8:37 PM
Los Angeles
December
5 days before Christmas...
(Warning: Mentions of blood and abuse)
"Sir Cashmere...", Noel called out to Leon, they were sitting outside the balcony beside his bedroom, Leon has felt discomfort around him, he could tell by how this morning he told him to keep their distance between each other, had to be outside every room he was in, and ignored him all day.
He found out it was because someone told him that he was a hacker and could get through every single thing he had hidden under him and bring it out to light. That person was Julian Castellano, how pathetic.
Noel used to work for Descend for two and a half years, he was a spy for three months before officially becoming a bodyguard for Gabriel. Gabriel found a huge friendship bond between each other, usually hanging out and having a good time. But after the death of his family, he completely changed. He became cold and ignorant towards him, with everyone around him.
He became evil, a monster to everyone he crossed paths with. He found himself killing every person who didn't give him what he wanted, sometimes he would kill innocent souls for fun. He killed people who had nothing to do with anything dangerous, just stab them in the back until they died, and laugh out loud at their weak bodies.
He was dangerous, so Noel wanted to leave at that rate. Noel wondered at the time what did he needed to do in order to stop him. He found out about the plan of his, the one that would change the lives of the mafia forever, the Blood Pool, or the Miami Massacre that happened three years ago.
He found himself so shocked and stunned to want to kill strangers for the fun of it, Noel was devastated to want to participate in such a wreck.
He was desperate to get out, he planned himself an escape plan to leave the mafia group for good. He decided to share every single piece of intel from Gabriel's files and conversations to the owner of EXCEED in hopes they would help him, to W.I.N. He never knew that only step would change his entire life in one spin, never. His plan took a long and painful turn, he was shattered inside.
W.I.N got the information, and Noel wanted to make a deal towards him to escape out of that mess. In return, he wanted W.I.N to help him escape so he can move out of the country to Colombia, so he could live his happy life. W.I.N accepted the deal but betrayed him after a few seconds of making the decision. He told Gabriel that he got the intel he was planning from Noel, and he wanted to intervene.
Gabriel never thought Noel would betray him considering they used to get along, so it got him frustrated. He had no choice but to accept, knowing EXCEED is the most richest mafia group in the world and could kill him in less than an hour.
He told him he wanted to capture someone going to Miami, so he requested for him to capture the target because he got intel of the target being there that day.
When Gabriel found Noel, he later was almost beaten to death before a guy came to the rescue, Sergio Klein, Parker's father.
He found him dumped near a garbage bin to let him bleed to death, he brought him inside and took care of him for some time.
Afterwards, he was brought back to Descend, finding out that Vincent's wife divorced him to be with him, he rejected her in front of Vincent's face.
He was there during the massacre to help them since his plan failed, but at that point, when he heard the mission was over, he ran towards Sergio asking him for help. Afterwards, he hid in his place for some time before asking him for money in return, Noel gave him all the money he stole from EXCEED to pay him.
He went through a lot of suffering and misfortune to get back on his feet again after leaving the mafia business for a year or so. Until now, he was pushed into joining into chaos once more.
"What is it, Noel?", Leon asked him, for the first time he didn't ignore him at all.
"Are you ok being around me knowing I come from a dark place?", Noel asked him directly to his point, he wanted to know. "What's with the question?", Leon frowned at him before staring at him deeply, inside of his mind he felt shocked. He was being read like a book in a wall of glass.
"I used to work for Gabriel, and I messed him up trying to get away from him. I did anything and everything, but I got harmed along the way. Now since a lot of people know about that, you might think that I can betray you like I did to him. I wanted to clarify that, I don't have the intention of doing that", Noel confessed to him, surprisingly Leon was listening to what he was saying.
He stopped for a bit, Leon hummed at him to continue.
"Well, umm...I hope that we don't have any troubles along the way or anything since that'll not end up well. I want for us to be peaceful until the contract ends, then we can both go our ways. I don't want to harm you or anyone", Leon stayed quiet for a moment, he scoffed softly.
"Hey...I did have something against you but now I don't know anymore. If you're going to be loyal towards me, then might as well keep your word, ok?", Leon asked of him before leaning his arms against the rails around the balcony, he didn't know whether he was being nice or being nice under a skin of evil.
"I will keep my word, Sir Cashmere. I won't say 'I promise' since I don't know the changes in life, one day we can be friends, the next, we can be enemies", Noel replied to him, respectfully.
