TWELVE: Yakuza

Vinter's POV

'Failure'

That term defines me. I have failed all my life. Failed to protect Twilight from my father's abuse. Failed to achieve my dreams, failed to get my soulmate— failed at every step of life and still pretended that I got everything under control.

This woman I am kissing right now has no idea how long I waited for this to happen. To hold her just once, to kiss her like this just for once. I craved her touch, her presence in my life. And now that I have her here, I still cannot have her for myself. All because she is not worth me and I am not worth her.

My heart is beating in my chest like crazy and I know she can hear it too— she can feel the vibration cause of our closeness.

I know what I am doing is not right, especially for Nina. This is wrong, absolutely wrong. But I gave into my greed just this once. My bond with Dove is way stronger than any bonds I have with anyone. Why won't it be? We are meant to spend eternity together. This life, the next life and the life after. We are meant to spend it all with each other.

I hissed in pain when I realized she bit my bottom lip. I pulled away from her and saw a smirk playing on her lips. I know my lower lip is bleeding since I can feel the metallic taste in my mouth. I wiped the blood from my bottom lip.

"Bleeding lips— what a beautiful sight," she said in a sultry voice. She pulled my face closer to hers.

"You see, love. I might have given in there for a minute since your lips are tempting and the comfort of your body— oh! How I wish I could feel it for the rest of my life," she grinned. "But baby I have to stay loyal to your brother after all the future I could never see for us somehow looks possible with your brother."

"And you think it would be easy for you to date my brother and neglect this bond of ours?" I asked. She chuckled.

"Who said I have to neglect it? I accept it as a whole," she said. "And that's why I will have to break it."

My eyes widened at her reply. She is going to break this bond? A bond that many think is a gift from nature— a bond that I think is a gift of God. She must be joking, right? She can't be that serious about Twilight that she would break this sacred bond.

"You are joking," I mumbled.

"You think?" She said grinning like a menace. "You know, Vinter. I'll give you this one piece of advice."

"Don't play games with the devil in hell, when you are just an angel trespassing," she said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Don't try to play games with me, Vinter," she said. "You are innocent and not strong enough to handle the consequences. So, it's better if you stay put and let me deal with the situation in my accordance."

"I am a criminal after all, aren't I? You don't want to get involved with a criminal and taint your clean records now, do you?" She replied as she stepped away from me. "It's best for you too if you let me break this bond."

I stood there gaping at her retreating figure. She's right, I will have everything easy if this bond is broken. My family will never accept her because of her criminal records. Then why can't I simply let her do what she wants to do? Breaking this bond, that's what I wish for too! Then why is my heart resisting this fact? Why do I hope that she doesn't break it?

"Oh! And! I forgot to mention," she said as she turned around to look at me.

"You should stop smoking cause if I won't have a broken in here on time, you could have died cause of suffocation from all the smoke in the room," she said. "But, if you still wish to die, do it after our bond breaks."

"I have already seen someone suffer from the loss of their soulmate once. The pain seems unbearable and you see my life has always been painful. Cut me some slack, okay?" She said with a wink and she skipped out of the studio not waiting for my reply.

Unbearable pain— I do wonder what she has been through all this time. I know life as a juvenile offender won't be easy. Only if she won't put on that menace façade and let me see through her once.

But why do I wish to see through her? I have a very beautiful loving girlfriend who is accepted by my family. Everyone except Twilight though. Why is it that I feel, Twilight understands Dove way better than I do?

My soulmate is a criminal and I don't understand why I feel sympathy or any sort of emotions towards a criminal, that too towards someone who tried to kill my girlfriend. Could it be that Nina is lying? Because no matter what Nina told me about Dove, my intuitions are telling me otherwise. Should I try to dig into Dove's past? How am I supposed to do that if she won't open up to me herself?

An old friend once told me that no matter how hard I'll work, if I take things around me for granted. I'll eventually lose it and I didn't listen to that person. I took everything for granted my soulmate bond, my talent for music and my brotherhood with Twilight. Now I'm slowly losing it all— I feel like I'm losing my sanity along with it.

Did Dove lose her sanity too like this?

Now that when I think about it, she is a lot like me yet a very twisted version of me. Like a blurred picture which makes no sense and yet it's invaluable, cause it gives the feeling of nostalgia.

