When Aeiou opened the door, there was someone standing outside.
Her eyes were swollen and her arms were wrapped around her stomach. She was shaking and her eyes widened in dismay.
Aeiou froze on his spot and his voice trembled. "M-mariah?"
Stepping twice to the back, fear spread on Mariah's face like wildfire. "I-I'm s-sorry." Her lips trembled. "I didn't mean to slap you..."
"Don't worry. Zed's not here."
Consequently, Mariah closed her eyes and let out a breath of relief. However, her hands were still shaking when she pointed at Aeiou and spoke again, "C-can I g-go in?
Aeiou sighed and stepped to the side. "Yes. I also want to talk about something with you."
Mariah gulped. "W-what is it?"
Aeiou took a deep breath. "This is too much to ask and this is bad too, but please, I'm begging you, don't report what Zed did to you."
"What?"
Aeiou nodded. He was a master of words yet this time he didn't know how to ask this one thing. "I know it's crazy..."
"Do you think I'm like you?" A voice interrupted, almost spatting back. Mariah's expression changed from ghastly pale to pitch black, as if she was angry. She snickered loudly and crossed her arms. "I will not hurt Zed like that." She was instantly rude. It was obvious that unlike Zed, Aeiou wouldn't hurt anyone out of small conflicts, so Mariah spoke rudely to him. "I will not let Zed get kicked out of this school. If that happens my chances of sleeping with him again will be gone."
Aeiou squinted. So she don't want Zed to get kicked out... because they wanted to sleep with him? So there's no problem here anymore. Great! I should leave.
But somehow, almost unconsciously, knuckles cracked and a voice spat back to Mariah out of the blue, "Do not objectify Zed." It was sudden and almost fierce.
"Oh, so you now care for him?"
Aeiou realized that he was the one who spoke those words. He shook his head and schooled himself. "We're brothers now. Of course I'll care for him."
"You're just going to use him."
"Not anymore." Aeiou let out a sigh and put his hands inside his pockets. "Since you're not reporting him, I'll go." He came from almost begging Mariah not to report Zed to I-don't-want-to-fuck-with-you-anymore-feeling.
Aeiou circled around Mariah. He walked gingerly when a voice chuckled behind him.
"You're copying his manners, walking away coldly and putting the hand inside the pockets. You're insecure of Zed obviously. He's rich, handsome, and a better man. You'd never be like him."
Aeiou turned his head to the back. This girl need to be taught a lesson. "You're right. Maybe I am not as handsome as Zed, but listen, you should be insecure of me."
Mariah scoffed. "What for?"
Aeiou raised one finger close to his lips and whispered loudly, "Isn't it weird why Zed changed his attitude towards me? The truth is Zed kissed me deeply last Friday night and said he never kissed anyone that hard before. Hahaha... You can ask him if it's true. I'm pretty sure you also heard what he said this morning. At the end of the day, I'm the one Zed ought to protect, the one he kissed once but came back the next morning to hug in front of everyone, I'm the one every girls like you wanted to be. So I'm the one you should be insecure of." Aeiou winked at Mariah. "Keep up... No. Just don't bother at this point. I won his heart. It's over." He turned back and walked gingerly while smiling.
"You're a liar! Why would Zed kiss you?!"
Aeiou waved his hand and ignore her until he couldn't hear a thing. Truly, he didn't want to reveal that Zed kissed him, but he ran out of things to fire back at Mariah so he just spat everything out in the moment. Truly, if someone want to extract a secret from Aeiou, they just had to piss him off.
[A/N: The CEO and the Troublemaker,
Jake and Jaspher]
It was during the summer of 2018, when the scorching rays from the sun woke Jaspher, with an unsettling jolt. He was puzzled as to why the well-vented room in the mansion of Henry Nuevas was making him sweat viciously.
He swiped the sweat off his neck and sat up his bed. He drowsily scratched his eyes and roamed it around him. The roman-styled ceiling was still the same. The french windows were still spotless and pearly white. Nothing was changed.
With his eyebrows frowned, Jaspher immediately turned his head above him. And his expectation was right. The air conditioner's monitor has no lights. It was off.
