Since that day, Melody couldn’t stop thinking that she witnessed Damian crying in her arms. He looks so weak that time. So vulnerable. He must feel so bad and hurt as he fails to save his twin.
She sighs deeply, poking her food.
“Boo!”
Melody yelps and looks behind to see Matthew smirking at her. “What the hell!?”
“So, I was right… you are in deep thought,” he chuckles and takes a seat beside her.
“I’m not, okay? Who wouldn’t be shocked if you sneaked up behind them?” she rolls her eyes.
He chuckles. His gazes on her food, which she keeps playing with with her spoon. Matthew could see she had something bothering her head. He grabs the sausage from her plate, causing her to scowl.
“Don’t steal my food!”
“What are you thinking of? You seem like something is bothering you,” Matthew straightforward.
Melody’s expression changes. She sighs and stares at her food once again. “Have you seen… Damian crying?”
“Damian? Crying? That is the best joke I ever heard, which wasn’t funny at all,” he chuckles.
“Do you know what my first expression was when I first met him? I think he was an alien or… or something else which not human. It is even hard to see his expression instead of cold and stoic,”
Matthew shakes his head slightly. Then, he mumbles under his breath, “But it changes when you are around.”
“Seriously? Not even once?” she frowns.
“No, sweetie. Damian is like an ice stone that never melts,” he chuckles, taking a bite from her food.
It looks like it is only she who witnessed it. After that incident, Damian didn’t talk much about it. Whenever they met, he would try so hard to avoid her eyes. She was not sure why he did that.
Is it that bad to cry in front of someone?
Or… is he… shy?
“But, what if I said I witnessed it once?” she looks at him with hesitation.
Matthew bursts into laughter. He clutched his stomach. Meanwhile, Melody looks at him with annoyance. Sometimes, she rather talks with Victor even though he’s not much of a talker than this… guy.
“Did I say something funny, Matthew?” Melody sighs, leans on the counter, and keeps her eyes on him.
“I-It… just… oh my gosh…” he laughs, wiping the tear from the corner of his eye, “You good at making a joke, sweetie.”
Melody rolls her eyes and puts her elbows on the counter. “You think it was a joke?”
“Yeah, of course. I-I mean, Damian crying? I bet my whole money that you are seeing a thing,” he chuckles, shaking his head slightly.
“I’m not joking, Mat,” she says in a serious tone.
“Mel, like I said, you seeing things,” Matthew smiles, still not believing the girl.
Melody takes a deep breath and lets it out. She flicks her hair behind. She never felt this annoyed with Matthew.
“Once again, I’m telling the truth,” she says firmly.
He chuckles once again, “Stop it, Mel.”
The last Matthew wants to believe is Damian crying. He has been with that guy for years, and not even once did he witness him crying. Not to mention Damian in his vulnerable state.
Matthew keeps taking a bite of her food. When he realised she didn’t say anything, he looked up at her. His eyes made her serious ones. He furrows his eyebrows slightly seeing that she didn’t laugh or change her expression.
“You… are not laughing,” he says slowly.
She arches her eyebrows.
“You… t-telling the truth?” he takes a sip of her drink.
“Yes. I saw him crying in front of me in the car when we were on our way to get my ice cream,” Melody sighed, feeling tired of explaining it again.
“He’s crying in my arms-”
Matthew, whose drink accidentally spills out of the water, hits her face. Her eyes shut close with water dripping off her chin. He wipes his mouth, looking at her stunned. The servants who are standing not far from their table try to suppress their giggles.
“Damian… crying in your arms!?”
“Yes, Mat. He did,” she gritted her teeth, wiping off the water on her face.
His jaw dropped. “You seem like you are not joking,”
“For fuck sake, I’m not, Matthew!!”
He scratches his head. It was something new to him.
“Um… if you are strict about it, then it might be true. Why is he crying, though?” he leans closer as a sign that he is getting interested.
Melody grabs the napkin on the counter and taps her face. “We talking about his twin. Damien. You know him?”
Matthew was taken aback by that. He blinks his eyes, “Yes. We know Damian has a twin. He told you… what happened to him?”
She slightly nods.
He ruffles his chair, “Oh. That’s an unexpected thing to happen. He never tells anyone about it. The reason why we know Damien died in the fire is from his parents.”
“So yeah, hearing that he tell someone about it with his mouth shows that he… start to… open his heart for you only.”
