Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
The Easy Way Or The Hard Way
Lukas woke up in the morning and was startled to see the call from last night was still ongoing. The both of them must have slept off at some point and he must be the first to wake up between the both of them.
“Good morning, love.” He spoke into the phone, not bothered that she didn’t hear it. Rhea was still asleep. All that mattered was that his heart was in the right place.
Coming to think of it, Lukas was kind of grateful that Elijah took Rhea away from here. Thanks to the move, he could now have a healthy relationship with her and Rhea would never have any reason to believe that her affection for him was a case of Stockholm syndrome. She loved him for who he was.
Pushing the matter to the back of his mind, Lukas prepared himself for the meeting with Eric. Victor had passed the result of their meeting to him and he agreed to talk with him in a confidential location. In one word, Lukas would not know of their meeting place until the last minute. It was a move done to ensure their safety and prevent any sabotage of any kind.
The both of them – he and Victor – dressed formally, although they kept their movement low key. Lukas was not ignorant of Daniel’s devices and since he lost to him at the last minute, his father must already be thinking of creative ways to make his life miserable.
So Lukas was careful he wasn’t being followed and when the location coordinates were finally sent to him, he directed Victor on where to go. It was a Chinese restaurant and when they went in, the manager in charge of the place recognized them and led them to the room Eric selected, and there he was already seated down and awaited him.
The manager shut the door on his way out and Lukas read the atmosphere, he could not sense any murderous intent. He then walked over to Eric who stood up to his feet and thrust his hand out for a handshake.
“Welcome,” He said with his hand out and Lukas enveloped his hand with his. He told him,
“Thank you.”
…..
“Please sit,” Eric gestured and everyone in the room sat down. Just like Lukas who came with Victor, his cousin, and advisor, he came with Jason, his second in command as a backup.
“Let’s have breakfast first before we go into business. I hope you can stomach spicy foods.” Eric said to him.
“Of course,” Lukas answered him with confidence and Victor gave him a pointed look, yet he refused to meet his cousin’s gaze.
A little chili does not scare him. If this was a challenge, he intends not to disappoint Eric. He would prove to him that he was a man too. Although Eric was older and probably much more experienced, Lukas doesn’t plan to lose to him. He was young and capable.
Eric signaled them and in the next minutes, several Chinese cuisines – some he had tasted and some he hadn’t – were placed in front of him. Lukas had to grab the table in front of him to brace himself while putting on a brave smile. He could do this. A little pepper would not kill him, right?
Although it might be seen as old-fashioned, a food taster was available and he took bites from all of the food available to confirm that it was safe to consume – there was no poisoning. This move was done to establish trust between both parties.
Everyone dug into the food and Lukas showed off the mastery of his chopstick. They ran intentional deals and showing cultural appreciation was one way to win over a client, Daniel taught him that. No, all of the men in the room seemed to know their way with chopsticks, so they all ate their food in silence.
Lukas could stomach spicy food but to an extent, he was not exactly a huge fan of it, unlike Eric who swallowed down his spicy noodles as if it was nothing. Like he was immune to the spiciness. At first, Lukas was on par with him, however, he began to slow down, and though the air conditioner was on, sweat formed on his forehead and he was red in the face.
His tongue was on fire but Lukas endured it. Instead, he psyched himself mentally with the saying,
“Pain is a twisted form of pleasure.”
He could endure it.
No, he will endure it.
Sadly a minute later, he could not endure it.
Lukas picked up the glass of water in front of him and swallowed down all of the content and yet, nothing happened. He stopped eating. How could he continue to eat when it felt like his taste buds would be singed forever?
He poured out another glass of water and while he would retain the liquid in his mouth, it was not a great relief and had to pour himself another glass of the cold liquid after a while. But it seems that drenching his burning tongue turned out to be the worst thing he could do.
At this point, Lukas just grabbed the edge of the table tight and endured the spicy heat.
“To cancel out the spicy heat,” Eric began, “You need to balance it with an acid that can help neutralize the molecule’s activity. This means drinking or eating something acidic may also help cool your mouth down,”
He reached out and grabbed the wine on the table and opened it. He poured it into a glass and kept it in front of Lukas.
Lukas looked at the glass and then back at him, asking, “What is this?”
“The wine can provide the relief you need or….”
Lukas narrowed his gaze at him, sensing there was something more to be said.
“Or?”
“You can wait for the burn to generally dissipate in about fifteen minutes. So which one would it be, the easy way or the hard way?”
A Seat In The Commission
Of course, Lukas chose the hard way. He had suffered so much because of the spicy burn already that he should give up halfway when success was so close to him.
So, he endured it.
Even when the veins on his forehead were prominent and the sweat which was evidence of the torture that he was going through rolled down the sides of his face, Lukas endured it all.
His grip on the table tightened and the veins in his hands were close to popping out, but he still did not give up. If Lukas had supernatural strength, he could have crushed the table already with the way he was holding onto it.
However, his strong grip lessened with time as the potency of the spicy burn lessened to an endurable degree Lukas could work with. After a while, he was perfectly fine and Eric’s applause broke the silence.
“You are quite an admirable young man,” He said, looking down at his watch, “Fifteen minutes done.”
Although Lukas lifted his head with pride at the compliment and for having proven himself to the man and earning his respect, annoyance still shot through him and he asked Eric,
“What was the point of this though? What were you hoping to achieve with this? What was the lesson?” He wanted to know. Was this a test of strength? Endurance? What’s the prize?
“Nothing,” Eric shrugged nonchalantly, giving Lukas the shock of his life. All of this had been for nothing?! Lukas’s temper gradually began to rise.
…..
Eric continued to say, “You are just so arrogant that it’s annoying and I decided to bully you a little.”
“Hey!” Lukas stood up abruptly before he could control himself, pointing accusing hands at Eric with his jaw ajar from the shock as he was unable to believe that the man would trick him this cruelly.
“Hey?” Eric scoffed at the disrespect in his tone and said, “Is that the way you refer to your future father-in-law?”
As if the gears in Lukas’s head began to work again, he quickly made the connections and in the next minute forced his ass back down on his seat with a flattering smile on his lips.
“Of course not, it was just my way of expressing the shock of your magnanimous kindness.” Lukas lied through his teeth. Magnanimous kindness, his ass! He couldn’t believe Eric would use this card on him.