tw: death of a loved one discussed within

Chapter Thirteen

Heart of Gold

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The coding is absolutely kicking him on the backside right now. He's tried over and over again, changing the commands that make the microchip run weird, but it's just not coming to him. It's his eighth try, and so far all he's succeeded to do is fry two circuit boards and accidentally make a portable charger.

Leo sighs, leaning on his chair as he stares at his laptop.

Given, he could've asked his stepfather or even his step-uncle for help; it would've made building X-043 a lot easier. However, things aren't ideal at home right now. After 'mouthing off' at Titan Red (as Oliver resentfully muttered four nights ago), everybody's been upset with him.

Actually, it's not what he said that upset them. It's what he didn't that has been making them—minus Naomi—quite unhappy.

He broods at the lines of codes on the screen for a few more minutes before remembering the only other person in the room. Looking at the bar, he finds Seo Woo still sitting there, unmoving and wordless as usual. The thirty-something year old looks deceptively friendly today with his summer outfit and straw hat that, again, appears to have been ripped off from the pages of Vogue.

Leo bites the insides of his lip as he debates how sound the idea in his head is. But then again, as his mother once told him, You won't know until you try. "Hyungnim," he calls.

Seo Woo only slightly moves.

"Uh, you...Coding is a language, too, right?"

Seo Woo says nothing, does nothing.

But something tells Leo that the answer is yes. "So, you can understand when something is wrong with a code, right?"

Again, nothing, but again, a yes.

Leo scratches his head. "Do you think you can help me with my project?" he asks. "It's driving me nuts because I don't know what I'm doing wrong, and I really need help."

He only hears a scoff that hints at a smirk. Seo Woo shifts in his seat. Then, nothing. Again, there's static noise between them.

So I guess that's a no, Leo concludes. The response is not at all unexpected, but somehow he does feel disappointed and a little saddened that even the hangar's forever patron won't help him.

He startles a little when someone places a frosted mug by his laptop. Looking up, he sees Chuck smiling at him. "Thought you might want some of my famous iced tea that you love so much," he jokes. "You're working hard over here."

Leo grins. "Thanks," he says before taking a hearty swig.

As he does, Chuck looks at the medium sized box and the backpack that the teenager has brought along with his usual messenger bag. He frowns. "You...You didn't happen to run away, did you?"

Leo glances at the reasons why he's asked then sighs. "No," he says, "but I might come here a bit more often. Things are kind of tough at home right now."

"Oh?" Chuck says, pulling out a chair.

"Everyone's kind of annoyed with me," Leo says. He glances at Chuck before reluctantly admitting, "I kinda told off Titan Red, and they want me to say sorry."

"I'm sorry, you what?"

"I know. I know you told me not to cross him, but—" Leo sits up, "he was going to hold Naomi! And he was wearing his suit! It was kind of annoying, too, because everyone is praising him, and he was being so fake with his 'It's a privilege to work with you.' It was sickening."

"Leo..."

"I know. I know it was wrong, but no way am I apologizing to him."

Chuck crosses his arms as he leans on the table and ponders over what the teenager just said. After a moment, he says, "You should apologize to him."

Leo gapes. "No! Why?"

"Look, I don't want you to either, but you'd be safer if you just do it," Chuck advises. "I know it may seem like Titan Red's easy to take on, but he's powerful. He doesn't hold his place in the ranking for nothing."

"You're taking his side?"

"No. That's not what I'm trying to do."

Even with his calm and kind demeanor, Leo still feels hurt by that. It fills him with anger at first to realize that another person he respects want him to do something he doesn't want to do, and then dread comes over him when he thinks that Vanessa might say the same.

Then, finally, there's sadness, which seems to be his eternal companion now. "You know," he tells Chuck, "about five years ago, there was a guy who pretended that he wants to be friends with my siblings. I told my family that he's bad, but they didn't believe me. Until the moment they found out it was true, they didn't believe me. It's happening again, and again no one believes me."

Chuck's expression softens. "I believe you. I know what you're saying is true—"

"Then why do you ask me to lower myself in front of that prick?"

"Because he's not worth your time or your attention," Chuck tells him. He smiles sadly. "The things I'm telling you I told Vanessa a long time ago. There are some people who are just not worth it. You're a brilliant boy. Look at the things you're trying to accomplish! It's no doubt you're talented. People like you are ones who easily come up in people's radars. People like Titan Red, who gets jealous very easily and wants to squash out whoever gets in his way."

A ghost of a smirk pulls at Leo's lips. "I don't know about that coming up easily on people's radars," he admits. "It's been years, and no one even remembers me. I don't think my mom even remembers I'm there anymore. It's like the walls absorb me when I'm at home."

He chuckles bitterly. "Maybe I should have tried for being a villain. Makes sense, you know? Black guy equals bad guy. It's like it's expected, but people still get excited at the thought of it."

Chuck lightheartedly laughs at the joke. "Coming from an ex-villain, I can honestly say it wouldn't have worked out for you anyways."

Leo smiles. "Why not?"

Chuck gets up from his seat, grinning. "Because you're clumsy," he says then leaves.

Leo gapes as he watches Chuck head back into the kitchen. He's a bit offended, but he's mostly amused.

Once the owner is gone, he turns his gaze back to his laptop. He realizes then that he's reached his limit for the day. His brain refuses to work now and is itching to get distracted by something else more worthy than this.

At that, he's reminded of the box parked by his foot. He crosses his arms as he stares ponderously at it. He wants to wait until Vanessa comes back because he's worried he'd end up making a mistake, but he realizes that Amai – she's just like any one of them, too. As long as he stays away from the chessboard, he should be okay.

He picks up the box then heads for the other room. Coming in, he notices how it's significantly darker inside, probably because some of the booths have their lights turned off today. A somber mood also clouds the room. Amai, whose thoughtful regard at her chessboard always brightens and enlivens the wide space, looks notably unmotivated.

