“Look at you. Only a tiny bit late yet you’re a whole lot ugly,” Althea teased, arms crossed, as Alexander shambled through the front doors. According to their texts, Leona had taken the responsibility to make him look ‘presentable’ for his ravenous crowd of judgemental high-schoolers. Because, his fashion sense was terrible—well, not terrible but non-existent, as he threw on whatever was left inside his drawers.

As consequence, he was Leona’s personal mannequin for one-and-a-half hours; she dug through his closet and his old boxes of clothes, plucking out an outfit that was formal but not outrageously so. This was an open panel, not a gala. He wore a gray formal sweater with a white button-up underneath, showing the head of a navy tie; some slacks that looked recently ironed; and had nice shoes that clicked soundly against the polished floor. His hair had been combed and gelled, and he smelled faintly of cologne.

Althea gestured to her silver eyes, the same as her brother’s. “You tryna trick everyone into thinking you’re smart?”

Alexander glowered and nudged his glasses square on his nose using the tip of a finger, then adjusted his navy blue jacket hoisted over a shoulder. “Leo insisted I should wear glasses because it makes me look more ‘dignified’. I think it’s an excuse for her. She took a lot of pictures.”

That sounds like her, alright. “At least you’re going on a nice romantic date tonight.”

“It’s not a romantic date,” he stubbornly insisted, annoyance narrowing his eyes. His anger wouldn’t intimidate Althea, however; she knew too many secrets for her to ever be scared by him.

“Uh huh, whatever. I’ll be home alone while you enjoy a ten-course meal and nice wine and whatever else adults do.”

“You’re seventeen, you’re almost an adult.”

“Yeah, don’t remind me.” Althea rubbed an eye. “After everything we’ve been through, I’m pretty sure I aged, like, a decade.”

“Tell me about it.”

Frantic footsteps stuttered behind her. The culprit was one Principal Gotts, twisting his crooked tie as his gait gave way to a similar anxiety reddening his face. He found Alexander and relief breathed out from his cracked lips, moved past Althea and shook her brother’s hand more enthusiastically than he was prepared for.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice!” said the principal, smiling and still shaking his hand while he spoke. “I know you’re a busy man but I do appreciate what you’re doing for us, Mister Shen.”

“Yeah, yeah, no problem.” Alexander managed to slip his hand free, discreetly rubbing the palm against his leg. “It’s a good excuse to get me out of my obligations; I’m not as much of a busy man as you might think, but I’m very much a bothered man.”

“Oh, I think I sympathize.” Gotts turned over his shoulder and found Althea there. “Thank you for your help too, Althea. Me and your brother need to have a short discussion first before we head into the auditorium. If you mind staying out here?”

“Go ahead.”

“Thank you.” He patted Alexander’s back, pointing to the open door leading into the front lobby. “This way.”

The door was shut once they entered, their voices faint behind the thick walls. Althea couldn’t make out what they were saying but she didn’t really care; he was probably explaining the finer details, the proper etiquette, rules and guidelines and things to watch out for. That kind of stuff. Sighing, standing alone in an empty hall, she killed time by pulling out her phone.

She scrolled through social media and saw what the biggest stories were for today. Fangirls and fanboys of the latest K-pop sensation Psychic, a supposed sighting of Kensei out in the wild, some politics shit about the Global Guards and whatever initiate they had cooking, the same old same old.

When she tabbed out, another set of steps got her attention. This time they were curated, carefully placed, well-balanced, confident. She knew the owner and sighed. Should’ve known. “I thought you were chatting up the guests and making some connections, Jax.”

Shadows crept over Jacqueline’s eyes and highlighted her deep hatred, making it plain as the sun in a cloudless day. Because no one was around, she had zero excuse to play nice. “I saw Principal Gotts hurrying out and thought to investigate. Then I saw you here. Couldn’t keep your hands to yourself again?”

