Chapter 18: Chapter 18

When I was all done getting freshened up, I threw my things onto my unkempt corner. I noted how messy it was and promised myself to arrange all of my things later.

All the guys were still hanging around in the living room and I joined them. Walking by, I heard Mr. Huang’s faint humming of what could only be a Chinese song coming from the kitchen. The guys all nodded at me, giving me smiles and small waves.

I smiled back at them, not knowing what to say since I didn’t even know their names. So trying to break the awkward silence, I tried to gauge an introduction out of each of them.

“So since we’re not trying to beat each other up anymore, care to share some names?” I rocked back and forth on the balls of my feet, trying to not show how tense I was feeling.

The Asian dude spoke up first, introducing himself and the others. “My name’s Milo, that’s Braxton, Lohan and Kraüchniegens.”

I stared at him, completely dumbfounded by the last name he mentioned. Looking back and forth between him and the Kra-whatever-his-name-is dude. The guy was easily the leanest between all four of them but that didn’t make him less intimidating. He had platinum blonde hair and cold grey eyes.

“Sorry, Kra-who?” I asked again, completely dumbfounded by the pronunciation of his name. They all laughed at my expression and Milo tried clarifying it for me. “He’s German and his name is a pain in the ass to pronounce so we call him Crow.”

Braxton, I think, shook his head in amusement, causing his dirty blonde bangs to swish from side to side. The sides of his head was trimmed short and it highlighted his angular facial features. He has aquatic piercing blue eyes.

Logan was the largest in size out of all four of the guys. Of course they all bore muscles but Lohan’s got most of it. One would suspect he was on steroids. Unlike the other two, he’s got jet black hair and amber eyes. His lashes were long and it definitely had an effect on how big his eyes looked. I could tell that he was the quiet one among the group of guys. There’s always that dark and mysterious one in every guy group.

“Are you guys friends?” I asked them in curiosity.

“Definitely. I’ve been friends with Braxton and Crow since we started training together. Lohan is Brax’s brother.” Milo explained enthusiastically. Jeez if only I had that amount of enthusiasm every morning to face training.

“How long have you known Mr. Huang?” I was fully aware of the fact that I probably sounded like I was interrogating them but I had a lot of questions as to who they were. A asking questions was never a sin, was it?

“A bit longer than I’d like it to be. He’s my Uncle.” That got my jaw dropping open.

“What?” Okay, hold up. Let’s do some quick maths here. I know it’s a pain in the ass but sometimes, you just need it.

If Milo was, and he probably was, 22 years old at the very most, Mr. Huang could be his grandfather as long as we assume that both him and his son were very young when they had a kid. But an uncle? How old could Milo’s dad be? 70?

“How is he your uncle? Theoretically, please.” He laughed at my response and didn’t give off any signs of being offended. He actually seemed genuinely amused; as if so many people have wondered and asked him about it by now that it had all become funny to him.

“My dad is his younger brother. They have this huge age gap. Uncle agreed to teach me some moves when I was a kid. It was supposed to be a harmless request from a nine year old but I got addicted so here I am.” I shrugged, that’s a good explanation, I guess. I couldn’t imagine having that big of an age gap with Bryant. Would our relationship still be the same if we had that gap between us?

Mr. Huang came in before I could plunge into that bottomless void of thoughts and lucky for me, he brought a few drinks with him. Although the boys didn’t sound too thrilled, I gave Mr. Huang my biggest smile and drank everything in one gulp happily. You learn to adapt after a few days living with this man, you know? It’s like everything he gives me is a blessing straight from God himself. I was probably hungry every second I stay in this isolated place and all food given to me was fully and warmly welcomed.

The boys stared at me as if they expected me to drop dead in a few seconds but I simply licked my upper lip and wiped it with my thumb. I set the glass down on the wooden table between us. It tasted sweet and minty at the same time. I normally wouldn’t have enjoyed the minty aftertaste, unlike most people, but I didn’t mind as long as it wouldn’t cause me any major suffering. It was probably some Chinese herbs or something. I did hear it was good for detoxing so I guess it was healthy?

“You know my uncle wouldn’t be offended if you started running to the bathroom any second now. You don’t need to wait for him to look away. He’s got a lot of people telling him how horrible his cooking is, so he’s used to people running to the toilet to puke their guts out. I even wonder why he even bothers sometimes.” Milo ranted, looking as if he might be sick after watching me down that drink. I simply laughed quietly, giving him a small smile and feeling Mr. Huang’s hand land on my shoulder.

