Chapter 7 - VII

"Wait, what? What are you doing here?" I said looking dumbfounded.

"I think I should be the one asking you that." said Aerielle. "I live here. How about you? What are you even doing here?"

"My mom let me come here so that I could keep her company at work." I replied.

"I should take you to where you're then staying then since it's getting pretty late. Do you know the address?"

"Yep, it's ******."

"Let's go then."

"Sur- wait, where's Franchesca?" I asked as my head wandered through the place to try and find her.

"She already left a few minutes ago. You didn't notice?"

"I got too distracted-"

"We better go now then."

We decided to walk to the apartment since it was only a few meters away.

Good thing it was a bit early so my mom hasn't arrived home yet.

"Thanks for helping me get back, Aerielle."

"No problem. You can call me if you wanna go out if your mom left you at home again. I'll keep you company." she said as she smiled and waved goodbye.

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And finally after 4 days, we'll finally go back to the city and I will then again return to my usual lifestyle..

to sleep.

"Hun, have you packed all your things? We're leaving in 5 minutes so make sure you didn't forget anything."

"Yes, mom! I double-checked my things already too."

And so, after 5 minutes, my mother and I put our bags at the back of the car. I went inside the passenger seat as my mom started the engine. The one and a half hour ride which felt like an eternity finally passed and as soon as I got close to our couch, I immediately fell and got knocked down and landed on the feeling of the soft couch coming into contact with my face.

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3rd person POV

"Eh, was she really that tired?" said an unknown voice.

"You do know how much of a sleep-deprived person Karli is." Karli's mom chuckled. 

"I sure hope she wakes up soon. The ice cream might melt.. I better put it on the refrigerator before she wakes up."

"That's a great idea. I'll put it there for you. You should wait for her to wake up." said her mother as she left the room and went inside the kitchen, soon creating a delightful smell coming out of the room.

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3 hours later.

Karli's POV

Definitely, after a not-so-long 3 hours, I woke up seeing myself laying down on the couch while facing the ceiling.

"You're finally awake, huh? Took you long enough." said a familiar voice. 

"Huh? Who are y- ETHAN!?" I screamed as I look surprised at the sight of my cousin who I had no idea how he escaped from his father.

"How did you even manage to get more than a kilometre away from your dad?" I asked him, looking more confused.

"People change y'know.. he didn't, but like uh- escaping is kind of popular lately. Anyway, we're gonna ignore the fact that I managed to escape from someone all the way from Australia!" he said, looking quite enthusiastic despite the fact he literally ran away from home.

"Mhm.. yeah, sure. Anyways, so a-" and before I managed to speak, my mother suddenly popped out of nowhere, bringing 3 plates. One of them was full of snacks while the other two were empty and seemed to be for the two of us to eat.

"Before you two youngsters talk about whatever you kids talk about these days, you both should eat first!" said my mother, who, as I just said, literally just popped out of nowhere. I just woke up like 2 minutes ago and Ethan seemed to be hungry watching me sleep for who-knows-long. (3 hours)

"Here." said Ethan as he handed me the plate.

Without thinking, I immediately grabbed the plate as I almost flipped it over. I stretched out my hand, trying to grab the croissant but failed miserably. And so, Ethan stretched his hand, grabbed the croissant, and handed it over to me.

"Oh, thanks." I said as he gave me the croissant. "Anyway, why and how did you come here again?" I asked him.

"Why did I come here? I came here for college, you, and auntie. And how did I get here? I honestly don't know how to explain. All you need to know is that sometimes, you have to stay calm and go with the flow. You don't need to use violence all the time." he said as he turned his face towards mine, giving me a soft smile.

And with that soft and calm wording, Karli thought his father somehow allowed him, he paid someone or tried to negotiate with his father's minions.

But what did actually happen?

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5 days ago

Ethan's POV

"Hmm.. my father definitely wouldn't mind if I jump down this mansion and accidentally break my bones, right?" I asked myself knowing damn well what the answer was. "He wouldn't care anyway.". And so, I put my foot on the window, and tried to jump down the roof.

However, before I could even move my other foot, a guard suddenly popped out of nowhere behind me and grabbed my arm.

