The car ride was silent. No one speaks. Melody keeps glancing at Riccardo who seems tense. She doesn’t have a single idea of what is going on. She had never seen Riccardo this tense.
“Mel, since when did you meet that guy?” He starts to open his mouth.
“Um…that’s the second one. Why? Do you know him?” She frowns.
“Did Damian know about it?”
He asks again.
Melody fiddles with her fingers, “Uh, it’s nothing important since we just met by accident.”
“Mel, I advised you…please don’t meet a stranger by yourself again,” Riccardo speaks.
“Stranger? That man is not a stranger,” Melody frowns, “He is such a nice guy.”
Riccardo cringes when she says that. Now, Melody sounds like an innocent and naive woman.
“Mel, believe me. You are related to someone powerful. Damian D’ Angelo. Anyone could use you to kill Damian,” he firmly speaks.
“Mr. Matthias is not like that. He seems like a good old man. Stop it, Riccardo. You are acting weird,” she talks back.
He clenched his fist, “I’m trying to protect you here. You don’t understand! If Damian knows about this, he will say the same thing as mine!”
“I know I’m living in the dark world but that doesn’t mean I can talk with people I want,” she scowls.
Riccardo grunts, pushing his hair backward. “This is not about who you can talk to or with who you can’t. It’s about your safety, Mel.”
“You sound like Damian right now,” Melody mumbles.
“Everyone will talk like that with the condition you are in right now,” he sighs. “Can you just listen to us for once?”
“Not everyone is evil in this world-”
“And not everyone is good in this world, Mel!” Riccardo raised his voice a bit.
Melody fell silent. They stare at each other before she turns her head away, looking outside the window. Riccardo let out a heavy sigh and leaned on the seat. The driver couldn’t help but feel awkward with all of this.
After a while, the car stops in front of Damian’s company. They could see Damian standing there waiting for them with Matthew and Victor on each side of him.
He’s wearing a white button top that only buttons up to his chest with black slack pants. Sunglasses are handed on his nose.
“I thought you going to pick Melody on your own,” Matthew speaks.
“Riccardo texted me that he met her at the store, so he offered to give her a lift.” He explains.
“Why?” Victor asks.
“Not sure,” he shrugs his shoulder.
The car park is in front of them. Soon the door unlocked, and Melody got out of the car without saying anything to Riccardo.
“Hey, sweetie! I bought something that you might crave fo-” Matthew stops talking when Melody walks passed them. “Well…that was something, I guess.”
He turns to Damian who already looking at Melody’s grumpy figure who slowly fading inside the building.
“Is she on her period?” Matthew frowns.
“Mat, she’s pregnant,” Victor sighs.
“Oh yeah. I mean…is it her hormone?” He asks again.
Damian turns to Riccardo who gets out of the car. “What’s going on?”
“It’s hard to talk about it. I don’t know where to start…” he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Make it short, bud,” Matthew grins.
He sighs. “Your wife…have been meeting…Matthias.”
Silent.
Matthew and Victor’s eyes wide open in shock. As if they didn’t expect to hear that right way. Riccardo looks at his friend, Damian who still with the same expression.
As much as he wants to hide this, he can’t risk Damian to blame him again and they will go back to square one. He waited for the guy to speak or react, but he didn’t do anything.
“Since when?” Damian asks.
“I’m not sure. But, from what Melody said, this is the second time they met,” he explains.
“Where did you find them? Any suspicious thing happened?” Damian inquired calmly.
“Not sure. I just met them talking but I’m sure Matthias is planning something by using her to get to you,” Riccardo sighs.
Damian let out a short hum. He nods slightly before turning around and walking away. Riccardo frowns with his calm demeanor.
As they walked into the building, Victor couldn’t help but ask, “Are you that calm that your wife is being targeted?”
“I know I can protect her. That old man just targeting me not her,” he answers.
“But Dam. Anything could happen to Melody. We can’t expect what Matthias will do. You know that old man will do anything to get you on your knees.” Matthew agrees.
