When Bad Boy Wears Suit

Chapter 4 Duel Or Hail

Janet thanked Matt for escorting her home. She didn’t want to admit that Matt looked very charming when he appeared in front of her. So she said nothing but “thank you, bye”.

The day was like rollercoaster, and the man who used be a devil was now a knight. How strange and ……well, exciting.

“Wait, I know you are not comfortable with me but I have to say…… stay away from the Hikins brothers. You’ll get hurt.”

“You mean they hate me? I don’t remember any trouble with the elder one though. By the way, were you not friends?”

Hugh Hikins, the big brother of Harvey and one of Matt’s “boys” in high school. He seemed to be his most loyal friend because they were always seen together.

“We were. You’re right. But that doesn’t mean you can trust him. I don’t want to speak ill of him so all in all, stay away from the brothers.”

Janet knew that Hugh was not a good student in school. He looked pretty – tall, thin, with shining blonde hair. But he was the first one in her year who began smoking and drinking alcohol. Janet never talked to him – in fact never to anyone from Matt’s group because of fear.

It was near 9 pm when Matt was back. Janet didn’t tell Jack the happenings that day, and Jack never asked. But she knew it must be Jack who called Matt to help.

And when did they have each other’s phone number? Oh never mind. She was not interested.

She had a dream about high school again. This time, more details seemed to be revealed. She saw Levi was surrounded by a couple of boys, but Matt was not there.

Someone pressed the burning cigarette on Levi’s head. That person seemed to be nowhere at the same time everywhere. Janet couldn’t see his face. Who was that? That was not……Matt. She could confirm.

-       You cannot find a man who is invisible. But nobody is really invisible. You need to find out the truth.

PJ David’s words came to her mind.

But why Levi said Matt’s name at that time? Wait, why they burned her notebooks when they were bullying Levi? A guess occurred to Janet. She was hesitated to ask that question.

She knew Levi was also the victim of bullying. But does it mean he was trustful?

******

Janet woke up with heavy headache as if she had not slept at all last night. Matt was very quiet today. No meaningless talking nor creepy eye-patrolling. Oh that’s rare. It seemed to be a wonderful day.

Near 6 pm, which was the time Janet was going to get off work, Matt whispered at her side: “7, tonight, park.”

She rolled her eyes. Couldn’t he just make them a sentence? He was a teacher.

But what made her surprised was her rootless trust for Matt. She arrived park on time. Looking at this “crime scene” where she had got kidn*pped by her own student, she still felt a little anxious.

Does it worth trusting him? She couldn’t help asking herself.

She finally found Matt sitting on the bench, with Harvey beside him, who was caught tightly on the collar.

“Let me go!!! I’ll tell the PTA you asshole teacher!” the boy grit his teeth and stared at Matt angrily.

“Oh you mean tell them that you kidn*pped your teacher yesterday? That’s illegal by the way.” Matt was smiling, but it looked more like he was threatening.

Janet didn’t understand what was happening here: “Do I come here to see you two argue or can I just go home?”

“Let me introduce Miss Johnson to you.” Matt said to Harvey, “Her father was ex-cop and she has been taught karate since she was nine. Ok, you can start the duel now.”

What????? Duel?????

Janet was utterly confused. Everything was weird. Too many things she wanted to ask but now, she was speechless.

Matt explained followingly: “The duel will decide who is the really boss in this school. So, there will be no weapon, no helper, no time limit. You two just fight with bare hands, or feet. Duel, or hail the winner’s name.”

Harvey was extremely frightened – there were two adults standing in front of him: one, a man who was much taller than him; the other, a woman who might smash bricks by karate.

What. The. Hell. He couldn’t stop shivering.

At the same time, Janet didn’t want to listen to Matt at all. She would never fight with anyone because Jack once said that karate was for self-protection – not assaulting others.

But what if she plays the game with Matt? Pretending to agree with him and…… waiting for Harvey’s reaction?

She didn’t say anything. Her eyes were examining her student.

Harvey didn’t dare to move at all, not to mention running away. Tears dropped from his reddish eyes. He groaned and said: “Please, please don’t hurt me…… It was my fault. Sorry, sorry Miss Johnson. I, I will…never… do that again…”

“And who’s the boss now?” Matt said coldly.

“Miss Johnson… I’ll do whatever you like.”

Harvey began to cry loudly, making Janet begin to doubt her opinion on boys. That seems too… easy? To make this young “kidnapper” become obedient.

“That’s not good.” Janet said, when they were walking to Jack’s bookshop.

“All’s well that ends well.” Matt smirked, “You made a bad boy go good. The only way to make them listen to you is being strong enough, showing your muscles. You know, boys are simple.”

“Then how about you? Would a bad boy like you be afraid of muscles?”

The question made Matt smile bitterly. He shrugged his shoulders: “I don’t know how you think of me. But I think I was not as bad as you thought. And yes, I was afraid of the stronger. And I was afraid of losing what I struggled to get.”

What did he struggle to get? Janet didn’t ask. She didn’t want to show her interest in his past, especially when the past also traumatized her.

But maybe, just maybe, she could know more about this man. As a colleague of course, because he helped her a lot.

There were minutes of silence. Then Janet seemed to be determined to say the words – at the same time, Matt asked the same thing:

“What’s your phone number?” “What’s your number by the way?”

They both laughed when they were aware of what just happened, not noticing who was also standing there watching them.

-       Hi Matt, I’m back. Did you miss me?

An old “friend” of them.