Chapter 23: Moving Day

After they finished discussing the matter of hiring new staff, they quickly finished off their breakfast and said their goodbyes before going their separate ways to school and work, respectively. 

Getting off the personal, exclusive car that drove him to school, Ian walked into the school grounds past the gates.

It was a beautiful day out today. The sun was shining dazzlingly up on the stretch of blue with a few fluffy white clouds lazily sliding across the sky. The crisp air was slightly cold with hints of thawing as summer approaches fast. Green buds bloomed delicately, full of life, on trees and bushes and shrubs.

As Ian paced himself to the school building, his ears caught hold of the many conversations happening around him. Ian had gone to his middle school today despite the last day having passed to get his middle school graduation certificate. Similarly, many other students have come today to pick up theirs. 

Although they have all said their goodbyes to the ones they called their friend in middle school, they once again became sad and reluctant to go their different ways upon seeing them. Many of the friends will be splitting up to attend different high schools in, maybe, different areas. Some of them will remain close friends while some may spend less and less time together after high school where they make new friends.

Now, though, none were willing to leave the other.

Some girls were even crying as they hugged each other. 

"I'll miss you! Sob! Why did you have to choose a different school? Didn't we agree to go to the same school?"

"Sob. I know, but I couldn't get in with my grades. It's alright, we'll still be able to hang out."

"Yes, hopefully. Remember to make time for me."

"Of course!"

They cried and complained and let go of their sadness. 

Even some of the boys felt sad and disappointed that their close friends were all either heading to different schools or moving away. They didn't know when they would all be seeing each other again and meeting up. 

However, they all wished each other the best even if they find it hard in the future to find the time to meet up.

Hearing all these sounds of crying and goodbyes, wishing their friends good luck in their new schools, Ian felt they had nothing to do with him and moved forward calmly, indifferent to the sad but warm atmosphere around him. Enwrapped in a world of his own.

He had no friends at school. 

He thought of no reason to make them. He didn't think he needed any friends, just having his brother and Levi and the brothers in the gang was enough for him. He isolated himself from the rest of his classmates, and with the rumors of him having a dangerous background, almost no one approached him on their own.

Sliding open the door to the designated room for distributing graduation certificates, Ian politely greeted the teacher in charge of handing out the certificates. 

Ian had always treated everyone around him with a polite attitude and a gentle demeanor. This subconsciously made people who didn't know him trust him and let their guard down around him. Even people who do know of his background or only heard of his true nature, they wouldn't believe it until they see it. This was his mask as well as a ploy that conveniently allows him to use his ability to control and manipulate others without the actual use of his powers.

But no matter how polite and gentle Ian appeared and acted towards others, they can feel he's not easy to mess with. 

He exuded an aura that warned others on an instinctual level to not provoke him or take him as easy picking.

However, that slight feeling can easily be ignored by those who don't trust their instincts or have weak intuitions. 

In hindsight, the real reason and the biggest one that made the entire school afraid of Ian were some things that had happened which should never be mentioned. Everyone knows of it, even the teachers, but no one dared to mention or bring up the matter as if a curse was placed on them, sealing their lips tightly shut. 

When Ian had first been reborn, he couldn't control the madness and the twisted hatred in his heart towards them. The despair and misery he suffered as an adult in his past life was too much to bear for the young mind and body that hosted a tens of years old soul filled with darkness. Even though they were the same person. 

Because of that, he occasionally went unhinged and his powers went wild. It caused a lot of accidents which his brother covered up. However, the students in the elementary school he attended, as well as the teachers, saw it all happen before their very eyes how horrifying Ian became once madness took over his mind. It was something that could never be erased from their minds unless Ian used his powers to forcefully remove that part of their memories or change it up. 

Moving up from elementary school to middle school, Ian was surrounded by the same students because the elementary and middle school were connected. Fortunately, Ian finally managed to keep those outbursts of madness under control when he moved up to middle school. He could even use a polite and gentle smile to cover up everything he felt inside and not scare people off. 

