Under the Spotlight : The Obsession

"Boss, is there something wrong?" Lily asked in confusion. It was unusual for Enzo to come by himself and knock on her apartment door in the morning. They lived in the same building and on the same floor. However, if it weren't important, Enzo would never knock on Lily's apartment door without asking anyone to do so, especially in the early morning.

Lily could guess that something had happened. And whatever it was, Lily knew that Enzo would bring her bad news.

"I want you to hack Mia's phone, Lily. You said nothing strange happened during the fan sign event, and I tried to believe you. But I know there's something strange with Mia. I can feel it, and I want you to help me find what's wrong with her."

Lily doubted her hearing when Enzo suddenly spoke to her in a stifled tone as he handed Mia's phone, which the man had secretly taken. With a glance, Lily could tell that Enzo was clenching his fists. Enzo's mind was probably fighting between whether to believe Mia's words or not. 

Even though Mia had tried to hide everything from Enzo, Mia never knew that Enzo always only focused on Mia whenever she was near him. Enzo could tell that Mia kept typing something on her phone when she claimed to be reading the news or surfing her fansite.

Enzo had thought all night, and he decided that he still had to find out what Mia was hiding behind her back. Enzo felt that he did it for Mia, even though it meant he had to violate her privacy by taking her phone without her knowing.

Lily suddenly felt that maybe she shouldn't have lied to her boss last night. Being with Mia for so long had almost made her forget about her mission. Lily couldn't let her lose her job because of Enzo's anger. She secretly apologized to Mia when she decided to act clueless in front of Enzo.

"Okay, Boss. Please come in, I'll prepare a glass of-"

"I just want to see the message history that Mia might have deleted. Please, just do as I say."

Lily's body suddenly stiffened when Enzo spoke once more. Just because of a message, Enzo was that desperate for Mia. With a smile to cover her sad face, Lily once again invited Enzo to enter her apartment before her feet quickly walked into her study with Enzo, who followed behind her.

After her laptop turned on, Lily started her work seriously. Her hands smoothly continued to play the keyboard without the slightest mistake. Enzo would also be amazed by how great Lily was at doing her job if only his mind wasn't in a mess.

"I've entered the recycle bin feature on Mia's cellphone message application, Boss. There are... several messages other than ours in her recycle bin. Do you want to check them all, Boss?" Lily offered in a low voice. Unexpectedly, Enzo answered it with a shake of his head because he had read almost all the previous messages. After all, Mia used to show Enzo the messages on her phone.

"I just want to see the latest one, Lily," Enzo answered firmly. Once again, Lily nodded obediently to reply to Enzo's order. Her hands skillfully typed a few letters before her laptop screen showed the latest message that had just been deleted by Mia.

Enzo's gaze immediately focused on the message with the username that Mia named 'Brother' after that. Lily was forced to open the message at Enzo's order, who felt that he had never sent a message to Mia at the hours shown in the message-sending record. After opening it, the contents of the message were indeed very different from the messages that Enzo had sent to Mia.

Previously, Enzo didn't pay much attention when he found a new contact on Mia's phone. He thought it was just a new number from the agency staff team or an acquaintance because Mia had to save some of their numbers for emergencies. But if he remembered again, with Mia's habits, the young man would save those contacts with other names like 'Uncle Producer' or something like that. Mia never saved a contact with the username 'Brother' without any explanation other than to save Enzo's number.

And the contents of the chat... Enzo didn't need to ask anymore to know who the person who had recently exchanged messages with his cousin was.

For the first time in his life, Enzo finally felt that even Mia could lie to him. Mia could now exchange intimate messages with other people without telling him anything at all.

Mia kept secrets from him, even lying to him, just for a man she had just met recently.

"Bo, Boss. Calm down first. Mia might- Boss!"

Lily's heart immediately beat fast when Enzo turned around with a scary facial expression. Lily often saw that expression every time Enzo lost control of himself. Enzo was a man with many fears. When one of his fears came true, Lily was sure that the man could act more cruelly than anyone to maintain what he had now.

Enzo would not be able to hold back his emotions towards Mia if the man returned to her side. Lily tried to stop the man when she arrived, only to see Enzo facing Mia, who had just woken up from her sleep when Enzo returned to his apartment.

"Enzo-"

"Why did you lie to me, Mia?"

