"Jason, you didn't do anything wrong," Blitz's whispered. "Don't beat yourself about it."

I sat still, staring blankly at the stars. A mutter escaped my mouth. "All. Over. Again."

Blitz sighed. "You know, I always had a hunch that you two wouldn't work out. Can't say I didn't try to warn you."

My face morphed into a frown. "But ya didn't."

"Did too." He argued. "I've been pro-June from day one."

I jerked forward on the bench as I remembered her. "June! She's going on tour tomorrow. Blitz, I've got to say goodbye to her in person before she leaves."

"We'll slate that for first thing tomorrow morning. Right now, it's getting late. Best to be headed home."

"What's the point?" I sighed as I leaned back and slumped. "I won't be able to sleep if I go back. It's better to just stay here and ponder what went wrong. Why I wasn't right."

"The point," Blitz stressed. "is the fact that I can only analyze the spaceship part at a certain proximity. I'm still trying to decrypt the network patterns on it, and if I succeed-"

I rolled my eyes. "-you'll be able to triangulate the locations of the other parts. You've told me that for the past two days. Why's it taking so long?"

"The Alx Army reconfigured the system settings remotely."

I crossed my arms. "Oh. Then shouldn't we just destroy the part we already have? It's our safest bet that Kazar won't be able to lay hold on it."

"If we did that," Blitz's voice was cautious. "All the other parts might be deactivated, too. But it takes only one reactivation to get all those other parts back online again. Even if he can't rebuild the spaceship, there are worse things one could assemble with cutting-edge Rotore tech."

"So we go back to the Villa so you could continue your tracking experiments?"

"Precisely. If I succeed, we can know exactly where to find and destroy every other spaceship part."

I shot up to my feet. The night breeze was numb against my skin. Heck, my heart was numb.

My body moved as if on autopilot, out of the park, and down the brightly lit sidewalk in the direction of my villa.

An estimated twenty-minute walk. Enough time to ponder what went wrong between me and Gina. Enough time to ponder why I wasn't right.

Closed shops lined after each other to my left while street lights, separated by about three meters, lined to my right.

A few people were out by this time of night. Despite Tekeon's best efforts, the streets of New Chronos were potentially dangerous after dark, and the scanty populous reiterated that.

And though Petant Lane wasn't a thug hotspot because of the brilliant streetlights and traffic light cameras, I set my pace to 'speedwalk' while keeping my head down.

With each foot crunch on the pavement, my heart felt a crushing sensation. "Why does she not– "

My body bumped into another person, painfully snapping me back to reality before I fell on my butt. My head throbbed from the sudden collision.

A wave of shock washed over me when I realized my tinted glasses had been knocked off. I didn't know when I started tapping around like Velma from Scooby Doo. I could see, though, and my glasses were nowhere in sight.

With palpitation, I craned my neck at the stranger I'd collided with. He was already getting up, meaning he probably didn't bonk his head.

He was dark-skinned with an athletic build and a chiseled face. His hair was a trimmed crewcut, and he wore a black and white Adidas tracksuit.
A glint of awe lit up in his eyes as they recognized me.

Here goes. I thought, getting up to my feet. However, to my utmost surprise, he blurted a unique name with excitement.

"Jason Striker?!"

The cogwheels of my brain were immediately set into motion, and I remembered that only one person ever called me that in high school.

"Scotty?" My eyes lit up in bewilderment.

We locked in an embrace, with Scott leaving resounding pats on my back.

Pulling out, we grinned at our mature selves.

"So good to see you again, Captain." I nudged his shoulder.

"Billionaire blogger, eh? Always knew soccer wasn't your style." He nudged back with a jovial look on his face.

I laughed as I retorted. "If blogging didn't work out for me, the pitch is where I'd be. So I take it you're a soccer champ now?"

"Ever had any doubts?" He quirked a brow with a smug expression. "I'm team captain of– "

"Look!" A shriek from the other side of the street cut him off. Our gazes turned towards the source.

A teenage girl with black pigtails and square-lensed glasses stood under the yellow beam of a streetlight, pointing in our direction.

"That person looks like Jason Leo McLean!" She squealed.

Oh boy.

A man who had just walked past us stared up from his phone and spun backward. "No freaking way!"

He fiddled with his phone while still gluing his eyes on me as if I'd disappear if he so much as blinked.

I mean, I would, but he didn't have to act so creepy about it.

I clamped Scott's shoulder as adrenaline began coursing through me. "You must understand why I have to split, right?"

A flash of light diverted my attention back to the passerby, who now held his phone in camera position.

"Gotta post this on IG," he bellowed. "Jason McLean on Petant Street. A...nd done."

For some odd reason, the shock had me frozen in place until Scott yanked my arm, making my body adjust to his running form.

"Hold up!" The passerby cried out. "Please stay for a selfie!"

Scott darted into an alley between two shops, pulling me with him. We quickly burst out through the other end and took a right, dashing down the brightly lit sidewalks.

With a sweeping view, I noticed an influx of people popping up around corners of the street. The majority of them first moved their gaze between their phones and me, as if trying to correlate something. Then their eyes lit up right before they squealed in excitement and began trailing me with alarming speed.

"Scott," I managed to say between breaths. "Thanks for the save, but I'm gonna save myself now."

Without waiting for his consent, I tore myself away from him and attempted to dash to the other side of the road. Midway through, a tattered pickup truck swerved to a stop in front of me, and the front seat window wound down.

A guy the size of Kingpin sat behind the wheels with a bushy beard and a crazed smile.

His voice was erratic. "Jason McLean in the flesh! I'm your hugest fan. I've read your ebook so many times, I'm a Tekeon weeb now."

I gave a wry smile, sweat dotting across my face. "Good for you..."

