'Thanks for coming. You look so pretty today.' – Leon bent over, grinned from ear to ear. The female customer blushed at the unexpected compliments as she chuckled. Grabbed the daisies with her peasant hands, the young woman nodded embarrassingly and left the flower shop. The sun was going down the hills , resulting in a range of colours in the sky. Deep blue, sweet orange and milky white- colour of the clouds tenderly floating. God was sending us a sign that it was the time for a rest. Leon had intended to close the shop. Suddenly, someone pushed the door. For him, it was a piece of cake to recognise the shape, outline, silhouette of Joseph everytime the older one sneaked into the shop, slit his throat and asked Leon for a cup of water.

'Sorry for disturbing you while you are closing.'- Joseph gulped down the cold liquid.' But Leon, from the bottom of my heart, I think I need to tell you this.'

Joseph knew that Leon was a kind-hearted person. As a result, he did not think this little boy could throw his tantrums over Joseph if he unexpectedly dropped in.

'Take your time, Joe. I'm fine with this.' Leon murmured and took out some cupcakes for Joseph. Not let him finish his job, Joseph abruptly lunged at Leon with a hug.

'Leo, listen. Lucy had found out everything, and I could not drag you into the problems.' Joseph asserted, his hands unconsciously held the other person's shoulder tight. Only from the anxious flash of Joseph's eyes, Leon could effortlessly recognise his friend was a bundle of nerves. Sweat dropped all over his forehead. Joseph screwed up and started to stammer.

'Wild and unpredictable, huh?' Leon smirked and took a bite of cupcake. The sweetness rapidly occupied his throat. His eyes rolled as a nod for Joseph to continue the story.

'My Leo, I'm not joking! Lucy threatened me that if I don't stop uploading posts about her husband, she will sue me for offending. Damn it! I could sue her husband for fraud!" Joseph snarled, but he could not help trembling. His heart beated so fast, as a train brushing over his sight. Due to Lucy's hard-to-read plans, Joseph thought of another sleepless night.

'You don't have enough money and jurisdiction, Joe.' Leon rubbed Joseph's head, fixed his hair with a little comb. 'I sympathize with your plight, bro. So, how will you face it?"

'I don't know.' Joseph sighed, 'Maybe I should stop everything, for my studies and my bright future.

'How about Jane and her family? They also need justice, right?'

'But I can't account for everything!' Joseph grunted 'This is such a torture.'

'I know I know' Leon exhaled, he stood up and trod to the counter. Leon got for himself a cup of latte, add some sugar. 'Be aware of hypoglycemia. Your deep eyebags look terrifying.'

'Frankly, Lucy was so intrusive. She seems to spend less time on shopping and making up, instead, she prank  me.' Hands on his chins, Joseph cracked on talking about his problems.

'Ha ha. Really?'

'Yeah, as I told you, I'm not kidding. Lucy is an exemplary lacking of consciousness.'

/Flashback/

'Hi cutie. So have you decide what you gonna do next?' Lucy giggled over the phone. She was laying on her King-size bed, letting the maids dry her wet blond hair.

'Why don't your husband just stop cultivate his envy?' Joseph's nasal twang sounded croaky. He was restraining his temper, said to himself that he needed to keep calm.

'Sounds provocative, huh? Don't poke the bear, Joe. My husband and I had acted so sensible.'

'By giving me such a deceitful compromise?'

'Fifty-fifty. All depends on your choice. Joe, don't deter my husband 's way to success.'

'Say something sounds more appropriate, Ms Blair. Your husband is a thief. Everyone knows that! All the residents know that!

'And now you are reprimanding?' Lucy sniffed 'Make a wise decision, dear. I know you love to exasperate me.'

'You think that I have time for you? Just keep silent and hear me out, okay? Everything will pan out after I say this'

'Yeah, go on.' Lucy fondled her hair with fingers, kept the phone stay immobile between shoulder and cheek.

'...'

/ End flashback/

'And then you give her a cathartic speech?' Leon guffawed, held his stomach with both of his hand. He leaned back, touched the chair and exhaled deeply.

' Not really. Actually, Lucy had flown off the handle.' Joseph reminisced about that situation. Upon thinking of how ridiculous Lucy was, he could not help but laughing.

'I suggested her a sheer reimbursement.' Joseph was quiet for a while, sip tea. 'Then she turned out mean and irritable. Lucy could not get off the call without swearing.'

'Such a good deal. But she rejected it?'

'Yeah, they don't want to leave anything out of their pockets. Fluctuating between moral and envy, they chose to be bad guys.' Joseph sighed.

'Oh well, you crossed her "money" line.'

'Lucy and her husband are just trying to exploit our potential. It's giving the vibe the rich ones want to get richer, by fraud.'

'Why do you sound so affirmative?' – Leon giggled.

'Just the vibe, I could see it.'

Joseph exhaled deeply.