“A lover?”

Ivan tensely looks left and right before nodding, “A secret lover”.

Peter Chu cannot believe this. It’s a Thursday morning, and Ivan has taken him out of his zen moment in the dark corner of the company’s parking lot where he’d normally enjoy his lone smoke break while listening to a podcast where a mean finance advisor rips a new one out of some broke 30 year old just so he can have this small meeting in the company's employee lounge. One might mistake Peter Chu's petite and young looking face for the pretty boy he never is. In truth, the 36-year-old man is but a ruthless accountant with a double degree in law and finance, a man who is equal to Dmitri Phillips in terms of knowledge, experience, and relationship with Benjamin Larks despite being decades younger than the latter, and is one the Larks Patriarch entrusts with the task of looking over his heir's business finances and administrations.

When he agreed to the task of watching over Michelangelo until he is ready to take on the title of the head of the family, he did not expect this sort of drama. Especially, not when it cuts more time from his smoking breaks.

“Okaay…,” the accountant says as he puts his halfway used cigarette stick in between his lips, “I don’t understand why this has to reach me”.

“It’s different this time”.

Peter Chu watches the sitting form of Ivanov Phillips opposite him. While Ivan typically always carries a serious composed look, this time he appears almost tense and nervous. Peter secretly wonders if it’s the high blood pressure that runs in the family - he knows Dmitri’s blood pressure and cholesterol level were particularly concerning in their last health check.

“Peter, he - Angelo, last night he -,” Ivan’s eyes go left and right as though checking if they’re being watched before he, with trembling lips, finishes his sentence, “He cried”.

By reflect, Peter’s eyes meet Marcus’, whose imposing large and dark figure sits next to Ivan. Marcus is the head security to all of Angelo’s clubs and lounges. Surely he would have an insight into this.

Taking his cue, Marcus responds to Ivan, “I was there yesterday when the young Boss visited the Sky Lounge, and he seemed fine”.

“No, he wasn’t! He was drunk. Extremely drunk. You don’t know like I do how good he is at feigning sobriety!” Ivan snarls like he takes offense in Marcus subtle rebuttal, “You didn’t see it but he was rambling nonsensical crap about this… this HARLOT! This WENCH makes him miserable - he was saying stuff about… a-about -”

Marcus puts a hand on the other’s shoulder, “Breathe”.

“About ending his own life for this heartless bitch!”

Peter halts and starts folding one arm on the table they’re all sitting at and holds his cigarette up with the other. His mind is moving a mile a minute, trying to put all the puzzle pieces together. Because Michelangelo Magnus Drake, sole heir of Benjamin Larks, despite all of the showcased ‘Golden Boy’ persona in the press, is in actuality as heartless as his biological father, so much so that in the death of his legal father, one that he has always been known to be close to, he did not shed a single tear.

Peter comes to a solid conclusion, “That’s concerning”. He then tilts the hand that is holding the cigarette, “How many people have he dated again?”

“Minus the one-night stands? Probably once,” Marcus answers.

“Which one was that?”

“Anneka Kamil, the daughter of Anwar Kamil”.

“No, they were never really dating. Angelo told me she was a lesbian,” Ivan states.

“She is? I thought she's religious,” Peter mutters.

"One can be religious and a lesbian, please be respectful, Peter," Ivan scolds, to which Peter rolls his eyes.

"Right," he takes another drag from his cancer stick, “And so what is our heir’s type?”

“Tall, older…,” Marcus starts naming the traits of the people they know the Young Master has bed, “Busty”.

“He has also gone for men, though less often than he does the opposite sex,” Peter adds, “He has been in a handful of sex parties, hasn’t he?”

“Once in Italy, twice in the US, and once in Thailand,” Ivan points; and he was with the young man in all of them, “And I’m as clueless as you when it comes to his time in Jaxxon”.

Peter considers that information in his head. Ivan’s contract as Angelo’s bodyguard was abruptly terminated when the heir decided out of the blue he did not want to inherit the Larks corporation before he took his masters in Jaxxon. It wasn’t until he graduated and reached out to take back his status as heir that Ivan returned to his side. They were all clueless to what the young heir had been doing while he’s studying at Jaxxon and what has suddenly changed his mind because it is known that he was quite adamant about not moving to Buangan to take over the Larks businesses. He was stern enough that someone as stubborn as Benjamin Larks gave up pursuing his only son to pressure him to be his heir.

