14: Better
2249 Words
No, he was never okay...
He didn't think he will ever be. Not unless he gets into an accident that will cause him a severe head injury and amnesia, or a selective one will do. Or if he becomes a grown old man with difficulties to recall. Either way, he knew that the trauma it left in him would forever haunt his sleep, would never leave him be.
In the past fifteen years after the incident that cost Kiara's life, there wasn't a single day that the memories hasn't flashed and bug his mind until he was a pained mess clutching his left fist above the heart due to unexplainable chest pains.
Everything still felt like it happened just yesterday. And he kept on blaming himself, will keep on regretting being incapable of protecting Kiara in the past.
“You know, I have m never told anyone else about Kiara, aside from Hunter. And now, you. I did not realize it will feel this great to be letting it out again...”
“Thank you for entrusting me with your pain. if you don't mind me asking, huh... what... what happened and how...?”
“Abducted, we were once taken. For a reason still unbeknownst to me until now, that man seemed to have been madly insane. The suspect let me go so easily and I thought he came to the right mind, but then, he killed Kiara. He... shot her right in front of me. Kiara breathed her last in my arms,” he chuckled bitterly. “I was too young, too dumb, and too weak. I wasn't even able to save my soulmate nor give her my air and provide another heartbeat, didn't get to prolong her existence. I was so useless. I blamed myself, and I still am. It could have been me in her stead, I would rather that resort than losing her...”
“I guess I can somehow understand your cold nature now. That may be the reason you started trusting no one, pushing yourseld away from interacting and befriending people, until you reached today and you barely have someone to keep you accompanied,” Maxien mumbled sadly as she reached forward to give Count's shoulder a few taps, extending the least comfort she could elicit and hoping it would at least alleviate a part of Count's pain, “I've been meaning to find out what caused you to be the person that you are, Count, and I finally have a clue now that you've mentioned about the girl, Kiara.”
“You know, Count, life is a game and we are its little pawns. Destiny is a player, and we are its helpless toys. I am against being controlled, but that is a thing we do not have a grasp of, we do not stand a chance against. Whether we lose of win, it is all up to the heaven's plans. I am honestly tired of resisting.”
“If we lose something, we lose it. If we gain one, then we do. On the other hand — this sounds cliché and overused, I apologize in advance — everything happens for a reason, and I believe life has something good to offer after all the struggles we face. I would not be surprised if you blame fate for losing Kiara, I would, too, but I want you to entrust the future to it as well. God may have plans ahead of you, who knows?”
“This does not guarantee hope, nor am I giving you a false one. You may react to it, or not believe me at all, and I will leave you be. Nonetheless, I will let you know anyway, not because I want you to believe you will get one, too, but because I trust you enough to know about me. My Mom, I have mentioned her earlier. Anyway, she is not my Dad's soulmate — not the first one he met, at least. Second chances. Do you believe in second chances, Count? Because I do.”
Second chances?
Count stilled, didn't retort, and just let Maxien continue. He listened attentively and stared at the gorgeousness he still kept on wondering about.
“If it is even a thing, then my Mom is Dad's second chance soulmate, a miracle, she is someone Dad met after losing his first love and first heartbreak in a sudden accident. Maybe, if it was real, you will find your heart's destination again soon, and I hope you actually do. I do not want to look like I am fooling you, so please take it all with a grain of salt.”
“Right now, I do not know if that is a good thing,” Count replied with a sarcastic grin masking his internalized reaction to Maxien's revelation.
Second chances and a second chance soulmate, huh?
Don't make him laugh.
If that was even a real thing in that world, then should the 'second chance soulmate' for him be Maxien, with the same birthmark, and the ability to make him fall head over heels, smitten, and intrigued in a little matter of time they have known each other?
But Maxien already has a fiancé. And maybe, it was just a glitch in the matrix that Maxien, Brian, Kiara, and his birthmark were alike.
“I really do not think I will ever meet someone else, or if that someone will even believe that I can be their soulmate. Especially with my birthmark now covered with tattoos? Hell, it will be so complicated to explain and prove myself. I would rather choose peace and this current simplicity.”
“Understandable, yeah. But what I have been saying is; fate has an ability to control what happens, but we also have a power to change its trajectory. We have free will. We get to choose and decide for ourselves. It has pre-plotted the possibilities, but we get to walk only one of the paths it has created. You just have to hold on, trust yourself, and open your heart again, Count.”
“I will trust you, then. I will keep that noted in mind.”
“Yeah—”
In the midst of their peaceful concersation, there was a sudden strong force that pulled Maxien harshly and interrupted the heart to heart talk. It almost made the girl lose her balance and cross her feet, could have resulted to her falling on the ground, if not with the the strong arms that caught her back and encircled around her waist protectively tight.
