“No!” Noah quickly realized that the other might have misunderstood, “What I meant is that I didn’t recognize you because I…uh…I haven’t seen you for a long time.”

Teagan Peyton was shaking in outrage as he shrieked, “What the fuck do you mean you haven’t seen me for a long time?!? My picture is all over the news nearly every day!” – That much was true, even Levi, who avoided socialite gatherings like the plague, could recognize Teagan Peyton on sight – “My picture was in yesterday’s New-fucking-Times right next to yours!!!!”

Noah: ‘…Sorry, bro. I honestly didn’t know.’ 〒▽〒

Blackie: “Oh, then that explains why he is so pissed at you. His pic must have looked like trash when displayed next to yours.”

╮(╯∀╰)╭

Noah made one final effort to right the wrong direction of this conversation, “I didn’t see it… and um… I have trouble recognizing out-of-context faces that don’t have any outstanding features.”

That earned him another puff of laughter from his currently-not-so-helpful brother-in-law, ‘Kitten, are you saying a vulgar mutt like him doesn’t belong in a high-class resort or are you saying that there is nothing outstanding about him?’

As soon as he heard that puff of laughter, Noah knew that his words didn’t come out right, so without giving Peyton a chance to erupt in another outrage, he corrected himself, “When I said outstanding, I meant memorable, like a huge crooked nose or an ugly burn scar!”

Blackie and Levi, still dying inside from holding in their laughter: Yes, you heard that right! You are so fucking forgettable that the only way to make someone remember you is if you broke your nose in three places or burnt off half of your face!

Levi finally couldn’t hold it in any longer, and his chest rumbled with unsuppressed husky laughter, which made the pleasant kind of goosebumps rise on Noah’s arm. However, it also made the livid Peyton turn his cannons towards him.

“And who the fuck are you, assfucker?! You think a little bitch’s pet dog like you has the right to speak here?!”

One had to hand it to Peyton, one either had to be blind, death-seeking, or have balls of steel to cuss out a man with Levi’s appearance. Just those piercing icy eyes could freeze one to the core, let alone the air of someone who’d just walked out alive from a 100-people last-man-standing deathmatch.

Levi, with his chest stuck out imposingly, attempted to move his tall frame in front of Noah to face off against Peyton, and shield his baby from the saliva the rabid mutt was spraying everywhere. But Noah, worried that Levi would do something rash that would come back to bite him (Levi) later, flung the box he was holding towards Trey and quickly hugged Levi’s arm to his chest in a half-placating and half-restraining way.

And Levi, of course, froze in his tracks, feeling like he had been hit with another sugar attack. Ah, ah, baby hugging my arm to his chest! ❤ Feels so warm and comfy!!

Suddenly, the imposing man once again flipped to be very docile, dotingly looking at the two slender arms hugging his. How could he even have the time to care about some rabid dog barking annoyingly?

Yet this fool Peyton was really as blind as a bat, not seeing the amnesty he was given, he turned even more lived due to being disregarded. “Who do you two cocksuckers think you are?!? You think this daddy will just let you off if you stay quiet?!?”

Finally reaching the limit of his tolerance, Levi responded, “I wanted to say that the only bitch here is you, but then I realized that even rabid dogs know that if they come running to another person’s house to bite the owner, they will get shot.” Levi spoke languidly with his lips upturned into a mocking sneer, as if he found the mere idea of speaking to such a lowly being repulsive, “So clearly you aren’t even worthy enough to be called a bitch. Tsk, even lower than a dog~”

How could Peyton, this spoiled second-generation, stand to be talked in such a way? As the son of a city lord, he was used to doing whatever he wanted to whoever he wanted. And no one would even dare to talk back!

And thus, to no one’s surprise, he jumped like an exploding firecracker (or a man with his ass on fire) and opened his mouth wide to drown them in a shower of curses too vulgar for anyone’s ears.

Noah didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. So much for resolving the situation quietly… ಥ‿ಥ

…oh well, when words fail, soothing it is.

