CHAPTER 3: A FULL HOUSE.
"Oh, Justin. It took you long enough. Welcome," Samantha greeted.
Justin was utterly perplexed seeing Samantha at his house, being all warm and friendly towards him. He didn't know what to make of it.
"Samantha? What are you doing here? We're no longer together. You broke up with me. Remember?" Justin said, doing his best to maintain his cool.
"Oh Justin, I am fully aware of that," Samantha said, rolling her eyes. "Are you gonna come in or what?"
Justin kept looking at her, confused and oblivious as to what was going on. But then, he got his bag and walked into the house.
Coming in, he was greeted with a sight that brought back mostly hurtful memories of his growing up days as a child. Not being a biological child of the family that raised him, made them to treat him discriminatively. He always felt like an outsider amongst them, under the same roof.
He knew his only hope for a bailout from that situation was his education. So, he burned the midnight candle, studying to ace his SAT, which should hopefully acquire him a scholarship to a prestigious university of his choice.
He did ace his SAT, but unfortunately, he didn't get any scholarship offer into the universities he had hoped to get into. All hope seemed to have been lost, not until when San Jacinto College offered him a full time scholarship, to his surprise.
The scholarship was his salvation from the clutches of mistreatment and outright discrimination.
He had harbored resentment towards his so called family for a while, but he had learned to shove them aside and forge ahead with his life.
Seeing no one in the living room, Justin walked to his room, the room he shared with his cousin, Joey, and dropped his bag. The room was now being occupied by one of the twins, since he had not been coming around for vacations for nearly two years, and Joey had also moved out.
Justin saw posters of rock bands plastered all around the room. Seeing them made him chuckle. He was never allowed to hang up even one picture of anything he loved, even at his own side of the room. Recalling all that made him shake his head, smiling.
He remained in the room, doing his possible best not to have any encounter with Samantha. That was the wisest thing he thought he could do, at that moment. But he still wondered what on earth she was doing there.
Not long after, Justin heard the squeaking sound of the wooden floor. He abruptly sat up, not knowing who exactly it was that approached the room he was in.
The door to the room swung open, and Samantha slowly emerged. Justin looked at her, wondering what brought her to the room.
"Hey," she said. Justin stared at her blankly, saying nothing. She walked slowly towards Justin, making puppy dog eyes at him.
"Are you still mad at me? Hmm?" Samantha said softly, reaching out her hand to touch Justin's face.
"Don't even dare," Justin snarled at her, forcefully grabbing her hand and shoving it aside. His hateful glare didn't deter her from still trying to touch him.
"Don't be mad. That was the way it ought to have been," she said. "But I'm sure you still remember how you gave it to me real good, don't you?"
Samantha seductively licked her lips, and placed her left leg on the bed Justin sat on, pulling up her dress, exposing her firm thighs.
Justin gulped, as his heart raced, beholding that sight. Noticing his subtle reactions, she smirked.
"I know you want it. Come get it," Samantha invited.
Justin got up, still maintaining his glare, towering over her. As he walked towards her, she walked backwards until she reached the wall, laying her back against it.
Justin quietly bent down and whispered in her ears, " Go find someone else who you'd whore around with."
Saying that, he looked at her with disdain and walked out of the room, leaving her there.
"That son of a bitch," she scoffed, sulking, gritting her teeth. She arranged herself and headed out of the room as well.
Justin sat outside on the front porch rather this time. He got himself engaged with his phone to take his mind off of Samantha. Not long after, he saw his aunt's car driving towards the house. She drove and parked the car right in front of the garage.
He stood up to welcome the family. She had gone to go get the twins who were in middle school.
"Welcome home aunt Maggie," Justin greeted, cheerfully.
"Justin? You came," Mrs Adams seemed unexcited. Justin clearly saw her reaction but shrugged it off. He was used to such treatment from her.
"Justin!" One of the twins ran and hugged him excitedly.
"Oh my god Geoffrey. You've grown," Justin said excitedly examining the fourteen year old.
"Juliet, look at you. Aren't I getting a hug?" Justin said, stretching his hand out to the other twin. But she rolled her eyes hissing, and walked away without saying a word to Justin. Justin just smiled at Geoffrey as they walked together to into the house.
