Milad too looked on at Ryan in shock as he had a struggling Kriti pinned up against the wall.
"Where's the boy," he hissed.
"Let her go!" shouted Katya, she herself was shocked by the sudden movement so despite the fact that it had happened so close, she did not have enough time to react.
Katya went to run up to hit the man when Touya suddenly held her back. He walked forward and gripped the hand holding the girl in the air as she struggled for air.
"You will release her," he said gripping the hand tighter.
Ryan looked at him and then frowned. He tried to increase the strength only for it be curbed as Touya strategically pressed down on the muscles to stop it from expanding. He slowly removed the hand and held onto Kriti slowly allowing her to land on her own two feet in midst of violent coughs. Katya ran up to her friend concerned.
"Who are you?" asked Ryan with a ticked off expression.
Touya let out a mischievous grin as he held onto the man's hand tighter. Katya glared up at Ryan after checking up on Kriti who now had red hand prints around her neck as she slowly calmed down. She made a beeline for Ryan, intending to beat the snot out of him when again she was held back by Touya.
"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed angrily.
"Remember where you are," he said glancing up at a CCTV camera causing Katya to suddenly pause and glance at it as well.
She thought about it but decided it was well worth the price. She wanted to beat this man up very badly, he had held her friend up by her neck right in front of her, there was no way he was going to get away scot free but Touya again warned her with his eyes.
"I don't know what you think you were doing but what you did was just plain wrong," said Touya pushing forward as Ryan actively tried to resist the push back.
He grit his teeth as he tried to hold his ground but Touya just kept pushing forward unimpeded until he had backed Ryan up into a corner.
"You're making enemies out of the Forest Snakes," said Ryan finally losing a slight amount of his cool.
Touya laughed at the sentence, "I've never feared the dragons, what's a little snake to me."
Touya tucked in the man's hand holding it closer to his chest and crushing down.
"You on the other hand, you're out of your depth, your boss may have been qualified enough to have this arrogance but you stand beneath his foot and you stand way beneath mine, I'm letting you go not because I'm afraid of the trouble but you're not worth it to me," said Touya his smile suddenly turning colder as the atmosphere changed.
Katya who was looking straight at the two of them noticed the change instantaneously. Gone was goofy endearing man, what replaced it was someone who screamed of danger and power.
"You pull something like this again and I even hear about it I will…dismember you," he said and everyone in the room gulped, there was no threatening charm to the last words, it was just a cold promise.
He pushed Ryan away and turned to Katya's whose eyes widened as she noticed his sharp features which seemed more so prominent now that the man wasn't acting like a child. She shook her head, she was absolutely crazy, for a moment she was actually attracted to this man. Touya swaggered over, his face again displaying the silly grin as Milad grabbed Ryan who appeared to be shivering in rage and pushed towards the elevators. He came over and knelt down next to the psychiatrist who was now massaging her neck, coughing less occasionally.
"Are you alright Kriti?" he asked.
"Fi*cough*fine, I *cough* *cough* didn't see that coming," she said with a wry smile.
"You don't seem traumatized," he noted.
"Surprisingly, this isn't the first time this has happened to me," she said and he let out a short laugh.
He turned towards Katya who seemed to be just looking at him.
"Hey Xander," he said leaning against Katya who just sighed.
"You should've just let me beat him up," she said.
"Then, your Shade would have to sort out the problem again," he said.
"He lives for it," said Katya with a small grin.
"Oho, that's really first," he said. "I've only been here close to twenty-four hours but you finally crack a smile."
Katya coughed, lightly embarrassed as she turned away. Touya helped Kriti to her feet and winced as he looked at the hand prints around her neck.
"Do you need to go to a hospital?" he asked slightly concerned, Ly was the medical expert, he had some first aid experience but what could he do in this situation.
"I'll be fine," said Kriti. "Hell of a time, first I get stabbed by a child and then I get manhandled by an a**."
