XOXO

31. Matteo

No one should pay for the sins of another.

“I’m sorry,” Ru said, as Levi walked away.

I wanted to say it was fine. We had made the right decision, but it didn’t feel right at all.

“Her asshole of an ex put us in a bad position, and unless we want to blow up your career, there was no other way,” I said, turning around to look at him.

“I feel like no answer was the right one,” he said softly, looking towards the door longingly.

“One of us was going to have to sacrifice something for this to work out and it might not have even worked out,” I said, feeling that last part was untrue.

Things had been feeling right with Violeta. We could have made it work, but at what expense? I took a deep breath to calm the rage I was feeling at her ex-fiancée and how much I would have liked to pummel his smug face.

“She’s going to pay the ultimate price,” he sighed.

A knock on the door had us rushing to it. I opened it, hoping it was Vi, but Ru’s agent stood there looking angry.

He spoke Korean fast, glaring at Ru. They argued while I closed the door. My Korean wasn’t the best, only catching a few words here and there with how fast they were speaking. Ru was getting more upset when I heard Vi’s name from his agent.

“Hey, maybe we need to cool the yelling,” I said, coming in between them.

Ru pointed to the door, telling him he would speak to him tomorrow and to fix his attitude. They glared at each other, the tension becoming so thick I was wondering what else had been said.

“Make sure you're never seen with her again or everything we have worked so hard for will disappear,” his agent snapped. “And a thank you would be nice since I decided not to drop you. Remember, you’d be nothing without me.”

I sneered at his comment. “I think you need to be grateful to Ruwon. You can book him all the jobs you want, but if people don’t like the way he acts, they won’t hire him again.”

“I made those opportunities happen and they won’t happen again if I’m not here,” he snapped.

The underlying threat made me want to hit him.

“Ok, keep telling yourself that,” I said, all but pushing him out of the house. “Ruwon will stay here for the foreseeable future, and if he needs you he will call you.”

I slammed the door in his face. Minsu was an asshole and I don’t know how Ru put up with him.

“Thanks,” Ru said, sitting down.

“Anytime,” I said, going to the kitchen to grab us a beer. “I think you really need to find someone else. He’ s such an asshole.”

“Minsu knows too many people in the business and if I leave, he wouldn’t hesitate to trash talk me to everyone who would listen,” he sighed, grabbing the beer from me.

“He can’t know everyone,” I scoffed.

“Is it sad that I’m too scared to find out?” He ran his hand through his hair.

“No, he’s a scary asshole, who I’m sure has a lot of influence, but anyone would be fucking lucky to have you,” I said, patting his shoulder. “You need someone to help raise you up, not take all the credit where he has none due. You know you are the star right? People want you, not him.”

He nodded absently like he was agreeing just to agree.

“I’m fucking exhausted, I’m going to sleep,” he said, walking to his room as he chugged his beer.

Watching my best friend leave the room with the weight of the world on his shoulders gutted me.

I leaned back against the sofa as I finished my beer.

It was getting warm and it felt like my life.

Everything was cool before Vi and as I got to know her, I kept drinking even though things were getting warmer.

That was a stupid analogy, but it felt true.

I knew things probably wouldn’t last with us, but I just couldn’t let her go.

My heart twisted, just thinking about what she would be going through. She didn’t need to marry that asshole and the fact that she was willingly doing it, spoke volumes about her. She was protecting us at the cost of herself. I hated it and I admired her for it at the same time.

I got up from the sofa, getting one more beer as I searched for Levi.

He had left and gone out on the terrace.

I slid the door open, looking around, disappointed when I didn’t see him.

It was muggy outside, not the place Levi would hang out, but he was furious and I didn’t doubt he would take a walk to calm down.

Looking back and forth to see which way I wanted to go, I chugged my beer, leaving the empty bottle on the wall before I left.

I went out the gate from the terrace looking for him in the neighborhood.

Maybe he needed to walk to clear his head.

The night was quiet as I walked around the houses mindlessly.

After my first turn around the neighborhood, I knew Levi wasn’t out here, but walking outside gave me some peace.

My chaotic mind was thinking about everything that had happened the last few months.

It was strange how Vi kept popping up in different places and meeting us, almost like fate was making sure we didn’t miss her or pass up this opportunity with her.

My chest felt tight as I realized. Violeta wasn’t just another girl.

She was our fate, our reason and our future.

I took a deep breath, letting the truth settle me in a way I should have before.

Violeta was ours and I just had to figure out how to get rid of her sleazy ex fiancée because I was not going to let him ruin what we had.

Turning around, I went back to the house looking for Levi again before I knocked on his door. There was silence at first, but I heard the smallest muffle. My Cuore Mio was crying and I couldn’t have that.

“Lee, open the door please.” I knocked again.

I was met with silence.

“Please, Cuore Mio,” I pleaded. “I just want to make sure you're ok.”

And have you help me hack into things that might get her back.

I should have said that out loud except Ru was across from Levi’s bedroom and I couldn’t risk making him panic. He was probably already worrying himself to death; he didn’t need something else on his plate.

“Baby, please.” I pleaded again.

“Leave me alone, Matteo, or I swear I’m leaving the house and flying out of here just to have some fucking peace,” Levi said, his voice hoarse.

“I’m sorry, I know—”

“Stop. I don’t care,” he cried out. “I can’t do this with you. Leave me alone.”

“Ok, Cuore Mio.” I laid my forehead against the door. “I’ll be here if you need me. I’ll always be here for you.”

The beer I drank on an empty stomach made me warm and fuzzy.

My room was too far to get to, so I turned around, leaning against the door and sliding down against it.

