Gabriella anxiously glanced at her watch. It was already 6:45 PM and she had fifteen minutes to get her older husband outside of the villa. She tossed her towel over her shoulder and fixed her sunglasses. "Alright. I'm ready. I've been waiting for this for almost five years." She got out of their room and walked to the living room. Every step she made, she felt her anxiety rising. She stood at the double doors at the end of the hallway, trying to compose her breathing. When her heart stopped beating quickly, she plastered a fake smile on her face and opened the door, to see her much older husband reading the newspaper on the sofa. "Good evening, dear!"

Her husband, Robert, looked up from the newspaper at Gabriella. "Good evening, my love," he smiled as Gabriella kissed him on the cheek. "Did you get everything for your birthday?"

"Of course!" She replied. “I have almost everything prepared. Do you want to check with me in the backyard? I’m planning to have a dive in the pool as well.”

“Sure.” He put his newspaper on the coffee table and walked together through the corridors to the end of the house. She opened the double doors and they were greeted with black and gold flamboyant decorations around the backyard. The light surrounding the backyard made the golden decorations pop out even more.

Gabriella turned around proudly towards her husband. “So? What do you think?”

Robert took a look around. “It definitely is something that suits you,” he responded. “The colors are elegant and mature, yet mysterious. They describe you perfectly.”

Gabrielle smiled at him and glanced at her watch. “When is that stupid hitman going to kill him? I’m getting too anxious here!”

Robert looked concerned when he saw Gabriella’s smile. “Is there something wrong?”

“It isn’t anything.” She glanced at her phone again and saw that she still has a few minutes until it’s time. “The security cameras here don’t record the sound and all the staff and security here are on my side too.” She smirked. “Nothing can go wrong.” They walked to the pool and sat down on the edge. “I’ve been meaning to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“Well,” she began while she cast her eyes towards the pool. “I’ve been lying to you since the day that I met you. I’ve never had real feelings for you and used you for a cash cow. The thing is, I’ve been seeing someone else for the last three years or so. I’ve always wanted to say the truth, but I never could.” Gabrielle couldn’t build any courage to meet Robert’s eyes.

Robert looked at her confused, disbelief clearly visible in his eyes. But when he saw the distress her face was showing, the hard truth hit him and the only thing that he felt was a mix between hurt and betrayal aching deep inside his body. “W-What?” He whispered softly. “You’re kidding, right? Right?”

Gabriella didn’t reply and kept her gaze locked on the pool. She furrowed her eyebrows when she saw a red dot reflecting in the pool. She hastily turned around and looked up to the other buildings, but she didn’t see anything. She glanced at her watch and saw that it’s a few seconds till seven. “I’m sorry, Robert.”

As they both heard the beeping from Gabriella’s watch when it turned seven, Robert felt a sharp pain penetrating his heart. He held his chest and looked back at his hand, which was stained with his blood. Gabriella didn’t stop to think and pushed him into the pool. Robert didn’t have the strength and energy to push back and he fell into the pool, taking a mouthful of water by the impact.

Gabriella abruptly stood up and stared at Robert’s dead body in the pool. She couldn’t move an inch from her spot. “Am I dreaming?” She pinched herself and hissed when she felt pain. “Guards!” She called out. Two security guards who were watching from the distance walked up to her. She turned to them. “So? Who’s getting him out of the pool?”

They glanced at each other and held their fists up. “Rock, paper, scissors, SHOOT!” The first one played rock while the second one played paper.

“I win,” the second guard smirked. The first guard sighed and stripped down to his underwear.

Gabriella watched the guards take Robert’s body out of the pool and grabbed her phone. “I almost forgot,” she whispered, sending the money to Julius.

Wyatt turned his phone off when he saw that Julius sent him the money. He put his phone on the passenger seat and drove off. Some time passed by and Wyatt parked behind a small club. He got out of the car and locked it while walking to the bar. He opened the front door and instantly relaxed when he heard jazz music playing in the background.

“Hey, Wyatt!” He heard from the bar.

Wyatt turned towards the person who called him. He walked to the bar and sat on one of the barstools. “Hey, Ray. How are you?”