"Are you really sure you're fine?" Katya asked this time. "It doesn't hurt to go to the hospital."
"Oh Xander," said Kriti leaning against Katya much like Touya was doing. "You worry about me so much."
Katya scowled as she tried to bear the two weights she had suddenly found herself carrying.
"Stop it…both of you," she cried out as she tried to stand, the weights she was carrying just laughed.
As she was balancing both of the people leaning on her she heard footsteps from behind. Someone was coming down the hallway and these two idiots were forcing her to stand right here, perfectly blocking the exit.
"Guys…please, someone's coming," she said. "Just get off me."
"Hoohoo, fearsome Xander," said Kriti leaning on her further.
"Katya!" suddenly the voice behind her called and she quickly whipped around without caring for those who were leaning on her.
***
Touya and Kriti nearly crashed into each other as they lost their support but Katya was worried about more important things. Who the hell had called her real name? As she turned, she saw a familiar face.
"Haotian!?" she exclaimed and the other person let out a jovial laugh.
"It is you," he said as he came closer.
"Wait…wait, who's Katya?" she heard Touya's voice from behind her.
Yes, there was that problem, Haotian had called her real name in front of Touya, not exactly ideal. Katya quickly pushed Haotian away from the earshot of Touya.
"It's Xander," at those words he raised an eyebrow.
"I did hear about this from dad," he said. "For me it's Hayden now."
Katya held back a smile, "You changed your name."
"You changed your gender," he retorted back with a raised eyebrow. "Kriti knows I expect, but who's the new guy, boyfriend?"
At those words Katya turned red.
"Just a very recent acquaintance," she replied. "But he only knows me as Xander and I'd appreciate it if you didn't spoil it."
"Fine," said Haotian. "Call me Hayden though, just here, that's what everyone here knows me by."
"Nope," mouthed Katya and Haotian frowned. "I've just gotten used to calling you like that, I ain't going to change."
"Fine, then I'll keep calling you Katya-."
He paused suddenly as he noticed a presence. Katya looked up too as Haotian stopped speaking only to see Touya peering at them curiously.
"So…who's Katya?" he asked blinking innocently.
Katya coughed as she shook her head at Haotian, when however Touya looked at her, she looked away whistling.
"Katya...did I say Katya?" Haotian laughed as he looked cheekily at Katya who now had a pleading look on her face.
"You did," said Touya nodding, extremely sure of himself.
"I did…well I mistook Xander here," said Haotian patting Katya's head in front of a frowning Touya.
Touya felt a semblance of dislike for this man here, patting Xander's head.
"Mistook him for who?" asked Touya with narrowed eyes.
"Who…?" Haotian looked stumped then turned towards Katya who was not even looking his away, he paused to think of something. "Who…well, his sister of course, his sister's called Katya?"
"You mistook him for his sister?" said Touya still not entirely convinced and Katya groaned powerlessly, that was a web she would have a fun time untangling.
Kriti meanwhile stood to the side silently laughing at the happenings, hoping not to catch anyone's attention.
"Oh yes," Haotian nodded with a smile. "They're twins, she looks like his exact copy, it's almost like they were photocopied."
Touya frowned for a moment as Katya stared up at him, hoping catch a glimpse of his thoughts but when Touya nodded she gave a sigh of relief. Touya then put a wicked grin as he came around Katya gently pushing a surprised Haotian's arm off of his little Xander's head and putting his arm around Xander's shoulder.
"You have a sister?" he asked grinning and Katya sighed again and finally nodded.
"How does she look like?" he asked. "If she looks like you, she must be very…up there right."
Katya deadpanned Touya, "You're not getting my…sister."
Touya froze, was that the way he'd come across. He paused as he thought back on his conversation. Then nodded to himself. It made sense, he might have come across slightly desperate here. He cleared his throat and stood back up looking at Haotian again. Curious person but he did not seem like police and Katya clearly wasn't expecting to see this person here so then the question became, what exactly he was doing here.