"What the actual fuck?" Arnold cursed under his breath."If you really want to buy the stock, you gotta pay the money," one of the three investors said, derision dripping through his voice."But, I don't have that amount. I can pay half of that," the business man they were discussing with begged."I don't think you're ready to buy the stocks. Maybe you should take a walk out of here and return when you're ready," another of the big three investors added.Arnold balled his hands into fists. The more he listened to them, the more annoyed he got in his spirit.From his vantage point, shrouded in darkness, he watched them now, trying to get as much of their physical description as he could. The light in their corner of the VVIP section was blue and low, but he could make them out after getting acquainted with it for a while.Two of them looked big and burly. They looked like younger versions of the men he'd seen at the VIP section. The only distinguishing factors he could tell was that t
Game on, Arnold thought.The system had dared him to take on a new quest. That was what it seemed like, after all. Why else would they attach such a gruesome effect in case he failed the quest?He loved dares. He loved challenges. He smirked as he watched her now. He was going to fight till the very end.His lust and the quest failure would be his driving force."You know what?" he told the younger one of the three. "I'll stay back and have a drink or two at the bar. But, on one condition.""Tell me," the young man said. "If it's something I can do, which it most likely is, I'll do it."He looked towards where the girl was seated now. "Who's that stunning lady over there?"The young man immediately clicked his fingers. "Nah. She's off limits. A serious no-go-area. See that man she walked in with?"Arnold nodded. Of course, he'd seen the big man."That's her lover. And he's one of the owners of the club. However, if you're not careful and you strike up a conversation with her, she'll t
Arnold's smirk didn't last too long. Soon enough, it faltered. Liquid dripped from his lips to his chin.Was that blood?He reached up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.He looked at it and found that it was, indeed, blood.What the hell? He thought.Aggravated now, he balled his hands into fists and threw his first punch, aiming straight for the big guy's jaw.Something shocking happened next. He hit air.The big guy was big and had a pot belly, but he was so damn quick. He moved swiftly, dodging Arnold's punch and immediately returning it with a punch of his own.Arnold moved a few feet back from the hit. The big guy got him hard to the the point that he felt the impact in his gut.He could see the smirk on the man's face now.He laughed and spat on the floor, ready to get down to work. He'd started this and there was no backing down now.He took on a fighting stance, just like he'd seen in the movies and closed his eyes for a second, activating the boxing skill.[Boxing
The night was long and intense. Too many acrobatics and positions tried and tested. Arnold was on a roll until they both had their fill of themselves and could no longer go at it again. Arnold slept, so sure within himself that Sasha would never forget the feeling of him inside of her.He slept very late, in the early hours of the morning, and woke up the next morning, groggy from the activities of the night before. He tried to stretch his bones. They ached from the beating he'd received while fighting the big guy. He opened one eye and and stopped stretching with a start.This wasn't his bed. Something was definitely wrong. It wasn't his apartment, either.He could hear a voice coming from the bathroom. He stood up, sleep slowly leaving his eyes, and went towards the sound of the voice.He remembered why he was in a hotel room now. He'd lodged in the hotel close to the club the night before because of a stunning lady called Sasha. He recalled just how long and how hard they'd gone at
Jia stepped over the threshold of her house and locked the door. From her sharp movements, it was clear that she was angry about something.She moved with a certain precision that could cut through steel, even.Arnold was no different from the rest. Why on Earth had she thought he was? All she'd thought she'd seen that day while conversing with him in his car was all a lie. He was just as disgusting as the other men she'd come in contact with at her father's office.She'd given him a specific date, complete with a time and how they were supposed to meet, but where was he? Nowhere in sight. He was supposed to drive her to a far distance as agreed and he was supposed to arrive to pick her up early so they could beat the traffic caused by commuters.Now, Arnold was not only nowhere in sight, but when she'd called him, some girl had answered his phone and informed her that Arnold was very tired from last night and asleep. She'd stressed the phrase, very tired. Jia knew what that meant and
The car ride this time around was even more awkward than the first. Tension lit up the atmosphere in the car and Arnold could feel it poking at his neck, almost having him at a choke hold.There was a certain long and dragged-out silence that Arnold couldn't shake off. He wanted to hear her voice. He wanted to hear his voice. He needed to get over the awkwardness in the car and move on to lighter things. Past what had happened before they embarked on the journey. Back to the lightness they'd practiced while texting and calling each other in the space between their last meeting and today.What kind of conversation can I bring up? Arnold thought, stealing glances at Jia.What kind of conversation could diffuse the tension?He squeezed the steering wheel and thought harder.After a little more than thirty more minutes, he cleared his throat and spoke, slicing through the tense silence. "You know, growing up, I never really had a female figure in my life."Jia reacted in an unexpected way
Jia welcomed the silence. It lasted throughout the remaining part of the journey and she enjoyed the space it gave her to think about their destination.She was going to visit someone she had not seen in a long while -- her maternal grandma’s younger sister, that is, her grand aunt. After her grandma’s death, she was the only other person remaining that was related to her later mother’s family, save for a few cousins she was no longer actively in touch with. Hence, she made it a habit to visit her grand aunt as much as she could.Sweet Mrs Ling would have missed her thoroughly. She had decided to keep on living in this remote village far from the city and far from Jia, which shortened Jia’s amount of visits, because she had to properly plan ahead before visiting.Jia had told her grand Aunt countless times, to move to the city with her, but the old woman always refused, insisting that she wanted to spend the rest of her life in the comfort of her village, farming and weaving baskets.
Arnold entered the rickety, old home, his body aching. If he thought he could sacrifice a large amount of things to get closer to Jia, he was damn wrong. He had only stayed for a day in her grand aunt’s home and he was ready to run, screaming, murder.Jia’s grand aunt wanted to murder him. Why else had she given him all the hardcore work on her farm?He liked physical labour because it built his muscles and he had recently been skipping gym days due to his tight schedule and the new important stuff that kept creeping up, so he’d welcomed the work at first.But, Jia’s grand aunt had insisted on giving him the more advanced work because according to her, he was the man here.He entered into the small room he was sharing with Jia and went straight into the bathroom to freshen up.The night before, he’d slept on the cold hard floor because Jia had refused to sleep on the bed with him. His muscles were sore from sleep on the floor and doing menial farm work.He couldn’t wait to get over wit