04. VIOLENCE & TEA

ACT ONE SCENE FIVE

VIOLENCE & TEA

third person

PERSPECTIVE

LUCA VALDEZ STARES blankly at his ethereal reflection, his tousled brown hair and alluring looks: he felt bland, something you'd see straight out of a fashion magazine. He despised his identity, if he had the choice: he'd remove himself from this world.

He wishes he could turn back time and relive his youth. His identity had been stripped by his parents: they created the monster he is today. The constant emasculation and use of imperatives by his parents made Luca the stubborn, hapless individual he is today.

"Are you not a man?"  his mother screamed, pushing him down to the floor. Young Luca weeps, his face shades of blue and green. "If you were, you never would've cried when that peasants daughter left." he felt his heart pounding, his body bleeding and his mind was a burning inferno.

The flashback ends. Luca touches his soft face, he was attempting to feel the bruises, the shades of blue and green but they weren't there. But the scars, the scars always remained.

"I can't feel like this," he murmurs, wiping the fresh tears that fell, it was an emotional trauma that would always follow behind him. "She's gone, she's not here anymore." the soft sound of his voice breaking made the atmosphere of the room shift.

He was beaten up by his parents due to crying over a girl he loved leaving, the worst part of it all was that she was a peasant: someone he could've never had even if he pleaded to the celestial beings above.

He could remember her brunette hair and dark eyes, she was the epitome of beauty. A beauty Luca felt like drowning in, a beauty so mesmerising and complex: Luca was enchanted. But she left without a say, he knew that this was all his parents doings.

It angered Luca, it angered him that they had complete control over his life. He was a human being too, he wanted to breathe: not to be held by the strings of his manipulative parents who were obsessed with reputation and wealth.

The whole idea of wealth aggravates Luca.

After all, It was wealth that caused him to lose his one and only desire, his golden love.

LUCA VALDEZ WALKS INTO DEVON ACADEMY with a permanent frown imprinted on to his prepossessing face. The mere appearance of the billionaire bad boys club members causes students of Devon Academy to squirm with utter excitement. After all, Luca had an elegant appearance with his clean cut curly hair and arched eyebrows: he was a divine sight to witness.

"There's news that you slept with Anne." Asher comments, running a hand through his platinum blonde hair. Anne was the talk of Devon Academy for telling various people that she had bedded the most divine member of the billionaire bad boys club. But that was most definitely not true.

Luca doesn't sleep with just anyone. In fact, Luca Valdez has never lost his virginity. Many think he has due to the several rumours released by famous news magazines: but that wasn't the truth.

"You know that's a lie Asher." Luca murmurs, taking a sip of his steaming hot chai. Luca admired the taste of chai, for some reason it hit differently. It was way better than coffee, much delicate, much satisfying.

The blonde haired devil smirks. "It's not a lie unless there's proof you haven't." his words cause Luca to deadpan. He wasn't bothered to prove himself to anyone in this treacherous school, if people didn't want to believe he's a virgin then he has nothing to say.

"I still wear my ring." Luca responds, the silver ring that screamed purity. Many people in Devon Academy think that it's an engagement ring and that Luca is going to secretly marry someone. But that wasn't the case, Luca Valdez liked the idea of having a purity ring since it made him feel superior for having his most prized possession.

"Oh yeah I forget you never lose." Asher chuckles, his words cause Luca to look at him with an tired expression. He had enough with Asher, the boy never knew when to stop teasing him.

"Until I find her, this ring will always remain." Luca states optimistically. His desire was to find his childhood love, and once he and her meet: he'd shower her with all his love.

Remember Luca must not know of this, if he does then he'll deal with Sahar Glacé himself. Asher remembers Helius' words almost instantly. It's too bad Asher already found her and she's a part of his game.

"You'll never find her in this school, she isn't rich like us." Asher lies, he knew the game he was playing is in fact very dangerous. But he found it fun, it was amusing to play a game filled with lies.

Luca nods his head mindlessly. "You're right, her mother could never afford to send her here." he mutters, looking around the hallways with a frown on his impeccable face.

