The Restless Spirit's Father

Like a helpless man, Liu Xiaodan blamed it on the ghost. Knowing that there was no one around who could hear him, he grumbled under his breath. "Look at what you did to me, mogui*! This is why you"re not going to shower me with blood."

The mogui, or what he decided to call the kid, only listened with a sad face.

The walk to the hospital was brisk compared to going to school. The streets were empty because of the time despite the bright sun. Liu Xiaodan started glancing at the kid walking next to him, who was dispirited despite being a mogui. The kid was also pouting as he got lectured by his father so early in the morning. The mogui looked so human under sunlight so Liu Xiaodan could not help but to reach out and pat its head.

He would talk again, but he saw something spectacular at a distance. It was Chuan Nayi in her running wear, jogging as she waited for the green light to go red so she could cross. She was wearing a blue shirt and denim shorts that reach her knee. Her hair was pulled up on a ponytail, with her hair swaying wildly like the cords of her earphones.

Chuan Nayi was one of the most popular girls in school, and mainly in their course. She was the sweetheart of Film and Television Productions, and the girl whose project was magically surpa.s.sed by Liu Xiaodan. She shared the same cla.s.ses with him since Year One, making him acceptable as her close friend to most of the guys. She was wildly sought after by a lot of men, too, but she rarely detached from her lady friends in school. During weekends, she liked running around three blocks from the school dorms every weekend.

Liu Xiaodan"s attraction to Chuan Nayi was not abnormal. Most guys in their cla.s.s had a crush on her, a girl who had the looks, the brains, and the heart. Then again, she was good with dodging men who wanted to ask her out, also with turning them down.

The lady seemed to feel the weight of his stare. She turned behind her to see Liu Xiaodan standing nearby. She smiled at him and waved a little before pulling out one of her earphones. "Xiaodan!" Yes, she referred to him using his first name. She had seen him long enough, and even to the point of asking for his help from time to time. One could say she did not regard Liu Xiaodan as a good-for-nothing like his circle of friends; he had always been one of the most reliable people in cla.s.s to Chuan Nayi.

"N-Nayi! h.e.l.lo!" Liu Xiaodan did the same to her, calling her with her first name. He glanced at the streets, seeing that the green light had turned red by then. However, he noticed she was still there, willing to wait again since they would be talking. "Sorry for bothering you. Good morning."

"Good morning!" She flashed her fearless smile, picking a fight with the sun when it comes to shining. She then glanced behind him before looking at him. "What got you up so early?"

"Just need to get something from a store." Liu Xiaodan managed to smile back, even though he was being dazzled by her. "Shouldn"t we cross now?" His offer was accepted and he led her to the other side.

They had a little talk up until she had to take a turn and Liu Xiaodan had to go straight. He could only wave at her before going his way. He would have been more confident if his skin did not look like he rolled across a bed of sandpaper. He continued walking to the direction of the hospital, sighing at quite a redeeming moment.

"She"s pretty. Can she be Mama?" the mogui suddenly asked.

Liu Xiaodan completely forgot about him. The student then turned to the kid. "She"s out of my reach, okay? And scoring with her would probably take me more than three lifetimes." The man sighed after lifting three fingers against the kid"s face.

"Then I don"t like her anymore."

The man gasped at the tone of the child. He looked around to see no one, and his gaze flew to where he had said goodbye to Chuan Nayi. He could only gulped down the lump in his throat before running back to find her. However, when he pa.s.sed by an alley, he took a sharp turn and go back to it. The mogui was standing there, smiling at him.

"Don"t joke like that. You"re going to kill me if you insist." Liu Xiaodan frowned at the mogui, almost whining at the kid.

"Someone else is going to die if I don"t, Baba." He smiled wider.

Terror ran down the man"s spine as he stared into the abysmal eyes of the spirit. Since he was standing under a shadow, he appeared more of a ghost again. The man was so used to noisy ghosts, that when a quiet ghost comes around him, he tend to forget what they are. Liu Xiaodan only shook his head and walked away towards the hospital in defeat.

"Fine, but give me some time. It"s not easy."

"Okay!" The kid ran to him and held him by the edge of his sleeve, walking next to him.

After a series of tests, Liu Xiaodan managed to get a prescription. He then bought medicine from the pharmacy inside the building and walked back to the school dorm. By the time he got back to their room, the guys were up but Ruan Jin, who was still murmuring in his sleep.

They did not have much homework by then since they just pulled off a major project, so they were all free to do what they liked that weekend. Wen Taio and Xu Disung decided to go buy grocery, which were just snacks and other things they would need in case of emergencies. Ruan Jin was catching up with the three all-nighters he pulled editing the doc.u.mentary. Liu Xiaodan just chose to stay in and rest, reading a book or watching another movie he had seen a hundred times.

It was a rare sight, but if someone managed to see the mogui, that person would have thought of him as Liu Xiaodan"s little brother- or worse, like what he wanted- a son. The ghost was lying on his stomach and watching a movie on his father"s computer. The father was doing exactly the same, as if the mogui had taken after him in such a short period of time.

