Moving in together

"Do you mind explaining it to us? We didn't quite get to understand what Mr. Ryuu was trying to..."

"If you didn't understand, why did you not ask him?"

"Well you see..."

"Did you really think that I'd just welcome you with open arms?"

"That's not what..."

"What? You thought that because I would work with you two on the case that I'd get all sentimental and we could all be friends? Is that it?"

"It's not that we just..."

Ding stood from the desk and walked towards the two and they shrunk away from his build.

"Mr. Ding... we just couldn't..."

Lian covered his mouth and chuckled nervously before clearing his throat," Enough of that Cole," he turned to Ding and smiled," don't mind him... when do we begin?"

Ding eyed them for a while and walked towards the door," Right now."

"Yes sir!"

Once Ding was out of the door, Lian dropped his hand from Cole's mouth," Next time don't just go saying that to him."

"I didn't do anything wrong did I? I was just asking since I didn't understand what Ryuu was on about, I didn't expect him to react so..."

"Yeah yeah I understand. Come on, let's get going," Lian said.

The two dashed out of the room and caught up to Ding who had only gone a few steps ahead out into the hallway. The two walked up to him and stood behind him without saying a word.

"Sir, the car is ready."

Ding nodded and walked past the man and headed towards the main entrance. Once he was by the car, he stopped and turned around. Lian who was walking closely behind him bumped into his chest.

"Ouch!"

He pulled back and rubbed his forehead and Ding looked at him not entirely surprised by this. Lian lowered his gaze to the ground preparing himself for the worst to come but Ding had no such intentions, instead he turned to the driver who was just a few feet away from him.

"I will do the driving," he said and the driver nodded his head, bowed and walked out of sight.

Ding got in the driver's seat and both Lian and Cole got into the back seat. The drive from the estate was silent and once the silence became unbearable, Cole let out a sigh and Lian looked at him worried.

"Is everything okay?"

"Oh? Yes.. everything is just fine," he replied and turned to look out the window.

Not that there was much to see outside aside from the cars and trees that moved past them but Cole found this less boring than the ride. Lian on the other hand was busy watching Ding's long fingers on the steering wheel. He had grasped the wheel freely but his veins showed up on his skin and Lian was drawn to this. Ding lifted his gaze to the rear view mirror and looked at Lian completely taking him back in surprise. Completely embarrassed, Lian turned and looked out the window.

"I can't believe he caught me staring... dammit!" he cussed silently.

After a long drive, the car drove into the underground parking lot and the three got down from the car and Ding walked towards the elevators leaving an astonished Cole and Lian behind. Without a word, he pressed the button and a ding sound indicated the elevator had arrived.

"Hey! Wait up!"

The two immediately dashed towards him just as the doors were about to close. Once they arrived at the eleventh floor, the doors opened and they walked down the path and stopped by a door. Ding produced a card from his pocket and swiped it across the handle and the door clicked open revealing a lavish apartment that words couldn't describe.

"This place is..."

"Amazing."

Ignoring the two, Ding walked towards the door to his room but stopped hand on the handle, he let out a sigh and turned to the two who were still analysing the room.

"You should rest up, at night we follow the lead," he said and got into the room.

Lian and Cole looked at the closed door before them before turning to each other.

"Did he..."

"No way... how did he manage to sound so gentle and caring?" Lian asked before pinching his forearm," ouch! Guess it wasn't a dream."

"Let's go to our room first," Cole said and grabbed Lian dragging him towards the room in the opposite direction.

No matter how hard he tried to look at it, there was no way a killer could sound so gentle with his words. Lian could hardly believe that the mafia leader could sound so genuinely concerned. He lay down on the bed, hands crossed behind his head looking at the ceiling. Cole had just finished washing up and he sat by the edge of the bed drying his hair.

"What are you thinking about? I have never seen you so lost in thought before."

"Mmmh yeah, I was wondering what kind of case we just got ourselves into," he replied eyes still glued to the ceiling," I have a bad feeling about all this... like something is not right."

"Not right? What do you mean?" he asked curiously and Lian looked at him.

"Just a random thought. I meant nothing by it," he said and turned his back to him.

Cole stared at his back for a few more seconds before sinking in beside him.

"He sounded so gentle, didn't he?" Cole mumbled and Lian grunt in response.

Soon exhaustion overwhelmed the two and they drifted off to sleep. Ding on the other side of the room was seated by his desk drawing out possible clues. He leaned back on the chair, removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes from exhaustion. A yawn escaped his lips and he decided to get himself a cup of coffee to stay awake. He had barely had time to rest since the missing children incident, he couldn't bring himself to sleep without knowing what was going on. Mind made up, he walked out of his room and made his way to the kitchen where he set to brewing himself some coffee. Just as he was done, he sat by the dining table going through the files he had received. He was so engrossed in his laptop that he barely heard Lian walk and sit before him.

"Sir?"

He looked up and nod his head before turning to his work. Lian noticed the crease on his forehead and he instinctively leaned forward and rubbed his forehead with his thumb. Ding froze at the contact and looked up.

"What are you doing?" he asked and Lian immediately withdrew his hand.

"Well..."

The doorbell rang and Lian let out a sigh when Ding went to answer.

"Saved by the bell," he said to himself and headed towards the door.

"Oh? What's he doing here?"