C26: Lancelot

I can't help but do a lot of thinking after knowing everything. I'm done with knowing about my real identity, and knowing that I lived a lie in my entire life, this is the time where I should begin correcting the mistakes. None of those can be undone, but the useless crap done all these years can be stopped.

Annabelle said that, 28 years ago, my grandfather was involved in the politics, and just like the principle that the people who raised me said, 'anyone who gets in the way should be wiped out.'

For them, to win the elections, wiping out those who can hinder them from winning is a must. The thing I simply can't understand is them saying that I was used as a payment. How true can that be?

Giving away your child only for the sake of payment? I just don't get it, and I can sense that it's not the entire truth either. I'm not that stupid to believe such excuse. However, regardless of the case, there's no point asking why I was thrown away just like that, but tracing their darkest businesses. I have to know what else they're hiding.

I searched for Nate's name in my contacts and without having any second thought, I pressed the 'call' button, and he answered right away.

"What is it now?" he asked, his voice partly annoyed.

"You sound irritated," I replied, uninterested with what he's irritated about.

"There's no need for you to know. Why did you call?"

"After knowing the entire truth about my life that was full of lies, I realized that it's time to do the right thing."

"Go straight to the point."

"I want you to help me reveal your parents' crime involvements, so does the mayor's, and the vice mayor's. I want us to gather pieces of evidence."

"Are you crazy?!" Nate almost yelled in my ear and yet, I didn't move a muscle to pull the phone away from my ear as if it's something I'm used to.

"If you're not in, I'll do the data gathering myself," I already made up my mind – that all of these crap should end at once. Nothing, or no one can stop me. I cannot let more people be involved and die with their selfish plans. I'm not planning to be a hero, but simply do the right thing since no one else will.

"Some evidence might lead to you. How can you be so foolish? Do you want to spend the rest of your life behind bars? In my opinion, rotting in jail is even worse than the death penalty."

"So? I deserve it."

"You really have lost your mind," Nate commented, and a long silence followed between us, and part of me wonders if I'm ready to be stuck in jail to put everything to an end. "If that's what you want, then fine. I did burn the files that can point you out about Giovanni's case. The CCTV file was the only proof that I found. No hair, fingerprints, or anything else. You were too good at breaking evidence. I'm not sure about your past cases, though. You can, however, find evidence when you visit my parents' house. Documents, contracts, drugs, anything. If you want to make this job easier, let's arrange a raid. That's what I'm proposing. How about the mayor and your father, the vice mayor? How do you plan on dealing with them?"

"Evangeline is the mayor's niece. If she can meet him, she might find out something. However, I cannot allow her to do it by herself. It might put her to danger," besides, I don't want her to be involved anyway. Doing all these would make her find out about me as well and that's inevitable. Bracing myself on what she'll say is what I should do next.

"Evangeline? Who is she again? You sound protective as if she's your responsibility."

"She's my boss' daughter. Haven't I mentioned her before? I was the one who took care of her when she was sick. You called back then, I remember telling you that. I need to protect her. It's the right thing to do. There's no need for an innocent person to be harmed. She experienced receiving death threats before, and I can't let that happen again."

"Whatever. We need to meet soon and talk about all these personally."

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Monday, at 6 am.

I reached for my phone placed on my bedside table, turned it on, and sent a text message to Evangeline, reminding her that I'll pick her up at 8:30 am.

Less than a minute later, she replied, "How can I forget? I'm honestly thrilled!" I can already hear her voice by just reading her text message.

Such a cheerful woman.

After preparing for today's work, I left my house and headed to hers, arriving there at 8:25 am. I kept on calling her as I wait in the car, yet, she didn't pick up, or at least give me a text informing me that she'll be late. When she finally appeared, it was 8:40 am, and she was clearly in a rush while unlocking the gate from behind.

As she locks the gate after stepping out, I can't help but look at her from head to toe – there she is again, wearing stylish clothes. A baby pink, striped, button-down loose blouse, the front of the blouse tucked in her high-waist pants, the backside of the blouse was let loose. Her high heels once again helped her perfect her posture.

She opened the door of the passenger's seat, beads of sweat building on her forehead. She smiled apologetically, yet, I can't even get mad.

