At a table sat Skylar, Ryan, Remi, and Ruby, they were having lunch at the Technical faculty's cafeteria.
"You both haven't told the truth about why you decided to have lunch at my faculty's cafeteria," Ryan said to the two nursing students seated opposite them.
"I wanted to have lunch with my best friend, what's wrong with that?" Skylar replied
"And I figured my best friend would be with you so, I tagged along," Ruby said.
"We have days we eat lunch together outside school, Sky, you both drove the distance just to have lunch? What if you went late for your next class?" Ryan said still not believing the answer Skylar gave.
"Won't worry, we won't go late"Skylar assured. She was looking around for KK, it seemed like he wasn't there yet.
"Who are you looking for?" Remi asked
"No one, just looking around, I think medicine's cafeteria is larger than the Technical faculty's" she lied.
"Thirty-nine point nine percent of students in HU study medicine so, it's expected," Ryan said
"Right," Skylar said simply.
"Why didn't the cops lock KK up?" Ruby asked
"Apparently, his parents bailed him out and Uncle Anthon didn't want to push further the case" Ryan replied.
"I thought maybe he'd be locked away for a week or two, I called the cops for nothing," Ruby said.
"You called the cops?" Ryan and Skylar asked in unison. He looked at Remi "You knew about this?"
"Yeah" she simply replied
"That was going too far Ruby" Skylar said
"No, he went too far aiming a gun at you, I was scared he was gonna pull the trigger, that guy gives me the creeps" Ruby replied. She saw him enter the cafeteria and rolled her eyes "Talk of the devil"
Ryan and Remi glanced back at him.
"He's approaching" Skylar announced sensing trouble.
KK pulled Ruby by the hair "Ah! That hurts" she cried out.
"It was you who called the cops on me, wasn't it..." KK said angrily still pulling her hair.
"Let her go" Ryan ordered.
KK threw her on another chair "You thought I wouldn't find out?" His grip was tight on her arm.
"You're hurting me" Ruby cried.
"I said let her go" Ryan pushed KK, Ruby landed on the floor and Remi went to help her up.
KK sent a punch at Ryan's face but he was quick to dodge the other one, and they engaged in a brutal fight.
"Stop fighting, please" Skylar yelled out.
"Somebody do something" Ruby was weeping already.
"Ryan!" the trio of girls screamed when KK broke a chair on Ryan's head and two security guards came rushing inside.
"What's going on here?" they separated the fight.
"He attacked us" Ryan managed to say, his breath coming in gasps, his head was bleeding.
The guards dragged KK out of the cafeteria "Let me go!" he yelled, forcing himself free from their hold.
Skylar stood watching him. "Maybe Angel was right," she thought.
"Are you okay?" Ryan asked Ruby and she nodded, he embraced her, a quick one.
"You're bleeding," she told him. By that time his eyes were already getting blurred, his head hurt and the next moment he was on the floor, total blankness.
"Ryan!" Skylar turned immediately she heard Ruby and Remi scream. She ran to him. "Ryan!" she patted his cheek. "The clinic, please help us," she asked other students who didn't waste time to help.
*******
The first thing he saw when his eyes flung open was a ceiling fan oscillating.
"Sky!" he called almost immediately.
"Best, you're awake, how're you feeling?" Skylar asked, she was seated on a chair beside the bed.
"Where am I?" he replied with a question.
"School clinic, you and KK..."
"I remember," He sat himself up. "Where's Ruby?"
"She went with Remi to get food for you"
"Have you been here all along?"
"Nm" Skylar simply replied
"You didn't go to class?"
"You're not talking about studies right now"
"I'm sorry, I just don't want you to fail 'cause of me"
"Shut up" she smiled and he smiled back.
Remi, Ruby, and Steven entered the ward.
"You're awake!"Ruby went and sat beside him on the bed.
"Cousin" Steven called "don't go playing a hero next time. What if you got killed"
"I couldn't stand there and watch that raging dog bully Ruby" Ryan said.
"Lately, it's been one fight and another between you and KK, try to avoid him," Steven said.
"I try to, Steve but he's always the one bringing the fight and you know I don't back down from a fight" Ryan replied.
"Thank you Ryan.m...for helping me earlier...and I'm...sorry you got hurt because of me" Ruby apologized.
"What are you saying? You weren't the one who broke a chair on my head" He beamed at her, "anytime Ruby...what did the doctor say?"
"You'll be discharged later today and here are the drugs you need to take but you have to eat first" Remi replied.
"Thank you all for taking care of me"
"C'mon, what are friends for?"
The door opened, and Kenshin walked in holding KK by the arm "apologize to him, right now" he ordered KK angrily.
