2024-12-31 19:12:10“A friend?” Weston scoffs. “What makes you think I'm your friend?”
“Just tell everyone that you didn't make someone slap me. It's for your good.” “Actually, only a few people know I'm the one who instructed that dude to slap you and…” Weston deliberately lowers his voice, “I know what's good for me and this ain't.” Weston says and starts to walk off. “Hey, what if…you're crazy, Weston. You really are,” Weston hears the guy swear as he walks away. *** Santiago locks the door to the hall. The others are waiting for him in a circle inside the hall. They are quiet and tense. He can feel it. The two stupid guys who said shit about them being the ones who made Coben go crazy that night are on their knees in the middle of the circle. Santiago walks to the two guys. He holds one of the two guys by the chin. The damn guy can't even look him in the face. “I…it…I wasn't t
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“Ye…yes, sir,” the guy who finds his voice replies Santiago. Santiago looks around the circle again. He gives the belt to another guy. This time, the guy doesn't waste any time. He gets on the floor and strangulates one of the guys on the ground to death. The guy's body is shivering by the time he's done.Santiago pats the guy's back. “How does it feel to kill someone?” The guy tries to talk but it's impossible. All parts of his body are shivering. His eyes are moist like he's going to cry soon.Santiago smiles at the guy. “Don't worry, you'll get used to it soon.” He collects the belt from the guy and gives it to another guy. The guy also strangulates the other guy with the belt. The whole room is damn quiet at the end of the stuff. Santiago is the only one in the room who looks like nothing just happened. “Who's got a cigarette there?” Santiago asks.The commander quickly hands a packe
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“What's all these?” Weston asks.“Can you get me a cup of water first?” Santiago asks, his voice barely audible.Weston rushes to the fridge. He takes a bottle of water and gives it to Santiago. Santiago manages to sit on the bed and drink from the water. “You're sure you don't need to go to the hospital?” Weston asks.“No. It'll go by itself.”Weston sighs. “So…this isn't the first time you're having this?”“Yeah. I…um…I'm allergic to dead bodies.” For some moment, Weston stares at Santiago. Weston's fighting back the tears in his eyes. So he's not the only one those damn training affected after all.“You seem kinda moved,” Santiago says.Weston sits on the bed. “I'm also allergic to dead bodies.” “Lorette isn't.” “She's a strong girl,” Weston says.“I doubt that. She's just some emotionless bitch.” Weston chuckles. “You're always bickering like kids.”
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The guy nods.“He's my best buddy. My best friend. I swear I'm nothing without him,” Santiago says. Weston forces Santiago's hands off him. “Wear some damn clothes will you?”Santiago chuckles and goes to his closet. He picks a shirt from his closet and wears it. The other guy nods rather awkwardly at Weston. He goes to the other bed and picks a headphone. He gets out of the room rather quickly.“He seems scared,” Weston mutters.“He would be. I told you, everyone thinks you're one of the Big Boys. You know, he's an Achiever.” Weston sighs. “I'll need something to drink.”“You want vodka?”“No, thanks. I love being sober.” “There are no soft drinks here. How about I go get one for you?” “No, don't worry. I'm cool.”“Come on. The least I can do to appreciate you for staying here with me is to make you comfortable.”As much as Weston tries, Santiago doesn't give up
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Weston rolls on his back on the bed. He pulls the duvet closer to his body. Somehow, it doesn't feel all cold this morning. He forces his eyes closed even though his brain is urging him to open them. He doesn't want to yet. He will do anything to go back to that dream.It's a jolly good dream. Back then when he first met Ivy. The way his body felt. The way he went weak in the knee. The way he stuttered as he tried to ask for her name. The way his heart ceased for a second as he heard she ran away from home. The way…The way his head went blank on the day she confessed to loving him. The way he almost died of anxiety on the day she told him she was pregnant with Hannah. The way he thought his fast beating heart was going to explode when he saw his daughter. The way his daughter felt in his arms. The dream…He will go back to it. He should. He must. Only that the damn irritating motherfucking footsteps in the room will not stop
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Weston and Jose meet at the front of the door. Jose looks around before pulling Weston in. He leans on the door and stares at Weston.“How did you know?” Jose asks, his voice in a whisper.“What?”“Don't play that shit with me, man. You know what I'm talking about.” “I had a hunch,” Weston says, trying to sound as flippant as possible.“Unless you're some fortune tellers, there's no way you really knew without getting a tip.”Weston looks sharply at Jose, he nods his head slowly. “That doesn't sound like a bad idea. I could open a shop and read people's future. How about you become my first client? You could make some testimonials—”“Westonnnnnn!” “Okay. Cool. I heard from someone.” Weston grabs his towel. “Who? From…Santiago?” Weston looks at Jose in surprise. “You guessed correctly. But…with all your hate for him, how come he's the first person who came to your mind?”“
