The Previous Night…
Jason just sat behind the steering wheel, waiting patiently for the event to end, and for his boss to come back out since it now seemed he had a new favorite. He'd asked Knox to accompany him inside. If Jason were to be in his shoes, he would not have felt this bored looking at the pretty women who flooded the evening. He knew why Daniil did that but was still finding it difficult to come to terms with it. What if a fight broke out in there? What if his boss was tempted into doing something that could blow his cover? Daniil wasn't clueless but still chose to keep him real close.
Just thinking about it made him exhausted and the aerated car suddenly felt stuffy. He hopped out. Leaning against the car instead, he watched more couples stroll in and out of the hotel. Thanks to where the car was parked, nothing disturbed this view. 'If I can't have these bitches, I can as well feed my eyes,' he mused.
The lust in his eyes as he watched the ladies in revealing clothes switched to confusion when he saw Daniil pace out the exit carrying Ashley in his arms. Ahead of them was Knox who already sprinted to the jeep and was holding the door open for them. 'What's going on?' he wondered, staying put while Daniil went to Ashley comfortably in the backseat before rushing to the guys standing near the car in the middle. (The three vehicles were parked in a straight line.)
Daniil was panicking. Why? Now he was curious.
Jason moved closer to them.
"Make sure you bring me a name before you come home. Find out who tried to drown her!" he heard Daniil order his colleagues.
Drown? Ashley?
"Bo…"
"Get in the car, Jason. We're leaving," he cut him off when he was just about to ask what was going on, and immediately trotted back to the jeep without waiting for a response.
"What happened?" he threw the question to his colleagues instead, getting concerned already.
"Apparently someone tried to drown his date," one of them spoke up after remaining silent for a while. They were equally stunned by what just happened. Daniil on tenterhooks for someone else was quite the sight.
~~~Present~~~
"So what did they find out?" Daniil asked, feigning ignorance.
"That was the first time I saw you lose your cool over someone who isn't your mom," he remarked still.
"Her mom gave her to me in one piece. What do you expect? I needed to do same," he excused but that wasn't convincing enough.
"Ohhh, so you acted out of sheer responsibility? You dived into the pool when you could have easily made Knox do it. And it was out of sheer responsibility? I see," he noted in a voice laced with sarcasm; the last part came off as a whisper.
He scoffed. "You should be a writer, Jason. Your imagination is intense." He paused. "Anyway, it'd do you a greater good if you'd stop imagining things. Ashley means nothing to me." The conviction in his voice dwindled with the second sentence as if he wasn't so sure anymore. Keeping the mug and turning to him, he asked: "What did they find out?"
Jason knew he was asking who tried to drown Ashley last night. "Sakura Yoshida." Daniil didn't look fazed. He simply sat on the edge of the bed, facing him with legs crossed. "You knew, huh?
"I just needed to confirm," he admitted.
"So what are you going to do about her?"
"Nothing," he answered blankly.
"You're gonna let her off the hook?" Jason sounded surprised for some reason.
"Do I have a reason not to?"
"She messed with Ashley."
His eyes darted. "I just said I have no feelings whatsoever for her. Why do you keep thinking otherwise?"
"Why then were eager to fish her out?"
"I was just curious. Besides, I had a speculation to confirm," he uttered in his defense.
"That wasn't what it looked like to me though." Jason shrugged when his eyes met Daniil's.
"What did it look like?"
"Ummm…," he strained, scratching the back of his head with a wily expression on his face. "So how do I put it? It looked to me as though you've been smitten completely by her."
He steadied his gaze into a glare, maybe to make him eat those words but as usual, Jason was the only one immune to his intimidating eyes. He just stared back staunchly. Daniil didn't like the fact that Jason normally told him the truth no matter how bitter it sounded but ironically, that was what pulled the duo together. Turned out that deep within him was a void created by all those who ostracized him, calling him a monster over the years; and he only wanted someone to view him differently. Daniil somehow felt secure after meeting the first person who wasn't afraid of him and didn't treat him like a monster. Usually, he loved inciting fear in others, but when it came to Jason, he was grateful to him who reminded him he was actually human.
Meanwhile, the staring competition was dragging on for too long and neither party was willing to back down yet.
"Let's tend to your wounds, shall we?" Jason tore the silence as well as his eyes from Daniil's casually then bent over to get the first aid kit placed in his drawer last night. Daniil would rather croak than let any of his maidservants touch him so Jason had to do it himself.
He gently took out the pain relief patches and then took out an ointment and began applying it to his injuries. They still looked sore and painful but Daniil would not flinch or grimace in pain.
"Does it not hurt?" Jason voiced his thoughts.
He shook his head in response.
Jason dressed all of his injuries and wrapped a bandage around where necessary.
"What?" Daniil asked cluelessly when Jason stopped out of the blue and just stared at him.
He tugged at his own shirt, signaling Daniil to take his off. There was a bandage around his chest beneath the shirt he was wearing. Jason had helped him put in on last night, noticing he had a chest injury and only wanted to re-inspect it.
Daniil scoffed when he eventually got the message.
"Once was enough, Jason. I don't appreciate sensitive areas of our skins coming in contact."
"I don't do guys, boss." He shrugged jovially. "Or should I perhaps call Ashley?" He added teasingly and brushed it aside almost at once when he noticed Daniil wasn't digging the joke. His ensuing snicker ceased, and the smile on his lips wore off when Daniil's reaction remained stoic. He then rearranged the first aid kit and placed it back neatly.
"I'll ask them to make breakfast for you," Jason said and turned around to leave when…
"Mia," Daniil blurted in hushed tones, compelling him to stop. "I met her today."
The room went tranquil for a while before Jason spoke up again. "Is it about that time?" he asked.
"She gets to celebrate her 20th birthday thanks to her boyfriend."