"You really know how to dress up, don't you?" I asked, as I stepped on the brake pedal and switched the engine on, avoiding her eyes.

"You wouldn't even ask me why it took me so long?" she gasped, her voice partly higher than usual.

"Do I have to? I can tell by simply looking at you," I couldn't help but chuckle a bit and just shook my head. "Are my thoughts right?"

"If you're thinking that it's because of dressing up, yes. I couldn't choose which footwear I should wear, plus my lipstick smudged earlier so I had to re-do it."

"Just as I thought," I shifted the gear to drive and stepped on the accelerator pedal. "It's fine. I know how to be patient."

"You're not mad?"

"Not even an inch."

"But you look too serious. I can't tell what you're thinking."

You're beautiful. How can I even say that without her getting the wrong idea?

"Don't mind me, it's normal that people can't read me easily. At least most of the time." I assured, and she seated back calmly, putting the seatbelt on.

"What do you mean by 'you know how to dress up' by the way?" she tilted her head a bit in confusion and I see her reaction from the corner of my right eye.

"You look stylish in whatever you wear. You know how to carry yourself in whatever you're wearing. You always look confident in yourself. I suppose you're getting the idea?"

"I believe so, yes. Well, I like dressing up. I shop a lot, and you can say that I'm often confident. Anyways, enough about me. How will things be like later?"

"I'll tour you around the restaurant, introduce you to everyone. Depends on your preference, you can stay in the resto for an entire day by being a staff yourself or just like your dad, who visits there occasionally."

"Remember that we have that 'Lance and Evangeline trivia' game? How can I possibly win if I won't be around you? Oh and, it'll be Victor from now on, right? So that makes it 'Victor trivia' for you."

"You're taking that seriously?" I sighed. "It's not like I'm an interesting person. Fine. I'll bite. You might get disappointed though," I warned. "You'll see. Whatever the case, I must say that I'm not going to try to please you just because you're my boss. I'm not a people-pleaser."

She clasped her hands together as always, completely hyped. "So be it! That's the Victor trivia for the day, then. You're not a people-pleaser. Also, it's not just you, okay? My dad didn't send me here to sit and do nothing. I'll act as the manager. You said that each employee has their own day off, right? I'm choosing Wednesday. I'll be in the restaurant every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Lastly, there's Megan. You have no idea how much I love her, and I want to know her better in person. Sounds fair?"

"Wednesday is also my day-off," I said, thinking of how to respond next.

"So?"

"So."

A deafening silence followed the interesting conversation, and I'm wondering what's wrong about this. I glanced at her for a second to see her reaction, and she was only kept silent.

"What if –" we said in chorus, and we also said, 'you go first' at the same time.

"As they all say, ladies' first," I reminded, holding myself back from giving her the hint that I won the argument.

Eve scoffed in surrender and followed it with a sigh.

"Fine," Her tone immediately changed to cheerful, just like how it all began. I find it funny because her reaction changes fast. "What if the three of us go out together whenever it's Wednesday?"

"Three of us? With Megan, you mean?" the very idea that Megan will be with us also means that I'm going to be the third wheel. It'll be them talking about girly stuff while I'm the one who'll carry the stuff that they bought, and I can't be wrong about that.

"Yeah. Or …?" Eve looked down as if waiting for me to fill what she said.

"Or?"

"Maybe we should spend a couple of hours together," she forced an embarrassed smile, and I held myself back from laughing.

"You're smiling. What's so funny about that?" she added.

"Are you implying that we're going out for dates every Wednesday? Like what, you're making the first move right now? I wasn't expecting that."

Eve gasped, her cheeks turning red. "Hey! Don't make it sound like that, you're making it awkward! Can't it be a friendly date, huh?"

"Then why are you denying too much? You look funny."

"Can we just change the topic?" she covered her face in embarrassment, her cheeks getting redder.

"No, but I'll stop teasing you. If that's what you want, sure. I don't mind. I can't promise that it'll be every Wednesday, though. Also, Megan's day off is every Thursday. You sure that you'll choose Wednesday as your day-off?"

"I'm a woman of my word, I'm fine with Wednesdays. I'll use that day to paint and shop, too."

