A/N: IT'S ABOUT TIME I'M BACK, RIGHT? HAHAHA
Before I start this chapter, I have a plot hole to announce that I just wasn't able to patch up in this story. And that is.... The Chef's part! remember how Riley was told by Mrs Pebbles to meet the chef because he had something to tell her? Well, guys, I was meant to add in the scene where she did meet the chef, but because of my lacking memory I completely forgot. Yeep, sorry about that! Anyway, the chef turned out to be the massive scary dude that caused her to run away after she took a shower at night. He's actually really nice and wanted to return her belongings that she dropped! :)
I hope that helped, just incase you guys were curious about the mysterious chef ;)
Without any further ado, here's the chapter & I hope you all enjoy! :D
Love - NC
T W E N T Y - T W O
I thought I would had never come to say this, but it felt amazing to be back.
I placed my bulky camping bag down － away from my soar and aching shoulders. It felt like a massage lifting the weight off my shoulders... In both ways if you know what I mean.
With a breath of relief, I took in the familiar view of the mansion that I have been living in for the passed four months.
Although I've only been away for three days, why do I feel like it's been three months? Man I missed this place! It was starting to feel homely to me too － which I know, is kind of a bad thing since I'll be leaving within a year or so.
Forgetting about the bag that carried my precious belongings, I rushed through the coincidentally opened main door, ran through the living room and into the kitchen where the shining, silver fridge stood. For the past five hours my stomach has been growling like a wild dog on loose, and all I could think about is food or if anyone can hear the growls. Heck, I couldn't even listen to music because my stomach was stealing the 'spotlight'.
Desperately, I pulled open the door and almost erupted with tears of true joy. Food, when will it ever make me sad?
It was as if I was peeking through heaven. Hmm, where shall I start?
My heart nearly skipped a beat; every shelf and compartment was packed, and it couldn't have made me giddier. I have to admit, this fridge was what I had been dreaming about every camping night; the various flavours of ice-cream, the bundle of Lindt chocolate-y joy, the freshly made cupcakes that John made every Thursdays－
"Don't even think about it," The sharp, thick french accent pierced through my ears, making me wince.
Never mind the cupcakes...
"John!" I laughed, slowly twisting my body to face his. "Great to see you too－"
"Whatever you do, do not touch the cupcakes!" He snapped, shaking his head to himself in disappointment. Woah, he sure loves his cupcakes. "I don't know who, but someone keeps eating them away every time I bake them. It's not you who eats them... Is that right?"
"Yup, don't worry." I replied confidently, feeling certainly honest and fairly innocent. "Not even a single one."
He sighed a breath of relief. "Good to hear, I'm glad it's not you." Suddenly he took a step closer and with a quieter voice he asked, "Then do you know who keeps eating my cupcakes?"
I gulped. Um, about that...
"You should totally try John's cupcakes, they are so delicious! Seriously, he should create a cupcake business or something. Girl I'm telling you, they're irresistible!"
I gulped again as Orio's words rang through my mind. Hoping that he wouldn't see right through me － which is one of his amazing skills － I replied not-so-honestly this time. "N-no. Sorry..." I laughed nervously out of habit. Dammit, nice one Riley. You probably blew it－
After scanning my eyes(which caused me to tense, gulp and sweat all at once), he cursed in his language. "Well that's fine." Hold up, did he not catch all that? Much to my utter surprise he grinned, which is something he rarely ever does, and patted my back. "Welcome back, Riley."
Oh-em-gee, John just smiled at me!
And that's a big deal, because he never smiles at anyone... Or at anything really. Just before he could exist the kitchen, I hurriedly asked, "So who are the cupcakes for anyway?"
He halted in his tracks, his back yet to be turned around. I, however, could clearly see his face in the fancy, mahogany mirror in front of him. I almost choked on air once I saw the colour rush to his cheeks as he replied with, "Someone..."