"I'd rather receive a hundred strokes than utter an apology to him" KK replied nonchalantly.
"Why are you so stubborn KK?"
"You brought me here knowing I won't apologize to him, do your worse dad" The expression on Steven, Remi, and Ruby's faces was priceless. Ryan and Skylar weren't taken aback because they'd experienced a scenario like this one before.
"You're daring me KK ...I'm sorry son for his bad behavior" Kenshin apologized.
"You shouldn't always apologize on your son's behalf, sir, he needs to learn how to take responsibility for his actions," Skylar said to Kenshin and KK glared at her but she didn't mind.
"Let's go," Kenshin said to KK and left the room first.
"Mother Mary! One heck of a son he is"Remi said
"If it were me, I'd put him out for sale," Steven said and they laughed, "I'm being serious, before he kills me I'd have dashed him out" Steven added between laughter.
"He should thank his stars you're not his dad," Skylar said laughing hard.
*******
The only source of light in the room was a light bulb, which hung from the ceiling. KK knelt, hands tied up inside a bar with two guards who weren't doing justice to his back with canes.
Kenshin and Vivienne stood outside watching as the steel canes landed on KK's back, he was bleeding not just from his back but nose and mouth as well.
Vivienne couldn't stand it anymore "Ken, please stop them they're gonna kill him..."
"I don't care."
"But he's still our son, this is too much"
"He asked for it and this is nothing compared to all he's done, Vivie"
Vivienne ran out of there for she couldn't hold back her tears and the sight of blood.
KK's groans of pain didn't budge Kenshin. When the guards stopped one said to Kenshin, "sir, it's a hundred"
"That was ninety-nine" Kenshin opened the lock into the bar, collected the two canes, put them together, and sent it on KK's back with all his might. He screamed in pain and landed with his face on the floor, there were no tears on his face, and he trapped them from falling off in front of them "before you kill me, I'll do you the honors first" Kenshin left the cane on the ground and left, the guards followed, leaving KK all alone. And then, he let out his tears.
The pain was so much that he could scarcely breathe. He saw his brother's ghost and tried to reach out to him, "Ton...Kenton. I'm tired...this is too much for me...I can't take it anymore...take me with you...I give up bro...it's too much for me..."
"Get my son out of that dungeon, Ken" Vivienne yelled to Kenshin.
"He stays there until I say otherwise"
"What if he died, let's call him a doctor, please"
"He almost killed someone's son. That kid has crossed many lines and I thought it's high time he was taught a lesson" Kenshin was being stubborn "do you think I'm happy that things turned out like this? I love KK too you know but he's just...he's just become really unbearable"
"Do this for me please, just this once, I'll try to talk to him" Vivienne asked.
"You've tried talking to him for five years now but what does he do? Cause more trouble...I'm beginning to feel like we've lost our son Vivie"
"I feel that too but let's not just give up on him yet," Vivienne said and held his hands staring passionately at him.
"Don't touch me...I don't need your help" KK kept yelling at the guards who were trying to help him up his room "I said get this filthy hands off me!" He kept hitting their hands away each time they tried to assist him.
"don't you dare bring your filth into my room" He warned as they reached his room. He slammed the door on their faces and dragged himself into the bathroom. His shirt went over his in a few minutes, there were stripes of wound on his back, he watched his pathetic reflection in the mirror, took the first aid box from the cupboard above, and started dressing his wounds, wincing in pain.
Later, he was standing in front of his wardrobe putting on a shirt when a knock came on the door. He ignored it for a couple of minutes but the knock kept coming and he angrily threw open the door.
"Hi, Mr. Ken..." the doctor's words were cut short and her smile disappeared as the door went shut. She knocked again, he turned and opened the door, that fierce glare on her. "knock on this door one more time and that stupid smile would be seized forever" and the door went shut again.
The doctor raised her hand to knock again but let it fall and walked away.
*******
KK was walking up the steps, he was almost staggering, but trying really hard to maintain balance. Even with the pain he still carried his practical materials with him. Skylar was just behind him across the steps. He fell and she ran to him.
"Are you okay?"
"Hands off!" he hit her hands away from his arm.
"Let me help you" She tried picking up the drawing storage tube that fell off his shoulder.
"Don't touch my stuff!" he yelled startling her.
Ryan mounted the steps a few moments back, he noticed Skylar opposite KK and rushed to pull her up and away from him. "what are you doing close to him?"
"I was..." she was going to answer.
"Did he hurt you?" Ryan asked worriedly
"No, I was just..."
