“If you can’t tell my anger for you, then I doubt you can do this with your own hands.” Haze put every detail he had noticed into perceptiveness. “Maybe you’re a puppet being steered just like me.”
“Me? Ridiculous! That is the dumbest thing someone ever said to me!”“Frankly, you don’t strike me as someone who could put Carter in that state.”“Huh!” Nathan seemed bothered, as if there was nothing more annoying than hearing what Haze just said.“Just admit it, Wolfe. You are only bluffing.”“Are you serious for now?”“Yes, why not?” Haze smiled, very much unlike how Cassius smiled coldly in the videos and photos taken before his mysterious death. “Despite what you said, I will never tell you anything about Leonard Blackwood. You can’t do anything to my assistant because you don’t have it in you. I doubt she is anywhere near here.”Nathan was silent for a moment, as if contemplating things. But then, he sighed and rHaze couldn’t hold his stomach any longer, emptying his breakfast and pizza lunches on the dingy room’s dirty floor. “Ew!” Nathan Wolfe backed away from him, driving himself to a corner and squinted his eyes at the gross puke in front of him. Elaine was also disgusted, but she merely looked away and tried to ignore him. However, when a minute passed and Haze didn’t show any sign of stopping heaving and puking, she sighed. Approaching him, she placed a hand against his back, trying to ease the uncomfortableness. Once Haze was done and heaved for a fresh breath, the brunette offered a handkerchief. He grunted with gratitude, having no energy to speak properly. “I would have stuffed your mouth with my holey sock if I knew you’re going to puke,” Nathan’s words were laced with disappointment. Haze glared, trying to say that it was his fault for making hi, puke. But, his captor wouldn’t sympathize with him. In fact, he remains unbothered e
She was a woman who looked a little older and way shorter than Elaine, wearing a brown sweater vest and dark red long skirt. The eyeglasses and birthmark on her right cheek didn’t lessen her beauty, he had to admit it. Just not in front of his brunette assistant. She might be Nathan’s girlfriend, but the worn satchel and nerdy vibe she gave off made Haze doubt it. Noticing his prolonged look, Nathan stepped up to shield the newcomer from Haze’s eyes. “Do you have a problem with my girlfriend?” Haze blinked in puzzlement at the confession. “I just didn’t expect that a mafia lord like you would date someone… uhm… how do I say it?” Suddenly, Nathan was shoved to the side by the nerdy girl. “Even I still marvel how a boring librarian like me can date someone so ridiculously contradicting like Nate, but here we are.” “Oh, uhm, right.” Haze awkwardly cleared his throat. “Did you say something about a detective? Is her name Chloe Dancer by
“Are you guys dating now?” Maxine Blackwood posed a question that made Haze choked on air. “The hell you say?” “Language,” Elaine warned him with a glare before directing her attention to her master’s daughter. “What can I help you with tonight, Max?” “Shouldn’t you call me Miss Blackwood, like the good girl that you are?” When the brunette didn’t correct herself, Maxine huffed and continued, “Father wants us to accompany him to a dinner. Get dressed.” Haze frowned at the sudden invitation, “Do I really have to go?” After the long day of looking around Banoufield for a certain mafia’s son and being held captive by another mafia lord, Haze wasn’t sure he could role-play as Cassius. Forget about performing in his shoes perfectly, he was dead tired after the wild time today. However, Maxine crossed her arms and sternly stated, “It’s up to you. But, I suggest you do as told or father will come to get you himself.” Gru
“You’re not real!” Kain shouted, “You’re not real!” Even so, he still cowered like the coward that he was. For all they know, he might have already pissed his pants like a boy waking from a nightmare. “Cease your nonsense right now, Kain! You are embarrassing me!” Mr. Randall exclaimed, sending a fearful look towards Leonard. “Stop it right this instant!” “Please tell me he’s not real! I beg you!” Kain dropped to his knees, hands pulling the hair on his head as he looked in horror, “Please! Please! Please!” Mr. Randall raised his hand, about to give his insane son a beating for his life, but Leonard stopped him. “You must have made a mistake.” The Blackwood patriarch stood beside Haze, placing his hand around the shoulders, “This is my son, Cassius. He is very much alive, not a ghost.” Kain trembled in fear, but forced himself to look up at Leonard and Haze. “…what?” “Mr. Randall,” Leonard called, “I don’t think it is a good time.” “Oh, if only I can convince you, Mr. Blackwoo
“Why did the owner choose this place to have an open rooftop venue when all you can see are boring buildings?” Haze wondered. Even an amateur person like him understood that. “Unless it is the first building here?” “You’re correct,” Elaine continued to explain, “B&J Brothers was founded about twenty years ago before many skyscrapers were built. It was the highest building with fifteen floors in this area. However, five years later, the skyscrapers started to grow one by one. Look closely.” Haze squinted his eyes. In a time like this, he was reminded about his eyesight problem. After years of staring at screens for playing online games, studying computers, and then working as a game developer, he was lucky not to end up with thick glasses like some people he knew. Even so, he’d become near-sighted sooner or later. As he directed his gaze around, he noticed it. There were six buildings around B&J Brothers, each with the same name, signifying it
"Wear it," Elaine threw protective body gears, consisting of a padded vest to guard his stomach and chest and a padded helmet for his head. "As much as I want to, I can't just punch you and risk injury. What would Mr. Blackwood say if he found you in the hospital, losing your memory." "Yeah, I imagine it'd be a nightmare for you." After he donned the protective gear, Haze clapped his hands and faced her. "Okay, I'm ready." Elaine cracked her fingers, completing the warm-up from before. She set a timer on her phone for three minutes, and they started. Haze moved with calculated precision, evading each of the brunette's attacks with amateur grace and agility. She wasn't the only one warming up earlier, and the hours he spent gasping for breath during the morning jog somehow made him quite fast to react. But, it was barely enough. Despite their height difference, Elaine was a seasoned warrior who could unleash a barrage of strikes, her movement s
"Let's move it to the study." "And what will happen if Mr. Blackwood pays you a visit?" Elaine reminded him. "You said he's a busy man. In fact, not even once did he ever visit here since I came, right?" "He can easily send Jeremy, or any of his employees, he has many." "Ah, true… but–" "You just hate to be in a place where I mop the floor with your behind, right?" Annoyed that she was right, he vehemently denied, "My butt has nothing to do with it." They stood before the clean whiteboard and started to discuss things. One by one, they put up pieces of information about Cassius's death on it. "First, the cause of death was a modified poison used by the Burner, a hitman who also got paid by Wilhem Carter." Haze pinned the photo of Wilhem and the Burner he got from Nathan Wolfe. "Although he wasn't entirely working for Carter, we have to note that the hit for Cassius was ordered by someone else."
“I miss Cassius…” Elaine heard it loud and clear. The words coming out of Haze’s mouth, no mistaking it for a mere dream or hallucination. She knew it was real, because not even Haze could hide it nor make it up when he was deep in his subconsciousness. It was the truth. Even as Haze sobbed through it, she was far too shocked to notice. How? How could someone so unrelated and unknown before any of this knew Cassius – and even missed him, in the first place? What did she miss? She might appear indifferent against a man who was sobbing, crying without awareness, but she couldn’t waste this chance for that. So, like a loyal and calculating assistant that she was, a question followed, “Did you know Cassius before the night of his death?” Somehow, the sobs dispersed and Haze was clear in his reply, “Yes.” “How?” “…what a strange question.” “Why did you say that?” Instea