Chapter 4
The men’s eyes on him were sharp. And he couldn’t read the look on Samuel’s face.
Samuel’s attention was on him, looking as if his Leto’s predicament was a source of great entertainment.
What a jerk. He’s done nothing but bait him.
Samuel threw him a mocking smile before placing his index finger on his lips, warning Leto not to say a word yet. Then, his expression changed in an instant, morphing into a combination of joy and surprise.
“Leto?” Samuel asked in a tone of false wonder. “Hey guys. Put those guns down. I know him.”
Both men turned to him, trying to confirm if they heard right.
“Sir?” asked one of them.
“Yeah, he’s a friend. I invited him to come here. Calm down. Get in here, Let.” He even managed to give him an impromptu pet name.
He picked up on the cue and decided to just ride with it. “Sorry, the door was unlocked. I thought you were alone.”
“So which one of you forgot to lock it?” Samuel asked.
The bodyguards gave each other a look.
“Ah, sorry. I think it was me. That’s okay. Let, have a seat. Guys, guard by the entrance. We’ll just be talking in here.”
Although there was a bit of doubt on the faces of the men, they still complied with his orders. They stepped aside, and Leto casually walked towards Samuel who seemed to be in the middle of drinking coffee after getting out of the bath, going by his still damp hair. He was currently wearing a comfortable-looking white polo shirt and pants. The first two buttons of the shirt was left open, exposing a bit of skin on his elegant chest and collar bones. The two men only left after Leto had reached the sofa. Once he had heard the door closing, he was finally able to take a deep breath.
“You look wrecked. How was spying on the Chengwa*?” Samuel said before leaning on the chair and taking a sip of coffee that was still steaming.
Samuel was being accommodating. They both knew this doesn’t come without a price.
“Fine, it was close call. His bodyguards tailed me. It was lucky I didn’t get caught. Don’t worry, I made sure that they wouldn’t know I went here.”
“So, why did you come here?”
“Well, you did say I should choose a door wisely, didn’t you? I just followed your advice.”
Samuel laughed. “I told you. Do you believe me now?”
“It depends. Although it was a really close call, it’s not like my plan has actually failed.” He swiftly took out his phone and opened a spying application connected to the audio recorder so he could monitor the target’s location and set the recording.
“What’s that for?” asked Samuel.
“Tracking app, it lets me follow one of Lao’s men. I put a recorder on him.”
“Wow, high tech.”
“Yeah.”
Leto turned on the loudspeaker so Samuel could listen in too. The conversation between the two guards from earlier was still being recorded.
“The guy’s nowhere in sight, must’ve gone back to his room. Let’s go back. Boss might start looking for us.”
“Okay… but I really have a bad feeling about this. It’s the first time I’ve seen that guy on this floor.”
“Well, it’s not like we could knock on every room and bother the guests. That would cause a ruckus. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’m being paranoid. He did bump into me.”
“Did he cop a feel?”
Samuel turned to Leto and grinned.
“Nah, he just ended up grabbing my back. Anyway, my shift’s about to be over. You take care of the rest. I’ll just shower and nap for a bit. I’ll be back after.”
What they heard soon after that just made Leto crease his brows: the sound of footsteps; a door closing; a thud, as if the recorder was dropped; and a notification from the GPS tracker which was the last straw.
‘Error: Connection Lost.’
“Shit.”
“Mission failed,” Samuel remarked with a yawn, baiting Leto. “I told you it would fail.”
“Bullshit. Maybe the recorder just got detached, or something fell on top of it that made it lose reception.” He raised a hand to his forehead, annoyed. He can’t believe this. It looks like Samuel is a seer, and a god one at that. “That’s an expensive audio recorder. The Chief’s gonna kill me again.”
“Not if somebody picks up that recorder. Then you’re truly dead.” Samuel said, adding fuel to the fire.
“That’s true. That’s why you need to let me hang out here for a while.”