Jaspher wriggled his hand free to the air and reached for the remote on a bedside table on his right. He pointed its head to the air con and clicked it a few times.
But the air con did not lit up. A few more clicks and there was still no response.
He squinted his eyes and keenly stared at the appliance. That air conditioner was the same as to those they use in Spain. It was nearly as expensive as a new flagship phone and was rumored to have the best technology, not to mention it was the latest model. Its durability and longevity was one of its feats, so why wasn't it working now?
Jaspher moved his eyes down and repulsive sight of a scissor clasped on a wire hanged freely below the air conditioner.
"That brat..." Jaspher cursed internally. It didn't take a genius for him not to notice who did that. Zed Nuevas, Philip's one and only rebellious son.
Jaspher took a deep breath and said with formality. "Young master, you can come out now." His voice echoed to the exquisite wall and to the every side of the room. But there was no answer.
Jaspher had a bad feeling about this. He looked up again to the wire. He traced it down and found that the end of the cord was buried on the electric socket, meaning there was still electricity surging through it when it was cut down. The scissor was half way down the cord so it meant the one who cut it stopped halfway through. Probably because he got electrified. Jaspher's heart almost jumped out of his chest. He removed the bedsheet and sway his feet to stand.
But when his soles met the cold marble floor, a cracked sounded, like a hard plastic when someone stepped on it, and a thunderous roar of pain echoed.
"FUCK!!" Jaspher raised his sole to look and found a pebble sized rectangular head with a face.
The sole of Jaspher's foot pressed on a metal piece of Lego.
When Jaspher held onto his foot, his body swayed. In his instinct to retrieve his balance he accidentally stepped his other foot onto another Lego. "Aww!"
With a thug, Jaspher fell face up to the floor. His body was layed on rock-like shapes of metal beads in different shapes. He then realized, the legos were scattered on the floor.
Jaspher clenched his jaw. He never play Lego. He was so angry that air was perspiring out of his nose.
Only a saint can tolerate this behavior!
Even though Jaspher was one of the well-groomed Lorde, he seemed to be going out of his mind. He wanted to shout and cursed at the face of the beast who did this. But he seemingly didn't want to die early, so even with the infuriation, Jaspher crawled up to his bed and gathered himself.
At first Jaspher was not sure as to why he was so tolerant of Zed. But as he thought about it deeply, aside from he was abruptly scared of the prince, Zed reminds him of his younger-brother, who was now living his life with his own family in a remote village.
Jaspher and this younger brother were the best of friends. That said, his brother was surely more kind than Zed. But one night, his brother Mica, arrived to their mansion holding a girl's hand whose stomach. Jaspher knew quickly, his younger brother had impregnated a woman. However, it was not a big deal even if Micha was young since the girl was obviously as young as him too. It just became a problem when Micha said he'd go with his wife to another country, far away. And this country was led by terrorists.
It turned out, the girl was a daughter of a leader of a terrorist group and his brother Micha was the one sourcing them weapons from Henry's Artillery. Henry might be a lot of things but he never sided with the terrorists who were always after his creations. Jaspher and his brother got into a wild argument. He warned Micha that Henry might get him killed if this comes out but no matter how hard Jaspher pleaded for his brother to stay away from the woman, Mica still flew away, leaving Jaspher and his sick parents who was both bed-ridden at that time.
Soon, Henry found out Micha was a snake, he quickly exiled Micha from the family, reported it to the authorities who now hunts Micha, and warned every Lorde who'd help Micha will be assassinated.
Out of the blue, Henry offered to be Jaspher's mentor. Something any Lorde would die to get. Jaspher couldn't refuse, he was now learning everything from the most successful man on business in their family synth, his uncle Henry.
Jaspher had himself prepared of Henry, but Zed Nuevas made his life in this mansion feel like a living hell.
Jaspher snapped back to the present when a grumbling sound then came out of his stomach. He was not sure whether it was because of hunger or was it because of the diarrhea he had to endure last night.
"I made this specially for you, Jaspher. Eat it." Those words were spoken lightly, but the yielding force of the devil who spoke it can make anyone surrender! Jaspher didn't want to eat it but Zed was looking at him with murderous intent while holding a bowl of cereal in front of him.