"Why are you giving too much interest in knowing a boring, icy person like me?"

"Hmm, good question," she responded, putting her index finger on her chin, slightly pouting.

"Maybe because at some point, I'm seeking company. Can you imagine how I'm like whenever I'm alone? Being alone triggers the recent painful events that happened, and I want to keep myself occupied so that I'll stop stressing myself."

"You … you mean, whenever you're alone, you're still crying, carrying the burdens of the past?" my chest tightened after knowing who she is behind what I can see because I'm at fault when it's about Giovanni's death.

"Yes, and I hate that I'm too emotional. I'm not suggesting that we go out to use you to help me move on if that's what you're thinking. It's not necessarily because I like you or anything like that, but I'll appreciate some company, someone to talk with. A friend I can talk to. I want to do the things that can make me happy," she explained as her facial expression falls.

Fair. Now I understand why she's fond of being surrounded by people, because she finds people as stress relievers.

"I see. I never experienced breakups before so, I had no idea." I admitted, which is true. Besides, I don't think any girl deserves to be with someone like me, a man with bloodshed in his hands.

"In my experience, when you break up with someone, especially if you've been with them for a long time, the next few days or weeks will cause you to relate everything that you'll see to them. Say for example, seeing a beach. You'll be nostalgic, with thoughts like, 'we used to be on a beach before.' Another. Whenever I paint in my art room, I remember him sitting on the floor, a couple of meters apart behind me and simply watches me paint, or with a book in his hands – to read and watch me at the same time. So whenever I'm alone in my art room, I remember someone watching me from behind, telling me words of encouragement for me to become more motivated with my work. Things like that," she heaved a breath to get the pressure out of her chest and her facial expression falls … again. It was like a couple of minutes ago, she was hyped, and now she's in the worst state.

"I don't know exactly what it feels, but I get the picture. Your mind will relate the things that you'll see to remember the person, correct?" I asked.

"You just repeated what I said. Almost."

"Look. I don't know what to say to help you, but since we're friends, I'll go along with your idea. I'll spend some time with you every Wednesday, for a friendly date," I shrugged. "It doesn't have to be romantic." I was thinking if I should say, 'I'll see what I can do to help you move on,' but I held myself back from saying it because it might give the wrong idea. It's not like we're doing this for her to forget the guy with me as a replacement. That would be … wrong.

I hate the fact that I keep on holding myself back from speaking my mind.

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The kitchen crew left their designated areas and gathered together in front of us to hear what I'm going to announce.

"Good morning, everyone. I'd like to introduce you to our new boss, Evangeline. She's our boss' daughter, and she'll temporarily replace sir Elliot because he's in the States at the moment. She'll be working with us," I looked at Evangeline and pointed my hands to the employees. "Evangeline, this is everyone. Everyone, this is Evangeline."

The kitchen crew blinked awkwardly and looked at each other's faces, and Eve slapped my arm and whispered, "What is wrong with you?"

"What? I just introduced you to them. As you can see, they have their nametags so it shouldn't be that hard. C'mon. I'll tour you around just like how your father instructed me to." I grabbed her wrist, something she wasn't expecting and pulled her as I begin the tour.

"Everyone, go back to work," as I said those, they all went back to their working places.

Eve watched everyone leave, and when they were out of our sight, Eve forced to pull her wrist away from my grip, and I let go. "What's with you? Is this a Victor trivia?"

"What were you expecting me to do? Introduce them to you one by one? That'll be time-consuming. Even your father isn't aware of everyone's names. He simply reads their nametags," to put it simply, I'm not interested in introducing them one by one, because I prefer being direct to the point. "If you see me as someone cold and bossy, well, you're right about that."

"Dad told you to be responsible here when he was away, so being bossy is understandable. Being cold is … I guess it somehow makes sense. The CEO in the company where I used to work for was literally like that. But for some reason … you don't act like that when it comes to me." The corner of my lip twitched and I fixed my eyes on her.

"Now you're seeing my other side. You can say that I'm the kind who's cold outside, but warm if you'll break my icy exterior."

"But I didn't even try to break that icy exterior," Evangeline, your warmth is enough to break it. I wish that can be said easily, but some things are better left unsaid.