Chapter 3- The Mask, Unmasked

I park my car in the garage of my huge mansion? Castle? Palace? You could call it anything except home. It's a huge place where only two or at max three people live in. My parent's bother to show their faces only twice a year apart from the usual "business" parties, which I obviously don't attend unless forced.

This place was huge. It had an extravagant garden, a huge basement that had a theatre, game room, music room and spa in it and a huge garage with all the type of expensive cars lined up. You ask it, we have it. I make my way inside through the huge glass door that cost a fortune but nothing to my parent's obviously. My butler bows at me, as I make my way inside. And despite the number of times I requested them not to, my words rang like Latin music in their ears. Completely out of intellectual understanding.

Soft music played from somewhere across the hall giving the lively vibe which this place obviously lacked, the small hanging's of the golden chandeliers collided against each other, playing a soft music midst itself, the fragrant of aquamarine air freshener filled the atmosphere and the aroma of freshly cooked food was like a cherry on top. The bright majestic aqua hall lit under the bright LED lights, but entirely empty with no life. The walls are painted a beautiful shade of ocean blue, giving it a royal view. My mom was a huge fan of the colour blue and all the shades that fell under its category. She was one of those typically sophisticated women, who walked and puked nothing but brands and money. The French glass, furnished sofas, hand made curtains and expensive texture of everything that belonged under the roof would mesmerize a person. Everything was available here, from a bowling alley to a theatre. It was built with all the comforts one could ask for. Except, love.

"How was your day T?" My nana asks. She is the one who brought us all up. Even Tobias, my youngest brother until he was sent off to boarding school for his own welfare. Col never accepted her wholly as a family or even a mother, instead grew more bitter day by day, whilst me, I gave her all the motherly love I could. She is my mother, father, guardian, best friend everything. God was merciful enough to bless me with another woman who cared for a stranger more than his own birth mother, then why not? She had no children and neither a husband of her own, she devoted her entire youth and adulthood taking care of the Gonzales children. And in return, I and James became the son she never had. I know Col cared for her too, even though he lacked to show it, he did. After all, she was his favorite.

I remember how he came sprinting like Shazam when Alice, our nana had accidentally sliced her little finger. Although Colton had suffered through a hamstring injury, he came racing the very second she cried in agony.

"It was good, mum. How was your day?" I ask, kissing her cheek.

"It was good. Go freshen up. I'll serve you dinner." I just nod at her walking towards my room.

All I could think was about today's disastrous events. The most unexpected events. Abigail trying to kiss me, seduce me, get me to bed. What was it all about? Why was she so desperate?

Did I do the right thing by pushing her away?? Will she leave me in peace for rejecting her?? I literally doubt it. Just then a notification pinged in my phone, indicating pop up of a message. I suppose I asked questions a bit too soon.

Unknown number:

You took the worst decision of your life Gonzalez. You're gonna regret it so bad that you wished you were never born. You rejected Abigail Paige McCarthy. You messed up high time. See you soon.. - Abby.

Never have I ever thought, numerals would freak me out. I look at the number with wide eyes and trembling hands. My eyes almost pop out like freaking flying UFOs. Mother of brownie cookies!!! What have I gotten myself into?

I got enough money, why not go under plastic surgery? That's less painful than the slow death she has planned.

Ping!! Another message rings but this time not from Abigail, thankfully.

The 2 sexy dicks and the virgin Mary. (What's app group name)

Nath:

Hey Trys. Did you reject Abigail???"

Ivan:

Yep. I was about to ask the same. Did you reject Abigail McCarthy?!?! Like seriously bro?

Me:

How the flying fish do you guys know that?!?!

I was beyond shock and completely bewildered. Great! Welcome senior year drama. I'm glad you showed up. I would have totally enjoyed the cliche soap opera that tumbled into the life of the main character if it were a Wattpad novella. But unfortunately, it was my life here.

What baffled me was, no one was there at school when I and Abigail argued. Then how the dancing frog everyone discovered about the argument. Unless, unless someone is actually spying on me.

Snort! Like yeah, people are that jobless and didn't have anything better to do rather than digging into the Oh so wonderfully entertaining life of Trystan Gonzales.

