Vinter's POV

Failure

That term defines me. I have failed all my life. I failed to protect Twilight from my father's abuse. I failed to realize my dreams; I failed to find my soulmate—I failed at every stage of life while pretending that I had everything under control.

This woman I am kissing right now has no idea how long I have waited for this to happen. To hold her only once, to kiss her only once. I craved her touch and her presence in my life. And now that I have her here, I still cannot have her for myself. all because she is not worth me, and I am not worth her.

My heart is beating in my chest like crazy, and I know she can hear it too—she can feel the vibration caused by our closeness.

I know what I am doing is not right, especially for Nina. This is wrong, absolutely wrong. But I gave into my greed just this once. My bond with Dove is way stronger than any bond I have with anyone. Why won't it be? We are meant to spend eternity together. This life, the next life, and the life after—we are meant to spend it all with each other.

I hissed in pain when I realized she had bit my bottom lip. I pulled away from her and saw a smirk playing on her lips. I know my lower lip is bleeding since I can feel the metallic taste in my mouth. I wiped the blood from my bottom lip.

"Bleeding lips—what a beautiful sight," she said in a sultry voice. She pulled my face closer to hers.

"You see, love." "I might have given in there for a minute since your lips are tempting, and the comfort of your body—oh!" "How I wish I could feel it for the rest of my life," she grinned. "But, baby, I have to stay loyal to your brother; after all, the future I could never see for us somehow looks possible with your brother."

"And you think it would be easy for you to date my brother and neglect this bond of ours?" I asked. She chuckled.

"Who said I had to neglect it?" "I accept it as a whole," she said. "And that's why I will have to break it."

My eyes widened at her reply. She is going to break this bond. A bond that many think is a gift from nature—a bond that I think is a gift from God. She must be joking, right? She can't be that invested in Twilight to break this sacred bond.

"You are joking," I mumbled.

"You think?" She said it with a menacing grin. "You know, Vinter. I'll give you this one piece of advice."

"Don't play games with the devil in hell when you are just an angel trespassing," she said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Don't try to play games with me, Vinter," she said. "You are innocent and not strong enough to handle the consequences." "So, it's better if you stay put and let me deal with the situation in accordance with my wishes."

"After all, am I not a criminal?" "You don't want to get involved with a criminal and taint your clean records now, do you?" She replied as she stepped away from me. "It's best for you too if you let me break this bond."

I stood there gaping at her retreating figure. She's right; I will have everything easy if this bond is broken. My family will never accept her because of her criminal record. Then why can't I simply let her do what she wants to do? Breaking this bond—that's what I wish for too! Then why is my heart resisting this fact? Why do I hope that she doesn't break it?

"Oh! And!" "I forgot to mention," she said as she turned around to look at me.

"You should stop smoking, because if I didn't get a break in here on time, you could have died from suffocation from all the smoke in the room," she said. "But, if you still wish to die, do it after our bond breaks."

"I have already seen someone suffer from the loss of their soulmate once." "The pain seems unbearable, and you see, my life has always been painful." "Cut me some slack, okay?" She winked and skipped out of the studio, not waiting for my response.

Unbearable pain—I do wonder what she has been through all this time. I know life as a juvenile offender won't be easy. Only if she won't put on that menacing mask and let me see right through her.

But why do I want to see through her? I have a very beautiful and loving girlfriend who is accepted by my family. Everyone except Twilight, though. Why is it that I feel that Twilight understands Dove way better than I do?

My soulmate is a criminal, and I don't understand why I feel sympathy or any sort of emotion towards a criminal, much less someone who tried to kill my girlfriend. Could it be that Nina is lying? Because no matter what Nina told me about Dove, my intuitions are telling me otherwise. Should I try to dig into Dove's past? How am I supposed to do that if she won't open up to me herself?

An old friend once told me that no matter how hard I work, if I take the things around me for granted, I will be unhappy. I'll eventually lose it, and I didn't listen to that person. I took everything for granted: my soulmate bond, my talent for music, and my brotherhood with Twilight. Now I'm slowly losing it all—I feel like I'm losing my sanity along with it.

Did Dove lose her sanity too, like this?
Now that I think about it, she is a lot like me, yet a very twisted version of me. like a blurred picture that makes no sense but yet is invaluable because it gives the feeling of nostalgia.

Nothing is more beautiful than a distorted memory with a hint of nostalgia—that's exactly what Dove Stanley is.

