Jeremy was slowly taking over the business operations as the brothers began to have minimal control. Marcel had decided to be a rebel in every meeting that Jeremy was in.
With every update brought up by Marcel with the three brothers over their online meeting, Ray could tell Jin was on the verge of breaking down. Ray thought to himself that it must be hard on Cassandra who had been keeping Jin under the weather.
As Ray stepped out for a breather after an intense meeting by the stairs in front of their grandma’s house, he tried to hide his worries as he knew Ryu would worry about him being alone here enduring all alone and feel bad about it. Ray didn't want Ryu to go back on his plans of heading back to Landsfield for classes as it was important.
While Ryu was packing, Ray included some of their grandma’s chili flakes from Auntie Soh as it would help ease Cassandra’s cooking preparation he thought.
“Any more space for some add-ons?” Ray casually asked as he walked into the living hall while Ryu stood placing both hands on his hips. “How big are these add-ons?” Ryu asked raising an eyebrow as Ray chuckled and walked to the kitchen to fetch the bottle of chili flakes.
Ryu’s eyes immediately lighted up. “Oh, are those based on grandma’s recipe?”Ryu asked excitedly as Ray nodded and passed to him. “Of course, there are spaces! Plenty! Even if there isn’t any, I will still dig space for it!” Ryu said excitedly as he kept them in his luggage safely.
Daisy was beginning to be excited as she tried to stand on two feet and peek into Ryu’s luggage. Ryu smiled at her excitement as he rubbed her head.
“I will be back again next weekend…” Ryu said as though to Daisy but also was to notify Ray.
Ryu looked up at Ray. “You’ll be alright? I will leave Daisy to look after you…” Ray messed up Ryu’s hair as he rubbed daisy's head with another hand.
“Of course, I will be! What are you worrying about?” Ray chuckled as Ryu looked outside the window and saw shadows lurking.
He quickly stepped outside only to hear giggles and many steps of the shadows running away. Ryu was annoyed as he stormed back into the house to pack his bag. Ray chuckled at the normality of such events considering Ryu was a talented national basketballer after all.
“Stop chuckling! It’s so annoying with these fans stalking. We can’t even talk in private properly.” Ryu scolded as Ray raised his hand.
“Alright, alright. Cool down.” Ray patted his brother’s back as Ryu sighed, worrying about his fans’ welfare.
“Do you know of any ways to help solve my fans who had to travel from Landsfield to Manes and vice versa? It's wasteful as they are still students.” Ryu asked enthusiastically while pondering a solution.
Ray was surprised at the sudden change in his little brother’s mood as he shrugged at his question. “Sorry, couldn't really help with that as it’s the will of others.”
Ryu pouted as Ray smiled at his own idea. “Why not ask little future sister-in-law, Melody?” Ryu threw a pillow from the couch at Ray who was teasing him.
Ryu thought of doing so when he was back at Landsfield but before he could find Melody, he came across two of his fans who were stuck at the airport. He could tell they were his fans from the fans-made t-shirts they were wearing and he overheard the commotion they had with the policeman.
The timid little girl was telling the policeman how they were robbed and that they were left with not much cash to head back to Landsfield. This situation sparked an idea in Ryu as he took off his sunglasses and cap to walk over to the two fans in a cool manner.
“Arghhh!! Ryu! It’s Ryu Ophal! Can we have an autograph please?” Shrieked the long hair little girl while her timid friend was smiling all the way with her hand out handing Ryu a blank paper and marker. They saw him and instantly forgot about their issue just to ask for his autograph.
Ryu looked over at the policeman and nodded that he will handle them as the policeman left. Ryu suspected they were the shadows he saw at his grandma’s house as he looked back at his fans who seemed to have not learned their lesson.
“No.” He said primly as both girls were instantly pouting in disappointment.
“Not till you both tell me what’s the issue?” He added on and could see the girls instantly were delighted again.
The long hair girl started explaining how they got robbed by the alleyway nearby a hidden road which Ryu instantly knew was nearby his grandmother’s house. They had no choice but to give up their money and had very little left after they took a taxi to the airport.
Ryu listened in meekly to every detail as he planned in mind ways to let them learn their lesson.
“Don’t you need to go to school?” Ryu asked as the girls nodded.
“What are you doing here when it’s school tomorrow? Don’t you have any assignments?” Ryu nagged as the girls nodded.
The girls were afraid Ryu would leave as he put on an annoyed face. They quickly hand out the blank papers to him with a marker again.
Ryu sighed as he shook his head. “I would only agree to sign an autograph if you both post on the fans club site that all fans are not allowed to travel just to see my daily activity unless there is a tournament.”
He observed the girls’ looks and noticed they slowly understood his request.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Otherwise, I will not sign autographs anymore,” Ryu warned as the girls nodded obediently.
They were very obliging and wanted to write immediately but instead, he told them to settle their air tickets first. “I didn’t say you have to do it now. Where are you both heading to?”
“Landsfield…” The timid girl answered.
“Get your air tickets sorted out first and when we land in Landsfield, only then you post before I signed you an autograph.” The girls frowned at their empty purses as he walked them to the ticket counter and helped them pay for their air tickets.
When the two girls saw his wallet, they noticed he was using cash and he was broke after paying for their air tickets. They instantly felt guilty.
“We are sorry for troubling you like that.” The timid girl said after accepting the air tickets from Ryu.
Ryu flipped their passports to learn their name. The timid girl was Sun Li while the long hair girl was Yan Shu.
“Sun Li and Yan Shu, now you understand why I am telling you to put up that post later?” Ryu asked seriously as the girls nodded.
