47 Strange People

The people around us started to run away in terror as they may potentially be the next target. The boy pulled out thick pieces of black fabrics and wrapped them around our eyes while the girl continued to point the gun beside my head. My hands were tightly glued together when he wrapped thick hay ropes around my waist.

My back felt a cold metallic device like the girl had switched to pointing the weapon behind me as she urged me to walk. Ben and I continued to walk until we encountered a small shape of a warehouse. The girl stopped using her gun when she wrapped our legs together with the same rope.

"I knew the otome game scene couldn't be realistic," I muttered in complaint.

'Shut up Rika,' Ben mouthed when our blindfolds got removed to find our wrists and ankles were tied up in its place.

"So you're all from the first district?" The boy jokingly asked.

We stayed silent to not aggravate the couple even further. After a long moment of silence, I asked in a compassionate tone, "Why are you doing this?"

"Everyone knows that people from the first district are crazy rich!" The boy answered.

"Huh... So it's ok to kidnap people for no reason because they are supposedly rich?" I sarcastically replied with irritation.

'Stop provoking them,' Ben mouthed with concern.

"You!" The boy tried to hit me with a spare baseball bat inside the warehouse when he was suddenly stopped by the girl.

"We may not get the full ransom if you hurt them," The girl tried to reason with the boy.

The boy placed the bat on the floor and glared at me intensely before leaving the warehouse. The girl soon left as well after she looked sure that we wouldn't be able to escape again. I burned the ropes with mana and quickly untied the ropes on Shelly and Ben.

"Hold Shelly," I whispered to Ben.

Ben tried to carry Shelly on his back as whispered back, "I have a plan."

Instead of only carrying Shelly, he lifted me up with his mana to hold me in his other arm. Without any warning, Ben sprinted to the small forest behind the warehouse after he softly opened the door as if it was a delicate object.

When it appeared we were a good distance away, Ben placed me back down as I found myself near the playground where Shelly and I got out of the teleportation gate. Ben placed Shelly on the bench as he delivered the bad news, "The teleportation gate in the second district is out of energy. So we'll have to stay in the second district for a few days."

That meant we were inside the same district as the psychopath couple that kidnapped us for ransom. Shelly started to stir awake on the bench while leaning against Ben's shoulder.

"Shelly!" I was filled with gratefulness that she able to wake up.

"Where are we?" Shelly murmured.

"The second district. We were able to get away from the crazy couple and Ben's here too." I filled Shelly on what happened.

Shelly looked up to see herself leaning on Ben. Her face flushed pink from shame as she promptly removed her head from Ben's shoulder, "I apologize for what has happened so far."

"It's fine. It was mostly Rika's fault to begin with anyways," Ben sleekly answered.

"So where are we going to stay now?" I tried to stay oblivious of knowing Ben was mad at me while he seemed like he was completely relaxed.

"There's a small hotel chain that my family owns in the second district. The nearest one is only minutes away." Ben replied.

"Your hand?" Ben turned to me.

"Why?" I questioned.

"I'm just simply worried that you may step into trouble again," Ben eerily smiled.

Ben grabbed onto my hand as we were escorted to the entrance of the hotel glittering from the night lights of the city.

"Can I get a room for three people?" Ben requested the manager.

"Of course, young master from the Nuelle family." The manager politely answered.

"Is Ben really from the Nuelle family?" Shelly whispered into my ear.

"You didn't know?" I whispered back.

"Yea, there's a formality we need to follow when we meet people of similar or upper status." Shelly explained.

I knew there was a formality, but I didn't know what it implied. We were led to the elevators and we soon arrived in front of the room. Ben opened the door to present a large suite with two inner bedrooms as well as a central living room

"Why did you only book us one suite?"

Maybe I was too used to my luxurious surroundings. I always had too much space for one person with all the rooms dedicated to my use in Luke's mansion or the school's arrangements. It was odd to think I would be sharing a room with Shelly.

"Who knows what else would happen during the time we're separated?" Ben crossed his arms with total distrust.

I got that Ben treated me as unreliable child. I sat down on the couch in the living room and flipped through some pamphlets targeted towards tourists visiting this city.

"How about we go to this aquarium tomorrow?" I asked Shelly.

