For a while, Gary had been playing out scenarios in which he would ask Xin out. How to make it sound casual and cool, and not at all desperate, needy or obsessive. Unable to find a solution, he had been lagging behind as he had followed her.
However, when he saw she was faced with four men belonging to the red colour gang, he just had to act. Afterwards, Xin had demanded an explanation as to why he had been there… so he had admitted to the truth.
Time seemed to have slowed down, his heart beating faster as he nervously awaited her answer. Still, he had finally done it. He had asked her out… well, technically, he had asked her to fight him again. In his head he had convinced himself he was just asking her to a fight and that’s how he had finally said those words.
What he didn’t expect, though, was the fast reply.
“Oh, okay. Sure, I’ll go on a date with you.” Xin replied, after only a few moments of thinking things over. Gary's brain was unable to process the words. If he had been a robot, he would have surely short-circuited. Shaking his head, he just had to ask for clarification.
“I’m sorry, are you yes to a date? Don’t we have to have a match first?” Gary asked.
“Given your little performance, I think we can skip the duel. You helped me out back there, and it doesn’t seem like you were lying about the liking me part. Besides, I have taken a bit of an interest in you myself ever since your rugby match performance.
“I don’t see any harm in getting to know each other better. But, errr, let’s schedule things another time, alright?” Xin spoke, looking behind Gary, as she could see that those that would usually pick her up were getting a bit restless.
After what had happened in Cipen Park, her father had sent out more guards to look after her, and with how long she had been gone they might start a manhunt any second now. It looked like Xin was about to set off, but before she did, Gary wanted to know one more thing.
“Wait!” Gary called out. “Why were they after you? The red colour gang, I mean!”
That was something she would like to know as well. Unable to answer, she just continued running off towards the black cars.
‘I guess the life of a mayor's daughter is tough. Did someone send them after her, but then who took her bag she was talking about?’ Gary wondered.
In the end, Gary had knocked out the red colour members so fast, he was hoping they hadn’t seen him. After all, he was already having trouble with the Grey Elephants as well as the Underdogs, no reason to add another colour gang on top of that. With them working with the Grey colour gang that night as well he was sure they had some tie in with the Grey Elephants which was why he wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
‘A date…I really got a date! This has to be my luckiest day ever! But…I don’t have her number? I guess I’ll just get it tomorrow.’ Gary thought, smiling to himself as he headed to the Wolf’s Pool Club.
——
A little while later and the red colour gang members were getting up after having been embarrassed. Each of them looked at each other and were wondering what had happened. three of them, their jaws hurt like hell and they wouldn’t be surprised if something was broken.
They had all been so focused on the girl, that they hadn’t even seen the other persons coming. Each of them had no memory of what the person looked like.
“Man, how the hell are we going to explain to Riv that we couldn’t even get one girl?” The bushy eye-browed leader wondered, rubbing the side of his head where he had been kicked.
“You're right, how are you going to explain this to me?”
They didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. They all recognised the voice of their leader. Straight away, they had gotten on their knees to apologise. Although they were already on the ground.
“We’re sorry, we came out when she appeared to be alone, but she had some guard in the vicinity.” Bushy eyebrows started to explain.
“I thought you were going to get someone reliable.” A female voice could be heard pouting as she appeared behind one of the other trash containers and immediately went to grab onto Riv’s arm. “I took her bag, and we even told you guys to set up this place. She’s not an idiot, something like this is not going to work again.”
Stomping her foot several times, it was clear she was annoyed.
“Hey, don't worry Tiffy, we will have plenty of chances, trust me. I'm not just anyone. You're talking to the leader of the red colour gang as well as the newest senior member of the Grey Elephants gang! A few guards won’t be a problem, we just have to wait.” Riv tried to appease her.
It was a strange sight to behold, the rest of the gang members honestly found it a little disgusting, they had never seen their leader act so lovey dovey. Not only that, but he was being apologetic, and why did it seem like she was actually the one in charge?
At this moment, all four of the gang members shared one common thought about their leader… ‘whipped’.
“No!” Tiffany shouted back like a spoiled princess. “Everyday I have to see her, I want to claw that girl's eyes out. She embarrassed me not once but three times! You keep bragging about how great you are, but I have yet to see any of that! I don’t want to date a loser!”
Once again, Riv started to pull a sad baby face, which churned the other's stomach. It seemed as if their leader had forgotten that all of them were still present.
“You have my word that she’ll pay, my little pumpkin. I promise I will do whatever’s necessary.” Riv then turned to his subordinates on the ground, his face changing to the cruel one they were more used to.
“Gather the red colour gang! Tomorrow, we're going to cause quite a mess. Bring whoever you can, it will be a great opportunity to prove that we’re not the same losers as the grey colour gang” Riv smiled.
“Trust me, Tiffy I will keep my word. If you want her dealt with as soon as possible, then will get her in the one place she can’t get away from! For you, I’ll take down the whole school if I have to.”