Wild Young Miss: Mister, Let's Kiss!

Meanwhile, on Matthew's side…

"Man, you should rest a bit." Inigo cocked his head, staring at Matthew who was sitting across from him, on the end of the table in their meeting room.

Yet, Matthew continued scrolling at the buy and sell shop that was sent to Ivan, which Milo hacked. He was rubbing his chin, then constantly sipping from his glass of rum.

"You're taking this to a whole new level." Inigo humored as he shook his head lightly. 

Inigo then glanced at Milo, who had fallen asleep in front of his computer. Ivan had left Angelo. Well, there's still Dredd, but that beast was also sleeping in the corner.

"You won't be able to save her if you suddenly collapse." Inigo sighed as his words just bounced across each corner of the room, as if he was merely talking to himself.

"Zia will kill you if you die." Inigo added but to no avail.

"You should rest. You've yet to completely recover." After a minute of his silence, Matthew spoke, raising his gaze over the laptop.

"Well, this is my rest." Inigo shrugged. "Staying on the bed will be the death of me."

Again, silence ensued. Inigo shook his head as Matthew returned his focus to the laptop.

"You really think you can save her by…"

"I won't." Before Inigo could finish his recurring questions, Matthew interrupted him midway. "Working and figuring things out is mainly to save myself from losing it."

Indeed. If Matthew stopped, he'd lose his mind overthinking. He'd rather do something, think about something, instead of thinking about what was happening to Zoey.

Was she crying? Was Nikolai hurting her? Or any other worse questions he didn't want to think about.

Nikolai was obsessed with Zoey. Knowing Zoey's stubbornness, she would surely do anything to defy him.

Everyone knew about Zoey's and Nikolai's violent tendencies. If they didn't move fast, the chances of seeing her again were growing slim. If Nikolai wouldn't die, Zoey would.

It was only a matter of time before those two blew up. Yes. Zoey and Nikolai were akin to ticking time bombs. They'd self-destruct if they found necessary to the situation.

Hence, Matthew believed it was not only Nikolai whom he was trying to defeat. It was also about time and Zoey's reckless tendencies. She would surely kill herself if Nikolai left her with no choice.

Matthew couldn't afford to lose her.

"I can't lose myself or her." Matthew muttered as he slowly leaned back. Still, his eyes remained glued to the screen.

Inigo remained silent, aware of what the latter meant by that. Matthew had proven to everyone that he'd do anything for Zoey. That day she left, if not for Inigo, Matthew would've rushed to his death by trying to save her.

"Niko won't hurt her." Inigo reassured him.

Matthew glanced up, arching his brow. "You should try to make it sound believable."

"Well," Inigo chuckled as he shrugged. "Even if he does, he won't kill her."

"That doesn't make me less worried."

"But you know her. She can survive for a bit more. She endured a year after you died." Inigo argued, taking that fact from their previous life.

"Did you think surviving a year of torment would make her patience longer?" Matthew argued back calmly. "The trauma of losing everyone, me, Cora, Ivan, Zion… they're alive now, but the pain of losing us remains in her heart. If not, Zoey wouldn't go to him."

Upon Matthew's last argument, Inigo remained silent while staring at Matthew. How could he rebut that irrefutable fact?

"What would she feel if those she was protecting now: Kenneth, who gave wrong information to conceal the fact it involved him in my death? Enzo, who schemed with Nikolai, that killed me. Ivan, who killed Cora. And Zion, who sold his sister, blaming her for his wife's death. How would Zoey feel if we told her that everyone took part in our death?"

A glint of bitterness flickered across Matthew's eyes. Everyone here had faults and responsibilities in their previous life. And Inigo, the person she blamed, was not the person she should be concerned about..

"But this lifetime has changed, bro." Inigo argued in a low tone. "She changed things and caused a butterfly effect. Ivan has fallen in love with Cora before he could fake his death to work in the shadows. Kenneth is still in a coma. Enzo, that f*cking retard. I'll still kill him if he gives me a reason. I still remember his f*cking face when he shot me dead. And that crazy brother, Zion, he already knows the truth now before Nikolai could manipulate him."

Matthew rocked his head back and forth lightly. Indeed, things had changed. Still, that fact remained. 

That Enzo — the person orchestrating that accident — killed Matthew. Kenneth hid the truth, knowing Enzo had his cards, involving the Bai family and Ruby, who would take the fall with Enzo if the truth came out.

Nikolai and Ivan faked the latter's death so he could work in the shadows. In the end, Ivan was that person who delivered Cora to her death.

And Zion… although Zion didn't play a huge part, his brief calls with Zoey granted her enemies access to her location and Zion was aware of that.

In other words, they were surrounded by enemies which she held close to her heart. How would Zoey feel if she knew about all this? It took a lot of self-restraint for Matthew to acknowledge that that tragedy didn't happen yet and things could still change their fate.

"Since we both can't tell her, this will be a burden we will keep until our death. If you want to save her, save her from this pain as well. Give her the slack." Inigo sighed as he shook his head.

"I already planned that." Matthew muttered. "It's heavy… I can't let her carry this burden."

Inigo nodded in understanding. That's the best gift he could give Zoey as well. The weight of that truth was just too much for someone to carry. Not that they didn't trust Zoey; she could handle it well.

It was just that it was unnecessary. Things had changed. There's no need for her to worry about it as that terrifying truth that occurred wouldn't happen again.

As the two remained silent, Matthew knitted his brows. Since Inigo's eyes remained on him, he suddenly got up from his seat and walked to the closest seat near Matthew.

"What is it? Found something interesting?" Inigo asked.

"This buy and sell site. I remembered being redirected to this seller, who sells fake artifacts. But this one here," Matthew paused as he leaned forward, clicking the item which was at the bottom of the seller's page.

"The price doesn't add up." Matthew murmured.

Inigo stared at the screen with knitted brows. "It's still within the price range. All fake items are unbelievably high. I don't see why it's interesting."

"Well," Matthew clicked the mouse, seeing different angles of the item. "It is within the price range, but this one…"

Matthew narrowed his eyes as he clicked the buy button. He didn't blindlessly buy as the email from Ivan's former friend told them not to. Also, Matthew's instinct carefully parsed the code in the voucher that was sent along the email. The email was vague, but that's how Matthew understood it.

When Matthew clicked the buy button, the process was the same when shopping online putting the voucher code. However, as soon as he did, he received an email.

"Huh?" Inigo glanced at Matthew and the latter did the same.

When they both nodded, Matthew checked the email, which made their eyes light up.

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Author's Note:

Support my new work, Wild Young Princess: Mister, let's sleep? Send powerstones to my new work instead of WYM! Thank you!