Impress Me Not: Neon Underground

Chapter 2

"That's what happened to Mateo?" Justin looked at the screen in utter shock.

"He probably scared the crap out of him!" Sarah laughed, hitting her knee. "No wonder Eros was convinced to give him another chance. You guys are basically already punishing the poor sap!"

"To be fair," Will pointed the remote up, like he would his pointer finger to make his point. "This wasn't something caused by us. It was the same night that Anton told him that they were over."

Then he pointed the remote at the television again, rewinding past the dark room that Melvin had been in. He stopped rewinding it once the screen showed the café that Melvin and Anton were in.

"Don't go after him," Anton kept looking down as he wiped the counters.

"Why?" Melvin looked angrier than they had ever seen him. But when his dark eyes grew softer when he looked at Anton.

"Because he's not worth it." The poor man sighed. He had looked exhausted that night. It wasn't the best one, from what Will remembered. But with all the chaos that night brought, there was a light at the end of that tunnel. He was happy with how it turned out.

"So, Melvin didn't listen to Anton's wish to stay out of it, and dragged him to his club anyway?" Justin asked, trying to catch up. It felt like they had missed out on so many things.

"I can see why he would," Sarah said, munching on the popcorn that she made. "Considering all the crap that Nox pulled with Anton, he was probably trying to make sure that Mateo didn't try to stalk him or try to force him into anything." Scaring him was a great way to get a solution, but Sarah was impressed by the dedication to it. He really went all out to make sure that Mateo was too humiliated to even think about going near Anton.

He looked pretty hot doing it, too.

"I think this might be a little much," Justin's face scrunched. "I'm surprised the television even showed us all of that. It usually will just stop broadcasting as soon as it gets anywhere close to sexual."

"This wasn't intentionally sexual," Obasi said. He was still there with the group, and he was still assigned to help Benny and Will take care of this last case before he got a new assignment. "And, as much as I would say it was too much, Mateo had broken a lot of hearts in the past."

Just from looking through his file, it was easy to see that the man only had money on his mind. If he hadn't changed his views on people even a little bit, then going through something for his consequences might have given him a new perspective on it. It was already a month after the incident, yet he was already starting to show signs of guilt and recollection.

"Do you actually think they could be a good match, though?" Justin asked. "I'm all for punishing someone who deserves it, but you guys are supposed to be matchmakers at the end of it."

"They actually did have a connection," Will gave a sly smile. "From the moment they first met, when Mateo was trying to get information about Anton's café."

He had thrown some lies in about a friend saying some nasty things about Anton's café in order to try and get some information from Melvin. It happened before Mateo even knew his name. But there was a spark of interest between the two. Will seemed to be the only person who had noticed it. Once he did, he put it in the back of his mind as a potential match for if things went awry. He hadn't thought much about him when Mateo and Anton got closer and started to form a relationship, but it came back when he realized that they weren't a good match.

Will might not have been the smartest when it came to this case of theirs, but he always had a back-up plan.

"Connection or not," Sarah kept giggling. "I think this is going to be a pretty difficult match for you two. I mean, Melvin hates him right now, and Mateo is probably scared to death of him."

"I don't know how you two even think you're going to be able to pull this off," Justin said. "I mean, Melvin literally tortured the man! How is he going to fall in love with him in a healthy, non-Stockholm syndrome way?"

"I was actually arguing with that point," Benny told him. "But then Will pointed out one thing that I kinda missed at first."

Watching that clip was the first time he had witnessed something like that in his career as a cupid. But Benny had seen a few of those rooms when he was exploring his own sexuality back in the 80s. He didn't quite like the idea too much, so he never tried anything like that out, but he knew about it. And watching someone do that to another person wasn't all that traumatizing to him.

"What did you miss?" Justin asked. He didn't really like watching what he did, but he knew that it wasn't as bad as he had went through personally. Knowing Melvin also helped him believe that it wouldn't turn into a murderous event.

"Mateo actually was enjoying it," Will answered. "Which means that he needs to realize something regarding his sexuality, and that Melvin doing those things to him don't keep him from still having a romantic connection with him that's healthy."

"I wouldn't consider getting whipped healthy," Sarah shook her head. "But some people do it as a form of therapy, so I guess it can't be all that bad."

"We're going to have to get some expert opinions on this," Obasi said, rubbing his chin.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be the experts?" Justin asked. He was missing something here, and he hated it.

"We're the experts on helping people find love," Obasi told him. "And that's why we are in charge of matching people around the world with others. But sexual exploration and understanding is a completely different department."

"That's also why it took a whole month for the request for a second chance for Mateo to get back to us," Will told him. "Melvin's file wasn't exactly with us. It was with the II Department."

"The II Department?!" Justin furrowed his brows. "I thought that they only had files that they sent to us?"

He hadn't known too much about that department other than they made sure that people were practicing consent in the bedroom. Anyone who wasn't would get sent to the Anticupid Department. And those cases had to be acted on quickly so as to keep from hurting the victim even more so. Justin knew what they did for their department, but anything else, he was a little clueless on.

"They take care of many things," Obasi said. "Melvin isn't the type of file that's on its way to your department, though. They have their reasons for keeping people's files there."

"I don't even know whether I want to know why," Sarah shook her head. "I'm guessing we're going to head over there next?"

"Well, they don't exactly have a phone number," Will winked at her. "The best way to learn the most about Melvin, and what their department has done with him is by going to them and asking."

Files could tell many things about a person, but it couldn't tell everything. Sometimes the best thing to do was just talk to someone else who had their case. Verbal information was better many times than reading through countless pages. It was easy to miss something in those papers too. And sometimes people will forget to add certain things to the file that are important.

He always hated when that happened.

"Alright," Sarah stood up from the couch she was on. "I'm definitely too curious to not follow you guys. Do you even know where the II Department is?"

"I do," Obasi said.

"He's got the layout of this whole building memorized," Will elbowed his old friend. "Isn't that right?"

"When you've worked here for as long as I have," Obasi sighed, opening the door to the hallways of cupids. "It becomes a force of habit, no matter how long it's been since you were there last."

"This is definitely one of the strangest cases you've gotten," Sarah told Will as they walked out together.

"I'm sure I've had stranger before," Will said with a smile. "But this is going to be one of the most challenging ones I've had, most surely."

It was strange what a twist the turn of events had left them. With Lucas' match out of the way, it felt like they were in the middle of this love story. But, with how much had happened, and the fact they had to work extra hard to give Mateo this second request, it felt different.

For some reason, it felt more like the beginning.

And Will couldn't wait to get started.