Wait a minute... John made cupcakes for somebody? Wait a second minute － is John blushing?!
He's not crushing on anyone... or is he?
Oh who am I kidding, John would never crush on someone. Rather he'd literally crush them.
Before I could question him any further to ease my confusion, he rushed out through the door, leaving me baffled at and taken aback by his unexpected reaction.
I smiled. My stomach may be growling, but it's also telling me another thing: I got to－no, I need to－do my 'research' about this.
✦✧✦✧
"Riley dude, you're back!"
The two red-haired-football-valuing twins launched at me as if I were a limited edition football, wrapping their arms around my neck and pulling me into their gigantic bear hug.
But for me, it was so suffocating that I couldn't 'bear' it.
Hah, pun intended!
"H-hey..." I managed to choke out as they continued to obliviously dislocate my neck away. "Missed... you guys... too."
Finally, much to my relief, they released their grasp. However, their hands were still laid on my shoulders and the close proximity of their faces didn't help my ears either.
"It's great to have you back, man!" Ethan beamed, patting my shoulder ever-so intently.
"Yeah Riles, it was so quiet without you!" Evan added. "But dude, you've got a lot to catch up with training. Both boxing and our football team."
"Wait, I'm still part of the football team?" I questioned, the puzzled tone evident in my voice. It's been ages since the last time I've kicked a football, and a swoon of butterflies hit my stomach after the memories of auditioning for their team had rolled into my mind. Ah, those were some goood times.
"Yes you idiot, you didn't forget, did you-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa Ethan, remember Elva's policy? Respect your elders!" Evan scolded his brother in a mature manner. Tears mentally rolled down my eyes.
Evan, he grew up so fast.
Ethan sighed before muttering an apology under his breath.
I grinned. "It's okay, my fault for forgetting－"
"RI-I-I-LE-E-E-Y!" Jacob's muffled voice became more clear and audible as he neared the living room, running towards me and engulfing his arms around my waist. The next thing I knew, I was screaming for dear life as he swooned me 360 degrees continuously through the air for the next few seconds. Not only did it take me by surprise, but it had me secretly praying for the umpteenth time that my wig wouldn't fall off at any given moment. Much to my luck, it stayed on and he eventually(and thankfully) released his grasp, leaving me to view the sight around me with a four-eye vision.
And the next thing I knew, I was laying in a hospital bed.
Just kidding, but let's face it － I belong there right now...
"You still scream like a girl, man... Or should I say, woman?" I could hear Tristan retort in the background as the others snickered along. Man did he give me the urge to punch him in the face. But I couldn't for two reasons: one, I was currently in a state of dizziness and two, it'll be practically asking for a purple tattoo on my cheek for the next few weeks or so.
Meanwhile, my body was still suffering dizziness as I tumbled backwards in an attempt to maintain my balance. However, that was an epic fail, since it lead me to trip over my own feet which lead to my body rapidly dropping through the air.
And hello there floor－
"Whoa, easy there."
Or so I thought it was the floor. But the fact that floors don't talk and neither does it grab onto you, eventually sunk into my mind. Hence, who could it be then?
Although the dizziness was starting to fade away, I carefully tilted my head up to see whomever it was who saved my life.
Then I regretted it almost instantly.
Before I knew it, I was engaged into a pair of chocolate-brown eyes, which displayed a mix of confusion and amusement － yet stared back at me ever so intently. His definition-of-perfection face was only centimetres away from my own and suddenly the memories of yesterday's incident suddenly dawned onto me. I gulped.
If I had the choice to pause and live this moment for the rest of my life, I really will.
Unfortunately, there's this thing called reality that I'll have to return to just about... Now.
"I'm fine!" I instantly blurted out, attempting to be my own self's saviour before I could begin drooling over Chance's face, once again.
With Chance's facial expression turning even more puzzled than before (which I thought would be impossible), he managed to utter, "Good to know..."
