Lesson Learned

Jay

"It's been a while since I last saw you. You were being dragged out of the palace by security, right? You never learn, do you? What were you trying to do to my employee just now?" I say as I glance over at Rin and Anon. 

Anon is holding napkins on Rin's arm. They are soaked with blood. 

`"Prince Jay! Thank god you're here. That man attacked me first. I just wanted to chat with him, and he broke my finger! Look!" Chris puts out his hand. 

Well, it most certainly is broken. I don't think Rin would break someone's finger for no reason. Judging by what I saw and how Rin is hurt, I can only assume Chris crossed the line. 

"Well, your finger is broken. What did you do to Rin to get him to act that way? Hmm, let me take a guess. You hit on him in a shady way, and he refused you? Just like at my birthday party last year. My cousin was very distraught after being accosted by you. So, now you resort to violence? Man, your pickup game must be weak. How pathetic." I snicker. 

This is going to be a problem. We played nice with him last year because Father wanted to keep a good relationship with Terrane Group. I can't see this ending well. God, Rin must be on a streak of bad luck. 

"Rin, do you want to press charges? I'm sure the café's security cameras caught everything." I say as I start to walk over to Rin. 

Chris reaches out and grabs my pant leg. 

"Wait, Prince Jay, there is no need for that. Why don't we, uh, apologize and call it all good? You know as well as I that if our fathers find out about this, it won't be good. So what do you say? Rin, was it? I'm sorry. Please don't press charges." Chris begs. 

I knew this would work. After last year his father doesn't put up with his shit anymore. I glance over at Rin. I wink at him with a smile. Rin smiles back, acknowledging my plan. 

"I will accept your apology as long as you stay away from me in the future. Got it?" Rin says with a stern look. 

"OH! Of course. Yes! Thank you! I will go now." Chris gets up and bows to me. 

He doesn't look at Rin before he runs out the door. 

"Are you sure you're ok? We really should go to the hospital and get you looked at." Anon nags Rin the whole ride home. 

Anon clearly doesn't like Rin, but he still cares. Anon is a big softie. HAHA. Poor Rin. He was hit by a car a couple of days ago, and now this. He really must have bad luck. 

"Na, I'm fine. It wasn't too deep, and we cleaned it and bandaged it. It'll be alright. Promise." Rin says with a half smile. 

He seems fine on the outside, but I'm sure that was a lot for him to handle. 

"So, do you want to explain what happened?" I ask. 

I had a rough idea, but I wanted to hear it from him. 

"The dude was hitting on me like you said, and when I told him to fuck off, he latched onto my arm and dug into my skin. So, I broke his finger. I swear I tried to hold back. If I weren't your bodyguard, I probably would have put him in the hospital. I'm really sorry." Rin says dejectedly. 

Just as I figured, Rin tried to avoid conflict because he didn't want to cause trouble for me. Rin, in a lot of ways, is unrefined, but he is very aware of his situation. He is a good employee. I wish he would think of himself first. I don't want him getting hurt because he is worried about how things might turn out for me.

When we returned to the palace, Rin, Anon, and I sat down and discussed what I had learned from Greg Lowe. 

"Senna Long? I'll text Parker and ask if he knows anything about her. Why was Rin looking for her, I wonder." Rin says as he pulls out his phone to text Parker. 

Ever since Rin told us he was someone else stuck in Rin's body, he refers to himself in the third person. He does it so effortlessly, too. 

"You should also ask about this Dean guy," Anon suggests. 

"Oh yeah, you're right. If Dean knows Josie, maybe Parker knows him too." Rin says. 

Greg said Dean and Josie were Rin's drinking buddies. We still have to talk to Josie as well. At least Greg Lowe was helpful. 

"Parker doesn't know who Dean is, but he gave me Josie's number, so I can contact him. So, what is the Black faction?" Rin asks. 

When I explained what Greg was arrested for, he heard me talk about the Black faction. 

"Well, Kervini has an underground crime government of sorts. They are called the Color factions. There are seven factions in total. Each faction is sort of like its own department in this government. A lot of the inner workings of the Color Factions are unknown to outsiders, but it's safe to say that Kervini is fueled by its crime organizations. The biggest factions are called the Primary colors. They are run by Kervini's most powerful nobles and CEOs. Dalmane is a Constitutional Monarchy, whereas Kervini is more of an Aristocracy. So Kervini has a lot of major players throughout the whole country. However, they all bow to King Walter Lao. King Lao has a way of commanding respect and loyalty. Even when he runs the country into the ground. Kervini is suffocating. Crime is a plague, and the Colors are using it to their advantage. It's sickening. That's why we have so many refugees. -sigh-'' Anon rambled on. 

Poor Rin looks tired. I don't blame him. Anon just info dumped all over him. 

"The Black faction is the smallest. They are usually assigned small jobs like drug smuggling. So, Greg was a small fish. However, the Black faction was put in charge of my assassination, which makes me wonder who is out for my blood." I say with a puzzled expression. 

Rin leans back in his chair and closes his eyes. 

"I sure did get wrapped up with some complicated shit. Oh, yea! What about my D.ID? How could I not be in the database?" Rin asks. 

"Honestly, I don't know. It's suspicious. I want to trust you, Rin. I do. However, this is not something I can overlook. We will have to do an investigation." I say with a somber tone. 

I want this to be a big misunderstanding. I want to trust Rin. I don't know. The more we search for answers, the more convoluted this gets.