My train of thoughts came to a halt when I received a text message from someone. The message was from my father's assistant. It said:

"Mr. Harris, your father is expecting you for the meeting at 5 in the evening."

Whatever my father has been planning to expand the business we owned, I'm not interested in it. The only thing that interests me is music. When will my father understand such a simple thing?
I sighed as I checked the time. I was supposed to start composing our new song, but it looks like it'll have to wait until later.

It's half past four right now, and my father expects me to see him in half an hour.

"Great," I mumbled as I put on my jacket and walked out of the studio.

I was lucky enough to not cross paths with Dylan, Tristan, or Charles, because they would have bombarded me with questions about what happened between me and Dove.
I drove towards Harris' company building.

I didn't bother entering my father's office because there was a meeting going on inside and the door was closed. When it's just my father and me, the door is usually open.

While I was waiting for the door to open, a man passed by beside me as he accidentally dropped his name tag. I picked it up and read the name "Levy" on it.

"Sir!" "I think you dropped this!" I called out for the guy as he turned around to look at me. It was very unusual to not write the last name on the name tag for an employee of our company. However, who knows?

The man, or should I say "Levy," has light blue eyes, but what's odd is that his right eye has no pupil, only the iris, which is a slightly lighter shade of blue than the left eye. The man is the same height as me and has brunette hair. He's quite an attractive individual, if you ask me.

"Oh! Thank you!" He said this as he approached me with a smile. I gave him his tag, and he thanked me again.

"You must be new; I haven't seen you around the company," I said. I can remember faces with just one glance. Call it a superpower, but I'm a super recognizer, someone who can remember faces with just one glance.

"Yes, sir, I started working here today." "I'm Levy; nice to meet you, Mr. Harris," he said, introducing himself.

"Mr. Harris is my father." Just call me "Vinter," I said. He nodded.

"Sir, if you don't mind." "Can I have your autograph?" Levy asked. I raised my eyebrows.

"Sure, I didn't know you were a fan," I said, chuckling.

"Oh! It's not for me." "My younger brother is a big fan of yours," he said.

"I see." "Can I have a pen and paper?" I asked. He opened his mobile phone and opened a blank page on it. He handed me his mobile with a stylus pen.

"Sorry, I don't have any paper or pens," he said, rubbing the back of his neck and making me laugh.

"That's alright." "What's your brother's name?" I asked.

"Just write "Bel"," he said. Strange, but I'm not going to judge someone based on their name.

"Okay," I said as I did my signature on his mobile with a small message for his brother. I handed him back his mobile phone and pen.

"Thank you so much, Vinter," he said with a smile. I smiled back.

"No problem!" "Always at my fans' service," I said, and my father's office's doors opened.

"I'll see you around, Levy," I said, and the man nodded and left. As soon as he left, a bunch of men started to leave my father's office. Now, what's odd is the men—even though they were dressed in suits, their bodies were covered entirely in tattoos, as I could tell because tattoos on their neck and hands were visible, and they seemed like a bunch of gangsters to me because of their wicked aura. I hope it's not who I think it is.

I went immediately inside my father's office, and as soon as my father noticed me, he smiled from ear to ear. Now that is a rare sight.

"Who were those scary-looking people?" I asked.

"Our Japanese delegates," my father replied.

"Delegates?" "They looked more like Yakuza members, dad," I replied.

"So what if they are?" He asked. My eyes turned into saucers. For a second there, I couldn't comprehend what my father was trying to say.

The Yakuza is a powerful criminal organization in Japan. If my father is trying to make any kind of partnership with them, then that's a terrible idea.

"Dad! "Are you out of your mind?" I slammed my hands on the table.

"Keep your voice down in front of me, Vinter!" My father retorted.

"Yakuza?! A Yakuza agreement: Do you know how dangerous these criminal organizations are, dad?" I asked.

"I am aware of it, Vinter. But look at the bright side: with their help, our company's stocks would be skyrocketing." "I would be the world's wealthiest person!" He said it while grinning maniacally.

Lust for money I knew my father had it, but I didn't know he would go to this extent. This is too much.

This man is not only putting his life on the line by making a deal with dangerous criminals, but he's also putting the lives of his entire family in danger.

I need to come up with a solution for this as soon as possible. But what can I possibly do? Unless I seek the assistance of someone from the criminal world, I have no knowledge of it.

♤♤♤

Sometimes my knowledge about criminal world scares me... but I'm hella into criminology so... :")