Jaspher ate the cereal Zed made for him, it was... delicious. But in truth it was mixed with a lot of laxatives. Jaspher spent his whole day yesterday sitting on a toilet. He could feel his ass hole sore from it.
Jaspher unwillingly stood up and walked carefully while sliding his feet, wiping away the pieces of lego on the floor.
When Jaspher reached the door frame, faint sounds echoed on the mansion, and it seemed to be coming from the first floor. Moreover, it was more of a laugh than a maid crying because of Zed's foolish notions.
For months, Jaspher had never heard such laughter on this mansion. There shouldn't be laughter.
Jaspher hastily went to the lobby and picked a displayed baseball bat, thinking that there were robbers on the gaming room,
When he slowly pushed the door open and peeked, a guy wearing baggy shorts and sando was viciously shouting to the console.
"Take that motherfuckers! Yeah that's it!"
The stranger sitting on the sofa was wearing a headphone and had his hair messed up. It seemed like a kid who just woke up. Given its slim arms and long white neck, it was obviously not Zed.
This mansion of Henry Lorde was like a fortress, twenty armed personnel lurking around and a mansion which then can turn into an artillery with mortars and machine guns hidden inside its walls. There was no way a robber looking like this could get in unnoticed. Maybe he's Zed's friend.
"May I know your name, mister?" Jaspher asked.
No answer.
As Jaspher was still pissed due to Zed's doing, he put down the baseball and immediately went to his side and pulled the cable out.
"Hey! What is happening? I'm about to rank 1..." The guy started whining. He hastily stood then walked to the back of the console, checking for any cables and remotes.
That guy pushed the power button a lot of times on the console. But the monitor didn't lit up.
Jaspher sighed. "Now, can we converse nicely?"
The guy almost jump out of shock, he had his hand on his chest while his other hand leaning on the wall.
"You don't get to scare people like that." That other guy's breathing was heavy. "Hi."
Jaspher crossed his arms and tilted his head. "Who are you?"
"I'm Zed's friend, Jake."
"I never heard of the young-master having a friend." Jaspher stressed the syllable on the last word.
"How can you know? He rarely talks to you."
Those words were like a stone thrown directly at Jaspher. Now, he was convinced that this guy was Zed's friend; both young teens have no filters on their mouths! However, there was something different from this kid.
Jake looked at the back of the large TV. "Did the electricity went off? I was playing—" the young guy started speaking casually, but he was stopped when his gaze landed on Jaspher's hands.
Jaspher raised his palm. He then spoke, "You can't hear me so I pulled it out."
Jaspher walked and plugged it in again. But that doesn't erased the near-to-cry expression on the other guy's face. The game restarted from the very beginning.
"You asshole! You old man!" Jake started whining. "Great! Now I have to start all over again! You rude old man!"
Jaspher was surprised on how this guy was behaving. The other guy looked like a kid who got grounded for a week.
"There's no reason for you to act like this, mister. It's just a game."
But as those words left his lips, the other guy's eyes started to form beads of liquid on the side. His voice carried annoyance and brittleness when he speak, "I went here this early to play because my mom was finally not home. She never let me play these kind of games and forced me to attend seminars and self-building exercises instead — and I'm fucking tired of those things already! And then you're here, going to ruin my only fun day!? How can you be so ruthless!?"
The other guy spoke continuously without any hint of hesitation on each and every word. That was it, this guy was careless, the type of kid who'd forgot the to close the door when he's masturbating and usually gets caught by others.
Seminars and self-building excercises, those were pleasing for Jaspher to hear. "Sounds great."
"What?!?! I don't want those! I want to do something I enjoy!"
Suddenly, Jaspher remembered something.
"I'll be an artist, Father. Micha told me he wanted to be the heir. Give it to thim."
"As long as you will help him as an older brother, there's nothing to worry about."
But when Micha left their family, during the time when both their parents were bed ridden and sick, Jaspher was forced to take on the role he left.
"Zed is going to kill us, he did his best to reach that level and now it is gone."