“I see you’ve introduced yourselves. Unlike you boys, Xiăo Fú actually doesn’t mind and actually likes what I make around here. You should learn how to appreciate my cooking skills like she does.” Mr. Huang spoke with pride which caused me to laugh some more.

“I adapt quickly, it’s a true blessing,” was the only thing I said to comment on Mr. Huang’s statement. It was nice to know that I boosted the man’s ego on his cooking skills. It must get lonely out here on his own.

“Now if you boys don’t mind, Xiăo Fú and I have some dancing to do. Unless you boys want to stay and join us?” Mr. Huang invited but all I could do was look at him as if he was crazy.

What would we be dancing to? No, why would we even be dancing in the first place. Do I even dance? The most I’ve done at parties nowadays was swaying my hips to the beat of the song and waving my hands but I’m pretty sure I looked like I was a drunk fuck even if I was completely sober at the time.

I suck at dancing.

Sure, I guess I’m pretty flexible to be able to do high kicks and mom did force me into a ballet school as a kid but I stopped going once I got tired of it. God knows I was a handful to handle whenever I got upset after each ballet class. Eventually, mom agreed on pulling me out of the God forsaken class.

It was simply too much for little ol’ me.

The boys spared each other a look and shrugged.

“It’d be fun to watch? But Crow has family matters to deal with tonight so I guess we can't stay for very long, if that’s alright.” Milo spoke for the rest of them. I don’t think any of them had spoken except for Milo. It was like they have their personal chat room mentally and Milo represents all of their voices.

I raised my shoulders a bit at what he said. I don’t mind an audience. I couldn’t really be bothered by anyone’s opinion on my dancing skills. I knew I was horrible, extra hoots and pointers on it wouldn’t hurt.

“Well let’s get going then. Oh and bring your speakers, we’ll need them.” Mr. Huang exited the small cabin first after saying what he needed to and I followed after him. The boys filed out of the small cabin right after me in an orderly fashion. It was late in the afternoon but the clouds were blocking the sun so it wasn’t as hot as it was supposed to be.

We walked along a pathway into the trees and towards the meadow where Mr. Huang stopped walking in the middle of the meadow and told Milo to place his speakers a few feet away from him. The speakers were wireless and they weren't very big but the sound they projected probably reached Nana’s barn. I sure hope that Mr. Huang’s house doesn’t get raided just because he decided dancing in the meadow was a good idea; or was it supposed to be a stress reliever?

“Put on an upbeat song please.” I looked at Mr. Huang as if he was crazy. He was what? In his late 60’s? And he was planning to dance to an upbeat song? Didn't he worry about breaking or straining something? I would be a couch potato at his age and I wouldn’t even be bothered to face society. Yet here he was, grey and old and wrinkly, asking for an upbeat song to dance to.

Milo complied without further questions which was cool, because I would’ve asked my grandma to get her ass back into the cabin and tie her to the couch or lock her inside before she breaks anything.

The song started filling up the meadow and Mr. Huang started moving to it. It was weird to say the least. Although that was the case, I couldn’t help but join in the second he beckoned me over. I heard some laughter behind me but like I said, I simply couldn’t be bothered to care.

I danced my butt off but soon enough I got scolded by Mr. Huang for “moving so little”.

“Move more than just your hips and hands, be more agile.” I tried to follow his lead, mimicking whatever being agile was supposed to mean. I guess I was doing something right since he didn’t try to chide me on my dance moves anymore. The boys joined us eventually, goofing around with each other and pulling out some epic moves.

For that brief moment, I completely forgot about whatever problems I had back home. I forgot about how close the competition was, forgot about Dom, Adam and Cole the psycho brother who’s out for my blood. I forgot about Bryant’s death crushing me and I let myself get lost in the music, my hair whipping from side to side as I kept moving.

At some point, we had to stop dancing because the guys had to head back home and take the speaker with them. We were all sweating by the end of it and we said our goodbyes after they picked up their things in the cabin. Mr. Huang and I entered the cabin and he let me use the bathroom first so I quickly freshened up and headed to my corner to rest.

It was still 6 in the evening but I was honestly beat from all the exercise. The second my head rested against something remotely soft enough to feel comfortable, I let myself fall into sleep’s embrace.