Theodore was finished the Pedrosa family's daily meeting to discuss their next plan when there was a sound of knocking on the door repeatedly from outside. He massaged between his eyebrows, then ordered the person who knocked on the door to come inside. No need to guess who knocked it, because he already knew."Just finished the meeting?" asked Bianca, her younger sister, walking inside with a glance around before finally approaching him. "No progress has been made with the investigation results of our traitorous members?""Not yet. But the group that attacked your friend has already been captured. Just waiting for the decision from the centre to impose the death penalty. Though a little doubtful, considering you know how convoluted this damn bureaucracy is,” Theodore leaned his hand against the back of the chair, supporting one of his head with a deep sigh. While forcing himself to smile at his beloved little sister in his exhaustion from being bus

After the dinner was over, Veronica thanked Theodore Pedrosa for the unexpected feast. She had never met Theodore apart from hearing from Bianca's story. Her best friend's description of her older brother was very accurate—tense, uptight-type and intimidating at first sight, but becoming the warm, friendly type if people spent their time with him a little longer. Unlike Bianca who dyed her hair silver and had a striking haircut, Theodore still maintained his natural black colour with a neat haircut that was styled as necessary using hair gel, making him look more elegant. There was some remnant of Theodore and Bianca's similarities—their brown eyes, their cold and pale skin tone, and their thin lips. People who did not know them well would not realize that they were siblings until they spend any longer getting to know them better.After waiting for Rossi—the name of the waiter who had serve

Veronica sat in an empty soccer stadium because today was not a match schedule, just daily practice, accepted the coke drink given by Dania—her department mate—and drank it until it was half as she was very thirsty. Among all her classmates, only Dania was easy to approach because they had the same status as her; people who are marginalized from their campus social friendships. Dania was the lone-wolf type—prefers to spend their time alone and immerse theirself in the fantasy world of their imagination inside their mind, pouring it into an online novel that always airs twice a week on an online novel platform—Goodnovel. Not many students proclaim their gender identity like Dania who has come out as non-binary, so people still feel strange about Dania's gender identity even though Waterford city was very open and welcoming to the freedom of gender expression. But Dania was not a person who cared about what people think of them, because their friend lives by their own rules. Wearing a

It has been more than a month since she filed a leave of absence from the campus because of her mother's death. It was a bit complicated to explain how she had been feeling to her birth mother. She wants her mother to stay alive, and to take responsibility for her actions that have made her haunted by guilt and nightmares for killing Theo's birth mother—Irene Pedrosa—in front of her and Theo. She wanted her mother to pay for her sin and the fact that her mother died not at her hands, but at the hands of Theodore's subordinates who had defected to Schneider's side shook her. Especially when she saw for herself how his mother's body was destroyed, not leaving the slightest bit of beauty that her mother had been proud of when she was still alive. It was terrifying. She was unable to look at her mother any longer and asked the people who took care of her mother's body to cover the white cloth that covered her late mother's body again.

Theodore's tapered fingers tapped anxiously at his desk, watching the computer monitor on his desk. His head rested on his hands that were on the table as he took a deep breath. The cup filled with fresh human blood that his servant had prepared since three hours ago had not yet been touched by him."Still busy?"Erick put his arm around Theodore's shoulder, taking him back. The man grabbed the cup which was still full of contents, brought it close to Theodore's lips to forced him to drink it. Reluctantly, he drank it."Yes.""Work? About high-ranking people who are still asking you to resign from your position?" Erick brought the cup back, forced him to drink it again but he quickly pushed the cup away while checkin