SCHEME

TRIGGER WARNING: Explicit/Disturbing content.

***

"YOU want to borrow money from my faction?" Dusk asked Kaia while raising an eyebrow at her. He was sitting lazily on the sofa, his feet on the coffee table. "And you need three thousand dollars?"

He was spending his lazy afternoon in the school principal's office when Kaia came and begged for money.

Ah, yes.

Their school's principal office was his favorite spot.

"Kaia, are you crazy?" he asked, laughing. "You should be paying me and my faction protection fee. But you want to borrow money from me now?"

"We need money, Dusk," Kaia, who was standing in front of the desk, said desperately. "You know that we're deep in debt because of Chesca, don't you? The bitch killed herself, but still managed to drag us with her. I should have killed her myself!"

That bitch Chesca committed suicide the day before their batch's moving-up ceremony.

Thanks to that, they didn't get to enjoy their summer vacation. They had to lie low to avoid the police. Although Chesca killed herself of her own volition, he wouldn't deny that they practically pushed her to the edge– forcing the bitch to take her own life.

"Because of that bitch, Tyron's gang is after us," Kaia complained, frustrated. "Dusk, protect us from them."

"I will protect your faction if you pay up," he said then he lit up the cigarette pressed between his lips. "I don't do charity."

"Then I'll pay you with my body," Kaia said seductively while undoing the buttons of her blouse. "Dusk–"

"I only f*ck older women," he said, cutting her off. "Girls my age, especially those who are younger than me, don't turn me on."

"Jerk."

He smirked, then he puffed smoke out of his mouth. "Business is business."

Kaia rolled her eyes at him, then she crossed her arms over her chest. "If you're not going to lend me money, then why did you summon me here?" she asked, then she gestured to the entire office with her arms that she just unfolded. "And why are we here in the principal's office?"

"I had a meeting with the principal earlier," he said, then he pointed at the brown envelope on the table with his lips. "We're going to have a transfer student soon."

"Is it a girl or a boy?"

"Girl," he said. "A pretty, rich girl from the South."

She knitted her eyebrows. "Rich kid? Then why did she choose a public school? There are many private and prestigious schools in the area."

"Exactly– it's sketchy, isn't it?"

"Wait, you said 'pretty,'" she said, frowning. "Have you seen the transfer student?"

"I just took a peek at the documents she handed to the principal," he explained, puffing on another smoke. "I can tell from looking at her eyes that she's not an ordinary girl."

"I don't want to talk about another bitch with you."

"We need that girl," he declared seriously. "If we play our cards right, she might be our next cash cow."

Kaia beamed. "If I help you, will you lend us money?"

He smirked. "That depends on the result."

"Dusk, you can count on me."

"I need good results, not false promises," he said, then he pointed at the brown envelope using the tip of the cigarette between his fingers. "I received a weird request from a VIP client."

"What kind of request?"

"She wants a live adaptation of her fantasy."

"Oh," Kaia exclaimed, thrilled. "Are we going to use our old modus?"

He nodded before he explained. "Our client is a rich girl from an elite school. Apparently, she's been into gangster stories lately. She's craving stories where the school gangster falls in love with the new transfer student. You know, the usual crap you read on online novels."

"School gangster?" Kaia asked, then she laughed. "I bet she doesn't know what a real gangster is. The client probably thinks that a gangster is just a bad boy who enjoys swearing, smokes, and bullies their schoolmates."

"Bingo."

"So fucking naïve," Kaia said bitterly. "I hate that kind of girl the most. They romanticize gangsters because they haven't met a real one yet."

He just rolled his eyes at her complaints. "The client and her friends want to watch that kind of scenario. But they want to witness "raw" emotions from the "female lead." Meaning, we have to make the new transfer student the main character without her knowing." He thrashed the cigarette butt in the ashtray. "As usual, you'll be in charge of the script. The concept is simple. A new girl being bullied by her classmates will fall for the school gangster."

"I can do that, but I think that's too boring," she complained again. "We haven't done this modus in a long while since it's too complicated to pull off. But if we're going to do it again, why did you choose a cliché story to go with?"

"I also thought that the story was cliché at first," he said, smirking. "I rejected their request at first until I heard the ending of the story that they wanted to witness."

"What kind of ending do they want?"

"They want the male lead to emotionally blackmail the female lead to have sex with him."

"What?"

""If you love me, give me everything you have,"" he quoted their client, laughing. "Apparently, they got that line from a famous online story. They want to know if it will work in real life."

"Wow," Kaia said in disbelief. "What kind of fetish is that?"

"It doesn't end there," he said, then he leaned forward to get closer to Kaia. "If the main actor gets our female lead pregnant, they will give us a hefty bonus. They wanted to witness that kind of crazy development between the main couple."

Her eyes widened from shock. "Dusk, don't tell me you're going to take the main guy's role? You're the best actor we have."

"I will be participating in the drama, but I won't take the main guy's role," he said, then he leaned against the sofa. "I'm tired of playing the bad guy. After all, I'm already an unredeemable bastard in real life."

Kaia laughed, but she nodded in agreement. "So, what role will you take?"

"I'll play the role of the good guy," he said, smiling. "The clients also requested for a love triangle, and they want the "second male lead" to be a good guy."

"That's so specific that it's giving me the chills," she said while rubbing her arms with her hands. "Wait. Will you give the gangster role to Quest?"

"Of course," he confirmed. "He's the second best actor we have."

"All right. Then I suppose Eloise will join us, too?"

"Yeah, it wouldn't feel right if the four of us aren't complete."

"The Venosa Cousins laid low after Chesca's suicide," Kaia said worriedly. "Will they join this "project?""

