The next morning.Jim had been waiting outside in his suit for almost an hour. Shiney was the first to come out. Seeing Jim in the black suit, she cast a romantic smile at him. “I never thought that the most handsome man in the world would become my… brother-in-law. God surely has something against me.”Jim heard her loud and clear, so he said, “Maybe he’s kept aside someone who’s better and more fitting to you.”“I highly doubt that,” she snorted and then came and sat on the hood of the lambo.Moments later, Lola came out of the house and yelled at Shiney straight away, “Where are you sitting? Get your ass off the car!”Shiney quickly got up.“Couldn’t you find a better place to sit at?” Lola scolded her some more.“M-Mom, I was…” Shiney tried to explain, but Lola didn’t let her. Jim was amused from seeing Shiney get scolded.Eventually, everyone in the house came out as they were all going to Drake's restaurant, the one previously owned by Marcus Drake, Jim’s dad.Jim wanted to ente
“Hi, I’m Bertha Lock. It’s very nice to meet you,” the old owner said and then introduced her daughter and son-in-law. “This is Carrie. She’s the manager of this restaurant, and this is her husband, Freddy. He’s the vice-manager.”Carrie looked like a younger version of Bertha. She was a bit chubby and cute to look at, but her tall husband had this strange look on his face, which made Rena wonder if he was feeling okay or not.Though Jim was smiling, he didn’t like the frozen look Freddy was giving to his wife.“Please sit,” Bertha politely told them and then made Freddy bring drinks and desserts for everyone. Her friendliness and hospitality really made Jim and others feel welcomed.Lola finally cut the pleasantries and started the real conversation, “Mrs. Bertha, you know the reason we came here.” She pointed at Jim. “His dad built this place. Unfortunately after his dad passed away, he had to sell it for personal reasons, but now, he wants to buy this restaurant back. I already ta
Seeing Jim and his family members come out of the restaurant, the coconut shop owner Luke strung half-dozen coconuts together and brought them over with great effort.“Jim, you seem to be in a bad mood,” Luke said. “Want me to give you another coconut. It will calm your nerves.”“Hey, geezer,” Marc snorted, “do we look like we’ll drink coconut water from you? You look like you haven’t washed your clothes in a long while!”“S-Sir, these spots don’t go even if I wash them because I received them while cutting banana trees,” Luke said. “But I wash this shirt once every week.”“Once every week?” Marc’s expression warped. “Get the hell out of my sight, or don’t blame me if I kick you away!”Luke leaned closer to Jim and whispered, “Take these with you.” Saying that he walked away quickly.“Hey, why aren’t you taking these coconuts away?” Marc asked aloud, but Luke didn’t respond. Marc then angrily looked at Jim. “Did you pay him secretly?”“I know him, Uncle,” Jim said. “He gave these for
Shiney’s heart jumped into her throat when the bird smashed the glass window and began to scream and rolled in the back seat. It turned out to be a big peregrine falcon.“A bird?” Shiney’s heart was able to return to its position after confirming that it was just a bird.Jim, on the other hand, looked a bit frozen for a second. He opened the door and grabbed the falcon by the throat and forcibly brought it outside and took it to the side.“What’s he doing?” Shiney looked at her dad.“He probably wants to beat the shit out of it,” Marc said. “I’d do that if it was up to me. But…” he glanced back and saw the broken window. “It’s a tough glass. A bird shouldn’t be able to break it.”“It looked like a falcon, Dad. It must have come super-fast,” Shiney opined. “Luckily, Jim moved out of the way, or it’d have probably hit him on the neck.”Meanwhile, Jim was observing the falcon. Its eyes were completely red as if someone painted red on its eyes. Its pupils were barely visible. “The strengt
The sudden crash in the front activated the airbags and protected both Shiney and her dad from suffering any serious injury.Jim, however, did not have any seatbelt on, but he pressed his hands against the front seat Shiney was sitting in. This helped him cushion the impact, though his arms had to take a lot of pressure as a result. Even though the car seat was made of high quality plastic, the pressure put by Jim’s hands broke it.The loud noise alerted everyone even though there was a lot of traffic. Rena and Lola also heard it.“What’s that?” Rena’s heart trembled for a second. She tried to look to her right.“Don’t bother,” Lola said, not even turning her head a bit. “Accidents happen all the time. Let’s get out of here once the signal turns green.”“M-Mom,” Rena’s eyes widened a bit. “I think that’s our car.”Lola’s brain buzzed at once. “WHAT?”Rena stepped out of the car fast and was shocked to see the damage caused to both the cars involved in the accident. Luckily, there was
After talking with the police officers, George paid them 100 dollars secretly, and then they acted like no accident ever happened. If some part of the road or the divider was destroyed, then the police would have demanded more, not officially, of course.George then asked Jim to drink with him because Jim saved him from getting hit by a damned eagle which came flying out of nowhere.Jim, knowing that the eagle wasn’t after George but himself, couldn’t agree to drink with George. “Why would you want a drink with this useless guy?” Jim retorted.“I-I said those words on purpose. You shouldn’t take them seriously,” George said. “The wine I have is really good. I brought it from my sister-in-law’s house. Once you take a sip of that, you’ll go back to the time Jesus turned water into wine.”“Hoho, is it that good?” Jim felt tempted.“Well, obviously, it can’t be that good, but it’s better than anything you can find in your lifetime,” George assured. “I kid you not. It offers a taste better
Jim’s brows steadily drew together as George took the gun out and pointed it at him. “Why?”George raised his mobile and showed his picture. “Don’t know what you’ve done, but the Black Flower gang just released a bounty on your head. 25,000 dollars.”Jim was very much surprised to hear that. “Black Flower gang? Are you part of that gang?”“No.”“Then are you part of the mafia?”“Well, you can say that because I help them store drugs every now and then in my shed,” George smiled, which didn’t surprise Jim that much this time.“So you want to kill me and get the 25,000 dollars,” Jim slightly gritted his teeth. “Did you get that message after you brought me here, or before?”“After.” George was still pointing the gun. “Don’t hate me for doing this. 25,000 dollars may be small to you who has a rich wife and mother-in-law who drive in a Lamborghini and can threaten the people their vehicle dashes into in the streets. But 25 grand is a big amount for me. If I get it through the black market
Jim left the garage with the gun in his possession because he wasn’t sure who would attack him along the way.The first thing he did was buy a cheap jacket and cover his face with the hood.Then he took a taxi driven by an old man who had his family photo in front of his seat, so the chances of him being part of a gang were less.Jim had to be this cautious because he was anxious. Even though he wasn’t showing tension on his face, his heart was beating faster than usual. After all, a bounty was put on his head, and he had no way to know who’d aim for his head. So, he had to be sober and vigilant all the time and behave with the possibility that anybody could be his enemy.“25,000 dollars. It’s not big enough for infamous bounty hunters to act,” Jim thought. “That’s a good thing, but that’s the only good thing there is. If a random garage owner received a message, then a milk boy, pizza-delivery guy, or a taxi driver, anybody could be part of the gang. They might already be looking for