By Zephyria “Good evening, Mr. Miller. A pleasant evening to you.”
The doorman opened the door and greeted him with a smile. Ashley nodded briefly without saying anything and brushed past him. Ashley, who was carrying several shopping bags on his arm and a small potted plant in his hand, was about to press the button for the private elevator when he stopped. Standing in front of the private elevator, which was stopped at the top floor, Ashley opened his mouth.
“Benjamin, have we had any visitors?”
“Yes? Ah.”
The doorman hurriedly ran to his side and replied.
“The guest who came with you yesterday went out for a while and came back. I sent him up because I had seen him yesterday, but…”
Ashley pressed the button without saying anything to the doorman, who trailed off and looked at him cautiously. While the elevator was descending, he took out his wallet from his coat pocket and used one hand to pull out a bill and hand it to him. The doorman, flustered but pleased, accepted the hundred-dollar bill.
“Thank you, Mr. Miller.”
Soon, the elevator doors opened, and Ashley stepped inside.
“Um.”
The doorman spoke to Ashley, who was standing in the elevator. He hesitated, as if wondering if he should say this, and cautiously opened his mouth.
“Actually, the person who was with you was a little injured…”
Ashley’s face hardened as he looked at the doorman.
* * *
Just as he was applying the last bandage he had bought from the pharmacy, he heard the sound of the elevator. Koi hurriedly swept the scattered medicines into a bag and tidied up the area, and soon he heard rough footsteps. The sound of quick, heavy footsteps crossing the wide hall made Koi try to get up quickly, but he couldn’t help but grimace.
In the meantime, he heard the sound of the door opening and closing, then opening again. It seemed like Ashley was looking for him. Koi took a deep breath, opened the bathroom door, and went outside.
“Ash, you’re home?”
When he greeted him in a deliberately bright voice, Ashley’s broad back, which had been walking towards the next room, flinched. When Ashley slowly turned his head and Koi’s eyes met his, Koi smiled awkwardly, and the color drained from Ashley’s face.
Ashley immediately rushed towards Koi and grabbed his arm, shouting roughly.
“What happened? Who did this to you?”
Koi was taken aback by the more intense reaction than he had expected and blinked his eyes. Of course, he thought he would be surprised, but not to this extent. Feeling somewhat sorry, he quickly said,
“It’s, it’s okay. I’m not badly hurt, it just looks dramatic…”
“Who did this to you, tell me!”
He seemed truly insane. His purple eyes were covered in gold, and his cold face was contorted with anger. He looked like he would strangle the guy to death if he were in front of him right now. Koi was afraid that something really bad would happen, so he desperately tried to calm him down.
“A, Ash, Ash. It’s okay. I really am. It just looks like this. Don’t be angry, calm down…”
Please, Koi looked up at him with pleading eyes. Ashley’s dazzling golden eyes gradually faded. Finally, Ashley’s eyes returned to their usual purple color, and he opened his mouth. In a quiet, calm voice, somewhat suppressed.
“Tell me, what happened?”
Koi hesitated and nodded, then gave a forced smile.
“Can we sit down and talk?”
At those words, Ashley didn’t answer and suddenly picked Koi up. Surprised by the sudden situation, Koi instinctively wrapped his arms around Ashley’s neck and started to say something, but Ashley silently took large strides and entered a room. In what appeared to be a lounge, there was a mini-bar filled with liquor on one wall, and various comfortable pieces of furniture were placed around it. Ashley placed Koi on a gently curved lounge chair where he could comfortably lie down.
He said to sit down and talk…
Just as he was thinking that he felt like a patient who had come for counseling, Ashley got up.
“Need anything else?”
From his quiet voice, Koi judged that his emotions had subsided a lot. Relieved, he shook his head, and Ashley asked again.
“A drink? Are you okay?”
“Um…”
After thinking for a moment, Koi looked at the liquor-filled display case and replied.
