BIA Ch. 142

“Suddenly, you, you said you weren’t, weren’t turned on, that you wouldn’t do it! Even though you were the one who suggested it! You asked if I, if I wanted you to do it!”

Hearing it now, he remembered. At Virginia’s house, Chester had been hitting on him so persistently that he’d briefly considered it, but then he saw the tattoo Isaiah Diaz had arbitrarily inked onto his body, got angry, and decided against it. It was something he had literally forgotten completely, and more importantly…

“That was before I started dating you.”

Isaiah calmly explained, looking at Bran.

“Seems like it. Back when you two went to Virginia.”

“Right. I hope you don’t misunderstand.”

Isaiah repeated himself. Beside him, Chester shrieked, “Sh-sh-shit, why are you making excuses to Bran! Make excuses to me!”

“Shut up. Stop yelling.”

Can’t you see this? Isaiah threatened, pointing to the gun in his hand. Chester flinched for a moment, then his face contorted even more severely.

“Ah, wait a fucking second… Then, then your busted lip the other day, that was Bran’s doing too?”

“What? Oh, this.”

Isaiah unconsciously touched his lip and looked back at Bran. Their eyes met, and Bran gently pulled Isaiah’s hand away, smiling bitterly as if telling him not to.

“Technically, I did do it.”

“Should I say… I provided the cause?”

“That’s right. If you hadn’t tried to jump, I wouldn’t have had to bite you.”

“Well, that’s a misunderstanding.”

Watching the two instantly fall into their own world, Chester practically wailed.

“Shit, I, I didn’t even know, I was so angry wondering which bastard did it, huh? I was even thinking of setting fire to Mountain Dog to kill that fucker, shiit…”

“Why would you set fire to someone else’s business?”

Bran laughed as if finding it absurd. Chester, however, seemed deaf to Bran’s words, merely collapsing on the floor and sobbing.

“That bastard chewed up his lip, fuck… And I was happily kissing and sucking on it alone…”

Bran raised an eyebrow again, saying, “Oh.” Before Isaiah could offer any explanation, Bran pressed his finger firmly on Isaiah’s lip, precisely on the spot where the scab had been, and smiled softly.

“Quite a lot has happened, hasn’t it.”

“I was assaulted.”

Isaiah quickly said.

“He stopped when I pulled out my gun.”

“Hmm.”

Bran crossed his arms with an expression that seemed to say, ‘Indeed.’ Isaiah felt extremely uncomfortable with this situation where he was the only one constantly having to make excuses.

“Hey, you bastard, stop it already!”

He yelled at Chester pointlessly, pressing the gun closer, but Chester, seemingly driven mad by the piercing sense of betrayal towards Isaiah, didn’t even seem to register the gun anymore. The guy just kept sobbing, repeating, “You’re cruel, you’re really too cruel.”

“I was sincere. I really liked you… And, and I believed that you had feelings for me too, even just a little, a tiny bit.”

“That’s not true.”

“So I waited… I believed… Whatever Manny said, I told him it, it wasn’t true, not to speak carelessly, that’s what I did…”

Chester started his usual lament again. But for some reason, even Isaiah couldn’t bring himself to tell him to shut up this time. Setting aside his own circumstances, from Chester’s perspective, it was honestly a situation to feel sad and wronged about. One could dismiss it as no big deal in the criminal world where deceiving each other was just business for bad guys, but seeing him used and abandoned even by his own father stirred a corner of pity in his heart. Besides, though he hated to admit it, that bastard Chester, while a menace to everyone else, had been quite devoted to him in his own way.

“Really, I… I trusted you. I never even thought of backstabbing you.”

Eventually, the guy broke down, tears dripping onto the floor as he sobbed.

“You’re the one who backstabbed me… Acting like you’d work with me, and then, behind my back, joining hands with Bran, and doing even more than that…”

You never did anything with me…! Chester cried out, sobbing most pitifully at that thought.

“And now, now, you’re even trying to kill me… I didn’t do anything, I didn’t backstab you…”

Chester wailed, asking what he had done so wrong. He cried more sorrowfully than when he found out his father had betrayed him. Indeed, pointing a gun at him in this situation made it seem like he was trying to kill him because he had backstabbed him and had nothing else to say, which felt deeply unsettling. He should have just killed him before he started rambling on about this and that. Seeing the pathetic sight of him, emaciated, barely able to control his body due to the drugs, staggering and crying, made him feel even stranger.

Finally, Isaiah lowered the gun with a sigh.

“Do we really have to kill this guy?”

Bran blinked slowly, as if asking, ‘What else?’

“Looks like he’ll die on his own if we just leave him.”

“Did you grow fond of him while playing the fake lover?”

“Absolutely not.”

Never, definitely not, Isaiah swore emphatically, stressing the point repeatedly.

