FIVE

"Your bruises are going down, that's good."

Liam Lawson smiled as he walked beside his best friend, Alice Kim, as she no longer had a bandage upon her head from her concussion a few days earlier.

"It still hurts."

Alice released a whine as she clung to his arm, because since he had taken care of her after her concussion, she hadn't left his side.

"I can't believe that Paul Aron nearly killed you."

Arthur Leclerc and Marcus Armstrong spoke in unison, their voices blending together, with the pair walking on the other side of the Korean girl, spending time with her since she had been in a mood with Clément due to his behavior when she was concussed.

"When I see his face, I am so punching him." Alice released a scoff at the mere thought of the Estonian boy who had nearly took her head clean off with a door.

"Just make it a light punch, please. Paul is nice, he wouldn't have meant to hurt you." Liam spoke gently, having known that Paul Aron would have not done it deliberately and would have felt so bad for what he had done.

"Nah, let her beat him up!" Marcus bellowed, wrinkles forming around his eyes as his face lit up in to a smile.

"Being on her side won't make you her favorite New Zealander." Arthur grinned, soft giggles leaving his lips.

Alice gave the Monégasque a high five at his response to the Armstrong boy.

"Dennis has ordered takeout for our little Kimmy to help her feel better, so he says that we need to get back his place before it arrives... which is in ten minutes." Marcus rolled his eyes as he read the text message, before hearing Liam release a small groan.

"We'd have to run but it might make Alice feel worse if we run, so you two go ahead, we'll catch up, but don't eat our food. We haven't eaten all day." Liam waved his hand dismissively, wanting to look after his young friend who was still recovering.

He was always looking out for her, it was just a shame that her parents weren't.

They were always away on business, never at home so he knew that Alice was often lonely, even if she didn't say anything.

They had missed her birthdays, her graduation from high school, her being rushed in to the Emergency room after having been in a car accident.

They had barely been there for her, and it upset Liam massively, because Alice was always so hopeful that they would turn up and come home to spend some time with her, but they never did.

Work was more important to them.

"Nope, the food will go cold."

Arthur Leclerc shouted loudly as an idea came in to his mind, crouching down in front of the Kim girl who immediately understood what he was doing, jumping on to his back and wrapping her arms and legs around him so that she didn't fall off.

Before Liam could even say one more word, Arthur had taken off running with Alice clinging to him, being carried on his back, making a small chuckle leave his lips before he began to jog, running to catch up to them and get to Dennis' apartment before the food arrived.

As they were almost there, the two New Zealanders couldn't help but laugh loudly, cackled and wheezes leaving at the lips at the mere sight just only a couple of metres away from them.

Arthur and Alice had gotten distracted and were talking to a dog.

Oh how they loved the pair of them.

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"Kehlani released a new song, nobody talk to me."

Alice Kim lifted her hand up in to the air and faced her palm towards her friends, seeing them nodding their heads up and down a couple of times.

Clément Novalak leant forwards to high five her hand before she could lower it.

The Korean girl listened carefully to the new song, her eyes closing slightly so that she could embrace the song, hoping to pass the time until her parents arrived back from their respective business trips.

Her friends were waiting with her, since that was what they always did when her parents would return home.

Her phone hadn't rang yet and she hadn't recieved any text messages either so she had no idea what was happening and if they were coming home or going immediately on another business trip, which wouldn't be the first time.

"Ha, idiot."

Clément Novalak muttered underneath his breath as he stared down at his phone, having recieved a text message from a certain blonde boy from Estonia, asking how Alice was.

"I know you are."

"Hey!"

The French boy released a whine at his best friends sarcastic comment as she chuckled, opening her eyes as her music had now stopped, her eyes scouring her phone so that she could try and find a text message or anything from her parents.

And she did.

"They're heading back out on business, dad's going to Japan and mum's going to Mexico."

"I'm sorry, Alice."

Liam Lawson muttered quietly as he took a seat beside her, his arms loosely wrapping around her small frame so that he could offer her some brotherly comfort which he knew that she needed and that she'd appreciate.

"Three months and six days away on business." Alice found herself muttering almost silently, surprised that the Lawson boy had managed to hear it.

"It's been that long? Three months and six days?"

"Yeah, now you know why I didn't tell you guys at the start of the season." The Kim girl released a groan, lifting her hands up to rub at her face in annoyance at having been once again abandoned.

"Alice, you're our best friend. You're welcome to come with us wherever we go, whenever we go."

Dennis Hauger spoke with a frown upon his youthful face, crouching in front of the girl to offer her some support, his hand lightly being placed on to her knee.

"Really?"

"Yeah, of course!" Clément spoke up. "Now how does this sound? Meeting up and talking to Paul... he says that he's sorry for nearly killing you with a cupboard door."

He was.

It had been a couple of weeks since the incident where Paul had opened a cupboard door and hit Alice square in the face with it and she had not forgiven him.

No, she had avoided him, insulted him and dreamt of killing him in many many different ways to the point where Clem was sick of her describing of the multiple ways to get rid of a dead body without ever being found out.

It was surprisingly a lot.

"Going to Silverstone to kill Paul Aron and feed his body to pigs? Absolutely!" Alice's face lit up in childlike excitement at the mere thought of killing the Estonian boy.

She had not forgiven him and she never would.

She knew that she would rot in her grave before she would even allow her brain to entertain the thought of forgiving Paul, and even then, her rotten and decomposed body would still try and kill him.

And most likely succeed.

"Alice!"

"What?"

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A/N

Short and long awaited but here

What do you think?

Anyway I hope that you all enjoy this short chapter and I'll see you all soon for the next one,

I'm so proud of all of you, my loves

Love you all,

-RUBY 🇵🇸🇨🇩🇸🇩