Chapter 2: Double Life, Double Trouble

*The next day*

When Esme woke up, she let out a small groan and rolled onto her side, as bright sunlight had poured through the dorm window.

Her head was still fuzzy due to last night's events. A lot of things were going on inside her head, like a whirlwind of emotions pouring inside her brain.

"What happened last night?" She said to herself, rubbing her eyes.

Suddenly, images from her memory flashed inside of her head. The club...all the drinks she had...

And the man in the suit...

"His piercing gaze...his voice...low...smooth...teasing..." She said to herself, feeling flustered.

She noticed that the man had an uncanny resemblance to her roommate Ethan which catches her off-guard.

"No...there's absolutely no way...right?' Her eyes widen, her body trembled.

She decided to replay the moment in her head. Their encounter at the club last night, she focused on the way the man spoke.

"The way how he spoke to me so gently, the way how he kept his composure...it felt so surreal..." Esme continued.

"But there's no way it could be him...he wouldn't be that bold..." Esme panicked, she felt extremely nervous and opened her eyes.

"Would he?" Esme questioned to herself.

She stared at the ceiling, she thought for a moment and tried to regain her composure.

"Ugh, get a grip Esme...you were drunk last night...you were probably just imagining things..." Esme sighed and started to get up from her bed.

But no matter how hard she tried to shake the thought of her mind...it was still in her head.

"Ethan Blackwood...you're definitely hiding something..." Esme said, her eyes were a mix of curiosity and anger.

Ethan strolled down the hallway, hands tucked into his pockets, his expression unreadable. His mind was still tangled in the events of the previous night...his confrontation with the Lion, the close call at the club, and, of course, Esme. He had managed to keep his identity under wraps, but her sharp intuition made him uneasy.

"Last night felt like a hurricane to me...not only I had to deal with the Lion but I had to take care of Esme...it really is hard to manage a double life..." Ethan sighed, as he walked around the hallway before feeling a familiar presence.

He turned a corner, and there she was. Esme, walking in his direction, her brows slightly furrowed as if lost in thought. The moment she spotted him, her eyes narrowed.

"Morning, Miss Todd," He said smoothly, his voice was devoid of any tension. 

Ethan smirked slightly, keeping his stride steady.

"Morning, Blackwood," She replied, her gaze searching his face. 

"You look... well-rested." Esme slowed her steps, crossing her arms.

"Of course. Had a peaceful night's sleep," Ethan lied effortlessly, his posture relaxed. "You?"

"Strange question coming from you. But yeah, I guess. Though... I had the weirdest feeling I ran into someone familiar last night." Esme tilted her head, studying him.

"Oh? Someone from school?" Ethan raised an eyebrow, feigning mild curiosity.

"Could be." Esme tapped her chin. 

"I have a question for you...if you mind?' Esme asked.

"You ever been to the Flamingo's Club, Ethan?" She asked, waiting for his response.

 "Can't say I have. Not really my scene." Ethan chuckled, shaking his head.

 "Huh. Guess I was imagining things." Esme squinted slightly, like she didn't quite believe him, but she let it slide.

"Maybe you had one too many drinks," Ethan teased, giving her a knowing look.

 "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just don't let me catch you lying to me, Blackwood." Esme rolled her eyes, feeling annoyed by his response..

"I'd never." Ethan said, placing a hand over his chest in mock offense.

She scoffed but smirked as she started to turn around and walked away from him. Ethan kept his cool, but as soon as she was out of sight, he exhaled quietly.

"That was too close...I could've nearly blown my cover there..." Ethan sighed, feeling a little overwhelmed.

Ethan had barely taken a step forward when Esme's voice called out again.

"Actually," she said, turning back to face him, arms still crossed.

"I don't think I was imagining things." She smirked.

"Oh?" Ethan kept his expression neutral, though his mind was already running through possible ways out of this.

"You sure you weren't at the Flamingo's Club?" she asked, her gaze sharp now, searching for any crack in his facade.

 "Esme, I just told you—" Ethan sighed dramatically, as if amused.

"Right," she cut in, tilting her head. 

"And yet, something about your answer feels off." She said, pulling his tie to make him move closer to her.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. The hallway felt quieter than before, the air thick with unspoken words.

