"Yerevan Group is surprisingly just a typical business company, but the boss uses the structure of the Mafia to make the underworld transactions easier. We can't take it lightly, though, as they've been existing for decades and having a good reputation among other Families. They need various licenses to keep the transactions going, and that's exactly why they're in such a good term with some public officials who enjoy easy money. And these are by far the tax frauds throughout the country they've been manipulating. Money laundering is a common technique to hide illegal gains, but it won't be easy to investigate for now because they run a casino, for gambling is one of the effective ways to clean illicit funds. Casino and drugs are usually connected, but unexpectedly drugs are prohibited both in the family and the company. The reason they're so against drugs is probably that they leave a trace, it's easy to obtain information from them, and it will be hard to get away from the system once the police have the evidence. I've asked Anna to decipher some difficult codes. For the next step, the Lieutenant will lead you where to go. Is there something you don't understand? Aakash?"
I called, but the man in front of me looked so engrossed with the files I just handed over to him. Or rather, he was staring at them vacantly.
The hotel room was lit in a lamp-light glow, electric rays spreading as petals upon the walls. The colors spoke of the desert; sun-kissed walls and ivory floor. It was a three-star hotel. The reason I chose an average hotel to meet was that I didn't want to make it as if I tried so hard, but not too cold I chose an unpleasant place.
It'd been four days since I notified my organization to arrange our meeting, and this day had finally come. Aakash appeared just exactly as I asked him to be; a business acquaintance who is a bit older.
"Aakash, did you hear me?" I managed to call softly for the second time, but he was still unresponsive. "Aakash!"
As I yelled in a higher tone, Aakash flinched harshly like a deer in the woods almost toppling over the cliff when I grabbed his arm. For a moment, I felt sorry, but then I frowned, much to my irritation trying to control my temper to see his flustered face.
Aakash is someone who will never let his focus slip loose when it comes to doing the mission. For him to be as glazed as now, there must be a reason, and I need to know about it.
"Your mind isn't currently here. Say it," I demanded, crossing my arms above my chest and locking him in a serious gaze.
After I caught him off guard, he felt embarrassed about what he did. Looking away, he hesitated at first, but opened his mouth in the end.
"Senior, can I ask you something selfish?" He started, fidgeting and still with doubt that could be heard. "No, please let me ask you something selfish just this time," he rephrased. "No matter what happens, don't change."
He finally returned my eyes, this time, taking a different view of me. As I listened, I tried to process his words one by one, making them visible to my mind, until I realized it was way a lot easier to just ask him.
"What do you mean?" I wanted to hear his explanation.
"Don't be other than the Senior Angelo I know," he tried to put it simply so I could understand. "This is just a mission. Of course, I know it's very important, but you don't live there forever. One day, you'll come back to us, to where you belong. And I just want you to know that you're not alone."
The pair of eyes in front of mine was unwavering and I was shown how every word spoken came together to form his emotion. It created a picture I saw in an instant and comprehended with full depth.
From what he said, I could tell he was thinking so deeply, already with a strategy that's several moves ahead of what I'm capable of. And in his words, there was attentiveness, a concern that was so quick that probably, for him, it was natural.
"Good grief... Knowing that all my efforts talking are going to waste now really pisses me off," I scratched my hair, shifting to the main point - why we are meeting now - before the situation became more awkward.
Aakash immediately righted his stance, ready for my nagging.
"Even though I'm being serious here, what are you thinking about?" I claimed his responsibility.
"But, I'm also being serious," he protested. "The way you chose a hotel of all places... You're not the type of person to go to such a place, unless you're planning something... Something that might be dangerous..."
"I've been strolling around the underworld for the past six years, what kind of places do you think I've visited?" I refused to grant his notion.
"This and that are totally two different things," he defended.
"How did you even know they're different? Have you ever gone through what I have?"
"I haven't, but I-"
"Aakash, do you not understand the situation we are in right now?" I cut him in, my tone was firm to overpower his voice.
This argument couldn't be any crappier, and it was when I knew my attempt to make our conversation relevant was useless. There was a silence that was unavoidable, a gaping void that separated us.
Aakash and I might be standing close to each other, but unless I make the same contribution to free the space between us, he will be unreachable.
I scowled - I didn't hide my emotions, but then he began to look like he was about to break, so I breathed, sparing us a moment to take in the fresh air.
"Have I changed?" I asked shortly, giving out the subject he wanted to talk about.
He only replied with a nod, giving me no choice but to proceed to the next question.
"How?"
After a moment, Aakash still didn't react, most likely because he wasn't sure of the answer. I sighed before continuing.
"Listen, Aakash. Let's put the stuff about me aside, okay? We don't have much time left. Only God knows when Yerevan would realize the abnormality in the underworld before they eventually counterattack-"
"At this point, someone will die, right?" Aakash cut my argument, the way he said it got my chest throbbed. "You know someone will die, but how can you be this calm..."
His voice came out softly, yet slicing rather than flowing in the air. He even smiled, a smile that was sour, in the edge of bitterness. It was painful to see his gravity-drawn shoulders dropping as if they weighted some burden they were unable to carry.
"You've become someone that I don't know and it frustrates me, Senior."
Aakash mumbled absent-mindedly, the briny water rolling down his cheeks without meaning to. There was no longer the gentle gaze I used to admire. His eyes were shaking with anger and much more of desperation.
