The Devil's Harem

“What are you doing here?” The girl asked the guy who was approaching her, donned in a red shirt beneath that whitish, yellowish suit. One could see a slight limp in his walk. Whether it was his style or someone did his leg good was something only he knew.

“Chillax, babe. I came all the way here to nowhere to see you.” The boy said, taking off his red shades, “Aren’t you happy?”

“You should know, you are not welcome here,” the girl crossed her arms around her chest. She was clearly displeased by his presence there, “These islands are off-limits to everyone. Even your father had to think twice before stepping here.”

“That was in the past, long back, baby. And these islands belong to you, that they do. And soon, they will be mine, and so will you.” The guy chuckled as he leaned forward, closing in on the gap between them.

“Huh... Dream on,” The girl scoffed as she looked away.

“Listen to me clear, loud and clear,” The smile on the guy’s face was gone, “You know I don’t care if my father dies tomorrow, razed to hell tomorrow. But when it comes to you,” the guy turned serious and pointed his finger at the girl, “When it comes to you, every word is a promise, a carving on stone, can’t be erased, can’t be forgotten.”

.....

“... And these are your words, you can’t deny. If I find his body or him alive, you are going to be mine under the moonshine.” Even though the words he spoke sounded funny, his face said otherwise. He was dead serious about every word he spoke.

“But you still haven’t found him,” But the girl was far from getting intimidated by the guy. Instead, she tried to incite him even more.

“That’s because my father has been displeased with me for a while as he had gone senile,” The guy shook his head in displeasure, “My resources are limited, and I can only sneak around, peek around.”

“... But it’s only a matter of time before I make you mine,” The guy was quite confident.

“Huh... You have always been the one to talk big,” the girl smirked, “Not that you have achieved anything, yet.”

“Audrey...” The guy was pissed hearing her. He clearly knew whom she was referring to, but his phone rang at that moment, and he could do nothing but make a fist, trying to control his anger.

“C’mon, Johnny, answer the phone,” the girl named Audrey said, smirking as she gestured, pointing towards his pants, “Do you want me to guess who it is?”

“... Johnny, Johnny... Yes, papa... Johnny, Johnny... Yes, papa...” Audrey started singing and hopped away from there, infuriating the guy.

“Aughh...” As he watched Audrey hop away, all the guy could do was grit his teeth in anger, “What is it, old man? If you are a man?” The guy answered the call, irritated.

“Where are you, Johnny?” The old man completely ignored the sarcasm behind his son’s words.

“Aaaa... Why should I tell you? I was grounded, always surrounded. So I ran away, and you can’t sway,” Johnny, even though he was angry, won’t let go of his weird way of talking.

“Get back here, you...”

“Why should I? You are just going to lock me in my room, not letting me roam,” Johnny rejected right away.

“Shut up, and listen to me carefully,” even in front of such nonsense, the old man was calm and kept his cool.

“You should come back and take over what is rightfully yours,” the old man said in a deep, contemplating tone. He must have given it a lot of thought, “It’s time now.”

“Why should I? I know you have something sinister already plann... Wait a minute,” Johnny rejected in the flow, but when he understood the meaning behind the old man’s words, he was stumped, “Are... Are you sure?” Johnny asked, holding on to his excitement the best he could. He had always wanted to take his father’s place. If he was the top boss, there is no chance that Audrey would still reject his advances. She will have to forget that guy and come to him, “You can’t go back on your words later, however much you regret it after.”

“Yes, come back...”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

*Knock! Knock!

“Uhmm...” Alex’s sleep was interrupted by the knock on his door, “Who is it?” Alex lazily asked as he turned around the bed and got back into a comfortable sleeping position.

*Knock! Knock!

Not long after, there was another knock on the door, ‘Can’t I even have some peaceful sleep?’ Alex was again woken up by the knock at his door. Squinting his eyes, he reached out for his phone to check the time, ‘Holy shit, it’s not even five yet... Wait, yeah, it’s not pm, it’s still am. Uhmm... Why do they guys not understand the importance of time? Uhmm...’ Alex finally left the bed to open the door. The continuous knocking was hurting his head.

“Don’t you know the ta...ime...” Alex was surprised to see the person in front of him. He had expected someone from the hotel staff or maybe his company, but it was neither the case. In front of him was Veronica, smiling at him cheerfully.

