The meeting time was upon them, and it was finally time for Gary to leave the Wolf’s Pool Club. As he walked up the stairs from the basement wearing his new suit, he started to adjust his cuffs a bit.
“So… how do I look?” Gary asked, looking for the opinions of his fellow gang members.
Each of them couldn't help but stare at Gary, the suit was almost a perfect fit, as if it had been tailor-made. It was a standard suit, black with a white shirt and a black tie, and they had never seen Gary look more presentable than at this moment.
“You look like a damn mob boss!” Innu blurted out excitedly.
Hearing this, the high schooler didn’t know whether to take that as a compliment or not. After all, he was trying to make a good impression on Xin’s parents, not other gangsters.
‘I knew it, it's the hair, but I can’t change anything about the damn colour.’ Gary thought, but with nothing else to do, he walked outside where the car was waiting for him. Along with his driver, and interestingly Kai had come along as well, stating that he had some things to talk with him about.
“So why is he all dressed up, does he have a date or something?” Marie asked.
Innu, who was the closest to her, just gave Marie a look, but didn't say a word otherwise. He still remembered what had happened last time. The teenage boy had no desire to end up as the punching bag. Unfortunately, Innu's silence was just as telling…
“Who is she?!” Marie demanded to know.
——
Outside, Kai held the car’s door for Gary as he sheepishly made a grand bow, making him look like a butler. The green haired teenager didn’t know how to react to this, but with bigger problems to worry about, he just ignored his friend’s behaviour. His upperclassman followed right after, and pressed a button to lift the divider between the teenagers and the driver, ensuring their privacy.
“I can see you're nervous about this whole thing, and I don't want to add to your worries, but there is something you should know.” Kai revealed. “It's about Xin's father, I need you to be careful about what exactly you tell him, today. And I don't mean that just because he’s the mayor.”
“I understand.” Gary let out a sigh. “I’m already aware that her father seems to have relations to one of the gangs to run the street properly, so I won’t say anything about the Howlers. Anyway, I’m just going there today as the potential boyfriend of his daughter.”
Kai gave Gary a wry smile, contemplating whether he should tell him that he had found documents with Ben Clove’s name on them or not. Ultimately, he decided against it. It seemed better to let his friend continue to believe that the mayor’s involvement with the Underworld was limited to just that.
“You still have my gift?” Kai asked. Immediately, Gary went to pat his inner pocket. He could feel the ring of the outer packaging.
‘Sometimes I don't know if you're brave or stupid.’ Kai shook his head but didn’t say anything. In the first place, it was meant to just be a little joke. ‘It's your first date with the girl, and you're going to her parent's house, yet you actually bring them along.’
It was then that the two felt the car coming to a halt. The divider was rolled down and so was the window. The driver and what looked like a guard talked for a while, before the gates were eventually being opened for them.
A short while later, they approached the house, and standing at the top of the steps, Gary could see both Xin and Jayden had come out and were waiting for him.
“Oh, that's quite the nice car. I guess he's really pulling out all the stops. Do you know what his parents do to be able to afford a car like that?” Jayden asked his sister, who had not been paying attention.
The teenage girl was too excited for someone to be coming over to their home for the first time, especially in such a grand manner. Initially, her parents had refused her suggestion, one because Gary was a boy and two because they knew nothing about him.
Fortunately, Jayden had been there to convince their parents, stating that the boy had really helped out looking for Xin. Hearing that, their mother’s opinion towards Gary had instantly improved, believing him to be someone who truly cared about her daughter. While Ben Clove had remained somewhat reluctant, the trio had managed to make him agree eventually.
Repeating his question, Xin realised that she didn’t have an answer for Jayden. What did she even know about Gary? What did his parents do, who was he, and why was he riding in a car like that? When exiting from the car, they could see Gary leaving all dressed up in the suit, clearly nervous, as he walked up the stairs and thanked his friend before leaving.
“Just give me a call when you need to be picked up again. I wish you good luck, Gary.” Kai gave him a thumbs up. As the car was ready to drive away, for a second, both Jayden and Kai’s eyes met each other. Neither broke contact.
“Gary, I’m glad you made it, and you look great. I’m sorry for the short notice, but thank you so much for coming today.” Xin greeted him with a smile. It was the first time Gary had seen her in something other than her school uniform, not counting the time at the Karate club. She was wearing a blue long dress, and he could hear her heart beat as fast as his. It seemed like she didn't know whether to hug him, shake his hand, or just let him in.
“Thank you.” Gary said. “And Xin you look…even better than I imagined.”
The words were hard to leave his mouth, and both teenagers became red-faced.
“Ah jeez, am I a ghost or something?” Jayden asked, scratching the back of his head. “Food thief, please remember that this is a family dinner, not a real dinner date. Still, I'm also happy to meet you again. I hope you don’t have any plans afterward, since I have a lot of questions that I wanted to ask you, and I'm sure Xin has a lot to tell you as well.”
‘Questions?’ Gary wondered what type of questions the Altered might have for him. Would he question him about the red colour gang that day? Why the two of them fought or something else that was even more worrying? Suddenly it felt as if meeting the parents would be the easy part of this evening, yet he had his own agenda for being here.
Whether it was the right thing to do on their first meeting or not, Gary had made his decision. Seeing Xin here in front of him, he was going to at least try to convince them to keep her in school. He wasn’t the type of person to run away from things.
“Come on, let us show you to the living room. Dinner will be ready in a bit.” Jayden said as he walked inside. Gary couldn't help but admire the large house, imagining how much it must have cost. The teenager didn’t know the exact numbers, but he didn’t believe that mayors would receive such a generous wage to be able to afford such a luxury home, not in a Tier-3 town like Slough at least. It was clear that the level of wealth was influenced by something else, which made him think about Kai’s words.
‘It looked like he wanted to say something else back there.’ Gary thought.
He suddenly felt a hand placed on his chest. He had only taken one step into the house.
“I'm sorry, but we need to frisk every person who enters the house, even if you’re today’s guest of honour.” One of the guards explained, and without being able to say a word, another had already started to pat him down from head to toe… Until the man, eventually, started to pat his breast pocket, and a crumpling sound was heard.
‘Huh… oh sh*t, I completely forgot about it!’
The next second the man reached into the pocket and pulled out a square packet.