I leaned back, feeling exhausted. My bed was a better choice to sleep in, but I needed to make sure Levi was ok and if that meant a shitty night’s sleep, so be it.

I felt like I was falling, like in one of those notorious dreams, except I really was until my back and head hit the ground.

“What the hell?” I groaned, looking up at Levi.

“Matteo, what the fuck?” He knelt next to me.

I groaned, my head spinning as I sat up.

“Why were you sitting in front of my room at five in the morning?”

“I didn’t want to leave you alone,” I said, rubbing the back of my head.

The silence that came from him was painful, it was like we were at square one again in our relationship pre-Violeta, before she helped us.

I looked up at him, needing to fix things between us; it hurt just as much as losing Vi.

His lip trembled as he sat down, pulling his legs up, hugging them against his chest.

“Cuore Mio,” I said, facing him. “I’m sorry. Fear made me go with the wrong choice. I was afraid of what could happen to all of us and denial forced me into that decision. It’s only been a few months, how…how could we risk everything for her?”

“Are you seriously trying to placate me again?” he glared, his face wet with tears.

“No,” I sighed, running my hand over my face. “I’m here to say I should have gone with my first instinct to protect all of us. Not just you and Ru.”

He looked up at me quickly. “What do you mean?”

“It means that I should have fought for her too. I let her take the burden of her ex’s actions solely on her shoulders and I fucking regret it. I don’t know what to do to make that right now.”

Levi’s eyes searched my face quickly. “What made you realize this?”

“Last night as I was looking for you outside—’

“Oh, I came in as you were talking to Ru’s asshole agent,” he said quickly.

“Yeah, I figured that out after spending an hour outside,” I chuckled.

He sheepishly shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, looking for you gave me time to think, how much we kept running into Vi and how the universe kept putting us in each other's paths,” I said, rolling my neck side to side. “I’m an idiot to think this might have been just a fling, even if I had been feeling like this relationship with my best friend and this beautiful woman had felt more right each day we were together.”

Levi cried more.

“Hey, shit. I didn’t mean to make you cry more,” I said, pulling him towards me.

Hugging him at this awkward angle hurt my back. I pulled him closer, laying us down with his head on my shoulder.

“You feel it too?” he whispered.

“Yeah, I think I've always felt it even when I wasn’t a big fan of hers,” I said, remembering those first days.

“I think she’s perfect for us and we are perfect for her,” he sighed.

“After what she’s been through with that asshole, I want her to be spoiled for the rest of her life.

I want her to realize that she deserves everything and more.

She is worth more than her parents think she is. She is everything.”

I held him tighter, my sweet, emotional love of my life.

My mind reeled at the realization I had just come to.

Levi, Ruwon and Violeta were the loves of my life.

There was no doubt about it. I would do anything for these people.

I might not love Ruwon romantically, but my love for him wasn’t any less, just different.

“You ok there?” Levi sat up a little to look down, worry in his gaze.

“Yeah,” I said, my voice thick from emotion. “Yeah, I’m fucking perfect. All I need is to fix what I let happen and—”

“Hey, it’s not your fault,” he said, cupping my cheek. “Her asshole ex is the reason for this. He knew she wouldn’t go back willingly and stooped fucking low to get her back.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t do anything about—”

Levi kissed me, shutting me up instantly. It was short and sweet enough to do its job.

“Now that I’m not so overwhelmed with emotions, I think we needed to let her go,” he said with a big exhale. “If we had fought, he would have released more photos until she left willingly.”

“He’s right,” Ru said from the door.

My friend looked like hell; his eyes were red and puffy like he had had a sleepless night.

“I don’t like that she left knowing we had given up on her,” he sighed, coming and sitting on my other side. “I hate that I let her just walk away.”

He laid down next to me, our shoulders touching as Levi threw his arm over my sheet to lay his hand on Ru’s shoulder.

“We let her walk away,” I said, hating the truth.

“Her asshole ex gave us no choice,” Levi said, snuggling into my shoulder as he squeezed Ru’s shoulder. “Are we all on the same page now?”

I nodded as Ru stayed quiet.

“If it’s possible, we can try and keep the photos out of the press, but if we have to—” Ru sighed, running a hand through his hair. “We will blow up my career and make it fucking worth it.”

I looked over to Levi who was grinning.

“We won’t have to blow up your career,” Levi grinned sitting up. “You’re making the first part of my plan easy.”

“First part?” Ru sat up.

I looked over Levi’s shoulder to see his laptop out with another screen on the side, important information on both screens.

“What did you do, Levi?” I grinned.

“So, last night I thought about who Lorenzo is,” he smirked. “I found his last name Villalobos on her brother's picture app and then I decided to find out everything and anything on him. There was a lot about him and his father on the internet.”

“Gomdori, what did you find?” Ru leaned forward.

“Well, first I wanted to know if anyone knew why she was marrying him.” Levi got up and we followed him to his setup.

“Her parents wanted her to marry Lorenzo so she could help secure their merger,” I said. “Even though she said they had been doing business since she was younger.”

“I got that impression, but I didn’t know why they had to marry,” Levi said, typing away. “They are flying out today at ten-thirty in the morning, so we need to either get there and stop them before they enter or we will have to buy tickets so we can meet them at their gate.”

“I’ll buy tickets just in case.” Ru took his phone out.

“Wait, but how the hell are we going to get her back without any fallout?” I asked, afraid to get too hopeful.

“Oh, my sweet man, while I was digging—”

Levi described what he had found and each time I thought he was done, he kept talking. I knew Levi was a computer genius, but shit…I never wanted to be on his bad side.