My Life was a Game

Chapter 15

That evening, Marble had a meeting with his investors at the mall. He was about to hit the lift when the door opened. Inside the lift, there was a man and a woman linking arms. He recognized the woman. She looked as surprised as he did. It was as if she got caught cheating or something but she didn't let go of the older man's arm.

Sudden irritation came to him. Quartz's words surged back in his mind. 'Boyfriend...' He slowly raised his eyes and looked at the man beside her. The man was in his 50's, had some neat gray hair and mustache. The man had green eyes like Jenat. Marble however just glared at him silently, the man shrank. Janet wasn't sure what happened but Marble didn't seem to like this man. She wasn't happy in any way. The door was about to close but she held the button to open the door.

"Mr. Marble may I help you with something?"

"May I know, who's your friend over here?"

His question made her more irritated. Who did he think he was? She didn't plan to lay low.

"Oh! I didn't know I had to tell you everything, DAD!"

Her answer didn't help his already spoiled mood. His hand moved to grab her arm that linked with the man. Marble had had enough, he separated the man from her and pushed the man to the back wall. The poor old man groaned in pain. She was horrified with his sudden burst and yanked herself from his grip.

"For fuck sake! What the hell do you think you're doing, Marble. That's my DAD, you son of a bitch."

Jenat's hand moved faster than his eyes could see. He staggered on his foot while his cheek felt like someone just slapped him. 'Did she just slap me?'. She ignored him and helped her father to stand and pulled him carefully out of the lift. Marble nervously helped the pair. Before he could apologize, Jenat's glare shut him up. It was the first time someone gave him such a scary death stare.

He never cowered in front of anyone, not even Onyx but Jenat looked so horrified. He made a huge mistake. He hurt her father. When Jenat walked away, he timidly gathered their stuff and followed behind the pair. He tried to apologize but all his words met her deaf ears. They arrived at her car and loaded her shopping bags into the back seat. Marble held her hand, trying to get her attention but he met with her fierce glare instead.

"Don't touch me, Mr. Marble!"

She yanked her hand and pushed his chest. Marble wasn't sure how to handle the situation. Suddenly, he felt stupid. He didn't mean to hurt her or anything. He didn't know that was her father and much worse, he hurt him in front of her. What was he thinking? He cursed himself with a defeated look. But the parking lot was already emptied when he raised his head.

The group had another lunch the day after, but there were only three people this time. The atmosphere was heavy and dark. The men exchanged their greeting but silence followed. However, they all agreed with the next word Quartz muttered.

"I think Marble fuck up."

Jenat came to work in a soiled mood. It was her father's first time to come to the island and he got attacked on the first day. Marble had hurt her father. He had a spinal problem, so when he pushed him, his back received all the impact. It was horrifying. It hurt a lot but he got no further problem with his back.

Moreover, Marble had consistently bothered her mailbox. She almost burst in frustration with his annoying relentlessness. So, after her working hour she decided to come clean with him. They needed a proper conversation about this. However, she had a lot of work today, so she decided to postpone her plan for tonight. Little did she know, Marble curled up on bed waiting for her reply.

***

Onyx was restless yet again, perhaps more accurate to say, he didn't sleep well for a few weeks now. June had ceased all his contact with him altogether. He even resigned from his job and nowhere to be seen around the Ace Island nor was April. He had been working day and night to find her. He didn't know where she was.

The security of the city was tight, so he couldn't check the public security surveillance camera not without the police involvement but private surveillance cameras from business only gave him incomplete or bad records. When they got the camera record, he would examine it along with his team. Any interviews his team gathered he would look at them as well.

One night came when Onyx was busy looking at the camera surveillance record. One of his assistants that had handled most of his work in the company came to his resident personally. He had been fuming in rage because of his boss' negligence with his own business but he knew better to not tick him off. He had a family to provide, so he endured as much as he could. Today, however, he got something important to deliver to his boss. Onyx wouldn't look at his email, nowadays, so he decided to deliver the words to him personally.

"You got a message from Ms. April Rainbow, sir."

As if someone had pulled his body upward, he stood abruptly when he heard the sentence. A bag was visible under each of his red eyes. He looked in shambled. Somehow he pitied his boss a little. The one made his boss like this and he himself finally made a move. However, he was worried if he would take the message well.

"She asked for you to stop and let her go."

Onyx was blank for a moment and a long silence followed. It was uncomfortable for his assistant. It felt like a huge load fell on top of him. Onyx looked very unhappy and directed all of his spite to the poor assistant. 'I'm not the sinner, dear lord. Help me...', he thought he had peed a little.

"I'm not even the one that imprisoned you. Why the hell, April?"

The assistant bit his lips nervously. He knew he wasn't asking him but it felt like his boss blamed him for whatever worldly problem out there. It took him a minute to pick himself up and said the next message.

" S - she would meet you if... If you stop the search. She'll make another contact after she is sure the operation has stopped."

This time, Onyx expression got more relaxed. He let out a sigh and reached his phone. He made several calls to his subordinates and a clear order was given; stop all operation. The assistant widened his eyes, with one request from one woman had his unreachable boss kneel on the dirt. His eyes lit as he hoped for him to return to work. If only if he had a gut to make up the message, Onyx most definitely would follow.