Chapter 4.2: "Stalking a delinquent and saving his dumb ass"

QUICK QUESTION, what would you do if you happened to see a man in trouble right in front of your eyes? Obviously, the usual answers are among these three options: First, you will approach the scene spontaneously (with a very dramatic entrance) and act like a heroic defender depicted in books, comics, and TV shows. Second, you will avoid immediately or run like a horse in a racing game to avoid getting involved. The third and the last option, is that you'll just watch on the side as if you are just watching one of Manny Pacquiao's intense boxing matches on TV.

(A/N: Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao is one of the veteran boxing legend who is extremely popular in the Philippines. As of today, he is working as one of the government official.)

Whichever of those three choices you choose, honestly we all know to ourselves that if we’re given the opportunity, of course we wouldn’t hesitate to choose the first option, but then in the end we decide to pick either the second or the third one. Do you know why? Because first, we have physical limitations, second is we don't care about other people, and last is because we are afraid to take risks that's why we can't afford to put our lives at stake.

Needless to say, I don't have any weird fetishes against heroes or preventing crimes whatsoever. Although I'm sympathetic and emotionally vulnerable, it still won't mean that I'm always mentally prepared to be selfless that I could probably be somebody's potential savior or anything when something happens out of the sudden. Just like I said earlier, people are afraid to take risks and so am I. The only time that I decided to stand up for an unfortunate victim is when I fought with Maou for the very first time in history — which in turn was the reason why the course of my life changed.

And now, I am watching him getting beaten up inside an alley without doing anything at all.

I know, it may sound unutterably ridiculous but it seems like the tables have been turned now. The seemingly, campus bad boy who often beats up students at school, is now the one who's being beaten up by three bigger and taller muscular ruffians. If then he was the one who kicks or step on people, now he is the one who's receiving those hard kicks in the stomach. And before he used to smash his fellow students' face with unmerciful punches, but today he's getting hit with all those painful blows. This event seems to have been served as a karma for him and in such cases, he undoubtedly deserves it. However, for some reason I still feel sorry to see him in this situation — which is totally out of my freaking character. I'm afraid to say this but ironically, I don't like witnessing the fall of this cynical, Monster king from the hands of anybody unless it is me.

Perhaps this indicates that God still has given me a purpose to do something that is why he allowed me to follow this black sheep secretly awhile ago, and this purpose which I am referring to began right after those three thugs hurriedly left confidently, abandoning the young man they had beaten in a serious condition where he could not stand on his own feet anymore.

As they made their triumphant exit, I immediately ran up towards Maou without hesitation who was currently lying on the cement, prostrated after that dog-whipping, counterblow.

I stared at him in horror for a few seconds while thinking that he might have died on the spot. Good thing that I checked his pulse first and found out that he's still breathing. He had countless of bruises on both his arms as well as on his gentle face. And despite what just happened, his good looks still haven't diminished even though he's been knocked out. He's still so damn gorgeous.

Gosh. Why is this rude jerk blessed with that outlandish beauty anyway? This should be illegal.

"Hello? Young miss?" I dialed my phone and called my driver which I left at school.

"Baldo, we're on an emergency. I'm here somewhere at ..." Amidst of getting antsy, I still thoroughly explained to him my exact location. My hands are already shaking. "Come here immediately manong, Asap! Somebody's in trouble."

(A/N: "Manong" is an honorific term called for older people. "Manang" however, is the female counterpart.)

"Right away young miss," he answered then I turned the call off. I turned my gaze back to Maou who was still unconscious even though I lightly patted her cheek.

"You were the first to smack one of those thugs and challenge them into a fight, but now here you are, displaying how pathetic you really are against those who you fought with." I shook my head and then sighed at him. "Why are you so reckless, Montega?"

"..." Since he was lying on the ground unconsciously, he didn't respond any single word upon my question. He really lost his consciousness completely.

Should I kiss him to wake him up? I mean, that's how it is done in fairytales, isn't it?

Meh, I'm just kidding. I'm not that stupid enough to do that idiocy. That's unutterably ridiculous. If we base on scientific and practical measures, a kiss can't actually cure any physical injuries or so.

Besides, injured or not I STILL HAVE NO PLANS on kissing him. Why would I if we are bloody enemies?

And speaking of enemies, we're supposed to be fighting against each other and celebrate whenever the other one is suffering in a terrible situation. But here I am now, feeling sympathy while sitting next to him instead of laughing at his condition. I shouldn't be kind to him in the first place, but I don't even know why am I currently lifting him out in a careful manner out of the alley where I found him.