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“Hey, man, what have I got to do with this conversation?” Weston asks.“I'm sure she's telling you stuff behind my back. I'll wipe ‘em too,” Santiago says, his eyes on Lorette. Weston notices Lorette roll her eyes, her lips form like she wants to say something but she looks away from Santiago.“Let's get a cab, my legs are aching,” Lorette mutters. Santiago stops a taxi pulling over. Again, the two argue on who is going to sit at the front seat. Weston can swear he's never felt so embarrassed in his life. The taxi man clears his throat. “The seats are pretty much the same.” “They are not the same. Only the boss sits in the front seat,” Santiago says. “And who's the boss here?” Lorette asks. “Bitch, I was born two seconds before you,” Santiago says. “That doesn't count. We were both born in the same minute!” Lorette fires. Having enough of it, Weston grabs the person closest to
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“Let go of my hand, you stupid idiot.” “This is going to get all serious if you try to use physical assault,” Weston says.By now, a few people are starting to gather. “Give me my money!” The woman shouts.“I will give you, just tell me—”“Give me my money, you scam!” She shouts. “Give me my money today!” Weston looks around helplessly. Who the hell carries ten million dollars around? Why the hell won't she just tell him her account number? “Give him his money, mister,” a nosy woman in the crowd says. “Please tell him to give me my money!” The woman shouts.“Damn. To think men are going around destroying our dignity,” a man spats.“Very soon, people are going to start saying we men are scams,” another guy says.“Why won't he pay her money?” Weston just stands there hearing the insult going in and out of his ears. A few people are dragging his clothes. It feels like it's
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Inside the restaurant, Santiago and Lorette keep trying to avoid making eye contact with Weston. Weston bites on his lower lip. He picks up the menu and looks at it. “Salmon looks good,” Santiago says. Weston glances sharply at Santiago. “Salmon?” He's sure Santiago mentioned once that the worst food anyone can ever offer him is salmon. No matter how great it's cooked. “Huh, yeah. Salmon.” Lorette glances at Santiago. Santiago sighs and drops the menu. “I give up. I'm no match for you two. Okay, Weston, you caught me. What the fuck is going on?” Santiago asks.“I'm so sorry, guys. I didn't mean to embarrass you two,” Weston says.“That's not what I asked, bro. Anyone who thinks of you as an embarrassment is living with zero point two percent of his brain.” Weston smiles. “I…um…I had a girlfriend, something like that.” “A girlfriend? Not a wife?” Lorette asks.“We didn't get mar
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“I have now,” Weston drops the picture frame on the sofa and carries Hannah in arms. “How is that? Did they disappear and come back?” She asks. “Daddy, how do people become people? I have not seen anyone jump down from the sky. Are there places where people go to pick babies? Daddy…answer me…” she whines as he carries her in the car. “Which of them should I answer first?” “When I grow up, can I become an actor? I will be on the screen. Will you watch my movies?” “Of course. Why won't I?” About two hours later when Weston drives to his parents house, Hannah is sleeping in the back seat probably tired of rambling for hours. He smiles as he parks the park and wakes her. “Have we arrived?” She asks, looking at him sleepily. Weston nods. “Big pop and lala are waiting to see you.” He helps her get out of the car and holds her hand. He's barely climbed the first step leading to the house when his mother rushes
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Later that evening, Weston is in the sitting room, watching Lorette and Hannah have one of their long funny conversations as they prepare for a visit to his parents. “When I grow older, I want to be a museum tour guide,” Hannah says. “Didn't you say you want to be a make-up artist some minutes ago?” Lorette asks as he helps her into her shoes. “I can do that as a side job. When I don't have clients in the shop, I'll quickly go to the museum,” Hannah says. “What about the online cooking tutorials? How are you going to have time for that?” “Oh…that? Daddy, I can shoot videos at midnight, right?” Weston frowns. “When are you going to sleep then?” “I can sleep for two hours.” “Two hours?” Weston asks in horror. “Yes. I am going to shoot the cooking tutorial videos for like two hours. Another two hours, I'll use it to shoot videos for my dance clas
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Three days later, Weston knocks at the door of a hospital room before going in. The patient on the bed raises his head. He stares at Weston then at Hannah whom Weston is holding.“You're okay?” Weston asks before realizing it's the dumbest question to ask a person on a hospital bed. “Yes…?” Jose answers. Weston can't really tell if Jose is trying to play dumb too or he doesn't know what he's saying. “Hannah, meet Jose, he's one of the best friends that daddy has,” Weston tells his daughter. “And, Jose, this is my daughter.” Jose's mouth parts slightly. He closes it a few seconds later and smiles. “She…she looks young.” Weston chuckles. “Young? What's a five year old supposed to look like? Old?” “I…sorry. I mean. Shit. You have a sure way of taking me by surprise.” “You think so?” Weston strides to Jose's bed. He drops the fruit basket in his hand on the table. “Last time I checked, you did some