Ray is the owner of the jazz club after his dad passed it onto Ray when he retired. Ray didn’t know what else he wanted to do with his life and accepted his offer when he finished high school. He has been working at the bar for almost 10 years and he’s glad that he didn’t do something else. They got to know each other since Julius and Ray’s dad are friends. Julius once invited Wyatt when he was twenty-three because he thought that he and Ray would become friends. And that did happen, after a few times of meeting up. They aren't as close as Mike and Wyatt, but they are definitely on friendly terms.

“I’m doing good, man,” he replied as he glanced at Wyatt’s hands. “Still have those black gloves on?”

“I always have them on. I’d be weird if I didn’t.”

Ray chuckled and saw Wyatt’s dark circles under his eyes. “How about you though? You look tired.”

Wyatt chuckled and propped his head on his hand. “It’s just that this week was pretty hectic. Julius forced me to help him with some business he had to deal with during the day while I also had to work in the evening. At least he told me that I can take the rest of the week off.” Wyatt frowned and looked around the bar. He only saw a few customers drinking or talking together. “What day is it today?” He asked.

“It’s Wednesday, dude,” Ray answered. “Do you want the usual?”

“Do you have something warm to drink?” Wyatt asked. “Like coffee or tea?”

“You’re just in luck. I bought a brand new coffee machine just a few days ago and I got it today,” he grinned while he slapped the top of the machine. “What do you want? I got it for you.”

“A cappuccino, please,” Wyatt sighed, watching Ray using his coffee machine. Ray put a mug on the place where he was supposed to and pressed a few buttons. “Why did you buy the machine? Are you turning the bar into a cafe or something?”

“I bought it because I felt like it. And because someone always asked me if I have warm drinks. Acting like this is a fucking cafe.” He raised his eyebrow at Wyatt, who tried to avoid eye contact with Ray. Ray felt a sense of satisfaction when he smelled the coffee aroma coming from the machine. “I love the fresh smell of coffee. Reminds me of the time when I was a kid and happy with life.”

Wyatt squinted his eyes. "I'm not in the mood for your edgy comments."

“What? I’m telling the truth,” Ray said and handed Wyatt his coffee with some sugar packets. “Back in the day when my mom was still there. She loved to drink coffee and prepared it almost every day when I still was in school. Until the day that she died.”

Wyatt glanced at Ray while he was tearing four of the sugar packets at the same time. “Your mom died too?”

“Yours too?” Wyatt nodded while he poured the sugar into his mug. “Oh fuck yeah, we have something else in common.” Ray turned to the door when he saw it open and Wyatt also looked out of curiosity. He groaned loudly when he saw a familiar face standing there.

“Man, why do you hafta be like that?” Mike demanded, sitting next to him. “You’re the one that invited me, so change ya damn attitude.”

“I completely forgot about it,” Wyatt muttered.

Mike noticed Wyatt’s cup of coffee and turned to Ray, pointing at it. “Is that shit for real? ‘Cause I ain't rememberin' this place turning into a damn cafe.”

“Yeah, I bought it a few days ago,” Ray replied while Wyatt took a sip from his coffee. “I just felt like buying it and here it is.”

“This tastes good,” Wyatt commented.

“I knew that it was a good idea to buy it. Something to finally shut your needs up,” Ray smirked. Wyatt rolled his eyes. “Do you want anything to drink? Alcoholic or non-alcoholic?”

“Just a cola, man. I hafta work tomorrow,” Mike said and turned towards Wyatt. “Man, you’re hella lucky that you ain't hafta work for the rest of the damn week.” Ray put a glass of cola in front of him. “Thanks, dude. Aye, Wyatt. When're ya gonna go to Japan again? ‘Cause I wanna go somewhere else than New York.”

“You can also just go out of New York,” Ray remarked. “Like, no one’s stopping you. You can just, not go to work and go to like, fucking Los Angeles or some bullshit place.”

