Zero to Peak: Ascension Online

Ivan stood paralysed for a brief moment, processing what he was seeing.

'No way. No way. I'm hallucinating. No way.'

"Now you decide to show up! After you had the time of your life yesterday night with the other lady, you decided to come here to hide from me!" Daiyu almost choked on her saliva.

Ivan didn't pick up the accusation. All he could hear was a tinnitus-like sound.

Roger fumbled to put his stuff behind the zipper, but he was successful. "Ivan, I was not expecting to see you at my place. Why didn't you call?"

Ivan, with a dazed and crestfallen expression, had his gaze fixed on Daiyu. He turned to Roger, and his expression twisted from dazed and crestfallen to unbridled rage. Roger felt the palpable animosity emanating from Ivan, and his instincts warned him to flee from the scene, but his decision-making was slow.

'He wouldn't hurt me, he is my friend,' Roger hesitated to flee from Ivan.

Before Roger could move a muscle, Ivan furiously landed a restrained but strong punch on Roger's face. At the last minute, Ivan remembered he had built strength greater than the regular range normal humans could withstand, so he restrained the power of the punch.

"AH!" Roger yelled as he fell onto his sofa.

"Ivan, what the heck! You dare lay your hands on Roger! I hate you!" Daiyu shrieked at the top of her voice. Her voice echoed across the corridors of the residential building.

She closed in on her 'ex-boyfriend' and furiously slammed her arms on him. Ivan gazed sadly at his 'girlfriend', wondering where he had gone wrong that warranted her to hate him and cheat on him with his friend.

He asked, his voice innocent and curious, "What did I do wrong for you to do this to me?"

Daiyu laughed ironically. "Stop pretending to be innocent. I have seen through your lies. The confidential work you went to do with your colleagues was you going to visit your other mistress. If anyone should feel sad, I should be the one."

"What are you talking about? How did you come up with this story?" Ivan was utterly confused. He wanted to ask if Roger had fed this information, but he knew his male friend was too honourable to descend so low.

Daiyu took out her phone from her trousers' pocket. She opened her call log and showed it to Ivan. The drowsy, sleepy feeling in Ivan's eyes had dissipated because of this confrontation. He read the call log and returned his attention to Daiyu.

"You called me when I was still at work. But I didn't answer the call; I wasn't with my phone when I was working."

Daiyu mocked Ivan's explanation with a gibberish mimic of his talk. "Ivan, screw you! What work? Ploughing the other lady? Is there a third lady you were ploughing that made you leave your phone for your mistress to answer?"

"I don't have any mistress! I went for work. If I had a choice, I wouldn't go for that work. I prefer to stay home with you."

A man barely five feet tall appeared at Roger's doorway, peeping into the room. Daiyu's shriek had drawn his curiosity. His gaze fell on Roger's purple-patched, dark face. "Holy serene fields! Roger, what happened to your face?"

"My face? It's nothing. I just ran into the wall," Roger lied to his neighbour.

The slim neighbour took a step into the apartment. "No shit, Einstein, you think I'm dumb? Did your friend hit you? He hit you, right? I'm gonna call the police, you are hurt."

"No, don't do that!" Ivan and Roger protested against the neighbour's action. Roger held down his neighbour's phone, stopping him from contacting the police.

"Roger, are you dumb? Ivan hit you, and your neighbour is trying to help get justice, but you stop him." Daiyu angrily walked over to Roger. She tried to shake him off from holding down his neighbour's phone, but she was unsuccessful.

"Daiyu, relax. This is a matter between the three of us. We can settle it. No need to get the police involved in this," Roger said.

He turned to his neighbour. "Philip, thank you for your concern, but this matter doesn't need your intervention."

"But your face?"

"Forget about my face. This was a minor misunderstanding. My friend was worked up, and so he lost control, but he is fine. He won't hurt me. If he does, I will get the police involved."

Philip was convinced, and he walked away, leaving the three friends to settle their quarrel.

Roger winced, feeling the sting from his swollen right eye. He sighed and said, "Ivan, what happened yesterday? Daiyu said you went to visit your mistress, and with the chain of events that happened from yesterday and the day before yesterday, everything strongly suggests that you have a mistress."

Ivan fell quiet, stopping the violent burst of anger that yearned to be expressed. He began to reason from the angle of his friends; it all made sense.

'Damn it. Damn that stupid Liberation Force. Damn this stupid world that I live in. I have ruined a perfect relationship because of the race for survival.'

From Daiyu's angle, Ivan concealing his intentions was very suspicious, triggering different theories about his true motives. The answered call yesterday night was like the nail in the coffin. An unknown lady answering Ivan's call was a big problem when someone like Daiyu, who has had a poor history with men, was involved. Ivan had one issue with this development: was Daiyu reacting out of blind jealousy because another lady answered his call? Or was she reacting because the lady who answered the call had said something sensitive to her?

"I don't have another mistress. If I did, you would know," Ivan said solemnly to Roger.

"Are you sure about that? You started a relationship with Daiyu, and you didn't inform me," Roger reminded his friend.

Ivan retained his solemn gaze at Roger. Roger understood this expression. Ivan was acknowledging the flaw, and he was pleading with his friend to still trust him.

Roger shook his head, bringing himself to once more trust his friend, Ivan. He said to Daiyu, "Ivan does not have a mistress. Daiyu, please sit down and talk this out with Ivan."

"I'd rather leave," she retorted.

"Daiyu, please," Roger pleaded.

After moments of pleading, Daiyu sat down, ready to listen to Ivan. Ivan apologised to Roger for hitting him. Roger accepted the apology without hassle, and he left the couple to talk things out.