"They don't have a choice," Dusk said with a nonchalant shrug. "It's not like they have the power to go against me."

***

SOL stopped walking when she saw Yue, her older brother, squatting down in front of three cats.

Her brother was feeding them several cans of cat food.

[This is like a scene in a shoujo manga.]

Yue, who seemed to have noticed her presence, turned to her. His face remained indifferent, but he waved at her. "Hi, baby sis."

He really said "baby sis."

[God, so creepy.]

"What are you doing here?" Sol asked in a complaining voice while approaching her brother. "I thought you were scheduled to return home with Cloud tomorrow."

Yue stood up to meet her half-way. Then he unceremoniously grabbed her ponytail and pulled it until her hair fell down her shoulders gracefully. When she glared at him, he just laughed softly.

"I don't like it when you tie your hair," Yue said, then he caressed her hair. "I prefer it when you look like this– like a pretty Japanese doll."

She just rolled her eyes at him.

"Hold my hand," Yue said while extending his hand to her. "So if in case we were ambushed, I could easily pull you behind me."

[What a lame excuse.]

Even so, she still grabbed his hand.

"Don't entwine our fingers," she warned him, though. He nodded, but she still squeezed his hand a little tighter as a threat. "It's weird when you entwine our fingers, so don't do it. I'm serious."

"Why would it be weird if we entwined our fingers together?"

"Just because."

She couldn't say that they looked like lovers whenever they would entwine their fingers together.

After all, she didn't want Yue to think that she saw him "that way."

"Alright," Yue said, caving. Then he changed the topic. "I have two pieces of information that you'd need to infiltrate your new school. Do you want to hear it?"

She gave her older brother a suspicious look. He wouldn't help her for free, after all. "What do you want in return?"

He gave her an amused smile. "Why would you think that I'm going to ask you something in return?"

"Because that's how it works in our world."

He smiled proudly. "I raised you well, Sol."

"So, what do you want in return for the information you have?"

"Once you take over the turf of your new school, you'll hand it to me."

"Alright," she agreed easily. After all, she wasn't interested in that turf. "I don't have any intention to become a boss anyway."

"Good."

A few moments later and they finally arrived at the two-story house that Yue owned in that village.

Some members would call it the "mafia village" affectionately.

"Welcome back," Cloud, who just went out of the kitchen while holding a plate of his favorite cup of ramen with boiled egg, greeted them cheerfully. And wow, the jerk wasn't wearing a top. He really loved showing off his gorgeous body, huh? "Yuck, you still hold hands like little kids."

"Ignore him," Yue told her.

She just nodded, then she pulled his hand. When he turned to her with a confused look, she gave him her best puppy dog eyes. "Kuya, I want ramen, too. With two boiled eggs, please."

"You're not a child, Sol," Cloud, who was now sitting on the sofa while watching N*tflix, teased her. "Cook your own food."

She pouted, still acting cute. "Fine."

"I'll do it," Yue said, then he let go of her hand. Then he touched her hair before he walked towards Cloud to smack the latter at the back of his head. "Don't fucking scold my sister."

"You're spoiling her too much," Cloud complained, then his voice was barely audible when he added: "Siscon."

Yue smacked Cloud on the head again.

Sol, on the other hand, just sat on the accent chair next to Cloud while admiring his well-sculpted body.

[He doesn't have to be this good-looking.]

Plus, Cloud had a sinful body to boot. Wide shoulders, taut hips, and washboard stomach. Also, his toned arms look sexier because of his sleeve tattoos.

[I will never get tired of staring at his six-pack abs.]

After admiring his gorgeous abs, she focused on his abdomen for another reason.

"Sol, please don't lust after my body," Cloud pleaded with her in a dramatic way. "Yue will kill me if he saw you staring at my abs. Plus, your brother has abs, too. I bet he'll be glad if you admire his body instead. Trust me, Yue's body is more toned than mine. But I guess you already know that."

"Don't make our relationship sound weird," she said, frowning. "We're just normal siblings who get along."

"Yeah, right."

She just ignored his sarcasm, then she got distracted by Cloud's handsome face. "Cloud, I want that," she said, then she pointed a finger at the upper right portion of his abdomen. "Give that to me."

"My abs?"

"No," she said while shaking her head. "I want your liver."

"What?"

"You're fit, so I'm sure your liver is healthy."

He let out a sigh while shaking his head. "Did Stella Solasar bring you along during the "harvest" earlier?"

She smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "How did you know?"

"What did she harvest this time?"

"Human liver."

"Let me guess," Cloud said, then he leaned forward to poke a finger at her forehead. "You got inspired to harvest human organs because you were amazed by your cousin's precise work. I bet you think she's cool. And because you wanted to become like your mother by copying Stella Solasar, you wanted to use my healthy liver as a practice tool."

"I think I can do what Ate Stella does even without studying medicine," she said proudly. "Surgery looks fun."

"I'll give you my liver if you give me your virginity."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "That's a fair deal."

"Forget it. Yue will probably chase me to the pits of hell if I touch you," Cloud said, terrified. Then he leaned against the sofa and put his legs on the table. "Hey, Sol. I call Yue "psycho" but I think he can share that pet name with you." He pointed a "finger gun" at her. "I bet you're a yandere."

Cloud wouldn't stop using Japanese terms.

After all, he was part Japanese and he spent his childhood in Japan.

"Cloud, do you think there's a sane person in this family?" Sol asked, then she made a finger gun and pressed the tip against her own temple. "We all have a loose screw here."

***

NOTE: In case you're confused, the scenes in this chapter are a flashback of how Dusk and Sol began to deceive each other~

***

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