Four of a Kind

Awkward Adjustments

I did not expect this to happen so soon. It was bound to happen. So, I figure I’d find this guy a job and burn that bridge when we get there. But this was a seemingly obvious scenario that I overlooked on my part.

My housemaid was there, red cheeked looking at Redford who had no shirt on and was displaying his bare torso. With only a towel on I hopped it didn’t fell off or Heylian might faint.

Today was Sunday. I had the whole day to myself and was looking forward to spending it frolicking and doing nothing in the house. But today I knew that wasn’t an option. I had to figure out what to do with Red. Because if Heylian finding out that quick wasn’t a sign. I don’t know what was.

I jumped out my seat and covered Red. ‘Heylian, this is my friend. Don’t worry.’ I put my hands up. Trying to reassure her.

‘WHY IS IT YOU SWING THAT WAY? EVEN SO Y-YOU ARE STILL A KID. YOU DON’T DO THAT. WHAT WILL YOUR MOTHER AND FATHER THI-’ And those were the last words she said before Red silenced her.

He acted quick, dashed towards her, put his left hand on her mouth, pulled her head that way and performed a chop to her neck. I thought that only worked in movies but damn.

It was morning. The house was bustling with people doing house chores for my other relatives and whatnot. There was a good possibility they didn’t hear anything.

I put her on my bed and told Red to get dressed. I went down to tell the other maids that Heylian was feeling sleepy and took a nap in my bed. Which wasn’t a total lie and went back to my room. when I got there Red was already dressed. But the way he was looking at Heylian from the bed screamed Snow White to me.

“She is a very pretty girl. I feel attracted to her.” He said right out the blue.

I blinked a few times to let my brain process this seemingly ridiculously clichéd statement. I didn’t want to make this a big deal but a sniggered. Which seemed to offend Red.

“That was not a joke. Please tell me her name again.”

“It’s Heylian. And f**k you.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not patient. There’s still a kilo of things that I want to ask you and now you just piled another errand on me. How am I gonna sort Heylian out now?” I asked him angrily.

Why did I even save him? He didn’t do s**t. For all we know I just brought myself more trouble. People like Yahoo can easily afford a few dozen men to raid my house and take him back. Sure that wont ruin my social life but still.

“What else do you think I ought to know?” I asked him slowly.

“Hmm, I told you that the experiments done on me were funded by Yahoo, and I am a bio-weapon. I don’t really remember how I got there in the first place”

I nodded. Glad I got the important details in check and now I just gotta figure out how to put his bio weapons to good use.

“…… Did you say you have a bio weapon?”

“No, I am the weapon.”

I whistled. “Maybe next time you should start off with that before telling me junk like why Yahoo went bankrupt.”

“You are a very difficult person to talk with.”

“You don’t have to tell me. I tend to try being a people pleaser but whatever I do seems to backfire on me. I would without a thought do something that would piss people off. But me and you are past that. Right now you need my help. And without it you really are a goner.”

“See? That’s your problem right there, you start off with something that makes people think your saying something nice and you make a 180 and smack them in the face with ruthlessness.”

“Color me speechless.” I replied in a sarcastic manner. I told him to go out the window and get off my property. He raised his eyebrows when he thought that was for his lectures. His eyebrows only went down when I told him I’ll be with him shortly.

I dressed and ran down my house. Each footstep echoed through the entrance hall the same way the voices of the maid’s banter did. I grabbed my shoes and ran. I met him at the designated spot. I felt a bit sorry for the guy. He didn’t have anything. No money no nothing. All he had was me. And I was sure he’d trade me for a fat wallet anytime.

I stared at him and thought hard. Now that we got Heylian out the way, I really had no clue as to what to do with him.

“So…what now?” he asked.

I looked at him. “I don’t know, but we’ll find something to do for you. Are you sure you really don’t remember anything from your past life?” I asked him.

As if on cue someone showed up.    

He ticked all boxes of an average stranger. With a white long jacket and a cap with long slacks, he could easily blend in well with people. It’s only when he would come out to places with low people density that he stands out.

“Hi, I’m here to ask you whether or not you might be interested in making money. Looking at your fighter had me interested.”

I blinked. I didn’t interpret a word he said. It just didn’t make any sense. There was definitely something fishy.

I took a card he offered and read it. It gave directions to a bar named The Akai which I know quite well since it was the first gay bar in our town.

I didn’t even know what his intentions were but they were definitely misunderstood.

I gave him the most versatile answer I could come up with.

“I’ll think about it. But I got exams so I might not swing by anytime…that’s by with an Y.”

I was worried he might’ve misheard me saying “swing bi”.

He sneered in a way that made me seem like he knew a whole lot more than he was letting on. “No worries you can come at your convenience.” He said “It’s not like I’m forcing you to understand what’s happening to you since last night .” He said with his eyes closed and in a boastful manner.

I raised my eyebrow. That was the last straw. I woke up hastily with a rough start and had to spend my precious holiday doing volunteer work for some refugee and was brainstorming what to do when all of a sudden, a fucker came along and made things more confusing. What’s worse was that he had the attitude with nothing to back it up.