"I don't understand, how could you like a peasant?" Asher grimaces, he couldn't understand what Luca saw in the past; How could he like someone with not a single bit of wealth attached to their name?

Luca felt himself getting angry at Asher's words.

"Wealth doesn't matter when it comes to liking someone, you'll realise it some day Asher." he states bitterly, walking off in an instant. If Luca stayed with Asher, he would've lost his mind. He couldn't handle Asher's toxic mentality.

Asher looks at the chandelier hanging on the wall, his eyes glimmering with incandescent. The peasant that Luca was in love with is indeed beautiful, so beautiful she reminded him of a celestial being: so out of this world. Sahar Glacé was someone who didn't deserve Luca, she deserved someone even better: someone like Asher.

A smirk tugs on Asher's heavenly face as he notices Sahar walking into the Academy with her books held to her chest. She was indeed a sight he couldn't help but watch with desire, she was infinitely beautiful. The mere sight of her ignited a spark in Asher's stone soul, he wanted to play.

He wanted to play a beautiful game with another's beautiful desire.

sahar glacé

PERSPECTIVE

AS I WALK INTO DEVON ACADEMY with my books held to my chest, I notice Asher leaning on the exquisite locker behind him with an winsome gaze. I muster up the courage to walk towards him, this was for Normani: interacting with a beast like him could lead me to the loophole of getting her back into Devon Academy.

"Hey, how are you?" I ask Asher, he focuses his beguiling gaze on to me: he throws me a prepossessing smile, a smile that blinded my eyes from it's enchanting effects.

"I'm good, what about you Sahar?" he questions running a hand through his silky platinum blonde hair.

"I could be better."

Asher's eyes sparkle. "How so?" his velvet voice melts my ice barriers, he was too good at this.

"A little tea with my friend at a nice café." I slightly feel uncomfortable with my words, they were meant to come across as friendly not flirty. But being around Asher made it seem like I was with a long term crush, that was not what I desired.

Asher smiles. "Thought you'd never ask, there's so much choices of tea there!" his eyes were filled with enthusiasm, false enthusiasm. Though he did enjoy coffee and tea, this all seemed like a facade to me.

No billionaire rat is going to fool me.

"I like the taste of chai, it tastes different from other beverages." I state, walking beside Asher as he nods his head.

"It's delightful, but have you ever tasted white tea?" Asher queries, I think about it for a moment. Never. I've never tasted white tea: how could such a concoction exist? Is the tea colour white?

"Isn't white tea just milk?" my words cause me to mentally face palm. Seriously? Milk. I mean if the colour of the tea is white then it should just be milk in the cup: right?

Asher laughs. "No, it's a tea that contains the flower, Camellia: it has a unique taste and it isn't the colour white but more of a yellow colour."

He seemed very knowledgeable with types of tea and coffee. He's so invested in them that he exports abnormal types of flowers and coffee beans just to experience the taste. It's the only fascinating quality about him other than his winsome smile.

"How do you know so much about tea and coffee?"

Asher's eyes darken. "I grew up in a half asian household where I would grow herbs, this allowed me to deepen my knowledge on different types of plants: I even went to the library when I was younger, just so I could read about various herbs."

"That's amazing, your parents must be so proud of you!" my words cause Asher to release a deep sigh, he didn't seem like he was in a jovial mood anymore.

"Except my parents never accepted the fact I liked gardening and growing my own herbs, they wanted me to study to take over their large business enterprise based on clothing." he murmurs, glancing at his Rolex with an downcast gaze.

"But this is a good talent of yours, you're so experienced in herbs and it's actually really cool."

Asher smiles, his eyes glimmering. "They'll never accept it either way, it doesn't matter anyways: at least I get to enjoy the tea and coffee in that café."

"You even export those unique coffee beans."

"Right, I do that too. I still don't understand how you think others speak good of me when they see that coffee on the menu." Asher murmurs, opening the door to exit Devon academy for me.

"It's a really rare coffee to find in this town, the fact that you brought it here: allows people to taste something unique, never underestimate your actions Asher." I tell him, for some reason I was being truthful with my words. Although I dislike the guy, there's good qualities in him that he fails to see.