Althea laughed and slid her phone into her pocket. “You’d love that, yeah? Sucks to be you ‘cause I’m not in trouble this time. I can be, if you want. Just come a lil’ closer.”

Jacqueline was disgusted. “No one would ever like a rabid bitch like you, Althea. Why don’t you join the rest of your classmates in the auditorium and wait for the panel to start?”

“Can’t, I just told you why. Got straight-A’s but don’t have a brain inside that thick head. I—” Before she could finish, she heard steps approaching the door and stopped. She leaned against the wall, crossed her arms. There was a click then a creak from the hinges.

Principal Gotts was telling Alexander about one of the guests then saw the two girls standing around in the hallway, smiling. “Ah, Jax! I was just about to get you but this saves some time. I know this is a very last minute introduction and I apologize, but this is the replacement for Professor Vo: Alexander Shen.”

“Shen?” Jacqueline tilted her head a bit, looking between the two Shens.

Gotts nodded. “Mhm, Althea’s brother.”

“Oh, so you’re him.” Little Miss Pristine measured Alexander with her eyes and they sparkled somewhat. “I’ve heard about you but I didn’t think she had such a handsome brother.”

She laughed at the end of her ass-kissing but he didn’t.

He wasn’t looking at Jacqueline at all; he was looking at his kid sister. She never told him about what happened between them and Vernon; never told him about how much they were a pain in the ass or how they make her life miserable sometimes. But she didn’t have to, he didn’t need to be told.

Alexander had a good sense of detecting bullshit and this bitch stank of it. “Thanks for the compliment,” he said plainly, extending a hand. “Jacqueline Weathers?”

She nodded and positively bubbled as she shook his hand. “That’s me! I have the honor to ask some of the curated questions today.”

“That right? Principal Gotts was telling me a little bit about you.”

“Must be awful things.”

Gotts laughed and rapidly shook his head. “No no, all good things, I swear. Now, we shouldn’t hang around and chat. Let’s head to the auditorium quickly!”

He urged the group along, walking together closely. Jacqueline spared no effort in chatting Alexander up, dropping in a compliment or two with every sentence and acting incredibly interested in him; sometimes she mentioned Althea and acted like they were the bestest of friends.

Alexander pretended to be hotly engaged in the conversation, and she seemed to be eating it right up.

This was going to be interesting.

***

The panel opened. Alexander was sitting amongst four bright minds involved in anything System-related: a former American federal lawyer who’d been involved cases relating to Oasisgate, a captain in the Ordoian Army who’d seen action across the world including Hangzhou, a former analyst who’d worked for the Global Guards, and a professor in medical systemics for the more scientific side of things.

Like what Leona had said: he was the youngest one there without a degree or merits to his name. All he had were lived experiences.

The curated questions came off the pan. Largely, the panel operated smoothly. Although Alexander was well out of his depth in terms of measured expertise, he answered his questions with grace and contributed to the conversation with surprising depth, especially when Oasisgate was mentioned.

“The extent of Oasis Guild’s hold over High Home is much worse than you’d believe,” as he explained once. “The police was in their pocket, local and state politicians, the high-level executives to the grunts. The corruption permeated everything, so much that you’d lose your faith in humanity. I have a boatload of stories and personal anecdotes to tell from my time living there.”

The lawyer encouraged him to share, as he was far removed from the ground during the time and largely ignorant to the little details. Principal Gotts had to stop them after the second story so the discussion could move onto another subject.

One of which was Hangzhou, which was Alexander’s specialty for the better or worse. And that captain as well, who lifted up the curtains a bit. Althea wasn’t so interested in the rifle as much as she wondered about her brother, how he would answer these questions—especially when the bitch was asking some of them. He held himself like he had before: gracefully, with maturity and frankness.

He recounted their time in broad strokes and with enough detail to describe the severity of the incident without traumatizing anyone. Times like these she forgot how put-together he was behind the taunting and cursing. One of Dad’s lessons: as a high-level fighter, your best weapon was your tongue. To win fights, stop them before it escalates to that point. Also Uncle Ali’s lessons too.

