♟

EVERYONE WAS STARING AT Max as if he's a painting in a museum. They were waiting for him to do something, or to be more accurate, they were waiting for something to happen to him.

     It's their third period, which means they were minutes away from their lunch break. Their teacher continues with their lecture, while Ari continuously glances at his watch, his legs bouncing up and down because of how nervous he was.

     Nothing has happened to Max yet, but Ari was a hundred percent sure that once the bell rings, Ari won't be enough to protect him. And since Max shamelessly provoked Ervin like that earlier, he was certain that the Jacks wouldn't go easy on him anymore.

     "Now if you can turn your page to—" The bell finally rings, interrupting their Geometry teacher Ms. Warren. The class doesn't even wait for further instructions as they start standing from their seats to get ready for their lunch.

     "Please solve the equation written on the board. We'll talk about this at our next meeting," Ms. Warren tells the students of Class II-A before grabbing her things and taking her leave.

     Ari hurriedly lifts himself from his seat and stands in front of Max like he's covering him. Max, who was grabbing his student card from his bag, looks at Ari and massages his temple. "What the hell are you doing now?" he asks.

     "Protecting you," Ari casually answers.

     Max sighs and stands from his seat before pushing Ari away from him. He then looks back at Ari with a serious expression and says, "Be honest with me Aristotle. Did my brother ask you to do this? Did he threaten you? Do you owe him money?"

     Ari immediately breaks eye contact with Max before giving him an answer. "I-It's complicated okay? There are things that I just need to do, and since it's already obvious, yes, one of those things is protecting you. So if you don't mind, stop being stubborn."

     "Who's protecting who?" Felix asks, suddenly appearing beside Ari.

     Max takes another deep breath. He then looks around and notices Ervin and his friends glaring at him before leaving the room. It was obvious that they couldn't make a move because of Ari standing in their way.

     "Alright, since you're so worried. What do these Jacks usually do to their targets?" Max asks Ari.

     "Mostly it's just public humiliation like pranks, but in some cases, it involves physical injuries." Ari answers and Felix nods his head to confirm it.

     "Has something serious ever happened before?" Max continues to ask.

     "Well last year there was a student who..." As the three were talking, shrieks were suddenly heard outside. Moments later, someone barges inside their now empty room. Ari thought that it was going to be Jacks, but to their surprise, it was Max's brother, Marcus, with another equally good-looking man standing right beside him.

     "Holy shit that's Marcus and Khian," Felix says with a shocked expression.

     Max looks at Ari with an angry expression, but Ari immediately shakes his head, mentally telling him that he hasn't said anything to his brother yet so he's just as shocked as he is.

      "Heard about the news. Have they done something already? Place snakes in your bag perhaps?" Marcus asks as soon as he sees Max.

     "What are you doing here?" Max asks back instead of answering him.

     "What kind of person would I be if I didn't check on my little brother who just so happened to receive a jack-in-the-box even though he promised me he'll be careful next time." Marcus stupidly says out loud, shocking Felix to the point where his mouth was left wide open. Even Ari wanted to facepalm himself because of it.

     "It's not like I wanted to receive it," Max answers while rolling his eyes in annoyance.

     "D-Did I hear it wrong or did Marcus Thompson just say—" Ari immediately covers Felix's mouth. "I'll explain everything to you later. Max, we'll wait outside and guard the door for you."

     Max nods his head, and his two friends leave the room to give the two brothers some privacy.

     "The news spread fast. Everyone's talking about how a Sinclaire got his own medicine today after Master Joker left him a box." Marcus informs him.

     Max sits on top of his desk and crosses his arms. "They're delusional. And don't go mentioning my relationship with you. Someone other than my friends might hear." Max warns him, but Marcus ignores it like he didn't hear a thing.

     "And who's this by the way?" Max asks next, nodding towards the boy who was silently standing beside Marcus.

     "Oh, this is Khian Augusto Zóbel de Ayala III. He's the closest friend of mine in BND." Max's brother introduces as the man smiles and holds his chest before slightly bowing his head to greet him.

     "What is he, a prince?" Max asks with a serious expression, making both of them laugh.

     "I'm honored, but I'm more honored by the fact that I'm able to finally meet you. I've been begging Marcus to at least arrange a meeting with you, but he just doesn't want that to happen," Khian says with a bright smile that made the hair on Max's skin stand.

     "That's...nice...but why are you here exactly?" Max asks, and before Khian could say something that would make Max feel uncomfortable again, Marcus grabs Khian by his collar and answers for him.

