Return of a Witch

There was a loud noise inside her room, enough to wake her up in annoyance. As she opened her eyes to search for the source of the noise, the odd color of the light outside her room caught her attention. The sky was a mixture of light and darkness making her scramble for the clock on her table.

2:35 am. Her eyes widened as she read the time. [ Bloody hell! It's still too early! ]

Her phone lit up and the noise was back again. She growled as she already knew who the culprit of her annoying morning was. There is only one person idiotic enough to change her ringtone and brave enough to call her at such an hour.

She picked up her phone and without a doubt, the caller was indeed her annoying friend. She immediately pressed the answer button and placed it on the loudspeaker. Patiently, she waits for her reasons.

"Wei Wei! Are you busy?" the annoying voice of her friend said.

Her question only made matters worse for Hou Wei Yan. [ She woke me up at 2 am for this kind of question?! ]

"What do you think I was doing?" she asked, quite annoyed at her.

Xie Na on the other line fell into silence. After a while, she answered something that almost broke all of Hou Wei Yan's nerves. "I don't know. I'm not beside you, how could I know?"

"You lunatic!" she yelled before hanging up. After doing this, Hou Wei Yan threw her phone away and was planning on returning to sleep. But before it could land out of her sight, it rang again. She tsked at her stupidity for not turning it off. There was a loud series of 'no' resonating in her brain, but she still ended up crawling towards her phone to retrieve it, hoping her friend was now in her right senses.

"Speak. What do you want?" she asked, annoyance still evident in her voice.

Xie Na gulped on the other line, now noticing how strained her voice was, indicating that the woman on the other line is no longer her sweet little Hou Wei Yan, but a monstrous beast who might gobble her up whole tomorrow if she talks nonsense again.

"Come to the hospital early tomorrow. I need to brief you on something" she said with worry and unease. She had just received some begrudging news that her friend needs to learn and be prepared for. "You must come as early as possible. This is really important. You must come, okay? It's a matter between life and death for you and me! A witch is coming back to town!"

Hou Wei Yan yawned as she nodded her head. "Okay" she simply replied before hanging up and plopping herself back on her mattress. She has no energy left to care about her phone so she threw it across the room. She immediately fell into a deep slumber with no assurance of waking up early tomorrow as she was asked.

.....

Fang took a glance at Hou Wei Yan who keeps on yawning as they drove to the hospital early in the morning. He can't help but notice the tired look on her face which was a bit odd. She slept early last night. After finishing the cookies, she immediately retired to their room. His master also checked on her around midnight so there was no reason for her to look this tired.

"Are you okay, Madame?" he asked, his eyes observing her actions. Is she sick? If she is, then they must hurry to the hospital and get her checked or go straight home so she won't find any reason to work.

Hou Wei Yan looked at him and sighed. "Stop thinking crazy, I'm fine. Just a little bit short in sleep and disturbed"

"I'm sure the hospital will allow you to make an absence today. We should go home so you can rest" Fang stated before eying Shin who was listening intently to their conversation. He nodded his head and was about to make a turn on the next road. "You're abusing yourself too much on work, it's not good"

"Shin, don't you dare turn the car around" she said when she saw him planning. After warning Shin, she turned her head back on Fang. "I just told you not to think crazy"

Fang strengthened his resolve and looked at her, his gaze containing obvious rebellion on what she said. "I'm telling the truth, Madame"

When she saw him with no plans of backing down, Hou Wei Yan immediately fished out her phone and began searching for Xie Na's account. When she saw her account, @pixiena, she immediately scrolled down her feed and looked at her past posts.

"Where is it?" she mumbled as her search took quite a long time.

The man beside her was left dumbfounded as she focused on finding something on her phone. She looked so serious right now, that he can't help but dissolve his resolve. He patiently waited for her to finish her search but soon found himself regretting such a decision. Hou Wei Yan smiled at the picture on Xie Na's Ingram feed that garnered 1.4 M likes before showing it to Fang Tao.

