Uncle Woo furrows his eyebrows in confusion. He put away the brooms and walked towards them.
“What happened? I thought you guys got something to do,” he frowns.
“We are sorry but wish to borrow your place for a while. If you don’t mind…” Damian asks permission.
Uncle Woo can see he needs his help. His eyes darted everywhere to find Melody, but there was no sign of her.
“Where is Melody?”
The question made them tense. They know how close this old man with Melody. Damian sighs and puts his hands on the old man’s shoulder.
“She’s fine. We’re going to fetch her,” he lied.
Surprisingly, he believes with his lies. Uncle Woo sighs in relief and nods. He steps aside to let them in.
“Come, make yourself at home,” Uncle Woo smiles.
They walk in. Riccardo glanced at the old man, then leaned toward Damian, “Who is he?” He whispers.
“That’s Uncle Woo. I think…he is one of Melody’s closest ones. Not a family member but someone she’s close with,” Damian explains.
“Can we trust him?” He arches his eyebrows.
“Don’t worry, we can rely on him. We live here before we went to you this morning,” Damian rolls his eyes. “Besides, he’s just an old man, Ric.”
“Well, who knows what he is capable of. I’m just being careful,” Riccardo scoffs.
“Now you understand what I felt of,” Damian mumbles.
“Are you sure we’re staying here for a moment?” Riccardo seems to be unsure again.
Damian grunts and turns to him in annoyance, “Yes. Can you stop asking for a moment? It’s getting annoying,”
“Hey! I’m being cautious here! It’s not my fault that I’m traumatized. My base has been destroyed,” he said, with a slight hint of sarcasm.
“So are you trying to say that you want to blame me for that ambush?” Damian glares at him.
The others just stood there, watching them arguing like children. Uncle Woo just witnessed the argument tilted his head. He can see those men are not fighting-they just argue like other friends do.
“Are they always like this?” Uncle Woo asks.
“Well… they’re just being themselves. You should see when they are fighting for real,” Matthew wiggles his eyebrows.
Uncle Woo notices the bruise on his face. “Oh my-Son, are you okay!? You got a bruise on your face!”
“Oh, I’m fine. I just got a pun-” his words interrupted when Celestia slightly nudged his side. “I-I mean…I just got myself an ‘ouchie’.”
“Let me get the first aid kit,” the old man walks off.
Victor glanced at his friend, “An ‘ouchie’? Really? What are you? Five years old?”
“Excuse me? I got this bruise because of you!” Matthew poked his shoulder. “If I hadn’t agreed to this-I wouldn’t get this bruise on my handsome face!”
“Oh really? I didn’t hear the word ‘disagreed’ coming from your mouth that time. Now you want to say it’s all my fault?” Victor glares at him.
Celestia sighs, pinches the bridge of her nose. Four men in childish argument and here she is, facing all of it by herself. What did she do to be in this position? She should stick to the task that could bring her outstation.
She pulled out her gun and shot upward. The sound makes them stop arguing and turns to her in shock.
“Stop being childish and start thinking of the plan,” she speaks up. Even her voice is calm, but there’s firmness in it.
Damian clears his throat, “Cel was right. Let’s do our work.”
Matthew leans toward Victor, “Since when did she get this scary?” Victor just sighs and shakes his head.
Melody slightly grunts as she gains consciousness. She lifted her head, her eyes squinted when the light hit her face. She tries to remember what happened to herself and her surroundings.
As her vision went clear, the first thing she saw was a brick wall. That’s when she realised, she was not at home or anywhere safe.
She was caught and here she is. Melody is about to move, but her movement is stuck. Her wrist was tied with the handcuff. She tried to free herself but no matter what she did, it wouldn’t budge.
“Great…” Melody sighs to herself.
The sounds of footsteps echo. She felt her heart pounding as the footsteps got closer. If she leaves this place alive, for sure she will pull Damian’s hair out for putting her in this position.
The metal door opens, reveals a person that caused all of this chaos. Matthias stood there with two guards behind him.
“Oh! The princess is awake!” He beams and walks toward her. “It’s such a delight to meet you once again, sweetie.”
“Yeah…for you,” she rolls her eyes.
Matthias frowns, “I thought you were happy to meet me.”
She glares at him, not answering him. Matthias chuckles and kneels in front of her. He leans on her knees, looking up at her.
“I don’t blame you, sweetie. I took you from your lovely husband anyway,”
The smiles that creep on his face made Melody want to punch him, “You must be envious of Damian, huh?”
“Envy? Oh no, my sweetie. I just can’t let him live in the life he expects to. Besides, don’t you think he doesn’t deserve any of this?” Matthias chuckles.
“He takes what is mine. It’s not my fault, I just take what is mine,”
He gets up and walks in a slow pace, circling her. “Anyway, it’s such a surprise to see he married a woman-I thought he was gay.”