He cut her short again "he's a maniac, you should stay away from him"
KK already got his drawing storage tube and was helping himself up taking support from the rails. Ryan pulled Skyler behind him. "Miss VIP, you should listen to your boyfriend if you value your life" he began to leave. Skylar noticed some wounds on his back before he pulled the part of his hoodie that folded up.
"She's my best friend" Ryan yelled after him, brows creased "he keeps calling you my girlfriend, I'll kill him someday" he faced her, "what were you..."
"Helping him"
"Helping him? Why? You know that guy only means trouble".
"But he's going through something"
"That's his problem, not ours"
"When that day comes, we'll all be responsible for whatever happens"
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know, Saint Micheal said those words. KK's really going through something, help me help him out"
"No. He's not our problem, stay clear his business best, I'm sure he wants that too"
"But he's hurt, I think someone beat him up"
"Serves him right then"
"Best!....I think I know, maybe it was Mr. Kenshin, remember that time in the ward? Still recall what KK said to him when he told him to apologize to you?...don't tell me he actually beat KK a hundred strokes?" Skylar could not believe her thought.
"Tell me he did, serves him right, he's just an ass..."
"But best..."
"He asked for it, remember? And enough talk about him, makes me sick, let's go to class" he went ahead first, Skylar sighed and followed suit.
Skylar couldn't stop worrying about KK even when she tried hard to, as they entered the hall filled with students from the three different colleges learning the general course together, they noticed that the lecturer hadn't arrived yet and the hall was a bit noisy.
Skylar sat herself down and thought about Saint Micheal knowing he'd always be there to help if it was her calling but he didn't appear to her, nonetheless, she felt a strong presence.
"Guardian, please ease his pain somehow" she muttered beneath her breath. She was confused as to why she couldn't see him.
"Skylar" He whispered into her ear, he was right behind her. He did scare the shit out of her. She looked his way.
"What is it?" Ryan asked looking behind too.
She blinked at him. "What? Nothing, just...thought I heard my name" She looked away.
The lecturer walked in "time to get serious everyone" the noise in the class began to die down.
The lecturer caught Skylar looking around for KK "Miss..." she got her attention "Skylar, right?"
"Yeah!"
"Focus," The lecturer asked her.
Meanwhile, KK left the tap running in the washroom, he was shirtless standing in front of the mirror, hands leaning on the counter.
His mind reminiscing on past events that happened to him after he lost his kid brother Kenton, how things changed from good to bad and then worse. His parents blame him for Kenton's death in the car accident and resented him since then.
"It's all your fault he died!"
"You've killed Kenton, are you happy now?"
He balled his hand into a fist, his eyes glittering in tears. "I didn't kill him!" he muttered.
Angel was there watching him go through so much pain: emotionally, psychologically, and physically. He stepped close and waved a hand across KK's back and he was gone that instant. KK felt the pain suddenly subside, he couldn't explain exactly what had just happened, he felt the wounds were illusions that just disappeared that instant and checked his back on the mirror. Surprisingly, the wounds were there but the pain was unexplainably gone.
He looked around the washroom but there was no one or thing. A knock disrupted his thought, he quickly put his clothes on, grabbed his bag, unlocked the door, and trailed past the student standing outside.
Immediately KK threw the door of his Lamborghini open, tossed in his architectural materials, and sat on the driver's seat. He zoomed out of the parking space, running a student over. Not caring, he drove off the scene.
Students ran to the male student who was lying on the ground in pain, he wasn't really hurt, just got hit a bit, and was quick to dive out of crazy KK's way.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm not hurt" the student let them know
"That asshole sure needs to be locked up"
"Manaic!"
The student stood up and got his bag, he thanked everyone who came to show their concern. Ryan and Skylar saw everything
"I'm sorry," Skylar said to the student that was hit.
"You're sorry? On KK's behalf?" Ryan pulled her away, far into the parking lot "do you like him?"
"What!..no...noway" she sighed "he's a jerk and he's bitter but I don't know the story behind it"
"There's no story, he's just an asshole, what makes you think he's bitter?"
"Saint Michael...maybe KK's a good person, maybe we should give him a chance"
"I have this bandage on my head because of him, you almost got killed by him, and just now you saw him run a student over with his lambour, just to name a few and you still think he might be a good person?"
"We can't tell until we get to know him"
"I don't want to get to, I hate him and I'm sure the feeling is mutual on the other hand too"
"Ryan!..."
"Don't. Please...Sky, just stay away, he might hurt you. Why get your hopes up when he'll only end up bringing them down? Brain check, just the other day you defended him in front of everyone but he aimed a gun at you...I'm getting mad by this conversation, it's over" Ryan walked away.
*******