WARNING: There will be words here that might trigger some readers so please do not proceed if it makes you uncomfortable. I request that you just skip those specific scenes. This is only for storyline purposes, it does not mean I'm promoting that act in any way.

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     "How much...do I have to fucking pay...for you to stop working at that club?" I seriously asked him.

     I thought Julien was going to answer me, but he pushes me off instead, his touch on my chest suddenly burning.

     "I don't need your fucking money", Julien angrily tells me.

     "What?"

     I was panting heavily for some reason.

     I was so mad that I quickly punched the side of the car that was just a few inches away from Julien. The sudden force quickly made the car start alarming.

     Julien sighs. He turns around and stops the alarm, but he didn't look back at me anymore.

     "Luis Walker. You were so afraid of him because he's a regular at Club Luxuria, am I right?" I asked him, but Julien doesn't answer.

     "He told me what he did to you-"

     "Stop", Julien quickly says, but I ignored him and continued, "He told me every fucking detail, and to think that every night...it happens to you."

     "I told you that's-"

     "Every fucking night Julien! Every goddamn night, tons of men-"

     "I know okay?!" Julien shouted as he finally turns around to face me, his eyes now filled with tears and pain.

     The sight of him looking like that made me angrier, but my anger was definitely not towards him.

     "I know what they do to me okay? So it shouldn't be something you should concern about", he coldly answers me.

     I clenched on my fist again and looked at Julien like he was crazy, "It shouldn't be something I should concern about? Julien you're fucking being raped there!"

     "Do you think I like being treated like a fucking sex toy?! I'm there because I have no choice, not because I needed the fucking money", Julien suddenly spits out, shocking me.

     "What do you mean you had no choice?" I asked him. Julien quickly stops and widened his eyes from shock, like he wasn't supposed to say those words to me.

     He quickly turns back around so he wouldn't look at me anymore, "We should just go...chairman Val", he says instead.

     Julien opens the car door, but I quickly pushed the door shut and said, "No, you need to explain to me what you just said. Why are you working there if not for the money?"

     Julien finally turns to me. He looks straight through my eyes and seriously answered, "You're not the only rich and powerful man in the world Romeo."

     His statement made me so confused that Julien used the confusion to quickly go back inside the car.

     I stared at him through the window, but Julien doesn't look back at me anymore.

     I took a deep breath, and then I opened the door of the back of the car and went inside. The moment I got in, Julien starts driving.

     "We're heading to the company", I say, but Julien doesn't answer and just continued driving.

     I looked at him through the rearview mirror and thought, "I fucking canceled a partnership for you and you treat me like this?"

     "I'm sorry", Julien suddenly says; immediately making me flinch. It was like he just heard what I just said inside my head.

     "It's okay", I said with a low voice.

     Julien was quiet for a few seconds, but when I looked back at the rearview mirror, I was surprised to see him crying again.

     "I'm sorry", he says again, tears still pouring out of his eyes.

     I thought I was going to cry too as I continued to look at his pained expression. But I knew crying now would only make Julien feel worse. So instead of saying anything, I leaned my forehead on the headrest. I wasn't really leaning on him but it felt like I was actually touching and comforting him.

    "I'll let this slide for now, but we'll need to talk about this matter again, do you understand?" I asked him. I was expecting him to ignore me like before, but he sniffs and answered me instead, "Okay...I understand."

*****

     "Good morning Chairman Val", the employees said as I went inside the building, Julien just walking right behind me.

     It's only been hours since I woke up this morning and so many things have already happened. My head was aching that I didn't even know what to do anymore.

     "Good morning", I answered as I got inside the elevator with Julien.

     As we waited to arrive at the top floor, I looked at Julien through the reflection on the elevator door and said, "Starting today I want you to walk beside me, not behind me, is that clear?"

    Julien stares at me for a few seconds, but before he could answer, the elevator door opens.

     I went out and started walking again. Julien quickly goes to my side and continued walking too. He was walking beside me like how I just instructed him to do.

     As we arrived at my office, Julien goes in front of me to open the door. I was about to go in but stopped when I saw Johnson inside the office, standing near the window. Julien was surprised to see him too, but he quickly puts my things on my desk and says, "I'll get your coffee sir".

    Without answering him, he bows and goes out.

