Weakness

"Bastard! Open this door right now!"

Their peaceful time was once again interrupted, this time by shouting and constant hammering on the locked door. Lin Ruoxi and Wang Ma found the voice oddly familiar when they focused on it, they seemed to take a few seconds,

"Father!"

"Master!"

Before they both gasped out the name of the voice, which by now had reached countless obscenities, they both hastily stood up, Ruoxi making an effort to appear more presentable, and Wang Ma heading for the door. Before the door opened though, Ruoxi sent a menacing glare towards Chu Ye, who was still lazing innocently on the couch, full focus on the tv, not at all the picture of a man who had rudely shut the door in his father-in-law's face. Chu Ye seemed to feel her glare though, as he glanced at her and shrugged,

"I mean, the guy's pretty rude, not a person I would normally associate with my prim and proper wife." He answered.

Lin Ruoxi didn't know if she should feel offended at his remark towards her father or flattered at his remark on her behavior. In fact she should feel none, Chu Ye was being utterly sarcastic, though the tone seemed to be missing in his voice, to him, Ruoxi was but an actor, a very good one, but an actor nonetheless, he wasn't sure who the real she was, but she didn't seem to harbor Ill intent towards him, none that were real at least, only machinations, though, Chu didn't mind, he loved a good play after all, and he was going to make sure this one would end up with her begging for his love like the titanic begged the iceberg... but if all sunk in the end, that was a mystery.

The door was opened by now, as Lin Kun, Ruoxi's father, came bursting in like a wild hyena,

"Where is that brat!" He growled, while looking around, he quickly noticed Chu Ye, he was hard to miss since his laid back attitude was screaming the lack of disrespect he had for the man.

"I'm truly sorry Father-in-law, I thought you were a polite robber." He said from his seat, not a tone of apologeticness in his voice.

"You!!" Lin Kun nearly spat blood from the brat's remark, his face was blazing red by now, veins ready to burst, he glared at Ruoxi as he said: "See what you brought into your home, are you satisfied now!"

Ruoxi frowned at her father as she wrinkled her nose,

"What and who I bring into my home has nothing to do with you."

Lin Kun heavily slapped the back of the couch, causing Ruoxi and Wang Ma to flinch, and bringing a frown out of Chu Ye, but still, he chose to observe since this was a family matter,

"I'm your father, your flesh and blood, how can the matter of your marriage have nothing to do with me!" He roared.

But that sentence seemed to set Ruoxi off though, as her eyes got even redder than before, fogging like windshields on a winter morning as she exclaimed,

"Father? Father! You were never there for me and mother, always out with your mistresses! Even when Mother was sick, when I needed you the most, you weren't there!" She paused, as she caught her breath, "And now, when you want something from me, you're suddenly here to call yourself father!"

Lin Kun faltered, the human side of him seemingly conflicting with his deadbeat nature, but only for a second, as he regained his "spirit" and shouted,

"What's wrong with Xu Zihong? Marrying the heir of the Donghua Science & Technology is at least better than this... this bar owner! So what if you don't like it!"

Ruoxi bit her lower lip as she wept, truly hurt by his last words, she understood now that to this man, she was nothing more than an object, a bargaining tool to be used to secure his fortune. She had this slight hope that maybe she could reconcile with this father of hers in the future, but now she realized that it was only a pipe dream, the naive thoughts of a child.

"Leave." She closed her eyes painfully as she said this word.

"Ruoxi... I just want what's best for you." Lin Kun said softly, trying the gentle approach this time.

"Leave!" But it was futile, as Ruoxi got even more worked up, as she shouted.

Lin Kun flinched at her words, but then anger took over him again,

"No! You Slut, you're coming with me!" He said as he reached out towards Ruoxi, intent on getting her to marry that man, even if it meant dragging her to his bed in the middle of the night.

But as he reached out, he suddenly noticed the utter silence that came after his words, the crickets seemed to stop chirping, and the dogs had ceased their howling at the moon, to Lin Kun, it felt like the world had stopped spinning. He grew pale suddenly, wondering why he couldn't breathe, and why weren't his feet touching the ground, he clawed, and scraped, reaching out and feeling a hand around his neck, it was cold and hard, like metal, the air seemed to be out of his grasp now, as he slowly felt himself losing the grip he had on life, and right before he closed his eyes, he noticed a pair of eyes, cold and detached like those of a doll, not at all caring of the life he was slowly squeezing out with his hand, that was the last thing he saw, before he fell into unconsciousness.

Watching Lin Kun slowly losing his life, Chu Ye felt no remorse, he felt nothing. What Lin Kun said had truly pushed him over the edge, he wasn't a mindless killer mind you, he had changed, it was just that word, that one word that he hated the most, and hearing someone say that to his wife, even fake one, was enough for him to see that as grounds for death, even in soul, but the man wasn't dead, not yet, all he had to do was squeeze, just a tiny bit harder, it was no effort on his part, and Lin Kun would see the light no more, the world wouldn't miss him anyway, Chu Ye thought. He was about to finish the job when,

"Chu Ye stop! Please, you're killing him!" The pleading voice of Ruoxi paused his actions for a second, he glanced at her, the coldness not leaving his eyes for a second as he asked,

"The man doesn't care about you, he never did, he sees you as nothing but an object, a tool, and you still want me to spare his life?"

"Chu Ye, even if what you said is true, he's still my father," She pleaded, with tears in her eyes, "So please."

Chu Ye looked at her for a bit, those eyes that were full of sadness, self-loathing... and weakness, red from all the crying she had done, he calmed down suddenly, he wasn't in his world anymore, where killing was the norm, where family and love meant nothing in front of benefits, he knew people could change, albeit try, and there were good people also, but he had grown accustomed to his untrusting nature, even if he was at the apex right now, nothing had changed. But still, that doesn't mean he was wrong in what he did now, Chu Ye could see the nature of people, peek into their souls if you will, and Lin Kun's was entirely black, a bad guy through and through, he wanted to snuff him out right now to prevent any future trouble, but seeing the weakness in Ruoxi's eyes, he voted against it, that weakness reminded Chu Ye too much of himself once upon a time, and he was going to "cure" it, even if it meant hurting her, because the most important thing that Chu Ye had learned in his thousands of years of existence, was that weakness was a sin, a sin punishable by death.