Then Esme shifted her weight slightly, her tone lowering. 

"Let's talk later." She whispered to his ear.

"Talk?" Ethan raised an eyebrow.

"You know, like two normal people..." She said with a slight smirk, though her eyes held something more serious. 

"Meet me after school." She continued.

"And if I say no?" Ethan pretended to consider it.

Esme shrugged. "Then I'll just have to start asking other people what they think."

There it was. A challenge.

"Fine. After school." Ethan sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Good. Don't be late, Blackwood." Esme smiled, walking away.

And with that, she walked away, leaving Ethan standing there, still playing it cool—but now with a whole new problem on his hands.

"She is truly going to prove to be a hurdle..." Ethan sighed and went to his class.

*Later that day*

Ethan was heading out of school when he saw Esme by the gate.

"I was hoping if you weren't going to show up...I nearly thought you were going to bail on me..." Esme said, slowly approaching him.

"Well sorry for keeping you waiting, I had something to do but anyways, is this where we are supposed to do our talk?" Ethan asked her.

"No, in fact I was just waiting for you to take you to the spot..." Esme smirked as she lead him to the location.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Ethan sighed and followed her to the location

Eventually, she lead him to a restaurant around the corner, it was a restaurant that served delicious Chinese food and it was just nearby their school.

"I wanted to try it with someone...but I figured that maybe I could try it with you..." She looks at him in the eyes.

Both of them entered in the restaurant and sat down at their selected table and the waiter approached them, handing them their own respective menus.

"I think I'll have the yang chow fried rice, I'll add some shumai on the side and I'll have some tea...what about you?" Esme said, putting down her menu and looking at him.

"I think I'll have yang chow fried rice also, I'll have some peking duck and xiao long bao as my side dishes...I think I'll have some tea also..." Ethan replied.

"You know how to make your money worth..." Esme chuckled.

"Just for that...I think I'll have some mooncakes for dessert..." She continued.

The waiter approached us and listed down our orders and left shortly after, Esme focuses all her attention to Ethan.

"So anyways, I'll explain the reason I brought you here.." She continued, leaning back at her chair.

"The reason I brought you here...is because...I want to get to know you more..." Esme said, leaning in a little closer.

"Know me more?" Ethan questioned, he felt nervous for what she might discover about him.

"Exactly, it's only fair, I mean we are roommates after all and don't worry, you can ask me questions as well..." Esme chuckled at his expression.

Ethan sighed, crossing his arms as he leaned back at the chair. "I guess...alright what's the first question you have in mind about me?' 

"Well...what do you do on your free time?" She asked, the look on her face was a smirk.

"Well damn...I got to think fast before she raised any suspicion about me..." Ethan thought to himself.

"Well...let's just say...I head off the gym to workout..." Ethan sighed, embarrassed by the answer he gave.

Esme's eyes widened, she wasn't expecting his response. "Oh I didn't expect you to be fit..."

"Do you mind if I ask you more questions?" She asked.

"She's really persistent with these questions..." Ethan sighed and decided to oblige to get it over with.

"So do you mind if I ask you something personal?" Esme said, her expression was serious.

"Sure..." Ethan replied hesitatingly, feeling a little scared about what she could possibly ask.

But before she could ask the food arrive, giving Ethan a relief.

"Let's eat first..." Esme said, picking up her chopsticks.

"Indeed..." Ethan replied, picking up her chopsticks.

"Do you pray before you eat?" Esme asked.

Ethan thought for a moment and replied "Yes..."

"Alright, then let's pray then..." Esme said.

Both of them started to pray for their meal, after finishing, they slowly picked up their chopsticks and started to eat their meal.

Esme noticed how handsome he looked while they were eating and looked away, as he caught her looking at him.

"What's the matter?" Ethan asked.

Esme played it off and chuckled, looking back at him. "Nothing much..."

"I could tell she's trying to play it off..." Ethan said, as he ate one of his dumplings.

Ethan glanced at her for a moment and thought how cute she looked while she was eating.

"You're not sly..." Esme said, as she caught him staring at her.

"Anyways...I'll get back to my questions..." She said while drinking her tea.

