14 The founding

*Knock, knock, knock*

I suddenly heard a few knocks at the door in the room.

Who could it be?

Nurses don't knock, they can just barge in whenever they want.

It's probably a visitor.

"Come in." I called out towards the door.

After a few seconds, the door finally opens and in came, Kevin, Christian, and... Sarah.

"You alright now?" Kevin asked as he strolled inside.

Nodding my head at Kevin, I turned towards Christian and Sarah, and smiled at them.

Sarah lowered her head with a smile, while Christian only stared at me blankly.

"Your sister?" Kevin asked again.

"School"

"I see" Kevin immediately sat in the chair beside me.

Turning towards Christian, I spoke.

"Look man, I was-" Christian suddenly cuts me off.

"It's okay bro, we're cool, I get it." he waved me off.

My heart suddenly leapt at his words.

Sighing, I raised my hand towards Christian for a handshake.

"Still, I just wanted to say sorry." I said as I watched Christian shake my hand.

"No problem" he sad.

And that makes one of my problems, solved.

"So" I shift my body slightly to face Sarah, "Why are you all here?" I asked.

"Oh, you don't want us here?" Sarah chuckled.

"Hey, I did not mean that." I responded back.

"Just want to visit a friend." Kevin said with a smile.

"Yeah" Christian nodded his head in agreement.

Slumping down, I stared at the ceiling above.

"So Christian, how's your face?" I asked, not even looking directly at him.

"Been better"

"I see, that's good."

...

The awkwardness is going to burn me, holy sh*t, it's just that I don't have anything else to say.

After a minute, I finally decided to strike up another conversation.

"So, how's school now?" I asked.

The three of them looked at each other before looking right back at me.

"They're going to suspend class for one week." Sarah said.

"REALLY?!" I happily exclaimed.

Holy crap, that's a lot of f*cking free time.

It seems the riot was worth it.

With school gone for one week, I can clearly focus on my business without any interruptions or delay. and that can only mean one thing...

"You look happy" Sarah said.

Christian chuckled at her words.

"Why not?" I replied back happily.

Turning towards Kevin, I spoke again.

"Any news about... what happened 'that' day?" I asked.

"Oh!" Kevin suddenly stood up from his chair, "I forgot to tell you the other reason why we came here!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"Right!" Christian added.

"Yeah!" Sarah also added, light seemingly filled her eyes.

I don't know what's inside their mind right now, but it's better to ask them quickly.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"It's Jamie and his friends, they're going to serve for two months!" Kevin stated.

At that, a strange feeling suddenly welled up inside my body.

My heart also began beating fast.

What is this feeling?

Is this relief? or perhaps disappointment.

Disappointed that my revenge against them would be delayed.

Either way, I don't really know.

I noticed them staring at me, their faces full of confusion, probably due to my lack of reaction to the news.

"Are you so happy right now, you forgot to speak?" I suddenly turn my head towards Sarah.

Yeah, too happy and too..

Shaking those thoughts away, I smiled at her and everyone else in the room.

"It's just that..."

"just what?" Christian asked.

Keeping silent for a moment, I placed my hand towards the back of my head and stared again at the white ceiling above.

I just feel weird right now, this mixed emotions on me, I can't really comprehend it.

"Nothing" they all frowned at my words, but none decided to speak about it.

"You know, for someone who started the whole mess in the first place, you're really lucky to escape judgement." I hear Kevin say.

Turning towards Kevin, I began chuckling.

"I don't even know how you managed to avoid the law." Sarah added.

You know what... I think I really feel proud of myself about what I've just done, I feel happy accomplishing those 'deeds' and I don't know why.

"F*cking ironic." they listened at my words and nodded.

"Yeah" Sarah said, turning her head towards the white ceiling above.

Christian was about to say something when a phone suddenly rings.

Glancing between the other three people in the room, I traced the direction towards where the sound was and found out that it came from Sarah.

"Oh, please excuse me." Sarah said as she raised her phone to her ears and immediately went outside of the room.

The three of us stared at the door blankly for a moment before looking at each other back.

"What is it?" I asked Christian.

"I don't know" he plainly responded.

What followed after my words were silence, not even one of us uttering a single word.

We weren't like this in the past, to pass time, we would even talk about the most nonsensical things that we could ever think of.

But I think the beatdown I gave Christian slightly tore our relationship apart, I don't know if the same matter still applies to Kevin, I mean, he also wasn't talking, he was just staring blankly at the two of us.

It seems he's just waiting for either of us to start talking.

But oh well, this always happen after a fight breaks down between two friends.

It's only a matter of time before the awkwardness can go away.

"Albert" Christian finally spoke.

Turning towards him, I can see him tense up a little bit.

Huh?

"I-I know what you are up to right now."

My face suddenly paled at this, not only that, I can hear Kevin nervously shuffle besides me.

How...and what the....

"W-What do you mean?" I stammered.

"Kevin told me all about it." Christian lowered his head.

"Hey!" Kevin suddenly rose up from his chair

Oh f*cking shit, I swear to god....

Turning towards Kevin angrily, I can see him intensely sweating.

"I-I can explain." I stared at Kevin with rage building up inside my body.

This as*hole is going to get us behind bars!

"I want to help!" me and Kevin immediately turned our heads towards Christian.

Our jaws dropping open like an empty cabinet.

"Don't blame Kevin, I already smelled something fishy the moment you entered school on this week, I was the one who insisted him to tell me everything, so if you want to punch someone again, then... I don't mind having another bruise on my face."

Me and Kevin stared blankly at Christian for a moment.

Oh god help me.... this is getting troublesome.

Sighing, I turned towards Kevin and spoke.

"Next time you pull this kind of shit, I'll f*cking beat you up." I said.

"scary" I can hear Kevin scoff at me.

This bastard... just wait until I can get out of here!

"Please" I turned to Christian once more, "I think I'm tired of running away and being treated like a dog, I want to be like you Albert, I want to change."

This guy... I feel him.

"I-If there's anything I can do to help, then-" I cut him off.

"You're hired." I said.

The more people working for me, the better and stronger I'll become!

"Really?!" Christian exclaimed in surprise.

Smiling towards him, I turned my head towards Kevin who was looking at me like I had grown a second head.

"What?" I asked him.

After a few seconds of silently staring at me, he finally spoke.

"Nothing." Kevin extended his hand towards Christian, "Welcome to our petty little boy scout group." both of them chuckled at the remark.

"Yeah, I trust you can help us with the stuff." Christian nodded at my words as he shook Kevin's hand.

"Welcome, even though we haven't even started the foundation of our little business, this is a start." I said as I also extended my hand towards Christian to which he shook it.

"Thanks for accepting someone like me." Christian smiled at both of us.

"Hey, now that we have a group, let's decide on a name!" Kevin suddenly spoke,

Turning towards him, I can feel the cringiness welling up inside of me.

Is he some f*cking kid?... a name? really?

I can already feel my lips curving into a smile.

And in only a minute, I bursted out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Christian asked.

Wiping the tears in my eyes, I finally spoke.

"No, it's nothing."

"Come'on, it wouldn't be cool if we stay as some nameless group, we're trying to build something here, something great, something... big." Kevin said.

Christian nodded his head in agreement.

A name huh? I don't think it's necessary.

But oh well.. let's see.

After a few minutes of pondering, I finally found a perfect name for our petty little group.

"Gray lilies...." I blurted out towards them.

.

.

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CHAPTER DONE!