That's why, at least, his same class classmates were not as afraid of him as the ones not in his class. 

As for the enthusiastic counselor from before, he was new to the school and no one had the courage to bring that past scandal about Ian up with him so he was the only teacher out of the loop who genuinely smiled at a student like Ian. He got along naturally with Ian, unaware of how frightened his fellow colleagues and the students were every time they saw him greet Ian in the hallway when they happened to pass by each other. Ian had always greeted him back politely and with subtle distance. 

The appointed teacher's hand trembled as they forced a friendly smile and handed Ian his graduation certificate and wished him luck at his high school.

Ian thanked the teacher with a gentle and polite smile on his lips, his eyes, though, were indifferent and calm. 

Ian walked out of the room and exited the school. Shade opened the waiting car's door for the approaching Ian. Ian got on and the car soon took off. 

Looking out the window at the distant school building, Ian did not feel nostalgic at all for the place he graduated twice from. He held no precious memories in that place. It had served only as a learning facility for him. It was nothing but an insignificant part of his life to him that he can do with or without.

Life in middle school in his last life differed very much from this life, back then, he had been innocent and naive unlike the him now. Though there were rumors and gossip about his background and what his family did for a living, no one stayed away from him because everyone knew for a fact that the young and naive Ian came from a very wealthy and influential family. He was escorted to school everyday with a pack of bodyguards who stayed around the perimeter of the school to ensure his safety. 

Despite his popularity, however, he made no real friends back then either, and hardly anyone wanted to get to know the real him, they only wanted the convenience and benefit of his background. The same was true in the high school he attended in his first life. 

Though he never realized then with how stupid he was. Ian mocked his past self.

In this life, he did not even bother to play nice with those kids. 

Ian had attended the same elementary and middle school he attended in his past life. But starting now, the future will be different. 

S High School. The most prestigious and top-tier high school in the nation. A school he did not choose to go to in his last life. This life will now begin to deviate from the track of his previous doomed life full of pain and suffering. Starting from the end of middle school.

An empty hole gaped in his chest, only revenge and the desire to protect his loved ones filled it like swaying fires.

Middle school was over and summer vacation has now officially begun. It's time for Ian's plans to go into motion. This summer, will be one that they never forget. Ian smirked to himself.

*****

Back home, while reading a book in his room, someone knocked on Ian's door. 

"Young master Ian, someone called Sling, and his family, have come and claimed that they were invited here by you." The other informed with respect.

Ian paused and placed his book down. Standing up, he headed to the door and opened it.

"Let them in and bring them to the living room, they are my important guests. Treat them with respect."

"Understood. As you command, young master." The person bowed and went to carry out Ian's order.

'So they're finally here.' Ian smiled.

Ian went back to reading his book. After reading for an hour, Ian stopped and proceeded to go down to the living room to wait for them. 

Sling and his family were stopped outside of an estate area that was fenced in.

Ten expressionless men dressed in black suits who looked like people you should never provoke surrounded Sling, his wife and his son. However, they all looked calm in the face of this encirclement. Though Sling's wife, Mandy, was shaken on the inside, she did not show her fear on the outside. While Sling and Rip just had the confidence that Ian did not set a trap for them, so they were unafraid.

Soon, the men seemed to have received a green light because they backed away from Sling and co and let them through the area.

One of them even instructed them on how to reach the main mansion.

"Just drive straight ahead and not go off on any other paths, then you'll arrive at the main mansion where young master Ian is waiting for you. Be warned that if you try to drive onto any other path, you will be shot down. Understood?"

"Understood." Sling nodded.

"Good." The man, who seemed to be the leader of the men guarding the outer perimeter of the Everett Estate, patted Sling on the shoulder and gestured for his men to separate a path for Sling's truck to drive through. A long diagonal scar marred his above-average looking face. "The name's Gare Wali." The man introduced himself.