"He is evil, I know. He did something I will never forget at all, something so cruel. I rather not share about it but he did harm me in the worst way possible. I want to be settled down calmly to not cause anything harmful towards you. I hope we get along well, not as friends but as bodyguard and boss", Noel explained to him, politely. He's trying to be nice or he's just faking? Leon doesn't know which one it is, but it sounded really deep and considerate.
"I do apologize if I made you uncomfortable at first, I could tell you didn't want me there yet somehow you can't fire me because I'm under your family's orders to do this. I apologize for everything in this case, Sir Cashmere", Noel began apologizing for making him feel threatened by his presence.
°~8:48 PM~°
"I know I ignored you all day but I never thought you would take it to heart. Don't overlook things now, I'm just like that. Thank you for your apology though, it sounds like you really don't want to fight against nobody to begin with", Leon replied to him before looking out the beautiful view under him.
"But in reality, do you want me to have mercy on you or what?", Leon decided to tease him a little.
"Maybe I do or not, Sir Cashmere", Noel teased him back, giving a tiny smile before looking back at the trees that surround him. Leon realized that he catches on with someone's energy quickly, so it threw him off guard.
"I always wondered though, how are old are you?", Leon decided to change the topic for no reason at all, maybe he did.
"I'm about to turn 30 this year, Sir Cashmere", Noel told him calmly, Leon was so confused at his response, he looks like he's about to turn 25.
"What?", Leon furrowed his brows slightly, Noel nodded his head confirming he's in fact...29?! "Wait so you're older than me?", Leon asked him, Noel laughed softly. "I'm turning old, no doubt about that", he replied to him. "I mean not really, you're only two years older than me", Leon pulled out a box of cigarettes and a black lighter before lighting one up and taking a small drag before exhaling it into the air.
"I'll tell you one thing, you're not a bad person, you respect me and everyone around us. You're more like mysterious, not letting anyone under your skin so easily. I think you would also notice that of me", Leon was right, they both somehow had that in common, they were both mysterious, but unlike himself, Noel was really social and polite towards people.
"Right, Sir Cashmere", Leon inhaled a bit of smoke before exhaling it, he extended his hand out to Noel offering him the cigarette. Noel stared down for a moment before slowly taking it from his hand, taking a long drag before exhaling.
"I'm going to excuse myself for 8 days to see my mother in Mexico for the holidays, if that's ok with you, Sir Cashmere" he passed the cigarette back to him.
°~8:56 PM~°
"Oh, I can't stop you from traveling, you know? So go ahead. It's in the contract anyways", Leon responded to him before breaking the lit up cigarette in half and throwing it out. He lost the mood of smoking a cigarette, he wanted to go back to the room but before that he wanted to let Noel know he appreciates his efforts of trying to be nice to him but he doesn't know whether to believe his word or follow his usual another path of distrust and ignorance.
He went up towards him with his arms open before suddenly he wrapped his arms around him gently, Noel almost jolted in surprise, he decided to softly pat his back. Leon traced his fingers slowly to his upper back, Noel felt quite worried of his next move. Leon could feel Noel's heartbeat from their chests touching, he felt nervous.
"Umm, Sir Cashmere. It's time for me to go", Noel remarked, awkwardly. "Thank you for your word, appreciate it", Leon patted him on his back before unleashed his arms around to open the door for Noel.
"Thank you, Sir Cashmere", Noel replied to him softly before walking inside his bedroom and opening the bedroom door leading to the hallway going for the exit.
Leon went behind him before noticing Parker walking towards their direction.
°~9:17 PM~°
"Leon, I want to spend time with you for Christmas", he called out to him, he ran up to hug him tightly around his waist. "Come on, let me stay", Parker pleaded him with as he looked at him with puppy eyes, he's like a kid pleading for something they want. "Fuck you...", Leon replied to him harshly before picking him up around his arms, Parker's legs wrapped around him as if he was a sloth sleeping on a tree. "Hehe...Thank you", Parker whispered in his ear, Leon averted his gaze towards Noel.
"Want to babysit him?", Leon asked him, jokingly. "I'm fine just taking of myself, Sir Cashmere", Noel decided to laugh, looking as was Parker snickering at his response.
"Don't be a bitch now, Noel. I could just walk up to you and choke you for saying that...", Parker warned him playfully, Noel wanted to say something but he decided to go quiet before going towards the garage door.