I turned my back on him and pulled Red into a whisper conversation. I told him to beat him till he fell unconscious so that when he woke up we could interrogate him. it wasn’t much but at least we’d know what we would be walking into when we go to this gay bar.

Red didn’t waste anytime and was initiative. Something I admire in people who have that kind of attitude like me. People who didn’t waste anytime into doing something which they have no experience in but will do so are the type of people that can change this country. 

I needed people like him in the long run.

Red really didn’t waste any time. During the time I spent thinking about how people should be more willing and courageous like me or Red he had already beaten the guy up back to blue without even giving me a chance to say “That’s enough”.

“That’s enough! Give him some room!” I screamed.

Red stopped and faced me. He showed me an apologetic look that made me knew he didn’t mean to hurt him that badly and that he didn’t know his strength. Still, it was hard to believe that when the dude was bleeding with both eyes blacked to the cornea.

I told Red to carry him over to the attic taking the long cut while I opened the window for him taking the normal cut.

We did that.

Red laid him near a pile of bedsheets that were washed recently. Some blood dripped onto the white sheet like strawberry syrup over vanilla cream.

“Now we wait for him to wake up. Try not to do anything stupid like beat him up more.” I told Red.

I looked at the guy with pity. It sure felt good to wipe that smug look of his face when Red gave him the pounding. But it worried me if he could form a sentence after all that brain damage.

“Reeves what does your family do for a living?” Red asked me.

“Oh, umm Property, mostly property. It’s old money.” I replied.

“Property development?” He asked.

“Yes…yes that’s what I meant.”

And after that it was just awkward silence.

He seemed to want to break the tension.

“Your uh, friend seems to be quite reliable…Andrew? Was it?”

“Yes, he seems to be.”

“What? He isn’t?”

“It’s not that, you see… I just don’t trust people that easily. He’s the predictable type of person that would easily try to stab me in the back when it comes down to it. It’s not a special friendship like the Naruto or Sasuke thing. This is the real world and there ain’t no sunshine or butterflies in it.”

“That’s something. You sure you should be telling me this?”

I looked at him with blank and plain eyes. “You got nothing to lose but everything to gain as long as you stick with me. So right now, telling you something that crucial won’t give you any advantage at this stage. Even if we bonded more you would have conflicts whether or not you should double-cross me.

I looked away with bored eyes. Hoping he would praise me for being smart. Which I wasn’t. Damn when would this guy wake up?

“In the movies… don’t they usually splash water to wake someone up?” Red asked.

“Yeah unless they are in the attic where the water residue won’t drip down the lower levels they do.”

“Right… so how do we wake him up?”

…ok we wait. I want you to… no it’s better if I go to The Akai and you stay here and sit watch. I’ll buy some food on the way home.”

“How long will that take?”

“Not much. Maybe an hour or so.”

“I can’t wait that long.”

I slipped my phone out and turned out airplane mode. “Here, you can play games with this until I come back.”

“Thanks.” He said sounding grateful.

I sighed and walked back out as fast as I could to get a taxi to the bar. I didn’t want to waste any necessary time doing more reckless things.

I got to the bar within ten minutes. There was surprisingly low traffic in my part of town at noon since it was between rush hours and I ran to the bar once I got out the taxi.

It was really bad. The bar was full of purple everywhere. The bouncer who barely had a better build than me let me in. I know that was probably by orders of the manager of this place. They needed money to keep the place running.

“Welcome, are you here for a reading?” An old lady asked me from behind when I entered the bar.

I turned towards her mainly because I didn’t want to catch sight of any naked men shaking their asses towards me. I followed her towards the door next to the entrance hoping to get away from whatever I might see if I go any further towards the main room.

I pulled out my card and was planning to show it to her once we were alone. She led me to a darker room and started lighting some candles. I knew that was my cue to start the conversation first before she started her long talks about the grave times ahead of me.

I fished out the card that the dude gave me and showed it to her.

She looked at it and looked at me with a disappointed look.

“Another one eh? I swear they are doing it on purpose to recruit youngsters more these days.”

“I’m sorry what?” I asked her.

“You’re another player, right? I should’ve known. Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I could’ve given you your equipment and gear right off the bat.”

“Lady… I don’t know what the f**k you’re talking about. So please start from the top before I lose it.” I said nonchalantly hopefully with piercing eyes.

The old lady blinked a few times. “Do you… have a companion that…fights well?” she asked trembling but carefully as if she wanted more than nothing to take the words she said back.

I thought about Red. He was a well-built man. He looked like military.

“Yes, yes I do.” I told her.

“Really? You’re sure?” She asked still unsure.

“Why!?”

She was taken back. She was certainly caught it a dilemma as if wondering if I was qualified to further listen to what she was going to say or not.

“Listen boy… I need proof that you didn’t steal that card.”

“Easy, gimme your phone.” I told her with ease feeling lighthearted if this was all to convince her to let me in on whatever that was she was hiding.

I called my cellphone which Red was probably playing to entertain himself with.