(; ﾟ 3ﾟ )~♪

However, before the first word could come out of Peyton, Levi continued, “As for who I am” – Levi stared at him with his piercing blue eyes – “shouldn’t you ask that before starting to cuss at people? If city lord Teagan manages his city the same way he manages his youngest son, I’ll have to reconsider whether to give my signature on that proposed renewal of the trade agreement between Astarea and Carteagan.”

The curses Peyton was about to spew out got stuck in his throat.

Peyton might not be the brightest cookie in the box, but he wasn’t entirely without brains either.

Tall, dangerous-looking man with piercing blue eyes, fully dressed in black? Just those clues alone were enough to make most people think of Astar Levi. And once a signature on an agreement between Astarea and Carteagan were mentioned, who else could it be but Astar Levi?? Surely not his father!

Add in the fact that the man was close to a Cordia, and it became blatantly clear that Peyton had kicked an iron plate this time, and boy did he stub his toes! Who didn’t know how unreasonable and hard-handed the Astars were?! Especially this wild wolf Astar Levi – even his city lord of a father could do nothing to restrain him!

Most importantly, the other was a fucking Enforcer! How could a weak chicken Targeter without any fighting power, like him, compare?!? He had even ditched the bodyguard-nannies his father had left him so he could go play without their supervision!

And worst of all, even if he managed to get out of this perfectly intact, wouldn’t his elder brother skin him alive if this encounter caused that trade agreement to fall through??

Fuck!! It turned out that this hunk that he thought was Aris’s boyfriend was actually his brother-in-law!

What did he just call him? An assfucker? A cocksucker? (⊙x⊙;)

Blackie: Hehe, am I the only one who noticed that he didn’t even attempt to deny being either of those? (¬‿¬)

Fuck it all!! Peyton felt like flipping a table in outrage. He thought that the fault for this conundrum didn’t lie in him at all! How could he be blamed for this honest mistake when the other looked at Aris with that obviously love-struck look?!? How could he have possibly realized that the other wasn’t Aris’s little boyfriend but his brother-in-law?!?

He had never crossed paths with this star of disaster before!! He has never even seen a picture of Astar Levi!! The man rarely left his town, and Astarea had a special law that disallowed the publishing of photos in the media without the permission of the person in the photo. Since Levi didn’t want his photo spread around, newspapers were rarely allowed to publish his picture.

Seeing the other freeze in his tracks, Levi’s sneer deepened. What? Not gonna fight anymore? Tsk. And here he was, looking forward to this wild mutt baring its fangs so he could put him in his place and show off his might to his precious baby.

Honestly, the only reason why Levi had yet to do anything was because he was on Noah’s territory. He didn’t wish for Noah to be blamed if another city lord came looking for trouble because his son got beaten up.

If Peyton had dared to strut about like this in Astarea, he would have already been kicked so hard, he’d fly out of the city with his swollen butt up in the air.

Peyton’s face was turning purple from suppressing the vulgarities. His fury couldn’t be swallowed down nor released, so he felt especially wronged, “You think you are so great now that your two cities have joined hands?! Just you wait! We’ll see who’ll have the last laugh!”

Noah peeked over Levi’s shoulder, looking at Peyton almost pityingly. ‘Tut-tut-tut, classic cannon fodder parting lines. This guy is really good, a very professional cannon fodder.’

Peyton ground his teeth and threw a venomous “I’ll remember this! Just you wait! You’ll get what’s coming to you soon enough!” as he strutted off, the high heels of his two female companions nearly broke as they rushed to catch up.

Noah: “Woah, another perfectly delivered cannon fodder line! Blackie, this guy is a pro!!”

Blackie: “…I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you are right.”

Although Peyton’s exit was just as rushed as his entry, he didn’t forget to activate his Targeter ability which was “target lock-on” – once he locked on a target, be it a person or an item, he would know exactly where they were until he chose another target or he ran out of power.

He didn’t know what he’d do as revenge yet, but the first step was knowing where your target was, right?