“Then why?”

“I told you. Looking at his state, it doesn’t seem like he’ll live long.”

Before Isaiah could finish, Chester yelled, “What!”

“Why, why won’t I live long, you piece of sh—”

Isaiah aimed the gun back at the guy who still couldn’t grasp the situation and was just screaming.

“Then do you want to just die now?”

“N-no, no. You’re right. I, I won’t live long.”

Chester quickly changed his tune. Though it was at the speed of a sloth rapping, it was impossible for the guy to move his tongue any faster in his current state.

“Even if not, I’ll live like I’m dead, yes, as if I’m dead. Really. Anyway, I, I… I don’t have any other desires now. I don’t, don’t have the means either…”

“Exactly.”

Isaiah put the gun away again. He looked back at Bran and said.

“In this state, he won’t last a year.”

Of course, his slurred speech and inability to control his body were due to being high, but if he had really started using heroin or fentanyl, he would just use again as soon as the effects wore off, so it didn’t mean much. Eventually, his sober moments would dwindle, and then he wouldn’t wake up at all.

“Manny’s dead anyway, and there’s nothing this guy can do alone. If we leave him, he’ll probably just hole up somewhere, shoot up alone, and die.”

“What…?”

Suddenly, Chester’s head snapped up.

“Manny’s dead…?”

Isaiah ignored Chester’s question and continued.

“If necessary, we can make him leave a voice recording right now, stating he’s handing over the Boss position to you.”

“Hmm.”

Bran kept his arms crossed, looking at Chester. Chester seemed so shocked that he just muttered like a broken radio, “Manny…, Manny’s, Manny…”

“Certainly seems like he won’t make it past this year like this.”

“See?”

Isaiah clicked his tongue. Bran stared at Isaiah thoughtfully, then tilted his head slightly as if finding it curious.

“Since when did the great Lanius start considering the circumstances of every single prey?”

“Ah, seriously.”

It’s not like that. Isaiah shuddered.

“He’s obviously going to die even if we leave him alone, I just don’t want to kill him with my own hands.”

“Hmm.”

“If you don’t get it, don’t think of him as Chester, just think of him as a dog. There’s a neighbor’s dog that barks and tries to piss on you whenever it sees you. I decided I’d kill this bastard someday. But then I hear the damn thing is sick and dying. I think ‘good’ and go over with a hammer, but seeing its dying state feels kind of off. Since it’ll die anyway if left alone, I feel uneasy about killing it with my own hands. It’s just that kind of feeling.”

Bran, who had been listening quietly, said seriously.

“But dogs are cute.”

“Huh…?”

“Is Chester as cute as a dog?”

“No, I was thinking of Agrippina.”

Isaiah said, flustered.

“Chester’s dog. That ugly, ill-mannered dog.”

“Ah, that dog.”

Bran nodded as if he roughly understood.

“Certainly, a dog is a bit different. No matter how bad your relationship or how ugly it is, it still feels wrong.”

“Exactly. And imagine it’s not even a healthy dog, but one that’s sick and dying. It feels like it would haunt my dreams.”

“That won’t do.”

Bran smiled with a frown.

“There’s no need to add to the repertoire of nightmares.”

He patted Isaiah’s shoulder and then crouched down in front of Chester. Making sure to be at eye level with Chester, he called his name softly.

“Chester.”

Chester’s shoulders flinched noticeably. Bran spoke to him in a particularly gentle tone, even offering a smiling expression with his eyes.

“You heard, right? My lover wants me to let you go.”

Watching Bran insist on mentioning his lover even now, Chester pouted.

“How about it, are you confident you can live quietly in hiding?”

“…..”

“Answer me.”

“…Yes.”

I’m confident. Chester mumbled in a voice that sounded anything but confident.

“Then you’ll have to leave Eloy completely?”

As if this was unexpected, Chester blinked rapidly.

“Wh-where to?”

“Anywhere. Far away.”

Chester looked back and forth between Bran and Isaiah with mournful eyes. But realizing he had no choice, he slowly nodded.

“I will.”

“Promise.”

“I… promise.”

“Good, Chester.”

Hearing Chester’s answer, Bran stood up.

“Then you will now cherish my lover’s generosity deep in your heart.”

With those words, Bran wrapped one hand around the back of Isaiah’s head, who was standing beside him, and pulled him sharply towards himself. Isaiah, whose face was suddenly buried in Bran’s chest, was trying to lift his head in surprise.

“And go to where Manny is.”

— Bang, Bang!!

Ear-splitting reports echoed consecutively. Hearing the gunshots right next to him, Isaiah instinctively pushed Bran’s chest away and yelled.

“Bran!”

“Stay still.”

Bran pressed down harder on the back of Isaiah’s head as he tried to pull away from his embrace.