"Huh?" Leo turned around and looked at him, realising she was clinging to Argon with her hand wrapped tightly around his neck. His white and black hair falling too closely on her nose making her eyes widened, horrified at the sight of his face so close to hers, and she pushed Argon away, running out of the kitchen through the space beside him.
"You did all this because of a cat? What type of man is scared of a cat?" Argon said, turning to look at her with utter disdain.
"This type of man!" she pointed at herself without any shame. "I am scared of cats because they are filthy selfish creatures. They will eat you if they feel like it and are only by your side because you feed them!" she said angrily.
Argon's eyebrows lifted, and he turned his head side to side as if he had heard the unheardable "Don't you dare talk like that about my cat!"
"Well then you should not talk about me being any less of a man just because I am scared of a cat!" she replied angrily. Though she was not a man, she felt offended by Argon's remark and had to defend her pride.
Argon bared his teeth and gave her a nasty look before turning towards Chess. He crouched down and ever so affectionately called to it, making Leo shiver. "Chess, come on. Let's go. There's an ugly person who seems to be offended by your presence," he said, rolling his head around. Leo, still standing her ground, watched them bitterly.
It took a long while, but Chess didn't come to Argon, who remained crouching on the floor. He seemed a little embarrassed now that Chess was ignoring him like that. The sound of the water boiling in the kitchen reached Leo, but she seemed too preoccupied with the fact that the cat wasn't interested in Argon at all, not even after how affectionately he spoke. She almost laughed, covering her face with her hand, and thought inwardly, 'This cat is shattering this man's ego. I like this.'
Argon noticed her mocking gaze, making his face stiffen. The kitchen was open, and she could see the cat completely ignoring Argon and staring at Leo with its dilated pupils.
'Why are you looking at me, you ugly beast?' Leo muttered internally, watching the cat closely. Suddenly, she noticed a weird resemblance between Argon and the cat, their hair colours matching and not to mention those blue eyes. 'Hah! Did he buy the cat as a matching outfit set? Such a showoff,' she scoffed, rolling her eyes. For a moment, she had forgotten herself, remembering the title of the biggest showoff she had once proudly carried as Viviana, parading it across continents while indulging in elaborate purchases.
"Looks like the cat isn't interested in you, Boss," she remarked, emphasising the last word. "Turns out I might be right about the selfish part." She pulled her lips into a thin line.
"Shut it!" he snapped.
"Why? You don't like to hear the truth? Too bad. I only speak the truth." Leo clicked her tongue and shook her head sideways. "And it also seems that you'll have to make your tea yourself because, you see, I can't go inside." She pointed at Chess, who sat like a decoration piece on the counter.
Argon slowly got up, watching her face turn into a satisfying grin. As he began to part his lips to say something, he stepped into the kitchen, only to slip on the water that had dripped off Leo's soaking wet shoes, causing him to fall onto the hard, cold marble floor, hitting his head with a sickening thud.
Leo's eyes widened in shock as she saw Argon's eyes lose focus, his body going limp, and his eyes slowly closing, passing out right before her leaving her stunned because everything had happened in a flash of a second leaving her with no time to think.
Under the dark and gloomy sky on a drenched golf course, Magnus stood under the shade of a black umbrella held by his men, ensuring he remained dry. His neatly buttoned suit and perfectly tied hair, with just a few sharp strands resting on his face, contrasted starkly with the stormy weather. His serious gaze was concentrated, like that of a predator keeping its eyes on its prey, his hand tightened around the gold club that he had lifted to a certain height about to swing; it gleamed in the thunder.
Beneath his shiny shoe was the neck of a man struggling to breathe, his nose bleeding into the wet grass below. The man's painful sniffles blended with the rumbling of the clouds above, his desperate gasps swallowed by the storm. No one would hear him even if he screamed for his life. He barely moved, the golf ball pressed against his temple shifting with his slightest movements, causing Magnus's anger to simmer with every tremble.
"You know why I brought you here, lad?" Magnus asked, his voice calm and chilling as he swung the club down. The club struck the ball on the man's temple, sending it flying into the air. A gust of wind blew past Magnus's eye, the force of the swing narrowly missing his face. The ball disappeared into the night, and the man nearly lost his eye if Magnus had slightly missed.
"I-I don't! Please!" the man begged, shaking.
"Stop twitching!" Magnus said coldly. "Answer the question I asked."
"N-No. Please tell me," the man pleaded.
"Tell me... Where were you on the night of the 8th of November?" Magnus asked slowly, his voice low and threatening.
"The 8th? I was—"
The man paused, his face holding a weird expression as if he knew very well what Magnus wanted to ask him about but couldn't bring himself to confess. "I did my shift and I went home. Nothing else."
"Nothing else, you say?" Magnus repeated, looking towards the wide expanse of the ground. One of the men standing behind him leaned in to place another ball on the man's temple.