As Melody stepped out of the car, her eyes fell upon an abandoned store with a ‘rent’ sign hanging on the glass door. Taking a deep breath, she assessed the modest size of the shop.
It wasn’t overly spacious, yet it wasn’t cramped either-it was just right for what she had in mind. Adjusting her coat, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of anticipation mixed with apprehension, as the possibilities for this once-forgotten space slowly began to unfold in her mind.
And suitable for her business.
It’s not like she wants to do it to become the famous one. She just wants to do it for her hobby and waste her time. Not only that. So that she can escape from Damian’s training.
She saw a woman dressed in a professional appearance. The woman wears a white button top that shows a bit of her collarbone and black pants. A black blazer wrapped around her.
“Sir,” she bowed her head.
“Hey, Celestia. Is everything settled according to what I want?” Damian questioned, taking a drag of his cigar.
So, this is Celestia.
Melody gazes, observing her from head to toe. Dark red hair that highlighted everything of her features. Her stall slim frame and siren eyes are enough to intimidate anyone who dared to mess with her.
It’s too obvious this woman is one of Damian’s strong members.
“I’m sorry, sir. Somehow, there’s a little bit problem with the owner of this store,” Celestia informs.
He arches his eyebrows, “Oh. Why?”
“He wouldn’t let us rent this store if we didn’t pay the deposit first,” she said.
“Why you didn’t pay the deposit,” Damian frowns.
“It’s much higher than the budget you gave me. Also, I can see he is trying to take advantage of us by raising the price even higher, knowing it was you, sir,” Celestia explains.
He pauses for a moment, then chuckles lowly. Melody glanced at him since she recognized that chuckle. It’s give a bad vibe to her.
“I see. Can you arrange the meeting? I love to meet him,” he smiled with darkened gazes.
Celestia bowed her head, “Right away, sir.”
She walks off but not before giving a small, kind smile toward Melody. Melody stands there, taken aback by her nice gesture. When Celestia smiled, she didn’t look that intimidating to her.
“She looks nice,” Melody tugged his sleeves.
“She is? Why do you say that?” Damian glances down at her.
“I’m not sure. But she seems nice,” she smiles. “Is she married?”
Damian furrows his eyebrows, “No, why? Are you interested in her? Because if you are, I will throw you to the sea,”
She rolls her eyes. This man always jumps to conclusions before letting her explain. Without saying anything, she left him behind and went to see the store. She tries to open the door, but it locks.
Of course.
The owner hasn’t given them the key.
Melody takes a look at the inside from the glass, “Woah…”
“You like this store?” he came behind her.
“Yeah… it’s small and cute. Suitable for my business,” she grins.
“That’s mean I will make sure you got it,” he said, full of determination. “Can you do one thing for me?”
“And that is?” she looks up at him.
“I want you to list everything you need for the store. Everything, decorations including ingredients for your baking stuff,” he hands over the tab that he always used for work.
Melody looks at the tab for a moment, “Anything?”
“Anything. I want it by tomorrow,” he bent a bit to her height, “Can you do that for me.”
“Leave it to me! It’s my store anyway!” she smiles brightly.
Damian slightly smiles and puts his hand on top of her head. She giggled and couldn’t hide her excitement for her first task for her store.
Back at the base, Melody found herself lost in thought, tapping the touchscreen pen against the tablet screen. A flurry of ideas buzzed through her mind-what did she need for the store?
The possibilities seemed endless, but with each passing moment, Melody felt a growing sense of purpose. She was ready to make her mark in this new venture.
She stares at the ceiling. All the important stuff has been listed down. Now, what else? Celestia notices her in the living room alone.
“Ma’am?” she calls.
Melody is startled and looks up at her, “Oh, hey. I’m sorry, I’m in a deep thought,”
“It’s okay. Are you okay, ma’am? You look in trouble,” Celestia speaks with worry in her tone.
“I’m fine. Just… thinking what else I need for my bakery store,” she giggles sheepishly.
The woman slowly nods in understanding. Then, she steps forward to her and offers a hand to Melody with a kind smile.
“My name is Celestia Adell. It’s nice to meet you, ma’am,” she bowed her head.
Melody accepts her hand, “It’s nice to meet you too. I’m Melody.”
“I’m sorry for not introducing myself to you just now. Sir Damian gave me a lot of tasks to handle,” she smiles in apologetics.
“It’s fine. I know how jerk Damian is. Such a demand person,” Melody huffs. “If it was me, I already smack the shit out of him.”
Celestia is standing there stunned. This is her first time to hear someone talk like that about Damian. So, this is her boss’s wife, whom she keeps hearing about.
*As Celestia disembarked from the plane, she tugged her suitcase along behind her. It didn’t take long for her to notice Matthew casually leaning against the car, eagerly awaiting her arrival.
As he raised his head, the sunlight glinted off his black sunglasses, and a smirk crept across his lips.
“Hey, look who just showed up,” Matthew smirks.