His smile widened. "I heard you're a billionaire now. Ya need help escaping from the mob? Quickly, hop in the back."

"No thanks." My eyes darted to my left and right. A swarm of people was closing in on both sides.

"I insist!" The driver's voice was officially cynical.

Again, Scott yanked a startled me into an alleyway behind us. It wasn't long before we realized we were in a labyrinth of sorts.

The first few openings we found were blocked by squealing fans, so we continued maneuvering around until we reached a heart-stopping dead end.

Luckily, it was a wire fence that Scott and I began scaling.

"If only you could lose Scott, then you can cloak and jetpack out of here," Blitz said.

"If only." I replied mentally.

Our shoes crunched against the ground as we landed with a crouch on the other side of the fence.

We walked into a quiet neighborhood.

"I think we've lost them." I muttered, peering into the night for any suspicious cluster of people.

Scott's face paled. "Shoot! I've barely been to this part of town. I've got no idea where to go from here."

He put his hands on his waist and sighed. "Really would have ordered an Uber, but my battery's dead."

My eyes caught sight of a familiar building down the block.

A gold-painted six-story recording studio with a huge signboard just below the roof that read 'Super Sound Studios.'

I grinned. "I'll give you my phone to call an Uber when we're out of sight. Follow me."

***

The elevator began to rise after I pressed the button for the sixth floor.

Scott was staring at the red base with his arms folded. His face was scrunched up in a mask of contemplation.

"You okay, buddy?" I turned to face him.

"Sure, sure. Just trying to process the fact that the socially awkward talented striker from high school is friends with a world-famous musician."

"What can I say," A grin broke out across my face. "I didn't peak in high school."

He dug his hands into the pockets of his tracksuit. "And I get this feeling you're not done peaking. So you're telling me June Austere temporarily stays here?"

The elevator chimed open, and he followed my lead down the passageway.

"Till tomorrow when she leaves for her UK Tour." My voice was laced with sadness as I said that. I couldn't deny I had feelings for her. But I wondered if I was truly worthy of her love.

I heaved a sigh wrapped with many emotions at once, making Scott shoot a cringe look my way.

I cleared my throat and tossed him my phone. "Catch. Call an Uber while I say goodbye. I don't know what time she'll be leaving so I better take the chance now."

He nodded and leaned on the white wall while I proceeded to the golden door at the end of the passageway. 'Here goes nothing.'

Knock. Knock. Knock

"What's the matter?" June's voice rang from inside.

I opened the door and stepped in. "Hey, June. I came by to–"

I froze in utter shock as she quickly raised a white towel higher up her wet body.

"What the heck! Jason?" She shrieked. "I thought I locked the door!"

Panic filled my voice. "Oh my god! I am so, so sorry. I didn't– "

"Shut up." She barked.

"Really, I'm so– "

She stared daggers at me as she clamped two fingers around her lips.

My fingers flew to my lips to mimic her gesture.

She nodded. "Now, give me five minutes." She pointed towards the door.

I slipped outside and shut the door behind me, leaning against it with my eyes peeled.

Scott arched a brow at me from a distance, and I gave him a double thumbs up to douse any spark of interest.

He shrugged before throwing me back my phone, which I barely caught between my fingers.

"I've saved my number on it. I'm gonna head to the reception to wait for my ride. See you around McLean." He proceeded to the elevator. "Oh, and enjoy your last night with your girlfriend before her tour. And see if you can snag me a free ticket."

The elevator dinged shut before words formed in my mouth. "She's not my girlfriend yet!" I called out, wagging a fist.

Blitz chided me. "What are you doing? June can probably hear you."

My heart almost skipped a beat at that realization.

"End me." I facepalmed.

"Come in, Jason." I heard June say.

I shoved my phone into my jeans pocket and turned to open the door.

June was wearing white and sitting on the double-sized bed with her legs folded. Her lush red hair still looked wet as she pointed to the black sofa close to the bedside table.

"You can sit there."

"Thanks." I shut the door and strode across the room, picking up its sweet lemony scent before I even sat down.

She talked again after I sunk into the sofa. "I take it you didn't come here just to catch me off guard."

A lump formed in my throat. "That was totally accidental, I swear."

She fixed me in place with her light green eyes. "You barely visit people, do you?"

I furrowed my brows. "And what makes you think that?"

"Normally, people wait for a 'come in' before bursting into a bedroom."

I thought hard for a retort. "Technically, this is an apartment, and I didn't literally 'burst' in. It was more like 'gently entered'. Hey, I can leave if I disturbed you."

I was about to rise when she suddenly flung a pillow at me.

"Are all billionaire boys so clueless?" She teased.

I picked the pillow from my lap and tossed it back to her gently. "Are all pop stars unpredictable?"

She caught the pillow and fluffed it. "Only when we're excited. So tell me, what brings you here."

My eyes had already started to flutter under the cool breeze of the air conditioner. "Umm... Oh yeah!" I jolted. "I kinda came seeking refuge from a hyper mob."

She laughed out loud. It was sweet, but then again, it was a bit unsettling, seeing as I was the subject.

"Was it something I said?" I voiced my confusion.

She took a sharp breath to break the laughter. "Sorry, I had this like zombie apocalypse scene in my head just now. With you looking terrified and all. Not that your fans are zombies, or I like you terrified or anything. It's just–"
June paused and mourned, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Dismay was written all over her face.

"It's cool, I get it." I flashed a grin to hopefully soothe her nerves.

She heaved a sigh of relief. Her eyes averted me, staring at her feet. "So um, sure. You can sleep here for tonight."

"Pfft. Sleep? I'm just gonna stretch my muscles a bit on this couch before I..." A yawn escaped my mouth.

Suddenly, my eyelids were feeling heavy, slowly closing shut. "Before I..."

Everywhere went black.