"If you know that you don't want to get hurt or killed, don't move," one of the masked men said menacingly.
Sandy could not hold back her fears, she screamed immediately as she saw them and hid behind Matthew.
Kelly was speechless. She did not know what to do. It was her shop and she believed that they were nothing but robbers, and judging from their weapons, they were all dangerous. Each one of them held one. Ranging from bats, to knives, and the one who had spoken, held a gun.
"Please, the shop is open, you can take anything you want but please don't hurt anyone." Kelly begged with her hands over her red hair, even about to kneel down in the process.
"Now, that is interesting," said one of the intruders, the one with the gun. "We do not want any of your fancy jewelry. What we want is of far more importance. What we want, is you."
Ethan twitched from hearing that information. His body almost moved on his own but he stayed still. These people were still dangerous. A wrong move could put him in very deep danger, deeper than he already was. He looked at Matthew, the man that had claimed to be a martial arts expert. This should be his chance to prove he is a hot shot, Ethan thought.
"Matthew do something," Sandy said from behind him. Immediately as if controlled by Sandy's words, and the impulse to prove to everyone that he was indeed an expert in martial arts, pushed him to challenge the robbers.
Immediately, he ran up to the robbers and punched, they dodged it with ease, but before he would know it, one of them with a bat in his hands, had charged in and battered his face with it, crushing his nose. He fell down immediately.
"I told you not to move," the kidnapper said, leaving his minions to deal with Matthew who had now ran behind Sandy, cowering in fear, while the boss of the intruders went in straight to grab Kelly. He held her hostage.
Ethan saw this as a chance to get in while the rest were distracted. Before the leader could hold on to Kelly, he charged before him.
"I will not let you take her away," he said. "Not even a finger."
This ordeal was odd to everyone in the shop, including Kelly and Sandy.
"I don't know what you want to prove, Ethan," Sandy began, not even able to hide the mocking tone beneath her teary voice. "But look what happened to Matthew who is supposedly an expert in hand to hand fighting. Do you want to die?"
"Please, Ethan," Kelly said. "Listen to your wife. I can take care of myself."
"Listen boy," the gunman added. "I can tell that these women are actually smarter than you. Be smart. Stand down. I'm holding a gun. Look what happened to your friend over there."
"He is not my friend," Ethan said, before charging in. One guy came with a bat and he dodged it, grabbing his arm, twisting it so much so that he cried out in agony, and then pushing him towards the guy with the gun before he would get the chance to shoot.
Next came the guy with the knife, but grabbed hold of the knife fast enough before he could react, and then plunged it into his thighs, leaving him handicapped.
"I will shoot you," the one with the gun threatened, but before he could do any such thing, Ethan was fast enough to catch him by the gun, punching him particularly at the throat.
His boss, Kelly was about falling to the floor, but he swooped in and caught her before she could, with a gun in his hand. She immediately stared at him and saw nothing of the poor man that worked for her, but a real man. One willing to risk his life for someone he deems as important.
He called the police later on with everyone still in shock of what had just happened before their eyes. The criminals managed to escape while they were all distracted before the arrival of the police.
"Oh, Ethan thank you so much for saving me." Kelly hugged him tight. Sandy could see what was happening as the man she had come with was still hiding himself in shame. She immediately felt jealousy rouse up in her. She went on the offensive.
"Leave my man alone," she said as she tried pushing Kelly out of the way.
Kelly was not having it this time, she had had enough of Sandy in one day, and immediately branded her a slap. One that left red markings on her face.
Kelly was beginning to feel drawn to Ethan who she now saw very differently from before. He looked like a good prospect for her plans, she approached him with her thoughts immediately, shy with her face as red as the evening sun that now hung in the sky.
"Ethan... Can I speak to you quickly about something?" She began. "See, I couldn't help but overhear that you are about to divorce from that woman, so... I was hoping that you really should sign the divorce papers. If you do, I will get married to you, and give you everything you deserve.”
