54 – Cypress Mosaic
“What do you mean, ‘I’m fine’? I almost got dragged away several times; there’s no way I’m just ‘fine.’”
“Oh my, did something like that actually happen?”
The smile vanished from Adriana’s face.
Elian hurriedly made an excuse.
“No, it’s not like that. There were just attempts; in the end, nothing really happened.”
“There were times when it almost became a real disaster. It was a relief that I picked you up on time that day. Three guys jumped you at once and were trying to drag you into a car!”
Vincent’s voice rose, as if the memory alone sparked his anger.
Lorenz’s hand slipped for a brief moment as he set his champagne glass on the table. Golden bubbles surged within the shaken glass.
Adriana leaned her upper body forward. Her face was also flushed with excitement.
“Three people at once… how cowardly! So, what happened?”
“I lunged at them immediately and beat them until their faces were bloody pulps!”
Vincent swung his fist in the air.
“Well done! There’s no need to go easy on people like that. Dealing with them personally is much more effective than handing them over to the police. Doing something like that three-on-one… there’s a limit to how despicable one can be. It was truly dangerous.”
Adriana’s expressions were quite rough, as if she too were enraged by the thugs she had never even met. It wasn’t the kind of language one would expect from the daughter of a powerful politician, but she was in complete agreement with Vincent.
“That was a special case… usually, I can protect myself. It’s just that Vincent tends to be a bit overprotective.”
Elian worked hard to defend himself to Adriana.
“If three guys jump you at once, any ordinary person—not just you—would be helpless. How on earth do you solve that?”
“I think Mr. Vincent is right. If people are determined to commit a crime, someone caught off guard is bound to be a victim. That’s why those kinds of people are cowardly.”
Excited by Adriana’s supportive reaction, Vincent began to recount more of his heroic tales.
“One time, I even chased a stalker who was lying in wait in front of this guy’s bedroom window for a whole mile!”
“Hey, Vince, seriously, stop now.”
Elian gave a low reprimand, tugging firmly on Vincent’s sleeve.
Stepping back from the conversation and hiding his presence in silence, Lorenz obsessively captured every single one of those trivial movements with his eyes.
Given Elian’s appearance, it didn’t even require a guess to assume he must have been popular with both men and women.
In fact, Lorenz had expected that Elian would have been exposed to danger.
That was why he had once asked Elian if it wasn’t dangerous to ride around on a bicycle. Though Elian himself seemed to have taken it as a question about the simple probability of an accident.
As I thought, I was right.
Anxiety seeped through Lorenz’s fingertips as he tapped the base of his champagne glass.
To Lorenz, the idea of Elian riding a bicycle around outside without a bodyguard seemed far more dangerous than riding [unauthorized copy]a bike with broken brakes down a hill.
“What? Am I talking about something that didn’t happen?”
“Those stories aren’t even interesting…”
“They might not be the kind of stories one enjoys, but I’m still curious about the ending, Mr. Elian. Nothing happened in the end, right?”
As Adriana pressed for the rest of the story, Vincent wore a triumphant expression, as if to say, See? Elian let out a short sigh and had no choice but to give up and step back.
“Did you really run a whole mile?”
“I told you I did. I usually run a hundred meters in twelve seconds, but wow… that guy was truly fast when it came to running. Still, it seemed he ran out of steam around the one-mile mark. I lunged in and subdued him immediately.”
With a wicked smile, Vincent drained the remaining champagne from his glass.
“It’s been relatively peaceful since that stalker incident. Word got out that if you annoy Elian Bellotti, Vincent Bellotti will follow you to the ends of hell.”
Adriana looked back and forth between Elian and Vincent with a look of newfound admiration.
“Wow… this is more dynamic than I thought. No wonder the two of you are so close.”
“Exactly. We’re friends, brothers, and sometimes we’re like a pair of detectives on a team.”
Vincent gave a small smirk. It was a smile that seemed to reminisce about the memories the two had shared.
“But it is a bit surprising.”
“What is?”
“Even if you aren’t the most social person, I can’t believe Mr. Elian wasn’t Prom King…”
“No, Elian was Prom King.”
“Oh, really?”
