Losing Protection

In the exact same position as Anthony had left him in...

There he stayed, unaware of the passing afternoon until he finally zoned out of his feelings. By the time he got up from the floor, the moon had already been casting shadows over his office floor. The constant buzzing rings from his phone drove him crazy as his train of thoughts kept getting cut off. His phone almost exploded from the numerous notifications spammed through text.

"What do you want?" As he voiced his complaints, the burning sensation in his throat spread awfully from dehydration. The last time he had drunk water was more than twelve hours ago. After the chaotic afternoon, his mouth was left opened and closed for hours. Taking his stained coffee mug, he filled it up with water.

After the first drip of water touched his tongue, thick saliva lined up in his mouth; immediately soaking up any moisture that followed. Water slid down sloppily from the corner of his mouth as he chugged down the cup of cold water.

On the other end of the call, the woman who had been calling and messaging him since the afternoon started clicking her tongue just to irk him. "Is this how you greet your mother? Peter, I've raised you better than this."

Flashbacks to this afternoon floated in his head again; it vexed him. "Sorry, mom. I didn't look at the caller ID. I'm still at the office. Did you need something?"

"Be honest with me. Did you quarrel with Selina? What did you do to anger her?" Fanny Sin was probing through pictures and surveillance cameras with Selina in it as she asked him for an answer. Hearing nothing but silence from his end, she subconsciously straightened her spine.

"Your silence means I'm right. Go find her right now and apologize. I won't repeat it twice. Where the hell could you find a good girl like her? Quit that pride of yours and beg her to forgive you." Next to her was her husband, Ken Sin. He grunted in displease when he heard his wife teaching their son what to do.

Extending out his right hand; his fingers wiggled out for her phone. She nodded and handed the device to him. "Peter, get a bouquet and sweets. What kind of man are you? Why are you acting like a jealous woman on her period? It was already frustrating enough to hear your ridiculous rants, but this time you better suck up to her."

"Dad, I can't do that." His tightened fists gradually loosened.

"What do you mean you can't? How hard is it to apologize first? Get your ass over to her house and apologize. Kneel until your knee caps bleed! Do you have any idea how much trouble you've already caused?" Ken crushed the cigar in his hand when he heard Peter's words.

"Dad, Selina is dead... Yesterday, she committed suicide on W bridge..." Peter's voice trailed off, leaving both sides in dead silence.

After a few minutes had passed, Fanny snatched the phone from her husband's ears. She didn't hear what Peter had said, but it was definitely not good news. "Hello? Hello? Peter, are you still there? What did you say to your dad? Why does he look so pale?!"

"Mom, Selina is dead. She jumped off W bridge yesterday. Bryan came to my office to tell me that..earlier.." Peter repeated his message once again.

"Peter, if this is a joke, then you've gone too far. How could she be dead? We just saw her the other day! She even told me she had a customized blade for us! Tell mother this isn't true. It can't be true!" Fanny refused to believe in him.

"Mom, it's true. I..I was the one who stabbed her with the blade you're talking about. I was the one who forced her to the corner until she couldn't stand me anymore. She broke up with me and then committed suicide hours later...Her body couldn't be found either.." Tears rushed to his eyes as he fell into acceptance.

"How could this happen?! No wonder Bryan withdrew protection for our family! I thought it was a small quarrel between you two that made her angry. I even thought she went to her brother and told him bad words about you. Oh, my lord..How wrong could I get? They don't owe us anything. It's us who owes their family a life!"

Her body fell backwards to her bed. With her arms covering her eyes, she had no strength to even call Bryan. She was going to help Peter say a few good words in front of him, but everything is flushed down the drains.

"Enough! Just withdrawing protection for our family is considered light. If Bryan wanted, he could have killed all of us already! Forget good words. Even saying a greeting could light up an explosion! Peter, you better be honest and tell us what happened yesterday. Maybe we can still save our family if you are truthful to us."

Peter began reciting what happened yesterday to his parents. Ken waited for him to finish the story before screaming at him for being stupid enough to listen to Shirley. His lectures ranted on for hours, making Peter's eardrums ache tremendously. After the phone call had ended, his ears were ringing on both sides.

He sighed as he laid lazily on the couch. "Bryan took away the protection seal on our family. This means a lot of trouble will come to us. Anyone could snatch our businesses and even rob our status. But then again, this is expected the moment he walked into the office today."

Closing his eyes, he continued talking to himself. "With his status, he could easily release insider news and have us bankrupted in under an hour. Only Selina and her mother would be hidden in the dark for everything he is capable of. Hah, I'm such an idiot for making this move."

- Luxurious Mansion -

"Bryan, it's done. The Sin family is no longer under our seal of protection. But what made you do this to them? Weren't you always protective over them?" Bryan's best friend, Alfred Gin asked as he stuffed his phone back in his pocket.

"I'll tell you when I'm ready to share it. Don't ask and just do as I say. This is only the beginning." Bryan raised his wine glass and knocked it lightly against an empty glass on the table.

'Selina, I'm only stripping away protection for now. If you're still alive...I hope you're living well and maybe one day, you'll come back to me. If you're no longer here...I'll have the whole Sin family pay.'