Fang instantly became a blushing mess when he saw the image. "Wha---"

The redness of his face and the shock that dominated his cold expression sent Hou Wei Yan to a hysterical fit. It's no ordinary accomplishment to make the feared wolf blush like a ripe tomato, especially when it's a single picture that knocked his coldness away and replaced it with a seriously embarrassed man. Shin who was driving can't stop but smile along with the laughing young lady when he saw the state Fang is under.

It was a surprise attack! A very powerful surprise attack that he can't stop himself from grinding his teeth before turning his head away from the picture, as though he didn't care at all. However, the expression he gave earlier sold him out already.

Well, who wouldn't be surprised if you see Xie Na in her swimsuit, acting cute yet sexy at the same time?! Even though she likes wearing tight clothes that fit her body perfectly, seeing her wearing something so provocative and looking directly at the screen with her taunting and teasing eyes would surely send someone on edge.

It's worse for him because he was someone who never dared look at ladies in such a way. He never went to beaches and was always assigned on missions that involve brutal forces, no women are involved in such missions. So to say, Fang Tao is some sort of a virgin—but no one needs to know that.

"I just want to let you know that Xie Na woke me up early in the morning, forcing me to come early which utterly disturbed my peaceful sleep" Hou Wei Yan said before pocketing her phone and looking away.

The surprised man immediately turned his head towards her with an unexplainable look. [ Unbelievable! ]

"You could have just said so" he grumpily said, suppressing the shout that was about to come out of his mouth. Seriously, there was no need to show that picture to him! He doesn't see the purpose of showing the picture to him when it's not related to their topic at all!

Hou Wei Yan smiled at this before patting his shoulders. "I still have a lot of her pictures here. If you ever get bored just tell me so I can send it to you"

Fang looked at her in horror and immediately backed away from her touch. "You're scaring me, Madame. What's your purpose for doing this?"

"Huh? Isn't it obvious?" she asked before looking ahead. It's so you can fall for Xie Na even faster.

She had recently found out from the spy she sent out that Xie Na's boyfriend is meeting someone secretly. Seeing how happy Xie Na is with him and how hopeful she is that he's the one, she can't simply tell her this and ruin her completely. If both of them fall for one another, then the boyfriend's affair gets revealed, and it would end well for the two. Xie Na won't cry as much because Fang is there to catch her.

Well, if she does manage to make it happen that is. She knows manipulating things doesn't end all too well, but she's sick of seeing her friend cry and lose herself. Xie Na keeps on looking for Mr. Right, but no man is right if she's the one that keeps on chasing them without them fully reciprocating her feelings. Besides, Mr. Right is hard to find, and often time, he arrives when you least expected him or when you're searching is going farther away from him.

"What?" Fang asked, totally oblivious of Hou Wei Yan's cupid-like plan.

Hou Wei Yan looked at him seriously before smiling. "Xie Na never gets tired of annoying me but I'm quite full of annoying Xie Na. Since you will be around me often, annoying you will be a new adventure for me"

Oh Christ, save him. By the look in her eyes, Fang can already predict his impending doom. She's serious and he doesn't know how to counter that seriousness.

Based on what he knows, Hou Wei Yan doesn't do direct attacks so he can't defend himself nor have any chance of fighting back whatever she throws at him. His instincts may save him from surprises but they can't shield everything. If she throws more jokes like what she did earlier, he'd die before he can exact revenge!

"Don't worry, I'm not harmful" Hou Wei Yan said as soon as the car stopped in front of the hospital, but Fang never bought it. What she did earlier was harmful enough for him!

Upon entering the facility, Hou Wei Yan immediately felt something was odd. The people that used to smile ever so widely had a glint of terror in their eyes. Even Fang who doesn't usually associate himself with such people noticed the difference right away. His defense instantly heightened as they walked deeper into the hospital, towards where Xie Na was currently staying.