"Asher where are you going?"

It was Silas Gray, looking at Asher with a confused expression.

Asher looks at the brunette with a complacent smile. "I'm going to the café to drink tea with Sahar." his words cause Silas to furrow his eyebrows, his confusion turns into shock as he looks at me.

"You're going with a girl?"

Asher nods his head. "She's my friend." his words cause Silas to squint his eyes.

"Friend?" Silas repeats in utter shock.

"We met in the café the other day, I'm Sahar, it's nice to meet you." I place my hand forward. Silas simply looks at my hand and then my face, it was as if he couldn't believe Asher was hanging out with a girl.

Silas shakes my hand. "I'm Silas, it's nice to meet you Sahar." he mutters, his confusion was enough to tell me that I was Asher's first friend that is a girl.

"Would you like to join us Silas?" Asher questions, his eyes focused on Silas who runs a hand through his dark hair. He simply looks at me before nodding his head.

"I hate tea but coffee sounds good." Silas says, walking towards the exit of the school with us.

Asher frowns. "They both taste equally good." he murmurs, his face holding a permanent frown.

Silas grimaces. "No, tea tastes like washed out milk mixed with water and those nasty herbs." he states with repugnance evident in his face. For some reason, Silas seemed nothing like the day he purposely slammed a puny freshman against the wall. He seemed like a normal guy.

"I think tea is superior because it extends how long you live." I say, Silas stops and looks at me with a amused expression.

"But Sahar, who wants to live long?" his words cause me to stop and ponder. He's right. Who wants to live long? This life was tough as it is. The only people who would want to live long are those who are afraid of the concept of death.

"I mean it's nice to experience life with a good immune system." I awkwardly state, Silas simply laughs at my response with a beaming smile on his ethereal face.

"You're cute."

"Yeah whatever, let's get some tea now: or coffee since someone doesn't like tea." Asher states bitterly, pulling both me and Silas out of our conversation. It's funny, his bitterness reminded me of coffee. Asher Devon is the perfect example of coffee: he's dark and mysterious as well as bitter; what a interesting combination.

"I forgot, Zeph works here doesn't he?" Silas says with a bright smile, Asher nods his head.

"Don't bully him." Asher murmurs.

Silas chuckles. "I'm sure he doesn't mind." he responds brightly.

Asher deadpans. "You call him zebra and you also call him a walking crayola for having blue hair."

I let out a laugh, a zebra. Silas Grey is filled with surprises. The billionaire bad boys club member is seeming more and more like a child as I get to know him. But who knows, this may not be his true identity.

Silas shakes his head. "Okay that was once, he had it coming: how did he think that dyeing his hair blue wouldn't get a comment from me?"

Asher opens the door to the café, allowing me to walk through first: Silas notices this and pulls a confused face. Asher looks at him with a ambiguous gaze, adding fire to my prediction that he was up to something.

"So how did the both of you meet?" Silas questions, his acute gaze made me feel like I was in an questioning room.

"Ironically, we met in this café." I state, looking at Asher who was scanning the large menu: he seemed so focused in the various types of tea and coffee this café has to offer.

Silas looks at me with an unsure gaze. "So you approached Asher?" his words cause me to chuckle. I didn't approach Asher, he approached me; as he should.

I shake my head. "I was ordering something off the menu and Asher gave a recommendation, I was pleased with his choice of coffee!" I feign excitement when talking about Asher, this causes Asher to smirk.

"My rich tastes are enough to satisfy anyone." he murmurs, his eyes still on the long menu.

Silas scoffs. "This douche actually approached you? You seem so well mannered compared to him, sensible and rowdy people never mix." his words cause Asher to look at him with a stern gaze.

"Who are you calling rowdy? I'm anything but that, I actually have proper manners and decency unlike you." Asher retorts, placing the menu down.

"See, rowdy." Silas whispers quietly, his words cause me to burst out in laughter and Asher to look at him with a tensed jaw. For some reason, Silas Gray intrigued me, his childish aura yet fierce persona perplexed me. He was the bipolar opposite to Helius Gray, the golden boy of Devon Academy.

