Chapter 2

I charged in headfirst and immediately got into a massive brawl with their chief.

He was all dressed in black—black top, black pants, and even a black face mask. Who was he trying to act cool for?

What a joke!

This guy dressed in that try-hard, badass edgy street style was even carrying a bag of eggs and fruit.

Was he expecting to lose? Was he thinking of throwing eggs at us if he couldn’t win us at the fight? What a dirty and underhanded tactic!

I launched a preemptive attack and smashed all the eggs right then and there.

Their chief tried to snatch them away, but with my sheer brute strength, was I going to let him?

I ripped the bag to shreds, and fruit scattered all over the ground.

Their chief glared at me, his face already bruised. He grabbed my shoe, pinning me down so I couldn’t get up.

I panicked. If he exposed my big toe sticking out of my sock, I’d be completely mortified!

If I had known, I wouldn’t have been so cheap and would’ve simply thrown away that sock with a hole!

In the middle of the chaos, one of the lackeys stepped in to break up the fight.

“Chief, it’s a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!”

Thank goodness. As it turned out, one of their boys knew one of our girls.

It was a case of friendly fire, and we were fighting our own people.

Everyone exchanged glances. What did our four-hour trek even count for now?

It counted as cardio!

There was a reason no one in our group was fat!

I finally rescued my shoe and preserved my dignity. In a way, I had avenged Scarlett!

Dannie said, “Mr. Charles Leighton, consider our friendship forged in battle. Today marks the official alliance between us. We’re all brothers and sisters from now on.”

So their chief was called Charles Leighton. It sounded rather suave.

“Dannie is right. We’re one big family now. Our chief caught a cold and lost his voice, so I’m calling the shots. Let’s treat you beautiful ladies to a meal! Even better, let’s film a fashion collab video together!”

Charles’ second-in-command stepped forward and flashed a cheap, overly eager grin.

In the end, our group of over a dozen people gathered at a local eatery, where we were packed like sardines in the tiny restaurant. Together, we ordered a grand total of two bowls of meatballs and even took a massive group photo.

I sat next to Charles, feeling uneasy.

I glanced down at my heavily modded phone and saw that my bae had texted me.

[Do you happen to know someone by the name of Dannie or something? I remember you live in Greenville, too.]

It was too bad he hadn’t been feeling well these few days. I really missed that deep, raspy voice of his.

[Of course, bae. We hang out all the time!]

[Then do you know this girl? (photo)]

What girl?

Wait a minute! Wasn’t that me?

I suddenly went on high alert. Wasn’t this the group photo the boss of the restaurant had just taken for us?

Brilliant as I was, I keenly sniffed out the murderous intent hidden between the lines.

My head snapped up. Besides me, Charles was still wearing his face mask, silently fiddling with his phone.

He exuded an air of icy unapproachability that made me shiver.

A bold yet tragic thought sprouted in my mind.

[This… might be one of our girls. The photo is kinda blurry, so I can’t really tell.]

[It's fine. I’ll take another one for you.]

I didn’t dare move an inch, only daring to look at Charles right next to me from the corner of my eyes.

He was holding up his phone, pointing it straight at me.

My online boyfriend was… Charles?

I even scratched his face during our fight, and I almost let my online boyfriend see my holey sock!

Hey! But he had poor character!

His lackey hit someone with his scooter, and he had the nerve to show up and fight us!

The standards for street kid circles nowadays were seriously dipping. Any random nobody could barge in and declare themselves the king.

Discovering his true colors before actually meeting him in person? I considered that a reason for celebration.

Goodbye, heartthrob.

Goodbye, deep, raspy voice.

Perhaps parting and regret were just a part of life…

The day’s gloom began to settle in.