    I took a deep breath and walked towards my desk. Johnson slowly turns around and looks at me. His expression looked so neutral that I didn't even know what he was thinking.

    "Where were you?" I asked instead.

    "I went to the Valentino household", he answered, quickly making me uninterested in learning more about the reason why he didn't even tell me about it.

     I sat on my chair and waited for Johnson to go in front of me.

    "Chairman Luis Walker called me a few minutes ago", Johnson says as he now sits down on the chair in front of my desk.

    "Well that was quick", I say as I started arranging the pens and papers on my desk.

    "Why did you cancel your partnership with him? Olympus Mall is one of the advantages we have against other companies, and you end up canceling it. Do I even have to listen to the reason why you fucking did it? Will it even be worth my time?" Johnson asked, but I didn't answer him.

     "What did he do Romeo? Did he touch you? Was that the reason why you canceled it? Did he disrespect you? Did he-" Johnson stops, like he realized something.

       His already serious expression quickly changed into an even serious one as he says, "Let me rephrase that...did Chairman Luis touch Julien? Did he disrespect him? Did he do something to him that you didn't-"

     "He raped him", I quickly answered, surprising him.

     Johnson sighs and massaged his temple, "He raped him? How?"

     "You fucking want me to describe you how?" I angrily asked him.

     "No, but I know Julien works at a gay club, his work is entirely to fuck and be fucked by other men, so I'm asking how it's rape when it's his job in the first place", Johnson suddenly tells me, making me look at him with disbelief.

     "I can't believe you actually said those words. Luis fucking Walker forced his dick inside Julien, what other words do I have to say so you'd fucking understand it?" I said, quickly making Johnson sigh again.

     I quickly took my stress ball from my drawer and started squeezing it.

     "Alright, I get it. But Romeo...what does it have to do with you?" Johnson asked. I squeezed on my stress ball even harder and answered, "He's my employee."

     "Oh, okay. So if I tell you that almost half of our employees have also been "forced" by other chairman's too then does that mean you'll cancel all our partnerships as well? Or did you do that because it specifically happened to Julien?" Johnson continued to ask, but this time I didn't answer him anymore.

     "What's happening to you Romeo? What a person is outside business is something you tend to ignore because for you it's not significant. But because Luis decided to go to a gay club and Julien didn't like it, you flip about it and just threw away the partnership that gives the Valentino Group an upper hand", Johnson stated, making me squeeze on the ball even harder.

    "It pisses me off okay?" I finally told him.

    "It pisses me off to see myself acting like this when in the first place I shouldn't even be acting in such a childish way. I'm one of the most powerful man in the country...and I can't even keep my composure over a man whose the opposite of what I like in a person", I told Johnson.

     Johnson nods his head, like he finally understood what I was going through.

    "Eighteen years Romeo...you've been isolating yourself from other people for eighteen fucking years. This must be your karma for hurting other people", Johnson suddenly says.

    "I have never hurt anyone anymore", I quickly corrected him.

     Johnson nods his head as an agreement but says, "Physically yes, I know you're not that cruel. But mentally and emotionally...you have."

     After the serious conversation, Johnson suddenly chuckles, "Tons of woman have cried and begged in front of you Mr. Romeo Valentino. Who would have thought that the hottest bachelor in the country, who have even rejected models and actresses, would only end up falling for a tattooed man who looks like a kpop idol", Johnson says, making me look at him confusingly.

     "What do you mean?" I asked, making Johnson laugh this time, "Oh my fucking god Romeo. How stupid can you get?"

    "Excuse me?" I angrily said.

     Johnson finally stops laughing and looks at me seriously, "You l i k e him...simple as that."

     *Knocks three times*

     I immediately flinched when I heard someone knock.

     "Come in", Johnson says as he slowly stands up from the seat; a smirk imprinted on his face.

    Julien goes inside the room and walks his way towards the desk, "Your coffee sir", he says as he places the coffee on top of my desk.

     I nodded my head and quickly avoided looking at him, "T-Thank you", I answered.

    Johnson then looks at me and says, "You handle the outcome of what you did today. Stockholders will be calling you after this so you better start thinking of a good reason on why you decided to cancel your partnership with Chairman Luis."

     Without waiting for my answer, Johnson leaves the room. I thought Julien was going to leave too, but instead, he stayed there.