Nothing is more beautiful than a distorted memory with a hint of nostalgia— that's exactly what Dove Stanley is.

My train of thoughts came to a halt when I received a text message from someone. The message was from my father's assistant, it said;

"Mr. Harris, your father is expecting you for the meeting at 5 in the evening."

Whatever my father has been planning to expand the business we owned, I'm not interested in it. The only thing that interests me is music. When will my father understand such a simple thing?

I sighed as I checked the time. I was supposed to start composing our new song but looks like it'll have to wait until later.

It's half past 4 right now and my father expects me to see him in half an hour.

"Great," I mumbled as I wore my jacket and walked out of the studio.

I was lucky enough to not cross paths with Dylan or Tristan or Charles cause they would have bombarded me with questions about what happened between me and Dove.

I drove towards Harris' company building.

When I reached outside my father's office I didn't bother entering in because there's a meeting going on inside since the door is closed. Usually, the door is open when there's only my father.

While I was waiting for the door to open, a man passed by beside me as he accidentally dropped his name tag. I picked it up and read the name 'Levy' on it.

"Sir! I think you dropped this!" I called out for the guy as he turned around to look at me. It was very unusual to not write the last name on the name tag for the employee of our company. But... who knows?

The man or should I say 'Levy' has a light blue color eye— but what's even odd is that his right eye has no pupil in it, just the iris which was a bit lighter shade of blue than the left eye. The man is the same height as me and has brunette hair. He's quite an attractive individual if you ask me.

"Oh! Thank you!" He said as he approached me with a smile. I gave him his tag and he thanked me again.

"You must be new, I haven't seen you around the company," I said. I can remember faces just at one glance. Call it a superpower but I'm a super recognizer, someone who can remember faces with just one glance.

"Yes sir, I started working here today. I'm Levy, nice to meet you, Mr. Harris," he said introducing himself.

"Mr. Harris is my father. Just call me 'Vinter'," I said. He nodded.

"Sir, if you don't mind. Can I have your autograph?" Levy asked. I raised my eyebrows.

"Sure, didn't know you were a fan," I said chuckling.

"Oh! It's not for me. My younger brother is a big fan of yours," he said.

"I see... can I have pen and paper?" I asked. He opened his mobile phone and opened a blank page on it. He handed me his mobile with a stylus pen.

"Sorry, I don't have a paper or pen," he said rubbing the back of his neck and making me laugh.

"That's alright, what's your brother's name?" I asked.

"Just write 'Bel'," he said. Weird, but okay I am not going to judge someone based on their names.

"Okay," I said as I did my signature on his mobile with a small message for his brother. I handed him back his mobile phone and pen.

"Thank you so much, Vinter," he said with a smile. I smiled back.

"No problem! Always at my fans' service," I said and my father's office's doors opened.

"I'll see you around, Levy," I said, the man nodded and left. As soon as he left a bunch of men started to leave my father's office. Now, what's odd is the men— even though they were dressed in suits their bodies were covered entirely in tattoos I could tell cause tattoos on their neck and hands were visible and they seemed like a bunch of gangsters to me cause of their wicked aura. I hope it's not who I think it is.

I went immediately inside my father's office, as soon as my father noticed me, he smiled ear to ear. Now that is a rare sight.

"Who were those scary-looking people?" I asked.

"Our Japanese delegates," my father replied.

"Delegates? They looked more like Yakuza members, dad," I replied.

"So what if they are?" He asked. My eyes turned into saucers. For a second there I couldn't comprehend what my father is trying to say.

Yakuza is a powerful criminal organization in Japan. If my father is trying to make any kind of partnership with them, then that's a terrible idea.

"Dad! Are you out of your mind!" I slammed my hands on the table.

"Keep your voice down in front of me, Vinter!" My father retorted.

"Yakuza?! A deal with Yakuza! Do you know how dangerous these criminal organizations are, dad?!" I asked.

"I am aware of it, Vinter. But, look at the brighter side with their help our company's stocks would be skyrocketing. I would be the world's wealthiest person!" He said grinning like a maniac.

Lust for money. I know my father had it, but I didn't know he would go up to this extent. This is too much.

This man is not only putting his life on the line making a deal with dangerous criminals but he's also putting his entire family's life in danger.

I need to come up with a solution for this as soon as possible. But, what can I possibly do? I have no knowledge about the crime world... unless if I... take someone's help who's from that world.