Chapter 200 - Ivan Part I

Ivan was an ordinary person. He doesn't have any talent that makes him stood out among other people, nor did his look appear to be outstanding as those celebrities on the television. Heck, his appearance could be said to be as ordinary as one could get. 

He was born into an ordinary family, neither wealthy or poor, just average. As the only child of the household, he has it better than others, which was why he didn't have any problem with studies. Though he was a bit problematic at a young age, which is no different than the other kids, everything else works smoothly in his life. 

Graduated from high school with a result not that outstanding, still good nonetheless, which moving on to a college. Everything is good so far. Like any other teenager out there, he also followed their footsteps by causing trouble for his parent.

However, everything changes when a particular Thursday arrived. It was a date that he still remembers to this day. Ever since he was small, his parent had been showing him how a lovely couple would look like once they got married, on that particular day, however, the atmosphere in the house has gotten pretty cold in comparison to any other day. 

He had just got home from college with sweats all over his body. As an active adolescent, he plays a lot of basketball with his friends. It was just like any other day to him. Only when he reached his room that he finally noticed a peculiar situation happening down the stairs. Usually, Ivan would have heard his parent lovey-dovey with each other in the living room by now, yet he didn't hear anything, and as far as he remembers, he didn't come across them on the way to his room.

When he thought of looking for them in their room, he suddenly hears a noise of glass shattering loudly outside. When he hurriedly ran following the noise, which is his parent's room, he didn't even have to enter the room before hearing them bickering with each other like a cat and dog. 

The moment he entered the room, he could see a broken mirror and other miscellaneous stuff on the ground as if someone had just thrown everything off the table in a fit. Before he could even open his mouth to utter something out of shock, words from his mother brought his attention back to them.

"If you aren't cheating on me, then, what is this?"

With a cold tone, his mother immediately pulled out something from her pocket before throwing a few pieces of pictures on his dad's face, which makes the latter frown. But when he inspected the picture up close by picking it up off the ground, his expression becomes even grimmer than before. Ivan was standing behind both of them, so they didn't notice his presence just yet. And because of his position, his eyes briefly caught a glimpse of the picture.

It was a picture of his dad with an unknown mature woman dining in a restaurant. If it was only that, perhaps they wouldn't have bicker to this point. However, in the picture, it appears that the woman is a bit too close to his dad and he doesn't seem to mind it at all. He had thought the two of them were the most loving couple in the world, and nothing could change that fact. 

He tried to interfere in their conversation to stop them from making a mistake, however, neither of them seems to be happy with that as they continue bickering with each other. Without being able to do anything, Ivan helplessly just stood there, at the side of the door, watching his family falling apart within minutes. 

As expected, his mother files a divorce day later. Rather than trying to stop her, his dad seems to have the same idea as his mother. As a result, he was put together with his mother. At that time, he thought it was better to be with his mother than a father who cheats behind his wife back. But, never did he expect that also to be a wrong choice on his part.

For the first month of living with his mother, everything was great. He continues his daily routine like the other day, going to college and bla bla bla. Just as he thought the normal days would go on, his mother suddenly brought home an unknown man with a creepy smile on his face. His initial thought was that the guy is a sc.u.m who managed to scam his mother for her money, but the moment his mother introduced the creepy guy, Ivan was left dumbfounded.

The creepy guy was said to be a priest of an unorthodox church; it was one he had never heard of, the Church of Ignis. So it wasn't a fake businessman but instead, a fake religion scam, or so he thought. He finds it disturbing that the way his mother introduced the guy seems almost like he was her savior or something from the way she looks at him. 

Ever since the day he couldn't stop his parent from breaking apart, Ivan had always felt wrong deep inside his heart. If he managed to interfere at that time, perhaps they might still be a loving married couple. And maybe, though it was unlikely, it wasn't his father's fault regarding cheating, but more of the mature woman in the picture. The woman possibly was aiming to seduce his now ex-father because of how wealthy he is. If that was the truth, her plan actually works.

Either way, that's not the point of the problem he was facing at the moment. Though it did play a part, it's already in the past. 

Because Ivan was focused on college, he never noticed his mother's mental state. It wasn't that he didn't care, but more of being too busy with his studies. It was on that day that he realized his mother whom he thought is strong, was actually weak, more than he could imagine. His mother had never been a religious person in the first place, but that day, she brought a priest home. That was enough to tell him that something is wrong with her, and he never noticed it beforehand.

As if the priest could sense his skeptical mind, he gave an offer to Ivan by inviting the latter to the church. Though he felt that something was amiss, he couldn't reject the offer either since he also wanted to know if the so-called 'church' might be targeting his mother's wealth by taking advantage of her vulnerable state. 

Before following the creepy priest out of the house, Ivan advised his mother to stay home instead since she seems like wanting to follow them too. With all kinds of excuses in mind, he finally managed to stop his mother a few minutes later.

While Ivan was seated at the back seat of the said priest's car as the latter driving toward their destination, the two ended up having a small idle conversation on the way there. Since he was still caution around the priest, Ivan didn't speak much about him when the latter asked about it. 

Ivan started to regret his decision when he noticed how far they have gone from his hometown. Nevertheless, he couldn't just tell the priest to stop the car and leave. While he was having a fit with himself internally, the speeding car had finally come to a stop. Turning his head to the side of the mirror of the car, Ivan was shocked speechless by the display outside.

Before arriving here, he had thought the creepy priest would bring him to a deserted mountain, and from there, he would find a single and old building that would be the base of the said church. But the scene he witnessed from inside the car show otherwise.

Within his pupils, one could clearly see a solid four-story building if they looked closer into it, and the said building appears to be new as well since he didn't notice any dirt on the wall of the building. And rather than a surrounding filled with nothing but nature as he expected, a crowd of people could be seen passing by in a hurry as if their future is on the line. There are none other than ordinary folks on the way to their working job. 

If by chance they were late, one might be so unfortunate that he/she would get fired immediately without any mercy the moment he/she stepped into the office. With those images in mind, the working folks quickly speed up their walking paces.

No matter how he looked at it, he was in a city full of people. 'Where's the promised deserted mountain? Stop kidding me!' Ivan's mouth twitched with a dumbfound expression on his face. Though he was startled, his body still moves as he went out of the car. At this moment, he didn't know yet that the moment he stepped into the building, his fate started to twist.