In less than two minutes, Manong Baldo immediately tracked down the location I told to him. This time, he was with my PA, Lupert. They must have been wondering why am I holding a random, bloody half-dead man right now, but neither of them talked to me out of it and just quietly followed my orders of getting Maou inside the car as well.

"Get us to the nearest hospital, Manong."

"Yes Young Miss." He nodded and started driving. From the backseat, I adjusted Maou's position besides me by carefully placing his head on my lap. But because Maou is one hell of a giant, I couldn't make him completely fit on the seat. So, the lowermost part of his torso was hanging on the other edge of the seat in an awkward disposition.

Fortunately, Lupert didn't interrogate me about who the heck this monster is and what just happened to him because I would definitely had a hard time explaining things in my stead. Ironically, it wouldn't sound right for me to say that this guy and I have been mortal enemies but then I helped him when he gets involved in the trouble he started off himself. He would only get confused which will lead to even more complications and misunderstanding that I don't want to deal with. Besides, he's the only person I asked to run a background check upon Maou, so perhaps he already had an idea regarding him.

When we arrived at the said hospital, we urgently took him to the counter so they could register his name and confinement.

"Ma'am, what is your relation to the patient?" The nurse in the counter asked.

"He's my mortal archenemy." The nurse raised an eyebrow as she stared at me in astonishment probably because of what I said.

I faked a cough when I suddenly realized what I told her. "Ah! I mean, he's my f-f-f-"

"You mean friend, Ma'am?" she cut me off. How dare she, I was about to say that.

"Well, yeah. Kind of."

"What's the name please?"

"My name? Well it is—"

"No, I'm talking about the patient," she clarified.

"Uh, he's Maou Montega."

"How do you spell that?"

"Are you an illiterate person?" I want to slap that phrase straight to her face but she's lucky I didn't. "Well, it's M-A-O-U M-O-N-T-E-G-A."

"Noted. Age please?"

"Uh, I don't know! Just put 17-ish or something."

"Are you sure ma'am?"

"Yes! I'm always accurate!" I rolled my eyes. "And kindly put him in the best VIP room you guys have here, we're willing to pay in any amount!"

"All right. So, who are the patient's other closest relatives? Do you have the number of at least one member in his family? If not, how about their address?"

"I don't have any!"

"I see. So about the patient, what is—"

"Miss, are you kidding with me or are you just stupid enough that you can't see that we're in a rush right now because you still ask extraneous questions instead of thinking about the patient's state first?" This time, it's my turn to cut her off and raise a brow upon her ignorant face. She's prolonging our agony for heaven's sake. "Look, we don't have plenty of time to waste. This guy right here is in a terrible shape. If you don't hurry up, his condition will get even worse! So stop questioning me and put him in the VIP room already! "

"Y-Yes ma'am!" The prying nurse seemed to be shaken off a bit so she hurriedly asked some other staffs to take care of the monster that Lupert and Manong Baldo had been carrying around their shoulders since we came.

The third floor of this hospital is the official haven exclusive for VIP patients so they took Maou up there. One of the resident doctors came in and check his vitals to measure how severe his injuries were. I was left outside the room while waiting for the physician and other medical staffs who accompanied him to come out.

While waiting, I called Manong Baldo on the phone again, who I think was left in the lobby together with Lu.

"Yes young miss? Do you still need anything?"

"I do. Can you guys run an errand for me, pretty quick?" I said in a pleading manner.

"What is it young miss?"

"Take Lupert with you. I want you guys to go back to my school's parking lot and retrieve something there. When you see a Yamazaki motorbike tainted in red and black, take it to the nearest repair shop. Ask a mechanic to change the inflated tire before taking the bike here to the hospital."

"Copy ma'am."

"Oh, and please buy me some fresh fruits please, and two bottled water. Thankies," I added before turning off the call.

***

"Tokneneng..." I groaned when I felt unbearable pain all over my body. When I opened my eyes, I realized that I was lying on a white bed in a white room with bandages wrapped around my body. Wait, is this a hospital? Why am I here?

(A/N: "Tokneneng" is one the popular street foods in the Philippines. This term is often used as an expression, instead of swearwords.)

What happened before I lost consciousness suddenly flashed back into my head.

Damn, I got fucked up by that stupid Luis' goons again. Not only did he fucked up with me by what he did to my motorbike, he also paid people just to beat me up as if the first shit wasn't enough. If he still hadn't accepted the fact that I impaired and defeated his current "chicken" from our latest match, he should face me eye-to-eye instead of letting me go through this foolishness. That fucker, I'll get back to him too, he'll see.

