Chapter 25: Confronting Zoe

Even though I am not standing, my legs are shaking badly. My heart is also hammering inside my chest as if trying to get out.

The only thing I am grateful for right now is that I at least didn’t drink that can of soda before leaving from my house… or I would have already pissed myself.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

Why the hell did I say that!?

I am basically telling her to shoot me on the forehead now!

Zoe’s earlier angry face has shock mixed in it as well now.

Even Lily is looking at me with her eyes wide open in shock. I guess even she didn’t expect me to say this.

Come on, Lily. Maintain your expression-less face or we will be busted!

“You want me to blow your fucking brains out? I would have never believed that a pathetic guy like you could try to rape his own girlfr— no, ex-girlfriend. You deserve to die after what you just did…” Zoe says with a twisted face.

If this would have happened before, I surely would have succumbed to this pressure and start telling her that it’s a misunderstanding and all.

But I remember Lily telling me that Zoe tried to berate me in front of her on things I didn’t even do… and that actually made me really angry.

“Yeah, this one refused to believe when I said that you guys forced me to rape her… Well, I just tried to do what she accused me of,” I say with a smirk.

Damn! I feel bad saying this even though I know it’s not true.

Well, I do need to create a bad-guy image so…

“By the way, you need a written note or something to pull the trigger, bitch?” I ask.

It is truly taking all my efforts to keep my left hand, which is holding the gun’s barrel, from shaking.

But even though I am successfully managing to somehow do that, the gun is shaking anyway… because of Zoe.

I can tell just by looking at her face that she is really pissed off right now. Even her body is shaking from anger.

Her grip on the gun tightens and I can feel death’s scythe hang closer to my neck.

Shit! I need to say something or she will really fucking shoot me!

“But I know you cannot do that!” I say rather quickly.

Zoe looks at me like I am some idiot.

“And why do you think that, fucker? There is nothing wrong with this gun, you know?” she says.

I give a glance at Lily to see her making a slightly relieved face and urging me to speak further.

I am really grateful that Lily is here, but she should really be maintaining her “Rape victim” face right now.

I that Zoe is looking at me and there is no one else here…

“Well, if you kill me, then what would happen to your gang, huh?” I ask with a fake smile.

Zoe speaks nothing but maintains her angry expressions.

“You need me to be the face of your gang in front of the king. And you also need me to keep acting in front of his granddaughter, right?” I ask.

It was about to slip out that Zoe that they need my help in Lily’s mother’s case as well but I remember that I shouldn’t know about this yet.

“Really? You think that, ugly bastard? What if I just kill you now and get another guy to do all of that, huh?” Zoe asks, breaking her silence.

Seriously?

“Don’t take me for that much of an idiot that I will believe whatever you say. How will you make the king believe that just some random guy replaced me, huh? And all the members of the gang start supporting him without any objection as well? Bullshit!” I tell her loudly.

Zoe says nothing to retort and just grits her teeth… making me gain some more confidence.

“Well, in a completely unrelated matter, the way you always threaten me and call me “fucker” or “bastard” and stuff really angers me, you know?”

I slowly stand up while keeping the gun on my forehead and level up my eyes with Zoe’s.

“… And what if in this anger, I… ehh… “accidentally” let slip the true identity of this gang to Chloe, huh? Or maybe… to the king himself when we meet next?” I say while trying to form a nasty smile on my face.

This is the weakness Lily mentioned before. I am in a position where I can easily come in contact with the enemy of this gang.

But well, it is a double edges sword with the sharper end on my side. Because my death would be ensured that way…

“You… You fucker! You just tried to rape a girl and now you even dare to threaten me!? I will—”

“Shut up! Who are you to tell me not to rape, huh? You MADE me do it the first time,” I say, cutting Zoe’s angry outburst.

“And I am not threatening you. I just want you to change the way to behave with me and we will be fine. You remember what happened in the meeting with the king, right?” I ask Zoe.

This is important. I cannot specifically say that I am threatening or blackmail them. I am not that naïve to think I can do that.

“What?” she says exasperatedly.

I give out a small sigh.

“You didn’t tell me about what I have to do in front of the king that day! It was so difficult to make things up by myself. I could have easily screwed up! I think the reason he made Chloe come along with us is because he was actually very suspicious.

“So, can you tell me why didn’t you even instructed me on the basics of what to do in front of him?” I ask.

I didn’t get to say about this before as Chloe was there but I finally could ask.

For the first time, Zoe turns slightly flustered.

“W-Well, you were… I saw your… Nothing!  I just forgot to tell you,” She says.

“Forgot to tell me, huh? I don’t believe that in the slightest but still, don’t you think I would have asked you myself about it if your behavior was decent with me?” I ask.

“You don’t deserve to be behaved decently with, fucker!” She says while giving a glance at Lily in her tattered clothes on the bed.

Thankfully this time, Lily is acting like a lifeless doll there.

“I don’t care if I deserve it or not. Pull the trigger if you want to, but if you don’t… well, you better start behaving a bit nicer to me from now on. And yes, don’t expect me to cower in front of you as well,” I said strongly while unclenching my hand from around the gun’s barrel.

Fuck…

All of this confidence is from above, to be honest.

In reality, I am actually starting to feel a bit nauseous from the overbearing fear.

Zoe’s face is literally red with anger right now. Her hand is holding the gun so tightly that I fear it might get fired unintentionally.

Please don’t shoot me! Please!

“Valerie,” Zoe calls out suddenly.

Wait, why is she calling Valerie?

Don’t tell me that she wants her help to carry my dead body after she kills me…

The next moment, the figure of Valerie enters the room. She is not showing any particular expression seeing the situation here.

She came this fast? Wait, was she waiting outside or something?

To my surprise, Zoe starts lowering the gun as well…

Thank go—

“Don’t misunderstand. Even though I don’t like killing, I so want to make an exception just for you. But this will affect not only me but our whole organization, so I will have to comply with you… for now,” Zoe says while turning her back towards me.

Her angry expressions don’t get lessen even slightly.

R-Really!?

“Valerie, call Emily here and ask her to take care of this girl. After that, explain this fuc— man, the task he will have to do and drop him to his house,” Zoe orders Valerie before walking out of the room.

I look at the Lily again in relieve and get a small wink back from her.

___________

*CLANK*

I kick the soda can lying on the street on my way to the school.

Damn! I still cannot believe she didn’t shoot me…

After Zoe left the room, Valerie followed what she told her to and send Lily away with Emily (I was a bit skeptical about this).

After that, she repeated what Lily had already told me and dropped me home.

The first thing I did after that was to call Lily, and to my relief, she picked it up in an instant to told me she got home fine.

After that, we talked about what happened before where Lily praised me on how I confronted Zoe and didn’t back down under her pressure.

The call continued for a few minutes before we decided to discuss the other related things in school.

We will try to think of what to do about the so-called supervisor who will be coming in just three days to conduct my task of raping Lily’s mother…

I just hope we can figure something out something before the supervisor gets here…

Suddenly, as my school comes closer, I start to hear yells and screams of people coming from inside.

What is happening?

A little confused, I start jogging towards the school gate in a hurry.

“What the fuck!?  I yell in shock.

In front of my eyes, many students are standing in a circular formation looking at a few guys fighting with each other.

Well, rather than fighting, I should say that a single guy who is lying on the ground is being beaten up by 3 or 4 other guys.

“L-Luke?” I say in surprise.

Yes, the person on the ground is Luke and the one who is beating him up is… Pig.