Life in the ring

At the beginning of the new year, grandma began to improve, which gave me a hope, but that same year the hope faded as quickly as it appeared. My last relative died in the hospital bedridden. Life is just a fucking bitch sometimes.

I spent one whole day grieving, initially in the uncomfortably quiet apartment, but then I packed up and stayed in our childhood hideout, where my friends and I no longer spent our time. I needed to be alone, which my surroundings kindly allowed me to do.

However, unfortunately I couldn't be sad for too long. The very second day I had to deal with a bunch of crap at the office like my grandmother's will and so on. It annoyed me, but I was glad to have anything to distract me from thinking which always went to not very nice thoughts.

In the old apartment, I almost didn't stop most of the time. Instead, I slept in a verdant room, aka childhood hideout, on a dilapidated couch or even in a workshop, especially not in that eerily quiet place.

"Rayne, lock up later, okay?" asked Mr. Cheng, who, given the situation, was leaving me some work to keep me busy.

I nodded in agreement and went back to work on the hovercar, which I soon finished, after which I started cleaning up all the mess I had caused with some not slow music in my ears. It calmed me down, but the cleaning also reminded me that I should go over the things my grandmother left behind. Which I didn´t want to do. At least not now.

I put all the sad thoughts behind me and went up the stairs to the upper floor. I was headed to the kitchen, where I wanted to do some paperwork over some good food. But I wasn't going to drink, because I had a hoverbike here and planned to return home after all these days.

I sat on a bar stool by the kitchen island with a bowl of chicken noodles while I flipped through the documents on tablet screen with my other hand, occasionally adding some informations to them. It was a really good release, but nothing lasts forever. Unfortunately.

It was quite late in the evening when I had everything ready. I cleaned up after myself in the kitchen and took the tablet with the documents to the head of the office, which I then locked and started on my way home.

Thanks to the hoverbike, the trip was only momentary, which I regretted for a short while. I didn't want to enter a lonely apartment. I didn't want to have the rush of those few memories of the last family member. It was really tiring.

With a sigh, I opened the door to the quiet place, where I then entered and closed the door behind me. I went to the window in the living room, which I opened to air out the apartment. I had a better feeling about it, but it disappeared after a while when I made myself to go to the door of my grandmother's room.

I stood in the doorway for a moment before walking over to the old wardrobe, which I opened wide. I saw a pile of clothes, which I rummaged through and then focused my gaze on the shelf above. There were some boxes that I reached for and then pulled them all out.

I only remember one of these boxes from my childhood, it was my parents´, in which I found the lighter I carry around, but I was never curious enough to search through all of them or that one again.

Sighing, I sat down on the ground and opened the first one, where there were some jewelry and among them the same one I wore around my neck. I also found some decorated dishes, for which I closed the boxes and hid them back with the others. I didn't want to get rid of any of it, and it also made me feel so weird.

I preferred to go take a cold shower and close the window, after which I went in my room closing the door behind me, after which I darkened the premise because it was light outside, and went to sleep. I had a match coming up the next day and I wanted to sleep. At least just a little bit.

As I mentioned - after my grandmother's death, I started spending even more time in the Wen family's training rooms and started training other fighting styles as well. Zhang Shuo also taught me sword fighting, which I quite enjoyed. And so today I stood opposite my opponent with a wooden pole in my hand and not with my fist like before.

"Rayne Guerrero!" I heard a voice call my name, to which I made my way to the ring. I gripped the pole made of wood from the local forests tighter in my hand and waited for the words to start the duel while I returned the gaze to the girl standing across from me. She wanted to win. I also did, but not because of the money anymore. I just simply wanted to win. Probably for a better feeling.

The referee started the match, before which we had to bow to each other in respect. The red-haired girl across from me was waiting for my first step, just like me waiting for hers. And so we took a few steps in a circle, after which my opponent probably lost her temper and attacked me with a blow from above, which I stopped with my pole.

I took the force and breathed out my opponent, after which I immediately attacked her with a lion blow, which she managed to dodge. And so the fight continued for several long minutes until it looked like it might be a draw. But I wasn't going to give up, so I tried to corner the redhead. I gave her side blows, between which I occasionally turned the pole to strike from the other side or even from above.

Later, I took advantage of a moment of her inattention that allowed me to get behind her and strike her in the back. This wood was solid and hard so it brought her to her knees and I was able to end the fight and win. Which I then did, too.

The victory brought me happiness for a hundredth of the time, but it disappeared just as quickly and I returned to the building to change and take a shower, which we were allowed down in the building. I was always happy to use that opportunity, as it was unpleasant to be in that annoying sweat.

Before I left the building, I went higher up in the building to the VIP area of ​​the Wen family, where two bodyguards already recognized me in front of the double wing doors, so they immediately let me in, where I stopped behind the door and looked for Zhang Shuo, whom I always saw at the bar where he was today, too.

"Rayne! Congratulations, winner," Shuo stated before I could say a word.

With a subsequent greeting, I thanked him and was about to announce my departure. However, I didn't plan to go back home yet, because I wanted to have a drink somewhere to improve the evening.

"Wanna drink with me?" Shuo asked with a questioning look on his face as he brought glass of honey-colored liquid to his lips after which he drunk it all down.

I shrugged my shoulders. Why not have a drink here already, right? So Zhang Shuo ordered us both to drink the same honey-colored liquid that he had finished a moment ago. I guessed it would be something similar to when I was at the club at the end of the year.

I took the glass in my hand and lifted it slightly as I looked at the liquid surrounding the ice which I smelled on the drink. It really smelled similar to the mead I already had, but at the same time completely different.

"We only have the best here," Shuo winked at me, to which I giggled slightly. Of course, those who were richer down here weren't poor up there either, so they could afford a bar full of quality booze.

"Cheers," he said before raising his glass for a click.

"Cheers," I added and clicked my glass with him, to which I could taste the clear alcohol, which had a slightly sharp taste. Really good drink.