Chapter 117

Zeno's heart was racing; prickly sweat broke through his forehead, he was cornered.

There could be different reasons as to why Sebastian mentioned Kenji.

How did he find out about Kenji?

Zeno didn't want to give him an answer that might expose what he didn't know; he wanted to make sure he was in the same story with Sebastian, and he wouldn't want to implicate himself further.

He slowly turned to Sebastian and faced him; he sighed when he saw the unveiling look on Sebastian's face.

"Babe-"

"Stop, Zeno, just tell me what you did with Kenji in the morning," Sebastian replied, his eyes cold.

Zeno felt hurt; it's been so long since he saw that look on Sebastian's face, and he was the cause of it; he made him this way.

"I'll apologize first, I'm sorry for-"

"Apology don't cut it, Zeno. Do you realize what going on? I feel like my partner is cheating on me. You lied to me, Zeno. You said you had some stuff to do with Ida. I believed you, but instead, I got this sent to me by that proud motherfuker," Sebastian raised his phone to Zeno's face, showing him the picture. 

"Shit," Zeno muttered as he saw the picture of Ke ji holding his waist.

He remembered it was just within that brief second he was about to enter the car, Sakura must have taken the picture.

His question now was, why did Kenji send the dawned picture to Sebastian. 

"I'm ready to listen if there's anything reasonable you have to tell me, Zeno, otherwise, I'd believe that I should have just remained by myself and never should have given love a chance," Sebastian sounded broken.

Zeno's heart bled, he leaned away from the sofa and hugged Sebastian, even though Sebastian did hug him back, he kept hugging him, burying his face in his neck.

"Don't say that, Sebastian. Never regret giving me a chance. No, I didn't cheat on you. I'm not cheating on you, and I'll never cheat on you," Zeno whispered. 

"Then tell me, Zeno, what did you do with Kenji? What business do you have with him? Last I checked, you didn't even know his name," Sebastian asked; he was looking down at Zeno's head, his chest tugging painfully. 

He loved Zeno too much to break up with him, he was silently praying that whatever Zeno was going to say wouldn't be something that would cause them to break up.

However, what was the use of being with someone who doesn't share your love view? Someone who feels it's okay to be that close to someone else when they had you.

He sighed and slowly wrapped his arms around Zeno's waist and whispered, "Tell me, Zeno, I won't hate you, I'm incapable of hating you, I'll just have to let you go if it's-"

"No!" Zeno raised his head and glared at Sebastian.

"I'm that easy to let go, huh?" Zeno frowned.

Sebastian was quiet, "I trust you, Zeno, but you're making me question that trust, that's why I need you to assure me, Zeno, assure my trust," He looked into Zeno's eyes, silently pleading with him to put him out if this misery called suspense, it was killing him.

Zeno nodded; he knew he should tell Sebastian something, but was he going to tell him the whole truth? No.

A half-truth is also a truth.

He locked his eyes on Sebastian and spoke, "I did have something to do with Ida in the morning, but I later decided to go out and get some food since Julia hadn't made anything yet because she was waiting for you to wake up and I couldn't cook because of my arm," He raised his wounded arm.

Sebastian didn't say anything; he was quietly staring at Zeno, waiting for him to get to how he met Kenji and how the fuck Kenji got his stupid arms around Zeno's waist.

Zeno continued when he saw that Sebastian was patiently waiting on him. He felt so guilty looking at Sebastian and lying to him.

"I went to this restaurant...the one you saw in the picture, and that's where I coincidentally met Sakura and her brother; I had briefly greeted them and was waiting for my ride outside, and that's when he came and put his arms around me. I didn't realize that Sakura might have captured the one-second action because I did step away immediately. But Sakura did offer to give me a ride, so I agreed. They brought me home, Seb, and that was it, I promise," Zeno touched Sebastian's cheeks, blinking up at him.

Sebastian's face hardened, so after he warned Kenji not to come close to Zeno, he still tried to put his hands on what was his. It's about time someone either loses an arm or breaks it, and he wasn't even joking about it.

For Kenji to have the courage to send him this picture meant that he was actively provoking him and showing him that he had gone behind his back to do what he asked him not to do. If it was any of his bodyguards, he wouldn't give a fuck about what Kenji was doing with them, but this was Zeno they were talking about, someone he loved more than himself, he was possessive that much, and he wouldn't sit back unwatchable some stupid rich kid play games with his man, he did want Kenji, so he should be prepared for the consequences of his actions.

"Seb," Zeno called, his heart was hammering loudly as he didn't know if Sebastian bought his half-truth story or not.

He knew he should have just said the truth, but he was scared; seeing Sebastian already on the verge of breaking up with him made him act the way he did. He knew it would trigger Sebastian if he heard that he was repeating what had happened to him in the past by planning to pair him up with someone; even if he wasn't in support, Sebastian wouldn't understand it that way.