"I can't wait to show you my latest collections," Geoffrey said excitedly to Justin.
"Can't wait to see them either," Justin responded smiling.
Getting into the house, the twins ran upstairs to go freshen up and change.
"Samantha, come join me prepare dinner," Mrs Adams requested.
"Yes ma'am," she replied, standing up from the couch in the living room and following Mrs Adams to the kitchen.
Justin followed them to the kitchen and asked, "Need any help?"
"We're good," Mrs Adams replied, nonchalantly. Justin nodded in acknowledgement and walked away.
But he noticed that the cooking today was way more serious than he had witnessed before, except on special occasions. But the last time he checked, that day wasn't a special day. So why all the preparations? Justin wondered.
Not long after Mr Adams got home as well, parking his car beside his wife's, and walked into the house.
"Good evening sir," Justin greeted respectfully.
"Yeah yeah." Mr Adams replied, ignoring Justin as well.
Justin simply smiled, shrugging it off as well.
After a while, the door bell rang. He didn't want to go answer the door. But the bell rang a second time, so he got up and headed to the door. Opening the door, his eyes widened in shock.
"Hello little man. Surprised to see me?" Joey gave Justin his trademark wicked smile.
"Step aside," Joey tossed him aside and walked in.
'Why is he here? What's actually going on? Why is he coming home the same day I chose to arrive?' Justin reasoned within him.
CHAPTER 4: ENEMIES AT THE TABLE."Dinner is ready," Mrs Adams said, calling the attention of everyone, as she and Samantha were done setting the table."Alrighty! It was about time," Joey said, all excited. The father-son duo got up and headed to the dining table. They were seated at the living room chatting away just between the two of them.Justin was seated in the living room as well, but he seemed to be invisible to them, as always. He didn't mind though, that was normal. At least, he wasn't being beaten anymore. He was way too grown for that now.The twins, Geoffrey and Juliet both exited their rooms and headed to the dining table. Justin was the last to get up and head to the dining table. Immediately he stood up, he saw Joey smacking Samantha's butt and winking at her. She gave him a look of disapproval, but he smirked instead and took his seat. Justin furrowed his brow, wondering what the hell that was all about, but he said nothing.Justin took his seat beside the excited Ge
CHAPTER 5: NOT MY FAMILY."Smack the shit out of that ungrateful moron. She's made her choice. Be happy that she chose someone like Joey," Mrs Adams said. "Language Magdalene, language," Mr Adams cautioned his wife this time. "Oh, whatever," Mrs Adams snorted disrespectfully at her husband. Her attention was on her favorite child, Joey.Joey and Justin stood, glaring at each other. As face off was imminent. Justin peered hatefully at Samantha and Joey, but refrained from swinging a punch at either of them. "Because you're all grown now, you think you can take me on? Huh? I don't need all that muscle to beat the living day light out of you," Joey snarled.Indeed, Justin who was once little had grown up to have a moderately muscular build on his six foot body frame, which appealed to most folks who beheld him. He was a good looking young man, but he lacked the things that would make that handsomeness of his stand out from many.Justin suddenly chuckled, shaking his head disappointedl
CHAPTER 6: THE BIG APPLE."Dude, what those folks did is outrageous. Jeez," Duke said over the phone, speaking with Justin. He had arrived his shared apartment at SJC a day after the altercation he had with his foster family. "Tell me about it," Justin retorted, snorting detestably."It makes me wonder how you were ever raised by those maniacs.""Point of correction, I wasn't raised by them, I only lived with them," Justin pointed out."That's about right," Duke agreed. "So what are you gonna do now?"He sighed, and replied, "I don't know man. Well, am thinking I should just take up Professor James' offer. What do think?" "Hmm," Duke pondered for a bit. "You have big dreams man, and I know you have a shot at pulling it off and getting your footing in the big apple, unlike some of us who've been tied down to run the family business. So I think you should give your dreams and aspirations a shot.""You really think so?" he asked."Mm-hmm. Despite all that you sacrifed for that self ce