"What up peeps? Orlando is back!" Suddenly, Orio paced through the front door, holding his luggage in one hand and waving at us with the other. His grin was on display until he landed his eyes on my dizzy self and pouted, "Aww where's my 360 degree hug?!"
Jacob snorted. "Up my a－" He halted his words once he noticed Tristan's deadly, disapproving glare. He gulped, "I mean, good to have you back... Orio."
"Hey, that's what I call him!" Much to my surprise, Chance and I both exclaimed simultaneously, causing me to shoot him daggers with my eyes. And what did he have to respond with? A typical smirk. One of his typical, yet cute and dreamy smirks.
Now Jacob's 360-degree-hug isn't the only reason why I'm feeling so dizzy...
"Woah, guys!" Orio giggled nervously, "No need to fight over me."
Skylar snickered, "dude, you sound like a girl!"
Uhh, excuse me?
"Huh?"
Suddenly, I could clearly make out the all six pair of eyes glaring at me with baffled expressions, totally clueless to what I had unintentionally said.
Oh crap, I just said that out loud...
I laughed nervously, gulping right before my stomach decided to speak for me - or in other words, growled obnoxiously. Much to my luck, the silence of the room made the growl audible to everyone's ears, causing their once confused expression turn completely weirded out.
Oh great, I should've eaten something when I had the chance earlier...
Nicely done, Riley. First day back after camp and you've already managed to make a fool out of yourself.
Suddenly, I had an idea. "I meant," I placed my hands onto my stomach, "Excuse me, but can we go eat now?"
All six dudes stared at me for what felt like another three long and awkward seconds before Skylar broke the silence. "Oh, right! Yeah I'm kind of starving too-"
"Lunch is ready!" John shouted, popping out of nowhere.
"It's about time!" I exclaimed as everyone whooped with delightfulness, rushing to the kitchen area.
Just as I was about to join the flock, Elva entered my vision, a genuine smile displayed on her face as she walked towards me. "Welcome back, kiddo!" She patted my back generously, laughing as she scanned the features of my face. Then she frowned, "You okay sweetie? The bags under your eyes are looking lethal."
"I'm okay," I reassured her, smiling back genuinely. Honestly, I was fine, but I guess my sleeping routine certainly wasn't. Last night I only had two hours of sleep -- which is crazy because I usually oversleep -- all because of a certain accidental kiss. "Actually I'm feeling quite happy, it's good to be back."
Elva laughed. "I'm glad you enjoy being here. To be honest, I was worried that you wouldn't like this place because I thought that maybe boxing wouldn't really be your thing-"
"What? No way! I love this place, everyone is so comfortable to be around with." Maybe liking this place a bit too much, Riley? You won't be here for very long, remember? I gulped at the mere thought of it.
"Oh, goody!" Elva exclaimed, her grin becoming wider by the second. "Glad that our feelings are mutual."
I laughed. "Same here."
Then her grin started to die down as if she suddenly remembered something. She looked around the hallway to check if anyone was around, and once she saw it was all clear she leaned in. "Riley, I would like to talk to you about something. You don't mind coming to my office for a bit, do you?"
Although my stomach was bound to burst at any minute, my curiosity for Elva's sudden change of mood was pretty strong too. With a deep breath, I replied. "Not at all, let's go."
✦✧✦✧
"Riley," Elva began. "Although my first time ever seeing you was four months ago, you are still my only nephew in the world and tonight, I want to spend a very special event with you."
I gulped. Nephew...
"Why, I feel so--"
"Shhh!" Elva snapped, gesturing me to have a seat. Obediently, I took a seat right away as she smiled in satisfaction. "Good, now I have a lot to say and I know how much you're starving since I could hear your stomach rumbling on the way here, so do hear me out, capish?"
I nodded. "Capish."
"Awesome. Now, atleast once throughout these four months you must've been wondering, 'where on Earth is Mr Peers?' Well darling, Mr Peers is no longer on Earth..."