“What do you mean by that?” Melody frowns.
“Seriously? You didn’t realise anything changed on him?” he chuckles. “Mel, he let you call his name and not formalities. He lets you see who he is. He cares about you. He did something FOR you. Which he never done for someone else.”
“It sounds cringe,” she chuckles.
“As much as it sounds cringe, that’s what we saw,” Matthew smirks.
It’s not that Melody didn’t want to agree and admit that she saw it. She just doesn’t want to care about it. Why? Because they’re just husband and wife on paper. This will end after a year.
She doesn’t want to get attached.
It will hurt her.
___
“Is this my new phone?” Melody smiles brightly.
“Yes. I notice you don’t have one,” he shrugs his shoulder.
“Aw! You are the best!!” she giggles and hugs him.
Damian sighs deeply. He put his palm hands on her cheeks and gently pushed her away.
“Now, dial his number and call him. Just tell him what I told you,”
Melody nods in excitement. She looked at her branded phone and quickly did her task.
But…
Damian looked at her with a firm gaze. He crossed his arms above his chest, leaning on the chair. Now, he waiting for Melody to make a call. His firm gaze is unwavering, and it makes Melody nervous.
She let out a deep sigh.
“How I want to make a phone call if you keep your-your eyes on me!?” she turns to him.
“I’m just looking. It didn’t harm you,” he says nonchalantly.
“You look like you will kill me if I make a wrong move,” she says through her gritted teeth.
“You think too much. If I want to kill you, I already did when we first met,” he rolls his eyes. “You talk too much. Just call him.”
“Okay, fine. Calm your grumpy ass down. Don’t stare at me! You make me nervous,” Melody huffs.
Damian grunts and throws his head back. He raises his hands like a criminal and goes back to his paperwork, making himself busy.
She sighs deeply. Melody dialled the number and started to call him. It rang at first, but then she heard his voice. She put it on speaker.
“Hello?”
“It’s me, Melody,” she says firmly.
“Oh. It’s a different number; why’s that?” Frank questioned, getting suspicious.
Melody looks at Damian. He nods at her. “I ask Dam-I mean, Mr. Angelo to buy me a phone. So that we can have a secret conversation.”
“He allows that?” he frowns.
“I make up some excuses. You know Mr. Angelo gave me everything I wanted. He wrapped around my little finger,” she smirks.
Damian furrows his eyebrows. He looks at the paper and that line is not in the script. This woman…
Frank chuckles, “You are very smart. You take advantage of it very well, huh? That’s my sweet daughter.”
Melody makes a face when he says that. She felt a shiver through her spine but tried to control her voice from sound to disgust.
“So, do you have the thing I ask you?” he questioned.
“Yes, I got the information of his clan. Do you want us to meet?” she suggested.
“I think we should do it in a phone call instead,” Frank replied.
Her eyes widen. She looks at Damian for help since it is not in the plan. He arches his eyebrows and mouthed ‘makeup excuses’. She slightly nods and clears her throat.
“Um… are you sure about that? Mr. Angelo’s place is high security. All his servants, guards and fellow members were so loyal towards him,” she confronts him.
“Hm… you are right,” he starts to agree.
“I believe they will inform anything they hear suspicious about that old man immediately. It’s not a good place to discuss, Frank,” she added bluntly.
Damian glares at her for calling him ‘old man’ once again. She innocently grins, which makes him roll his eyes.
“If that is so, I will text you the place. We’re going to meet at the hotel,” Frank says.
“Sure, Frank,” Melody agreed.
“Remember our deal, you give me the information and I will give you your father’s property,” he smirks.
Melody’s finger twitched, “Sure. That’s the deal.”
The phone call ended. She let out a heavy sigh. This is her first time speaking with people with a plan. She scratched her head, feeling tired of pretending.
“You did great. When he texts you which hotel it is, you inform me immediately, understood?” Damian demands.
“Sure,” she went to his side, “I did good. Do I get… something?”
Melody looks at him with sparkling doe eyes. She smiles at him, which makes Damian’s expression soften a bit. He clears his throat and sighs.
“Get ready. I bring you to your favourite ice cream place,” he says, sounding annoyed, but he doesn’t.
She squeals, “YEAY!! Thank you so much!!”
Melody rushes out of his study room.
“Little minx,” he chuckles.