"Damn those guys." Haji clicked his tongue as he found himself in the garden area of the governor’s office.
Everyone, for some reason, just kept teasing him and telling him strange things. Some even dared insult his preferences, but that was because of Billionaire. The guy started it.
So, Haji snuck out in irritation, and now here he was.
"Why here, though?" he asked himself, crouching under a tree. "It would’ve been great if I hadn’t quit smoking."
If he hadn’t, he would’ve stepped out for a stick. But now, here he was, sitting under the tree, tearing a leaf into many pieces.
"Surely, times like this will make you relapse," he muttered, then turned his head toward the approaching figure. "Are you stalking me?"
Scarlet paused in her steps, then resumed and stopped a few paces away from him.
"Just because I’m letting you off doesn’t mean I won’t have my own threshold," she said coldly, looking at the half-ruined, half-intact greenhouse in the distance. "Keep testing my patience, and you’ll wish you listened to me when I was being nice."
"You’re being nice now?"
Her cold eyes slid in his direction, then looked away. "Do you know?" she asked out of nowhere, not dwelling on his nonsense.
"Know what?"
"Your grandmother."
This time, he didn’t answer and ruffled his hair in irritation. He should’ve known this was what it was all about, considering Himari had been bugging Scarlet during dinner.
Haji leaned against the trunk, eyes elsewhere. "She didn’t tell me, but I already guessed."
"You’re not going to convince her?"
"Hey, the last time I was here, we had a huge fight," he said matter-of-factly. "Back then, she chose to stay in this damn place even with the constant bullying from that fucking pig and Jarvis. But now that those guys are gone?"
He huffed heavily as he stared ahead. "She has even more reason to stay now, for her people."
Silence settled on them, Haji staring at the greenhouse as the moonlight reflected on its clear glass roof. Meanwhile, Scarlet quietly studied him.
"You’re fine with it?" she asked after a long silence, only to see him shrug.
"Do I have a choice?" Slowly, Haji lifted his eyes and met hers. "People choose to live the way they want to. There are those like Jarvis, who lived the way he did, and me, who lives the way I do. Then there are people like my nana—and you—who choose to live the way you do."
"Whether I’m fine with it or not, it’s not my place to tell others how to live their lives," he added as he looked away. His eyes flickered with emotions he wouldn’t say out loud, but that weighed heavily on his heart.
"It’s her life, and... I’ve long accepted that I’ll never be first in her life," he whispered, a trace of sadness lacing his voice. He smacked his lips and turned to her. "Happy now?"
Scarlet didn’t answer immediately and simply studied him. When she finally spoke, all she said was,
"Do you want her to stay here or not?"
He frowned, brows tightening. "What the hell is that question?"
"Do you?"
"Tsk." He clicked his tongue, clearly not wanting to answer. But since she kept staring at him—and clearly wasn’t going to let it go—he threw his hands into the air.
"Of course I do. She’s my grandma!" he snapped. "Heck! She’s too old. In a year, she might not even be able to get out of bed on her own! The woman is at the last thread of her life. So yeah, I want to have her around and spend the last years of her life with her, since she already gave most of it to everyone else instead of me."
The corners of Scarlet’s lips curled into a subtle smile. "I have a plan."
"Huh?" Haji’s face twisted just as she turned on her heel. "Hey! You can’t just leave me hanging! Oy, girl!"
Scarlet paused and glanced over her shoulder. "I’ll tell you about it. But for now, get up and go."
"Huh? Go where?"
"Atlas is calling the team for a meeting," she said as she resumed walking. "Did you really think I came here just to look at your face? Fat chance."
Haji scrunched his nose as he watched her leave.
"Tsk." He clicked his tongue, shaking his head as his shoulders sagged. Pushing himself up lazily, he muttered, "I really should date someone cute, kind, and soft-spoken before I start having strange ideas about that Amazonian."
*****
When Haji arrived at the room Atlas was currently using as his office, his steps slowed at the door. His eyes swept across everyone inside, noticing that nearly all of them were present.
Atlas, Lola, Izu, Pika, Baby, Florida, Ransom, Tyga, and Scarlet.
Not seeing the rest of Haji’s team—Kean and Chuck—wasn’t surprising. Kean was busy helping Long, and even though days had passed, patients still needed assistance. Others from the medical team were helping as well, but another pair of hands was always necessary.
Once Haji took an empty seat, Atlas straightened and scanned everyone.
"I believe all of you are aware of what this meeting is for," he said calmly, as always. "I told you to hold off on everything for now as we work to restore control and structure to what’s left of the territory. However, I believe it’s time for all of you to share what you’ve discovered during your individual investigations."
He paused and leaned his arm against the table. "Baby, did you learn anything about the Bellemontes we isolated?"
Baby shook his head. "All of them are sticking to their story, and so far, they’ve remained consistent. I’m starting to think they truly have no idea what’s actually happening in Ashkar. However, they do know what goes on within the walls of that maze."
He pointed to the folders in front of them. "We’ve documented everything they knew."
At that, everyone picked up the reports and began looking through them, except Florida.
"Before you do that," Lola’s calm voice interjected, stopping them. She snapped her gaze at Florida and jerked her chin.
"Florida, tell them what you found here during the chaos."
Florida nodded and looked around at everyone watching him.
"Madam told me, before the situation in the main city even started, to find anything interesting in the governor’s residence," he began. "There was a lot, but the most concerning one... I found it in Jarvis’s home."
He paused as everyone stayed silent, their attention fixed on him.
"I found ledgers detailing agreements and transactions between Jarvis and Henrik Bellemonte. Also, their plan to take down the Zorken Family and take over the country of Anteca. And on top of those ledgers... there was another signature aside from Jarvis and Henrik Bellemonte."
Florida exhaled slowly before whispering,
"Nathalie Zorken."