Lunch came, and Liu Xiaodan lost to his roommates in a card game. He had to go down and buy food from a store for their lunch. His hives had calmed down, but they were still visible so he was suited with another long-sleeved turtleneck. Since most of the students were staying in, the nearby food stores were being swarmed like it was a school day. Lines were everywhere so Liu Xiaodan just chose to buy from a place they usually go to eat.

"Ah, Xiaodan!" Chuan Nayi waved as she fell in line behind him. "We b.u.mped into each other again!" Like usual, three more girls went with her, but they did not stop her from talking to a cla.s.smate.

"Yeah, we get to meet again." Liu Xiaodan managed to get an awkward smile out there. He was too busy suppressing his excitement and happiness to come up with a proper response. Not to mention that the mogui was next to him as well, eying at the woman.

The girl glanced at the floor again before keeping her gaze at Xiaodan. The man noticed that it happened again. He was worried Chuan Nayi could actually see the mogui and so he cleared his throat.

"What"s wrong, Nayi? You kept on looking down." He tried to keep a kind smile in case she would flip and panic. Which was not something he would imagine her to do.

"Huh? Nothing. It"s just that... it felt like something was staring at me from the ground." Chuan Nayi chuckled as she kept on glancing at where the mogui was, feeling such a strong presence. She then pouted. "Do you think something really is there?"

"Don"t say things like that. They might visit you at night." Liu Xiaodan came up with a bad joke, earning a loud "eh" from the woman he was talking to, from the women behind him, and from the ones in front of them. He then started moving as the line did, in a notable awkward manner in silence.

Chuan Nayi then gasped aloud, alarming Liu Xiaodan and the others around her. Moving forward because of the line, she then chuckled in apology before clapping once and bringing her hands to her chin as if asking for a favor. "Xiaodan! Help me with a baby name!"

The nearby men who knew or did not know Chuan Nayi eyed at the man, as well as the other girls around them. It was Liu Xiaodan"s turn to gasp with a loud "eh" as a reaction this time. Then again, the girl before him was making a rather cute puppy face so he would not mind. He only sighed and nodded for a yes.

"My mom"s younger friend is going to have a baby boy soon so she asked me to think of a good name since the friend had no trust in her husband"s naming skills." Chuan Nayi laughed out and began swaying. "I told them Xiaodan would be a good one, but my mother said it was out of the question!"

"Why is my name out of the question?" The man cried inwardly. He was even uncomfortable with the fact that Chuan Nayi mentioned his name. There was something about her saying she liked his name; it sounded like she just likes talking to Xiaodan because of his name. Then again, he answered as he thought out loud. "Baby names, huh..."

"I want to wish for him to be liked and loved by everyone. It just... feels nice if no one wants to hurt you, right?" The girl chuckled, earning a nod from Liu Xiaodan. "But "Jie" sounds so short... Fan Jie..."

"Fan Jinghe... Fan Delun... Fan Mingjie... " Liu Xiaodan started murmuring names, ones that he remembered he used in scripts or what he had seen in tombstones before. "Fan Julong... Fan..."

"See, Fan Xiaodan would have been great!" Chuan Nayi laughed out, moving along the line as well as everyone else did. She then hummed, her fingers still against her chin. "Jinghe? I"ll try that one. In fact, I"ll try your list!" Chuan Nayi then mellowed down and stared at the floor. "But I think I"ll reserve Mingjie for my own. I like it. Too bad I don"t have a man"s surname to test it on. Oh, wait... Liu Mingjie..."

Liu Xiaodan blushed so hard at her words. He heard her friends slap her shoulder and whispered towards her. He then cleared his own throat before glancing at his other side, seeing that he was almost next in line. He turned to Chuan Nayi, his blush threatening to form again. "I-I"m glad to help then."

Chuan Nayi lifted her head and flashed a smile again. "Yeah, you"re really dependable even with weird and spur-of-the-moment things, Xiaodan."

After so, he ordered for him and his bros, and waved goodbye to Chuan Nayi. He walked back to their dorm room in high spirits, remembering the moment where she seemed pleased to have a son with his surname. He knew "Liu" was common, but for her to say it because of him. Then again, a weak tug came to his sleeve. He turned to his side, seeing the mogui looking up at him.

"How about me? Can I have a name, too?" The kid stared at him with his innocent-looking eyes that matched his human-like image under the lights of the dorm hallways.

"Let"s see..." Liu Xiaodan continued walking with the kid following him. "Guangru. Guangru is a nice name." He then twitched as he realized he was not supposed to be encouraging the mogui to get so attached to him. "But you"re not-"

"Liu Guangru..." the kid, who was now Liu Guangru, laughed in glee like a child given with three big candies. "Thank you, Baba! I now have a name I can tell them!"

"Them?" Liu Xiaodan frowned at the kid who soon left his side as he ran off somewhere.

Even though he was standing in the middle of an empty hallway, he could hear voices from afar as if the spirits had gone noisy again. Ah, Liu Guangru, that was most likely what they all said.