Purify Me

21

Michael walked through the highway, his thoughts clouded by her. Their night together, those moments. This reminded him of how hard he found sleep overcoming him. Ever since his mother left them alone, leaving them in total trauma, sleep became hard, vanishing like something that was never there.

And if he were to sleep, it was only brought back to that trauma – the trauma of being left on a cold street with his twin sister, begging for their mom never to leave them. But she did, leaving them with nothing but dust and their father, who had a heart stroke fighting for his life in the hospital.

He shut his eyes, not wanting to go too deep into how it all started – how he fought to survive for his sister, how his father came out of a stroke, raised to his feet, and became a top trillionaire, feared and respected by all.

His father made a promise to hand his throne down to him. He had proven himself as his heir. His sister Sia declined the suggestion of taking over, but he wanted to have it. If he got the solo level of his father, it would be easier to look for that godforsaken woman he called mother.

The story will be told later; until then, let's focus more on the present. He remembered his promise he made to Dave two weeks ago.

FLASHBACK.

Dave keeps destroying many objects in the green house, the boys trying to stop him, as a certain hard gaze calmly stares at him as he displays his madness with those objects.

"How dare she!.., you all show what she did right?.." Dave barks.

"Calm down, Dave." Scott yelled, already annoyed by Dave's behavior.

"Don't tell me to calm down, Scott. You all are useless; none of you have even made a move on her. That w***e still moves freely around the school. Don't forget we placed five million on a single female; the month has ended. Yet none of you have even gotten close to her." Dave replies.

"Don't lecture us, Dave; don't forget you lost the bet within four hours. Your foolish temper made you lose, and now you're blaming it on us." Joseph said.

Dave's eyes were reddish, due to the anger that runs within him. "Joseph, the date of the bet has ...damaged her dignity, what would you be called?" He asked. Everyone became silent, having a quick thought about his question.

"Guys, Michael has a very good question here. Holding himself back was the best idea because, looking at what we're seeing in the video, Diana herself wasn't in her right senses. If he had proceeded with the plan, his reputation would be at stake, especially his father's," said Jonson, trying to reason with them.

Dave scoffed in annoyance. "But when did Michael start caring about dignity? You never mentioned female dignity before, even when you slept with Zoya, when you slept with that Chinese girl, when you slept with Divine, when you slept with almost half of the females in school. You never mentioned dignity before, so why bring it up now?" Dave said.

Michael glared at him, tempted to lash out but restrained himself. "Her birthday awaits her destiny, Dave. Whatever thoughts you have, better kill them and have patience. By the way, I'll be leaving the country within a few months," Michael said, his expression unreadable. All expressions changed to shock. Did they hear right?

"Why are you leaving the country?" Jayden asked for the first time. Jayden had been the quiet one among them, before Jonson. Jayden wasn't part of the bet because he was known to be gay, so he limited himself from their activities.

Michael sighed, staring at nothing in particular. "Dad wants me to study in Italy, and being his sole heir to his throne, I have to handle some of his affairs," he murmured.

"We will miss you, pal," Dave said.

"When will you be back?" Johnson walked to him, resting his arms on his shoulder.

"No idea. All I know is that I'll be leaving in a few months," Michael replied, walking out of the green house and leaving the boys alone.

Michael walked through the highway, his thoughts clouded by her. Their night together, those moments. This reminded him of how hard he found sleep overcoming him.

Ever since his mother left them alone, leaving them in total trauma, sleep became hard, vanishing like something that was never there.

And if he were to sleep, it was only brought back to that trauma – the trauma of being left on a cold street with his twin sister, begging for their mom never to leave them. But she did, leaving them with nothing but dust and their father, who had a heart stroke fighting for his life in the hospital.

He shut his eyes, not wanting to go too deep into how it all started – how he fought to survive for his sister, how his father came out of a stroke, raised to his feet, and became a top trillionaire, feared and respected by all.

His father made a promise to hand his throne down to him. He had proven himself as his heir. His sister Sia declined the suggestion of taking over, but he wanted to have it.

If he got the solo level of his father, it would be easier to look for that godforsaken woman he called mother. "Don't do it if you don't want to." A voice said from behind; he gazed back to see Jayden standing behind him, five feet apart.

"What are you talking about?" Michael asked, knowing fully well what Jayden was getting at.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Michael," Jayden said, moving closer to him.

"You like her, don't you? Don't play dumb, Michael. You like her, right?" Jayden mumbled, staring right into his eyes.

"Nonsense... You know I don't believe in such things. You know who I am, the son of the man I am. Such things don't exist in our world. You should know that as well, Jay. And besides, love is an illusion, a total scum." Michael replied.

Jayden chuckled, stepping back from him, giving Michael a closer observation. "I never said anything about loving her, Michael. I asked if you like her, not love her... or..." He drew closer to him, whispering the last part in his ear. "Less you do."