“See I am also like all of you. Ordinary teenager who needs to earn my upkeep and save money. So, savings is important. And do not waste unnecessary money.” Ryu wanted to just give some advice but he didn’t expect the girls to end up crying because they were touched by his generosity and genuine self.
“Why… I’m sorry… Please don’t cry…” Ryu stuttered as both of them hugged him gratefully.
“Thank you! Thank you! Ryu, you’re the best idol! We will always support you!” Yan Shu said as he quickly rushed them to the departure hall after a while.
He couldn’t believe his lie worked on these little girls who had no idea just how much he was paid by the company monthly and even though it was a lot, Peter had always inhibited the brothers the habit of savings for emergencies.
It was a well-taught lesson for the girls and also for himself to resolve his stalkerish fans. Looks like he had to spend some of his savings to help himself out of his fans' trouble this time but it didn’t matter to him as long as he could have some peace and quiet time to compose a song he had been playing in mind for a while.
He fulfill his promise when they landed in Landsfield before the girls happily went home. Upon seeing the posts by the two fans, Melody instantly contacted Ryu.
“Looks like you have taught a good lesson to your fans today. Where did you get the inspiration from?” Melody asked over a text when Ryu was chilling by the balcony with his acoustic guitar.
“Hey! I wanted to ask you for solutions but it seems the matter had resolved itself.” Ryu replied as Melody send a smiley emoticon.
“Help me monitor this matter as I do not want any of my fans to spend unnecessarily on me. It’s really not needed.” Ryu added on quickly as Melody was wondering what was bothering him.
He sounded agitated when he went offline right after sending that message. In actual fact, he was trying to take his mind off everything when he was composing a song.
She still typed a reply to say alright to his request. Melody could sense something wasn’t right with Ryu as the next day in school, during a break she couldn’t help but head to his school just to check on him. No doubt, she instantly spotted him by the same location at the park with his acoustic guitar.
She went to the ice cream truck nearby and bought him a chocolate ice cream to comfort him and return his favor during their first meeting. She heard the familiar strum of the same tune that he played during their first meeting again. She stood by to enjoy a while before walking over and offering him his chocolate ice cream when he finished his song.
“Hello! Oh, thank you but really what did I say about wasting money?” Ryu greeted Melody as Melody stood smiling looking at him while her strawberry ice cream was melting away. “Just a small treat this time.” She squeaked as she continued watching him eat.
“Eat! Hurry! It’s melting!” Ryu alerted before Melody took a quick bite as Ryu shifted on the bench to make space for her to sit.
Melody saw that Ryu was enjoying his ice cream but his face was not as happy as always. So she decided to talk about his match over the weekend.
“You did very well over the weekend! You’re always the best national basketballer ever! Especially when you do a rebound and three-pointer, OH MY GOODNESS! You’re always so spot on that it gives us all goosebumps when you scored! I love your look and posture whenever you do a three-pointer!” Melody squealed and clapped as she managed to make Ryu smile at her cuteness. In actual fact, Ryu was thinking about the song he composed.
“Thank you… Why are you reacting this way?” He asked awkwardly.
“What do you mean?” Melody asked. “As in trying hard to get me to be happy? I mean you already is familiar with me. There’s really no need to.” He said as Melody raised both her eyebrows in surprise. “I thought you were upset about the fans' matter or maybe something else…” Ryu laughed at her explanation.
“I wasn’t. Sorry, I gave the wrong vibe. I was just busy trying to finish composing this song.” Ryu explained as Melody smiled in relief.
“Anyway, preach for me too. Work hard to gain what you want…” Ryu said before biting the last bit of his ice cream as Melody made an “okay” sign with her hand.
Before she could save her sliding files away from her lap, they dropped to the ground leaving her exam papers scattered all over. Ryu quickly helped her to pick them up as she was still having a bit more ice cream to finish. He accidentally saw her weak results in maths as she winced at the result too before looking away.
Ryu quickly kept them back in the file and put them on the bench next to her as he patted her head. “Had some maths issue?” He asked as she nodded.
“Everyone has their weak subjects like me too. I just couldn’t understand why we need to study history. It’s so boring and so many things to remember.” Ryu whined a little to release his frustration but also to comfort Melody.
Melody giggled at his whine as she decided to help him out. “I could lend you my history notes. Maybe it would help you. I often score well.”
Ryu raised an eyebrow at the unexpected offer although when he meant the weak result was that he still managed an “A” but the lowest marked paper ever as compared to Melody her weakest was a “C”.
Feeling guilty, he decided to offer the same. “I volunteer to teach you maths then?”
Melody was beaming with delight. “Are you sure? Wouldn’t it trouble you?” She asked shyly.
“What’s there to trouble when you’re also tutoring me, history?” Ryu explained as they both smiled in acknowledgment of an agreement.
“So we would have tutor sessions every mid-week Wednesday night at the cafe you posted on your social media? Is it near your house? I often notice your post about there.” Ryu asked as Melody smiled even more that Ryu had noticed about her posts.
“It’s actually my family-owned cafe. Nearby my place, yes.” Melody answered as Ryu nodded.
“Great! I will see you this Wednesday then?” He asked but before Melody could reply, the sound of the school bell rang.
With that, Melody quickly nodded and grabbed her folders to run back to her school.
“See you!” Ryu yelled as Melody waved back briefly and continued to run back to her school.
As the soft gentle breeze blew by, Ryu somewhat looked forward to the Wednesday tutoring session as a distraction and also from the company’s matter or even Ivy per se. He walked off for his next lesson feeling something different in his heart as though it was a peach blossom blossoming which he had yet to realise.