26. BIRTHDAY BOY

ACT FOUR SCENE SEVEN

BIRTHDAY BOY

third person

perspective

LUCA STARES AT HIS REFLECTION. It's his birthday today, the day he'll finally be able to be old enough to escape his father's restrictions — well that's what he hoped for — his father doesn't seem too keen on the idea. A blank expression appears on his face, he wasn't sure how to be, he wasn't sure if he was able to smile his way through this occasion made for businesses to thrive. His birthday is just another opportunity for his father to broaden his business connections.

"Is there a reason you're not smiling right now?" the sound of his father's voice causes Luca to straighten his back. The both of them struggled to talk to each other as family, they seemed to connect in a more formal way. It pained Luca to know that his own father utilised him in various ways to earn more money, what hurt more was; his father didn't raise Luca to be a son but as a product of business.

"I don't feel like it."

"It doesn't take much effort to fake, I hope to see you smiling when you walk down the stairs; our reputation relies on your ability to be as good as possible." his father remarks, glancing at Luca with a firm gaze. "As you know, turning eighteen is a huge milestone, it allows for me to set up various plans and one of those plans being marriage."

"Marriage?"

His father shakes his head. "Don't tell me you forgot what we Valdez do."

"Enlighten me." Luca states sarcastically.

"Once you turn eighteen in this family, it's a tradition to strengthen our family by arranging a marriage with another rich person who can benefit your wealth." his father says with a proud expression, but his words made Luca feel sick, sick to the point he felt miserable. He didn't want to accept this fate of his, he hoped that his life would go a different direction. He hoped he could be someone, someone beneficial not end up with a person who doesn't love him for him but love him for his money.

Luca felt his heart burn into flames. His parents don't seem to care about his soul, they've been at war with it since the day he was born. They want to get richer, they want to live lavishly to the point they feel like they own the world but they don't want to live their lives knowing their son is happy. He's sure of it. His mother and father don't want him to be happy.

"But what if I don't want to do as you say?" Luca whispers, he felt his voice wither.

His father smiles.

"You were born to live for us not for yourself, your life means nothing without us. You developed such a rare skin condition that your body seems to hate the touch of human skin, you're an outlier in this world Luca. One single touch can lead you to burst into an allergic reaction, and if you think about it, I'm willing to do anything to be more powerful." his father inches closer towards him, Luca felt his back hit the edge of his glass table. "Listen to me. You wouldn't want to feel the pain of disobeying your father wouldn't you?" his father grabs Luca's arm, tightening his grip on it.

"...Stop." Luca pleads, his eyes watering. Pain. Pain was spreading throughout his whole body. Both physically and mentally, Luca felt undermined. Not only was his body pleading for an escape, his mind was losing it, he was hurt, he was frustrated to live such a hopeless life. He was stupid to think he could live to live. He should've realised his fate meant nothing. He doesn't deserve anything in this life, this life has failed him. He'll never live as a normal person, his father is right, he's an outlier. An absolute monster.

"For now." his father releases Luca's arm, leaving him to fall on to the ground. "Hurry up and get ready, there's a large amount of people waiting for you, nobody wants to see your ugly scars — cover it up, it's disgusting." his father grimaces, walking off.

"M-My medicine, please give it to me."

A flash of hope appears in Luca's face when he notices his father turn around.

"Get it yourself, how will you become a man if you rely on others to do everything for you, imbecile." his father scoffs, leaving the room.

Luca sniffles. He wondered why it was so difficult to be happy as nobody ever seems to care about what he offers. Not even all the money in the world could cure him, he just wanted a taste of love, the soft delicate taste of friendship and the sweet scent of happiness the world deprived him of.

He can't get anything. Each time he tries, he fails miserably.

Luca grabs on to his glass table, attempting to pull himself up. But he fails, falling on to the cold ground. But he doesn't give up, he grabs the table once again, utilising his body strength to stand up. He breathes heavily, attempting to ignore the horrible pain in his arm. He grabs the needle containing the medicine to ease his pain and injects his arm.

After doing so, Luca falls to the floor, releasing a relieved sigh. Although his life seems miserable, he couldn't stand the idea of dying. He was afraid, he didn't want to leave anything behind, he didn't want to accept the fact his father did so little to destroy him.