“It’s probably Jaxxon, isn’t it? That’s where his little attachment to this person started,” Peter mutters. Ivan nods.

“And you’ve never seen her?” Marcus makes sure.

“Never,” Ivan stresses, “I believe he is deliberately keeping her a secret from me. From us”.

They all exchanged looks. This matter is concerning. Very concerning.

“Maybe check his phone?” Marcus suggests.

“No. It’s heavily coded, which confirms that he is keeping things secret, Furthermore…,” Ivan takes a deep breath, “I don’t think we’d want to face his wrath if he ever finds out we’re sniffing at his phone”.

Right. Michelangelo might have inherited his mother’s charms, but he is as much as a control freak as his biological father is.

“We’ll go the other way,” Peter says, “Scan the people in Jaxxon. Look for the typical bombshell; older, tall, and busty”.

“She has rejected a gift from him. Roses. He said she refused to talk to him after he sent her roses”.

“Huh,” Peter, with the wit of the ruthless accountant he is, forms another deduction, “Then it’s a materialistic cunt. Someone who’d go for diamonds. She probably plans to milk our heir dry”.

“Okay, so what do we do when we find our girl,” Marcus asks.

“We pay her off”.

“If she says no?”

Peter smiles his infamous pretty smile, “Then we lock her up and give her a nice long talk”. By that, he meant to threaten the woman. After all, preparing Michelangelo Drake for his position in the family business is key and no woman should get in the way of that.

“All right then,” Marcus shrugs, “a Jaxxon graduate who’s older, tall, busty, and into money. We’ll find her”.

**

He’s short, unhealthily skinny with a ghostly complexion, and, even worse, the 20-year-old engineer has the quirks that match well with the likes of David Lou. That person, to Dom’s horror, is the same guy he ‘helped’ to get to the company’s locker, and his name is Nanami Edward, the genius from Angkasa City and their new Senior Engineer.

And Dom did not know what he had done in his past life that he is punished this way. He acted all gallant by offering his supposed ‘generosity’ by showing who he thought was a younger intern the way, not knowing it was someone way above him in title.

“What was he even doing at the locker anyway that you needed to get him there?” A random intern asks Dom in the middle of their lunch break.

“Uh, it was a delivery to him. It’s this uh,” then he suddenly remembers how weird that was, “Huge bouquet of roses, like very big, very lush and luxurious”.

“Roses? To that guy?” All of them turn their heads towards the sight of ‘that guy’, the kid who fits right in at the table full of their eccentric line of senior engineers in XenTech. “Who would see that and thinks he needs a bouquet of flowers?”

“More like, he needs a huge set of Lego flowers”.

“Yeaaah,” all of them nod in agreement. A bouquet of roses would totally go to waste for a guy like that.

“For real though, who would give him flowers?” Someone asks from their group. Dom’s brows meet.

“Some chick named Angel,” he answers.

“The fuck!? That dude has a girlfriend?” Someone blurts in surprise.

“Not just a chick, man! A chick named Angel! Angel!!”

“Holyshiiitttt, what did I do wrong? Where’s my angel, maaaan?”

That confuses Dom too. He peeks at the other table in the large colorful cafeteria. You can easily pinpoint Edward from his white hair that is pulled up to a messy ponytail. He is sitting next to the Head Engineer, David Lou, and their Corporate Culture Specialist, Kang Hyun-jung. You can see David Lou laughing with his hands moving about wildly mid-air as he grows more and more animated in his speech. Then Edward opens his mouth, seemingly adding his 2 cents to the topic.

And, easily, everyone nods with excitement at his words. It’s clear that Nanami Edward is already a part of them.

“I heard he is transferred here because they're moving the Headquarters here,” someone among the interns says, “He’s like one of their most promising Engineers in XenTech's Angkasa office”.

“Wow,” Dom gushes lowly as he continues observing that other table. Even if Nanami Edwards sits with them right now, he would still be the youngest at the table. And yet look at him, blending in so easily among scientists tens of years older than him.

Dom can only wish to be that brilliant.

**

So how does Dom end up in this predicament?

He finds himself standing in one of the work areas in XenTech’s workshop, famously dubbed the ‘Garage’. The space is impressive, with a tall ceiling and a massive open area consisting of clusters of different work spaces; some area focuses on robotics, some areas focuses on micro technologies, and some areas are developing designs for smart vehicles.

The one Dom is in is the design space, where each workspace is divided into partitioned rooms. Each room has a couple of engineers working on a new project at its earliest stage. It is a space provided for more experienced Engineers, almost like a second office to them beside their real one on the ground floor of the building.

