CHAPTER 3: WHEN THEIR WORLDS COLLIDED (3)

Navier's frown deepened further as he continued reading the news. This is not what he wanted to happen, but, damn it, the Universe is really testing his patience because it keeps giving him the opposite results of what he has in mind. He almost killed a guy and things are still not in favor!

He cursed out loud again but refrains from destroying anything. His sister will be the one to kill him if he destroys anything from his office ever again.

He and his older sister, Nicole, are the youngest of the fifth generation of the Ortega clan. Both having the passion and skills for technology engineering, they both built their own company and soon empire named Tech Today. Everything is good between them just as long as he does not trash his very own office just because he was mad or just feels like doing so.

“Sir Navier, Sir Sage is on line three,” his secretary announced after knocking.

Her secretary could have just told him via intercom and maybe she already did, but he was the stubborn one who was not listening nor paying attention to anything besides himself and his annoyance brewing. He nodded and thanked her before picking up the phone.

“We just haven’t seen each other for the past twelve hours, Sage. Do you miss me this much?” He can already picture his best friend rolling his eyes at him so he laughed.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Navier. I called in because I read the news. Please don’t tell me you’re going to end the guy for good. You know how aunt hates it when you get someone killed.”

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes and shake his head even though the person he is talking to cannot see him. “Don’t worry, I will not. I don’t want to receive any scolding from both my sister and my mom.”

The man they are talking about was his girlfriend’s new man. Well, not technically his girlfriend, but still. No man can ever get close to his first love peacefully without his meddling. He just broke that man's arm, and the next thing he knew, Angela was more all-over that man than before.

Angela Williams is his first love and childhood friend. A well-known actress whose name is all over the country for her recent involvement with a man she is rumored to be dating, the whole fiasco of things she just mentioned.

The “love” part of their friendship is exactly how it looks—one-sided as hell to the point that he was the only one who can see them being together. Even both Nicole nor Sage cannot support whatever it is that he is thinking of.

Yet, he would not be like this if it was purely one-sided. He knows that Angela likes him, she told him herself, but the problem is that she is a woman of herself who knows what she wants; and out of all the things she wants today, he is not one of them. She would always tell him that this is not the right time for them, but as if that would keep him from meddling.

That man he almost killed is not exactly her boyfriend too. He is just her leading man for the current project she is working on. Still, it was not his fault that the media likes to "ship" them into something real other than what they have on reel. 

“Kill that man and I’ll be the one to kill you in return! How many times have I told you already that you should stop doing this, Navier?! Wait till we get back and I’ll smack your ass!” Of course, his sister, Nicole, had to butt in and scold him over the phone.

He only chuckled. “Is that how you will treat your poor, sad brother, sis?”

He sometimes wishes that killing anyone just because he wants to is something that he cannot do, but who is he kidding? All his wealth from working his ass off in their company is not even needed if he wants someone dead. The mere fact that he is the current head of a mafia clan is more than enough.

How can he, a temperamental, childish bastard, be involved in the mafia out of anything in this world? The answer is simple: it was all because of their mother.

In this modern time, mafia groups from long before high societies were established are now "calmer" compared to what it was before. No more wars and all that kinds of involvement, but more on the circulation of old money and influence throughout the ground they are walking on. 

Tech Today was built from scratch and nothing is ever going to be able to discredit that, but neither he nor his sister would deny the mere fact that it would not immediately grow as big as it is today if they did not know the right connections and influences.

Leanna Sy-Ortega, their mother, was supposed to take the headship of the Sy Mafia Clan. It is one of the longest, still existing clans with much influence today. One great example of it is that it easily opened the way for Tech Today to reach its proper consumer targets. The thing was, Leanna, being who she is with her headstrong stubbornness, only took on the headship from her father under one ultimate condition: everything that the Sy Clan has to offer will immediately be transferred and granted to her children once they reach legality, and the killings done by the clan must be drastically reduced almost to zero.

Between him and his older sister Nicole, the headship was formally passed to him, but the control and power over the clan were plain and simple equal to them both. That is also the sole reason why his sister is keen to never let him kill anybody. Not only because she wants to, but because she literally has the means to stop him.

Enter his best friend Sage Michaels. Sage is not only their childhood friend but is also their right-hand man under the Sy Clan, the second-in-command. He is also a proper and official business associate in their company, and that alone explains why he and his sister are always together. Sage and Nicole are the ones who handle the business trips that he refuses to attend.

Nicole continued to scold him for a while, reminding him how it would make their mother hysterical if he killed someone, especially for the reason as petty as his jealousy; and then proceed to also remind him about going to their Uncle Vlad's club. She did not even let him speak a word and she already returned the phone to Sage.

"You heard the boss." Sage laughed. "Anyway, I should also remind you that listen to your secretary whenever she gives you your schedule. Don't forget the meeting that you'll be attending on your own."

Touché. He forgot about that. "Alright. Come back alive."

When the call ended, he continued reading the newspaper he almost disregarded because of his anger. At the very least, he will get to drink as much as he can when those two come back.

♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢

“I keep asking you why in the hell are you making things harder for yourself? Get a new woman, Navier! I will disown you as my brother if you keep being a loser!”

Navier does not understand what is happening anymore because he may or may not be totally wasted right now, and all he can do is laugh at everything. After his busy day, attending the meeting that he almost forgot about, his sister and his best friend came back earlier from the trip and dragged his ass here in Soul's Secret. This is their Uncle Vlad's club. 

He and Nicole are already out of their wits because of the alcohol, but Sage, being the best person that he is, refused a single drop of alcohol because he needed to look after their asses.

The thing is right now, right at this exact moment, he knew he was just laughing at whatever Nicole was saying and now he is here on the building's balcony. He does remember saying something about needing fresh air, but getting here was like a skip to his memory.

Getting drunk and wasted like this is never a new thing for him and his sister. Sometimes, they do it just because they want, but this time, he did it because he needed to. There are millions of things running through his mind, and the alcohol surely helped narrow it down to one problem: Angela.

He loves Angela. He knows it, he lives with it. The love he has for that woman is true and is something that he holds dearly to himself, no matter how cheesy that sounds. That is the reason why despite knowing that Nicole was right that he could simply find a woman who wants to fuck him, hell, even love him, no one is as appealing to him as Angela. Casual sex is fine, he does it all the time, he is not a saint—but love another woman? That is a whole different conversation to have.

He knows his twisted mind is too... twisted to love another woman.

Growing up in a loving family, he cannot understand why he cannot show love as normally as he received it. It is like he was given the simplest thing in the world, something so simple that it gave his brain to malfunction and confuse itself more for the worst. He is self-aware that this is a problem he still cannot solve.

The problem never lay in the fact that Angela simply does not want him right now and that she is very career-oriented, but has always been about his twisted ways of showing his love. Bullshit, really.

He took a deep breath and let it all sink in him slowly. He just hoped that this realization will hit as hard when he is sober.

The cold breeze made him feel like he was at his most relaxed self and that he can just rest there. It felt like he was already in a dream and that he was floating... not until he was abruptly pulled back into reality.

It happened so fast that he cannot even understand what the woman who pulled him was saying. She was shouting some words that sounded like he should never jump off a building; or was it words saying that he should not kill himself?

It took him a long time to realize that she must have mistaken him for intending to kill himself by jumping off. It also dawned on him that the woman, this very woman in front of him, has a very familiar face. Has he seen her before or was it his drunk ass making him imagine things?

Not really sure if he was sobering already or what, but he also remembered quickly where he saw this woman. She was the hostess who welcomed them here for tonight.

The woman looks more beautiful up close.

“A-Angela…”