Bold: The characters are speaking in English.
Astana, Kazakhstan.
I realized now what that hottie was going to warn me about in regards to Viktar. Initially, I a.s.sumed that bodyguard number two would be sharp-tongued and sarcastic like Isakov but who knew… Viktar was a man of little words… so little in fact that… I still couldn’t recall what his voice sounded like. Was he afraid of startling the trees or something? Moreover, he liked to make a dot dot expression, do you understand me? A ‘dot dot’ expression meant he thought neither good or bad about a single thing on this planet. Be it driving at the speed of light or freaking me out by cutting in front of a truck, followed by barely whiffing a granny selling flowers on the side of the road, Viktar still maintained his ‘…’ face. There was no trace of emotion on his face, in his eyes, or behind his words. Even with me nearly kneeling and begging for him to ease those feet of his, the guy simply answered:
Before proceeding to lower the speed to two hundred and twenty miles per hour, yeah sure, thanks a lot man…
The dot dot guy patted my shoulder and shifted his gaze towards the inside of the mosque.
I took a deep breath, fine… hopefully G.o.d won’t punish me if I wind up puking in the middle of the mosque.
I can’t explain anymore than this but putting it briefly… the bride’s parents send her off, the elders give their blessing, and everyone prays together. In the meantime I was panning my eyes across the room, failing to find the woman in the red dress anywhere and so decided to continue reading the bride and groom"s background information which I had translated using Google Translate. Wading through the broken and disjointed translation–anyone familiar with using this service can probably relate–the bride"s history turned out to be nothing major. She was a regular girl from Ukraine who one day was given the chance to work in Kazakhstan’s ministry of foreign affairs, being a.s.signed to a small position in the government. From there, the story of romance between the two of them blossomed like the fairytail Cinderella. A plain common girl found love with a man of high status. Now, she was wearing matching wedding rings with the son of the minister of foreign affairs. Their story seems to have reached a happy ending.
The dot dot guy and I concealed ourselves among the group of thirty or so reporters which had come to get a scoop of the famous wedding couple. I tried to speak as little as possible to avoid drawing attention to myself since I had no idea who I was supposed to tail. Why did I have to tail her and was I really going to receive money in return? (this point was very important). In the end, the woman in question still hadn’t shown herself. The dot dot guy sat silently without any sign of being restless or frustrated, but as for me, I was starting to feel stressed. Frantic that this a.s.signment was going to go on for much longer and make me miss my chance to go travelling, I secretly whispered a question at last.
“But I don’t have a lot of time.”
Oh, Viktar had a point. When I first started out as a photographer, I was used to waiting for several hours on end as I was still very new at the time. I didn’t have the words nor skill to bargain with anyone so I waited patiently and waited long. However, as I continued to work and as people began to recognize me more, my reputation in the circle of people whom I worked with was pushed to a higher level. I received jobs and praises so often that it began to feel normal, causing me to sometimes forget how to wait and have patience.
After all, if you want to take a photo of the rising sun, you’ll have to wake up earlier and wait for it…
A loud buzz of chatter emerged from the elegant red carpet at the entrance to the party. I relied on my thinner frame to duck into the crowd of reporters and appear again on the other side in front of the carpet. I instinctively hold up my camera to eye-level. The door to the lavish Bentley car opened wide along with the appearance of a long slender leg belonging to… oh my G.o.d!
The person following closely behind was a drop-dead handsome young man with brilliant blue eyes capable of making hearts melt. The man exited the car in a Tom Ford suit (I don’t know why I knew, but I knew!–because it made Daniel Craig the current 007 James Bond look two times hotter than he deserved to be.) and waved at the reporters with a small smile. When the nameless woman and nameless man stood beside each other to have their photos taken, their blinding aura turned my eyes blurry, pressing the shutter by mistake several times. As for the reporters behind me, they were nearly clambering onto my shoulders in order to get shots of their own. Fortunately, the dot dot guy manoeuvred his way in, gathered my waist, and pulled me out just in time before I ended up getting trampled to death.
“The elder twin used to be a supermodel in Russia, now she’s married to an old fart of a billionaire. Though currently, I think… she’s trying to get back into the entertainment industry with a breakthrough in Europe. As for the younger twin… you’ll find out soon enough.”
“What our eyes see… is often not the truth, remember this well. Go on, follow her…”
The evening party was lavish and grandiose to the point where I almost mistook it for the Academy Awards. Be it the horse-drawn carriage delivering guests, the celebration, or the location, everything looked luxuriously blown out of proportion, so much so that the bride appeared to be more fl.u.s.tered and excited than the groom who was welcoming guests expertly.
The little bride… wasn’t only fl.u.s.tered now, she was holding in her sobs…
Or was she sad at the fact that her wedding had become a regular social gathering? An event for guests to discuss business, debate about politics and pit their wealth against each other? …Or was I over-exaggerating things…?
