The Revenger's System

8. Who Rides the Helicopter?

Before dawn break, the Crowne's resident was as silent as the previous night. Not a single soul had risen from their sleep due to the hangover and exhaustion from last night's birthday party.

But then, the calmness and silence of early morning air were heavily disturbed by a helicopter attempting to land in the front yard. Aside from a silver Porsche and red Ferrari owned by Robert and Violet, the parking space was relatively empty.

"What's..?" Robert was the first one to wake up. The officially sixty-year-old man groggily stood up and shook his wife as he heard the copter's loud sound. "Wake up. I think Jared come home."

"Hmm…" but Marissa merely shifted to her left, her back facing him. But, five seconds later, she gasped and got up, her face lit up like Christmas lights. "Jared's here?"

"There's a copter outside, who else could it be? Maybe he feels bad for not coming to my party last night!"

With that in mind, they scurried out of their bedroom and rushed to wake Violet. She was harder to wake.

"My sweet child, wake up already!"

"Your older brother is here!"

After a minute of no sign, they banged on Violet's door. It wasn't locked, but they wanted to give her privacy. Violet brought Ashton home again, so they didn't want to enter the room in case they had no clothes.

"Dear, your brother Jared is here." Robert said, excitement flowed from his tone. "He comes by helicopter, no less! You have to see this! Come on, wake up already!"

Outside, the helicopter hovered closer to the ground, blowing air to the flowers and decorative plants around the front yard.

The loud sound of pollution finally woke Violet. "What's that sound?" she grumbled, holding her head as the headache quickly attacked her. She regretted drinking too much at the party.

Ashton woke up a second later, groaning as he felt just as bad. "That sounds like a copter," he mumbled, turning to his girlfriend, "Is there fire?"

"No," Violet said, "I think I heard my mom said it's my brother."

"Your brother?"

"Jared. I told you about him already."

"Hmm?" Ashton rubbed his eyes, "The CEO one?"

"Yes. Come on, I want to see him."

"I got a massive headache, Vi."

"No shit, Sherlock. But you have to meet him first."

"Fine, fine…"

And so, four people ambled to exit the house, with hands shielding their eyes from the wind and dried leaves that blew to their faces.

The hovering helicopter slowly reached the ground. The side door opened, and someone stepped down out of it.

Robert and Marissa came forward as the copter's machine was turned off. "Jared–"

But, their beloved son didn't come out of the copter. No. Instead of their oldest son, Jared, it was their useless scum of a son-in-law who came.

"What–what are you–"

"How come–"

They couldn't even finish their sentence, too stunned to see who stood before them now.

Ryan faltered, standing awkwardly between the copter and his in-laws. Behind them, he could see his wife and her boyfriend looking at him with surprise and disbelief on their face. Seeing their shocked look while they were still in their pajamas and last night's clothes, Ryan didn't feel bad that he was still in the waiter's uniform now.

To escape their scrutiny, Ryan turned to the pilot, who had just got off, and said, "You can bring the copter back."

"Uhm…" the pilot looked confused for some reason. "It's already paid, so it's yours, sir."

Ryan shook his head. "No, please. I don't need a copter. Not after this, I mean. So, you can bring it back to wherever it came from, really."

The pilot shook his head. "No, sir. It is yours now."

Instead of doing as he was told, the pilot gave Ryan some documents about the helicopter's ownership. "Please sign this form and I will leave right away."

Ryan didn't know what else to do, so he just signed it. He figured he could give the copter to someone else later. Or sell it, if no one wants the helicopter.

"What-what, what does this mean?" Marissa stuttered as he approached his son-in-law. "How can you ride this?"

Ryan ignored his mother-in-law's question as he returned some of the documents to the pilot.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Wilder. If you have more question, please contact us." The pilot said and gave the copter's keys to Ryan. He politely smiled at the Crowne family and left their front yard. Soon, the company's car would pick him up from there.

"Where did you get this helicopter?" Robert asked Ryan, eyes wide from sheer shock and disbelief. "Di you steal it somewhere?"

"N-no," Ryan shook his head. "He just gave it to me."

"You're joking!" Marissa placed her hand on her hips, acting very much like the evil mother-in-law she probably was. "You must steal this, there's no way you can buy a helicopter out of nowhere!"

Ryan agreed, but it just happened. He rode the copter, and they all saw him get out of it. It wasn't a dream, and he was not hallucinating. It was real, and his in-laws' expected reaction was not his imagination either.

"I didn't steal it," Ryan said, even when he knew they would not believe him. "I bought it from–"

"What bullshit are you saying, Ryan?" Violet cut him off with a snide remark. "Either you steal it from someone and pay that man to act like you bought it, or you sell your body last night in the party and some desperate old woman gave it to you to keep you silent?"

Violet watched too much drama, but Ryan thought it was fine. After all, Violet had to observe other people's acts and practice by herself. Nonetheless, it'd do her some good if she could watch different genres too.

"Jeez, Vi. Not all men likes women. I bet your housekeeper got this copter from his sugar daddy. I saw him keep looking at an older man last night in the party." Ashton said this with a smirk on his face. "He came back here early morning, like a shameless boytoy."

"I wasn't–"

Deep down, Ryan knew that no one would believe him. Ashton's sentence indeed made them frozen on the spot, and no one even confirmed it to him. So, no matter what, Ryan would still be the worst person in their eyes.

Fine. If they wouldn't believe him, why would he tell the truth?

"I won a lottery, that's all."

"No way–"

"Well, what can I say? I'm extremely lucky last night. I got soooo much monye that you all couldn't even imagine."

"You're lying." Marissa accused.

"I am not."

"I want prove."

Ryan knew it was a mere excuse to buy his mother-in-law's things. Whatever. He'd humor them for now. "You want a prove?"

"Yes." Marissa nodded, and a mocking smile began to break on her face. You can fool us into thinking that you buy the copter when you just rent it for a few hours. With your lottery money, I doubt you can buy a handbag from Vernest, let alone a helicopter."

Vernest was one of the top luxury brands in the world. The brand was not as old as Louis Vuitton or Chanel, but it recently stole the spotlight after several big names in Hollywood were on its lewd advertisement.

Ryan wanted to laugh at her thoughts but kept his mouth shut. His mother-in-law said that to test him out and use him to get herself a branded handbag. He was not a fool, but he was exhausted, damn it.

Instead, Ryan said to TEETS in his head. 'Can I buy Vernest?'

[Of course.]

[Transaction on process.]

[Please wait for a minute.]

[…]

[Apologize.]

[Transaction process is on hold.]

[The second party seemed to be unable to make a quick decision right now.]

[The second party asks for  hours before making a final decision.]

[Waiting for Host's confirmation.]

'It's fine.'

[Understood.]

[The second party will contact TEETS 24 hours from now.]

[Apologize for the inconvenience.]

Ryan sighed and told the news to his in-laws. "I'll buy it tomorrow."

As expected, his in-laws, Violet, and her boyfriend laughed at him. "See? Just admit you can't buy it. We won't be fooled easily, you useless scum."

His mother-in-law said as they turned their back to him. "Don't slack off while we go back to sleep. I want breakfast ready when we wake up, you hear me?"

Just wait until the bag arrives. He'd prove to them that he could buy almost anything now.