And when she was finally able to collect her distracted pieces, she looked up to the culprit and was immediately met by a pair of dark eyes burying themselves deep in her soul, piercing like newly sharpened daggers made for hunting. However, it wasn't the loving and caring stare she got used to see in those two orbs, instead, she witnessed how it turned darker in rage and anger, about to burst and explode— just like what she has seen in Brian's glare during the first fight he started with March-Tech's CEO.
“You are making me so disappointed right now, Max,” he beseeched in a cold and low voice that struck Maxien's heart, and for a reason, it hurt, it sounded too painful to bear.
The Brian she loved seemed to have disappeared through thin air, and now, she was faced with a newly born being hidden inside her beloved fiancé, the new personality she never encountered ever since was taking over, and God, it was scary and painful to see at the same time.
The girl thought that Brian would stop there and just escort her away from the place, and well, he suddenly turned great at proving her wrong. Because the boy then detached from her and, with a last look, stepped affront and shielded her from Count, as if the CEO was the worst villain alive and she has to be pulled away before the latter could lure her close.
“I told you to leave my fiancé the f*ck alone, didn't I!?” Brian yelled with stress in his every words, possessively announcing his threatened state indirectly, “Or are you dumb and couldn't comprehend, Mr. Valdemor?!”
Ah, here we go again. The childish brat who's probably used to getting whatever he wants, that having Maxien rebelling apparently against his wishes was enough to threaten him.
Giggling internally, Count could only pinch the bridge of his nose and blow out a sigh of annoyance. This boy's mind was closed, whatever explanation that would come out of him or Maxien, he would just shrug it off and believe his superstitions and hunch. There would not be any benefit of fighting an immature being.
So, the CEO refused to retort, deciding to be the bigger man once more and accord to his mind, not emotions the way Brian was acting.
“A soldier's strength lays upon him knowing when to fight and when not to,” he whispered to remind himself of choosing morals over boosting his masculine ego. “Let him be. He will be over with his arguments in no time.”
He knew he should not give Brian what he wanted, should not make a move so Brian could find his ways. In this case, Brian surely wanted a fight so he could take back his losing self and unleash his anger on its subject, both at the same time.
An innocent word coming from him would probably trigger Brian's outrage, he was certain. With this man's mind clouded with jealousy and full of suspicions that didn't even have any correlation and fixed column of proof, they woul not and could never have a pleasing conversation to discuss the current issue.
And Count was too drained for the day to even argue as well.
“Your face alone pisses me off. Knowing you exist makes me want to throw up in disgust. Why do nasty snakes like you get to live?”
Why did he get to live? Count chuckled sarcastically upon hearing the last question.
“Same question, honestly. Why do I get to live?” He retaliated with a small grin.
Brian gritted his teeth and clenched his jaw, taking the reply offensively and becoming madder and madder as time passes by.
“And please, Brian, calm. No one's taking your girl away, at least stop peddling that I would. I can not just avoid Maxien the way you want, not when we work in the same place. Be serious.”
“So, you really don't want to leave someone's property alone? F*ck that reasoning, man!”
“I didn't f*cking say it that way—”
Before Count could even finish his response, a punch has landed on his face.
Right when the first cut on his left corner of the lips was just on the process of healing? Just great!
Surprised at the blow, Count's head turned sideward and stayed like that for a few milliseconds, unable to gather the processing of what just occured.
God d*mn. This man was getting on his nerves!
“BRIAN, ENOUGH!”
“Now, Max, you're going to defend that man again, huh? Why? Do you like it when he flirts with you? Do you like him? Is he providing you enough money? After all, he's your boss and he's got a better life to offer than I can, right? It will be too easy for you. Say, Max!”
“No—”
“Then why the hell are you defending him? Max, I'm your fiancé, and he's someone you just met. The only thing I ask for is your understanding—”
“That! That is the problem in you, Bry. You keep on asking me to try to understand you, and I have been doing that since. But have you ever tried to understand me, too?! No! Seriously, Brian? Do you think I'm... trying to get close to him because of money? Do you think that low of me? I... thought you know me better than anyone else... guess I am wrong all this time.”
“Now, you're implying that I'm the immature one?!”
“YES! FREAKING YES! WHO DO YOU THINK WOULD IT BE—”
When a hand raised from its supposed confinements beside Brian's body, as if on cue, Count seemed to have regained his consciousness, then launched forward to either stop the assault, or take it himself so Maxien wouldn't have to.
He was late.
Before he could even proceed to shield the girl's face, the slap has already echoed along the empty parking lot.
Maxien's last words remained hanging in the air, and then she was silenced. Her eyes widened in shock and the next thing Count knew, there were subconscious tears painfully rolling from her orbs, with one of her arms elevating to touch her already reddening cheeks.
“WHAT THE F*CK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”
In one swift move, Count aimed all his force in one push and made sure Brian would fall on his back. And then, he worriedly attended to Maxien and checked her struck state, and the girl stayed unmoving, stilled, crying and sobbing with no emotions plastered in her usually gleeful pretty face.
The sight alone was enough to make Count's heart break into millions of tiny bits he couldn't possibly fix back together again.
- Writer
