Rallying the squad [1]

"Vivi?"

Caleb was stunned.

What was Genevieve doing here? Did something happen?

He had so many questions in his mind but he didn't get to ask them because Genevieve asked before he could. "What book are you reading?"

Caleb looked down at the book. "Shadow Slave".

"A novel?"

Hearing that, he frowned. "You've not heard of Shadow Slave?"

"No, should I?"

Caleb's frown deepened.

Genevieve was worried. "Is something wrong?"

Looking left and right, Caleb stood up and dragged Genevieve along. "Follow me".

Well, Genevieve regretted saying the truth because dragging her to the kitchen of this night club where it was quieter, Caleb ripped at her, accusing her for not having read a masterpiece like Shadow Slave.

"It's a crime!" He said, agitated. "It's a masterpiece, you have to read it!"

"You definitely have to read it!"

In the end, she was amused. "Your appearance really doesn't suit the real you," she chuckled. "You're such a nerd, well, who works as a bouncer".

Of their friend circle, finding Caleb was relatively easy.

Knowing that he once worked as a bouncer before being introduced to Warstar by Noah, and knowing his personality that he was too lazy to go look for an extravagant work, the first places Genevieve looked to search were night clubs.

With her dad company's information network, she did a little digging and in no time, she discovered the specific night club where Caleb worked.

Thankfully, he worked in Manchester, making it easy for her.

She waited till it was late before going to the night club and just like she expected, she met Caleb here.

"So, you went back to being a bouncer".

Caleb shrugged. "There are not many works out there that suit a man like me, being a bouncer happens to be one of those few works".

Caleb looked at her, at her extravagant gown. "So, what brought you here?"

"Noah".

Caleb paused. "What happened with him?"

Genevieve looked around, looking for CCTV cameras and once she confirmed that there was none, she spoke. "Well, it's like this…"

By the time she was done explaining, unlike what she expected, Caleb was not as stunned as she was when she learned the truth.

Instead, he chuckled. "What a befitting end for him".

"Huh?"

"For someone as obsessed with video games as Noah," he looked around, making sure that no one was close by to hear. "Getting transmigrated into Warstar is just fate, and I bet he's loving it". He chuckled.

"Well, now that you say it," Genevieve thought. "He didn't seem distressed, just blabbering about how he wants to be King again".

"Typical of him". Caleb chuckled.

"So?"

Caleb shrugged, looking around. "If it's aiming for glory again, I'm in, at the very least it'll be better than working here".

"At least the pay is better".

Genevieve heaved a sigh of relief on hearing that. 'That was easier than I expected, but it's not shocking. Caleb was always going to be the easiest'.

"Let's go".

Genevieve was stunned. "Just like that? You won't need to drop a resignation letter or something?"

Caleb chuckled. "This is bouncer work, not some official office work, we get paid by the night for every night that we work".

"If I leave, someone else will just take my place tomorrow night".

"Oh, so it's like that". She finally nodded.

Before leaving, Caleb met a few of his friends in the night club, bidding his farewell to them. He was honest to a fault, telling them the truth that he wanted to return to playing games.

Despite knowing him for a long time already, these people simply couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that someone with such a scary look and physique was actually a nerd who loved playing video games and reading novels.

'They really say don't judge a book by its cover'. They sighed.

…

After leaving the night club, they went straight to Caleb's home where Genevieve finally started inquiring about the others.

She could not help but pay attention to how neat his room was, just like she expected to see. 'Typical Cal'. She thought.

"Mac is not in the country". Caleb said. "He's in China, working as a foreign consultant I think for some big Chinese company".

Genevieve was surprised. "Really? But it's just been 3 days since we retired".

"Well, he works fast". Caleb shrugged.

"What of Aria?"

Caleb paused his action of arranging his clothes in his traveling bag. "She should be in her hometown I think, Coventry. By the way, she now has a boyfriend".

"…!"

Genevieve stood, eyes wide and frozen in shock.

When Caleb finally noticed her, he paused, looking at her. "What?"

"Did you just say Aria has a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, what?"

'Yeah, what?!' Genevieve felt like punching him on the face if he was not so much bigger than her.

"Aria? A boyfriend?!"

"Is she even capable of that?"

"Well, she is".

"Damn!" Genevieve exclaimed. "How can it change so much so fast? It's just 3 days but I feel like 3 years have passed!"

Genevieve was always calm and quiet but today, she had experienced and heard so many revelations that kept on leaving her rattled.

She grumbled for a bit before asking again. "What of Benjamin?"

Hearing that name, Caleb grimaced a bit. "That guy? I have no damn clue where he is".

"Great!" Genevieve sighed. "Mac is out of the country, we have no clue where Benji is, and Aria now has a boyfriend. Great, just great!"

"Noah's dream team is coming together just fine".

Caleb looked at her. "Are you ok?"

"What? I'm fine, of course I'm fine".

"You normally don't talk so much".

"Huh?" Now, Genevieve felt triggered. "Noah is stuck inside a video game; we have to rescue him. Marcus is out of the country, Benjamin is nowhere to be found, and Aria now has a boyfriend, so forgive me if I'm talking so much!"

Caleb chuckled, making her sharply look at him. "What's funny?"

"You look even cuter when you're frustrated".

"…"

Genevieve was speechless, now she felt like crying.

At that moment, Caleb finally carried his traveling bag. "There's no need to be frustrated, let's work with what we have first".

"Let's find Aria in Coventry, we can make the trip this night".

Genevieve sighed. "Ok".