Chapter 16 - Her Past

"I had a family."

"I had friends and relatives."

How can a simple change of tense turns things that were supposed to bring happiness into reasons for someone's pain and misery?

Ming Yue gently turned her head and met with Wan Yi Jun's puzzled face as she began to speak the words that buried deep inside her memory.

"They were good people, who loved and treated me like a princess or atleast I thought so...I remember eating warm food, wearing new clothes and sleeping on soft bed when my parents were alive. But none of these 'good' human beings were there for me when I turned into an orphan overnight."

She paused for a moment and checked Wan Yi Jun, who appeared pale in colour as if he was reflecting on his own life.

And guess what? She was right.

He was indeed reflecting on the mistake that he committed fifteen years ago. A careless mistake that turned his life upside down, a wound that remained deeply infected his heart, gradually burning him in the pyre of guilt and angst.7

'He remembers.' Ming Yue lips hurled into a condescending sneer when she figured out the reason for the silence of Wan Yi Jun who happened to be quite talkative, tonight.

"I was abandoned by my own people and was left to rot in an orphanage." She continued with a voice that lacked any endearing emotions as she spoke. "Actually, it wasn't even an proper orphanage...it was just a temporary facility where you abandon those living beings who turned to be a burden -old people, physically challenged kids, orphans, wounded animals. Without food, without medicine, all of us slept in the cold dirty floor waiting for someone to save us...but no one came except death.. If I look back now, I'm damn sure that whomever put me in that place wanted me dead." She made sure to pick words that would hurt Wan Yi Jun who was speechless due to guilt.

Was this words enough brutal to break his ice cold heart?

Ofcourse, the time has changed him. Though he acted like he wasn't affected by Ming Yue's tragic story, it repeatedly reminded him of his mistake.

"What do you think is more expensive? a living person or his organs?"

Hearing Ming Yue's random question, Wan Yi Jun reverted his desolate eyes to her, but chose to remain silent even though he knew the answer. Organ trafficking was indeed a major issue even in the dark world of capital city. No matter, how efficient were imperial police force, they couldn't eradicate such an evil from the society.

"They sold pretty girls to brothels and ugly ones like me were left to die so that they could harvest my organs. Somehow I managed to escape from that place when I found the truth. My lady, the courtesan whom I mentioned earlier, she was the one who found me on the roads, lying half dead. She gave me food and shelter, even if it was hand me down clothes, I had something to wear. Can you imagine, how I must have felt when they taught music and dance to girl who was supposed to be starved to death?" She asked in a high pitched voice, that pretty much made Wan Yi Jun rethink his earlier doubts.

He thought she had a difficult childhood in Courtesan house, but in reality- it was a heaven for her compared to the hell she previously lived. She went through an excruciatingly traumatic childhood and was still able to talk about it without any hesitation.

"The man who took my lady as his mistress, he was someone who became wealthy after doing things which were considered wrong by the laws of this country. He was an illegal trader who smuggled goods from Daisun to Dragon city-a social threat in police's records. But for my lady and me, he was a good man...literally a God. So how should I define good and bad, master?" Ming Yue dragged the conversation back to the spot where Wan Yi Jun stumbled to render a proper answer.

"Hmm. Let me apologise for my ignorance, Miss Ming." Realising his mistake, Wan Yi Jun sincerely apologized for judging her on the basis of growing up in a Courtesan house. Sometimes, it's difficult to define good and bad from a single perspective. "Your lady, where is she now?"

"She passed away last year while giving birth." Ming Yue monotonously replied as if she wasn't bothered by it all. For a moment, Wan Yi Jun couldn't believe that she had any humane emotions left after going through such an ordial.

She lost the last person who was like her family and how can she even remain stone faced?

"What about the child and her husband?"

"We couldn't save the child or the mother...soon after that master got caught by the police... he is in prison now." She calmly explained while tightly gripping on the paper bag, "The government ceased everything he owned and all of us were once again forced to live in streets. I did work in some places and saved up a little to come to Imperial."

"Those flowers, are they for your lady?" Wan Yi Jun asked when he recalled Ming Yue's words regarding the ancestral rites.

"My lady doesn't like flowers. You know, it's too odd, that a courtesan in her prime hold a sheer amount of resemblance to a flower?" She tossed out a question shrouded in self mockery before replying him.

"Flowers are for my biological mother. Though my memory started to fade, I still manages to remember parents on every new year night."

"I'm sorry..." Wan Yi Jun didn't know how to respond to her statements. Few hours ago, he accused this girl for burglary and trespassing into his house. He even thought her as a seductress... Damn within these times, how many times he judged her because of his preconceptions?

"No. It's okay...You don't have to say sorry...Well, you are not the reason for things that happened in my life." Ming Yue was rather cool headed about his apologies as she skillfully hid behind her mask of a naive girl that was hard to detect by Wan Yi Jun who has fallen into her verbal trap.

"Have you ever searched for your relatives or those people who sent you to the orphanage?" He asked when his civil sense started to work again.

"Hmm..I have...but no one remembers me or more precisely they pretends to remember me." She shrugged her shoulders as if it was no big deal.

"You could have used legal help to reclaim atleast your belongings." Wan Yi Jun tried to shed some light to the basic legal help provided to every citizen in the country.

"And seek my revenge? I'm not interested." He reply was short and crisp, startling the other out of his wits.

"Those people ruined your life."

"Yes, they did. But seeking revenge and claiming what was meant to be, isn't it too cliched?" She inquired while flashing a beaming smile that momentarily dazed Wan Yi Jun who was perplexed by her response.

"I would rather let it go and enjoy my life. What about you, will you avenge those who ruined your happiness and left you in a hell to rot?" She tossed a bait for him while hiding her true intentions of her visit to imperial.

"Hmm...I will." Wan Yi Jun replied after a long minute of silence.

"Even if those people were once your family?" Ming Yue asked again, only to reassure herself that her decision was right.

"Hmm. No matter whom you had to fight," Wan Yi Jun stated in a firm and resolute tone. "The justice you deserve, it must be served."

"Justice must to be served...Hmm great." Ming Yue nodded in agreement and glanced at the man who just dug himself a grave. "Just wait for your turn, Wan Yi Jun." She muttered inwardly and looked at the sky, which was as dark as her heart.

"So, you are planning to finally move on with your life?" Wan Yi Jun pointed out after a while when the awkward silence began to spread again.

"Hmm...I came to imperial looking for someone, I believed that things might change if I meet that person. But it didn't. So I have no option but to start afresh." She monotonously replied while looking at the road that has been entering the city circle.

"May I ask-" Wan Yi Jun's voice broke when his mobile began to ring loudly. Giving her an apologetic nod, he pressed the accept button on the dashboard to attend the call hands-free.

"Yi Jun ah, happy new year.." All of a sudden a jovial female voice heard in the car, immediately dragging Ming Yue into the depths of agony.