“Wha... I am sorry. What are you doing here?” Alex asked, confused by her sudden appearance in front of him.

“Aren’t you happy to see me?” Veronica ignored Alex’s question and gave him a big tight hug, “Ahh... Look at you, soon you won’t even fit in my arms.” Veronica giggled.

“Hey, enough with your jokes,” Though Alex acted irritated, he reciprocated the hug, “Now tell me, weren’t you supposed to come later in the evening at the earliest?” Alex asked.

“Hehehe... Jessica was concerned that you and Rebecca might end up fighting at every chance possible, so she sent me here as soon as I was done with my shoot.” Veronica told him the reason.

“Oh, c’mon,” Alex pushed away Veronica and rolled back his eyes, “At least chose an excuse which is somewhat believable,” Alex chuckled, “Jessica sent you here to keep an eye on us? From what I can see, she is more concerned about you fanning the fire in our fights.”

“... By the way, have you met her, Rebecca?” Alex asked, changing the subject. He was sure that Veronica was here because of one of her whims.

“Ah, no...”Veronica shook her head, “I did not want to disturb her sleep.”

“So disturbing me is fine?” Alex asked, “You girls don’t think much of us boys, do you?”

“Hey, don’t get angry,” Veronica held his arm and swung it with hers, “You should know how many would die of happiness if I... I personally come and wake them up, and you, on the other hand, have this grumpy face.” Veronica tried to flatter him.

“Yeah, I know, but let’s sleep now,” Alex said, “We will do a survey on it in the morning, okay?”

“Sure, let’s go,” Veronica was more than happy to join Alex inside and tried to enter his room.

“Au... Aa...” Alex was quick to react and stopped her, “In our respective rooms. Let’s go to sleep in our respective rooms,” Alex explained what he meant by, ‘Let’s sleep now.’

Dejected by his refusal, Veronica looked at Alex with those innocent eyes and asked, “Are you sure? I am okay even if you...”

“No...” Alex did not let her complete, “I am sure. Now leave.” Alex said and pushed Veronica away from him before he closed the door on her face. i.

‘Awww... Such a faithful guy,’ Veronica thought, staring at the closed door, ‘I should let Jessica know.’ And Veronica left from there, smiling ear to ear.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“What is this?” George slapped his hand on the table and roared, “You numbskulls can’t even find a single man? It has been more than a month, and all I get from you guys are empty promises. Why? What is going on in here?” George looked at the hung faces across the room and asked.

But none of them looked up and tried to reply to him.

“What?” George looked around, “Nothing? Nada? You guys have nothing to say? No excuse? At least come up with an excuse. Aren’t you guys even capable of that?” George was really angry with his guys.

With so much push from George, finally, a woman raised her hand to speak.

“Yes, tell me,” As soon as George saw her, he asked. He was desperate, he wanted to hear something, even if it was an excuse.

“Sir... It’s because of...” The lady began but then looked at her colleagues, who shook their heads, trying to persuade her otherwise.

“Hey... what are you all shaking your heads for?” George, when saw the others gesturing otherwise, he said out loud, “And you... What’s with the build-up?” George pointed at the woman.

“Sir, it’s because of Alex, you son. Instead of letting us work on finding out that guy, we are made to edit videos all day. Be it a promotional video, reels, or celebrating the anniversaries of our earlier projects. All we do all day long is promote this company,” The lady told everything to George in a single breath, “Then there are tons of calls we have to answer. If there is nothing else, he would ask us to gather, and there will be a party for no apparent reason... Sir, we are already under a lot of stress, I am sure he means well, but we can’t even give our twenty percent to our actual work.” The lady tried to explain.

“Are you saying it’s all because of my son,” George asked seriously as he looked around.

Slowly heads began to nod, and soon everyone was nodding in agreement with the lady. It was all true, but they were too afraid to let George know. They were not sure if George would be willing to hear anything against his son.

“Then fucking idiots, you should have said it sooner,” George picked up the wooden nameplate from his desk and threw it randomly towards the crowd in front of him, “Do you fucking work for me or my son?”

Matthew, on the other hand, shook his head as he stood behind George, amused by the way things had transpired so far.

“Now fucking get lost and find me that fucker, you fucking idiots,” George, when saw everyone still rooted to their spots, looking at him with their eyes wide open, continued to curse.

* * * * *