I looked around again and for the second time I realized that I was actually chilling inside a private medical room, and not crammed into a narrow space with curtains draped over which serves as a division from the beds of other unfortunate patients. The surroundings were also slightly dark and the source of light is coming from a small lamp sitting on the side table to my right and the light coming across that large LCD television hanging on the wall facing my bed, currently playing a dramatic series on the screen. Nice, who would imagine that there's even TV here?

I found something that looked like a small remote control placed on the side table so I picked it up and started pressing any button I desired. I was startled when all the lights in the room automatically turned on, even the upper division of the bed lifted up and it looks like I'm just sitting in a chair now.

"This is cool."

"Hihihi... Stop it Teddy it tickles."

"HOLY MOTHER'S VAGINA!" I was about to get a heart attack when I heard the faint voice of a woman somewhere near me. As I lean to the right I saw a woman lying sideways on a long sofa with her back facing towards me. Wait, was she the one who spoke earlier? Why is she lying there in the first place? She's a nurse here, isn't she?

I glanced at her small, slender body and noticed that she's not a nurse but a student base on the set of clothes she's clad in. And what's even confusing is that she was wearing the same uniform for the girls back at our school.

Who the hell is that woman? Is she one of my schoolmates? If so, what is she even doing here? I don't remember that I had a girl friend or even a fling at school, so it's impossible for her to have any unnecessary business with me. Plus, it is freaky to imagine that she's the one who took me in a costly-looking room like this. I mean, if she really is a schoolmate, shouldn't she be just as poor as I am? I don't think there's anyone in campus who could afford this kind of expense so it is absolutely impossible to speculate that she have something to do with that.

Unless she is that...

Out of unprecedented twist of the events, she turned towards my direction while still sleeping which made it possible for me to see her face completely. My jaw dropped the second I recognized her.

Fucking animal! Why am I surprised, of course she's the bitch I wanna get rid of! That birdbrained woman who slap faces like a damn kicking horse!

I didn’t realize that I put one of my hands supporting my weight above the little remote control and accidentally pressed something unintentionally. It startled me again when suddenly there was a loud, metal rock music playing from the speakers in every corner of the room.

"WHAT THE HECK? WHO TURNED THE ALARM ON?!" I glanced to that stunt's direction and saw her scratching her eyes as she slowly got up and sat down properly on the sofa where she had slept on awhile ago. Her tight and irritated face quickly softened when she saw me.

Why does she look... relieved?

"Ah! Finally, you're awake. What time is it?" She looked at her watch before approaching my bed and retrieve the remote control from me to turn off the loud music. "Ah, it's three o'clock already. It's been more than an hour and a half. I didn't even realize that I fell asleep waiting for you to wake up."

The fuck?

"Why did you bring me here?!" I snarled like a growling tiger.

"Relax dork, I'm not your opponent here. Not for the mean time at least," she said before turning her back on me and walk towards the small refrigerator and took a tray of fresh fruits from inside of it. "If you really want to be enlightened of what exactly happened to you from the time you passed out, then pay attention to what I'm about to say. After you got yourself pathetically beaten up in an alley hours ago, I asked my personal assistant and driver to take you here and be treated. In other words, I am your beautiful knight in shining skirt. Shouldn't you thank me for that? "

"Damn! And why should I thank you for that, huh? Did I also asked you to help me?" I snarled again before shifting my gaze to what she was holding and gulped. "Hey! Is that yours?"

"You mean these fruits? Of course, it's for the two of us. Why?"

"Give me some! I'm hungry as fuck." I don't care how shameless I am right now and just swiftly grabbed a banana and peeled it off to take a huge bite. Stunt just stared at me in a serious manner, as if she's observing each small details within my every movement. But because of my starvation, I ignored her for a while.

Until I couldn't stand her gawking at me anymore and scolded her stupid ass-face for staring the fuck out of me.

"Stop what you're doing dimwit! Are you shitting with me?" I yelled at her. "Why are you staring like that?"

"Hmm, nothing. It's just amazing to see how monkeys like you gobble in an actual situation. I don't usually go to the zoo before so it always fascinates me every time I see a wild animal eating a banana." She beamed in an insulting way as she leaned down beside me.

"What did you say?" I glared at her but it just didn't seem to affect this bitch and just shrug in response. I swear I'll rip her eyes off.