Luca closes his eyes. Sometimes he just accepts the pain.

sahar glacé

PERSPECTIVE

"I hate to admit, the Valdez family sure know how to throw a party." Normani says, glancing around the house with pure surprise. "His house seems tacky, they clearly have no idea how to utilise Greek statures as decor." she scrunches her nose in utter disgust.

I was here with Normani and Solar to attend Luca's birthday party. Both Jumin and Silas told me to simply act as their friends until they finish what they have in plan for the both of them. Although I was against the plan, I had no choice, I wanted to prove my innocence. If I let Solar and Normani simply have it their way, my life would be destroyed over petty lies.

"There's no sign of the birthday boy, these billionaire rats are so disorganised with their time." Solar murmurs, looking at Normani, I guess she looked towards her for validation. I used to be like that. I used to seek validation from them so I could feel included, I would make a fool of myself trying to remain friends with these people who prefer me to lose everything for the sake of them staying in a school with people they claim to despise.

"He's probably wearing those ugly gloves of his, he's so delusional thinking that he's so above people that he doesn't even want to touch them with his own skin — what type of germaphobe is he? So disrespectful." Normani states, drinking from her glass of champagne with hatred painted all over her pretty face.

"What a freak." Solar mutters.

They're picking on him for choosing to wear gloves. They have no idea why he chooses to do so yet they're assuming he does it for a negative reason. It was stupid of me not to realise that they're always so bitter about people, they drag people down, they belittle them to the point that they're not even human anymore. These girls are not people, they're monsters who crave the idea of self satisfaction and degrading of others no matter what.

"One thing that has me confused is why you both decided to attend this party, I thought we were against the billionaire bad boys club, attending a party of their leader seems a little weird if we hate them." I say, causing Normani and Solar to look at each other and burst into laughter.

"Sahar sweetie, don't you know the best way to get to an enemy?" Normani questions.

"No."

She twirls the champagne glass in her grip. "You enter their base, their home and hurt them there." she smirks, glancing up at pretty chandelier. "Being embarrassed on his eighteenth birthday party, in such a grand place, Luca Valdez will suffer deeply."

Her words cause me to widen my eyes.

"What's the matter Sahar? Don't tell me you're afraid to mess with fire." Normani gazes deep into my eyes, a twisted smile forming on her face. "Oh I get it, you're scared, you're backing out because you aren't strong enough to go against these billionaire rats."

Her words cause me to clench my fists. I couldn't stand her cocky attitude.

"One by one. They'll fall and you'll be there to watch it, won't you, Sahar?" Normani says, her eyes were glimmering with ambition.

"I will." I lie.

"Liar." Normani says.

I look up at her in shock.

She laughs. "Just kidding, you won't ever lie to me." she says before smiling. "The good in you will never betray you, you're too innocent for this world, sometimes I envy you, I can't imagine how it feels to be so pure." her words cause me to shiver, she sounds so bitter yet so envious. She's not the same person I met years ago, she's someone else, it's as if she's possessed.

"I need to get a drink." I force a smile before turning away abruptly.

"Don't drink too much, you wouldn't want to miss what I've planned for tonight." Normani exclaims. I have no idea what she has planned but I'm sure I'll be able to stop whatever she wants to do. I don't want Luca to feel bad on his birthday, he doesn't deserve to feel unhappy. Everything about him needs to be golden, not silver.

I look at the grand staircases that lead upstairs. On top of the stairs I notice the pretty boy with an exquisite suit on, his looks were beaming and his eyes seemed to glitter under the sparkling chandelier. Luca looked euphoric, everything about him seemed ethereal, from the way his hair was styled professionally and his perfect built. He's completely unstoppable, a soul like his deserved so much happiness. And I'll make sure if it, I won't let Normani ruin his day.

And it's a promise.

"You look like you've fallen in love."

Helius looks at me with a smile. The golden boy had his hair styled messily with his expensive shirt unbuttoned and tie loosely around his neck. It was an attractive approach to a party.

"What is love at this point? It doesn't exist in our era Helius, you should know that better than me." I smile, glancing at Luca who seemed to hold a smile on his pretty face. He never smiles like this, it's something I'm not used to. He seems happy and I'm glad, he doesn't deserve anything else other than that ethereal feeling.

