Chapter 5
Kris
After my dinner with Jasha, I’d come home to tell Zhen maybe we could both play matchmaker. We’d sat on the couch, eating ice cream and debating who we thought Jasha would be a good match for. Didn’t really land on anyone, but the debate had been fun.
How I’d even go about introductions was another question, because while the girls traveled a lot, they weren’t usually in our neck of the woods. It would take a disaster to bring them here, and I wouldn’t wish for that. Seriously, Demonbreun had enough trouble without wishing for more.
Well, maybe online meetings? I couldn’t think of a good alternative.
Plotting kept my mind busy throughout my Wednesday morning, and the next thing I knew, I’d run out of time. The family wanting the ghost divorce had arrived.
I’d made the doll for Yan Yichen in our usual zashiki-warashi style, which was now with Boss in her office.
Charlotte had laid out tea, water, and snacks in the conference room, because stressed-out people needed sugar.
According to Charlotte, this was Hospitality Management 101.
And this family had a lot to stress about until we got answers.
Maybe even after we got answers. Betting pool was fifty-fifty on whether the dead groom would lose his shit or not.
Zhen had assured me if he found out his twin had seduced his wife, there would have been lots of blood and hell to pay. I think the reaction was natural. This was cheating, no matter how you looked at it. But also not my family, not my circus, and not my monkeys. Thankfully.
I watched the metaphorical clown car pull up and the whole circus get out.
Mother, father, younger son, and daughter-in-law entered through the front door, the antique bell a herald to their arrival.
They all looked varying degrees of nervous, and they’d dressed nicely for this meeting, for some reason.
Hey, if that helped with their nerves, I totally got it.
I maintained a polite smile as I ushered them into our conference room and found my spot to hold up the wall beside Charlotte.
The daughter-in-law seemed sweet, certainly pretty with glossy black hair and a petite figure, and I had to wonder why she’d changed her mind.
I mean, she’d presumably married a ghost groom to avoid having a living husband, and then within five years had decided to marry a living man after all.
Had she been frustrated with dating back then and chosen an out?
’Cause I was looking at the brother and let’s just say Yan Hao Ran was the type to have a good personality.
His nose had obviously been broken at some point in his life and not set quite right, but maybe Zhou Jia Li found it charming?
Not to sound braggadocious, but my husband was far better looking.
Yan Hao Ran might be a sweetheart, though?
He had to be charming if he’d won her over enough to cause a potential showdown with his older brother.
Everyone sat in awkward silence until Boss slowly entered, one hand clutching her cane because her knees were bothering her more than usual today, the spirit doll clutched in her other hand.
She made her way to the head of the table before setting the doll down near the parents.
She straightened and arranged the loose shawl around her shoulders, getting comfortable, and gave everyone a warm smile. “Hello! I’m Gao Ah Lam.”
Introductions went around the table, and Boss introduced me and Charlotte by saying, “These are my assistants, Kris and Charlotte. They’re sisters, as you might be wondering, and are my eyes.
I’m getting old and have all the problems that come with age.
We’ve prepped the spirit doll to call your son’s spirit into.
Be aware you can see and hear him so long as he’s connected to this doll.
Don’t be surprised. Please do not touch the doll while Yan Yichen is residing. ”
Seemed no one had told Zhou Jia Li, the daughter-in-law, her ghost groom would be present, because her eyes were in danger of bugging out of her head. She also didn’t get a chance to protest before Boss started working her magic.
I wondered at the daughter-in-law’s surprise, though. Surely she’d seen this kind of summoning when she first married the guy? I mean, any agency worth its salt would have at least set up a meet-and-greet for the two.
Why did I get a foreboding feeling this whole thing was going to go apeshit in about ten seconds?
Boss spoke clearly. “Yan Yichen, I would speak with you.”
Due to the bond’s gift, when a spirit was called into a doll, I could see the ghost above it.
Yan Yichen was a good-looking man, thick black hair in a clean cut, even features, nice build.
It was still a little unsettling to see both ghost and possessed doll.
I don’t know why it gave me the willies, it just did.
Maybe Zhen’s hatred of dolls was rubbing off on me.
I’d drawn the best face possible on the papier-maché doll, so it looked almost realistic when Yan Yichen’s head lifted and he looked around the table. Then he beamed. “Mother, Father, Hao Ran!” His voice was a nice baritone filled with excitement.