CHAPTER 7: THE INTERVIEW.Justin hurried to his apartment and locked the door behind him. He leaned on it as he inhaled and exhaled, doing his best to calm his nerves down as his heart raced. He quickly went to his window which faced the street and hid by it's corner to have a look at the street. From the angle he stood, he didn't see the vehicle. So he went to the other side, and slightly parted the curtain. Peeking through, he found no trace of the car that followed him.He sighed in relief, and sat on his bed. Anxiety had made a bit sweaty, so he wiped it off his face. "What the hell was that? Am I being followed or what? But- But, I didn't offend anyone. Did I?" Justin questioned himself, trying to be certain he wasn't just being paranoid."Could it be the pick pocket?" he pondered. "Or, could it be the Adams?" Those were the two folks that he could come up with in his wildest imaginations that would want to hurt him. But he did nothing wrong to them, so that made him even the
CHAPTER 8: OUT COLD"What?!" Justin gasped at what he heard. His name was the last to be mentioned to not have passed the second phase of the interview. The man who had tried to sow a seed of discouragement in him blurted out a laughter, but crossed his hand over his mouth to prevent it from being audible."Am sorry, but it's time for you to take your leave," the interviewer who called out the names instructed, unapologetically. Disheartened and disappointed at the turn of events, Justin got his bag and walked slowly out of the interview hall. Gloominess was written all over his face. He had high hopes, and all of a sudden now, everything seemed bleak.Mr Frank Alvaro watched Justin as he walked out of the interview hall, walking behind all the other disqualified candidates, heading to the elevator. He shrugged, pursing his lips, and faced the remaining candidates who made it to the third and final phase of the interview.Justin disappointedly walked out of the building, wondering
CHAPTER 9: QUESTIONS UPON QUESTIONS.Justin was suddenly awakened as a result of his head bumping hard into the car seat in front of him. Shards of glasses were scattered within the car as the car was ran into by another car as his abductors conveyed him.An unknown group of men had kidnapped him, having paid off the neighbor some reasonable amount of money to have him sedated.Gaining a bit of consciousness, but drowsy still, he could hear an exchange of heavy gunfire for some moment. He could see some figures falling to the ground, as they were shot. But he had no strength, neither was he cognitive enough to do anything to keep himself safe from harm's way.After a while, the gunshots stopped. He saw the figure of a person approach him, flashing a light right at his face. Examining him, the man found that he was okay, except the concussion in his forehead."Wh- What's happe- What's happening?" Justin questioned faintly, squinting his eyes as he blocked off the light from entering hi
CHAPTER 10: MOMENT OF TRUTH.Justin looked at Mr Bishop, wondering why he smirked."Why did you do it, sir?" Justin enquired.The men standing guard were sulking, wondering who the hell that Justin was, that their boss allowed him to speak freely with him."Well, let's just say they were suddenly interested in what I've had my eyes on for a while now," Mr Bishop answered.Justin raised his left eyebrow, looking intently at Mr Bishop. He knew Mr Bishop's answer was way too bogus. He could sense there was more to it than meets the eye."You think I had a hand in your abduction?" Mr Bishop said. "Here. Why don't you have a look?"He handed Justin his cellphone after he flipped through it, showing him a surveillance footage of the rescue. Justin played it and saw that he was actually resued."I truly am grateful sir, for the rescue. But, who are those folks who came after me? Why me, of all people? What did they want?" Justin asked.Mr Bishop sighed softly, and looked at Justin."This was
CHAPTER 11: SETTLING IN.Gomez headed out of the study, in obedience to Mr Bishop's instruction. Making his way through the main entrance, he sighted Justin standing outside the house.He stood there for some minutes, Justin couldn't take notice of his presence. And for a moment, he noticed how Justin was troubled. He had both his hands on his head, squinting his eyes, and sighing frustratedly.Immediately, Gomez returned to the study. He was granted permission to enter the study by Mr Bishop."Anything the matter?" Mr Bishop asked."Justin seems restless and unsettled.""Mm," Mr Bishop sighed, tapping one of his fingers on the table. "Go and get him settled in.""Right away sir," Gomez responded and bowed as he exited the study. He quickly sent one of the guard to go fetch the chief steward of the Bishop estate, summoning him immediately. Shortly after, the chief steward arrived with a sense of urgency. He bowed his head then said, "You called for me, sir?""Yes," Gomez responded.