"Don't fall in love too quick, you can't forget me." Helius rubs the back of his neck, his words cause me to shake my head. He always seems so good at making a person feel comfortable, his personality is loving and sweet. And I guess that's what makes him a golden boy.

"I'll never forget you." I playfully push him, making sure that Solar and Normani were not anywhere in my sight. The both of them will completely switch the way they speak to me if they notice me with a single billionaire bad boys club member.

"Well, that makes me feel better. And wait... are you wearing lipstick." Helius inches closer towards my face, I blush before moving back. I wasn't used to having people so close to me, it makes me feel embarrassed.

"Yeah."

"I prefer you with lipgloss," he smiles. "But you still look beautiful like that." he murmurs, glancing down at my dress, a smirk seems to tug on his lips.

"What?"

"Nothing." he smiles, his dimples appearing on his face.

I sigh, pulling him away to a more discrete place.

"Oh, is there something you want to tell me?" Helius says, his tone growing serious.

"It's about Luca, Normani told me that she has a big surprise for his birthday and I know it's something bad because she plans to embarrass him in front of so many people," I say, growing anxious. "I don't want him to be embarrassed, he doesn't deserve to feel that way, he's a good guy and Normani is bad news."

"It seems like she has something on him but I don't know what she could possibly have against him because the boy does not have any secret that is bad." Helius says, looking at me with a frown. "Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"I was thinking that since Luca's family has a tradition where they get engaged on their eighteenth birthday, Normani is going to use this as an opportunity to get with Luca and ruin his life."

His words cause me to furrow my eyebrows. "Tradition to get engaged at eighteen? You're telling me that Luca will be engaged by the end of this day!"

"Yeah. If Normani wants to embarrass him, she'll first get engaged with him and then ruin his life from the inside and get enough intel to embarrass him on the outside." Helius' words stick to my head. Normani did talk about entering an enemies home and destroy them from the inside. So she does want to be engaged to Luca.

That's so malicious.

"How do we stop this? I don't understand how she's so sure that his father would choose her as his sons future wife."

"Well this is bad news. Normani's father's company has been doing so well, it's surging in profit and I'm sure Luca's father will see this as a great way to get richer by merging their companies together." Helius says, glancing at his phone. "It's doing well in the stock market, it would be sad to see Normani actually get what she wants."

"I don't want them together."

"Because you like him or because you don't want Normani to get what she wants." Helius questions.

"It's because I don't want Normani to get what she wants, it will ruin Luca and he doesn't deserve that." I respond curtly, I only want the best for Luca. The thought of him being forced to be with Normani is something I don't ever want to witness.

Helius plasters a smile on his face. "Good."

"You're seriously confusing." I mumble, turning around to return to the party.

Helius pulls me by the waist. "You think I'm confusing, I'm always straight to the point, Sahar," he inches closer towards me, I could feel his burning gaze. "You truly look beautiful today, your body suits this dress... actually your body suits anything because you're undeniably gorgeous." his words cause me to shiver, everything Helius says makes me feel more worthy, he makes me feel better.

"I-I think you look good too." I stammer. He was close and I was losing my mind because boys this good looking always seemed to avoid me. What happened now? Am I different now? It doesn't make sense because just a few months back, boys were using me left, right and centre to get closer to Normani and Solar.

"Think? Say it without that please."

"You look good, Helius." I say quickly before moving away from him. He was undeniably close and I was losing my mind. I wasn't used to such attention, it made me feel, it made me feel different.

He laughs.

"You owe me a dance later." he exclaims.

"I'll dance with you when we stop Normani."

"Oh bet."

"Well then, show me everything you've got golden boy."

well that's a sahar and helius moment. what do you think of normani's plan? do you think she'll be successful? and what about luca and asher, do you think asher will attend his birthday party and build his friendship with luca.

until tomorrow, stay tuned! thank you for reading this chapter. as i am writing this we are on #9 in teen fiction. i literally can't believe it. we are actually trending on teen fiction and i cannot thank you guys enough! thank you for everything so far! i hope to make better chapters and keep you guys interested in this book.