"Twenty thousand?!" Mia shouted in her apartment. "Bro, this is your first client, and you've already gotten 20k? That's so unfair!"
"How much did you get for your first client?" Callistus asked, sitting on her sofa.
"Five thousand. You're getting quadruple the amount I got, you lucky bastard," she joked. "At least you won't be in this gig for long. Graduated with a degree, must be great. I know you're going to have a great job and a great life, unlike a barista like me."
"Didn't you go to university?" Callistus recalled.
"I did, but no company wanted me. Anyway, she gave you less than three months to assassinate him. Did she send you any background information?"
Callistus took out his phone, showing a notification from the woman with a long list of information.
Callistus loaded Mia's FN SCAR-H PR rifle. It was late at night, and he lay flat on his stomach on top of another building, a kilometer away from the condo the woman had indicated. The man was still awake, flirting with another woman on the balcony. Callistus aimed through the rifle's scope, watching the man.
The client knew her husband had an AR-10 rifle in the condo because he liked to do illegal hunting for big cats. Earlier, as Callistus prepped the gun, he saw the man allow his new girlfriend to hold his rifle. Callistus smirked; the rifle he was using and the man's rifle used the same cartridge. It would look like the girlfriend had murdered him.
When the man came out onto the balcony for a smoke, Callistus aimed and fired, but the bullet missed, only leaving a scratch on the man's arm. The man looked in Callistus's direction, spotting the reflection from the scope's glass lens.
"Shit," Callistus mumbled, aiming again, but the man noticed.
The man pointed at Callistus before turning and running away. Callistus knew he had messed up. He packed up the rifle and called Mia as he ran to hide the gun.
"How did it go?" Mia asked through the phone. "Success?"
"I got caught!" Callistus yelled into the phone as he ran. "What do I do?"
"Did you shoot again?" Mia asked worriedly.
"No! I panicked! He's chasing me right now!"
Mia hung up as Callistus continued to run for his life. The man was quick, pushing people out of the way as Callistus slipped through the crowd like a lizard through cracks in a wall. Callistus threw the bag into an alley before sprinting away, but the man was now closer. The road was coming to an end, and Callistus had no choice but to cross.
"Bro!" Mia's voice called from across the double-lane road.
Never in a million years had he been happier to hear that voice.
"Look out!" she screamed.
Callistus turned to see the man he was supposed to assassinate towering over him. The man grabbed Callistus by the neck, choking him.
"It was you, wasn't it?!" he yelled.
Callistus was almost out of breath before kicking the man in the stomach, making him let go. He took a second to breathe, backing away with his hands over his head as the man kept pushing him until they were on the road.
"It wasn't me, I swear," Callistus lied.
"Oh hell yeah, it was you. I saw you clearly—" A gunshot interrupted everyone.
The man fell, revealing the girlfriend from the condo behind him, holding the rifle. Callistus stood there, unsure what to do as people screamed, running around the body and called the cops.
Callistus just wanted to turn and go home now but when he did and ran to Mia's car, a loud horn stopped him. Car lights shone brightly at him, and his eyes widened just before the car crashed into him, sending his body onto the windshield.
Medics were called, and he was taken to the hospital. The man didn't survive, and his girlfriend was arrested. Callistus survived but fell into a coma for almost two weeks and woke up with half of his memories gone. When his family members came to see him, he remembered them but not Mia. She blamed everything on herself, knowing it was her fault for bringing him into the gig.
—
"I just got into a car accident," Callistus said. "Some random drunk driver put me into a coma."
"And when you woke up…?" Ivan mumbled.
"I lost my memories."
"I apologize if this was a personal matter for you and for me asking about your situation. It must have been hard for you to forget your loved ones and the life you spent your entire life building."
"Yeah," Callistus nodded before looking at Ivan with confusion. "How did you know I like to live my life to the fullest?"
Ivan's heart stopped for a second, but he composed himself and replied, "You sound like my old friend. They, too, lived their life to the fullest and always dragged me into it."
"Well, how are they now?" Callistus' eyes shined, eager to know who this person was.
Ivan smiled as he looked at Callistus. "We lost contact after I moved away, but now I'm back and hope to meet them soon."
Not long after, Ivan gave Callistus his new assignment.
"I remember you saying you forgot half of your studies, so I thought this job would be suitable: bookkeeping. But I finished most of it, I just need you to transfer everything here into the system " Ivan smiled as he handed Callistus a thick book.
"I need to type all of that?" Callistus asked, wide-eyed at the sight of the hefty volume.
"I think two days should be enough for you, by Sunday evening," Ivan said. "Our next auction is in five days. This is from our previous auction a month ago. Unfortunately, our previous bookkeeper resigned."
"I think I know why," Callistus mumbled under his breath.
"What?" Ivan heard him, but Callistus quickly shook it off.
"If it's done on time, you should be able to attend the auction," Ivan continued.
"Are you going?" Callistus asked, curiosity tinged with a bit of hope.
"I'll see. Why are you asking?" Ivan raised an eyebrow. "Do you want me to go with you?"
"No! It was just—"
"No? Then why did you even ask if you didn't want to see me?" Ivan teased, a playful smile on his face.
Callistus blushed and gave up trying to explain, making Ivan laugh. Ivan then took the time to teach Callistus how to key in the right information into the proper columns before leaving him to learn on his own.
"You've changed," Star remarked to Ivan later.