Jaspher's eyes widened. His name was Jake, right?
Jaspher shifted his glance to the monitor. Only to see that the game was the same arcade firing game he and Micha used to play when they were young.
Jaspher spoke, "Can you hand me the controller, Jake?"
The other guy looked at Jaspher from head to toe. His eyes were like; An old man like you will not know anything about this game.
Jaspher squinted, "We are just two or three years apart. Stop."
Hearing that, Jake went back to the sofa and handed the controller with a subtle hint of annoyance. "Go on, embarrass yourself."
Jaspher squinted. He hated this kid. He walked past through that other guy and sat on a single sofa chair.
"What level did you stop?" He asked as he started swiping through the controller.
"Level 81."
Hearing that, Jaspher let out an amusing sigh. "So weak. Let me tell you this. With this customized loadout... I'm not surprised you guys aren't level 500 yet."
"What?! What are you? A pro player? We have been playing this game for a year now. Only pro players can reach five hundred in a week!"
Jaspher shook his head slowly. "... you should put more on the range and stability - why would you need an LMG if you have a sniper?"
Jaspher spoke vividly, but instead of Jake getting intimidated and pissed, when Jaspher looked at Jake he was staring closely to him.
Personally, Jake hated listening to teachers and mentors that his mother hired. That's why whenever someone was teaching him in any context, he will immediately interrupt them.
But surprisingly, he was keenly listening on Jaspher's way of coaching.
The game started and it was definitely different from how Jake and Ze used to play the game.
"On your left! Woah!"
"There's a sniper there? Hamn how did you know he was there?"
"Squad wipe..."
A ranked game would usually take 15 minutes to finish sinc ethere were fifty enemies, but Jaspher finished all the enemies within 3 minutes.
"Child's play."
"One more round!"
The sound effects then echoed on the room once again. At that very moment, Jake had his eyes and attention both on the monitor and to Jaspher. It was odd to say but he enjoys getting taught by Jaspher.
"Positioning is the key at team fights..."
A creaking sound from the door came in, the two hastily turned their heads and when they saw a big silhouette of a man with big shoulders they both gulped.
It was Zed.
Jaspher's expression changed into myriad of colors. Looking at the monitor, they were still at level fifty. He turned ghastly pale.
Zed was carrying a tray of pancakes and drinks with his cold expression staring at Jaspher. That cold expression had brought Jaspher a lot of troubles already. He gulped and broke into a cold sweat.
Jaspher stood and bowed. "Young Master, Prince Zed." He greeted politely
Jaspher was waiting for Zed to tell him to go out, or worse case scenario, the prince to throw the pancakes onto his face. Nonetheless, Jaspher prepared himself and closed his eyes then a voice sounded.
"Zed, your cousin is a Pro Level Player. Look at this, he accidentally restarted the game but he effortlessly played his way to level fifty." Jaspher was still looking down when he turned his head to Jake.
Jaspher spoke, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Zed was looking at the monitor when he said, "Show me how you play." He walked past Jaspher.
Jaspher, who was still in daze, then lifted his head and anxiously nodded. He was shaking when he put the controller between his hands and stood on the other side near the door, just in case Zed decided to kill him.
Zed turned his head to Jaspher and gave him an icy glare. "Don't stand there. I need to see how your hand controls the remote." The prince' tone carried coldness but his pupils and tone sounded like someone who wanted to learn something.
Jaspher dragged his feet towards them before sitting on the space between Zed and Jake.
Zed then whispered, "Play like your life depends on it because it does."
Jaspher's mouth ran dry.
The room was filled with gun fires. Jaspher played the game meticulously as he planned his every movements while anticipating the enemy's actions consequently. After thirty minutes he reached level one hundred.
Jake has his lips parted.
"How did you do that?" Zed coldly asked.
"Being a step forward of your enemy is a great way to subdue them."
The prince was staring at the monitor. Jaspher tariled that stare and found his standing.42 kills, 100k damage.
"Is that something you learned from Henry?"
"No. It was something I learned myself. Honestly, if you devote yourself into something and does it repeatedly, you'll be an expert at it sooner."