Ethan was perplexed by the situation that he had landed himself. It felt as though she had said something he had totally misheard. He had to ask for more clarity."Are you talking to me?" He asked, unsure of the red haired woman's intentions "Yes, I am talking to you. There could be no one else I would be talking to here, except you," she said. Ethan was speechless. Sandy watched from a corner, still reeling from the slap she had sustained from Kelly. Even she could not believe her ears and eyes, let alone, Ethan.Ethan looked at her, she flipped her face away in a spiteful manner, although she was filled with jealousy at the time. He sure as hell was tired of the way his wife treated him, but leaving her, was a different story all together. One that he was not ready to write or embark on. He had a good relationship with her father ever since he saved the man years ago and in return, the man arranged for him to marry his only child. But as for Sandy and her mother, they couldn't be
"I can't believe we were thrown out like that," Sandy said in rage as she walked out of the jewelry shop with Matthew. "I am never going to come to this shop anymore. I swear by my name."Matthew did not say anything. Although he was angry as Sandy, he was more embarrassed than he was angry, and so kept his rage sealed within, his hands caressing his nose every now and then."And you," Sandy called out, referring to Matthew. "What was that about? You said you were an expert in martial arts and then beaten like a dog right in front of me who you are supposed to protect. Worse is, you even hid behind me. Meanwhile Ethan... that Ethan... You know what? Forget it." She was still overwhelmed with jealousy, and the fact that her now ex husband was now with a woman richer, and far more prettier than her made her heart almost explode in resentment. "I can't believe all of this is happening to me," she whispered to herself, away from the hearing of Matthew. "Why am I getting jealous over so
"What's all of this supposed to mean?" Ethan asked, clearly dumbfounded and surprised at what he was seeing from the documents. "Is it not clear enough?" Kelly asked in a soft tone that still came off as very intimidating. "Please don't tell me I made a wrong choice in choosing you." Her words sounded like a joke as much as they were serious."I mean it is clear, but why?" He asked, unable to hide the surprise glued to his face. Kelly sighed once more. "What you're seeing there, my dear future husband, is a contract. A marriage contract. And as you have read, you will be paid handsomely for it. About a hundred thousand dollars per month just so you fulfill your roll as husband in my life. Do you understand it now?" Ethan was speechless. What word would he have said to actually explain what he felt. It seemed far better to keep a mouth shut so it doesn't say anything that was not quite able to capture the moment."As expected," she continued speaking. "I knew you'd be speechless. I
What was he supposed to do with that information? He felt as though he had gone to the kind of heaven some men dream of, but instead it was ruled by a she-devil, not angels."I'll see what I can do with that," he forced himself to say, lacking in his mouth anything that wouldn't come out forced or weird. She shook her head and he left soon.On the way out of the office he saw an alert on his phone. He had been sent money by her. Immediately he also received a text from her. "You must have seen the money I sent," the text read. "That is for clothes. I think you don't have any good clothes to wear, and that is such a shame, because I will not let you go dressing around me like a janitor. You need to be presentable because I will be taking you with me to go see my parents."He put the phone in his pockets after reading the text. He pinched himself on the arm, probably to ascertain that the entire day was not a mere dream that he would wake up from soon enough. It was not a dream as he
"Luke?" Ethan mouthed in surprise at the person he had just accidentally bumped shoulders with. A tall man with dark flowing hair."Well, look at who we have here?" The stranger Ethan referred to as Luke said, standing just across to him with a smile. "I thought I'd never find you, man."They both hugged each other, saying as one, "Come here, brother." "So what are you doing here?" Ethan asked. "I did not know that I would find any one from the Ancient Order here at any case. But look at you. What brings you here, my brother?""You," Luke said concisely. "We've been looking all over for you. At a point we even thought that you were dead. What have you been doing here?""Well, you know I've been living here, doing really simple jobs and trying to scrape by for myself a decent living." As Ethan said this, he quickly remembered the job he had now as a contract marriage and then shuddered a bit, wondering if such a job could be called anything decent."Something decent huh?” Luke said,
After Ethan was done talking, there was a brief moment of silence that hung over the car. None of them knew what to say afterwards. It was almost like someone had sealed their mouths off with tapes."So about the proposition from the Order, are you going to take it or not?" Luke asked, breaking the once sacred silence. Ethan let out a breath of surrender. "I don't know, Luke. I don't think I can take it. It seems so much like a grand thing to do. Way grander than anything I can undertake.”"Really? Why?" "Like I said, replacing Grandmaster Humber of the Order, is not something I think a person like me can undertake."Luke furrowed his dark eye brows. "That is exactly what I don't understand. You're the Ethan. The one Grandmaster put his faith most in, how can anything be bigger than you who was chosen by him? Grandmaster Humber doesn't make mistakes of this sort. This much I know of him. And he trained you for this day.”Ethan was quiet for a while. "Besides what exactly is in this
The door opened to a room painted all white, and Sandy came in. She had a look on her face that made it known to everyone in the room that something had recently gone down but the look itself was neither happy nor sad.Her mother was sitting on a chair close to a bed. A doctor stood over the bed, and on the bed was a middle aged man, asleep."Hey mother, how is father doing?" She asked, walking closer to them."Well, the doctor can tell you," the mother said. Her face had a tired expression."Oh," the doctor began, almost nervously. "He's getting better. We are doing our best to stabilise him and his situation. You know the ailment is incurable.”"Please, do all you can," Sandy said, looking at the doctor with pitiful eyes. "Ehm, doctor. Can I speak to my mom privately please?”"Oh, sure can do. I was about attending to something else either way." The doctor left in a few minutes. "So, mother, guess what?" Asked Sandy, a bit enthusiastically once the doctor left the room."You know t
Ethan could not remember the last time he was in a hotel. It could have probably been two to three years, he could not recall. So being at The Beach Side hotel on a night like that, caused him great discomfort.He took up his phone and called her at once. She picked up the call and he said, "Hello, I'm here at the hotel.""Great. Come to the bar. It's easy to recognize. It's a little beach bar with red and blue light bulbs that spread across its exterior like stars." She was clear in her description, and so, he was able to find the place with ease. It was just as she described it. He got in the bar and spotted her right there sitting down sipping what he could say to be some red wine. She gestured for him to come and he came.She wore an open back loose blue gown that was also see through. He could spot underneath the gown, a red bra holding her breasts."Like what you see?" She asked dryly, making him stumble as he was about to sit down."Oh." He gasped, feeling embarrassed that sh