Everyone else on the panel seemed to be impressed by him, and eventually the open section of the event began where students and teachers could ask whatever they wanted. Althea didn’t bother to include herself, instead hearing

whispers and people gossiping about her brother.

She tuned out the noise until a certain someone stood up, smiling brightly. Jacqueline had the microphone and Alexander had her attention. “Hi, I actually have a question for you, Alex.”

Alexander leaned forward in his seat. “Shoot.”

“First of all, your story was just inspiring. It always fascinated me how us people could, err…” She made an unclear motion with her free hand but Althea half-thought it was a trick to seem more approachable, “...well, persevere despite every hardship going against them. So my question is: Have you completely moved on from the traumatic experience of your parents’ death?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Althea choked on her own spit, covering her mouth to avoid causing a scene.

Alexander took a good second to stare eye-to-eye at Jacqueline, visibly gulping, then letting his back thump against his cushioned chair. Briefly his pupils darted to the other panel members before cracking a small, uncertain smile. “I thought I’d get asked about my political opinion, but alright. Uhm, never. The simple answer is never.”

“Really? I hope I’m not being intrusive or anything but can you elaborate more on that? I for one can’t imagine life without my mom and dad—or murdering anyone.”

Alexander uneasily exhaled. “Elaborate? God, I didn’t expect an interview today.”

His eyes darted to the teachers who were standing by and unsure of what to do; Jacqueline had the microphone, that princess. If it was anyone but her, they probably would’ve taken it already. So he wasn’t going to get help. Not right away. Knowing this, his posture stiffened and his hands were glued together, his fingers rubbing his scarred knuckles. “I mean, what is there for me to expand on? Stuff like that is not something you can just, uh, ‘move on’ if you understand.”

“I’m sorry but I’m genuinely ignorant. I’ve lived quite a privileged life but I try to be as compassionate as my parents preach,” defended Jacqueline hiding behind her adorable and cunning smile.

Alexander maintained a steady yet cutting eye contact with the bitch. His breathing was getting heavier. Anyone with eyes knew he was several steps beyond uncomfortable. Althea was straddling the border between uncomfortable and rage. She stayed in her seat, though, feeling the same weight pressing on her chest.

“Right…” her brother said quietly.

“Mhm, and I really am sorry if I overstepped my boundaries.” You overstepped the boundary just by flapping your shit-eating lips. “I thought I could ask since you’d given your story of your time throughout the Disaster. Like I said earlier, I’m incredibly fascinated about human perseverance and you’re an excellent example. But if you’re uncomfortable with Hangzhou, then maybe you can expand more on the aftermath?”

Alexander did not answer. He licked his lips and kept looking at Jacqueline. He wasn’t answering on purpose, Althea deduced in the following quiet moments, in order to ascertain whether or not this was a girl’s ignorance speaking or her genuine malice.

Jacqueline spoke and thus revealed her motive: “As you said, it involved a lot of pain, like hurting your family and close friends due to your ‘scores of issues’, so I was wondering about the details.”

An uncomfortable silence passed for an agonizing few seconds before it was broken by a deep exhale from him. “No, I’m not going to divulge.”

Suddenly she leapt to respond, “Why not—?”

“I…” he started loud enough to stop her there, glancing quickly at his sister, “…don’t appreciate these questions. It’s good to mend your ignorance but that doesn’t excuse ignoring basic human decency.”

Jacqueline held her arms close to her body, nervous. “No no, you’re mistaken—“

“Hey!” Alexander raised his voice again, pointing to one kid at the other end of the auditorium. “His hand has been raised for a while now, so pass the microphone to him.”

He didn’t give the poor future valedictorian any second more of his attention, and immediately the conversation moved just like that. It was a stiff transition but better than any alternative—the best option actually, because Jacqueline was forced to sit with her head low, face beet red as she was the center of controversy this time. Beside her was Mister Takahashi, whispering and definitely scolding her.