But this is not just another workspace where he’ll find himself working - this is David Lou’s workspace. On top of that, David Lou has Nanami Edward in his workspace, sitting upside down on a neon blue egg seat with his head dangling downwards and both his legs hanging lazily over the backrest of the funny-looking chair.

“So…, I’m now put under David Lou and Nanami Edward?” Dom can hear his voice cracking.

“Yes! We find that an intern would make a wonderful addition to our brilliant engineering duo. You’ll learn a lot from these two!” Kang Hyun-Jung explains with the excitement of a tour guide. Dom still doesn’t know whether he likes or hates the guy.

“... and what project are these two doing?”

“We don’t know yet!” Kang Hyun-Jung dares to chuckle, “The company just knows they will come up with a crazy idea. You get to enjoy the ride firsthand!”

The Korean man then merrily goes his way, leaving Dom gaping by the open entrance. He robotically turns around to face the two mad geniuses, who are currently in a brainstorming session on what insane project they should start.

“Laser guns!” The old bearded man, David Lou, pitches from where he’s standing on top of the big work table in the middle of the room.

Nanami Edwards purses his lips skeptically as the egg chair spins, “Nah, done it - lightsabers?”

“Interesting, but not challenging. Hover cars?”

“Oooh, hover shoes?”

“That jumps?”

“High. Very high. Fly?”

“Yes, fly! Defying gravity, walks on vertical surfaces!”

That’s when Dom gathers the courage to interrupt them as he steps inside the workspace, “Um, I’m your new in… tern?”

Both geniuses; one old, one young; turn towards Dom. “Hover shoes that jump high, fly, and walk on vertical surfaces?” Is what Nanami Edward says to him that has Dom staring back at him with two confused brown eyes. It’s funny, upside down like that and after speaking to David, Edward looks like he has been ‘awakened’. His lazy eyes are now wide open, his small lips now quirks to a smile, and his gaze is thick with curiosity and mirth. Like this, the guy looks less weird and almost…

Cute.

“Uh…,” Dom starts hesitantly, especially after realizing the two expectant looks sent his way, “and speeds up to super speed?”

Just like that, both Engineers point at him with a loud shout. “BRILLIANT!” They both exclaim, which jolts Dom where he is standing.

And the day proceeds on a similar note, with the two Engineers speaking in an almost maniacal state using a language that is alien to Dom. After 2 hours of that, both are summoned to the head office for a meeting, leaving Dom in the Garage to do paperwork.

“What the hell,” he sighs. The whole thing feels like a fever dream. Then again, he’d be lying to say that he didn’t enjoy it. Those two are on a whole different level from everyone he has met in this building so far. To witness them work together is very inspiring. But, Dom is nowhere near that level. He has to knit his eyebrows really hard to decipher their words before he finally gets them. 

Shaking his head, Dom puts his head to the task at hand and focuses on the screen of the computer in front of him. Fingers already typing at high speed, he can’t help but ignore all the voices around him. That is until he realizes something has been buzzing.

Dom halts his typing and looks at the small basket not far from the computer. In it are three mobile devices. Dom recognizes his own phone between the three; the other two are both David’s and Edward’s that they didn’t care to take with them to the meeting.

The buzz comes from the blue-cased phone which, if he isn’t mistaken, is Edward’s. The screen lights up, saying: 8 missed calls from Weirdo.

Dom lifts an eyebrow. Weirdo? Eight missed calls?

The phone buzzes again, this time displaying that Weirdo is calling. Looking around and finding no one in the room but himself, Dom, somehow, decides to answer the call expecting something urgent.

"Hello?"

The other end is silent for a moment and Dom almost ends the call. Then the voice comes, "... Who is this?"

There's a silent and dark quality to that voice that Dom didn't expect to come from the 20-year-old's phone out of all people. "U-um, I'm Edward’s co-worker, uh, junior. He's at a meeting at the moment and uhh," He falters. He doesn’t know why his confidence depletes despite the silence from the other end.

"Why do you have his phone?"

"O-oh! It's just that his phone is next to me and it kept on going off so I decided to check if it's an emergency so uhh," Dom inhales deeply to get himself to calm down, "Is there anything I could deliver to Edward once he's here? It seems that he'll take a while".

The answer Dom gets is…

The other line being cut.

Dom frowns at the phone. The man hangs up on him! How rude!

**

To be Continued