Jaspher was a painter. His works were displayed at houses of famous celebrities and Lorde's. He could leave even the greatest artists in awe of his craft. But since he was stuck with a company he needed to run, he just never held the brush again.
"Do it again, I need to see how you do it." Zed commanded.
Jaspher obidiently started a match again. As time goes by, he won countless matches, he had forgot about what level they were playing.
Their were now on rank 1 at level 300.
It took Jaspher an hour to do that, but that one hour was the most peaceful time he had shared with the prince. He looked at Zed and saw the prince staring coldly at the monitor.
"You're strong at this." The prince spoke that sentence out of the blue, pertaining to the formidable gaming style of Jaspher.
For the longest time, Jaspher had forgotten that Zed was still a 15-year old. The prince had barely past through his puberty and was still into playing arcade games like this. Meanwhile, Jaspher was nine teen, but Zed's body was bigger compared to Jaspher's. Zed was big, muscled and towering.
A question suddenly sprang out. "Do you admire my father?"
Jaspher turned his head to Zed and almost jumped when he saw the prince staring blankly at him.
Jaspher had to think wisely. One wrong answer and Zed could throw him out of the room.
However, as Jaspher search for words to construct his sentence, he realized that Zed will only be pissed if he answered formally the way Henry had taught him. The formality and calculatedness was something Henry taught him.
Looking back, Zed snuck into Jaspher's room once and torn out Jaspher's notes except his sketch book he kept deeply hidden in his baggage.
In contrast to the prince, Jaspher was loved dearly by his father. The father supports him to everthing that he wanted to do, Jaspher never heard any complaints or pressuring words from his father. Maybe that was why Jaspher had the motivation to help his father regardless of finally giving up and sacrificing his dream to be a known painter.
It was just Jaspher's theory, but Zed seemed to be burning his notes so that Jaspher would not become someone like Henry.
Jaspher gulped, praying that his mentor, Henry Lorde would not hear his next few words, he said, "Your father is an asshole."
Those words were amusing, but when it came out of Jaspher's lips, he felt like having released a heavy load of grudge against the King. "He made me do things in the worst ways possible. Instead of persuading, blackmailing his business partners will be his own course of action. There's more. I'm quite amazed that you, young master, can oppose someone as powerful like Henry. Well, I guess the more repulsing the tree, the worse the fruit will be."
After Jaspher spoke those words his eyes widened. Did he just dissed Zed at the last sentence.
Jaspher honestly felt that Henry accepted his request to be his mentee for the sole purpose of extracting information where Micha was.
Henry knew how to play his cards right and cunningly, without thinking of other people's welfare, so he had himself sitting on top.
A faint laugh from his side sounded, almost like a snicker.
Zed's shoulders was raising faintly and his face was tainted with an amused expression. "Fine. Take Jaspher to the guestroom, that motherfucker will stain my sofa with his saliva."
Jaspher dumbly turned his head to his right side, only to see Jake sleeping.
Jaspher stood up and carried Jake on his arms.The guy was light, or maybe because Jaspher was also somehow fit because he does go to the gym when he has time.
"I'm heading out, young master." Jaspher stated as he bowed his head and left.
Zed shooed him away, "Come back here after you take care of him, we have a lot of thing to talk about."
Jaspher was scared about what Zed wanted them to talk about.
As Jaspher left the room, he decided to carry Jake all the way to the second floor where the guest room was.
Jaspher laid the other guy gently on the bed.
Suddenly, Jake spoke, "Old man... teach me more." He was sleep talking.
Jaspher giggled. Then, as if caught by something, he gazed at Jake's face. If it weren't for this careless boy, he would be toasted by Zed now.
"M-marry me... take me away."
"Ha?"
"OLD MAN! MARRY ME! Let's play games forever!"
Jaspher's eyes widened.
"I'm a guy."
"So what?!"
Jaspher laughed. "Hahaha..." It has been months since laughter left his lips. Soon it died down with a smile. "Thank you for saving my ass back there."
As the 19-year old heir stared at the complexity and the peaceful form of the sleeping Jake Cresco, something unexpected came out of his mouth, "Ask me again when you turn eighteen."