Ramon clenched his fists. His head was filled with anger and hatred. He had been trapped by the schemes of people he looked down on. From the beginning, he should have realized that the small opening Keya had created was slowly widening thanks to the ambition of Stela and his own cousin, Simon.
Now he had to accept the fact that even his own lawyer was advising him to accept all the charges—as a way to soften the judge's mood when handing down the verdict. He raked his hair in frustration. He kicked at the innocent air with brutal force. A yell escaped his mouth just like that. He didn't care about the eyes narrowing in his direction.
The man took another glass of wine, poured by the bar host. He wasn't in prison yet. Who knew what kind of money scheme he'd gotten involved in this time? Ramon grew even more irritated because his trusted man still hadn't arrived. If he weren't bankrupt now, he would have already beaten Kiko for being late. But Ramon had lost a lot, including the people backing him.
"Boss?"
Ramon immediately slapped Kiko without a word. The people sitting right beside Ramon's table flinched. Kiko instinctively rubbed his cheek, which was sure to be turning red. Hopefully, it wouldn't leave a mark.
"Sorry, Boss. I just got out of the investigation," Kiko explained.
"To hell with the investigation!" Ramon slammed the table so hard that the glasses on it flew into the air. Luckily, they didn't break.
"Sit!"
Kiko timidly pulled out a chair. His head remained bowed. He swallowed hard, worried about what the man was going to say.
Kiko's heart was clearly pounding uneasily. He was one of the people who had helped the police find Ramon's whereabouts. He was also the one who had found a private lawyer to handle Ramon's case. Everything that had happened so far had been carefully arranged by him together with Awan, Stela, and Simon.
Ramon poured wine into the empty glass in front of Kiko. Kiko's eyes never left it. He swallowed again when Ramon handed it to him. He drank the wine as quickly as possible until the glass was empty.
"Tsk, that bastard must have been the one who told them where our hideout was. Once a snake escapes its cage, it no longer recognizes its master."
Kiko began to panic. "What do you mean, Boss? A-Awan?"
Ramon nodded. "Yeah. Rama and his goons ran into him in the Bang Sahrul area earlier. They beat the kid bloody, and then he confessed."
All the cold sweat inside Kiko fought to break free. His legs had started trembling, following the shaking of his hands that he had been trying to hide. He hadn't misheard—the word "beat" had been used about his best friend. Kiko clenched his fists tightly.
"Awan... How is Awan doing, Boss?"
Ramon lit his cigarette. He took a deep drag, then blew the smoke in whatever direction. He went back to drinking his wine while shaking his head.
"I don't know. I don't care. I only told Rama not to kill him. He's still my favorite little brother," Ramon said between drags on his cigarette.
Kiko breathed a little easier. "Then what about Rama and his goons now?"
"I told them to take out Stela's boyfriend. I couldn't possibly sully my own angel. Besides, I heard he's from a rich family. I can take his money to pay the compensation." Ramon paused, taking another drag from the cigarette that was growing shorter. "Actually, I wanted to take out Simon too, but I don't want to incur a sin against his parents."
Kiko tried to keep his expression neutral. He couldn't look suspicious. Slowly, he took the phone from his pocket, trying to contact Simon or Stela before it was too late.
Kenand kept holding Mia's hand, pulling the girl away from her slightly wild crew. They had just finished watching an epic movie at the theater. Kenand kept tugging on Mia's shirt, hoping she'd turn around and look at him.
After a while, Mia grew annoyed. She glared at Kenand, then stepped on his foot. Kenand let out a brief groan and mouthed the words "Let's go home." Mia huffed in irritation before finally nodding. She didn't want to argue after the romantic mood she'd just experienced.
"We're heading home first, okay?" Mia said goodbye.
"Hey, can you drop Vero and Stela off too? We have plans."
R gave Loen an uneasy look. Since when had he said he was going to practice and let his girl go home alone? Dean nudged Loen's arm, signaling him to take it back.
"What plans? No, no, there aren't any. I didn't say that."
Loen gestured for Stela to leave immediately. He even closed his eyes as if desperately begging her. Stela nodded. Maybe it really was important. The girl immediately linked arms with Vero. R stared at her in shock.
"Come on, Ver. We're going home in the CR-V."
"Stel!"
Loen pulled R by the hand. Kenand and the three girls continued walking without looking back. Dean quickly put an arm around R and led him in a different direction. He had no idea what Loen was up to; he was only trying to help.
Annoyed, R shook off Dean's hand. "What's wrong with you guys? You really love getting in the way of people in love."
"Don't talk about it here!"
Loen grabbed R's hand and took him into the men's bathroom. Dean followed them reluctantly. He truly had no idea what was going on and simply enjoyed Loen's little game.
"What's going on?!" R asked.
"Your mom texted me."
R forcibly snatched Loen's phone and searched for his mother's message. He was startled by what he read, as shown by his wide eyes and furrowed brow. Curious, Dean moved closer and peeked over.
"Your mom already knows about Stela's past, R. And about your relationship with her."
Dean looked back and forth between Loen and R. "How did Maria find out?"
Loen shook his head. "I don't know. Maria asked me to explain what was going on. She's worried about you, R."
"As she should be!"
Crash!!
A group of men threw the door open in an extremely aggressive manner—much like their faces. Loen's eyes locked onto the objects several of them were carrying. They looked heavy and would definitely hurt if used for something bad. Dean swallowed, a little frightened.
"What the hell do you want?!" R demanded.
One of them approached R. It was clear he was their boss, standing there with empty hands while the men behind him waited to fight.
"You, you, and you... you're all worth worrying about!" he said, pointing at the three boys' faces.
"Hmph!" R spat in the face of the man standing only an index finger's length away from him.
The man wiped his face while smiling. Dean and Loen began bracing themselves. No matter how skilled they were, they couldn't beat three times as many opponents, especially when weapons were involved.
"You've got guts!"
A punch landed on the left side of R's jaw. Loen immediately pulled R's body behind him and stood in front of him. The man curled his lips into a smile as he stepped back, giving his men permission to enjoy their lunch.
The fight was unavoidable. Dean and Loen tried to fight back, but clubs as thick as their arms rained down from their backs to their calves. R refused to stand by. He temporarily forgot about the illness he suffered from and joined his two friends.
Dean and Loen couldn't focus on fighting. Their eyes couldn't leave R. Damn, there were too many opponents.
Loen couldn't take a blow to the stomach and ended up collapsing. When they tried to hit Loen again, Dean ran to protect his friend and took a direct hit to the head.
"Bastard!!"
R clenched his fists, his anger boiling over. Before his hand could land on the face of the gang's ringleader, R collapsed alongside his two friends. The man smiled at the companion who had successfully incapacitated R.
"Take them to the hideout!"
They didn't treat the three boys gently. They hauled them upright and dragged them from the first-floor bathroom to the parking lot. There were enough of them, and they were tall enough to conceal everything.
R, Dean, and Loen were taken somewhere far from the city center. It was dark, messy, and dusty. They were seated in chairs and tied up with strong ropes.
"Boss? We're good. We're at the usual place."
Faintly, R could hear a man's voice. His head was dizzy from the barrage of blows he'd received. His vision seemed blurred. His body suddenly went limp. He shook his head again and again, hoping his sight would recover soon. He forced his senses to work in the unfit surroundings. What kind of rotten luck had driven him to this place?