The door slams open. Matthias sits in the dining room, having his breakfast. Newspaper on his hand. Not even glancing at his son who burst into the dining room.
“Hello, son. I didn’t expect you to come early in the morning,” Matthias speaks.
“What the fuck did you do, Dad,” Riccardo asks through his gritted teeth.
He puts down the newspaper, “How about you sit and have breakfast with me, son.”
“I don’t fucking need breakfast with you,” Riccardo sneers.
“It’s been so long we haven’t had one together, don’t you think?” Matthias pours a coffee into his mug.
Riccardo stomps toward him and pushes the mug out of his hand. The sound of broken glass echoed in the dining room.
“You know what you did! Yet, you still act calm like this!?” He raises his voice.
Matthias sighs. “What are you talking about, son?”
“I’m talking about the ambush you did to Damian!!” He yells. “Why the fuck did you do it!?”
“Look, I’m just targeting Damian. Don’t ask a bonus question, son. Of course, I attack him to kill him. What else?” Matthias chuckles.
“Did you know that stupid ambush of yours almost killed Melody!?” Riccardo grabs his father’s collar.
Matthias smirks, “Do you think I didn’t know? I know that. I watch everything.”
“Then, why did you target her!? You are supposed to aim Damian!!” He lashes out his anger.
“Son, I didn’t expect that to happen. Besides, it’s not my fault. That woman stepped in the way and took the bullet of her own will,”
His father grins. “You can’t blame me for what I didn’t do.”
Riccardo looked at his father with rage and disbelief. How can he say that when he’s the one who caused all of this chaos? If he didn’t do the ambush, none of this would happen.
“You ruin everything, Dad. Because of you, Damian is back to himself with me,” Riccardo said in a trembling voice, which holding anger.
When Matthias hears that, he bursts into laughter. As if, his son said it was a joke to him. He laughing so hard only makes Riccardo fuming in anger even more.
“Isn’t that normal? I mean…” Matthias wipes the tears from laughing, “He did hate you. What do you expect? Do you expect Damian to forgive you already?”
His father’s words are like a brick hit him. Yes, he knows Damian hasn’t forgiven him fully but they are already fine with each other. And this stupid plan his father made only ruined it again.
“Snap out of it, son. Damian and you do not belong to be ‘friends’,” His father said. “Don’t you see how Damian keeps pushing you away?”
Riccardo just fell silent.
“You just being in denial. Damian hates you. He doesn’t want you in his life. But you keep forcing yourself to be in, son.” Matthias said.
He holds Riccardo’s shoulder, “Stop trying, son. It wasn’t worth it.”
What his father said is true. It’s didn’t worth it. No matter how many times he tried, Damian would never accept him to be his friend anymore. He just being in denial this whole time.
Without Melody’s help, Damian never looked his way.
But…
“You are wrong,” Riccardo mumbles.
“What?”
He lifts his head, “You are wrong, Dad. No one has the right to choose who becomes my friend.”
“No one has the right to say I belong with whom.”
“No one has the right to say It is worth it or not.”
“Especially, from you,” he glares at Matthias. “Yes, Damian pushed me away from his life. No matter what I did to earn his forgiveness, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“But that didn’t stop me. That doesn’t me you can say it’s not worth it. He is my friend. My best friend. My true family.”
“He becomes like that because of me. My fault, my mistake which I will fix.” Riccardo pushes his father’s hand off his shoulder, “I will always be there for him, no matter how many times he pushes me away. Why?”
He steps a little bit closer to Matthias, “Because I know, deep down in his heart, he still has a tiny soft spot for me, his friend.”
By that, Riccardo turns around and walks away. He stops at the doorway. “Oh, I forgot. You almost kill his wife, Melody. Let’s just say, you are really… asking for death.”
“He’s hunting you right now, Dad. Good luck in surviving. If you can,” he smirks before stepping out of the dining room.
The sounds of the main door shut closed.
Matthias stands there and scoffs. He crosses his arms above his chest, “Gosh, that boy. Look like my words wouldn’t affect him anymore.”
___
Celestia carefully ran the wet towel on Melody’s forehead. She makes sure there’s no dirt on her boss lady’s skin.
“I got us some fried chicken!” Matthew opens the door, holding two bags of plastic.
“I told you to get a salad not fried chicken,” Celestia frowns.
He scoffs, “Salad is boring. Fried chicken is much better.”
“For you, not me. My face is having a breakout right now. I can’t eat some spicy and greasy food,” she complained.
“That’s your problem, women,” Matthew puts down the plastic bag, “Besides, I already ask you, what you want to eat. Guess what your answer is?”
“Anything is fine, Mat. I’m not a picky eater,” he mocked Celestia’s voice.
Celestia glares at him. She knows what he said is true. “But I didn’t expect you to buy greasy food.”
“Whatever. Come on, eat some,” he invites her.
“No, thank you. I have to take care of my face,” Celestia insisted.
He sighs, “Breakout can be treated, Cel. Besides, breakout or not, you are already beautiful the way you are.”
Celestia stops her action. This is her first time hearing Matthew say that kind of stuff. Somehow, it makes her flustered for a moment.
“Come on, let’s eat. You have been staying up all night taking care of our boss lady,” Matthew said.
She let out a sigh. She put away the wet cloth and fixed the blanket on Melody before going to sit opposite Matthew.
“Anyway, where is Damian? I haven’t seen him after…the day Melody got shot,” she inquired while opening the container.
“He said he went to do some work. Victor is with him,” Matthew explains.
“He hasn’t come visit his wife…” she mumbles.
“It’s not that he didn’t want to…” he sighs. “We all see how he is right now. Those eyes of him…I never saw that kind of pain in his eyes before.”
“Do you think he’s trying to find Matthias?” Celestia asks.
“I bet he is. I mean, who wouldn’t be crazy when their wife got shot?” He shrugs.
Celestia glanced at Melody, “I’m worried about Melody’s state after knowing she lost the baby…”
“Right…” Matthew sighs.
Damian tapped his finger on the desk, staring at the paperwork. He has been doing it for an hour and Victor just stands there, watching. He knows what is in his friend’s head. Damian might look calm and unbothered, but only some people know.
Only certain people can see the rage and sadness in his eyes.
“What are you thinking about, Dam?” Victor asks.
“Nothing,”
“Don’t you want to visit Melody? Who knows, she might wake up,” he added.
Damian sighs and leans his back on the chair. He rubs his face, “I have work to do.”
“Much more important than visiting your wife?” Victor arches his eyebrows.
The question made him feel silent. Nothing is more important than Melody. Nothing. She becomes his priority whether she likes it or not.
“You ask Celestia and the others to take care of your wife. At least, visit her even a minute,” his friend confronts him.
“I told you I got work to do,” Damian glares at him. “I have to find that fucker,”
“That’s not the only reason, I know that. You didn’t visit her because you were scared. You can’t see her after what happened,” Victor speaks up.
“EXACTLY!” Damian slams the desk.
The office atmosphere becomes silent.
“I’m ashamed, Vic. I can’t face her after what happened. If I didn’t bring her into this world, she wouldn’t be in pain like this. She wouldn’t lose something so precious to her…to both of us,”
“I told her…I will protect her. I’m making sure that she won’t get hurt and Matthias won’t reach her. Yet…”
He pushes his hair backward, “…all that thing happened…because of me.”
Victor sighs. “You can’t predict the future, dude. It’s happened. It’s not your fault. You can’t blame it on yourself.”
“Just…visit her. She needs your support when she wakes up,”