“Could you mix me a ginger ale with a little whiskey?”
He felt embarrassed by the gaze that was staring down at him and added awkwardly.
“Bill used to make it for me, and it was really good. Um, if it’s too much trouble, you don’t have to…”
In the middle of his sentence, Ashley turned around and headed for the display case. Koi lay there, blankly watching Ashley move.
“Here.”
“Thanks.”
Koi took the glass that Ashley handed him and immediately brought it to his lips with a happy expression. Just as he was about to put the drink in his mouth, Ashley’s voice cut through his ears.
“I left out the whiskey. Don’t drink alcohol for a while.”
By a hair’s breadth, the drink entered his mouth. It was just plain ginger ale with no alcohol at all. Disappointed as much as he had expected, Koi put down the glass, and then he saw Ashley gulping down a glass of whiskey without ice. He wanted to ask why you can and I can’t, but now wasn’t the time. Even Koi, who had no sense whatsoever, could tell that much.
“Okay, Koi.”
Ashley, who had placed the empty glass on the tea table, opened his mouth.
“Now tell me, everything.”Sitting on the sofa a few steps away, he continued with a blank face.
“Why didn’t you keep your promise? I told you to stay home. Why did you go out on your own? And what happened to that injury?”
He suddenly felt like he was being interrogated. Koi held the glass of ginger ale, barely half-drunk, with both hands, fidgeting with it on his stomach, and opened his mouth.
“Well, that is…”
Recalling Ashley’s questions, he searched his memory to explain in sequence.
“It’s not that I didn’t keep my promise. Well, I didn’t, but there was an unavoidable reason…”
Ashley didn’t press him further, only looked at him. Pushed by the unspoken pressure, Koi spoke with difficulty.
“Well, I got a call from the boss, do you remember when we first met again? When I was caught by the police…”
While he struggled to explain the situation at the time, Ashley listened silently. After a brief explanation, Koi returned to the present.
“But I hadn’t picked up the car yet. The boss said that since I left it there, I should take it back, or he would deduct it from the money he owed me…”
When Koi stopped talking and closed his mouth, Ashley finally asked.
“So you went to Nelson’s house? How?”
Asked about the means of transportation, Koi answered honestly.
“I took the subway, the bus… and I hitchhiked.”
Ashley said nothing. He stared intently at Koi, then asked quietly.
“Did anything happen?”
“Huh? No. Nothing happened. I got hurt because of something else…”
Finally, the main point was about to come out. Ashley seemed to have already guessed what he was going to say, but Koi still thought he should say it himself.
“I went to Nelson’s house and we had a bit of a fight. That’s how I got hurt. But it’s okay, I found the car. I returned the truck and got the check. That’s all.”
Koi opened his mouth as if to smile, as if he had solved everything, but then he grimaced and said, “Ah.” His torn lip stung, and he quickly brought his hand to it, momentarily flustered by the clear blood on his fingers. Ashley immediately got up and took out the handkerchief from his suit jacket pocket.
“Th, thank…”
Koi thought he was going to give it to him, but instead, he sat down on the lounge chair where Koi had been lying and pressed the handkerchief to Koi’s lip. Koi awkwardly lowered his hand, which had been suspended in the air, and Ashley, who was pressing his lip firmly to stop the bleeding, opened his mouth.
“I understand that you were trying to handle it alone.”
His quiet voice was devoid of any emotion. Koi was both curious and anxious about what he was thinking, and waited with bated breath. Ashley continued in a still calm voice.
“Koi, if you could smell, you would know how angry I am right now.”
At those words, Koi blinked in surprise. He thought he had calmed down, but he hadn’t. In fact, the Pheromone emanating from Ashley was thick around him, but Koi hadn’t noticed at all. Only the gold that flickered slightly in Ashley’s purple eyes conveyed some of his anger.
“What did I say? I told you not to hide anything from your lawyer, didn’t I?”
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