Cupid's Calling Card

Chapter 2

An Enigma

"So you're trying to tell me... scratch that, you're actually telling me you took a girl you've never met or known to the hospital, all by your gallant and patriotic self?... Leonard asked with a mixture of disbelief and sarcasm as he stared at his friend like he had grown a pair of horns on his head he'd never seen before.

Durian shrugged non-commitally as he sat in his office rolling a fancy pen between his fingers clockwise and anticlockwise, impatiently tapping his feet on the floor as he did so—trying his utmost best to ignore his best friend Leonard who was hell bent on teasing him to death, as he pushed his self control to the max in order to stop himself from throwing him right out of his office and unto the streets.

"You are never chivalrous, Durian, I know you too well. Which is why I know that girl is either dead or on her way to the grave", Leonard continued, trying to gauge his friend's reaction, but nothing came forth from Durian's impassive face and cold eyes.

"Wait, you're actually really serious. Like... You Durian—saved a life for no reason, is the world coming to an end or wait..." He paused dramatically, eyeing his friend who actively continued to ignore his existence. "Are you having a terminal illness and this is some sort of frantic attempt at redemption for your black soul?"

Durian paused his absent-minded pen game and threw him a cold stare warningly, then continued his game like it was never interrupted.

"Who would have imagined that this one actually came from one of the most prestigious families in city Z." Durian groaned inwardly while scowling darkly at Leonard, who was impervious to the plight of his best buddy as he continued rattling on—that was how Durian saw it, an endless but useless chatter.

"Are you sure you didn't just finish her off yourself and dispose of her body someplace that no one else can find, mangled beyond repair?" Leonard continued.

"You could actually make yourself useful by finding out all you can about her, you know, rather than buzz in my ear like an incessant fly?" Durian growled aloud, raising his brows at an unconcerned Leonard without trying to mask his annoyance at him.

"My job description as your best friend and brother in crime is difficult enough as it is, why would I want to add another to it?" Leonard retorted as he made himself really comfy in one of the luxuriously plush sofas peppered around Durian's office. "Or would you be paying me for my services?" He continued, winking at Durian who stared at him with undisguised irritation evident on his face.

"What would you like then?" Durian reluctantly asked.

"How about one of your houses located in the gardens?" Leonard replied, earning a cold glance from Durian again.

"Don't bother staring at me. For one, it won't change my mind and secondly—I'm immune to your killer stares. So long as I don't end up dying during all these hellish years spent with you, I'll never die anytime soon either. So shelve it!" Leonard continued, blinking at an obviously frustrated Durian.

"Why do you make it sound like we're intimate?... Besides, I'm only asking you to investigate her background using your sources, not go on a m******e on another planet." Durian said impassively without an ounce of emotion on his face.

"Yes, of an absolute Jane doe. Besides, you have tons of resources way more than I can ever boast of and they'd do an even more impressive job than mine could ever dream of. What happened to utilizing them?" Leonard queried.

Durian shook his head lightly. "I want this to stay away from the knowledge of my family, I don't know where this whole thing would lead or end up." He quietly said, staring into space, seemingly lost in thought.

"Which makes all the information I'll get on her priceless, it's either that house in that location or nothing. This is nothing personal, just business." Leonard blithely added, throwing a leg on the table in front of him.

"Are you tired of living, Leo?" Durian growled at him. "On the contrary, my friend, I love life much more than I love you" he replied, smiling.

"In that case, why do I feel like I'm being extorted?" Durian asked.

"You're entitled to your own opinion, bro. But extortion or not, at least you're being robbed blind by your ride or die", Leonard said with his boyish smile.

"Ride or die your father, who would have thought the heir of the Masonic group of company could be so useless?" Durian muttered under his breath, trying to mask the ghost of a smile from revealing itself.

Stupid or not, he loved Leonard like his own brother although they were cousins. He also knew that there was nothing useless or stupid about him. As a matter of fact,Leonard was one of the most reliable people he knew of, the others being his parents and younger sister Carrie.

Talking of Carrie, hell—he missed her and a part of him wondered when she'd be back home from wherever she'd chosen to run off to this time in Africa. Cause then he'd be confiding in her about this enigma that's automatically whipped up in his life in the form of a stranger whose life he probably saved, not like the girl gave him a choice. She literally demanded he save her by falling unconscious in his arms.

It didn't matter if she decided to buy an entire city with his money this time, seeing as spending his money unnecessarily seemed to be her favorite hobby. He'd not even make a peep as long as she stopped this newest tantrum of hers she threw by going someplace to Africa again—he mused absent-mindedly.

"Yet you love my royal uselessness anyway. Match made in heaven if you ask me", Leonard stretched and tried suppressing a yawn, bringing Durian back from his thoughts.

Durian looked up to find Leonard still sitting there with hands sprawled on the top of the sofa like he owned the office or something. The thought made him groan again in frustration—something he had found himself doing ever since he met that fortuneteller.

"Heaven will definitely not forgive that man and not this one still occupying space in my office" he groaned into his palms as he raked his hands from his face to the back of his head, looking at Leonard like his least favorite snack in the world.

It had always been like this between the two right from their childhood, but anyone who actually knew them knew it was all water under the bridge as soon as the words left their lips. While Durian was the wicked dark wizard prince of the west, Leonard was the very typical prince charming with a touch of sarcasm to top it off—they were the perfect pair of friends.

"Useless doesn't quite do justice..." Durian began before his phone rang, snagging his attention and ending the banter between the two while Leonard gave him a victorious and knowing smirk, wriggling his eyebrows as he did. Fully aware it would piss his friend off, but not caring either way.

Durian placed the phone in his ears, listening with rapt attention to whatever that was being said at the other end of the line with a stony expression, his face devoid of every ounce of mirth previously seen.