He really hoped that he found a good time to tell Sebastian what was really going on, and if, after telling him, Sebastian still chose to break up with him, then he would accept it as his punishment for ever agreeing to such a stupid mission.

"Don't get close to him, Zeno," Sebastian said and stepped away from Zeno, he left him there and walked into his office. 

Zeno was torn.

What did this action mean? Was Sebastian still angry? Was he going to ignore him for long? 

Zeno. would have gone after him, but he, too, was feeling guilty and wanted to stay away from Sebastian for a while; he couldn't stand seeing the hurt look on Sebastian's face, knowing he was the cause of it.

Sebastian needed his time alone, he would give him that. He wouldn't want Sebastian making some heartbreaking decisions due to anger.

He looked up when someone walked into the door, it was Ida and Jasper.

He sighed; he wasn't in the mood to entertain Jasper; he could already see him smiling at him as he got closer.

"Good evening, Zeno, how's your arm?" Jasper asked, smiling. 

Zeno nodded, "Healing," He replied with no expression.

Ida chuckled, "Seems like someone didn't take my advice," He smirked at Zeno, "Face it, bro...it's called consequences, or a more relatable name is Karma," He tapped Zeno's shoulder and walked toward Sebastian's office.

"Come on, we got something we want to show the boss; you need to see it, too," Jasper held Zeno's hand and led him behind Ida.

Zeno didn't want to go, but he knew he needed to see whatever it was they had to show Sebastian. 

He subtly removed his hand from Jasper as they reached the door.

They got into the office and found Sebastian sitting on the sofa instead of his chair behind his desk.

They stood in front of him and bowed their heads, except Zeno, who was busy looking at Sebastian, who openly avoided looking back at him.

Zeno felt hurt, but he also knew that Sebastian was more hurt. 

"What do have, Ida?" Sebastian asked in a flat tone, his eyes looking very uninterested in the topic.

"I managed to retrieve this from the security footage back in Japan, maybe it could be a clue. I didn't want to search further about it without your order," Ida brought out his phone from his pocket and turned the screen to Sebastian.

Zeno happened to catch the image on the screen as he showed the phone to Sebastian.

Zeno saw Sebastian's face turned unimaginably cold. He wondered if Sebastian did know what it meant.

It was a barcode tattoo on the wrist of one of the guys who attacked them in the garden.

"And you haven't searched further?" Sebastian frowned and Ida.

Ida nodded, "Yes, boss, I wanted to show you first and await your order," He replied. 

Sebastian scoffed, "So if it took a year for you to see me, you'd wait a year before you searched about it?" He stood, his eyes boring into Ida and Jasper.

"I'm sorry, boss, it was my idea; he did want to look into it, but I asked him to speak to you first; I'm sorry for the wrong decision," Jasper bowed his head. 

Sebastian was quiet, he moved away from them and walked over to the other side of the office.

"The tattoo looks familiar. Did no one see anything like that at the gala?" Sebastian questioned.

"I did, boss," Everyone turns to start at Japser. 

Sebastian raised a brow at him, "On Who?" He asked.

"On a mam, a middle-aged man, I do not know him, but he looked like the leader of a gang or something; I saw it on the side of his chest," Jasper informed.

Sebastian nodded, "You have a day to find pit about the origin of that tattoo, use as many resources as you want," He ordered. 

"Yes, boss," Ida and Japser replied.

Zeno didn't respond, he was busy staring at Sebastian and wondering what was going through his mind. 

"Go, I need the results by tomorrow," Sebastian dismissed. 

Ida looked at Zeno nodded at him, then he turned to Jasper, held his arm amd dragged him out of tbe office.

Sebastian knew that Zeno didn't leave, he could feel his presence behind him.

Zeno slowly walked up to Sebastian and hugged him from behind.

"I'm sorry," Zeno whispered, placing his head on Sebastian's broad back.

Sebastian shut his eyes and sighed, he removed Zeno's hand that was locked around his tummy and turned to face him.

Zeno lowered his head as he saw Sebastian looking at him, he felt so guilty.

Sebastian raised his face with a finger under his chin, he stared into Zeno's eyes, "It's okay...injust needed to cool off. A lot of things are going on and fighting over my man with someone isn't one of things I need right now," His voice was low and gently. 

Zeno shook his head, "It won't happen again, I'll avoid him lime you asked," zeno whispered. 

Sebastian gently hugged him to himself. "I know it won't happen again, he can't hold anyone with a broken arm," He gently patted Zeno's back.

"What?!" Zeno snapped his head up to Sebastian's face.

The look he saw told him that Sebastian was serious. Just what the fuck had Sebastian done?

"It's alright, baby, I've told you before, I don't share," Sebastian whispered into Zeno's ear.