I Swear on My Life

“We had an agreement. We must not let that woman play us. The moment he responded to that kiss, he already broke that agreement.”

“Every time you explain your side, I always and only hear a jealous boyfriend,” Alex jested making Kenneth and Ralph chuckle wryly. “But of course not to Alexandra. I mean to Cj.”

“You’re making it sound like we had a relationship before.”

“Uh…that’s exactly what I am saying.”

Lorenzo only stared at him and sighed once again. They’re really stubborn—all of them are including him. But the person who always wins the crown is Alex.

“I can’t be with friends with anyone who gets weak when it comes to that woman.”

“But don’t you think that ending your friendship with Cj is an act that you got played as well by that woman?”

“He broke the agreement first,” Lorenzo pointed out. “Besides, I see his weakness to that woman a devil in disguise. I can’t be friends with a Commoner while planning to wage a war against the most powerful family in the world. I can’t risk someone else’s life. Especially…we were friends.”

“Oh….” Alex smirked. “So you still see him as your friend huh?”

Lorenzo left that question unanswered and resumed his meal. It’s even yet that long since the silence engulfed the dining hall when Alex spoke. Again.

“You were friends since your childhood days, right? Living in the same house as him and Kenneth and Alexandra?”

“Alexandra didn’t actually live there. She’s only there every vacation or if she wanted to see Lorenzo,” Kenneth corrected.

“Oh yea…” he only nodded at it, looking uninterested. “I don't care about Alexandra. I’m actually going to ask why you’re not close to Cj? If you’re all living in one place? For long?”

“Perhaps he’s too old for me? Compare to Lorenzo. Besides, I’m friends with his sister—I’m busy playing with her and I prefer to play with her than dealing with Cj’s maturity. I found it boring. Lorenzo and Cj have a couple of similarities. They’re too matured compared to their age during their childhood days.”

Lorenzo just turned deaf. His eyes and focus are still on his plate looking unbothered from their topic.

But now that Kenneth is mentioning their childhood days, he can’t help himself recall his favorite moments during those days.

And he couldn’t help to smile when he realized that most of the memories he loves and cherishes the most are not with Cj but with his sister.

With Cheska. He had so much fun with her. She completed his childhood days.

“Lorenzo, Kenneth, Alexandra, and Cj all in one place…”

They all shot a look at Xander. They find it unusual. It’s not like he never enters a conversation but normally, he doesn’t. He prefers to stay silent and observe in silence.

“And you still think that Cj isn’t what we’re looking for…”

“Xander,” Alex called. “We all agreed not to talk about this matter ever again.”

"Fine fine…” he sighed. As the youngest among the group, he feels outnumbered especially with the looks he’s receiving. “But even if we don’t talk about it, I still think the president is a member of the most powerful family—the one we’re looking for. And that university is indeed owned by them.”

“You can think whatever you want,” Lorenzo said calmly and returned to eating. “It’s your hunch. It’s your doubt. I can’t do anything about it.”

“I still don’t understand it…” Xander muttered. “How could you ignore that possibility? That’s not just so you. Sure, you lived with them but isn’t that reason too absurd and baseless? Aren’t you being too sentimental?”

“I did not ignore that possibility. I once doubted them.”

The three exchanged looks.

Honestly speaking, they’re nervous about what is about to come. They’re afraid of where the conversation might end.

Lorenzo hates it, really hates it when someone is telling him that the family he once lived with for so long is the Lees he’s looking for. He finds the thought really offensive.

“The night my mom died in front of me, a Lee is standing right beside her holding a gun kissing her temples. She’s standing right beside her, right in front of me,” Lorenzo went on without looking to anyone but his plate. “I did an investigation about their whereabouts that night. None of them left the country nor the mansion—”

“Fabricated?”

“When I returned to Amare, I checked every footage especially the one at the entrance. No one. No one left the premises that night,” he countered. “That’s when I stopped doubting them. And I feel so stupid and ungrateful for doubting the only family who helped me to stand up and recover after losing my mother and my brother.”

“With all due respect Lorenzo,” Xander sat properly and bravely looked at him. “Mafia World is a world full of manipulation. You really did believe what you discovered?”

“Xander,” Lorenzo called, voice slightly raised. He let go of his fork and knife and looked right straight to him. “The most reason why I think they’re not the family I’m looking for is that I was with them for a long time."

“That's an absurd—”

“I know it’s absurd but the fact that I was with them for a very long time proves your theory wrong,” he cut his words short. “I know them with all of my heart. The Lees I was with were so kind, gentle, caring, and loving. They’re like the normal family out there.

"They laugh over simple things. They make awful and horrible jokes. They argue over simple and ridiculous things. They’re fun to be with. They’re no superior to their own home. They treat everyone as equal. They even always help their maids during feasts. They welcomed me, treat me as their own like I’m one of them. Like I am from their blood.

“And those traits are so contrary to the Lees we’re looking for. The Lees I hate, the Lees I want to annihilate are dictators, murderers, evils, and abusers. The Lees I once with is so far from the Lees we heard in stories, far from the Lees I saw myself killing my mother.”

Xander’s jaw clenched. “As I said, Mafia World is full of manipulation. If they’re indeed the Lees we’re looking for, manipulating you like this is like a piece of cake—”

The sound of the table being slammed made him stop and made the three flinched.

Lorenzo had his enough. He stood up, towering Xander who’s sitting right beside him.

They’re right. This conversation won’t end well even Lorenzo was completely calm and on his composure.

Xander pushed him to the edge even with the thought of Lorenzo’s dislike of the topic he just opened. Alex did his best to stop his younger brother but he’s too focused on proving a point.

For Xander, he only thinks he’s telling the truth and he’s trying to make Lorenzo realize that his long search is already over a long long time ago—when he returned to Amare after his mother died.

The Lees who let him live under their roof is the Lees who killed his mother and his brother.

But he’s too naïve to realize that, to see that because he’s being sentimental.

The truth is already in front of him, waving at him stupidly but he’s more stupid for looking away and look for another truth.

But the truth is something that no one can change.

He’s not the only one looking for the Lees as well, they all are. And as one of those persons, Xander finds it ridiculous to still search for someone that is already found.

Until when they’re going to do it? Until when are they going to waste their time?

“I’m letting you think whatever you want to my family but don’t ever convince me to believe in you,” Lorenzo said forbiddingly. “Investigate whatever you want. If you got something, don’t hesitate to slap it on my face. I will accept my idiocy willingly. But if you still have nothing, have no concrete evidence against my family, stop. Stop saying these ridiculous things. I am. Warning you.”

Xander only stared at him back. He looks like a valiant puppy looking at a full-grown dog.

He didn’t falter, he just stared back at him. He saw Lorenzo’s terrifying face a lot of times and this one is just nothing compared to the others.

The dark face he’s seeing now, the terrifying presence he’s feeling now, the threatening looks he’s receiving now, that's Lorenzo still being calm.

Perhaps if he's not his friend, he won't bother to hold back.

“I swear on my life,” he went on. “They’re not the ones who killed my family.”