Mia's body suddenly stiffened when Enzo, who was still trying to hold himself back as best he could, began to ask Mia in a low voice. The girl began to look frightened after hearing Enzo's words. She didn't know that Enzo would find out about her lie in a short time. 

Mia could only bite her lip nervously. She was like a child who was scolded by someone for the first time.

"What did you mean? I-"

"DON'T LIE ANYMORE MIA! I know you're lying about that man! You, you dare to keep secrets from me now, huh?! Do you no longer trust me?! Ah, yes. You ran away from me because you wanted to get away from me, right? Do you feel that you can survive on your own now, with the job I gave you? I was just trying to protect you, Mia! Why do you keep making things so difficult for me?!"

"Boss! You're scaring Mia!"

Enzo came back to his senses when Lily frantically pulled his hand so that the man would realize the consequences of his actions. Mia was kneeling on the floor with her hands covering her head when Enzo finally regained his composure. The girl's eyes filled with tears as she looked at Enzo with a scared look and short breaths.

"I, I'm sorry, Enzo. Did, did you not like it? I, I won't contact him again if you don't like it."

Enzo's face immediately turned regretful when he saw Mia struggling to get up to get her phone when her legs were already shaking so badly. Mia almost fell because she no longer had the strength when Enzo was able to swiftly catch the girl's trembling body.

"Mia..."

"I, I'm sorry... I, I'll be a good girl. I'll be a good girl who listens to what people say. Please don't hit me anymore. It hurts... It hurt, Enzo..."

Enzo bit his lip tightly in frustration as his hands moved to hug Mia, who started to speak incoherently. Enzo had revived the trauma that Mia had tried to heal with his own hands. Enzo had destroyed everything just because of jealousy and fear that he could no longer control.

"Please don't hit me. D, don't scream anymore..."

"I'm sorry, Mia. I'm really sorry. No one will hurt you again. I... I'll just take you back to your room. We'll have breakfast there. You must be hungry, right?"

Enzo smiled sadly when Mia didn't say anything and breathed irregularly. Her eyes were unfocused, even after Enzo carefully managed to sit her on the girl's big bed.

Enzo had just wanted to go out to make an easy breakfast when Lily came first with a plate of pancakes she had brought from her house. Lily gave the pancake to Enzo before her eyes looked sadly at Mia, who was still shaking and didn't want to move an inch from her defensive position.

"Thank you," Enzo whispered to Lily before he sat back down next to Mia. They could both see that Mia was getting more and more scared when Enzo chose to sit next to the girl. Mia didn't want to look at Enzo's face at all, as Enzo carefully cut the pancakes to feed to Mia, who ate the food as if her life would be in danger if she didn't open her mouth obediently.

"Mia, it's just me, Enzo. Please forgive me, okay? I didn't mean to yell at you. You're safe here. No one will yell and hit you again, Mia. Please... please don't avoid me like this."

Lily watched as Enzo began to beg while holding Mia's shaking hands. Slowly but surely, the shaking finally stopped as Enzo never got tired of kissing Mia's hands. Mia's eyes slowly focused back on Enzo, but that didn't mean her fear disappeared because of his gentle treatment.

"Enzo..."

Enzo let out a sigh of relief when Mia finally recognized him again. The girl's face was pale, her lips still trembling slightly as her eyes stared intently at Enzo as if trying to convince herself that the person beside her was really her cousin Enzo and not someone else.

"Yes, it's me, Mia. I'm sorry, I'm sorry I lost control earlier. Please don't be afraid of me anymore. I didn't mean to talk to you like that."

Mia's face looked sad as her hand slowly tried to pat Enzo's head like the man usually did to her when she did something wrong. Enzo also didn't try to look up when Mia did it. The man just stayed silent, trying to calm his heart, which was still racing because of Mia's condition.

"I know. I'm sorry. I won't contact Victor again if that's what you want. You can also replace the statue with a gift from me if that can make you happy. I'm not going anywhere. You are the only one I have, Enzo."

Enzo probably didn't realize that there was something strange about Mia's tone at that time. But Lily, who had been watching, could see Mia looked very sad when she said that. Her pale face might still have a small smile, but the pool of water in her eyes clearly showed that Mia was not happy at all with her words.

But Lily could not do anything at that time. Not when both of them were still in a chaotic emotion.