For the very first time, that did make sense. Well back to the problem.

No wonder Abigail is so damn pissed. I just punctured her reputation and just made myself available for the hungry wolves.

How hard, how fruiting bowl of earthworm hard is it to shut the hell up, Trystan Vincent Raphael Gonzales?

Nath:

It is not only us buddy. The entire school knows about it. It seems like Daphnee was at school and she saw your entire banter. She's the one who spread the rumor's and posted it over the gossip board. She got proof too. So is it true??

Out of all people, God had to send that blonde female dog to witness the new episode of my life series. Daphne was none other than our school gossip board admin. Any news or any information want to be found, she was the person you should look for and bless the gossip Angel's in heaven, was she ever wrong!

Ivan:

You asshole. Stop daydreaming and arguing with yourself. Speak up, will you??

Me:

Yeah. She tried to seduce me but I rejected her. I don't want to sleep with her. You guys know me well enough.

Nath:

Mahn, you are sure you're straight!? I don't know how much guts, manpower and decency of mind one requires to say Abigail fucking McCarthy a fucking no!!

Ivan:

But my question is, why the hell is she suddenly soo interested in you bro?? She never spared a glance at us despite the fact we are one of the most popular hotties of CXHS.

Me:

This is not the time to brag about your looks and popularity and to answer your question, I don't know mahn. Anyways can we just drop this? Because I'm literally not feeling well and one more second thinking about the she-devil will burst the brain cells in my mitochondria.

And with that, I close my cell and throw it on my bed. By tomorrow, either she is gonna kill me and then arrange a funeral or do the memorial in a two in one method by burying me alive. Either way, I'm dead tomorrow.

And it will be engraved over my tomb.

In memory of

Trystan Vincent Raphael Gonzales.

07-06-2001 ~ 15-09-2019

A loving son, brother and best friend who died a virgin in the hands of the she-devil.

Reason of death: Virgin Mary rejected the fornication, God.

Boom!! My life was over. I swear to God I have a sudden urge to cry like Nobita and I'm in dire need of Doremon.

Memories rush back of the lecture I delivered and the words I spat on Abigail's face. Normally I don't outburst so fast, but I have no idea what the actual chicken popcorn had got into me.

You're my freaking problem, Abigail. I don't want to kiss a freak like you, who throws herself at any guy."

"I don't understand, don't you see your worth?? Don't you have self-respect?? Is this really who you're? How can a girl find pleasure in sleeping around?? Are you really the girl who I saw singing in the school backyard?"

" Because the girl I saw singing did not seem like a worthless bitch like how you are one or how you tend to be one."

"But I don't want to do anything with a fucking whore who can't even do justice to her own self and readily sold the only thing that was her own. Your dignity is yours to keep, it's not for sale. I can't be with someone who can't respect her dignity. Do you get me? I'm sorry for this lecture. But I'm not into you. Never was, never will be."

Holly pants of sponge bob. Did I seriously swear?

I decide to go out for a run. I literally lack muscles. So why not try for a bit of muscular body.

Trying something impossible?? My conscience taunts me.

I was never a confident kid but neither a sore loser either, but within years I turned into one. I was always mama's boy and I'm still one. I believed in showing emotions, rather than bottling them up for no one to see. Sentiment never made a person weak, rather it made then strong. That was something my parent's never realized. Unlike them, I used my heart to think rather than the junk in my head. Obviously, I inherited their vicious cold-heartedness, where the brain ruled like a boss and the heart was chained and locked in a dungeon. But I was smart enough to be merciful and actually think about other's welfare. That's how she brought me up after all.

Plugging the earphones to my ears, I push my legs for a run, feeling the breeze brushing past me. It felt good, good to run and feel the adrenaline kick once again. But it wasn't good for a long term basis.

After running for what felt like ages and losing the track of time, I decided to head back. On my way back I notice an alley. Not any normal alley but a deserted and quiet one indeed, but with a lot of cars parked in there. As you know curiosity killed the cat but still I let my curiosity get the best of me since a cat had nine lives.

You just got one, you nincompoop!