A perfect punishment for the bitch who gambled her own reputation.

Althea smiled—she had thought the Shens could be easily provoked. While yeah, she wasn’t wrong in thinking that, she underestimated their steadfastness and lost the hand. The Shens didn’t bring entertainment on par with reality TV; instead, she became the main attraction of the entire fucking circus.

Deserved.

***

When Althea had excused herself to go to the bathroom, she didn’t expect to be cornered by Levi and Daliah shortly after coming out. She scoffed, searching for a potential escape route but the braindead asshole’s size made it quite difficult. Not to mention Daliah. She was weak, she hated gym, but those hands could grab something, go through Hell, and still be holding on by the end of it.

There wasn’t an easy way to get out.

“You guys mind gettin’ out the way?” she asked sarcastically.

Daliah glowered. “Shut up, bitch.”

Levi huffed and crossed his arms. Man of few words. Nothing but monosyllabic testosterone inside his head. No, talking as little as you could was not ‘cool’. It made you look more of a dumbass than you already were.

Althea bit her lip then sighed to expel some of the bad energy building up inside her stomach. She didn’t like where this was going. “Seriously, fucking move or I’m gonna—”

Right in the middle of her sentence, she heard someone approaching them. A part of her believed a savior had come. How stupid she was, because all she received was a sharp pain across her cheek. Her head snapped to the side, backwards she stumbled a few steps, hand held over where she’d been struck.

“Eh…?” she muttered, confused at first, but rapidly something hotter was replacing it. Her eyes swiveled towards the culprit.

Jacqueline, far from the image of Miss Perfect Student she’d created for herself. Her face was redder than blood, her teeth exposed and grinding together, completely given into her own anger.

Althea laughed, standing straight and rubbing where she’d slapped her. “What’s the matter? Found someone you couldn’t manipulate—?”

She couldn’t finish her sentence before Miss Perfect had enough of her taunting, being so mad that she said not a damn thing. Her arm swung out, but unfortunately for her, Althea Shen had been taught a few things by her older brother, who’d happened to know a thing or two about fighting.

Calmly, Althea sent a hard kick directly into Jacqueline’s stomach faster than she could slap.

She yelped, pushed off her feet and would’ve cracked her head against the nice polished floors if Levi and Daliah hadn’t caught her.

“You bitch!” exclaimed the latter, taking hold of her injured friend moments before the lughead stomped forward.

There wasn’t enough room for Althea to move.

Levi’s outrageously large hand was shoved into her collarbone and she was pinned against the wall, stuck there. “Stop,” he finally spoke. Shit, this guy was probably being gentle and he still overpowered her. What little brain cells he had left, his body was moved comfortably out of kicking range so his balls wouldn’t get smashed in.

Dammit all.

“You’ve done it now, Althea,” growled Jacqueline, hunched over and an arm over her belly. “You really don’t know when to call it quits and give up and know your fucking place! I’ll get you expelled for this shit!”

“Oh, you gonna tell Gotts about this?” she dared, struggling uncomfortably in Levi’s hold. “You’re such a slimy bitch, you know that?”

“Who do you think Gotts will listen to? The psycho going around and threatening everyone, or someone he actually likes and trusts? Three against one, you won’t freaking win—!”

“Let her go,” Alexander told them, suddenly appearing behind the girls like a ghost that’d been summoned.

They yelped and shrieked, scattering away from him as though they had seen the devil. Levi gasped and loosened his grip on Althea, just enough where she managed to squeeze out and free herself. He tried to grab her but Alexander’s paralyzing gaze turned him into ice.

Quickly Althea retreated to her brother’s wing; there, she noticed that he had his phone out.

Jacqueline sped to say, “This isn’t what it looks like—!”

“Shut up—” (“She started this!”) “—I told you to shut up. You clearly don’t have two fucking brain cells when a kick to the stomach didn’t teach you to back off. But luckily for us, you aren’t the worst ones we met.”

