When they saw the vicious wound that Alex had inflicted on Slayer, everyone was shocked. When the girls saw all the blood, they screamed and threw themselves into their boyfriends' arms.
Henry and his friends were also stunned. They had wanted to watch a good fight but certainly hadn't predicted this result. Henry started to panic a little.
"What are you waiting for? Call the police," Alex growled at the bartender.
Several of the surrounding boys responded by taking out their phones to dial 911.
Seeing that the police had been called, Henry shouted to his friends, "Hurry up. We need to go." He led them as quickly as he could out of the bar. None of them stopped to check on Slayer.
Holding his injured shoulder, Slayer tried to leave, but he was blocked by the young men in the bar.
Alex saw what was happening and said to the men, "Let him go." Anyone could tell that he was only doing what Henry ordered him to do, and Alex didn't hold him responsible at all.
They all made way for Slayer, who slowly walked out of the bar clutching his injured shoulder.
When Alex saw that Henry and his friends had finally left, he let out a long sigh of relief.
The people at the bar tidied up a little, bid their farewells to Vivian, then left one by one.
Vivian had been sitting beside Alex watching what was happening. She had expressed her gratitude to him for saving her and had personally applied ointment to his injuries.
She accompanied him to the exit as he was about to leave.
"Take care. See you later," she said as she waved goodbye to him. The movement aggravated her elbow injury, and she flinched with the sudden pain.
Alex heard her gasp and asked, "Are you okay?" as he quickly walked back over to her. He looked at her elbow and saw that it was purple with bruises. He guessed that even a slight movement would cause her a lot of pain.
Vivian smiled slightly and replied, "It's fine. I'll go back and put some cream on it." She didn't want to hold him up.
Alex looked at her red Porsche parked in front of the bar, frowned, and asked Vivian, "How will you get home?"
She realized that she couldn't drive at all and replied, "Ugh. I can't drive, but I can get a cab. Please don't worry about it."
"Give me the key," Alex requested.
"Why do you want the key?" Vivian asked as she fumbled for her car keys. He took them from her and helped her walk over to the Porsche. "Let's go. I'll take you home," he said.
Following her directions, Alex drove them to Vivian's home and helped her into the living room.
He asked her where he could find her medicine cabinet and brought some ointment to apply to her elbow.
As she sat on the sofa in the living room, Alex held her arm and carefully applied the balm.
Watching Alex's meticulous concentration, and remembering how he had risked his life to save her in the bar, Vivian's feelings for him started to grow.
She felt happy and a little giggly.
While she was daydreaming about him, Alex was engrossed in his thoughts.
He felt a sudden gust of air on his face, and as he looked up, he glimpsed a black shadow smashing down toward his head. He dropped Vivian's hand and dodged to the side.
"Monica, no," Vivian shouted loudly.
Luckily, Alex was able to get out of the way in time and the missile had missed him. When he stood up to see what had happened, he saw a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl in pyjamas holding a rolling pin. He realized that she had thrown the rolling pin at him and missed, then grabbed it from the floor and rushed toward him again brandishing it in her hand.
"Monica, what are you doing?" Vivian asked the girl as she grabbed her and held her still in her arms.
"He's a bad man. He bullied you. I'm going to kick him out," the girl replied, glaring at Alex. If it wasn't for Vivian hugging her, she would have still rushed over to hit him.
Alex realized that she looked and sounded very childish, and deduced that she must be younger than he first thought.
Vivian hugged her and tried to calm her down, but she didn't want to listen. Finally, Vivian's patience ran out. She let go of the girl and pointed at Alex, saying, "Go on then, go and hit him. Do what you want."
She sat back down on the sofa, helplessly, looking very sad and angry.
"Mom, I'm not hitting him anymore. Please don't get mad at me. Look, I'm not hitting him." She threw the rolling pin down and sat beside Vivian, cuddling up to her and looking at her pleadingly.
Vivian asked her, "Are you really not going to hit him anymore?"
She replied, "I promise I won't, Mom. Please don't be angry with me." She was still afraid that Vivian would punish her.
"All right. As you're being so obedient now, I won't be angry," Vivian said as she hugged her. Then she looked at Alex and said, "Come over here."