"I didn't bring you here to insult me Silas." Asher mutters, looking at Silas with a frown engraved on his beguiling face.

Silas rolls his eyes. "Its not an insult unless you think it is." he shrugs his shoulders.

"I agree, if you don't believe that you're rowdy Asher then you're not, but if you seem affected by Silas words it could only mean one thing; that you actually are rowdy." my words cause Silas to smile brightly and Asher to look at me with a glum expression.

"Sahar I thought you'd side with me, we're friends not you and Silas." his words were soft and enchanting, but I didn't believe the lie his wanted me to believe. He thinks that he can fool me into believing that he actually wants to be my friend.

The both of us have different intentions but the same plan. I want to be his friend to find a loophole into getting Normani back into this school. Asher on the other hand has an ulterior motive I have no idea about yet he still wants to be my friend. Something is fishy but I can't assume until I've been around him long enough.

I throw him an appealing smile. "We're all friends here." that was a lie indeed. I knew behind closed doors that the billionaire bad boys club members were only friends by default. They're all rich kids who have dirty secrets, rich kids who chose to keep their enemies closer; hence this club developed.

To hide the dirtiest secrets of the top one percent.

"Zebra!" Silas exclaims. The blue haired barista walks towards the table with an petrified expression, he was too good to this world; but is the world good to him?

"You said you'll stop calling me that." he whispers, holding a notepad and pen. Silas smiles widely at the sight of Zeph with his blue hair.

"Just because I said stop doesn't mean I won't continue, like if you think about a YouTube video: if you pause the video you're obviously going to play it again, so that's why I'm still calling you Zebra, Zebra." Silas' logic actually made sense in an odd way.

"But sometimes YouTube videos stop being uploaded, what would you do then?" Zeph questions, his question causes Silas to stop for a moment.

"Then I'll replay every video that has been uploaded, tough luck Zebra, I'll always call you this no matter what." Silas ruffles Zeph's blue hair. Zeph simply groans as pushes Silas hand off him.

"I'm going to tell uncle off on you!" Zeph grumbles.

So they were cousins. That's why Silas seemed so friendly and comfortable with the barista. If Silas is a billionaire then why is his cousin working in a coffee shop?

"You're forgetting I'm my father's favourite, complain to someone who cares." Silas says with a wide grin, Zeph simply frowns.

"This is my café, Silas. I can kick you out." Zeph's blunt words answer my question. He is also rich, he literally owns this café.

"Now let's stop arguing for once, can we enjoy some tea and coffee around here?" Asher's velvet voice causes both Silas and Zeph to stop their mini quarrel.

Zeph changes his expression and throws us a kind smile. "What would you like today?" he questions, his question made me realise that I didn't bother looking through the menu to find something to drink.

"I'll have two white teas." Asher states, so he really did want to try out white tea with me. I let out a sigh of relief, thankfully I don't have to have Zeph awkwardly wait for me to make up a decision on what I want to order.

"And I'll have a coffee."

Silas' words cause Zeph to roll his eyes. "There's multiple types of coffee in this café, you don't just state you want coffee." Zeph mutters in annoyance.

Silas shrugs his shoulders. "Does it look like I know the difference? Give me anything Zebra."

Zeph sighs angrily. "Anything for you, cousin." he murmurs in annoyance before leaving to make the beverages.

"Cut the guy some slack, he manages this whole café on his own." I tell Silas, he simply shrugs his shoulders.

"I mean I do invest a lot here, that is me cutting him some slack." Of course the rich boy invests in family businesses. He believes money can help him get away with anything.

"He is your cousin still, you should be polite."

Silas sighs. "I'm the one who helped him find this café and helped him start it up. To be honest, Zebra here is actually my favourite cousin, he's like a little brother to me, I'm sure he knows whenever I call him names I'm not being serious." his words were delicate and filled with love.

But when he slammed the poor freshmen into the locker he didn't have any love, it was all anger and hatred.

"Since you mentioned it, I guess I could cut down on calling him names, I can never truly know if he's really affected by my words." Silas says with a golden smile. Where was this energy when he told the poor freshmen there were no second chances?

