On the road, three black sedan vehicles could be seen driving, following one after the other. They kept a similar distance apart, and each of them were filled with guards that were from the Rising Dragon gang.
However, the one who had orchestrated this wasn’t their gang leader, but the mayor. In the centre sedan in the back seat, Xin was sitting in the middle, while Tiffany sat up against the door and her brother Jayden was on the other side as well.
They had been riding for quite a while. The Clove family lived close to the outskirts, yet before heading there, Jayden told the driver to stop by the hospital. He wanted to drop Tiffany off there, so the girl could get checked up before getting picked up by her guardian.
For the most part, the class diva had been out of it, still coming to terms with what had happened today, her role in this entire mess, as well as to how class she had come to her own death. All the while, she had been holding on to the side of her head where Xin had kicked her.
“I’m sorry.” Tiffany eventually blurted out as she turned to Xin. “I’m really sorry… for everything.”
The high school girl didn’t break eye contact for even a second, as if waiting for an answer. It made an already awkward situation even more awkward, especially since both girls were only inches apart from each other. However, contrary to what Tiffany might have expected, Xin didn’t accept her apology.
Grabbing the skirt Xin was wearing, she scrunched it up in her hand, pulling tightly. All the anger inside her, the frustration built up had to be released somehow.
“You think a simple ‘sorry’ is going to cut it?” Xin questioned Tiffany, her eyes narrowed to slits. “All I ever wanted was the opportunity to enjoy a normal high school life! Was that really too much to ask for?!”
Honestly, although Tiffany was sorry for what Xin had been through, since they had all got out of it relatively okay she thought things would be fine. As long as she didn’t tell anyone what she had seen today, and didn’t get involved with the gang mess again, everything would be okay, which led Tiffany to ask.
“Why..are you so upset? I don’t understand, we are okay right, but please, is there anything I can do to fix it?” Tiffany asked, trying to be more sincere this time. She wasn’t used to apologising, usually she just got whatever she wanted. Nevertheless, she knew that she had screwed up royally today.
“WHY!” Xin shouted, raising her voice, and the man behind the wheel glanced at the rear mirror looking at her. “Tell me, why did you have to take things this far? Why couldn’t you have just kept it between the two of us?
“I’ve tried apologising to you for more than a week in which you tortured me, only for your goons to prevent me from so much as talking to you… Why couldn’t you have called it quits after that?
“All of this… because I accidentally threw you into a pile of vomit? I apologised to you straight away, didn’t I?! Back then, I really meant it, because I knew what I had done wrong, but do you? Do you even have a whiff of an idea how much could have gone wrong today?!”
“Everyone at school suffered this morning, because of you! Worse, you’ve gotten my entire family involved! ” Xin was tearing up, something she rarely did, but she couldn’t hold in her frustration any more.
“You wanted to make my life miserable, didn’t you? Well, congratulations, you’ve actually managed to do it. You have no idea how long I had to plead and beg my father to give me a chance to come to a normal highschool like Westbridge. After today, it’s safe to say, he’ll have me transfer somewhere else!
“I want you to know this, and I want you to carry this weight with you for the rest of your life. You’ve ruined my life. My one chance at freedom and a normal school life has vanished.” Even though saying the words were so painful, and her throat felt so heavy filled with water when speaking them, when she looked at Tiffany she smiled, her face teary eyed.
It was something Tiffany didn’t understand, but seeing Xin force a smile like that at her, even though she didn’t know the reason she was sad. It pained her… it hurt her a lot.
‘What… did I do?’ Tiffany thought, reflecting back to when this had all started. It was hard for her to self reflect at this moment, because she really didn’t understand why she had done the things she did. Why did she want to hurt Xin so bad? Was it the environment of the people around her, or did she just want to show what she was capable of because someone hadn’t listened to her…Xin was a threat.
Either way all those reasons seemed stupid now.
Her only silver lining was that the car was approaching its destination, the hospital. Since Xin was obviously no longer in the mood to talk, Jayden decided to do the talking instead. He informed Tiffany about what she should say to the hospital.
One of the Rising Dragon gang members would accompany her to pay for everything. At the same time, he would be there to make sure she didn’t blabber about anything that had happened today, and that included the fact that Jayden Tiger was actually Xin Clove’s brother.
After explaining everything, the door was closed and Tiffany was left with the guard in front of the hospital. She looked up at where the sky would be but could only see the top of the hospital covering for cars.
“AHHHHHH!” Tiffany screamed at the top of her lungs, getting all of her frustration and worry out of her.
——
Back in the car, the brother, and sister pair were amongst themselves and Jayden was thinking of a way to cheer Xin up. He was smart enough to not even attempt some small talk after her breakdown. However, he got a sudden inspiration when he looked outside and spotted a strange green plant outside that reminded him of a certain someone.
“Soooo, do you need a new outfit for that upcoming date?” Jayden asked, which worked wonders in catching Xin’s attention, though she was speechless. “Care to tell me, what the hell you did that would make a guy be willing to fight an entire colour gang for you? You’ve been here for barely a month… did you cast some magic spell on him or something?”
Xin’s face was turning a shade of red as usual. However, her brother’s words did make her wonder about how she got Gary to like her. She hadn’t done much, and if it was just a simple physical attraction, she could understand.
‘Was it when I kicked him in the head? And now he’s saved me twice.’ Xin thought.
Meanwhile, Jayden’s thoughts also revolved around Gary.
‘How could a kid the same age as Xin be so strong? Food thief, what exactly are you hiding? That ‘date’ is certainly something I’ll be looking forward to…’
*******
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