My ears twitched when I heard someone speaking Russian off in the distance say the word: Nazarbayev. Hastily I craned my head to look, finding the newly arrived guest to be none other than the lord almighty Alexey Nazarbayev exiting from a luxurious car costing several ten million baht. Wearing a sharp black suit, his figure looked even more dignified as he stood talking in a hushed tone with a nameless young man. Though Alexey’s mouth spoke to one person, his gaze was fixed to another. I had no idea what they were talking about but the distance between them… they were virtually hugging at this point…
Alexey turned around and looked at me, his mouth pausing. The previously cheerful expression on his face now molded into cold displeasure as his glaring eyes said: Go do your a.s.signment…
I focused my attention back to the woman in the red dress while repeating in my head: two thousand dollars, two thousand dollars, two thousand dollars…
“Do you have a better lens?” The dot dot guy asked all of a sudden. “Can you zoom in anymore?”
“Have you enabled IS yet?”
I adjusted my camera lens and held it up against my eye once more, but she had vanished again… Haah, I was getting tired of this, might as well take a toilet break. It was cold as h.e.l.l here and the party was so hectic that I forgot to pee, at this rate I was probably going to contract a UTI.
The gorgeous Alicia didn’t seem very gorgeous right now. She was sufficiently high on cocaine and had begun causing trouble by invading into the wedding couple’s dressing room. Picking up the bride’s spare wedding veil–used in case the actual one got torn–she placed it lopsidedly on her head and started to prance around, blowing cigarette smoke into the faces of the various servants who were charged with preparing the room. With no men around she became even more brazen, yanking this and that off, shredding clothing into pieces before scattering them into the air. Her cheery laugh was like that of a psycho.
A scolding voice along with a large hand made me jump. It was Viktar. I quickly motion for him to see and we both conspired together to observe the situation for a long while until someone had summoned three giant bodyguards over to carry Alicia out of the party. The beautiful woman agreed to leave quietly and obediently after a single uppercut swing to the chin… it was really a fantastic method of dealing with troublesome problems.
I was reluctant to hand over my camera since I was afraid Viktar would drop it. However, he took it gently, holding it in the proper way as well. After inspecting the photos for a moment, he spoke up. “A 17/55mm lens would have been more suitable.”
“Nope. You took a nice shots though.”
The dot dot guy didn’t answer, however a smile escaped when he looked at some of the photos (What are you smiling about? They’re paparazzi photos.). Viktar turned the screen back for me to see. “Especially this photo.”
Actually I had unintentionally taken this photo. Yet the outcome was a scene which almost looked dream-like… the warm atmosphere created by the orange tone of the photo seemed so real that it felt almost tangible.
“Not going to boast about it?”
“Because of the way she is when you saw her earlier. Sir Alexey needed to take care of matters, concerning her, and also her husband"
“And the younger twin?”
“You didn"t answered my question.” I demanded.
Should I go back…?
Viktar stared at me, not saying anything like usual but instead messing up my hair in a somewhat consoling manner. “I’ll treat you to something delicious nearby, can you… um… eat mutton?”
Viktar made a confused face. What…? Did I say something wrong? “Well… you said cotton didn’t you? It"s the thing written on pillow labels!”
I pull a wry face, he was teasing me again. “Fine, be it pig, dog, crow, chicken or whatever meat, I’ll eat it all, bring it on.”
“Sorry to say Viktar, other than loading photos into a memory card, I can only load food into my stomach.”
The bodyguard shook his head with exasperation.
…
The things I remembered in bits and pieces were the green and brown Irish pub, the fragrant wafting smell of the mashed potatoes, tobacco, delicious juicy steaks, and the sound of people cheering for football…
“Haah, completely wasted… this little monkey.”
I felt my body being swept up, floating in midair, up and down, up and down, before my back hit something soft. And then I floated…
Someone’s hand was touching my cheek as well. Uu… don’t pinch it woi! That"s a person"s cheek, not a meat bun. Pinching wasn’t enough, my cheek was slapped too. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was drunk to the point where I couldn"t open my eyes, I would have pinched them back.
“Over there Your Excellency.” Your Excellency, who’s this guy? Do I know him? What a long name. Ugh… Viktar can you quit shuffling around? I’m sleepy, and also full from the lamb. By now the two kilo piece of lamb which I had eaten was probably swimming happily in a sea of alcohol… splish splash, splish splash, it sounds fun just thinking about it.
“Braver than I thought… what do you think Viktar?”
The car made a sharp right turn which nearly caused it to drift off the road. Viktar was the person driving for sure.
“That old man may be ill but his ambition isn’t, he still wishes to sit in the prime minister’s chair one day before dying. I really hate this thought, how disgusting…. Regardless, it’s a small problem when compared to Alicia who shamelessly came to today"s party without having been invited–to add, acting as disgusting as usual.”
“I’ll make it so that she won’t dare to show her face anywhere ever again.”
“It’s pretty fun is it not…? Think of this as taking the little monkey on an eye-opening field trip, with the added bonus of some snack money.”
“Who do you think I am? A politician with clean hands? I don’t need to play by the rules… I dictate the rules for other people to play… Interesting matters like this… intimidation won’t cut it, only scalding water can scare a pig…”
“And don’t dawdle, I still have a lot things that need to be taken care of… especially… Ethan.”
