[Those who want to support me, you can go here https://buymeacoffee.com/oishielmo Thank you^^]
— —
The creak of doors opening slowly reached Kenan and Freya's ears. Each door was opened one by one, along with the slow steps of a pair of feet on the floor.
Inside the restroom, Kenan could hear Freya gulping down harsh saliva. Meanwhile, his attention is fixed tensely on the toilet door. The woman's fingers holding his arm trembled, holding Kenan still.
The pair of boots moved slowly, getting closer and closer to the toilet cubicle where Freya and Kenan were hiding.
There were two special restrooms in the Japanese restaurant. Women's and Men's. Both restrooms are separated by a hallway leading to the garbage disposal at the back of the restaurant. Each restroom had four toilet cubicles and three sinks. Kenan and Freya were hiding in the left end of the call toilet. Meanwhile, the mysterious person carrying the gun opened each restroom starting from the right.
The door creaked. The man had already opened three rooms, leaving only one room left. That was the room where they were hiding.
Right in front of the closed door, the man stood. Kenan could see a pair of black boots through the crack in the toilet door. Like Freya, Kenan gulped roughly. Sweat poured down his temples. Hiding from danger. Silence from fear. This kind of thing had happened to Kenan before. In fact, it was almost close to frequent. However, this time, the fear that invaded his heart and mind was so hard to shake off.
Why, Kenan asked himself, was he so scared right now? Was it because his problems kept piling up, becoming a burden on his mind and heart. To the point of causing too much anxiety.
The man was there, standing in front of the door. If the door had been open, something dangerous would have been pointed at him. No, Freya was here. Perhaps if she hadn't come in time, he couldn't have guessed if he would still make it out without a scratch on his body.
From outside, the man was already grasping the handle of the toilet door, ready to open at any moment. Just as he was about to push, he felt a strong pull from inside. He let go of the fingers grasping the knob. While the eyes behind the sunglasses blinked, his mouth fell silent as a pair of brown eyes stared at him sharply
"What? Never seen a woman enter a men's restroom?" asked Freya, her fingers still grasping the door knob with the door opened as wide as her body, so she couldn't see inside the restroom.
The man squinted his eyes.
"The ladies' room was full," Freya said. She didn't need to explain what caused the ladies' room to be full. Almost everyone knew that women would take one or two of their friends to the restroom and perform a ritual while staring into the mirror. Although not all of them do.
"Sorry about that," replies the man looking into the toilet through the top of Freya's head, since she's only up to his neck.
Freya did not reply. Instead, she just cast a cold glare, even after the man turned away and tightened his leather jacket to cover the dangerous object he was carrying.
A heavy sigh escaped the woman's mouth. Her throat—which felt dry, like it was suffocating despite her constant attempts to swallow and try to regulate her labored breathing—slowly disappeared as her heartbeat returned to normal.
After the man left, Freya closed the toilet door again to see how Kenan was still hiding behind the door. The man was staring at her, his face as calm as the polar sea, frozen.
Freya knew what had caused that. Of course it was her. Now, she's trying to correct her mistake. Freya thinks, if getting Kenan into trouble won't bring him back to her, by helping him out of trouble, maybe he'll come back to her. Even if it was because of him.
"Who was that person?" Kenan asked coldly.
"Helena's men." The intonation of her voice was no louder than the buzzing of a mosquito. However, there was no way Kenan couldn't hear it this close.
In terms of how she answered, she sounded hesitant. Her eyes moved uncertainly as if she was lying, but Kenan believed her. Freya couldn't be lying, Kenan knew how the woman's mind worked.
Helena loves Austin. In order to maintain the integrity of her household, it is possible for women to be reckless. Even if the man wasn't directly ordered by her, it could have been Helena's father at his daughter's request.
"Look at the trouble you've caused, bitch!" Kenan screeched, grabbing her by the collar of her jerkin. "How much trouble have you caused?"
"It's because you keep refusing." Freya's excuse for her actions toward Kenan had been stated a hundred times.
Kenan chuckled in disgust. How long would that woman continue to stick to him like a parasite? It all started with Freya. She was the one who took away the money from his former boss, Markus. Accusing him of running away with the money, and then inviting him to run away to Canada with all of Markus's money. Freya is also the one who brings him back into contact with Markus, urging him to return the money he never embezzled. On Mark's advice, Kenan returns to Monsieur Serge—a middle—aged man who was, and is, his adoptive father. However, underneath it all, there had been a change. Changes that he didn't even expect.
