His Brother: Confession

“What if the boss gets killed on my surveillance? What would be the requital?” Jane inquires.

The question was presumed to be innocent by quite a lot of people but Jerson, who knew Jane for years knows that this isn’t just a simple question she had come up with out of curiosity. Jerson suspects that Jane was cautious of the fact that she happens to be inferior compared to Vishnu.

Jane, who used to be in the limelight, doesn't want to suffer the same fate as those she tormented. She despised being perceived as incompetent when compared with others. If Vishnu were to join the Empresí, her rank will go down by one and that’ll make her the fifth. She’ll be assigned to an unstable squadron by then. She didn’t want that. With that kind of thought, Jane had her hidden agenda upon signing the contract. If Vishnu decided to get engaged with the Empresí — which is possible if they were to mention his past background — Jane wouldn’t think twice about harming the Prosecutor. Even though she knew Vishnu was superior to her, she had to try her luck. Risking herself won’t be that much of a problem since this is also for her sake. She has to at least maintain her rank to keep her ego.

Jerson astutely recognized how Jane's mind worked. From the moment she arrived at the office, he sensed her contemplation of ways to harm Vishnu. Jane's stares and gestures exuded jealousy, and a sense of familiarity struck him. Even though he couldn't pinpoint when he had encountered such malevolent eyes before, an unsettling feeling settled over him. Those kind of eyes, he was certain that it would only bring mischief.

“Jane!” Noah shouted when he saw Jerson’s abrupt change of mood.

Noah observed Jerson's caring nature toward Jane over the years, providing her with the love and attention of a brother. However, Noah was also aware that if Jane crossed certain boundaries, Jerson wouldn't hesitate to show a less sympathetic side. Jerson had consistently reminded Jane not to overstep, and now that she had, Noah was uncertain about Jerson's reaction. While Noah knew what Jerson was capable of, predicting his verdict when someone crossed his bottom line remained a mystery.

“What? I'm asking because I’m curious!” Jane snorted. “But that doesn’t mean that I’ll let some son of a bitch break my guard down and do whatever shit they were planning! They’ll be dead beforehand!” Jane continued.

Noah sighed, placing blame on himself for Jane's behavior. He believed that he had pampered her too much. Even before Jerson joined Empresí with Alec, who also coaxed Jane, she had always been the favorite. Noah couldn't help it; she was the only girl who endured to join Empresí.

“Your life,” Jerson declared openly. Every pair of eyes in the office widened as a shocking statement escaped from Jerson’s lips. Rose even doubted her ears, wondering if she had heard it wrong. Meanwhile, Vishnu's face remained apathetic, unable to believe what he had just heard.

Mentioning to murder someone casually, Vishnu had his doubts. For sure, the other party only mentioned this to give him a sense of security under their protection. They couldn’t afford the dispute coming at their image if these occurrences got off just because of a sheer oblivious question.

“Pardon?” Jane asked, queuing herself not to stutter.

“I’ll take your life and I won’t shoulder any remorse for your negligence. You failed to do your duty because of your mere ignorance. I don’t care about your status in this federation. If you failed, you neglected me. However, Jane, I don’t accept failures. That is why, your life…”

“Jerson, enough!” Noah shouted. Jerson glared at Noah who interrupted what he was saying.

“That is why I’ll take your life if the prosecutor is harmed, Jane.”

Various reactions unfolded in the room, but a common thought resonated among the occupants. Despite Jerson's seemingly harmless and indifferent exterior, the words he casually uttered contradicted his appearance. The consensus was clear: the more unpleasant his mood, the more dangerous he became.

Disregarding Noah's statement, Jerson focused his attention on Jane, who wore a defiant expression, a clear sign of her reluctance to submit. This prompted a frown from Jerson. Biting his lower lip, he spoke, "I know Jane won’t disappoint me. Am I right, Jane? If not, I wouldn’t mind adding you to the list.”

The list. Jane felt a shiver. Noah pressed his mouth while the other two remained clueless. The list Jerson was talking about was the list of the dead person or the one he would hunt. Jane knows that Jerson didn’t fail even once in haunting someone. This is what Empresí was all about aside from the underground jobs.

"Am I understood, Jane?" The tone carried a weight of authority, and didn't go unnoticed. Jane began to realize that she might have crossed a line, although she couldn't pinpoint when. Was it because of the question? No, she doubted it. Perhaps Jerson thought she might not do her job properly. That seemed more plausible to her. She found it ridiculous that she was being threatened because of some guy.

“Y-Yes. I get it,” Jane mumbled while her hopes fell out and shredded into chunks. Her usual demeanor suddenly became meager. She couldn’t understand why Jerson acts like that. He used to spoil her. She was his princess.

As Jane sulked, the others in the room assumed that the man was heartless. He couldn't display any hint of gentleness in front of his supposed other half. The question lingered in their mind: why was he so fierce all the time?

Jerson is ferocious: that’s the right sentence to describe Jerson's attitude towards Jane right now. How could Jerson be so heartless towards Jane anyway? How could he be so cruel? It’s only a course of dumb questions, so why dig deeper and make a mere question a big deal? What Vishnu misunderstood was that Jerson wasn’t acting up all this time. Vishnu thinks that Jerson’s doing this to protect their agency’s image. From the look at it, Jerson looks like the oppressor, and Jane was the victim. She couldn’t refute any words Jerson said. Noah remained silent as he knows, Jane was wrong and had to face the consequences. Noah also knew that Jerson wasn’t kidding this time. Vishnu plastered a bored expression and looked at his watch.