“Seriously? Why does it have to be you? I’d much rather have Victor here instead,” she sighs, clearly frustrated.
“Come on, don’t act like that. That wasn’t very nice, right?” He laughs a little as he grabs her luggage.
“Whatever,”
Celestia slipped into the car as the door swung open, and Matthew settled into the driver’s seat. With a turn of the key, the engine roared to life, and they pulled away from the curb.
The atmosphere in the car was tranquil, punctuated only by the soft tapping of Celestia’s finger as she scrolled through her phone. Matthew stole a glance at her, gauging her mood, before breaking the silence.
“Have you heard anything from the mafia base?” he asked.
“Nope. I haven’t had a chance to check on what went down there,” she said flatly.
Matthew wasn’t bothered by Celestia’s chilly demeanour. After all, they had been friends long enough to understand each other well. Celestia had always been known for her serious and distant nature.
While she could be warm and kind to some people, Matthew often found himself on the receiving end of her icy attitude, especially because he loved to tease her.
The playful banter might have rubbed her the wrong way, but it didn’t deter him; he knew that beneath that frosty exterior, there was a softer side waiting to be revealed. Only when she wanted to.
“That’s unfortunate,” he replied with a smirk. “So, you haven’t heard the news that our boss is already married?”
Celestia’s head whipped around to face him, her eyes wide with surprise. The phone she’d been using had forgotten. “What?”
“Yeah, it’s true,” Matthew says with a cheeky raise of his eyebrows.
“You are not kidding around, are you?” She gives him a sceptical look.
Celestia stood there, momentarily speechless. The news she had just received was the last thing she expected upon returning from her mission.
“How’s that woman doing? Is she alright? Did she have a bruise or look down?” she asks, sounding curious.
Since Damian isn’t the kind of guy to be gentle with anyone, especially women.
“That’s what I thought at first. But honestly, she’s so much more than that. It’s not at all what we expected to happen,” he said with a smile.
“She stood up against Damian with a courage none of us possessed, as if defying him was a duty rather than a choice. Trust me, the sight of her unwavering would leave you awestruck,”
Matthew added. Celestia felt her heart skip a beat, conflicted between believing him and the unexpected nature of the revelation. If this were a prank, she would have burst out laughing, but the seriousness in Matthew’s gaze made the announcement feel all too real.
Still, doubt lingered in her mind, and a small part of her wondered if this was an elaborate joke.
Melody’s voice through Celestia’s momentary trance, “Celestia?” she called softly, the concern evident in her tone.
As if waking from a dream, Celestia blinked, snapping back to reality, “W-What?”
“Are you okay?” Melody asked again, her worry seeping through her words. “I’ve been calling your name multiple times, but you seemed lost in thought.”
“Uh, yes, ma’am. I’m fine,” she smiles.
After witnessing the exchange between Damian and Melody, Celestia couldn’t deny the undeniable truth in Matthew’s words. The transformation in Damian was palpable, and beneath the subtle shifts in his demeanour, a newfound happiness seemed to radiate.
Celestia felt a surge of warmth in her chest, glad that her boss had found a sense of contentment in his life, even if it caught her off guard.
___
The living room remained heavy with silence, broken only by the rhythmic tap of a finger against the armrest of the couch. A cigar leisurely perched on the couch. A cigar leisurely perched on his lips, the man exuded an almost palpable sense of authority.
The door slowly creaked open, revealing one of his associates; their presence met with a cold, calculating gaze from the enigmatic figure. As the silence enveloped the room like a shroud, it was clear that the man’s every move held the power to shift the balance in his favour.
“What?” the man’s voice echoed through the room, his irritation evident in the way he gritted out the words.
“I hope this is important enough to warrant disrupting my evening of peace,” as he spoke, his eyes bore into the figure before him, a silent reminder of just how valuable quiet moments could be.
There was a warning in his tone, but also a promise-whatever had brought his associate to him had better be worth his attention.
The guard hesitated for a moment, his voice carrying a sense of urgency. “Yes, sir. Sir, I have some new information about Damian D’ Angelo.”
That man’s interest was immediately piqued, his eyes narrowing as he leaned forward.
“Spill it,” he commanded, his mind already racing to process the significance of this unexpected development.
“It appears that Damian has set his sights on taking over Flavio’s clan,” the guard declared, a hint of unease evident in his voice.
The revelation hung heavily in the air, and as the man’s mind processed the implications of this newfound information, a tense silence enveloped the room.
“Ahh… I see. If he takes over his father’s clan… that’s mean…” he throws his cigar on the floor and steps on it. “Someone will be much more powerful than mine.”
“Besides, I didn’t expect Damian to still be strong after what happened to him in the past…”
The man’s chuckles fill the room. “This is interesting. I want you guys to prepare the private jet for me. We going to destroy him even more.”
The guard bowed his head before leaving.
“I wouldn’t let anyone become much more powerful than me,”