Obviously ignoring the ringing bells in my head, I walk towards the dark alley in a slow-motion, cautiously taking each other and then finally coming across an opening. Several cars were parked in line and more are yet coming. No person in sight, just roaring of engines.

My eyes fell over a couple that got down the car. The girl and the guy were covered in tattoos all over their body. The guy was probably triple my size without any doubt, he is buff and has huge muscles with the built up body.

One blow on my nuts, I'm dead sure I'm never seeing daylight again.

I see them approaching the hard metal door that screams trouble. I could decipher the loud howling coming from across the room which surely increases my curiosity to know what's behind that door. Curiosity and trouble are my personal nicknames.

So making my mind I decided to approach the girl rather than her giant of a boyfriend who wanted to do nothing but fry my eggs into omelets.

"Um excuse me?"

"What??!" Her boyfriend answers pouncing fiercely at me, ready to gobble me up like a hungry alligator. The one they show in discovery channels or like the one you see in the movie crawl.

"I-am sorry to bother y-you. But co-could you te-tell me what's behind that ga-gate." I somehow managed to speak and to be honest, I have never been so proud of my little self. I hate when fear takes over me, in my defense the guy could eat me up for dinner.

You jumped at the slight raise of voice by Abigail for the love of God.

In my defense again, she caught me off guard. That girl is no ordinary woman.

"Oh, poor boy. Honey, stop scaring him." The girl told off the giant. Hell, I'm sure he ran away from the book of Jack and the beanstalk. Her boyfriend let out a loud laugh that broke the Guinness record of all the devious laugh in history.

"I'm sorry to scare you, pretty boy. I just like messing, you see." Yeah, with people's heart. Totally logical. "I guess your new to this arena. This is fighting arena kiddo. The biggest fights happen here. Every year there's a championship here. And the winner receives a huge amount of money. "

"Oh." That's all I manage to say. A fighting arena. Sounds interesting.

"Why don't you join along with us." The tattoo girl offers. Daaymn, the offer definitely felt tempting and perked my interests. For once I wanted to feel the adrenaline rush of doing something totally illegal. I ponder for a moment before agreeing to their offer.

"Sure. Why not." My dad would be so proud of me.

We walk inside through the metal door, the loud deafening cheering and commotion getting louder with each step. The scent of sweat, smoke and alcohol clouding the atmosphere. The rush was pretty high over here. The arena was dark, barely any light flashing around here. I see a red and blue ring in the middle of the big hall like any fighting arena in the movies, people crowding around it while some sit in a secluded area, which I assume was the VIP zone.

So the movies don't really exaggerate everything.

"PAIGE!! PAIGE!! PAIGE!!" The crowd cheers louder and louder. I push the people and so does Emily and Michael. That's what the tattoo girl and her boyfriend's name is. Emily is a pretty brunette with beautiful hazel eyes and lean figure while Michael was the total opposite. He is an Asian, black eye and buffed muscle man. How he allured someone like Emily despite his devotion towards the gym was beyond me. I even fear that someday his veins would actually burst through his arms, the way they appeared lines over the broad biceps.

"Paige is the best fighter here, and has won every single fight ever since stepped inside this place and is called the undefeated," Michael informs me as I nod to the newfound information. The Paige guy, sure enough, was really popular due to the amount of cheering and support.

I make my way to the front with plenty of effort as my muscle less body wasn't helping me either. I manage to squeeze myself through the loud, enthusiastic, sweaty drunk adults that enjoyed brutality.

There were two people in the ring. Both circling one around the other in the ring. One of them, bruised up badly and another one haven't received a cut or broke a sweat either. Although I couldn't see his face, I could decipher he was nowhere near wounded. I assume that is Paige. Paige was wearing a hood over her head and a mask over her face. He doesn't have too much of a buffed up body like his opponent. All I could see was his eyes which was a beautiful paint of chocolate brownie brown. He motioned for his opponent to come on to him, challenging and taunting at the same time.

I could see the little twitch in the buff man's eye. He was hesitant to make a move. But well, the latter wasn't.

Seeing no efforts made by Mr. Buff man, Paige throws a roundhouse whilst the opponent lies on the ground, completely cold. No movement.