“Nah, fuck that. I wanna go to Japan with Wyatt to see his cousins again. The last time we went it was fun as hell. I couldn’t talk to them lil’ kids since I ain’t know any Japanese, but some of the older ones knew some English, so we tried our best to talk with each other while Wyatt was laughin’ at me. Wyatt did help me a lil’ bit, of course. There was also a guy cousin around 16 years who could talk English and he cool as hell. What’s his name again? Kenma? Kanji?” Mike snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah, Kenji. I love that guy. He also showed me a cool game from Japan that I didn’t know anything about.” He turned towards Wyatt excitedly. “Wyatt! We hafta go again!”

Wyatt put his half-empty mug down and looked with tired eyes at Mike. “Kenji’s birthday is in July, so how about we go then?”

“That’s in two months!” Mike shouted.

“He asked me if we’d come for his birthday. I can pay for your plane ticket if you wanted to,” Wyatt offered. “Since he wants to see you that much.”

“Thanks, man, I owe you one,” Mike grinned while he slapped Wyatt’s back.

“Japan, huh?” Ray mumbled. “I remember the time when I had a Japanese girlfriend. We had a great relationship until that bitch cheated on me with another Hispanic guy. Fuck her and her mom.”

Wyatt and Mike looked concerned at Ray. “Are you alright?” Wyatt asked.

Ray rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He put his hand on the counter and smirked at them. “So how’s it going with your love lives?”

Wyatt grabbed his mug and drank from it while Mike’s lips spread into a mischievous grin. “Mine is quiet, but Wyatt’s there and thrivin’,” Mike replied, grabbing his phone. He showed Ray the picture of David and Wyatt that he took the other day.

“What the fuck did you show Ray?” Wyatt demanded, trying to snatch Mike’s phone out of his hand. Mike didn’t even try to hide it and showed him the picture. “When did you take that?”

“When I caught you two on that date that one time.” Mike turned his phone off and put it back in his pocket. “And whatchu mean with ‘when”? Did y’all meet up more times?” Wyatt kept quiet. “So ya did. Aw, fuck yeah! I knew that it was a good idea to set y’all up.”

“You also fall for men, huh.” Ray looked at Wyatt as he shrugged. “Good for you, I guess. But that guy seems too good for you.”

“Well, David is a pretty nice guy and all, but he’s a detective.” Ray and Mike both looked with wide eyes at him.

“Aw shit,” Mike whispered.

“Keep your distance from him,” Ray warned. “God knows what he’d do if he finds out what kind of job you have.”

“Shut the fuck up Ray!” Mike shouted. Everyone in the bar turned to Mike startled.

“Do I have to get rid of him?” A tall guy asked Ray.

Ray waved him off. “It’s nothing. We just had a small disagreement about something.” He turned to Mike who had his lips against the edge of his glass.

“My bad, y’all,” Mike apologized and looked back at Ray. “But I’m bein’ dead ass. Shut yo’ ass up. Let Wyatt choose what he wants to do.” He slapped Wyatt’s back. “Just follow your instincts. It’s the best thing that you can rely on, you know what I’m sayin’. And I don’t know if David would rat you out or sum shit like that. I think that he’s too obsessed with you to do that.”

Ray shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

Wyatt furrowed his eyebrows. “Obsessed?” He asked. “What do you mean with “obsessed”? You're exaggerating it.”

“I ain’t jokin’. I’m tellin’ ya. That fool likes yo’ dumb ass. I knew it since the day that I saw y’all in the cafe. And I feel like y’all met more times than I think you did.” Mike raised his eyebrow when he noticed that Wyatt tried to avert his eyes. “Wait, how many?”

“I’m going to the bathroom,” Wyatt announced, standing up from his chair. He looked at Mike. “Don’t do or say anything stupid.”

Mike held his hands up in defense. “I ain’t doin’ shit, man. Can I get another cola?” Mike asked Ray.

“Coming right up,” Ray replied.

“Okay then,” Wyatt sighed. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Mike watched him go to the bathroom. The second he was out of his sight, Mike grabbed his phone and dialed a number.

“What are you gonna do?” Ray asked, putting his glass in front of him.

“You’ll see,” Mike grinned.