He walked over and sat in front of Vivian and Monica, noticing that although the girl was pretty, she looked nothing like her mother. He also thought that the girl looked a little dazed.
Vivian addressed her daughter, "Monica, I'll introduce you. This is Alex. He's a good friend of your mom's. When you see him in the future, you mustn't be as rude as you were today. Do you understand?"
"Okay," she replied without much interest.
Alex nodded to her in a friendly manner. However, it was clear that she was only pretending to agree. The look she gave Alex was filled with hostility.
Vivian sighed helplessly.
"Did we wake you up?" she asked the child. "Come on, mom will take you back to bed. Alex, wait here," she continued as she held Monica's hand and led her toward one of the bedrooms.
"Mom, tell me a bedtime story. Otherwise, I won't be able to sleep. Tell me the story of that astronaut who went up to heaven."
"Okay. The astronauts were floating in the space station. Outside the porthole, was the vast space. Suddenly, the astronaut heard a "da da" sound coming from outside the porthole—"
"Oh no. Ghosts. I'm scared. Is there a ghost outside the porthole?"
Alex could hear Vivian and Monica talking in the bedroom. Sitting on the sofa, he couldn't help but smile.
After about ten minutes, Vivian gently closed the door and walked back into the living room.
She went over to Alex and apologized for Monica's rudeness. "I'm truly sorry for what happened," she said.
"It's all right, Vivian. Is Monica your daughter?" Alex asked. He couldn't figure out who she was. Although she called Vivian, "Mom," she didn't look anything like her. He was sure that the relationship wasn't that straightforward.
"Monica is a child I adopted. She has learning disabilities. Although she's thirteen years old, she has an intellectual age of three or four." As she spoke, she looked a little sad.
"I understand," replied Alex, feeling sorry for Monica. "Did she hit me because I did something to upset her?" he asked.
This was the first time that Alex had met Monica. He was trying to work out why she seemed to hate him so much.
Vivian smiled uneasily.
"It's nothing. She was probably scared because she woke up in the middle of the night and found a stranger in the house."
"Really?" Alex sensed that Vivian was hiding something from him, but he didn't push her anymore. He stood up and said, "I should leave."
"It's already so late. I think you should just stay here for the night. We have a guest room. It won't be a problem," Vivian replied, urging him to stay.
It was almost three in the morning, so he agreed to stay the night.
The next day, Alex woke up early. Vivian had already prepared breakfast for him and Monica. While they were sitting at the table eating, Alex noticed that Monica was still glaring at him.
However, now that he understood her situation, he felt pity for the child.
After breakfast, she begged Vivian, "Mom, I want to go out and play."
"Not today, Monica, I haven't got time. You only have to wait for two more days, then I'll take you to the amusement park," Vivian replied as she patted her head to comfort her. The child appeared to be very disappointed.
Alex couldn't bear to see her so upset, so he suggested, "Vivian, I think there's an outdoor gym down the road. Why don't I take Monica there to play for a while?"
Vivian agreed. If he took Monica out for a while, she could get on with some work.
Although Monica didn't like him very much, she wanted to go out, so she was happy to go to the gym with him.
When they got there, she didn't seem to know how to use any of the equipment, so he showed her what to do. This made her start to like him a little.
When she saw him do thirty repetitions on a piece of equipment with spinning wheels, her eyes lit up. She clapped her hands and jumped up in excitement.
Without her realizing it, Monica's hostility toward Alex had gone, and her heart was filled with affection for him.
"I want to ride a big horse," she told him excitedly.
"To ride a big horse?" he asked in confusion. She walked up to him and told him to crouch down. Then, without any hesitation, she climbed onto his back, happily patted his head, and said, "Go, boy."
Alex was speechless. This must be what she means by riding a big horse, he thought. Monica slapped her palm on his head said, "Yah, go," and Alex, the dignified heir of one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the world, was "bullied" into action by a thirteen-year-old girl.
After he had walked for one or two hundred yards, Monica finally climbed off him and let him stand up straight. He felt gratified that the hostility in her eyes was gone. The morning's torture had been worth it.