"I'm Sling." Sling returned the introduction.

Gare continued, "Well, Sling, it seems young master Ian took a liking to you since he had your entire family move here." He lifted his chin and moved his neck, pointing to the moving truck. He smiled, "Good luck. Young master Ian is a gem. He's a good, young child who went through too much."

Evidently, Gare Wali was familiar with Ian and the Everett family. He had served them for about his entire life ever since he was a troublemaker teen who no one wanted and who everyone despised for having no future.

Once he grasped the opportunity and joined the Everett Mafia Group, he gave it his all but still only managed to muddle around in the group until one day he exchanged the scar on his face for a promotion as the team leader of Team 1 who assisted the boss most closely. 

On account of the many years he had dedicated his life to serving the boss and his family, Gare can confidently claim that he had watched Ian grow up. 

In all honesty, Ian was pretty loved by the entire Everett Mafia Group. Of course, there are always exceptions to everything, but everyone in the group simply adored him.

When Ian was young, he often visited the gang members with his brother and grew close with all the brothers and uncles of the gang. 

Gare was one of them. 

The entire group acted like one big family, that's why Ian had been so furious and went crazy when everyone in his family got killed. 

But the men in the group also understood that they were also subordinates, the hands and feet of the boss of the Everett Mafia Group, so they always treated Ian with respect and obeyed his commands like they would Angus the fearsome cold-faced boss.

Though some old-timers, most of whom retired, would sometimes joke around with him. But they were also really loyal members of the group who listened resolutely to Angus's every order.

From young, Angus and Ian had been taught to treat the gang members as their brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts. This was to cultivate the members' loyalty and attachment to the gang as well as strengthen their desire to protect the Everett family with their lives. To make them feel they belonged. 

For only true affection, admiration, and bond can gain another's heartfelt and willing loyalty.

In the last life, Gare Wali and many other loyal gang members protected Ian as he made his escape with Levi who shielded him. However, as can be later seen, only he and Levi managed to escape successfully while the rest were all annihilated. 

That day, Ian tasted true despair. Anguish filled his entire being. 

Back to the present. 

Gare Wali and all the gang brothers are still alive and well. Knowing this, Ian had calmed down a lot after he was reborn. Comforted that it was not too late and everything can still be changed. The tragedy can be prevented.

Sling drove the moving truck into the Everett Estate. 

The Everett Estate was a huge property bought by the early founders of the Everett Mafia Group, hoping to build a safe haven and protection area for the important members of the group and their cherished family members and, above all, for the boss of the group and his family. 

The fencing encased the area that was the Everett Estate. Only the most trusted and qualified members of the group were allowed to live here. Being able to live here showed that they were trusted by the group and it acted like a badge of honor among the gang members. Everyone in the group made it their lifelong goal to one day move here to live. 

After driving for quite a while, Sling was shocked to discover just how enormous and endless the Everett Estate really was. He never thought that the estate of the Everett Mafia Group would be this huge. He doesn't see the end of the road, aka the main mansion, at all after driving for 40 minutes. While driving forward on a straight path as Team Leader Wali instructed, Sling had spotted many paths leading to other places on the way. 

Out of boredom, Rip had started counting the deviating paths they passed.

"20…26…30…33…" Rip continued to count one path after another endlessly as Sling drove forward. "50… Wow! Dad, mom! There's so many roads other than this one! I wonder what's there?"

"Yes, Rip. But do you remember what those men said?" 

"Yes. They said to not stray from the path heading straight ahead, or else they'll shoot us dead." Rip blinked his eyes without any pressure or fear unlike a normal kid who would've been frightened to hear such a thing.

"Good job, son, for remembering."

Sling fist bumped Rip.

"Hehe!" Rip giggled.

Another 20 something minutes later, Sling finally saw the outline of an exquisite, giant mansion.