"What? I'm just saying my opinion though. You really look like a monkey, most especially when you're eating bananas. Oh wait, monkey is just an understatement, you're a bloody gorilla. A perfect epitome of an ape king I'd say. "

"Can you just go straight to the fucking point? Do you have any other intentions as to why you brought me here, do you?"

She dropped the peeler she's holding and put it above the fruit tray after skinning an apple and nibbled on it a little. This meticulous whore probably had zero idea that the apple skin she discarded is fucking edible.

"You know what, among all the people in this small world we're living in, I'm guessing that you're the only person who's never been grateful towards his savior. And instead, you keep accusing me of something I couldn't even possibly do. But go ahead, think about whatever you want to think. Cause I know that no matter how much I tried to redeem myself in front of your dumb ass, you're still gonna be mad at me. Ands if only I knew that this chaotic atmosphere is going to happen again between the two of us, then how I wish I just let you rot after three bulky dudes left you beaten up in a narrow alley seven kilometers away from school."

"And how did you find out about that thing? Why did you know I was beaten up in some place called mind-yer-own-fucking-business? Are you following me again?!" Her eyes widened even more as if she's surprised at my accusation. I smirked at her reaction.

I know that Stunt has been following me for a long time with her goofy minions since our endless fight began, I'm not stupid that I won't notice that. And from that basis, I can absolutely proclaim that this woman is scheming something notorious for my stake. But as if I'd allow her to acquire any information about my life and let her use it against me. I'll die first before she can ever do that.

She tilted his head slightly and scratched her neck so hard to display her embarrassment. "Well, about that... I swear I don't really have any bad intentions to you for doing it. I just wanted to know something about your personal life so I decided to—"

"And why would you want to know something about me, huh? Does it seem fun to pry on other people's private lives?!"

"Hey! Don't get mad at me as if you're guiltless for not bullying me at school either! You've done countless of horrible things on me too when we're on campus!"

"That's two different matters, bitch! And if you're so pumped up about it then why didn't you stay away? Why didn't you report it to the teachers? To the principal? Or even to your family? Are you losing your mind?"

"Of course not! I won't do what you said because I know what you're going to think afterwards! That I will only prove you're right about me using my money and societal influence on anything!"

"And so? What's the problem there? Isn't that true anyway?" I grinned even more when she glared at me. I know that I provoked her enough to tighten her jaws while looking at me in a deadly way. I should hurry and take my leave now before this savage slap my handsome face again.

"Hold on! Where are you heading?" she asked as I removed all the medical tubes attached to my body and stood up from the bed before walking towards the door.

"I'm going to shit, why? Do you want to wipe my ass?"

"Why would I? That's stupid. Besides, there's toilet here so there's no need to go out—"

I didn't let her finish and fled as fast as I could away from her sight. I just want no more piece of her shits this time.

"Sir? Why did you leave your room? You're not all well yet!" said a nurse I met along the hallway.

"Ah yeah, but there's a crazy woman with me inside so I ran out, and I think she's abusing illegal drugs her entire life. Next time, don't bring patients here with serious mental illness, okay? You should take her to a mental facility straight away."

"Eh?!" She stared at me in disbelief but I did not answer her and just resumed walking until I was out of the hospital.

Fuck this shit, I just remembered that I left my motorbike at school. How can I go home now?

"Wait, is that my motorbike?" I narrowed my eyes to focus my sight on a direction where I saw a motorbike that look exactly like mine. I approached it and when I looked at it thoroughly, I was not mistaken.

This baby is mine!

After recalling that some bastard punctured a hole in one of the tires, I immediately leaned down to check on it. I was stupefied for a couple of seconds seeing that both of the tires is as good as new as if someone had it replaced with a new set.

Wait, don't tell me...

"Hey! Hali-Maou!" I looked behind me and saw the mad stunt standing with in front of the hospital entrance with her arms both crossed in her chest. I looked behind her and saw five bulkier men who seemed like her bodyguards because of their appearance and formation.

(A/N: The term "Halimaw" is a tagalog/Filipino term for Monster. This explains that the main character created a pun using the pov holder's name.)

I turned my back on her and quickly hop on to my baby. Unfortunately, I couldn't turn the engine on for I realized that I didn't have my keys with me. I rummaged in my pockets and scooped nothing except for a rusty cent and twenty fucking pesos. Even the money I brought with me could barely take me home, away from this irksome situation.

"Is this what you're looking for?" The next time I turned to her, she's already holding my keys while waving it in the air. I closed my eyes in annoyance.

Just bullshit, man. This is bullshit.