     "Well luckily for you, Khian went to the same SEA school with Krist when they were in middle school. He's here because he has information that might help you with the Master Joker." Marcus reveals, and Max was instantly interested.

     "Really now?"

     Khian fixes his uniform and puts his hands inside his pockets. Without saying a word, he suddenly leans so close to Max that Max's body froze in an instant. For a second he thought Khian was going to kiss him.

     Max instantly moves away from him, his eyes wide from shock. "Whoa there big guy. As much as I appreciate the gesture, that won't work on me."

     "But it will on Krist Hyusen." Khian suddenly says, catching Max off guard.

     "What do you mean?" Max asks with a confused expression, trying to grasp what Khian was trying to tell him.

     Khian steps away and gives Max another bright smile. "For your information Mr. Sinclaire, Krist Hyusen is homophobic," Khian explains, and Max instantly remembers the comments that Krist made with Hans De Vries and the leader of Crazy 8 during the morning assembly.

     Looks like the fucker's a full-fledged homophobe.

     "That's why he usually targets homosexuals and even those who are only rumored to be one," Khian adds, surprising Max even more.

     During the end of their battle with Viktor, Max thought that maybe the Jokers aren't as bad as others are portraying them, but it seems like they might be right after all. Hating and targeting a person's sexuality just makes them lower than low. This only made Max's desire to defeat their games even stronger.

     "What made him act like that?" Max asks.

     At first, he was expecting something like his parents were conservative, or he was taken advantage of by a homosexual, but what Khian answered surprised Max even more than the speculations he made.

     "His father cheated on their mother...with another man," Khian tells him.

     "The story doesn't end there little brother, but that's the only information you'll get from us. You told me you don't want any help so I'll respect it. This little information might help you end Jokers' cruel customs, but use this information wisely; not to destroy him with it, but to help him instead." Marcus says before patting Max's head like how he always does.

     "Do your best. A lot of people depend on it." Marcus then continues.

     Max pushes his hand away to fix his hair. "I'm not a hero. I'm only here to face Viktor."

     "Well, it doesn't kill to be someone better than that," Khian comments, and those words alone made Max feel something strange explode inside him. As if his heart was opening up to something.

     "Sinclaire's are known to be billionaires, but wouldn't it be nice to be known as something more decent? Believe me, you'll be the first in our family to be one." Marcus adds with a smile, and he knew that it would be something that Max would now start to consider.

     "Good luck little brother," Marcus says before walking out of the classroom.

     Khian bows his head again before following Max's brother out. As soon as they were gone, Ari and Felix enter the room, running towards Max and bombarding him with questions.

     "Did he say anything about me? Did he tell you anything?" Ari immediately asks.

     "Why didn't you tell me you had a brother, why didn't you tell me it was freakin' Marcus Thompson, and why on earth does no one know about it?" Felix asks next.

     The two were waiting for answers, but Max was talking to himself, making his two curious friends look at each other with confused expressions.

     Max ignores the two and walks towards the window, looking at the students who were at the pavilion. He then spots a bunch of gaffers pushing a serf around, making Max clench his fist in irritation.

     Krist Hyusen is homophobic, and other than their ranking system, his hatred became one of the reasons why a lot of students suffered.

      Max only wanted to get merit points from them, but it seems like there's something that he has to change, and that's destroying Krist's cruel ways. What happened to him isn't an excuse for him to prank and even humiliate other students. Max might not be able to fully understand his pain, but he has hope that there's just something inside Krist that's keeping him from moving on from what happened to him and his family.

     Krist wasn't an entirely cruel man. Max saw what he did after the battles. He kissed their banner with pride and encouraged his brothers. That's already something.

     Cindy also told Max before they parted at the welcome ball that Jokers needed him more than he needed them. It only means Krist Hyusen isn't really a bad guy. Instead, he's a guy who's in great pain after what his father did, and that pain translated to anger.

     Now Max has a plan. He needs to be left alone with him, and that might be able to make Krist open up. Because now he understood that in order for him to conquer the Master Joker, Max has to let out the crying little boy inside of him first.

- END -

Bonus Questions: Let's see how much you know.

Question # 1: Who is the Elite member who went to Omega Society's room to tell them they'll be discontinued if they don't get new members?

Question # 2: Who's the only Jack (Jokers' underling) in Class II-A?

Question #3: Who's rank 9 in Crème de la Crème?

- Answers here (Good luck!) -