♞

"MR. COLEMAN GAVE US too many assignments again. With everything that's going on with my family, these are the moments that remind me that I'm still a student," Max explains while he and his three friends walk their way down the steps of the Keep.

     "Yeah," Ari answers, looking like he was out of it.

     Max notices how his friends have been looking worried ever since he got out of the clinic, so he stops in front of them and asks, "Hey, did I worry you guys again?"

     Felix, who has been quiet since earlier, clenches on his fist and tries to say, "O-Of course we were worried. Why wouldn't we be?"

     Max smiles and pats Felix's head like how he always does, almost making Felix break down in tears. "You're seriously overthinking again. You're my friends, and you guys being there is enough for me. You don't have to worry about every single thing. You don't have to involve yourselves in everything that happens to my life," Max tells them, almost making Ari drop on his knees to apologize to him.

     They couldn't face Max after what happened. They knew that they had to do something as Max's only friends, but at the same time they have guns pointed at their temples. They were trapped.

     "And besides, I only fainted. It's not like someone tried to bomb me again," Max jokingly says as he starts walking, making the three awkwardly laugh with him before following their friend.

     When they got off the steps, they instantly notice Max's butler, Étienne, waiting for him. So Max approaches Étienne as Ari and the others stand behind Max.

     "What's with the face? Did Marcus tell you again that I was sent to the clinic?" Max asks when he notices Étienne's very serious expression.

     Étienne doesn't say anything and just opens the door for Max, so Max sighs and looks back at his friends. "I'll see you guys tomorrow. I apologize for making you worry again."

     "Don't mention it," Ervin answers, and Max finally heads inside the car.

     The three thought that Étienne was going to head inside the car too, but then he directly looks at the three and tells them, "You all look like smart kids, so I hope you know what will happen if you end up running your mouth."

     Ari and the others gulp in terror as Étienne finally heads inside the car and drives off. As soon as the car leaves their sight, Felix looks at Ari and Ervin and asks them, "Do you think we did the right thing? Even though we were only asked to do it, I feel kinda guilty"

     "We're all guilty," Ervin adds, making Ari nod his head to agree to it.

     "In all honesty, I wouldn't have done it if Marcus didn't mention Max's mother. Anyone who knows how the business world works knows best not to go against her, even if she is already dead," Ari explains.

     "Do you think Max's mom really has something to do with this?" Felix then asks.

     "Isn't it obvious? Whoever is doing this to Max is serious enough to make him suppress his own memories. With what Marcus told us earlier, it's obvious that it has something to do with his mother and the Sinclaire family," Ari then explains.

     Felix, who looked like he wasn't agreeing with the two, scratches his head and says, "But I seriously feel like we should have done something. Who cares if the Sinclaire family is involved?"

     As soon as Felix said those words, Ari and Ervin looked back at him like he was crazy.

     "Let me remind you that we aren't like you, Felix," Ervin immediately fires back. "We're not heirs or from powerful families. One word from them and our parents could lose their jobs. I have younger siblings too. I don't want them to get hurt."

     "But-"

     "We can't go against a family like the Sinclaire's. It's bad enough that we found out about it. We can't always be heroes Felix. This isn't some kind of fairytale where everything will go as planned," Ari then says, making Felix clench his fist in irritation.

     "I'm honestly surprised Marcus didn't shoot us. You overly rich people are crazy after all," Ari then adds, suddenly making Felix push him, surprising not only Ari but even Ervin.

     "So you guys were just scared? You'd rather risk Max forgetting everything just so you could save your asses?! Is that how little our friendship with Max means to you?!" Felix lashes out, angering Ari too.

     "Don't be fucking insensitive Campbell! We care about Max as much as you do. You have no idea how sick I feel after what happened. We're just not like you. Did you even see how his butler threatened us? They could do all those things to Max, their own family, then what more can they do to us?" Ari answers back.

     Ervin, who was in between them, tries to think of something to make the two stop arguing, but he knew that saying something now will only make the situation worse.

     "If you want to tell him everything then be my guest and use the privilege that you have. None of us is going to stop you. You have the power to defend yourself if shit goes down anyway. We just hope you can leave us out of it," Ari says with a bitter tone, finally calming Felix down.

     Felix was about to say something to defend himself, but then a luxury car suddenly parks in front of them, and Ari chuckles and says, "Well, looks like your ride is here...young master."

     "Ari, don't..."

     Ervin looks at his two friends with a worried expression. They haven't argued like this before, and Ervin doesn't know if he has the right to say anything now. But while Felix and Ari stare at each other, the car's driver suddenly heads out and approaches Felix with a respectable bow.

     "Shall we go master?" the driver asks, making Felix bite his lower lip, his eyes now teary after his heated discussion with Ari.

     "Wait in the car!" Felix then angrily says, making the driver flinch before running back to the car.

     Ari moves away from Felix and clenches on the strap of his bag. "Maybe you're right Felix. Maybe we are just saving our asses. That's how low you think we are anyway, right?" He asks.

     "T-That's not what I-"

     "How about putting yourself in our shoes for a second you crazy rich bastards," Ari finishes before finally turning around and walking away from them.

     A tear finally falls from Felix's eyes as he watches Ari walk away from him.

     "Ari!"

     Felix was about to chase after his friend, but then Ervin immediately grabs him by the arm to stop him. "Don't..." Ervin tells him. "Ari's on edge. Nothing good will happen if you follow him now."

     "I...I didn't mean to-"

     "He was the one who decided to feed Max the pill so he must feel shitty inside. Let him release his steam. He'll come back to his senses eventually," Ervin assures Felix before letting go of his arm.

