BIA Ch. 36

“I don’t know. It was in the cabinet.”

Isaiah mumbled vaguely and sat down across from Manny.

“So, do you remember anything?”

“None at all.”

Manny clicked his tongue as if he had expected this, then snapped his fingers at a server passing by their table.

“Hey, Harvey. A bottle of Budweiser for me. And this one…”

“Oh, I’ll have…”

“Ginger ale.”

Manny interrupted before Isaiah could finish his order.

“What? Why are you ordering for me?”

Isaiah protested. Manny loosened his already half-undone tie further.

“You always have ginger ale. You’ve never had anything else.”

Isaiah started to argue but stopped. He had nothing to say and Manny looked exhausted.

“Manny, are you okay?”

“Would I be okay, f*cker?”

Manny’s anger erupted as if he had been holding it back. He explained that he hadn’t slept properly in three days. He wasn’t even immediate family but he was stuck staying up all night, acting as Chester’s servant which made it even worse.

The server brought the Budweiser and ginger ale. By then, Manny was already dozing, elbows propped on the table. Five minutes later, he was face down, snoring.

“Manny, wake up.”

Isaiah was genuinely worried. It was understandable. The fact that Manny could fall asleep in such a loud club meant he was dangerously exhausted.

Manny, seemingly realizing he couldn’t continue like this, finally wiped the drool from his mouth and spoke.

“Hey, this won’t do. I’m going to a nearby hotel to sleep for just two hours. You stay here for two hours and then go home. If Chester asks, tell him you were with me. Got it?”

“What? Is that okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

They say eyelids are the heaviest things in the world and Manny, severely sleep-deprived, seemed to have lost all judgment.

“Wh-what if someone talks to me?”

“Ignore them.”

Manny’s response was blunt.

“Keep ignoring them and if they still bother you, just tell them to get lost. That’s the usual you.”

…He knew it, but Isaiah Cole realized that his usual self wasn’t what anyone would call a nice guy.

“What if the guy I slept with talks to me?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

“Uh…?”

“That’s what you say. ‘I don’t know. I don’t remember.’”

Apparently, that was the correct answer since he had slept with so many men that he couldn’t remember them all.

“Anyway, no one will talk to you looking like that.”

With that parting advice, Manny left the club.

Indeed, for almost an hour after Manny left, no one spoke to Isaiah. They just glanced at him with expressions that seemed to say, “What a loser.”

Then, after an hour, a few people who finally recognized him as Isaiah started talking to him. Most only commented on his clothes. “What’s wrong with your clothes?”, “Isn’t Halloween over?”, “Is this some kind of prank?”, “Not funny at all.” It was nice to be able to tell them to “Get lost” from the bottom of his heart but it also made him feel a little lonely.

Of course, some people talked about other things but that was also a bit sad–

“What did you do wrong today to be here like this?”

“You still haven’t found Master?”

“Honey, if you would like to be punished again, call me anytime.”

The content of each remark was similar. In summary, what Bran had said about his ‘taste for pain’ seemed to be true. To be exact, it seemed like he liked being punished.

Anyway, that was a bit depressing. He had secretly been hoping that Bran might be playing a prank, but today that hope was completely shattered.

It was a time when, so depressed that he was like a parrot half-engulfed in madness, he had been endlessly repeating only the words “Go away. I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

“Those clothes are pretty.”

Another man approached and spoke to him.

“Would you like to talk, it has been a while?”

“Go away.”

Isaiah spat fiercely. If possible, he would have tried to say something kind in response to the compliment about his clothes, but when he saw the clothes the other man was wearing, he could not utter a single polite word. The black sleeveless t-shirt was so stretched around the neck that it was on the verge of exposing his nipples, and the jacket he wore over it was studded with sequins everywhere. To be complimented on his fashion sense by a man dressed like this was an insult in itself.

“Of course I will be. After we finish talking.”

The sequin jacket man said with a smile and sat down uninvited in the chair opposite him.

“What happened to Robin?”

I don’t know. I don’t remember.

According to the manual, that was what he should have said but the words would not come. Of course, it was not because he was overwhelmed by the man’s attire but because the name that came out of his mouth sounded strangely familiar.

Robin… Robin… He had definitely heard that name somewhere before. Was he one of Bran’s subordinates…?

When Isaiah did not answer, the sequin jacket man nodded as if in understanding.

“Well, it might definitely be more helpful not to have him around.”

He took a presumptuous sip of the Budweiser that Manny had ordered and had not touched then wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

“Partner in name only, it’s probably been a long time since he has been anything but a hindrance to you. He’s probably holed up somewhere high on drugs again.”

What? Partner…? I had a partner?

At the unimaginable statement, Isaiah’s heart lurched for a moment, then began to pound like crazy. Unable to readily ask, he just swallowed hard as the sequin jacket man took another sip of beer and then spoke, as if suddenly remembering something.

“I heard someone in Cedric’s family died this time? His younger sister, right? Was it Angela?”

“Angelina. Older sister.”

“Right, that’s right. Angelina. She had been in a vegetative state for four years, hadn’t she?”

The sequin jacket man nodded. Then he closed his eyes and appeared lost in thought for a moment. The ceiling lights rotated rapidly, briefly illuminating his face, and at that moment, small wrinkles became visible around his calmly closed eyes. Isaiah then thought that the man in front of him might be quite a bit older than he looked.

Listening to the deafening club music, the sequin jacket man, who had been slowly swaying back and forth as if appreciating classical music, opened his eyes again and looked at Isaiah.

“You must have thought of Jacana.”

“What…?”

“Were you envious ?”

Then you should have let him go. The sequin jacket man pressed on, not giving Isaiah a chance to respond.

“It was you and no one else, who robbed him of his right to die with dignity.”

…Again.

Isaiah unconsciously clutched the fabric of his shirt at his chest. It was happening again. A conversation he had once had with someone.

‘More importantly, what is the answer?’

‘What answer?’

‘That every human being has the right to die with dignity.’

It was Bran. Bran had asked him that. He had asked Isaiah Diaz, not Isaiah Cole. What had he answered back then…?

“I…”

Isaiah gasped, clutching his chest. The sequin jacket man watched him with an impassive expression then picked up his beer bottle again and spoke.

“Anyway, the goods are where they always are. If you still need them…”

“What goods?”

A low voice suddenly cut in. Isaiah, still clutching his chest, looked up. The sequin jacket man also turned around with a surprised expression.

“Huh? What goods are you talking about?”

Bran spoke with a smile playing on his lips. The sequin jacket man’s adam’s apple bobbed noticeably. The next moment, he let out a subservient laugh and placed the beer bottle back down.

“What goods would they be? Good goods, of course.”

“Drug dealing is prohibited in our club.”

“Is anyone enforcing that?”

“Everyone is.”

At Bran’s words, The sequin jacket man laughed as if in disbelief. He leaned back dramatically in his chair and whistled as he slowly scanned the club.

“Are all those things just ghosts, then?”

“They will be soon.”

Bran said calmly. Then, placing a hand on the sequin jacket man’s shoulder, he added in a soft voice,

“You will be too, soon enough.”

“…”

“If you break the rules.”

As Bran smiled and removed his hand, the sequin jacket man straightened up from his reclined position. He pulled his wallet from his back pocket, placed a bill on the table, and stood up.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”