"We're not going anywhere tomorrow. We're staying inside this room until the teleportation gate is charged enough to take us all back," Ben answered before Shelly could say anything.

"The Roselia and Monete families are scary," Ben quietly mumbled to himself.

"Come on Ben, we're stuck here anyways. It's best to go make the best of the situation and explore the second district?" I argued.

"And where did that end up getting you?" Ben questioned with his eyes narrowed.

"It's not like I wanted to get kidnapped!" I defended myself.

"How did you guys get so close when we're in different grades?" Shelly interrupted us.

"We met in the sixth district." Ben turned to Shelly, leaving me behind.

"No wonder you and Rika seemed close."

"I initially thought that you were only from a prestigious family as you attended the same school as us and Rika talked to you really causally." Shelly mumbled to herself.

"What about your partner?" I asked Ben.

Luke and I were together almost all the time whether it was in class or during the weekends when Luke constantly dragged me to his special study sessions.

"We don't really meet or talk unless we have to when it's during our break or the weekends," Ben sadly smiled.

"Luke and I are stuck together all the time even though," I complained.

"I think you and Luke are a special case," Shelly admitted.

"It's like that for you too?" I curiously asked.

"Yea, Alex and I don't really meet with each other unless we really have to," Shelly answered like she was recalling a bad memory.

Well it did make sense. We saw each other every day during school. Even when I had a long vacation when I graduated elementary school, I only met Luke once and that was when we went to the mall in the third district.

The conversation died as I was shook awake the next morning.

"Stop," I moaned as I tugged the blanket closer to my face.

"You're going to miss breakfast," someone sulked.

I opened my eyes to see Shelly already dressed up and ready to go.

"Fine," I grumbled.

I got out of my bed and didn't bother to change out of the newly bought white nightgown from room service. I went to the living room to find Ben waiting for Shelly and I to come out while flipping through some channels on TV.

"Are you getting ready?" Ben glanced at my nightgown.

"Nope, I'm ready to eat breakfast now."

"You do know that we're going to a restaurant inside the hotel for breakfast?" Ben asked like there was no way I would go there in my pyjamas.

"I do know," I replied tiredly.

From the pattern of the school and Luke always choosing to dine at the fanciest restaurants wherever I went, I discerned that Ben would also go eat breakfast at a fancy restaurant.

"I don't mind waiting, so go change Rika."

"No it's ok, I just want to eat breakfast now to go back to sleep soon after."

Before Ben could stop me, I asked an employee to escort us to the restaurant while Shelly gave a knowing glance to Ben that this was normal when Luke wasn't around. After we ordered our breakfast, I noticed people from the other tables looking at our table. They whispered loudly to each other and Ben accusingly stared at me like I was the reason for their gossiping.

"What?" I asked him before continuing to eat my meal in silence while ignoring Ben's jabbing glances.

When I finished my dessert, I quickly excused myself as Shelly and Ben followed me soon after.

"I'm going back to sleep now," I closed the door in front of Ben's face while Shelly went to the washroom.

When I woke up, the sky darkened into a deep violet. Both Ben and Shelly were nowhere to be seen when I walked into the living room.

'They're probably eating dinner right now,' I thought.

I closed our hotel door and went to the floor with the restaurant that we went to in the morning.

"I think that's her!" A person behind me reported.

"The person that's missing from the hospital." Another person gossiped beside him.

"Look! She's wearing a hospital gown." Another person tried to point out.

What were they talking about? Just because I wore a long white nightgown didn't mean I was a patient. What was with the designs in the second district for the patients?

A security guard scanned my appearance before walking up to me, "Your parents must be worried, let's go back to the hospital."

Umm. My parents live in the third district and what I'm wearing is just a nightgown provided by the hotel.

"I'm actually a person from the first district visiting the second district as part of my vacation getaway." I stated to the security guard.

"Yea right! People from the first district rarely come to the second district," The guard scoffed.

The guard dragged me to the elevator where there were police officers waiting in the lobby.

"Here's the girl," The guard handed me off to the officers with his tight grip.

"No! I'm actually a guest at this hotel. Not some nutjob who would run away from the hospital!" I tried to appeal to the officers.