"She is the one getting married, hello? She will be too busy going along with her wedding to notice anything else."

"You are partially right." She nods. "The only thing she will pay attention to other than her wedding is You." She points at me. "You see, there is a thing about people, they tend to be protective and territorial even when they don’t want the person any longer. They think it as a crime for you to get over them. I am trusting that she has that instinct too."

"What about Raymond? I already told him about Neil. You want him to think that I want his attention now that I am single?"

"You know if there is a way to send you some of my coquettishness, I would have done so by now. Own your body girl. Own the allure and the sexiness. Be a tease. Be a thirst trap. That does not mean you want them."

"You mean an XY gender magnet."

"Same difference. It is about damn time you start being the breaker and not the broken."

"Yes, I quite agree too. But not like this."

"Exactly like this." She holds the dress close to me.

"No. No. No."

"Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes."

"That compelling attitude is not going to work on me today!"

I notice how Raymond is staring at me wide-eyed in awe. Who would blame him when I am dressed like this? Rather than going in one of my "Grandma" outfits, I bit the bullet and picked one of Annie’s gowns. And I decided to go big while I am at it. I am wearing the dark blood red halter back dress like you probably already guessed. Raymond’s eyes are dragging over me from my face to my body with a devastating slowness that makes me feel slightly uncomfortable which, he noticed. "Sorry. That was so uncouth of me. I am sorry." He apologizes. "You are looking so beautiful and different in that dress. Not too different!" He sharply argues his own words. "I don’t mean too much from your usual self. I just want to say that you look like a goddess."

I force a syrupy tone. "Well, I am flattered. Thank you."

"Shall we?"

"Before that, let me kindly warn you to bring her back in one piece." Peeking out from the slightly open door, Annie chirps in. She must have been listening in from behind the door. "Her stepfather works in the FBI. Mess with her and you will be on their most wanted list."

"Annie!"

"What? I am being protective."

"Pay no attention to her. Let’s go."

"You don’t have to worry, Gweneth’s pretty friend. I will protect her even from myself." Declared Raymond gentlemanly.

"Well said. Act on it." Her gaze shifts to me. "I will text you every fifteen minutes to be sure you are okay."

"You sound like my mother."

"Well, I am in this case. So I will take that as a compliment. Have fun. Bye." She said and locks the door.

"Your friend seems nice."

"That is because she is." I found Raymond opening the car door for me cheesy and unnecessary. "What style of music do you like?"

"Huh?"

"I mean what type of music do you prefer on the road? I am asking because we are going to be driving for two hours. Perhaps three."

"Why? Is it that far?"

"Yeah. They are having the wedding on this private beach that kelvin bought at the last minute because Maddy suddenly wanted a beach wedding."

"A beach wedding. That is romantic. I was considering having one too before my fiance and I broke up."

"It doesn’t matter. You can have it with someone else."

"Hmmm, maybe. But not anytime soon. I am steering clear off the romance for now." I am not a sadist who gets off on getting her heart broken.

"Come on, chose a song already. We don’t want a dull drive."

"You wouldn’t like my taste. Let’s see yours."

"Mine doesn’t matter. Yours do—I mean—I don’t want to bore you out. I like opera songs. You wouldn’t."

"You are quite right, I am not a fan of it. But it will interest you to know that I applied for the training in highschool as an extra curricular. But I quickly dropped it because the instructor never failed to humiliate me. He even said I sounded like a frog. The asshole!" I grit at the end of it. I hope Mr Ophiuchus gets vile, mean rash wherever he is. Raymond bursts into a hearty laughter. I kinda joined in with a silly smile. "It sounds funny now. But then it wasn’t. I was a laughingstock."

"Sorry. I just find it hard to believe that you are a bad singer."

"Put on the playlist." I say. Raymond cranks up the stereo and Caro mio ben. I grin and began singing along with Tommaso Giordani. Belting out my rusty C- vocal range. Next was Mozart’s "Non so più cosa son" My voice became hoarse after that. I stared expectantly at Raymond for a comment. "You are great. You are not a terrible singer at all." I can tell that he is lying, because I heard my voice too. Even I would not call it pleasant. Being bad at singing is something I have made peace with. "I would pick cruel honesty over flattery aimed at distracting truth." I said, pulling a face.

"Yeah, you were bad. But not the worse I have heard."

"Now, that is honest."

CALYX

I open my eyes and see Ronnie. The familiar chandelier and the layout of the high ceilings lets me know my location. The remote penthouse I purchased two months ago. I painfully grunt as I attempted to sit up. Ronnie rushes to me. "Boss, are you okay?" He asks worriedly."

"How long have I been out?"

"About ten hours." He answers. Ten fucking hours. Coupled with the blood loss, it is no wonder I feel so weak.

I touched my abdomen. Thick gauze bandage is wrapped around it. A small patch of red staining it on my right flank. It hurts like hell. But it was a necessary pain. Ronnie helps me seat up on the bed and lean my back against the headboard. "Did you really shoot yourself?"

"What do you think?" I am feeling amused and grated that he is doubting. He has been with me long enough to know that I sometimes crave my own pain and blood. This is the height of it though. Even I am surprised with myself. I had chosen to put a bullet into my abdomen than to have sex. I could have also acted like I was playing along with uncle’s ridiculous plan and threaten the lady into admitting that we have done something. But I did not want to concede to my uncle’s plan, pretense or not. They were thinking that I would fight and kill my way out with the gun. I noted how his face went cold with surprise when I aimed the gun to myself and fired a bullet. None of them had been expecting that. Uncle’s face comes in front of mine, panicking as he tries to counter the inevitable unconsciousness by shaking me. The pain of the body and internal organs being pierced by bullets is too much even for a me—a lover of pain. It is impossible to completely get used to.

"I do think that it is too much. What if you had died?"

"Just one bullet would not kill me unless it is logged in my brain, heart or liver." I say in a half-assed joke. For someone like me who lives by the gun and uses it more than I use anything else, it will not be a strange thing if I were to die by it. If that does happen, I will be sure to kill my opponent too as I die.

That would be my last time following the "an eye for an eye" principle. Before I could ask how things are at the company, Ronnie starts reporting.

GWENETH

"That was fast." I say as Raymond reached the location and prepared to park. "What did I say? Music is essential for a long ride."

"I will abide by that once I have gotten my own car." I smile. We both get down and walk into the open gate on foot along with some other people.

Past there we met his friends. Just like Raymond, their eyes linger on me. "Can I have the privilege of knowing who this pretty lady beside you is." One said in a somewhat blandish manner as soon as they are done with their bro greetings.

"This is Gweneth. Gweneth, this is Owen and Elijah." He introduced. The one named Elijah puts out his hand for a handshake which I accept with a small smile. "Nice to meet you Gweneth. I am Elijah." His boyish grin suits him so well. "Jerk. There is no damn need to say your name. Ray just introduced you to her."