"Sir, please get down from there!" he said as he grabbed my arm. "You might fall, what are you even doing out there!?"

"I- uhm... I can't think of an excuse sooo- sorry in advance!"

Suddenly, I threw my hand against the guard's face and literally just beat him almost half to death right after. I took a random rope that I found and tied him up on the chair while putting a handkerchief on his mouth.

'Eh, that should do it.' I thought to myself as I tried to figure out a way how to get down without getting noticed by the other guards.

"Mmph-"

"Shut up, will ya!?" I screamed at the guard who I definitely didn't beat up into a pulp a few seconds ago.

He looked pretty traumatized and I kind of felt bad, not gonna lie.

"Hey uhm, sir? Sorry for punching you multiple times but uhm.. could you please tell me how to get down without getting noticed or hurt?" I whispered at the poor guard as I took off the handkerchief that I put on his mouth earlier.

"Not trying to be rude or anything but how do you expect someone to help you after beating them up for almost half to death?" said the guard who was giving me a slightly annoyed look.

"Well.. you know, maybe we can have a deal?" I said as I looked at the guard with an extremely.. wholesome smile that definitely didn't scare him at all!

"Sure, I guess...? As long as you're going to get me out of here, sir." said the guard who had no choice but to agree.

"Well you know, since I'm a very very rich person, I could somehow pay you? Don't worry, the price is extremely worth it."

"How much?" the guard asked.

"About 1450957.63 Australian dollars. ($1000000 in the US) However, maybe it's not enough for all the things you're gonna have to do for me.. what do you think, Mr. whoever-you-are?"

Suddenly, the guard went silent as he seemed to look stunned at the large sum of money.

"I- I'm pretty sure that's quite too much, sir." said the guard who was still in complete shock.

"Alright then, if you say so! Anyways, how are we gonna go down?"

"First, maybe you should untie me from this chair then I can maybe somehow help you get down, sir Ethan." said the guard with a fancy etiquette.

"Oh wait that's right- sorry." the guard stayed quiet as he finally got out of the chair.

"This won't take too long, sir. Please jump on my back. I'll carry you down the mansion with care." said the guard.

Without hesitation, I immediately jumped on him, not even caring about how I could have might break his back.

"Hold on tight." he said as he jumped down carefully, not creating a single noise. After a while, we- I mean, he, somehow got the both of us down, completely unscathed. Not sure how he did it but he just did.

Thankfully, he managed to get climb back up to my room to take my luggage and drove me to the hotel that was nearby the airport. After a day, the guard that I soon figured out was named "Bob", drove me all the way to the airport. Soon, it was time for my flight and before I went to my plane, I waved at Bob "goodbye" and smiled at him as we both completely forgot about all the things that I did to him.

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pretty nice storytime, huh?

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"That's quite an interesting story... I wonder what happened to Bob tho.." Karli said as she looked pretty worried about Bob.

"Eh, I'm pretty sure he's fine."

"Yeah, you're probably right since he did manage to jump off a mansion with you on his back without getting hurt. Let's forget about Bob for now. When are you gonna transfer to my college?"

"Probably tomorrow in the afternoon. Should I go message the others about it or should I turn it into a surprise?"

"Just tell them about it in the group chat. It's gotten pretty dead lately." said Karli.

"I'll do it later. My phone's dead. Wanna watch something? What do you guys even have on your TV?" I asked her

"Random stuff."

I opened the TV and suddenly, a very amazing and entertaining show appeared on the screen

"HOLY SHIT IT'S MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!?" we both screamed, looking shocked.

"This show was my favorite when we were in elementary.. it suddenly disappeared but now it's back." I said as I wiped a fake tear from my eyes.

And so, we began to watch Miraculous Ladybug and kept rooting for them to win against hawkmoth like kids.

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The both of us had quite fun since we both pretty much watched a kids' show for almost 3 hours. After a while, auntie cooked dinner for the three of us which tasted super amazing. All of us talked about tons of hilarious things that we experienced as kids. Even auntie joined us.

I wish my real family was like this.

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Unknown POV

"Aww.. why is my Karli being happy without me? Who even is this filthy man next to her? Don't worry, Karli. I'll get you soon."

"Why am I even helping you with this?"

"Because you care about me, of course."

"You're right."