“I just meant he wasn’t the typical Prom King type, but I think I phrased it confusingly. Of course he was Prom King. Who else would it be if not him? That would be a comedy.”
Beside the proudly speaking Vincent, Elian let out a sigh so soft it was barely audible.
Vincent, who hadn’t neglected his meal while talking, had finished off two heaping plates and an omelet. He lightly wiped his mouth with a napkin and pushed his chair back.
“Well then, I’ll head off to start the next round.”
“Ah, I’ll go with you! Seeing you two eat made me crave chicken.”
Adriana stood up to follow.
Once the two who hit it off so well left the room, only an awkward silence remained. Lorenz made that silence even more uncomfortable by staring intently at Elian.
Elian tried his best to pretend he didn’t notice the gaze.
He barely participated in the conversation and seems to be in a bad mood. Why did he suggest a gathering like this?
Is Lorenz really that social? Is he the type to enjoy meeting new people? Not at all. Even now, with his face stiff, Elian couldn’t get a sense of what he was thinking.
Maybe I should go get more food too. But then it’ll definitely look like I’m avoiding him.
“Are you planning to split that into molecular units?”
“…Pardon?”
At the sudden voice, Elian looked up to find Lorenz’s gaze glancing toward Elian’s plate.
“Ah…”
The Eggs Benedict, which Elian had been cutting with a knife without actually eating, had been dismantled to the point of nearly crumbling.
“And you, Mr. Lockhart… aren’t you eating?”
The food ordered on Lorenz’s plate had also remained almost untouched.
“It seems you’ve hardly eaten anything.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Instead of answering the question, Lorenz threw out a completely different, random question. At the somewhat aggressive tone, Elian raised his eyes to meet his.
“Tell you what?”
This time, Lorenz shut his mouth.
Words he wanted to press him with surged in his throat.
That you were adopted.
That you have a brother you grew up with who isn’t related by blood.
And that this brother is someone so frivolous, someone who doesn’t suit you at all.
However, fortunately, he still had enough judgment to realize he had no right to interrogate him.
Lorenz, who averted his gaze first, changed the direction of the conversation.
Fingering the slender stem of the champagne glass, he looked at Elian askew.
“Your non-blood brother… is quite fervent.”
A heavy tone of sarcasm seeped through.
“Are you talking about Vincent?”
“Who else would there be?”
“I’m not sure what your intention is in saying this.”
“I simply find it admirable to have such a chivalrous brother. To think he followed you every time you went out. I wouldn’t even go that far for a precious younger sister with a large age gap. …Unless, of course, it were a girlfriend.”
He didn’t raise his voice; he pronounced every single word clearly yet softly. There was even a faint smile on his lips. Yet, his gaze was piercing, as if Elian had committed some despicable crime.
His green eyes flashed once more.
“No, at that point, should I call it pathological jealousy?”
“Of course, Vincent has a tendency to be overprotective. But that’s because there were many incidents since we were young. Vincent saw all of it by my side, so he worries a lot. Please do not insult my family.”
Family. Insult.
At the remark that dismissed his words as an insult and defended Vincent, Lorenz’s green eyes momentarily turned a cold blue. An image formed of Elian drawing a boundary around the realm of ‘family’ and coldly pushing him outside of it.
“Insult? Did you say insult?”
“You keep picking on Vincent. If that’s not an insult…”
“Let’s stop here.”
A cold voice mixed with resignation cut the conversation short.
Piercingly clear green eyes glared at Elian.
“I don’t know why I suggested this meeting, even to the point of changing my plans.”
Those words were addressed to Elian, but also to Lorenz himself.
What on earth did I hope for by doing such a thing? A deviation from a planned schedule… this should be the exact situation I want to avoid most. An uncharacteristic impulse has completely ruined the day.
Watching Lorenz go back to drinking only champagne, Elian spoke up, sounding wronged.
“You were the one who suggested it, Mr. Lockhart.”
Lorenz’s eyes looked at Elian once more.
This time, his gaze was much softer, appearing somewhat exhausted and empty. He murmured with a sigh.
“Yes. I did. That is exactly what I don’t understand.”
“……”
Enjoying the story?Support me on Ko-fi
Comments 0
You must be logged in to comment.
No comments yet. Be the first!