Alexander waved his phone around, flashing his plain black case.

Everyone realized what he’d done.

He smiled. “I think your principal may surprise you this time around. Video evidence is as good as gold. And whoever your parents are, don’t think this incident can be swept under the rug easily.” He glanced at his sister. “If people want to get difficult, I can ask Leo to use some of her connections in Angels. She’d do that for us, right? Right, she will.”

For the first time, the three shitty musketeers were on their heels.

Alexander let himself smile wider. “I always found that really funny: how people like you get so wide-eyed seeing your reputation blow up in flames. But a few bruises? Just another card in your deck. Well, I’m usually shit out of cards but I got this one.”

Tears welled up in Jacqueline’s eyes, and she began to frantically shake her head. “W-Wait—!”

“And I have no doubt,” he cut her off, “that this isn’t an isolated incident nor my sister is the only victim. But I’ll be nice today. I got a nice dinner with a pretty girl—Leo, I mentioned her earlier—so damn me to hell if you shitheads spoil it before I do. Let this be a warning, then.”

Alexander stepped up to Levi; although Levi had six inches on him, even he was afraid. “If I hear from Althea that you’re harassing her again—no, whenever Althea feels like enough is enough, you’re done.” Then he approached Jacqueline and Daliah. “And if I ever see you touching a single hair on her body, then I don’t care how old you are or what’s in your pants. I’ll end you.”

Calmly he stood away from them, still holding his phone. “Whatever you say afterwards, I want a ‘Yes, Mister Shen!’. Am I understood?”

“Okay!”

“Alright!”

“I got it!”

Alexander narrowed his eyes.

Immediately they corrected themselves, simultaneously saying “Yes, Mister Shen!”.

“Great. That’s it.” He slid his phone into his pocket then clapped his hands. “Because a certain someone agitated me, I’m leaving early and I had permission from your principal to take my sister. Have a good day or whatever, I don’t care. Let’s go.”

Alexander wasted no time in heading towards the exit, and Althea followed after him, flashing a pretty smile at the assholes while they left. If it had been anyone else making those threats, Jacqueline would’ve been tempted to get immediate revenge.

But Alexander was different, even the most arrogant person could know that. He had a tendency of making good on his promises. All the goods ones and especially the bad ones. Whenever he felt like it, he could be an unstoppable force.

“You should’ve told Gotts,” Althea said, smiling though. She was satisfied with this outcome anyway.

“I would’ve,” admitted Alexander before patting his phone. “But I didn’t like the outcome if I had.”

“What d’ya mean?”

“I actually only caught the last few seconds, so I didn’t have time to record them. If I told Gotts, it’ll be a whole game of he-said-she-said and I don’t have the patience for that. So I bluffed. I think it’s more effective anyway. The Sword of Damocles is better than a guillotine in this case.”

“Heh, making the reference in that outfit?” Althea smirked. “You’re a total nerd.”

“Shut up. I meant it: I’m actually looking forward to this dinner so don’t ruin it for me.”

And I wonder why you aren’t dating her already. “At least you got something interesting to talk about.”

“Mhm. On a serious note, though…” Alexander exhaled, coming down the high, “...it’s okay to ask for help. I know you think you’re a badass and everything, but these guys? They’re so harmless that it’s not even funny. Harmless, but irritating.”

“I wanted to take care of ‘em myself,” replied Althea, nudging him by the shoulder. “I had this whole masterplan cookin’ until you came along and did the hard work for me.” Really though, I didn’t wanna bother you. These guys mean jack shit to me, not after what we’ve been through.

Alexander sighed. “I’m being serious—”

“If you wanna be serious, then teach me a thing or two about dealing with a bigger guy. Levi was too far away for me to kick him in the dick.”

He resigned, “Fine. I’ll add that to the curriculum.”

Althea smiled, for once happy that she had a brother like him around. “Thanks.”

“By the way.” He stopped in the middle of the hallway. “Where the hell am I going? I don’t go to your school.”