Ting Tong, the doorbell rings.
With the help of a walking stick, Aiden slowly made his way to open the door and was surprised to see Eric in front of his small house.
"Young Master, why are you here? No, how did you get here? What happened to your hair? Did you dye your hair? Wait… happened to the mission? Did you succeed?" Aiden stood at the door, unsure of what questions to ask Eric.
"Hush, I came all way here and you wouldn't even welcome me inside. Is this how you treat a friend who came to your house for the first time? How rude…" Eric's words remind Aiden about his manners and he let Eric come inside.
"Not bad, nice house." Placed the fruits, he brought on the table. Eric looks around the house which is quite in a messed-up state and continued while noticing he is alone there. "Is there no one here to take care of you?"
"I'm not in that much worse shape, I can take care of myself pretty much." With an awkward smile, Aiden spoke.
"I can see and… smell it.
How many days has it been since you take a bath, dear?" Leaving a deep sigh, Eric takes care of everything inside the house including smelly Aiden.
For Aiden, it's a bit strange experience because the young master he knows isn't like this. However, Eric action's leave a deep impression emotionally on Aiden, who is left alone in the house in a weak state.
"Is it your mom and dad?" Looking at a family picture of three that hangs on the wall, Eric curiously asks.
"Yea…"
"You look exactly like your mom… Is she preg… She looks great!" Seeing she was pregnant in that picture; Eric raised a question without thinking much but quickly he replace it with other phrases in the correct timing while realizing he is spoking about Aiden's deceased mother.
"It's a photo, we took before my mom was murdered. She was seven months pregnant that time." Causally Aiden answers the incomplete question.
"Murdered… By whom?"
"My father… In my memory, he wasn't that nice person, also had a bad habit of gambling and drinking. Most days, my parents fight with each other and those days, mom locks me in my room, so I won't get hit by my father. But one day, the fights went extreme, and he kicked my mom's belly and leave the house without any care… Locked inside the room, all I can do was scream for help…
Because of internal injury and heavy blood loss, mom died. Police arrested my father and as a witness, I give a statement against him.
From the age of ten, I learned to survive alone in the world until the day, I met you accidentally. After that day everything got changed, life become livelier and more adventurous… You know that…" As a joke, Aiden concludes his words with a fake smile.
Eric spent some more time there and left, promising to meet regularly since Aiden couldn't return to his house in this state. But Eric never expects, he would meet some random guys on his way back home.
"Hey aren't you, EJ?" In a confused way, one of the guys spoke.
"EJ…
We missed you man, why aren't you participating in any fights recently?"
"Don't get discouraged by one loss, you just need to take it in a sportsman spirit… "
"If they hurt you, make them pay hundred times…"
"Isn't today a good chance, your rival is participating in today's fight? Don't you want to use this chance?"
The guys, surrounding Eric and speaking with enthusiasm, even took him to an area deep inside a slum without his consent.
They went inside a building that seemed shabby from the outside but completely different from the inside. High-built bodyguards are at the entrance, without any ticket or membership card no one can enter but let Eric enter as they know him.
A stage in the middle of the entered room and audience seats around it in a way everyone who gathered there can see the stage in good view.
Feel like they came to see a show, everyone is enjoying and cheering some weird nicknames like crazy fans.
Without knowing, where he ended up and what was exactly going on Eric sat there with the guys next to him while holding a packet of popcorn that one of them buy.
"Hello ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SF world!" An announcement came out from nowhere. Just by hearing the voice of the mysterious man, the audience begins to shout and cheer more energetically.
"As all you know, what today's specialty… Today is the final match that we all are waiting for.
Without any delay, let's welcome our participants, the two tigers who win the whole five rounds. Ghost Head and Demon Lord…"
Two guys came over from the special entrance, one is wearing a creepy hoody that covered the entire face (ghost head), and another guy with a weird makeup style (demon lord).
The stage turns out to be a fighting arena, but what makes Eric stunned is, they are using real weapons as it's a death match.
Taking out the hoodie, the one inside turns out to be a hot chick with minimum covered black clothes. As a weapon, she had two draggers and a steel-throned whip that can snatch or take human skin with flesh in one shot. On the other side, the demon lord carrying a long sharp axe as his only weapon.
Is he an idiot or a strong opponent with great talent? Like everyone else, Eric also became interested in the upcoming fight.