*Knock* Knock* Knock*
Hearing knocks on my apartment room's door, I immediately jumped on my feet and made my way towards the door.
Opening it, I saw Kevin and the rest of the gang waiting outside.
"You're here!" I exclaimed as I quickly let them inside.
Kevin gave me a smile as he stepped inside the room, followed by the others.
"Yeah, your sister's here?" Christian asked as he trailed behind Kevin.
Shaking my head, I guide them towards the living room.
"Sit" I gestured them to sit at the wide sofa to which they gratefully took.
Nick and Dave breathed a sigh as they slumped their bodies down on the soft cushion.
"So, why'd you call us here?" Kevin asked as he also sat besides Dave, while Christian on the other hand remained standing since there was already no space for him left in the sofa.
Seeing the dissatisfied look of Christian, I grabbed a nearby stool hidden behind a shelf and handed it to Christian.
"Here"
"Thanks" he said as he immediately sat on it.
Staring at everyone in the room, I opened my mouth to speak.
"Alright, now that everyone's here, I'll quickly get straight to the point." I said as I eyed each one of them.
"Do you all know of that flower shop that is located just around the corner in the neighborhood?" I asked them.
"Oh, that 'flowers come n go'." Kevin responded.
"Yeah, that one." I nod my head at him.
"What about it?" Christian suddenly asked.
Turning my head towards him, I spoke.
"Yesterday, when I passed by the shop, I witnessed the owner having an argument with a few thugs inside the store, when they finally left, I approached the owner behind the counter and asked her about what's the problem, turns out those thugs were dealers and was scaring a lot of her customers." I explained.
"Yeah?" Christian gestured for me to continue.
"You see, I'm planning to take advantage of this situation." I said to them.
"What do you mean by that?" Kevin raised his brows in curiosity.
"What if we make that owner pay us money in exchange for getting rid of troublesome people for her everyday, you know what I mean?" I smiled at them.
"Oooh~ Protection racket!" Nick immediately stood up and smiled excitedly.
"You got that one." I pointed at Nick and smiled.
"Alright, but how do we convince her?" Christian asked.
"Yeah, what if she calls the cops directly and we and that dealers you're talking about get arrested, she'd be killing two birds with one stone." Dave added, making everyone ponder about my idea.
"Here" I said as I showed them the .38 pistol hidden on my pants.
"WHAT?!" They immediately jumped from their seats in surprise.
"W-Where did you get that?" Kevin pointed at the gun on my pants.
I laughed at his question, before finally answering him.
"Remember what happened at Jessie's club a few days ago?" I asked them all with a smile.
Their eyes lit up as they exclaim in surprise.
"You f*cking stole it?!"
"What happened to the guy?!"
"Yeah, and the girl?"
One by one, they began to shower me with questions.
"You won't believe me" I laughed as they all look at me curiously, "I actually became john wick for a second there and manage to quickly knock the guy out before he can pull the trigger, thus saving the girl in time, god what a gloriou-"
"Stop joking around and tell us the truth!" Kevin interrupted me as he scratched his head boringly.
What the hell did you just say?
"Joke?" I stared blankly at him for a moment.
Looking at the others, they do not also seem to believe me.
"Bastards, if only you've seen the surprised look on the girl's face, then you'd undoubtedly believe me!" I gave them all an irritated look.
"Yeah yeah yeah, you're the karate expert now," Christian sarcastically said.
Clicking my tongue in frustration, I immediately grabbed a nearby can of cola and made a throwing gesture at Christian, making him cover his whole face with his hands quickly, probably expecting to receive the impact of the can.
What a b*tch...
After a few seconds of not feeling anything, Christian slowly by slowly removed his hands from his face and immediately saw me chuckling with my finger pointed at him.
"Look at this guy..." I said to which all of the people in the room laughed at him.
Christian rolled his eyes at this.
"So... back to the main topic." I gestured for all of them to listen again.
"Alright" Kevin and the others adjusted themselves slightly at their seat.
"To keep her mouth from getting wet, there's always the option of intimidation and threats." I showed 'my' gun at them again.
"Why boss is always flexing his-" Dave tried to speak.
"Shut the f*ck up!" Nick interrupted him by nudging him by the shoulder.
Staring at them for a moment, they lowered their heads down, seemingly trying to avoid my gaze.
"You know there's always that possibility where she'll give us the cash on the first week, but on the second week, there's going to be cops already waiting for us inside." Kevin spoke up, making the others who finally agreed to do my plan to hesitate.
"Then we'll just have to prove we are better and more reliable than the cops." I bluntly told them, making them to look at me with surprise.
"How?" Christian asked.
"We'll offer to do dirty works for her, like capping those dealers that troubles her store a lot..... cops are too soft to do these kinds of things." My heart began to beat fast at my own words.
Am I actually ready to do all of these?
C'mon Albert, steel yourself and be f*cking strong.
You'll always be the old Albert if you can't move forward!
Shaking those thoughts away, I stared at the people in front of me.
"Let's just tell her that she would already be dead before the cops could arrive if she even dare try calling and asking for their help." I stated to them.
Everyone began to ponder at my words and after a minute, nod their heads approvingly, while others were still in deep thought.
"So what, you all in or not?" I asked them.
They stared at me for a moment, before finally speaking.
"Hell yeah!" Kevin was the first to respond, followed by the others.
"Worth a shot." replied Christian.
"Whatever you say, boss." Dave shrugged both of his shoulders.
"I'm in." Nick responded.
Now that's what I like to hear!
Smiling at their answers, I opened my mouth to speak again.
"Good, let's go now." I waved my hands as I make my way towards the door.
"Now?!" exclaimed Dave in surprise.
"Yeah, so get your a*s moving." Nick began to drag Dave from his seat.
Arriving at the door, I opened it and stepped outside, the others in tow.
Walking down the hallway with the others, Kevin decided to strike up a conversation.
"Where's your sister at right now?" he asked me.
"Probably f*cking her boyfriend in his mansion or something."
They stopped in their tracks as they stared at me in surprise.
"That true?" asked Christian.
Oh... I just blurted out her secret about her being a wh*re.
Tsk....
"Just joking, she's doing grocery right now." I lied to them.
They all breathed a sigh as they resumed their walking.
"Why would you joke like that?" Christian asked.
Ignoring him, I continued to walk down the hallway until we finally arrive on the lobby.
The receptionist eyed us for a bit as we make our way towards the exit of the building.
Pushing the main doors open, a busy street immediately came into view as we stepped outside.
Different kinds of vehicles and people passed by us, just like the usual.
"Come on." I said to them as I began walking down the sidewalk.
With them following behind me, It wasn't until a few minutes has already passed that we finally arrived at our destination.
"We're here." I said as I gestured for all of them to stop.
Standing in front of the flower shop, we looked through the large window and after finding the whole store inside empty except for the owner, we immediately strode inside.
"Welcome... oh, it's you." The owner stared at us as we stood in front of the counter.
"Yeah" I responded as my eyes went all around the store.
"So, what do you want?" the owner asked us, "If you have a date, then-" I immediately interrupted her.
"You, what do you want?" I asked her.
She stopped talking and stared at me with confusion.
"What?"
"You told me the other day you had problems with 'those' guys." I said to her.
She kept silent for a moment, seemingly thinking of something, before she finally opened her mouth to speak.
"Oh those guys... yeah, What does that have to do with you?" she scoffed as she placed both of her hands on her waists.
"Well, you see-"
.
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CHAPTER DONE!