Murals That Promised Endless Ecstasies

Chapter 1- Purple Rain

"It seems that it's gonna rain soon—AHHH!"

Someone dragged him onto the balcony floor in a flash.

"OW!" He banged his head against the floor. "I'm being KIDNAPPE—"

"Can you please stop shouting man, you'll wake up your damn neighbours," said the perpetrator, as he switched on the lights.

"Poppy... it's me," he said, shaking him back to his senses.

Poppy looked up at the face of the invader and all the red from his face simmered down.

"Well—that's quite disappointing then," Poppy said, as he moved the cigarette to his mouth.

"Did you seriously just say I'll wake up the neighbours?" he chuckled, pointing to the flaring city.

Poppy's penthouse, located in a huge building, was surrounded by huge buildings. There was only a single apartment floor below it and the rest of the floors were bougie places of business and cluttered offices.

Tourists from overseas often flocked here to witness the glitz of what it offered—the clubs, the massive digital screens, Broadway theatres, street performers, and premium boutiques.

Tourists loved to snap selfies, immerse themselves in debauchery, and then return back to their mundane lives. But the 26-year-old Poppy Garver had chosen to stay. He had embraced its chaos, but now—he didn't know what to make of it.

"What do you want anyways, Avie?" Poppy asked as he tried to put the cigarette to his mouth, but it was snatched clean from his hand, which was left empty, dangling in the air.

"But it did get you to stop screaming, right?" Avie smirked.

"That's not a great justification," Poppy said.

"Sure it is. You rented the apartment below to that one girl didn't you?" Avie smoked the snatched cigarette.

"You do realise that you are defending yourself with two contradicting arguments, right?" Poppy groaned.

"I do realise that, I just want to make sure that you realise that this conversation isn't heading anywhere."

"DUDE! Why are you even here?" Poppy moaned.

"Why am I even here?" Avie echoed Poppy's words. "As your older brother, it's my duty to check on you," he said. "Is it not?"

Poppy rubbed his head in frustration.

"And why the hell would you keep such a beautiful apartment so gloomy?" Avie said.

"It's a penthouse, not an apartment," Poppy retaliated.

"Hardly a distinction," Avie replied.

"It IS a distinction when I paid 10 times the price for it."

"A drop in the well I'm sure," Avie smiled.

"Maybe for you brother. I might be rich, but I'm not ultra-rich like you."

"How would you even quantify that?" Avie said, looking around the kitchen for something.

"How would you even quantify that, he says..." Poppy mocked.

Avie smiled and nodded.

"Also... these things aren't good for you. You shouldn't smoke so much," he said, smoking a cigarette.

"There we go, I finally found it," he said as he pulled out a bottle of scotch from Poppy's kitchen cabinet.

"You're one to talk," muttered Poppy.