David came back to the apartment before the rest of them. Since he was so early, and they were going to be late, he took out the time to prepare some food. When he was done, he ate his own and kept it there to be put in the microwave later. He went into his room and spent hours working on his laptop. He walked back to the kitchen to take a drink, there he found Ethan. Ethan was working on his laptop too, but he barely looked at David. David frowned slightly, he wasn't imagining it, his friend was holding a grudge against him. Despite that gut feeling, he still swallowed his pride and cleared his throat. "What's up, man?" He nodded at him, as he opened the refrigerator. "Hey." Ethan sounded as cold as ice, his voice heavy with reluctance. David also noticed that Ethan was munching cookies and having a soda, he wasn't eating what he prepared for him. "Did you see the pasta I kept in the refrigerator?" David asked, seeing only part of the door was touched. "Not hungry. Dre wou
It was raining so sparingly, that David wasn't in a hurry to get to where he was going. He had a cigarette in his hand, which he smoked as he went, but somehow wasn't quenched by the rainwater. It was a busy evening, the cars honked around and the pedestrians trotted around the street. David walked past people, sometimes avoiding bumping into them by a hair length. He got to Stefanie's studio apartment and he knocked on the door. The rain gave way and started to fall in heavy drops. He tossed his cigarette away and knocked on the door, harder. Hope she wasn't doing anything stupid. Finally, the door opened. Her hair was in a messy bun and her eyes were red from crying too much. Her lips quivered when she saw him and she let herself into his arms. "I'm sorry." She croaked. "I know that Rosie hates me, but it's you I'm more apologetic too." David held her and walked into his house. He shut the door and held her face in his hands. "There's nothing to be sorry for." He smiles a
That wasn't what Nick was expecting at all. He thought it was going to be hard to convince David to give him what he wanted, but David was offering it on a silver platter. He first laughed, he didn't want to even believe that David was serious, and not trying to mess with him. "What is this, some kind of reverse psychology, or some shit?" He chuckled. "Are you messing with me?" "No, I'm not." David stood his ground. "From what I see, we both want two things. Why is it bad if we trade to get what we want?" Nick aggressively rubbed his jaw, he looked at Natalie. Although she was kind of a dumb girl, she knew that something wasn't right with this deal. "He is lying, it is not balanced at all," Natalie said. "He has come to trap you." "Speak of only what you know, Natalie," David warned her. "I don't have the time or patience to play any trapping game with anyone." Nick was watching him as if he was looking for the quickest sign to see that he was lying. He saw nothing. When he s
David didn't realize that morning had come. He would have continued sleeping, if not for Dre that barged into his room and shook him away. "David, wake up! You have got to see this!"David stood up, his body wanting to go to sleep. His eyes were heavy, but he rubbed life back into them. Dre was nudging him, pushing his phone into his hands, David was confused about what was going on. "It's barely morning, Dre." He complained. "Just give me five more minutes, I promise to give ear to whatever it is that you want." Dre wasn't listening, he didn't stop shaking his friend. This was a very serious matter that couldn't wait. "It's about Dominic Ford! It's very terrible, you have to see this!" That was what David needed for his eyes to fly open. He was fully away in a flash and was up to his feet. He was by the window, scrolling through Dre's phone. The article was a few minutes old, it was very fresh news, but that didn't dampen the graveness of it. Dominic Ford's recent act was th
David was staring with wide eyes, this wasn't what he was expecting. "Is this a joke?" He asked her, clearly it had to be. "No, sir, it's not." She said, "Because whose genius idea is this?" He laughed. "Why am I supposed to take the fall for a man I have never seen in my life?" "That man is your father," She reminded him. "And this is your company here, you have to do it." "No." David dropped the file on the table. "This is crazy, I am not going to do it. Did you see the crowd? I am not standing in front of those angry people to apologize for something that I didn't do!" He was about to walk out of the door, but Rosie stopped him with a hand on his chest. "Do you realize what you are doing?" She asked. "I need to be ready in an hour."He shrugged her off very aggressively. "I don't give a fuck!" He yelled. "Since it's so important to you, why don't you do it?!""Stop it, David." Her lips were thinned, she didn't want anyone to hear them, but he was screaming. "Call your bos
David was startled to see her, she was the last person that he expected to be there. He pulled her into the room and shut the door immediately. "Stefanie, what are you doing here?" He asked, visibly worried for her. "I saw the news, I saw how angry the crowd was and then Dre called me," She said. "He got your text and contacted Ethan and me, we are going to get you out." David's jaw dropped to the ground, he couldn't believe that his friends would risk their life trying to save him. "Stefanie, you can't be here." He sighed. "It's too dangerous." "Yes, I agree, I shouldn't be here, but neither should you. If they feel they can throw you in front of an angry crowd of people, they must be stupid. We are getting you out of here." David wanted to say something else to her, something to tell her how impossible her bright idea was, but he heard someone walk up to the door. He pressed Stefanie to the wall and held his hand over her mouth. He mouthed for her to keep quiet. "David,
David regretted it all, at this point. His life was better as a loser. Yes, he got bullied and maltreated a lot because he was poor, but at least no one had to die for him. He didn't want his friends to die because of him, no he would rather die for them. "Let them go, Gary." David sighed. "You have me, you can do whatever you want with me, but let my friends go." "Your friends know the truth, we can't let them live." Gary reminded him. "Remember the servants that saw your face? Remember the worker that knew your identity? They were all killed, that's exactly what's going to happen to your friend." David's heart tightened on hearing that, he shut his eyes as if to get rid of those painful words. All he saw were bad memories, he was right there when Rosie killed those workers, and he was also there when they took Wendy away. Maybe this was all coming back to haunt him because he didn't do enough to save them. That's why his friends now have the same fate. "Please." David's voic
The crowd went absolutely crazy when David announced that to them. The protesters wanted to kill him with their screams, while the journalists were trying to climb over the soldiers so that they could speak to him. Even with that, it was like everything was muted and in slow motion to David. He was looking from one side of the crowd to the other, all he heard was his heart banging against his chest. Strong hands pulled him away as the flashes from the cameras almost blinded him. He was taken into the building and the guards shield him from unseen danger. They continued that way until they pushed him into a room. David found himself with Gary and Rosie again. Gary had his head against the wall and was hitting it with his fists. Rosie was walking to and fro, her right index finger in her mouth. Something about the misery he had caused them was so appealing to him. He laughed, slowly at first, until it was a fit and he was holding his belly.Rosie was looking at him as if he had