Rose was the only one who felt sympathetic towards Jane who was stunned by the immediate turns of events. Even Rose, who was used to Vishnu’s attitude, was a bit stunned. Her boss was heartless but Vishnu never threatened him like that. But no matter what she felt, she knew her place. She didn’t have any choice but to bite her tongue. She shouldn’t interfere with someone’s affair. Instead, she decided to disturb the stillness. She just couldn’t stand the awkwardness.

“I believe you don’t have any implications since you’ve ratified this agreement without any sign of reluctance. Since you've decided, I’ll just make some of the staff fix your office table. Make sure you’ll come back later,” Rose told Jane. Jane just bounced her head upward, slightly spacing out.

When the meeting was finally over, Noah dragged Jane out of the office without saying anything. Jerson was still not in a very good mood. Staying would only cause the man’s mood to become more unpleasant.

Observing the departure of the two, Jerson rose and strode towards the door while his hands were in his pant's pockets and his gaze fixed on the ceiling. Deep in thought, he pondered the reason behind his earlier harsh attitude towards Jane. Even though he was concerned that he might have hurt Jane’s feelings, his face remained indifferent, as if he hadn't just issued a threat to a colleague's life. Confusion clouded his mind. What was he thinking? Strangely, every time he looked at the Prosecutor, thoughts of the guy from his shattered memory surfaced. He avoided mentioning Vishnu's name, even in his thoughts, fearing it might trigger unpleasant memories.

He could sense the feeling of familiarity whenever Vishnu was around. The indescribable feeling in his chest made him uneasy which affects his mood all the time. His heart was aching and he didn’t know what was the reason behind it. Pleasure? Yearning? Despair? But the other party seemed to never know him until the other day. He might be just overthinking things.

"Why did you suddenly quit?" Vishnu inquired, his fingers swaying in a dismissing motion, signaling his secretary to leave the office. Rose nodded, promptly bending at the waist and exiting the room. Sighing in relief, Rose escaped the suffocating atmosphere. She almost hugged her office table, feeling as if she'd almost suffocated in there.

Observing Rose's hurried exit, Jerson groaned in frustration. It was evident to him that the Prosecutor had dismissed his secretary. Jerson considered it none of his business and didn't dwell on it. He wasn't in the right frame of mind, fearing that overthinking might only lead to restlessness.

“Have you forgotten what you told me yesterday, Prosecutor? Do I have to imitate every damn word and action you said and did yesterday?”

Vishnu could hear the mocking tone in Jerson’s calm voice. If this wasn’t Jerson talking to him, Vishnu would have sealed the other party’s mouth and shut him off.

“I told you to stay away from me but I didn’t tell you to quit. Why are you being so unreasonable?” Vishnu asked with a calm voice. Jerson thinks that the question is ludicrous but still chose to just shrug it off.

“What’s so unreasonable for you, Prosecutor? We just met and I didn’t bargain for any commitment or promise you anything aside from protecting you in case it is needed. Now that Jane will do the job, I don’t have any reason to stay. You’ve told me to settle off and, thus, resigning will solve everything. Mind you, I am your employee and not your slave. If I wanted to resign I’ll resign especially since the two of us were forced to be in this set-up,” Jerson explained. Vishnu was trying to read Jerson's mood by observing his tone but couldn’t get straight to understand it. Vishnu sighed in frustration. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t understand Jerson at all. Vishnu admits he messed up, now, he’s facing the consequences he’d made out of his chaotic mind.

Vishnu was busy contemplating how he could change this confusion. He might have thought about dismissing Jerson entirely out of his life but thinking that it might be unfair for the other party, he ignored it. Now that Jerson was planning to get away and settle for staying away from him, regrets came after.

“I was expecting you’ll be the one to do it — to guard and protect me. I was expecting you to stay until I find things out myse…”

“You seriously have to mention your odds right now when you’re the first one to push me away?” Jerson couldn’t help but ask after Vishnu mentioned his expectations of him. This time, Jerson’s indifferent face shows emotion. Vishnu should be happy now that he had seen another expression Jerson’s face created but he couldn’t be happy in this kind of situation.

“I was just confused. I was out of my mind. I’m sorry.”

Jerson scowled in annoyance. He was confused too. He was still confused right now that he wanted to walk out and try to mend what was wrong with him but he was too afraid that he’d offend the Prosecutor, so he stayed. However, he wasn’t expecting to hear some of the Prosecutor’s bullshits.

“You’re my boss and I am your bodyguard, Prosecutor. What is it that was hard for you to understand? What is the thing that is confusing you?” Jerson asks while cooling down. He shouldn’t let his state of mind be ruled out by his irritation and offend this fucker. He knows it won’t turn out well.

“That part you mentioned was unmistakable. I am your employer and you’re my employee. Regardless of that setup, my heart seemed to be confused and I think I would mess up if this continues. I am not gay and I am not into guys, but I am now certain that I like you, Jerson,” Vishnu confessed

‘It’s you who made me gay.’