The elevator door opens. “He wouldn’t dare to do it as long as I’m alive. I’m sure of it.” By that, he walks inside the elevator leaving those two.
Victor and Matthew exchange looks. They can’t help but worried about Damian’s calm demeanor.
Melody sitting on the couch, stuffing herself with donuts that are being prepared for her on the coffee table. She doesn’t understand why Riccardo acts that way. That was just out of what she expected.
“You’re going to eat all of that?”
Damian’s voice makes her lift her head. “Is it yours?”
“No. It’s yours. I ask my assistant to prepare it for you knowing you love them,” he said as he took a sit in front of her.
“Aww, that’s so sweet of you,” she grins, teasing him.
“Don’t even start it,” he glares at her.
Melody let out a giggle. He watched her eating the donuts he prepared for her. After a long silence, he decides to ask.
“So, I heard you meet…someone.”
“I’m not cheating if that’s what you thought of,” Melody answered.
“I didn’t say anything about cheating,” he lit up his cigar. “I just ask you a question, Mel. Answer it wisely.”
“Fine. It was just an ordinary old man that I bumped into. He seems to be a nice man to me. Then, we met again today at the store. The end.” Melody explains.
Damian stares at her, “Hmm, I see. You said he’s a nice man to you?”
“Yes. Please don’t be like Riccardo. He is paranoid about that man, and nothing happened at all,” she rolls her eyes.
No wonder she seems to be sulking towards Riccardo. So, this is the issue between them. He can’t blame Riccardo for it. What Riccardo says to her, everything is right. It’s just Melody…
She just being stubborn.
“That man is good at acting, huh,” Damian mumbles.
“Acting? Oh please, don’t start this again, Dam. I had enough bickering about this with Riccardo. Not you too,” she grunts.
“I wouldn’t bicker about it with you. But, let me tell you something,” he leans on the couch. “Matthias is not a man that you could describe as a ‘nice’ man.”
Melody furrows her eyebrows when Damian says his name. “How did you know his name?”
Damian smirks. He blows out the smoke, crossing his leg. “Because that guy is the one who killed my twin.”
Melody choked over her donut. She keeps coughing. Damian rolls his eyes and puts his cigar in the ashtray. He walks around the coffee table and sits beside her.
“Water?” He calmly offers her the water.
She quickly drinks it while Damian rubs her back. He grabs the tissue, and hand wipes her mouth soon she is done drinking.
“You are not joking, aren’t you!?” She yells.
“I’m not, love,” Damian leans back. “Matthias is the man that kills my twin. My enemy. The reason why me and Riccardo act like this.”
“But…” she loses her words.
“He is also, Riccardo’s dad,” he added.
Melody frowns. She held her head as the information was too much to take. Matthias seems a good guy to her. Is this why Riccardo acted that way before?
“I’m not surprised if Matthias targeting you to get me,” he shrugs his shoulder. “Because you are too stubborn to listen to anyone,”
“You never listen to someone who knows better than you,”
His words make Melody feel guilty. Yes. She’s a stubborn one. She just thinks they are too paranoid that’s all.
“Melody, you are not born in the same world as us. You are not born with blood, weapons, and danger around you.”
“So, you didn’t know much about all of this stuff. You need us. You need to listen to us. If you are not listening to any of us, you are dead. Not because of me but by my enemy.”
She fiddles with her fingers. Even though Damian didn’t raise his voice or scold her harshly, she still felt down.
“Just please…now you know about that Matthias guy, think about it. I don’t want…anything to happen to you,” Damian firmly said before he got up and went to his desk.
Melody sitting there in silence. She lets out a heavy sigh. How can it turn out to be like this? That’s when she remembers something. She pulled out the invitation Matthias gave her.
“Let’s go. We are late for your check-up,” Damian announced.
“Um…Damian,” she softly called his name.
“What?” He turns to her.
“Matthias…gave me the invitation to go to his party,” she shows the card.
He is silent for a moment then chuckles. “Invitation party huh…”