A few hours later, at a certain bar, Antonio chugged another shot down his throat. The burning sensation struck from his mouth to his intestines. Still, the horrible feeling didn't stop him from ordering more drinks. One drink after another, he continued drinking down in sorrow. The bitter taste in his mouth only worsened.
By the time he raised his hand in the air for another order, his arm plopped down on the counter motionlessly. He was dead drunk, mumbling incomprehensible words. Lia brought a glass of water over and sat next to him.
"Here's the money for the drinks." She handed the waiter some bills including the tips for his service. When the bartender turned around with change in his hands, Lia and Antonio were both gone. He counted the money that she tipped him and it was much higher than what he deserved. He quickly put the money in his pocket and attended to other customers.
Outside the bar, Lia staggered with the drunk man leaning his weight on her. Luckily, she always worked out for missions, which made it slightly less difficult to carry him towards her car. After helping him rest in the passenger seat, she adjusted the chair for him to sleep in a comfier position.
After what seemed to be forever, she managed to buckle his seatbelt and started driving a few blocks down the road. In a few minutes, she reached their destination and helped him out of the car. Along the way to her condo, he muttered more gibberish to her ears.
"We're almost there. Just hold on for a bit, Antonio." She whispered, pressing the floor button on the elevator. Once the elevator doors opened, she carried him out of the elevator and walked towards her condo.
"Phew! Never knew you were this heavy until I had to carry you. Thank goodness I had my car or else I wouldn't know what to do with you. I might've needed to hire wrestlers to carry you back to my condo and spend another stash of cash on them." She shook her head while wiping the sweat off her forehead.
"Nn...Liars.." He yanked his legs on her bed, shoving the folded blankets at the end of the bed to the floor. Sighing, she picked up her blankets and took his shoes off. Then, she rolled up her sleeves, went to the restroom, and filled a bucket up with hot water. Taking a fresh cloth from her cabinet, she soaked it in hot water and twisted it.
She sat by the edge of her bed and lightly dabbed the cloth against his face. It took her a little over half an hour to wipe his arms and feet. Since he didn't vomit, all she needed to do was help him loosen his tie. Once everything was done, she unfolded a thin blanket over his body.
"Now that I'm finished with you, it's time for me to clean myself." She tied her hair into a bun and went to wash up.
Forty minutes later, the bathroom door opened and steam escaped from it. Lia stepped out in a robe with specks of water on her neck and a towel in her hand. Water dripped down from strands of her hair onto her skin. Her eyes landed on the man who was sleeping deeply on her bed. The blanket that was covering his body earlier was now lying on the floor.
She frowned at the sight of such a messy sleeper. After wiping the back of her neck, she tossed the used towel into the laundry bin at the corner of her room. Then, she walked to her bed and picked up the blanket. She waved the towel and wiggled it a few times to get rid of any possible dust on it. Carefully, she adjusted his sleeping posture and covered him with the blanket again.
His brows crinkled and his lips angled downwards. Gently, she massaged the creased areas between his eyebrows. "Antonio, I guess only at this moment could I gather up my courage to tell you what I have in my mind. There are so many things that I want to say and wished to say to you, but can't. You probably have no idea about any of the things I'm about to tell you, but it's okay. You can continue sleeping and I'll pretend that you are consciously listening to me."
She exhaled a deep breath and cautiously held his hand in hers. While playing around with his sleeves, she lowered her head and started speaking her mind. "I've done many things behind your back. Most of them are silly and I admit it myself. You always tell me to not listen to your father, but do I really have the choice to disobey his words? Ever since I was young, I've been taken in by Master Liam and he raised me to how I am today."
"He trained me since I was a kid and you probably never knew what he asked me to help him do. I've never mentioned it to you and don't plan on telling you either. Whether I choose to leave Master Liam's side or disobey his words, both routes would lead to my death. So, I chose to risk it. I chose to stay by a clueless man's side and throw hints at him when I perform missions."
"Let me tell you a secret. Ever since the first time we met each other, I've been mesmerized by this silly boy. I followed him around, called him my bro for years, and gradually fell for him without realizing it. Despite the pain of being stuck between helping this boy's father in obtaining whatever goals and missions he had while being this boy's friend, I chose to suck it up. Perhaps even this boy hadn't realized what I've done and why I've done certain things, but I still did it. I'll continue doing the same thing for him."
Tears drizzled down her cheeks as she continued playing with the cuff on his sleeve. "Don't look at me and see me standing so confidently in front of you all the time, I'm actually very scared. I'm not afraid of dying in your father's hands. What I'm afraid of is that one day, that boy that I've been following around would despise me and hate me."
She swallowed the lump in her throat and breathed heavily, trying to minimize her sniffle noises. "Aren't you curious by now who that boy is? That's right. The boy is you. The boy I've gone from having a puppy love to falling deeply for is you. But I never had the guts to tell you any of this. Just like that, we've had countless arguments over my tasks. We've had endless talks about the same topic. And until today, you finally despised me. I saw it in your eyes. Your disappointment. But you won't know how much it really hurts in my heart to see you like that."