°~9:25 PM~°
"See you next year!", Noel waved at him, Leon looked at him before waving at him back. He only had Parker and his daughter to spend Christmas with, what an unexpected expierence. Parker chuckled joyfully before he kissed him on his cheek out of the blue. "Let's go...", Leon got his message, he wasn't in the mood to fuck someone, so he decided to ignore his request and go to the kitchen.
"Come on...", Parker begged him, playing with Leon's hair softly. "Get off of me...", Leon commanded him, Parker following his orders. He went inside the fridge before getting a few cookies from the jar. He placed them on top of a plate before walking up to him, he went over the kitchen island and sat on top of it before taking a small bite of an oatmeal cookie.
"Fuck you, Seung. You're no fun..."Parker insulted him before sitting next to him. "That's all your small ass can say...", Leon replied to him before taking another bite. "Why are you bullying me because I'm 5'6? I'm short as fuck but you don't always have to use that against me...", Parker stated to him harshly before looking at him and smiling joyfully.
"Remember what I told you a long time ago? When I said I wanted to have sex with you on your 17th birthday, and we did? And like we dated each other for only three months before I cheated on you with different women?", Leon almost thought he was dead for a moment considering he still remembered those events so vividly, it actually stunned him.
"I do, what about it?", he asked before taking another cookie from his plate. "I cheated on you because I thought you fell out of love for me and I wanted to get revenge on you. But that wasn't the case, so like I want to say sorry for that, man. Only if we talked things out, we could've been married on the altar years ago", Leon tried his best to not roll his eyes, but his friend had a point he couldn't argue with.
"But you did anyways, and now here you are, telling me about our memories. Talking about memories, remember when I hit you with a broom stick so hard you needed to get stitches?", Leon decided to pull another memory out of his mind, Parker and him have been friends since they were literal toddlers, they have so much fun being together, they were inseparable. He has gotten really distant towards him nowadays, but when Parker visited him, he felt that bond they still had together.
"Shit, forgot about that. Umm, what about when we first made out with eachother in front of that stranger? And when I broke my arm and you served me breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday? And that one time we got caught stealing and got arrested? ", Parker said more memories from his head.
"When I cried to you one time to take me to your house since my arm and face was bleeding because Adrik punched and broke a bottle of alcohol at me?", Leon questioned him, Parker wrapped an arm around him before kissing his cheek again. "Don't get too serious now, Seung...", Parker replied to him politely, he rests his head on Leon's shoulder.
"Stop calling me that", Leon warned him, Parker simply gazed at him. "When are you going to move on?", Parker spun the topic around before slowly stealing the last cookie from his plate and taking a bite out of it.
Leon averted his gaze at the sudden question, when is he going to move on?
"I...I don't know", Leon looked down at the white, glistening floor. He knew what he meant by that, he couldn't get her out of his head no matter how hard he tried. He loved her so deeply that when she went away in a blink of an eye , he realized he never knew who he was.
Love only changed him, when it was gone, he had slowly evolved to a antisocial person, he wouldn't get out of his room for days without end, wouldn't eat nor sleep well, had a drug addiction, and became more aggressive towards society.
He did anything to make himself believe she wasn't dead, that he still had her in his arms, it was until now that he realized to stop feeling so afraid of the world, he had to face his fears in front of his eyes.
He couldn't hide himself forever in a room to believe she was alive, he had to accept that she was already dead. Nothing could change that, nothing. Not the drugs, alcohol, sex, isolation would bring her back to the living world.
"Leon...don't make yourself suffer like this" Parker said to him, Leon felt the glooming aura around trying to get under his bones.
"She's dead...It is what it is. No one can bring her back to life, right? Not even when you killed him?", Leon's eyes flew open, his body froze for few moments before slowly turning his head around to see Parker having a serious look on his face.
"You killed him, huh? Raven of the Unknown?", Parker questioned him while taking the last bite of the stolen cookie, he knew.
"Wha...what?", Leon asked, in a defeated tone. "You did, don't lie to me. I'm not mad at you, I knew you were going to be the first person to kill that man", he chuckled softly.
"I did...", Leon confessed to him, he got off the counter. "If that's what everybody wants,, I'll forget about her", Leon stated firmly before going towards the door.
"Now stop talking about serious shit and let's go to bed...", Leon turned around to look at him.
"Ha...never thought you asked", Parker slowly walked up towards him before leaving off to go take a nice and cozy nap.