"We have our winner again. Paige as always. "The anchor declares as the crowd screams in pure elation. I was curious to find who the Paige guy was and how was it possible to be such an amazing fighter despite the deprivation in muscles and biceps.

And so to puncture my bruised ego and confidence even further, God had granted a small wish of mine.

Paige took his hood off as my eyes widened in utter disbelief. Long brown hair fell off the hood in perfect waves, surprising the trash outta me. Paige was a girl. Like, what the fudging brownie cookies!!

"PAIGE IS A GIRL?!?!" I voice out my surprise. I was so close to throwing a tantrum. Not to be sexist, but she just defeated a fat jerk.

"Yeah. Paige is a girl. But no one has ever seen her face. She always wears the mask. Why no one knows." Emily replies.

Paige gets down the fighting ring walking towards her room I guess. That's when my eyes fall on time.

"Holly sugar doughnuts. I'm late. It's 11:56." I bid my goodbye to the couple and start walking towards the exit but hey you know right I'm like the stupid kid who never remembers the directions. Yep, you guessed it right, I'm freaking lost. Why the flying horses are my luck so bad?? I whined internally.

I keep on moving to God knows where shoved by people now and then. I finally reach a door which looks like an exit I guess. I walk inside hesitantly to come across a dim light but bright enough to lighten up the room. The room consisted of a punching bag, a treadmill and many such other types of equipment used for training.

"Harry, where the fuck is my mask?!?" A hot sexy familiar voice speaks up. She was facing her back to me so wasn't aware it wasn't who she was expecting.

Wait a minute....didn't she say mask. Holly dynamite shrimps, she's Paige.

"Harry, pass my damn fucking mask. My day was sucking enough, don't ruin it any further." She speaks again, screaming this time. I just stand there still not knowing what to do.

Ever heard of turn away and leave??

Should've given me the idea 5 seconds earlier.

That's when she turns...

"Harry you- fuck!!" She curses as my jaw drops to the floor. I felt like the land just slip beneath me and the time just stopped right there. My heartbeat races faster than turbo the snail at his race.

Getting a bit dramatic. Aren't we?? My conscience taunts me again.

Trust me, it ain't an exaggeration when you can just realize you dug your grave even further and pushed yourself into the trouble pit even deeper.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" She exclaims perplexed.

"I- aah- I got lost. I'll le- leave right away." I reply and push the door open. I could feel her burning stare at me which increased my pace. She was hot on wheels and was following me like I'm her prey. Should have never stepped here.

"Gawd, I made the biggest mistake of my life. Someone fudging saves me." I mumble to myself. And by someone, I don't mean God. He had actually helped me enough to last a lifetime that is if I survive.

Such a cry baby.

By the time I got out of the alley I felt all my energy drain out and thanks to the broken street lights it was already pretty dark enough to see anyone and she wasn't following me anymore. I quickly rush home and close all the doors shut and tight. I breathe heavily, undoubtedly hyperventilating due to another unfolded and unexpected drama.

Should I inform the guys??

Nope, that's a bad idea. They are worst than Daphnee when it comes to the latest gossip. I bet their dicks don't stand at the view of a naked woman as much as it perks up at the mention of gossip.

I groan loudly not knowing what the purgatory to do. My mind drifted back to the scenario when I saw her standing right in front of me. Anger, furious, shock, frustration ,pissed, fire, nervousness, mad etc, different emotions reflecting her face.

That's when it dawned... PAIGE!!.

You rejected Abigail PAIGE McCarthy.

How could I not realize that any time sooner?

Because you're dumb.

She left her opponent lying half-dead on the ring, I wouldn't even dare to imagine what she could do to me.

But why would Abigail McCarthy be a street fighter?? Why would she do this all for?? What is this all about?? Who is Abigail McCarthy?

And for the third time, I find myself asking this...

Did I do the right thing??

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

So, hey nerd lovers.

Thoughts on the chapter??

What do you believe will happen in the book in the upcoming chapters. I'm really ecstatic to know what do you intend to see and how cliché you intend to see..

A penny for your thoughts??

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QOD: Everything in the world is a mystery until you try your best to unravel it.

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