"I'll be there shortly" he spat out after a short while before ending the call, picking up his car keys and slipping into his jacket as he strode towards the door, leaving a surprised Leonard running after him.

"A little heads up would have been fine", Leonard grumbled as he kept up with the long strides of his friend. Anyone who saw them both would have the vision of two tall, sinfully good-looking men walking in tandem with a tinge of pride in their eyes, one coldly aloof and seemingly-yielding, while the other had a boyish charm that could never be underestimated in any way.

"Heads up are for people with brains, not brainless idiots" Durian replied after a while, just when Leonard was beginning to think he'd failed to bait him this time around, as he got into his car with Leonard in tow and drove off.

He squeezed out every atom of speed the car could offer—throwing caution to the wind as he did, and delivered it did.

He abruptly turned his head towards Leonard and caught him making a face at him. "You're an adult Leo, make your family proud by acting like one" he grumbled, turning his attention back to the road. His comment drew a chuckle from Leonard as he turned his face away to take in and enjoy the fast-paced scenery speeding by with nary a care in the world.

~~

On the bed of a private ward, in one of the best and prestigious hospitals of Z city lay Carmen. One would think she was a corpse but for the slight rise and fall of her chest.

Suddenly, the door of the ward was pushed open as an impatient looking Durian walked in, closely followed by Leonard and a doctor who was quite struggling to catch up with the two—alternating between explaining Carmen's medical situation and discreetly trying to catch his breath.

Durian slowed down as he walked up to the side of the bed and stared at Carmen, scrutinizing her face with an unreadable expression. He noticed how small and puckered up her peach-colored lips were in contrast to her pale fair skin.

Leonard stood a little distance away and peered over at Carmen's face, a curious expression flitting through his. He threw a worried glance at Durian, who caught it but chose to ignore it as he turned to the doctor, who in turn stared at an unmoving Carmen lying on the bed and broke out in cold sweat—just shy away from shivering in fear, wondering how a scientifically smart man like him ended up shooting his own foot.

How couldn't he forsee that her body was still too weak after drowning and she'd slip into a coma again?—he was supposed to be too seasoned in his profession to make this kind of judgmental error, he inwardly complained.

"I thought you said she was awake?" Durian asked, glancing at the doctor, making an involuntary shudder go through the man.

"Yes sir" he managed to stammer out. "She was awake only moments ago" he added.

"So how do you explain this?" Durian probed.

"How does one satisfactorily explain anything to you?" the doctor cried in his heart while trying to keep his expression neutral.

"There's no possible explanation for her being alive" he said aloud. "Her not being dead is nothing short of a miracle." The doctor replied.

Durian tucked a stray hair behind her ears, studying her face as he did so. He heard Leonard clear his throat someplace behind him in order to get his attention—making him pause in his act and withdraw his hand, a muscle working in his jaw as he threw a cold look at the doctor.

"Make sure this miracle remains if you'd like to keep your job" he coldly said.

"Yes sir" the doctor nodded vigorously like a hen pecking grains from the ground although he wondered in his heart if he was John the Baptist or Christ who worked miracles—he was a scientific maverick for God's sake, not a miracle worker. He inwardly groaned, looking depressed.

Durian looked away, back at a sleeping Carmen, while Leonard slightly c****d his head towards the door at the doctor, signifying that he could leave. The man had no intention of waiting for a second prompting and immediately made himself scarce, wiping cold sweat from his brows as he did.

Durian walked over and sat on a chair placed by the head of the bed while Leonard took another—placed further down in a corner of the well-lit room. He looked serious for the first time ever, staring at Carmen's unconscious form on the bed.

"Do you think she's related to..." He began. "I'm not so sure" Durian quickly said with a quick shake of his head, "although I'm curious about her identity and the purpose of all this as well, it's too much of a coincidence" he finished, tilting his head to the side as he stared at Carmen's pale face.

Leonard slowly nodded knowingly.

"It wouldn't be so bad if she turns out to be that person though," he smiled sheepishly at Durian, who rolled his eyes at him in exasperation.

"Come on" Leonard cajoled, "at least I can die happy knowing my boy has a shot at love" he added, making a show of wiping non-existent tears from his eyes with one hand and using the other to pat his chest softly as if to comfort himself.

Durian stared at him like he had gone stupid, "I'll ask you this one more time Leo, are you really tired of living?... Cause I can actually help out, you know you're my brother—it's what family do for each other" he said expressionlessly.

Leonard quickly snapped out of his act and stared at an unconcerned Durian in mock horror, pointing at him while spluttering "help your father out you i***t, you're the one tired of living and family your mother you unfilial child with a dark heart!... So this is how you want to pay me back after all I've done for you?" He managed to heave out angrily.

"Relax, I couldn't make my aunt cry even if I tried with all my might. Although you're still useless as far as uselessness goes", Durian chuckled, turning his attention back to Carmen, decidedly done with teasing Leonard.

"I'm useless in my own right, it's my right to be useless when I choose to be—I agree. It's my greatness in disguise, too bad you're too stuck up to see it", Leonard boasted with an air of superiority and righteousness, leaving Durian surprised and speechless at the sudden turn of events.

"Is that right?" He quietly asked, Leonard nodded once and put his nose up in the air like Durian wasn't deemed worthy of his attention anymore.

"I see" Durian said with the semblance of a smile playing at the corner of his lips and a light shake of his head disbelievingly. A soft laugh escaped his lips a moment later as he laughed heartily, his chest heaving softly as well—it was a rare sight to behold as Leonard smiled at his friend in return.

They both glanced at each other smiling and turned back to watch over the unconscious Carmen who was oblivious to everything happening around her.