LMI 178

“Really?”

“Wow, he must look super sexy wet.”

Someone muttered absentmindedly, imagining Koi drenched in water. Nelson seethed at her enraptured expression. The idea of a girl he had his eye on falling for such a Loser was absurd.

“Let’s see if you say the same thing when I beat that bastard to a pulp.”

Another guy flattered him with a fawning laugh.

“Of course not, who could beat Nelson?”

“That’s right, Nelson’s the best. Cheers!”

Nelson felt a little better watching them shout and gulp down their drinks. He pulled out some drugs from his pocket and dumped them on the table, prompting a chorus of cheers. Nelson watched with satisfaction as they snorted the powder, until an employee of the club approached him.

“Excuse me, but…”

* * *

The rusty back door creaked open with an unpleasant sound. Stepping outside, a cool breeze brushed his cheek, a welcome change from the stuffy air inside the club. Nelson stepped into the dimly lit back alley of the club, reeking faintly of urine, and looked around. Soon, his eyes landed on a toweringly tall man in a suit and coat.

A Bentley Bentayga was parked a few steps behind the man.

He blinked in disbelief, but nothing changed. Nelson leaned against the dark light illuminating the club’s back door, confirming the man’s identity, and his whole body froze.

“A, Ashley?”

He mumbled with a lack of confidence, but the other man didn’t answer. Was there really a need to confirm? Nelson couldn’t possibly be hallucinating.

“You’re the one who wanted to meet me? Why, why?”

He heard his own voice trembling, but it was too late. Ashley finally spoke, hearing the fear in his voice.

“I think you know why.”

“What?”

Nelson frowned, then suddenly realized.

“Don’t tell me, you’re doing this because of that Loser?”

It was hard to tell what Ashley’s expression was in the darkness. But his silence was ominous. Nelson was incredulous, even as he watched him warily.

“Hey, is this for real? A busy guy like you came all the way here because of that bastard? What the hell are you two? I couldn’t believe you hung out with that dork in high school, but now I see you’re just a Loser at heart? You’re a Loser and a dork too.”

The words poured out of him. Nelson even clutched his stomach and laughed. Ashley didn’t say anything. Only after Nelson stopped laughing did he finally open his mouth.

“You’re still trash.”

“What did you say?”

His voice was laced with scorn and ridicule. It was just a few words, but it was enough to set Nelson’s blood on fire. Besides, he was still high on drugs. It gave Nelson a ridiculous amount of courage. Nelson cursed and lunged at Ashley. He threw a punch at the man who was much bigger than him.

A dull thud echoed. Ashley staggered, and Nelson’s face lit up with elation. The satisfaction of landing a solid punch on the man’s jaw filled him with confidence. No matter how big he was, it didn’t matter in a real fight. A lawyer who probably just worked out in the gym couldn’t possibly know how to fight.

His assumption was correct. Ashley stumbled back from just one punch, then turned and started to walk away. See, these guys are all talk. He was sure of it, and he had nothing to fear anymore.

“You fucking bastard, see, how dare you come at me? Guys like you are done with just one punch. Go home and cry like a bitch, you coward. Tell Corner Niles, that idiot, to come here tomorrow and beg me. Otherwise, I’ll beat you and that bastard to a pulp, you Losers!”

Ashley ignored Nelson’s ranting and kept walking, taking a smart key out of his coat pocket and pressing it. At the same time, the trunk of the Bentayga popped open with a simple beep. Nelson, who had been shouting until then, stopped cursing as he watched him take something out of the trunk. Ashley pulled out an ice hockey stick.

“W-what, what are you doing?”

He stammered, startled. Ashley ignored his reaction and started walking again with the ice hockey stick in his hand. Nelson couldn’t run, frozen in place as he watched his huge shadow approach, step by step. Ashley stopped just a couple of steps away and opened his mouth.

“This is self-defense now.”

That’s when Nelson realized why such a successful upper-class man drove a van instead of a sedan.

A sickening thud echoed in the alley, and Nelson screamed.

* * *

As soon as Koi heard the elevator stop, he happily moved towards the sound. He had been inside all day. He didn’t want to cause any more worry, so Koi decided to stay put, but even if he had tried to go against Ashley’s wishes, it wouldn’t have been easy.

He had been brought here so suddenly that Koi only had the clothes he was wearing at the time, and even those were torn to shreds in the fight with Nelson and couldn’t be worn anymore. He had planned to go out the next day to buy some clothes, but when he woke up, Ashley had already thrown them away, making it impossible. He had no choice but to borrow a white shirt until Ashley came home from work, but his exposed lower body was very uncomfortable. Grateful to Ashley for promising to buy him some clothes, Koi happily greeted him, but when the elevator doors opened and he saw Ashley’s face, he was shocked and his eyes widened.

“Koi.”

Ashley smiled when he saw him, but the bright smile disappeared from Koi’s face and was replaced by a look of bewilderment.

“What happened?”

He paled as soon as he saw the red mark on Ashley’s jaw, which was later than the day before. He thought he was late because he was buying Koi’s clothes, but there must have been another reason. Ashley, seeing his pale face, lowered his arms, which he had been about to hug him with, and changed the subject first as he walked.

“How was your day? Nothing happened, right?”

“Uh… yeah.”

Koi nodded, but inside, he wanted to know what had happened to Ashley much more than he wanted to list his boring daily life in detail. Ashley smiled at the sight of Koi following him with a serious face, but he pretended not to notice and asked.

“What about the flowerpot?”

“Ah, yeah. I put it by the window.”

The day before, Ashley had given him a small flowerpot. He seemed to remember Koi saying that he had accidentally caused accidents while growing plants and gave them to Ariel. Koi was happy but hesitant, and he hesitated to accept it.

Only then did Koi feel relieved and accept the flowerpot, which had nothing growing in it yet, at Ashley’s words. He didn’t forget to thank him.

Thanks to that, he spent the whole day taking care of the flowerpot and cleaning the house. Ashley told him to leave it alone because a house manager would come, but he couldn’t do that. He felt like he had to do something since he was being taken care of.

But Ashley frowned rather than being happy when he saw the clean house.

“Didn’t I tell you that you don’t have to do this?”

“Uh, yeah. But… I’m not doing anything anyway…”

Koi quickly became sullen when Ashley’s reaction was different from what he expected. Of course, Ashley was happy enough that he had done something for him. But if he praised him now, Koi would be so excited that he would work himself to the bone to polish the whole house. Ashley was happier if Koi did nothing and just lay down and rested.

I need to give him something to do.

That was the only way to satisfy both of them. Ashley headed to the dressing room and handed Koi the shopping bag he had brought.

“These are clothes, try them on.”

“Ah, thank you.”

His face brightened at the thought of putting something on his bare lower body. Ashley smiled at Koi and stroked his hair, then went inside. Koi hurried into a nearby empty room and took the clothes out of the shopping bag.

“…Huh?”

His face, which had been full of smiles, changed to bewilderment when he saw the clothes.

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