while.

Thus, Ghost had purposely left the door to the balcony ajar before he left.

Feeding her the aphrodisiac really was an afterthought.

He had meant to plant it on the 'trash' so that President Du can formed his own opinion based on what he saw.

Yet, when he realized that Callum was right above them, he decided to do what he did.

"Ghost... Have you ever considered the fact that Shenlong Xun might not make it in time?"

Ghost nodded but he added unapologetically, "It doesn't matter. If it is not him, then DX would definitely arrived on time."

Phantom sighed in frustration and he threw an empty can of beer at him.

"OUCH!" Ghost yelled out and glared at Phantom. Like a child, he angrily kicked one of the wheels on Phantom's wheelchair before turning away.

Phantom ran his fingers through his hair as he sighed, "You fucking idiot! How can you take such a risk with her! Have you ever considered something or someone might mess up your plan?!"

"It wouldn't."

"G, you can't keep playing with people's life like that."

Annoyed at his accusation, Ghost snapped, "I'm not playing with her life! Even if she hates me, I'd never play with her life!"

It was obvious that Ghost was angry but it was debatable who he was angry with. Phantom would bet his remaining limbs that the idiot was angry at himself. This idiot was such a roller-coaster.

In order not to get into an angry shouting match with Ghost, Phantom calmed himself down before asking, "Why do you keep pushing her away when you know that it hurts you?"

When Ghost ignored him, Phantom pressed him again.

Finally angered, he yelled out at Phantom, "Because I can't fucking protect her!"

His voice trembled when he spoke and his eyes were red, "Because even if I want to, I couldn't protect her..."

Phantom was uncomfortable with the sentimental side of Ghost and he merely watched on as the guy kicked those empty cans away in frustration.

To hide his tears from Phantom, Ghost laid down on the couch and faced inwards as he whispered to himself resentfully, "I can't fucking protect anyone...Either one of them would be able to protect her better than I can. As long as she's safe...Even if she hates me forever...I would do it to her again..."