The pieces in the chessboard are all at their starting places. Amai's head is turned away, lost in a different game – a sad and losing one – in her mind.

Leo pauses in his stride, takes a deep breath, and then slowly approaches Amai's booth. "Amai?" he calls softly. The tactician turns her head to his general direction but doesn't look at him. He tries to smile encouragingly. "Do you mind if I sit with you for a moment?" he asks.

Amai doesn't answer. She only turns back and looks at the space where the table and the wall connects, the same space she's been lost in for a while.

Still, Leo doesn't read any hostile feelings from her. So, albeit cautiously, he takes the seat across.

He glances at her to gauge how she feels about what he just did. "I heard about what happened, and I'm really sorry," he says softly. "I won't pretend to know exactly how you feel, because I don't. But I can sympathize. I'm really sorry."

Leo glances again and finds her still staring into that same space. However, there's a flicker of something stronger. Grief, it looks like – but only a preview of it. It's like a five-second live video of a storm at sea: it's tangible and intangible at the same time.

He continues, "I wanted to say sorry, too, because I know you probably know why he's here and where he's staying. I don't know if this will make you feel better, but I don't want him there. I don't like him. But, my family does because they don't know. For now I have no choice but to let things be."

Not seeing the tears teasing in her eyes, Leo taps the box he has then says, "Anyways, I brought something to make it up to you. I don't know if you'll like it, but..." He opens the box then takes out the three small pots of orchids: two pink, one blue. He places them in a line in front of the chessboard. "I saw them at that flower shop a few blocks down from here. Or up from here, not really sure. It was on sale, but they're still pretty, and I thought you might like them.

"The guy said they're easy to care for. Just put an ice cube or two in each every few days or so, and they should be good. I thought that maybe, you might want an audience for when you play chess or something." He smiles. "But, if you don't want them, I can always..."

He trails off when he sees the tears streaming down Amai's cheeks. His brain scrambles for what to do and for what he had done wrong, but then Amai says, "I miss him."

His heart sinks at that. "I know you do," he says.

"He would have been twenty-two years, five days, nine hours, and twenty-one seconds old," Amai says, sobbing softly.

His birthday was five days ago. Leo doesn't know what to say at first, but then he remembers Skylar. He remembers when she said that no one wants to talk about their friends anymore, the one that they lost, and how that made her sadder. He smiles a small smile at Amai. "What was Amare like?"

A small smile also pulls at Amai's lips. "Kind. He was so kind. Amare was a kind little boy," she says. "You're just like him."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes," Amai says. She steals a glance at the orchids then says, "He brought home flowers for me once. Just like you did."

The smile on his face shrinks a little. "If you want, I can just take these away if it makes things worse for you."

"No, no," Amai says, shaking her head fervently. "They're mine. I want them. I want them to watch me." She's still for a moment. Then, she reaches out for the small plants one by one to put them at her side and against the wall.

Leo smiles. "You know, they need some sunlight, so if you want, I can bring in some light panels the next time I come back."

Amai thinks about it for a moment before saying, "Okay."

"All right." He waits for her to say something, but all Amai does is stare pensively at the orchids that now brighten her table. Content with that for now, he decides to slide out of the booth to head back to the other room.

He's surprised to see Vanessa at the mouth of the tunnel, her arms crossed and mouth in a smirk. She turns around on her heels then vanishes somewhere into the next room.

Following her, he finds another surprise: Seo Woo facing them instead of the bar. He has the same unreadable, expressionless expression, but there's something strange about it. Not bad strange, just unusual strange. He's looking at him. It's like he's still suspicious of him but now respects him a little at the same time.

Ignoring him, Leo turns towards Vanessa. I've been waiting for you, he wants to tell her. However, her smirk distracts him. "What?" he says.

Vanessa glances at his laptop then says, "A brilliant inventor with a heart of gold. You really are unusual."

A brilliant inventor with a heart of gold. Leo doesn't see Vanessa leave for the kitchen because the room fills with those words.

Male, intelligent, and who once had a good heart. Brannon said that the target fits those descriptions. Is it possible? Could he be the one to turn bad and change the future for everyone?

Leo shakes his head, goose bumps slinking through his arms. No. Of course not. Those descriptions only fit Chase. It's always Chase or his siblings. Always, always, always.

He takes a seat in front of his laptop but finds it difficult to focus. Suddenly, he's afraid of continuing this project. He's doubting now, and he's not sure if he wants to go on with it.

He startles again, but this time because of Seo Woo taking a seat at the chair Chuck sat on earlier. He spins the laptop towards him then frowns at the code for a long moment. "This is wrong," he says, turning the laptop then pointing at a short command on the screen.

"Huh? Which one?" Leo asks, half-dazed.

"This. It loops it back, cuts it short."

"Oh."

Watching Seo Woo spin the laptop towards him again makes Leo feel a bit better. Brannon said intelligent. If he had been intelligent, he wouldn't have needed help with something complex. Intelligent is Chase, and good heart is also Chase.

It's okay. It's safe, he tells himself and happily resigns himself to Seo Woo agreeing to help him for the first time.

As he does, he notices confusion deepen on the omnilingual's features. It wouldn't have been strange if not for the suspicious glance he also casts his way. "What's wrong, hyungnim?"

Seo Woo frowns at the screen for a minute. "How did you come up with this code?"

Leo shrugs. "Just based on what I know plus some trial and error, I guess," he says. "Why?"

Seo Woo turns his attention back to the laptop. "Opseo," he says.

Thanks to Bree and her undying love of Korean pop songs, Leo knows that opseo means 'nothing.'

What he doesn't know, though, is whether Seo Woo is telling the truth or not.