My heart dropped. "W-what?"
She laughed forcefully, trying to lighten the mood. "He passed away three years ago from lung cancer. He wasn't a smoker, he worked at a highly polluted area for ten years and was consequently diagnosed with cancer. Your family never attended due to family problems between your parents and your grandparents. But I'll explain that to you one day, just not right now since it's not the subject of this conversation. Besides, you want to eat your lunch as soon as possible, right?"
I shook my head. "That can wait."
"Not to me..." She murmured before continuing. "Anyway, today is your Uncle's three-year death anniversary and tonight, let's celebrate."
I nodded, smiling. "It will be an honour."
She smiled appreciatively. "Fantastic." Opening one of her desk drawers, she pulled out a photo frame and passed it to me. "This is a photo of your uncle."
Taking a better look, I recognised the face. The photo consisted of a portrait, close-up of a man seemingly in his early forties with black, curly but short hair and a little stubble on his chin. He was wearing a white, business shirt and displayed an innocent, friendly and familiar smile on his face. Holy crud I knew this guy! "Oh my god..." I managed to say.
I looked at Elva as she stared back at me with wide eyes. "D-did you meet him before?!"
"Yes," I barely whispered. "Yes I have."
"When?"
"W-when I was like, 8 or 9-ish..." I traced my finger around the photo, bringing back as much memory as I could. "I remember when he bought me ice-cream and then I saw a dog and dropped it, so he bought me another one. And amazingly, that ice-cream had a little coupon inside that offers another free ice-cream. He was such an awesome Uncle..."
"No way..." Elva whispered, greatly taken back by the fact that I had met Uncle Peers before. "Riley I'm so sorry, I-I had no idea that you've met him..."
A small tear unanticipatedly escaped my eyes as I laughed, fighting back the tears. "Don't be sorry, I needed to know anyway."
She stood up from her grand office chair and embraced me into a hug, patting my back softly as I embraced back. After a few moments she released me, wiping away a couple of tears I didn't even realise I shed. Although I had met my Uncle once, it still pained me and broke my heart at the fact that he is no longer with Elva or Jacob.
"So..." I wiped away the tears and smiled. "When shall I be ready by?"
✦✧✦✧
Whoever was the owner of this beautifully floral-engraved necklace, must've been swimming in a one-hundred feet pool of hundred dollar bills.
Lying on my bed with the utter-most occupied stomach in the universe, I swung the necklace back and forth on my index finger, pondering about the puzzling man who held a cane and stalked Chance.
And possibly me too. And that scared the life out of me.
I mean, what was this guy's deal? What could be possibly want? Did he also want to become a boxer but realised he might break his back because he's too old and decided to stalk the best boxer we have instead?
Sounds strange I know, but made sense!
Seriously, why me too? I mean, I didn't have any relations to him whatsoever--
Hold up -- or maybe I do...
I jumped off the bed, rushed to my closet and rummaged through my manly clothing until my hands landed on my school blazer. I shoved my hands through every pocket, hoping to find the business card that this man had given to me at the park a few months ago, claiming that he owned a modelling company. At last, I found the card, skimming through the card details to gasp in utter shock.
Uhh, what in the world?
For sure, this was the exact card that the creepy old man gave me and it left me completely dumbfounded at the content.
Assistant Charles Rogers
M.O Boxing Company Headquarters
Elly Str. 4157
Level 27 room no. 478
Contact via phone: 067 845 3437
Ah, no wonder he was at the M.O celebration party.
I wasn't entirely sure of whether this is truly the man's business card since some parts of the man's actions didn't really seem to fit in, but all I knew was that he dropped an inestimably, pricy necklace and it needed to be return. Besides, the headquarters of M.O boxing company didn't seem to be that far away, so why not give it a try?