    I cleared my throat and lowered my head to look at the stress ball, "You may leave as well", I instructed him, but Julien doesn't even move an inch.

    "You canceled your partnership with Luis Walker?" Julien suddenly asked me.

    "Fuck", I cursed under my breath.

    "You canceled it? Was it because of me?" he continued to ask.

    Without looking back at him, I answered, "I don't want to be partnered with a man who has the audacity to openly talk about the disgusting things that he does to my employees."

     "No..."

      No?

     "Look straight into my eyes and say that again", Julien suddenly tells me.

     I let go of my stress ball and slowly looked up to look at Julien.

     I stared at his face. His black hair and eyes made him look mysterious; his pale skin made him look fragile; his pink lips...

    "You like him...simple as that", I suddenly remembered Johnson.

    I gulped and slowly stood up.

     Without even thinking about it, I licked my thumb and leaned forward, and then I slowly reached out for his face to touch his dry lips.

    Julien flinched, shocked on my sudden action.

     As I put my hands back down, I looked straight into his eyes and said, "You're sleeping at my house tonight. That's your payment...for making me worry."

     Julien continued to stare at me, seconds later his face started turning red.

    "Fuck, that's cute."

    "Y-Yes...chairman Val", Julien nervously says as he quickly goes out of my office.

     When he was gone, I sighed and sat down on my seat. Seconds later I started laughing.

     "Like him...I like Julien Choi", I tell myself.

    Hearing it come out of my own mouth made me feel weird.

    When I finally calmed down, I clicked on my phone, "Call home", I say, and then the phone automatically makes the call.

    "Master Val?" one of the maids answered.

     I slowly took the pen from my necktie and stared at it, "Clean the guestroom that's next to my bedroom, afterwards tell everyone to go home and just come back tomorrow morning, okay?"

     The maid must have been confused, but she answers anyways, "Understood Master Val."

     She hangs up the phone.

     I continued to stare at the pen like a teenage boy who just realized he's actually been in love with his best friend this whole time.

     But while I was looking stupid, someone knocks on my door three times.

     I quickly hanged the pen back on my necktie and saw Julien open the door.

     I grabbed my stress ball again as I saw his face, but what he tells me next was something I wasn't expecting at all.

    "Chairman Val...a man named Dario Alfonzo is waiting for you at the lobby", Julien says, quickly making me stand up from my seat.

     "Who?" I asked, making sure I didn't just hear it wrong.

     "Dario Alfonzo", he says again, making my heart skip a beat.

     Without answering Julien, I quickly went out of my office. Julien was about to follow me, but I quickly looked at him and said, "You stay here, understand?"

     Julien looked confused, but he nods his head anyways.

    I then went to the elevator and went straight to the ground floor, my heart pounding as I approached the lobby. But when I finally saw a man who was wearing a full white suit and a fedora, my heart almost stopped beating.

     He was sitting on the sofa at the waiting area. He was even accompanied by six bodyguards. They were showing such a scary vibe that everyone was purposely avoiding them.

     Johnson, who was actually already there, quickly runs to where I was when he saw me.

    "Romeo! What are you doing here?!" he said with a panicked expression.

    I stopped walking and quickly looked at Johnson seriously, "What is that man doing here?"

    I was trying not to burst from anger as I stared at the man quietly sitting on the sofa with a grin imprinted on his face.

     "This was the reason why I went to the household. So let me handle this, and you go back upstairs while he hasn't seen you yet", Johnson says, but I shook my head as a disagreement.

     "No, he personally went here, so it means he personally wants to see me", I say as I started walking towards him.

     I heard Johnson curse but I ignored him, so Johnson just decided to accompany me instead.

     "This is seriously one of my most frustrating day ever", I tell myself as I finally arrived at the waiting area.

     When the guards saw me, they quickly moved away, giving way for me to walk towards Dario.

     "Romeo", he says with a low voice as he slowly stands up from the seat.

     "What are you doing here?" I asked, but instead of answering my question, he says instead, "Where's Elizabeth?"

    I looked straight at him and answered, "I don't know."

    Dario chuckles and slowly moves closer to me. I looked down and saw that he wasn't wearing gloves, so I quickly had to take a step back.

     "I know the Valentino's planned something, and I know you're a part of it too. So if you don't want to stain this perfectly clean marble floor of yours...I suggest you tell me where my wife is."

- END -