The two of them walked faster as they got near Xie Na's office. Hou Wei Yan who was really curious about the sudden change of atmosphere entered the room without knocking. "Xie---"

Something inside her lit up when she saw what lays inside the office, it was most probably anger that she can't simply subdue even if she tries.

"Let her go!" she yelled as earned the woman's attention.

The smile on her face earlier was replaced with her angry mode as she marched inside the room, she was ready to swing a slap at the unknown woman pinning Xie Na on the wall. As she went near, the stranger tightened her grip on Xie Na's neck making Hou Wei Yan run towards them to save her struggling best friend.

Fang who was giving commands to his men outside the office suddenly felt something strange behind him. On instinct, he immediately turned around with his fist swinging at the dangerous aura behind him. However, his enemy was swift enough to dodge his attack.

"Be careful man" the man said with a smirk on his face. He was wearing a doctor's coat, his name Lu Huan marked on it, his hair a bit messy, and his eyes contained a seriously annoying and taunting glint on it. "You might just hurt yourself"

Although he was trained not to get easily overcome by his emotions, Fang can't help but feel irked at him. There was something in the man that made him dislike him even at just a glance. Feeling disgusted, Fang reverted to his overly cold self and walked past the man like he was simply an annoying insect. He never said anything and just entered the room where he saw something quite disturbing. "Madame?"

Hou Wei Yan was no longer listening, her mind was now set on the woman's neck, ready to command her hand to do the deed and finish the job. Xie Na who was just saved coughed hardly on the floor. But no matter how weak she was, even though she was struggling, she pushed herself up to touch Hou Wei Yan.

Her best friend shouldn't do anything reckless for her! No matter what, she must save her as she promised. "Wei Wei! Let that witch go, she doesn't deserve it!"

"She harmed you!" Hou Wei Yan yelled which took Fang by surprise and sent him back to his senses. He was pinned to his spot by the darkness in her eyes. She feels different from the Madame he grew accustomed to. The look in her eyes contained wrath and malice that he only sees in soldiers or men fighting for death.

Xie Na who was crying earlier from the pain instantly wiped her tears away. "I'm okay. Look, I'm fine now"

Her best friend only looked at her before raising the woman a bit higher. Desperate, she began looking around for anything that may calm her down. In her search, she saw Fang and locked her eyes on him.

That's right, Fang is strong, he can stop her from doing something she will surely regret. "Fang, please do something!"

At the yelling and begging voice of Xie Na, Fang immediately ran towards Hou Wei Yan and grabbed hold of her hand. "Madame, please let go. Let me handle this" he said before looking at the woman with coldness. What did she do that resulted in this?

Hou Wei Yan didn't budge and simply continued torturing the woman. Xie Na who saw her eyes wavering instantly jumped at her without hesitation. She clung to her before burying her head on her back. "Come back, you promised you'd come back if I pull you out. I'm okay now, there's no darkness threatening anyone anymore"

Fang saw this as a chance. Swiftly and skillfully, he hit her nerves causing Hou Wei Yan to collapse in their embrace. He sighed before carrying her towards the sofa. Xie Na followed behind him and made sure Hou Wei Yan was doing fine. After making sure the two were fine, he turned on the coughing woman and gave her a threatening and warning look before dialing his boss. What he saw earlier was not written on their report and it is certainly a thing they need to investigate.

If what he thinks is right, that was surely Hou Wei Yan's other side and what gave birth to such side was perhaps related to their boss. Ji Li Zhao and her situation in the past must have created this dangerous side of her.

"Fang, bring them both back" Ji Li Zhao ordered on the other side of the line. He knew something wasn't right with the medical reports he received. Only the Xing Higher Ups can do such a thing as hiding her condition in the USA from the rest of the family. Now, his guilt is eating him up again. If only he made a better solution in the past, then things wouldn't have turned out bad for Hou Wei Yan.

If only he can choose again, he'd choose anything much better than what he did.