"I'll tell you why," I jumped in surprise as I heard Chance's voice interrupt my train of - well, what I thought was - thoughts and twisted towards his direction to see him effortlessly leaning on the door-frame of the room, his arms crossed and his dark, unreadable eyes on my completely readable and belittling eyes. "Because that necklace belongs to me."
For a few moments I stared at his face with my scrutinising eyes, trying to find some sort of hint that he was just messing around. But turned out he wasn't. I bursted out laughing and he looked taken aback by it. "S-so you're telling me..." I managed to say between laughter. "That this beautiful, floral necklace belongs to you?"
He smirked. "Says the one who thinks it belongs to an old man."
I mentally face-palmed myself. Did I seriously say all that out loud?
I gulped. "N-no I don't, I said he dropped it."
He rolled his eyes and sang in an irritatingly girly voice, "Same thingg."
"Whatever," I scoffed, walking towards the doorway. "All I know is that he dropped it and I need to give it back to him." Just as I was about to walk out of the room, he placed his arm on the opposite side of the frame, blocking my way.
"Whoa, whoa, wait!" He begged, causing me to raise a brow. "I know who you're talking about. I'll give it to him."
I watched his pleading eyes in confusion. Why does he want the necklace and what for? I, however, knew that he knew who the old man was - since Lily told me all about Chance's backstory - but I had a few questions to ask this man myself. I wanted to meet him and find out why exactly was he not only following Chance, but me too.
"Hmmm, let me think about that..." I pretended to wonder for a moment, before morphing my facial expression into a solid evil smirk. "Nope!" And with that, I slid right under his arm and passed him, walking down the hallway that would eventually lead to the stairs which would lead to the front door.
Lord, if you're on my side, please don't let Chance--
And apparently you're are not on my side.
Suddenly, a hand jabbed into my jacket pocket and pulled out the golden necklace, grasping onto it ever so intently and walking right passed me whilst shooting a certified wink.
Oh he did not just go there...
Muttering profanities under my breath, a genius idea popped into my mind.
Charging towards his built and broad back, I jumped onto it and wrapped my arms around his eyes, blocking his vision. "Hah, take that!"
He cursed under his breath in great defeat, "You've got to be kidding me."
As he was too focused on my arm and mumbling to himself, I snatched the necklace off his other hand and ran for the front door, exiting swiftly and running towards the uber I had called up beforehand.
Whoop, mission accomplished!
Now for the next mission: off to the headquarters.
✦✧✦✧
"Good afternoon sir, how may I help you?"
I could barely just comprehend what the front-desk lady had said -- this place was just overwhelmingly humongous and busy.
First of all, walking into this building felt like walking into a palace; the interior and exterior design looked high-tech and sophisticated - let alone the people everywhere! Although the building was huge in size and spacious within, there were plenty of people everywhere talking away on their phone in the language called 'business.'
I gulped, feeling quite nervous about the fact that I felt so out of place being in such a highly systematic area. I mean, I barely even manage my school homework...
"Hi, I'm here to see Mr Charles Rogers."
The woman frowned. "I'm sorry, but Mr Rogers is exceptionally busy today and does not have any scheduled appointments with anyone."
"Oh, I haven't scheduled any appointments I just..." The lady seemed to be impatient, as if she was too busy to even talk to me. "I have something important that belongs to him."
"Is that so?" She furrowed her eyebrows as I nodded. "Okay, let me call him and check..." I watched as she reluctantly dialled his number and explained my situation into the phone. At the response she was given seemed to have surprised her, as she then agreed. After ending the call she turned to me, shooting me a tired smile. "Mr Rogers will be waiting for you at level 28 - there's only one room there."
I smiled back. "Okay, thank you."
"No worries."
Heading towards the elevator, I pressed the 'up' button with butterflies throwing a party in my stomach. It was nerve-wrecking to even think about meeting Mr Rogers again, especially after the fact that he told me that he owned some sort of modelling company.
Man, my stomach is really full after lunch today.