Where was this energy when he caused the freshman to almost fall unconscious? I look at Silas with anger, it frustrated me how duplicitous he was. He's not a good guy, he's making it seem like he's everything but a bad guy.

When he hurt the poor freshman for no reason he had nothing but a disgusting smirk on his face. The fact that these billionaire bad boys club members get away with everything made anger rush through my veins.

"You seem oddly nice today, Silas." Asher states, scrolling through his phone in interest. "Is it the weather? Clearly seems a little weird that you're being nice instead of rude like usual."

Silas simply glances at Asher with a blank expression, his smile vanished into thin air. "Nothing special, I just get bored of this being rude to people thing, it's not exactly my forte." his words cause me to clench my fists in anger.

If being rude wasn't his forte then why did he hurt the poor freshman that day? Why did he have daggers in his eyes and blood in his smile?

"So you're nice?" I question, I felt my anger radiating off my body. I couldn't make it obvious that I despised the way Silas treated the poor freshman.

Silas nods his head. "Only when I want to be, other times I'm just rude when there's a crowd so that people could respect me." his words were shallow, he lacked a soul. He only did what's best for him, he could care less about that freshman's bones and the terrible injuries he forced the freshman to obtain.

"So the other day you slammed a freshman against a wall, that wasn't you being rude?" my questions catches Silas' attention and Asher's undivided attention. I could see Silas physically gulp at my question.

"He disobeyed the rules. He was questioning power, I had every right to." Silas states confidently, his words cause Asher to look at me with a fire in his eyes. He seemed compelled to know why I was asking such dangerous questions to a billionaire bad boys member.

"You could've told him nicely."

"No he couldn't have. That boy had everything coming for him." Asher butts in, his words laced with venom. So this was the identity of a true billionaire bad boys club member, venomous and filled with fury.

"And even if he said it nicely, that boy would've caused even more trouble: don't worry about little kids like that Sahar, you're a pretty girl who should just watch scenes unfold in silence." Asher's words anger me. He was undermining my strength as a female.

Silas nods his head. "And we also took care of his wounds straight after." as if his words could make his actions better. He did enough damage to the poor boy. He shouldn't have hurt the boy in the first place, then he would've never had to take the boy to the infirmary.

"You mean Helius." Asher mutters.

"Same thing, we're all members of the same club." Silas says lousily.

So the golden boy does have humanity.

Too bad I couldn't see.

"I guess he had it coming." I lie straightforwardly. If I continued to speak against these two boys then I would be digging myself an expensive grave. Social suicide in Devon Academy wasn't what I wanted my fate to be.

Asher smiles. "I'm glad we're on the same page, Sahar." his words send sparks down my body, not the good kind, the bad kind. The devious kind you'd never expect.

Suddenly Silas' phone begins to ring. He picks it up in an instant.

"She's what, no, that can't be." Silas was looking at me as he spoke to the person on the other side. "I understand, if that's what he wants." he turns off the phone. Placing it into the back of his pocket.

"I have to go, see you later Asher, Sahar." Silas' gaze lingers on my face, it's as if he knew something I didn't. That frustrated me, not knowing something the enemy knows.

The phone call must've been about me. There's no other way for Silas to look at me like that. The billionaire bad boys club are on to me, they know something about me and they're not willing to let that go.

"So we're alone." Asher says, his words pulling me out of my thoughts.

The blonde haired devil looks at me with an enchanting smile, one that could end a thousand disasters at once. It frustrated me how one could be so ethereal yet nefarious at the same time.

"Friends don't do things alone, Asher."

"Is that so? Then we can't be friends." Asher states, his eyes glimmering under the iridescent light above.

"What?"

"I want to do things that don't involve being friends, is that too much to ask for Sahar?"

this story keeps getting spicy. i hope you enjoyed this chapter. do you think silas' call was about sahar? why is asher doing things behind luca's back? any ships so far?

and thank you for 6000 reads! i really do appreciate the support on this book. hence i wrote this extensively long chapter to thank you all! i love each and every one of you guys <3