“I can’t blame you for thinking that way…” Melody mumbles to herself.
“I never thought of involving you in this, Melody. I just want to settle this with Damian but…when I saw how much he cared about you…”
He stops behind her, puts his hands on her shoulder and leans down to her ears, “It makes me think…what if I used you to make him kneeling in front of me?”
“What if he didn’t care about me and you saw it wrong?” She frowns.
“No, I wouldn’t be wrong. I see it with my own eyes, sweetie. He never looked at someone like how he did to you.” Matthias chuckles. “Do you know the last time he looked at someone like that?”
Melody shifted uncomfortably in her seat when she felt his breath on her ears. She hates it when someone does this, except for her husband of course. This old man gives a creepy vibe to her.
“The last time is before I took his twin, Damien’s life.”
His twin.
How she wished she could kick this old man ball right now.
“Specifically, it was my son who killed his twin. I’m kind of surprised when Damian still blames me for it,” he leans back and chuckles.
“You are the one who forced your son to do it-you are the cause of it!” Melody glares at him as he gets in front of her.
“Well, who asked him to follow my orders?” Matthias laughs.
She looks at him with disbelief as he says that. Of course, Riccardo will follow his demands-he is his son. What kind of son if he didn’t obey their father?
“Oh well, you should be thankful with me,” he smirks.
“For ruining my life?” Melody said bluntly.
Matthias chuckles, “No but for saving you.”
She furrows her eyebrows.
“I believe that Damian ruined your life, not me, sweetie. You wouldn’t be in this position if he didn’t marry you. You wouldn’t lose your baby if it weren’t for him. You can gain your happiness if he is not in your life.”
He grins and leans forward, “Now look what he did to you? You lose everything. Your freedom, your happiness-I don’t get it. You still stick with him.”
Melody just keep quiet. Yes, her life changes after Damian came into her life. She lost everything and is being replaced with all of this pain. She can’t say what he said was wrong.
Matthias scoffs and leans backwards. He puts his hands inside his pocket, “I can help you more than this.”
She didn’t say anything. Matthias shrugs his shoulder, “Suit yourself,” he turns around, about to walk off.
Before he could leave, Melody chuckles. Matthias and the guards turn to her with confusion. Her chuckles turn into big laughs. He furrows his eyebrows not knowing what happened to her.
“I’m sorry…It just…” she chuckles. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh at what you said.”
“What’s so funny, hm?” Matthias steps forward.
“It’s so funny how cheap it is your brain,” she shakes her head. “I wish I could buy the confidence like you have.”
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say, women,” he got impatient.
“Do you think I felt it that way the whole time I was with Damian? No, you are wrong. Well, you are not wrong about me losing everything.”
“Even I lose everything, it being replaced with something I couldn’t describe. I’m happy with him and the others. You just didn’t see it. Why?”
Melody grins and leans forward, “Because you’re being blinded by the jealousy in your heart.”
“J-Jealousy?”
“Oh, sweetie. Don’t you realise it yet? You are jealous of Damian,” she smirks.
“I told you I’m not jealous of him! He is nothing to me!!” Matthias firmly speaks.
“Oh yeah? You are lying to yourself. Damian got everything. Damian has a good parent who loves him, adored him and everything. He got a loyal and best following in his clan. He has power over everything.”
“Not only that. He has a wife who loves him, takes care of him and is willing to kill herself for him. Not to mention how beautiful and sweet his wife is,” she praised herself.
Matthias felt anger rising in him.
“Poor you. You don’t have what he has-so, you want to ruin everything. You are jealous of him, old man. Do you live in a good life while you?”
She chuckles and leans backward, “You live under him.”
That’s it. Matthias finally snaps. He grabs her neck, tightens the grip around it. Melody felt the air stuck in her throat. She could see the anger flash in his eyes and that’s made her smile.
Even if it’s just a weak smile.
“Shut your fucking mouth, bitch. I’m not jealous of your dickhead husband,” Matthew scowls.
“Y-You…are…. You…c-can’t see…s-someone…h-higher…than y-you…” she tried to speak even ran out of air.
Matthias loses himself. He loses his swing hand, hitting her face. “SHUT UP!!”
Melody held the screams from being hit. Her head facing the other side, blood came out of her nose. He keeps hitting her, then pulls her hair backwards roughly. She breathes heavily, her eyes barely open.
“I’m trying to be nice here and trying not to kill you, women. But don’t worry…I will kill you once I kill your husband,” he sneers before pushing her off.
Matthias leaves the room. The guards shut the door and lock it. Melody coughing, blood spit out of it.
“I don’t know there’s a grumpier old man than Damian…” she mumbles to herself.