Austin loved him, even after he had everything that had been passed down to him. As someone who was loved by Austin, Kenan could have asked the man for anything.
He shouldn't have to bother thinking about his debt to Markus anymore, right?
He shouldn't have to deal with this woman named Freya anymore, right?
Because he can close anything.
Except ....
Except for the pride that Austin had taken away long ago.
Also, ten years ... no, eleven years of the bleakest period of his life. Having his body broken, his trust betrayed and his future taken away.
That was what Kenan was reluctant to ask for. He would rather Austin give up everything he had on his own. Of course with a value greater than the amount he owed Mark. Because no matter how much he owed Mark, Austin owed him even more, not to mention the interest that lasted for ten years.
After a few moments of silence, his grip moved to her jaw.
"Kenan!" The feminine voice called his name. Forcing Kenan's dark eyes to dart into Freya's glazed brown orbs.
Kenan shifted his gaze to the corner of the room. Kenan wasn't weak to tears, he was just sick of them. All Kenan wanted to do now was drift off to dreamland to forget his troubles for a while, but his mind couldn't be bothered to compromise.
"If I ask something of you, will you refuse, like I refused you?"
Kenan's cold question delivered a direct blow to Freya's heart. Her lips were stiff and her tongue tongue—tied. The heat in her body turned cold. Her whole body was frozen like her emotions.
"I will do anything for you, as long as you are by my side ..." Frey's voice sounded hoarse.
The grip of Kenan's hand on Freya's jaw softened, moving to stroke the woman's brown mane. Next, a distinctive smile spread across Kenan's lips. It looked sly with her eyes narrowed. "I want you to do something for me, think of it as proof of how much you love me." Kenan's voice drifted, mixing with the distortion of his heavy breathing. Freya's heartbeat was also creeping into her slightly trembling body.
To avoid bumping into Austin, Kenan exits through the back door with Freya following him. He reached into his pocket for his cellphone—intending to call Austin who had been waiting for him in the parking lot.
Kenan didn't have much to say—other than the lame excuse about him going back to Renatha's place. Then, Kenan looks Freya up and down with the same look as any other asshole out there.
Incidentally, Kenan needs an outlet. Playing with Austin wouldn't give him instinctive satisfaction—because he was always made submissive by the man. As a man he also desires to dominate.
Freya flinched slightly the second Kenan took her hand. She looked at him through melancholy eyes as the lamplight shone on her slightly wet face—Kenan knew Freya had shed tears when she came out of the back door of the restaurant.
Look, now he has made the woman who loves him cry.
Fuck it, Kenan thought.
"Let's find a hotel for tonight," he suggested, and quickly led Freya away.
*
Austin opened each chamber in the toilet in a hurry. The man looked so flustered that he couldn't find Kenan anywhere, even the few people he had asked—leading to a "no" answer accompanied by a shake of the head from them.
"Kenan where are you?" Resting both hands on one of the sinks, Austin stared at his anxious reflection in the mirror.
Excessive anxiety infiltrated his heart unbidden, unsettling his thoughts about Kenan leaving without saying goodbye. Austin was scared, scared that Kenan would leave and never come back.
It wasn't long before his cell phone rang. He reached into his pocket to quickly retrieve it. Maybe it was Kenan's new call, Austin thought.
And sure enough, after looking at the nickname id on the i—phone, without waiting long, Austin touched the green icon on his phone screen.
"Austin ..." The voice from the other side, reaching his sense of hearing, brought a smile to Austin's lips.
Austin replied, "Kenan, where are you going?
There was a moment's pause, before Kenan replied, "Sorry, I went home first without telling you."
"Where did you go?" he asked quickly.
"That ..., I went to your mama's place." From his tone, Kenan sounded reluctant to say.
"To that woman's place?" The intonation of his voice rose at the man's statement, "You just met her earlier, why are you going back to her place now?"
There was a sigh on Kenan's part, the man didn't want to explain his reasoning to Austin. So, he simply said, "I probably won't be home until tomorrow," Kenan said. What he told Austin—about himself going home to Renatha's place was a lie, so Austin wouldn't come to him.
"What? No way! Why are you—"
"It's okay Austin, I have business."
"Hey, Kenan"
Tuutt ... tuutt ....
Austin stared at his phone screen which had returned to display the home screen.
[]