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“Hey, Santiago,” his godfather says once there is an answer at the other end. “How are you, sir?”“I…I'm sorry.” His godfather shut his eyes. “What the fuck did you do again? I already told you I got Weston and Lorette covered. I have Weston's kid with me, I'll use her to—” “That's not it,” his father cuts in quickly. “I…um…I told Weston about Dylan.” For a lot of seconds, there is silence at the other end. “Where are you?” Santiago's voice is unbelievably too calm for the revelation. “Home, of course.” “Let's talk face to face.” Then the line goes off. The phone falls from his godfather's hand. He runs his hand through his grey hair. “You have a kid?” “Am I supposed to answer that?” “If I knew you had a kid, I'd have abducted her and used her against you. I had no idea at all.”What? Is he out of his mind? His godfather raises his head and looks at Weston. “Once San
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Weston can tell from the look on her face that there is something more. He waits for her to tell him. “I stumbled in on San and his father arguing one day, San was kind of telling his father to keep shut if he doesn't want his ass in the pool.” Weston waits. He's sure she isn't just telling him just for telling sake. There must be something more. He waits a while longer, forcing his damn brain not to think his daughter is five and she's with fucking Santiago. “He hates it when people snitch on him,” Lorette adds. “Kind of…he…” she lets out a deep breath. “Sorry. I just…I had no idea I'd be telling this to anyone.” For some seconds, she stops to get her emotions back together. “Even if San tells me something as little as what he ate last night that nobody knows about, he doesn't want me to tell anyone. When…I think we were sixteen when I first realized it. He told me he was fooling around with a girl and I kind of jokingly told the girl to tak
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Weston stops the car and runs his hand through his hair. “I begged you, apologized to you, did all sorts of things but you still didn't agree to get married to me, so why do you keep asking about your daughter?” “When did you apologize to me?” There is silence at the other end before Ivy starts to talk. “Okay, since you want to hear it, I'mma tell you. If there is anything I regret, it's having Hannah. I thought you would dump me for some other women later if I didn't have a child for you since you don't really seem all that ready to get married to me. I needed something to assure me you're not going anywhere and getting pregnant seemed like the best deal.” Weston bites hard on his lower lip. “You must have figured this out but I stopped using contraceptives without telling you. But I'm starting to realize it's all stupid now. If I knew Hannah was going to be a burden to me, I wouldn't have gotten pregna
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With rage, he dials Santiago's number. “What the fuck do you think you're doing?” He shouts. “Hey, you wanna make me deaf or something?” “Whatever shit you're up to, you should know better than to involve my daughter.” “What can you do?” “Where the hell are you?” “Not so easy, bro. Not so easy. I need to spend some time playing with Hannah and getting to know her before we come to an agreement of what to do. Till then, stay anxious.” With that, the line goes off. Weston dials the number again, it doesn't ring. Obviously, Santiago blocked him. He dials another number. “Find out where that fucking bastard is.” “Alright, sir.” He dials his father's number. “I need to find out where Santiago is.” “Okay. Is everything okay?” “No but I don't have the
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Weston comes out of his car. It's been more than thirty minutes since the cop pulled him over but he's not responded to him since then. The other cars he pulled over before Weston's are long gone and the cop doesn't seem like he has anything he's doing at the moment. “Excuse me,” Weston calls the cop’s attention. The cop glances at Weston. “I'll attend to you soon, I'm quite busy.” “If you're not going to come check whatever it is that you want to check, I might as well start going. I didn't do anything wrong in the first place.” “You didn't do anything wrong?” The cop scoffs. “Was that how you were supposed to put on your seatbelt? Was that how you were supposed to fasten it?!” Weston frowns. “What?” Is there a certain way to fasten seat belts? “Come with me,” the cop says, already walking to Weston's car. They get to the car and t
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“Daddy was smiling in the picture Abigail gave to me. And, daddy only smiles when he is with people he likes.” Santiago chuckles again. “How old are you?” “I am five years old. How old are you?” “Me? I'm the same age as your father.” “Daddy is…um…twenty five. You're twenty five?!” She asks in surprise.Santiago nods. “Yeah. Why?”“Daddy said monsters are old, like five hundred years old. And Father Richard said only monsters kill people. Does that mean you're a young monster?” The smile dies off Santiago's face. “I'm not a fucking monster.”“‘Fucking’? What does that mean? Do you have a dictionary? I'll look up the meaning.” “I mean, I'm not a monster. That's the meaning.” He glances at Hannah to see her staring at him. The glasses on her face feel like some gadget she's using to scan his thoughts. “What…” he clears his throat. “You can't see without your glasses?” She sighs. “It's a lon