“Are you awake? We’ve arrived at the hotel.”
“Hm?”
“He’s still at the party.”
O-oh… really? Was I hallucinating in my sleep…?
…
When I arrived at the room, the lamb which was swimming splish splash a moment ago wanted to get out of its swimming pool so suddenly that I couldn’t adjust in time. Stepping into the room, I flung myself and embraced the toilet seat like it was an old friend that I hadn’t seen for a long time before puking exactly like Jessica when she drank until she looked three months pregnant.
Despite this being a critical moment… I was secretly peering over at Viktar from a close distance. This… although his face looked a bit droopy, when he smiled it was a h.e.l.l of a thing. Haah, if I wasn"t puking, I probably would have asked him for a photo and then recommend him to Editor Chid as a potential model.
I rinsed my mouth clean while looking at bodyguard number two stand arms crossed leaning against the doorframe. He had two gun holsters strapped to his waist. “Uu, ank ew”
I spit out the water and reply clearly. “Thank you.”
Although it was through the mirror… I could see that Viktar genuinely smiling at me, his blue eyes also curving into two smiley arches… he really looked good when his smiled.
The final remaining photo in my camera was the one which that guy had used to tease me with.
Who was this guy…? He wore a Tom Ford suit too, it was stunning… oh, hey…
I blink rapidly…
There was definitely something wrong with my vision because this guy was–! They resembled each other more than two sheeps. No, no, two sheeps still had their differences. They were exact copies of each other, clones even!!! Oh my G.o.dddddd!
The door to room knocked softly. I yell out a response by accident.
He really didn’t die off easily… this thick-skinned hottie…
“They aren"t welcome? Have you discussed it with Mama-san yet?”
“You idiot.”
He was in a good mood… was he still not satisfied after spending time with that special someone?
“Then I’m here… to see the state of a drunk person. Also if you don’t take the money, I’m going to use it to roll a blunt.”
“I know, after all you haven’t paid for my car’s paint repair.”
Alexey’s expression turned hostile, making me realize what I had just said out loud. The hottie pushed me into the room before locking the door. “Petch, don’t speak without thinking.”
I walk away to the bathroom, violently splashing cold water on my face so as to call back my senses.
“Are you being sarcastic?”
“Not at all… I’m really impressed. Also don’t send one of your followers after me tomorrow. I guarantee, regardless of what kind of trouble I end up in, I absolutely won’t call your name–here… want a beer?”
“Ninety tenge, pay up, I’m not letting you drink for free.” I was nearly diving into the refrigerator for G.o.d’s sake. I didn’t want to see his face… I wanted to cry so badly… Was there any way to make this idiot leave the room?
“Well go ask… ask… ask your underling. Viktar knows a lot of good pubs– uu… get your face away from me… wawawawawa…” My body floated uncontrollably in mid air, slung over Alexey’s shoulder before ‘whoosh!’ I landed on top of the bed, seeing Sir Alexander the Great grin a mischievous grin over me.
“As payment for what? I don’t want it woi, ninety is enough, they say greed is a sin.”
“Well I want to pay… for the hard work of a sulking little monkey.”
Uuuuu, don’t rub your nose in my neck you idiot!
Allow me to reinforce this point in case somebody hasn’t figured it out yet… I really hated this hottie, especially when he used various tricks to capture a masculine man like me.
Once finished playing with my body and battered feelings, he cajoled me with sweet gentle words.
“I think I’m crazy.”
“No, I mean I’m crazy to be here.”
However, he probably read what I was thinking since he started hugging me tighter… warmer… so closely together that I felt the rhythm of his beating heart… “But I think… here’s the right place to be.”
“So are you going to tell me…? Who is that guy?”
“Dodge the question again and I’ll call the police and tell them that I was raped by a Kazakhstani civil servant.”
“More like bullied this entire lifetime.” I quickly correct him with the truth.
“Sounds grand.”
Despite knowing that this hottie was intentionally evading my question, I was too exhausted to press on…
I wonder if I… will ever catch up to him one day…
And when I awoke next morning, Alexey had vanished as usual, leaving behind only a body which ached slightly and a heart that felt more refreshed; mine.
Glancing at the camera sitting nearby, I picked it up to play around with it casually. However, when I turned it on, my interest was piqued when I saw a photo of myself appear in the camera. My light skin contrasted against the soft thick duvet, sleeping soundly with a smile on my face like a child. Gentle sunlight peeked in through the room’s window blinds which was damp with condensation. The photo was like inside a dream… or rather like heaven on earth.
But if looking from my point of view… I could do nothing but smile… hugging the camera against my chest… grinning and smiling gleefully by myself.
Oh… and have I told you yet… that I was starting to feel good about this vicious foul-mouthed gangster too.
h.e.l.lo everyone, I hope you’ve enjoyed this chapter. Sorry that it’s a bit unpolished this time but I wanted to release it as soon as possible before my trip. I’ll be travelling for the next 11 days and won’t be able to work on Carta Visa so there will be a short break in updates.
In the meantime I hope you have a great week, and thank you to the people who comment regularly (you know who you are!), your words are a pleasure to read.