Twisted Ties

Untitled Episode.

We left for the arena around ten. Nate came by the apartment and once Stella finally got ready, we got into her car and drove off.

Upon arriving, Nate, wearing a face mask straddling his duffel bag, stood aside as we waited for Stella to park her car properly.

“Nervous?” I asked,

“Nah, just peachy,” he replied, his mini knee rocking contrasting his reply.

“You'll do great Nate, Que sera‌” I smiled reassuringly, giving him a little rub on his elbow. He smiled in return, giving a grateful nod.

The sound of Stella's boots announces her approaching presence. She is wearing black latex pants, a beige crop top, and a leather jacket with a face cap.

.

“Just a gentle reminder Freckles, no flirting with guys around here,” Nate chirps in his usual manner, although there was a hint of protectiveness in his voice.

“Jealous I won't be your number one supporter Chen?” she smirks. He scoffs and begins walking into the building, leaving both of us behind.

Walking in line with Stella, I stated, “No flirting, Stella”.

She has that mischievous smile on her face. “I know you do it for the thrill, but please let's not today,” I continued trying to stop those whirring gears she has going on in her head. I don't like that, and I don't like the feeling that something isn’t right.

“Stella” I pressed

“I won't, K, I mean it” She goes ahead and places her hands on her chest like she’s saying an oath “I promise, I just wanted to rile him up”

She motions towards Nate, who is already waiting for us.

Inside the room assigned to Nate, we settled on the couch. I sorted out the files he had to sign before the fight while he went to change, and Stella was on her phone then she started mumbling curses. “What's wrong Stells?” I ask as she tes furiously on her phone, “the designs for the group assignment were rejected, and now everyone is playing the blame game” she huffs still typing away.

“And what are you doing?” I asked, giving her a suspicious look, she looked up from her phone an innocent smile on her lips “I’m giving each of them a piece of my mind” Yeah, that's not what she's doing, I walked up to her, and snatched the phone from her before she pulled more triggers.

“Hey! Give me back K!’ I hold her down as I go through the chaos she evoked in the poor group chat, she did give everyone a piece of her mind. “Stella I understand that this is life to you, I do really, but don't you think it's to them too?” I continue before she interrupts me “I know they’ve been pretty annoying especially Chanelle”. “Let's breathe and be rational about how to tackle this rejection, okay??” she slumps in response before nodding, “Thank you” she puts a smile on her face, “what will you do without me” I snicker as she gives me a mock glare.

I sorted out the documents that I collected for Williams, the manager, so Nate will sign them when he gets dressed, I also tried to search for inspos for a new set of design collections for her group assignment. Nate returns, dressed in shorts and a hoodie he’ll take off later. I gave him the document which he signed. He walks towards the stool not before giving Stella a tap on her head, earning a curse word from her.

“What did I miss, why are you guys so engrossed in your phones?” he asks confused, he stands and peeks into my phone “K, why are there dresses on your screen? I thought that was Freckles forte?” he continued more confused, I rolled my eyes and briefed him.

“Oh that’s why she's so serious?” he goes in understanding, “Do you need any help” his attention on Stella. “Maybe searching for more designs could broaden my horizons” she replies, I nod my head in approval as she looks at me, Stella doesn't work so well with pressure, she becomes quite cranky. She's working on it, baby steps I guess.

I check the time on my phone, 11:45 pm the match starts around 12- 12:15, so we have some time to help out and finish other processes.

“It's not too late to tap out Chen”, our attention all snaps to Kimberly, Wang’s manager as she steps into the room. Why doesn't this surprise me?

“You're not supposed to be here,” I state the obvious, but of course, it's the freaking ring, animals claim to be human beings here.

“This isn't college grounds, kid,” she replies smugly. “Unlike you, we don’t wag our tails waiting for orders. I suggest you tap out now and go back to varsity jackets and cheerleading,” she finishes.

I roll my eyes at her comment, giving her a blank look. She wouldn’t be the first to regard us like this.

“Is that it? I replied in a bored tone, “What teen movie is this from? You left your client just to deliver this?” “That's very original Kimberly,” Stella snickers, and Nate smirks. Kimberly looks like she could rip my hair if she tries.

“You think this is funny!?, she pauses, “You have no idea why you were called, do you?” she states a cocky smile forming. My uneasy feeling returned. What?

She lets out a laugh. “Oh, it is going to be fun watching Wang put you in your place today, Chen,” she finishes smugly, walking out of the door.

“What the hell is she talking about?” Stella voiced my thoughts aloud, and we both looked at Nate, who looked at me like I should know. I didn’t.

“I’ll go ask Williams” I get up heading for the door. Nate stops me.

“It's okay,” he says with a smile.

“It's not okay Nate, you are way past them keeping anything from you,” I countered

Although I know that, K, we only have about ten minutes before I enter the ring. “Prefer not to know what's going on and give my all into this fight,” he reasons. I sigh deeply before nodding in agreement. I still can't shake this feeling off. A knock breaks the silence and a guy in the official uniform opens up, giving us a warm smile. “You’re up next, Chen” Nate nods, returning the smile as we step out of the room all sharing the feeling of uncertainty.

Wang steps into the ring and the cheers are louder than before. I still don't know why he answers Wang for an American, but his choice, I guess. He looked like he lived up to his reputation for a fact.

Nate shrugs off his hoodie and gives it to Stella, seeing the concern on her face he chuckles “Relax freckles, I’ll be fine, you too K” he smiles down at me “Que sera ‌”. he goes as he climbs into the ring when introduced, the crowd goes wild cheering up for him as he waves.

“Yeah, que sera” " I said my head racing at the hundreds of possibilities that could happen on that ring no matter how I tried to shake off the feeling, something is fishy and the frustrating part is, everyone seems to know but us.