Chapter 159 - Every Painful Heartbeat (Wuming x Camille. Can Skip)

Wuming couldn't really bring himself to say the words. They were just both looking at their empty teacups. But it was as if the silence was more deafening. Wuming was just about to open his mouth when Camille spoke. "Should I just ask questions?"

"I don't know," he answered honestly.

"Why don't you start with the easiest truth of all?"

"And what is that?"

"Your name."

Wuming scratched his head, as if that was the easiest truth. "My name is Wei."

"It's a lie."

"It's not," he answered and tilted his head. He took a deep breath before letting it out. "It's Qing Wei."

Camille shrugged. "Wasn't that hard, was it?"

"It wasn't," he admitted. "What was hard was what comes with it."

"Why? Because you're a rich person? I already know that."

He bit on his lips. True, there were a lot of Qings in this country. But… "I think you may have seen my father in the news? My brother on the papers, or in online articles…? Does that somehow ring a bell?"

Camille made a face and started to shake her head. But unconsciously, her mind raced through the last few weeks. They were the talk of the town after a kidnapping… she gasped. "You mean those QINGS?! The Kingly Empire, you mean?"

"Right," Wuming flatly replied. "Yeah, The Kingly Empire."

"You work for your father," she said, her voice full of accusation as if he never really told her that.

"At times."

Camille was silent for a while then pressed herself resignedly against the couch with a hand on her hair. Camille worked as a corporate paralegal in a not so popular company. Whenever the Qings would get on the news or in the magazines, her boss always had something to say about their goal in working for a company as big as The Kingly. And she was dating someone from the family. "Are you the heir?"

Wuming shook his head. "That would be my younger brother, Qing Chen."

"Why is it not you?"

"Because I don't like doing boring jobs."

Camille put her hands up in the air. "You know what? I don't believe this."

"What do you mean you don't?"

"Well, Wei, in case you haven't noticed you're not exactly offering any proof."

"Don't I look like Qing Chen?" he laughed. "A lot of people told us that we looked like twins."

It was not like Camille took a good look at the younger Qing's photo. But she shook her head nonetheless. Wuming reached for his phone. He pulled out a video taken during their training. It was a video of his brothers sparring together in the bas.e.m.e.nt.

"Who is the other one?" Camille asked.

"That's the youngest, Qing Lok." He handed her the phone. The camera turned to his grinning face as he threw insults at his brothers and at the same time giving them tips on what to do.

Camille looked shaken. "Why have I never heard of you?" She was pretty sure she would have heard of Wei somehow. Big corporations like The Kingly tended to get a lot of attention.

"Because I ran away when I was eighteen," he answered truthfully. "Our mother died in a fire and… I just have to leave. I can't stay here."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Camille almost reached for his hand but she held back.

"It's okay. It happened a long time ago."

"Where have you been all this time?"

Wuming fidgeted. "Uhm, the North continent."

"Doing what?"

"Making people's problems… disappear."

Camille's eyebrow raised. "You mean like a troubleshooter?"

"Yeah," Wuming nodded. "You can say that."

"Like with computers and machines?"

Wuming laughed but it immediately died in his chest. "Sure, but with people."

"People? Are you like a psychiatrist?"

Wuming leaned forward. "No, I meant… I make people… disappear."

Camille looked in his eyes, confused. She was searching for an answer he didn't really want to give. "What do you mean?"

It was as if his tongue was in knots. Come on, he thought to himself, you got yourself this far. You just have to bring it home. Let her decide. "I… I kill people, Camille."

Then Camille burst out laughing, hard. She was slapping her knee in doing so. "Alright, I'm gonna buy the Qings story but not this."

"But it's true," he said, suddenly desparate to make her understand. He was ready for a lashing out. He was not expecting this. He touched her elbow, pulling her attention to him. "It's real, Camille. I'm not even joking. I've killed people."

"Oh yeah?" Camille continued to laugh. "How many? A dozen? Fifty?"

Wuming imagined a number that just kept on racking up in his mind. He had never thought about it. He never bothered counting. In one job, it was not always one person who ends up dead. "I don't know. I… lost count, I guess."

When Camille saw that he was not laughing along, she was finally brought back down to reality. There was something in Wei's eyes—like he was being torn apart. She suddenly felt her own heart ripping in between. "You're joking."

"I wish I was."

She pried her elbow away from his hand. "You're a killer?!"

Wuming wanted to return the words to his mouth. To push the reset for this night. "Yes," he answered.

"Who did you kill?"

It was painful to hear her voice. It was cracking and he knew she was on the verge of tears. He sighed and stared at his lap. "A lot. Politicians, businessmen, ordinary people… for the right price, we'll have a contract."

In a split second, Camille had gotten hold of the collar of his shirt and loomed above him. "Take it back."

Her eyes were glistening with tears and desperation to un-hear what she had been told. "No."

She hit a fist on his shoulder. "Tell me you're lying."

Wuming's throat closed up. He could see it all in her eyes. The pain and betrayal she was feeling. He could feel it too. "I wish I am."

Her hand loosened on his shirt and the other went to her mouth. Finally the tears fell. First in drops and then it was a stream. Her breath was hitching. "Oh my God," she whispered.

Then she did the least thing Wuming thought she would do. She hugged him and cried… and cried some more. Her small frame was rocking on his chest. She was sitting on his lap and had her face on top of his shoulder. He could feel it—her every painful heartbeat. "I wish you stopped with your name."

He buried his face on her shoulder. He inhaled her scent. He knew it would be the last time. "I wish I did too." When he closed his eyes, he felt tears on his cheeks. He soothed her back before pulling her away from him. Her eyes and nose were red and puffy. "But you have to decide, Camille. You have to know what you're getting yourself into. If you have questions, I'll answer them the best that I can."

Camille wiped her tears and took hold of his hand. "I don't know what you did to me, Wei. I didn't want to wait on you. But I did and I still do." Her voice cracked once more. She lifted her eyes and they were begging him. "Please, enough with the jokes. Take it all back."

"I can't," he replied. "I can't bring back the lives I took."

"Do you even wish to bring them back?" Her hand tightened on him. She was looking for more reasons to stay. For salvation. "Do you ever regret doing it?"

The last nail on the coffin. "No," he whispered. "I know it's horrible. But no."

And there it was. It was as if she melted away from him. Her hand stopped gripping his and she slid to the floor next to him. 

Wuming wiped his own eyes and knelt in front of her. "I know it's a lot to process. I'll give you space. Call me and I'll be here." 

He reached to touch her. He waited for her to recoil and when she didn't, he took a shot and pressed a kiss on top of her head. "Good bye, Camille."