Words left me. I knew the people in my organization might have been suspicious of my plan - and the fact that I didn't fully tell them about it, but I didn't know it would be this hurtful to be confronted.
"H-hey... Aakash-"
Aakash stopped me when I was about to reach him, brushing his face with his hands. This situation couldn't be more complicated, but I was incapable to lessen the trigger, and I hated it so much.
"Is what I was thinking true, Senior?" Aakash had tried to calm himself, but then my turn.
"I'm indeed going to need a scapegoat, but they don't have to die. Needlessly," I convinced. "The Mafia takes murder very seriously. They don't just go kill people so easily."
There was a silence again, but less awkward than before.
"I'll believe in you, but you have to console me," Aakash looked away timidly and I watched him in confusion. He stepped closer toward me, still with a visible sulky face.
"What?" I asked impatiently.
Before I was even told the answer, Aakash grabbed my shoulders and then he pulled me, his build pressing against mine. At that moment when he wrapped his arms around me, I blinked, having difficulty to process the truth.
"This?" I shrieked in disbelief. "It's hard to comfort you when you're this big."
"My size has nothing to do with it," he balked.
"Of course, it has!"
Nonchalant of what I said, Aakash snuggled in my shoulder, pulling a fraction of me tighter, as if hugging me was simply not enough. Slowly and hesitantly, I reciprocated his embrace.
He is warm with such a masculine smell, was all I was thinking about. For my plan, I could have just asked him to spray his perfume all over me so that I would smell exactly like him, but since it'd been a while since I'd hugged someone intimate, someone familiar, someone I knew so well for so long, I gave up the struggle.
"Aakash, let go of me now," I told softly.
"Are you feeling uncomfortable, like pain or anything in your body?" Aakash asked out of the blue.
"I'm not," I replied truthfully.
"Really?"
When he asked again, I didn't answer right away as I sensed something strange in both his speech and attitude.
Is there something he wants to make sure of?
"Really, so you can let go of me now-"
"Five more minutes," Aakash cut me in as his arms became stronger around my frame. "I feel like doing my best from now on, so I need some booster."
"What?" I snapped. "Don't give me such a lame excuse, you punk! You didn't even listen to what I was saying! Besides, you stink like a pervert!"
"So mean! How could you say that when you're the one who told me to use such a perfume-"
KNOCK!! KNOCK!! KNOCK!!
Trimming down our quarrel was the door sound. Alert, both Aakash and I let go of each other, our eyes immediately shifted to the source.
I was the first to see by the peephole and found out it was room service. I glanced at Aakash, confirming whether he called one. He shook his head.
Without lessening my guard, I opened the door.
"Pardon my intrusion, Sir. I'm bringing the wine."
The waiter was young, wearing a typical black and white uniform. He had one of those smiles, and such a calm way of speaking, he set the right ambience for the meal to come.
Above the silver tray on wheels he pushed was a bottle of brand new wine, half-buried in a bucket filled with sparkling ice cubes, and two tall glasses were neatly standing beside it.
"We didn't order anything," I told in confusion.
"Oh? That's strange," he checked his note to make sure before explaining. "There was a call from room number three-one-nine about ten minutes ago, ordering a bottle of red wine and two glasses."
"This is room number two-one-nine," I coldly told, though a bit relieved that the mistake was cleared.
The waiter fixed his thick-lensed glasses and looked at the numbers on my door closely, almost frowning.
"Oh my God! Please forgive me! I'm so sorry, Sir!"
"What's wrong?" Aakash showed up behind me when he heard the noise.
"Just a little misunderstanding," I shortly explained.
"Please forgive me for the discomfort, Sir! May you have a nice stay! Excuse me!"
The server boy had disappeared from my sight before I even closed my door. Getting suspicious over the situation, I shoved Aakash by the door to let him and myself in. I leaned against the closed door after locking it.
"Is there something wrong?" Aakash wanted to know what I was thinking.
"Something felt off with that waiter," I let him know my hunch. "He doesn't smell like kitchen or bar at all, like he's never been there."
From his reaction, I knew Aakash didn't catch what I did as he only saw that waiter for a very brief moment.
Mistaking the room numbers does happen all the time. The waiter was young, he might have been a new employee, but...
What if... Just, what if...
Shit! Getting out of here now would look intentional, wouldn't it? Should I stay longer? But, I don't have much time...
"Old habits die hard," Aakash said, pulling my hand away and it baffled me. "You tend to bite your thumb every time you're anxious."
Unbeknownst to me, I appeared to do just as he said and the fact that he stopped me surprised me as much.
I didn't remember when and where our conversation stopped, I just realized what I was doing until Aakash barged in to trim away my thoughts. I didn't know he was watching that much.
"Are you doing it while going undercover? That would harm your disguise, don't you think?"
He reminded me - although, I never did that, anyway - while caressing my reddening fingertip to relieve the pain.
"Here, you can bite my finger instead," he offered his thumb to my mouth and I almost jolted backward.
"No way. That's gross," I walked past him and went to the bed.
"So mean!"
Undisturbed with his whine behind my back, I turned the television on and then pushed him to the couch, making him sit. He looked at me in bewilderment.
"Can you stay like this and not make any noise? I'm going to the bathroom for an hour," I asked as I rushed to my destination.
"Oka- What? An hour?!" He rose, almost jumping off of his position.
"Don't you dare get close to this door!"
I threatened him before slamming the bathroom door shut and locking it from the inside.
"Senior, is your stomach okay..."