Tears immediately sprang to his mother’s eyes.
She reached forward with gentle, trembling fingers before being stopped by Boss’s staying hand and a kind but firm reminder not to touch.
The yearning in Wu Hua’s eyes remained, but she clenched her hand into a fist to prevent herself from reaching forward. “Hello, my son.”
“Hello! Wow, it’s nice to be able to talk to people.”
Boss let them have their emotional reunion for a few minutes, because of course loved ones wanted to catch up with each other. That was only to be expected.
Charlotte pressed up on her toes as she whispered into my ear, “What are they saying?”
Her Mandarin wasn’t up for following along. Mine barely was, as they were speaking in a dialect I wasn’t comfortable with. I leaned down to whisper, “They’re basically catching up. Nothing serious so far. Oh, wait, here we go.”
“—Son, we’ve summoned you for a very serious question,” Yan Haoyu said solemnly. “But why haven’t you greeted your wife?”
Dead silence. Yan Yichen stared at his father like the man deliberately spoke in riddles. “What wife?”
Wife in question pointed to herself, confusion painting her voice. “Me? Don’t you remember marrying me?”
“Uh…no?” His drawn-on eyebrows gathered into a straight line, confusion mounting on his little doll face. His ghost face was scrunched up like a man trying to remember if he’d had a one-night stand with someone. I wasn’t sure which face to focus on, honestly. “Who are you?”
Ooooh, drama had arrived. That bad feeling was coming true. Damn, I should have been filming.
Knowing Muchen was a drama llama like myself, I whispered to the nearest shadow, “Grab Muchen, he’s going to love this.”
I barely had the words out when his head popped out of the shadow made by the trash can in the corner, and I could tell he was listening with glee. Brace yourself, buddy, we’re about to get a full pot of tea poured for us. I was sure about that.
Zhou Jia Li’s soprano voice rose with incredulity. “We got married years ago!”
“I seriously have no idea who you are. And I think I’d know if I was married.” Yan Yichen looked her over before tacking on, “And I wouldn’t have married you. I have a girlfriend I love very much, and we have a child. I wouldn’t have betrayed her like that.”
Oh shit, plot twist!
Pandemonium broke out, people yelling over each other.
I winced at the noise level but tried to decipher what they were saying.
Wu Hua demanded to know where her grandchild was, Yan Haoyu demanded to know what had gone wrong that the marriage wasn’t something his son even knew about, Zhou Jia Li shot off one question after another, and Yan Hao Ran just sat there, floored, not sure what to say.
Muchen looked gleeful at all this human drama. I was kinda with him, to be honest.
Boss caught my eye and gestured me closer.
I obeyed the summons and leaned down as she muttered, “Go double-check the name of their agency. I’ll calm this lot down.”
“On it.” Seemed she had a good idea of what’d gone wrong, but I obediently headed for the door.
I caught Charlotte’s eye as I left, mouthing instructions to help Boss if she needed it, to which she nodded reassuringly.
Countless hours of etiquette lessons under the strict hand of our mother wouldn’t allow Charlotte to openly break character of the demure assistant, but I could tell in that one look she also wanted to flee the room. Sorry, Sis. Hold down the fort!
When the conference room door shut behind me, the noise level dropped by half. I was relieved to finally hear my own thoughts. I plopped into the chair at the front desk, woke up the computer, and gave Bootsy a scratch behind his ear. He was busy napping but purred at the attention.
It took a scant two minutes to look up the match and confirm the agency. Spirit Weddings Inc. I wrote the name down on a sticky note, braced myself, and brought it to Boss.
She took one look at the name and her thin lips went even flatter.
Oh, she was pissed. Which meant more drama was incoming, I’d bet you.
Muchen was actually out now, lying behind Boss, unabashedly listening in.
Yan Yichen’s ghost didn’t seem to know what to make of him, as he kept glancing down with unease in his eyes.
The whole room had calmed down since I’d left, ’cause Boss was a miracle worker. The family stared at her intently. She sighed and set the sticky note on the table as I resumed holding up the wall.
“Everyone, bad news. Or good news, depending on how you look at it. You wasted a lot of money. Spirit Weddings was shut down for fraud about two years ago. None of the ghost marriages they performed were valid.”