     Felix wipes his tears, and Ervin moves closer to him and pats his head.

     "I understand what you mean, but I hope you also understand our side. We can still do other things to help Max, but right now, not following what his family wants is dangerous. We have to be careful first if we really want to help Max. Suddenly telling him everything will only bring Max more harm than good," Ervin explains, and Felix couldn't say anything anymore because he was right.

     "And I know you guys were friends first before I came in the picture, but I hope you think about it in a different light. You know Max, and that guy is selfless. He'll feel guiltier if something happens to us just because of his family affairs. If something bad happens to us just because we didn't follow what Marcus said then Max would definitely blame himself for it again," Ervin explains further.

     "I know...I'm just really angry. I just hope all this will make sense in the end," Felix says.

     Ervin nods his head and looks back at the large building in front of them. "As much as we hate it, let's just follow what Marcus said and not talk about this matter anymore. If you don't remember, our school is still owned by a Sinclaire. And you don't wanna know how terrifying president Janus really is."

...

Max looks out of the car window and stares at the other cars that are passing by them. While doing so, he massages his aching temple and looks back at his butler, Étienne.

     "Did I do something weird this morning? I really can't remember anything. I don't even remember leaving Cj's office yesterday," Max says with a confused expression, making Étienne clench on the steering wheel.

     He doesn't say anything for a couple of seconds before finally looking back at his master. "You must have been really tired. When we left yesterday you slept in the car, even when we got back to the mansion. You must have been so drowsy earlier," Étienne lies, but Max doesn't even doubt it.

     "Well, I'm just glad I was finally able to sleep for so long. I actually feel much better now," Max then explains, and Étienne looks back at the road ahead of them.

     As the car slowly gets engulfed by the silence, Max pulls out his phone from his pocket and searches for someone on his contact information. When he saw the name "Scarlet Romano," he looks back at Étienne and tells him, "Can you contact Scarlet Romano and tell her if she's available to meet up with me? I'd honestly call her myself but that woman likes it better when things are formal."

     "Alright, master."

     "If she agrees send a red velvet cake to her office. There's a store near 4th Avenue that sells the cakes that she likes," Max then adds, and Étienne nods his head as an answer.

     Max takes a deep breath and was about to hide his phone when it suddenly started ringing. Étienne glances at the rearview mirror as Max stares at the screen on his phone. When he saw who the caller was, his brows instantly furrow since it was an unregistered number.

     Max was hesitant to answer, but then he takes the call anyway.

     "Hello?" he asks.

     The other line was quiet for a second, but then he suddenly hears the caller say, "Hi Sinclaire. I didn't think you'd actually answer."

     "Vi-"

     "Shh, quiet now white uniform. You don't want your butler to know who I am," the caller - who was actually Viktor - suddenly says.

     Max didn't know what was going on, but he immediately understood the situation as he pretends, "Oh Krist. Why'd you call all of a sudden?"

     When Max asked the question, Viktor couldn't help but laugh, irritating Max in an instant, but his face still looked neutral. He didn't want Étienne to think that he was lying.

     "Good, you're as sharp as always. But out of all the fake people you can think of, you decide to pretend that I'm a baron?"

     "Why'd you call?" Max asks again but with a more demanding voice this time.

     "Well, I heard you made a ruckus earlier," Viktor says, and Max instantly thinks of the situation where everyone said he fainted, but that wasn't what Viktor meant at all.

     "Anyway, that's not really important right now. As you may already know, I haven't been going to J.S High lately since I've been very busy with a lot of paperwork," Viktor explains, confusing Max even more since he doesn't understand why Viktor is suddenly telling him this.

     "I know that like me, you have your own problems to worry about, but I just want you to know something," Viktor tells him, his voice sounding more serious.

     "What is it?" Max asks.

     "I know that Gavriil already told you our past relationship with each other, including Cindy and Grey," Viktor finally reveals, suddenly making Max feel nervous for some reason. "Gav always had a soft spot for you so I understand. Don't worry, I won't scold him for it. He already had enough of that the other night."

     "So what then? You want us to start hanging out again?" Max sarcastically asks, making Viktor laugh out loud.

     When he finally stopped laughing, he continued, "I know outside affairs are important, but I hope you know that you're still a student of J.S High. As its king, it's only natural that I encourage a white uniform to climb faster. Time is running out after all."

     "I don't understand what you're trying to point out here," Max finally says, making Viktor chuckle.

     "You're as ignorant as to how your mother wanted. I'm seriously impressed," Viktor blurts out, instantly making Max clench on his phone because of anger. 

     But before Max could end the call out of irritation, Viktor immediately continues, "The first term is about to end and you've only conquered two brotherhoods. You've been acting all high and mighty but you're moving rather slow," Viktor tells him, automatically making Max touch the brooches on his collar.

     "I'm aware you're helping out the Count, but I hope by the end of it you get to conquer him too. Honestly, Cigarettes is quite an easy brotherhood to conquer. They will follow their leader no matter what, and Cj isn't really hard to please. Just give him what he wants and you're all set. It's the remaining brotherhoods that will give you a hard time, especially Crazy 8. You'll be surprised with how troublesome Siren can really be."

     "Why are you telling me this?"

     Viktor doesn't say anything, but Max could tell that the grin that's on his face already changed into a more serious expression.

     "Sinclaire...You can't conquer anything if you don't have enough bullets," Viktor finally tells him. "If you want to put the puzzle back together, gather all the pieces one by one and climb to the top. Only then will you be able to see the entire picture."

- END -