Third Person
Paris, France: Jardin d'Eden
It went horribly and terribly wrong.
The game didn't end well for most of them. As for the filming of the IXCents, it turned into a whole content of the cameramen finding the members in tall patterned bushes for more than an hour. It's not good content in the world of show business. The people were paid not to talk about the incident, and the place was taking full responsibility for what happened.
The globed maze doesn't have surveillance so, they can't truly tell which of them caused harm to the unconscious teen girl. They had no luck in interviewing the girl, for she had the helmet on her head and didn't want to disqualify herself.
Silver, Bronze, and Romien (Gold) already gave their testimonies therefore, they were sent to give the prize to the winner. Edward had to pass the important event of his career to deal with the intricate case. Together with Racquel and Klavier, he was inside a hotel room, close to the infirmary where they could visit the still unconscious Raine and a distressed Saccharide.
Things were about to get spicy after the doctor, who was assigned to Raine's care, called Edward to know the condition of his beloved student, "Is she going to be alright?"
Nipping the finger skin off his thumb, Edward walked back and forth as he listened to the doctor's words, "Saccharide, the young man. Is he still there?"
He nodded his head vigorously when the doctor confirmed all of his questions. Sighing in relief, he sent the other two into a reassured state as they held their chest to stop their frantically beating chest. Edward thanked the doctor and put his phone down on the table.
He turned to the two seated teens and asked as calm as he could make it, "Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"
"That skincare was phenomenal. You should come along with us sometime," Klavier said and ran his hands over his newly replenished skin. Racquel agreed and touched her neck, feeling the smoother surface, "Yeah, totally."
Infuriated by this insensitivity, Edward had no choice but to scream some sense into them, "Listen, you two!"— so he did before sitting to a chair parallel to the both of them, "You know that we could file a case on you, my brother is part of the police."
There was a series of silence that the crickets could sing their national anthem.
...
His face was more threatening as it was, but it did not scare the teens as the teens tried to hide their giggle. Their teacher's face turned both of them on; they hid their blossoming red face. Edward sighed and removed the Platinum ombre mask from his face; and placed his standard glasses back on.
"I'm serious, I will," he said once again, this time, he's the teacher they have known since 1st year, "I'll have you arrested."
"You won't," Klavier responded before crossing his arms.
With a shake of his head, Edward gave up scaring them and muttered, "You're right... I won't," he then continued, "But what you did was undeniably wicked, Klavier."
The grey-haired teen lowered his head and thought back on the consequences of dragging his best friends into such a conundrum.
Edward moved his head to look at his other student and dictated, "And Racquel, I expected more from you." Tears broke down her eyes as Racquel hugged Klavier and cried there on his shoulders, "I'm sorry, he tempted me with a lot of Guccis."
As much as he was uncomfortable having streams of tears wetting his designer clothes, Klavier could not move and just stroked Racquel's hair. Their main mission was just to make sure Raine was alright while being with his psychopathic boyfriend.
Edward pulled out his phone again before swiping through his student's parents' contacts, "Disappointment from me isn't enough— I'll call your parents!"
Swiftly, Klavier stood up, leaving Racquel face-first on the seat of the couch, "No, please... I don't want to see any belt and slipper of some sort in my sleep tonight!" the boy begged and genuflected in front of his adviser like he was some throned greek god.
Edward threw him a pitiful look while Racquel just questioned her friend's fear of his parents, "Seriously, you're afraid of your parents?" her voice muffled by the cushion, but they managed to make out the words, "You're already an 18-year-old grown-ass bitch, you should be free and do whatever you want."
Klavier turned to the girl and proudly reasoned, "First of all, I'm a Filipino— we don't do that here."
Edward just stared at both of them and finally did something that he knew will frighten the teens into a good moral condition. He raised his hand and proceeded to take off his glasses. Klavier stared in shock and stood from the floor to sir beside his face fallen friend, gently tapped her shoulder to wake her up.
Racquel sat bolt right up when she witnessed the adviser with no glasses and took the initiative to apologize, "We're sorry, alright!"
"You two—" the 23-year-old man grunted and massaged his temples.
Squinting his eyes, he noticed how strange both of their actions. Klavier was tipsy and can barely walk straight in a vertical path when he assisted them in this room. Their heavy eyelids signaled something close to unconsciousness while the air started to have a scent of a familiar wine. It probably explains why Racquel was disqualified by talking with the helmet.
"Have you been drinking?!" He asked and watched the two panic.
However, they couldn't be drunk while playing the game. They seemed sober when they encountered them at the maze. But then, his brother once said that there is a kind of wine that makes them light-headed for a moment, then after some time, it'll lose its alcohol effect.
"I'm not!" the teen boy giggled and sat on the floor before leaning his back against the sofa, "And hey Sir Broshe, you're not purer as much as you claim you are," Klavier gave him a kinky look as he pointed his middle at the flustered male.
The blonde-haired gal agreed and removed her face from being planted on the cushion, "Yeah, I can't believe you're Platinum from IXCents!" she exclaimed.
Wiggling his eyebrows, he crawled towards the table to get his hands on the platinum masks, "You're so sexy, Sir— oh my!" he was shocked when suddenly, Edward snatched the accessory away from his hands.
Suddenly, a memory of his brother came into view—
xXx
Paris, France: Local Bar
5 years ago,,,
His brother handed him a glass of wine that smelled like a mix of strawberries, peaches, and grapes. Its color was a divine dark red like every wine there is.
Being an 18-year-old student, Edward can't believe his parents would let his older brother take him out for his birthday.
"Don't worry. This wine has an early-late effect, Lil' bro," his brother reassured him, "You can still enjoy this party, drive us straight, and empty your guts when you get home."
Edward looked at him strangely and said, "That's not helping," the observing male took one lick inside the wine glass and took a liking to the bittersweet taste of the crimson liquid.
Easton smiled genuinely when he saw his brother drinking shot by shot of the wine like a real man, "Happy 18th Birthday, Edward," he whispered and ruffled his brother's hair.
xXx