Suddenly, the elevator opened to reveal an over-crowded amount of people rushing out right away, leaving me to enter a completely empty elevator. I sighed in relief. Thank goodness, I thought I was going to have to somehow squeeze into that crowd.
After about five minutes of people coming in and out of the elevator, I made it to level 28 of the building at last. With my nervousness building up by the second, I stepped out of the elevator and took a long look at the clean, modern yet sophisticated design of the hallway itself. The hallway extended left to right instead of front to back, and each end was walled with glass that viewed the entire city. A few metres ahead of where I stood sat the black wooden doors with a rectangle, blurry glass engraved into both sides of the door. I stared, completely awestruck at how mesmerising this place truly was, and it had me setting unrealistic goals for housing interior.
Seriously though, whoever designed this place deserves a platinum award.
Just as I was about to head towards the doors, the elevator door rung and opened behind me as I twisted my direction to it. But I wish I didn't, because the person in front of me left me officially bewildered.
I furrowed my eyebrows. "C-Chance?"
Of course, he is the boss-of-this-amazing-place's son after all.
"Riley," He called, before striding to me and grabbing my wrist. "Let's go home."
"What? No!" I snapped, slapping his hand away. "I'm here to return Mr Roger's necklace, remember?"
"He's not here. Trust me, you need to leave now, pronto!" He grabbed my wrist again, pulling me towards the elevator.
"He literally just told me to wait for him here, so i'm going to do that." Once again I wriggled my wrist off his hand and crossed my arms. "Why do you care anyway?"
"Because..." He trailed on, before sighing. "You don't understand, just trust me and let's go."
A part of me was really concerned of the way he desperately did not want me to meet Mr Rogers and another part of me was just so confused about everything and wanted to find out myself.
I shot him a reassuring smile. "Hey, don't worry about me I'll be fine. I'm just going to give him the necklace, that's it. No chit chat or eating or anything, I'll be leaving right away."
Okay I might've lied a tiny bit just then, but I just didn't want him to worry. Besides, I wasn't going to drink anything they offered because heck my stomach was too bloated for that anyway. I listened to Lily's words wisely after all and besides - I had a gut feeling that I would be absolutely fine.
"Riley." Chance warned, concern laced onto his voice evidently.
"Chance." I mocked, reassurance laced onto mine.
Sighing, I spun on my heels to face the two, large, joint doors instead and slowly began walking towards it.
Behind me, I could clearly hear Chance's groan. "I can't believe I'm doing this..."
I halted in my tracks, yet to face him. "Do what-"
Out of nowhere, I squealed as he jumped onto my back, wrapping his legs around my waist and holding onto my neck for dear life. Helplessly, my legs started to wonder around everywhere in attempt to gain balance. But even so I was utterly baffled at the fact that he decided that out of all methods, latching onto my back would be a good idea. I mean, lifting him up at the party two days ago was sweat-worthy, but this? Forget steroids - Chance's weight will undeniably do the trick.
"What the heck? Dude, get off my back!" I screeched, my back hunched from his weight and my feet trying their best to keep balanced.
"Nuh-uh, not unless you get onto the elevator!"
This couldn't possibly get any worse.
Well that's what I thought, until the elevator doors opened.
And who did it reveal? Not only were there five V.I.P guests standing within the elevator looking utterly flabbergasted at the ridiculous sight ahead of them (Also known as I, Riley Coleman with a stubborn Chance Montes on my back), but even Mr Rogers was standing amongst them, also appalled at the sight ahead of him.
But the terriblest bit of this already terrible situation was that standing in front of all these V.I.P guests and Mr Rogers, stood the very chairman of M.O Boxing Training Company - Also known as, Mr Montes... Also known as Chance's father.
Oh sugar.
✦✧✦✧
Yo Guyss! Since I haven't updated in a very long time, I want to try something to pump the activeness of this book up more. So for the next update:
25 votes and 15 individual comments ;)
If you like this book, please keep supporting! :D - love, NC <3