“Sure. So, tell me about it. What do you plan to do with Lao?” Samuel asked. This time he didn’t have the luxury of acting snob or evading the question, because he’s in the other man’s territory. Also he was asking for a favor.
“I can’t give you specific information, but generally, I want to have a recorded footage from within Lao’s room, so I could gather evidence against him. That is if I can get something worthwhile.”
“I see. So now, you’ve just failed. What’s your next move?”
“I’m not sure yet.” Leto confessed. “I still have one unit of recorder here, and I can’t fail the second time. His defenses are strong, thorough, and he’s not easily carried away by moles that even if we disguised ourselves as clients, he can tell and back out of the deal. It’s either I kill myself charging into his room trying to set a recorder there, or find an accomplice in someone he trusts, so I could get in. Those are the only ways I could think of right now.”
Silence followed his explanation. Samuel was looking at him as if he’d grown another head.
“What?” He asked in irritation.
Samuel was about to respond when a cellphone rang. He pat down his pants and pulled out his phone from the back pocket.
“Hello, Mr. Lao?” He answered it with a smile.
Surprised, Leto could only stare dumbly at him.
“You want another reading? No problem. It’s fine. I haven’t got to bed yet. Hmm, no need, I’ve just had coffee. I’ll be there in five minutes. Okay,” and their conversation quickly ended.
“Did you bring your extra recorder?”
“Of course, I did. Why? What are you planning?”
“Give it to me.”
“Ha? Are you serious?”
“Just give it to me,” Samuel told him, handing out his hand.
“I really don’t get you,” Leto exclaimed. “Did Lao wrong you?”
“No,” the man answered straight away.
“No hard feelings? Issues with your fees?”
“None at all.”
“He doesn’t wanna give you a wage increase?”
“With the amount he’s been paying me, sometimes, I even have to give away some.”
“Eh, then why?” Leto was really confused. “I don’t get you and I can’t just accept how easily you’re turning your back on a client who has been letting you lie in heaps of money, and for what? Do you really want to bed me that much? What’s the truth? What kind of joke is this?”
“Just give me the recorder.”
Leto really can’t understand the kind of crazy this person has, but for a lunatic, he looks deadest on this. And if you think about it, he should be taking advantage of this to finish this mission.
He took out the extra recorder from his pocket. It was identical to the one he had used in his initial plan which failed earlier. He placed it on Samuel’s outstretched hand.
“Where should I put this?” Samuel stood, fixed the collar of his shirt, and ran his fingers through his still damp hair. No matter how hard he tried, Leto couldn’t deny that this man was truly handsome.
“Hey, are you sure about this?”
“So, I just need to stick this directly on Lao?”
“Samuel! You don’t know what you’re doing!”
Samuel pocketed the audio recorder and walked out of the room. He looked back to Leto with a promise on the smile in his lips.
“Just prepare yourself from when I’m through with this. My fee isn’t cheap, just so you know.”
Leto’s entire face reddened. He can’t tell if it was from embarrassment, fear, or excitement.
“See you later.” Leto was left alone in the room. He could only smile and shrug; he really was unable to stop Samuel.
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** Notes on the Translation **
* Chengwa (or Sengwa or Chekwa or Tsekwa) is a slang used to describe a Filipino-Chinese. Similar to the term “Intsik.”
An important thing to note here is that some Filipino-Chinese (most likely, the older generation) might find these terms offensive and derogatory (even if the speaker is not malicious about the usage). But it might also depend on the region/province where it’s used. There’s a really rich and complicated history involving the slang Filipinos use for Filipino-Chinese considering how far back the community has been present in the Philippines (even dating back to pre-colonial era).
In the context of the story, I think Samuel does mean it to be offensive though, because they were talking about a drug lord, but I can’t say 100% for sure.
Translator’s Message: And that’s the last chapter of the free preview available online. I like how this chapter ended… really wants you to keep turning the pages hehe… Please support the creators by buying this book! 😀
Special Leche Flan Translations 