"This may seem personal...but how is your family relationship?" Esme asked.

Ethan froze for a moment, he felt a little nervous to reply her. "Well...it's a complicated story..."

"Oh I'm sorry for asking about it..." Esme replied, she was starting to worry about him.

"No...no...it's fine..." Ethan sighed.

Both of them eventually continued eating their meal as they headed out the restaurant.

Esme kept glancing over him, noticing his curly hair, and his eyes had a piercing gaze, his tall stature and the way he dressed.

As they continued walking home, they suddenly stumbled into Michael which annoyed Esme.

"Great...what are you doing here?" Esme sighed, crossing her arms.

"I was just merely passing by...I didn't know that Mr. Hotshot over there is your new boyfriend..." Michael scoffed.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Esme exclaimed, her eyes were flaming with rage.

Ethan sighed and approached forward. "Listen...Michael wasn't it?"

"Miss Todd over here isn't interested with you anymore so why don't you back off?!" Ethan said, his eyes were as cold as winter.

"Hmph, you don't scare me..." Michael said as he whistled, calling out some friends.

"What are you going to do now, you can't even protect her..." Michael chuckled.

Esme was annoyed and angry at Michael, she thought to herself. "This is bad...he decided to call out a bunch of nitwits to gang up on Ethan...that bastard really has no heart..."

Ethan simply sighed and told Esme. "Esme, you should probably walk away and head back to the dorm immediately..." 

Her eyes widened, completely in shock to what he said. "Are you insane? I mean I know you can handle Michael but he's got a whole group with him!" 

"It'll be fine, just go already..." Ethan said.

"Fine...but if you end up looking ragged...don't say I didn't tell you sooner..." Esme sighed, running back to the dorm.

"You can't win loser...it's five versus only one of you..." Michael chuckled, cracking his knuckles.

"I like those odds..." Ethan said, walking forward to them.

"Whatever...just beat him to a pulp..." Ethan rolled his eyes, ordering his men to attack him.

Ethan simply chuckled as he dodged their attacks gracefully with ease, annoying Ethan.

"What the hell is going on...how is he doing that so easily?" Ethan murmured to himself, his mind going crazy about Ethan's movements.

Ethan easily knocks out one of them and proceeded to subdue the others with ease and heads towards Michael and grabs him by the collar.

"You're gonna have to do more than that..." Ethan chuckled, before delivering a punch at Michael's face.

"I suggest that you should scram and never try that again..." He smirked, walking past them.

He picks up his phone and calls one of the members of his gang to take care of them.

"Hey Croc...can you go down to Malbury Street?" Ethan asked, waiting for his response.

"Sure thing boss, what do you want me to do?" Croc said as he stopped his boxing training.

"I need you to take care of some idiots...that's all, sorry if I was disturbing anything..." Ethan sighed.

"It's no problem boss, it's been a while since I get to do something..." Croc said, cracking his knuckles.

"Just don't get too carried away, ok?" Ethan said, his voice was serious.

"Roger that..." Croc said, putting down his phone.

Ethan closed his phone and sighed and went to the dorm, as he entered inside, Esme was laying down on the couch, feeling tired.

"Looks like someone is feeling tired after a long day..." Ethan chuckled.

As he sat next to her, he noticed how beautiful she looks, which makes him a little flustered.

"Am I feeling flustered right now...well I guess because she looks really beautiful..." Ethan said, brushing her hair gently.

Esme leaned in closer in her to the touch, feeling relaxed despite sleeping.

"She does look like a beauty..." Ethan smiled softly, as he caressed her cheek.

Esme was smiling in her sleep, enjoying his touch.

"I wonder what she's dreaming about..." Ethan sighed as he was about to get up.

Esme was murmuring something in her sleep.

Ethan was intrigued and listened closely to her.

"E-Ethan Blackwood..." Esme murmured, turning left and right in her sleep.

"Well looks like someone needs rest..." Ethan picked her up gently.

Esme simply leaned in closer and put her head near his chest, still sleeping.

He lays her down on the bed and tucks her in with a blanket and puts a pillow over her head.

"Good night, Miss Todd...sweet dreams..." Ethan said, brushing her hair gently and giving her a kiss in the forehead.

Esme smiles in her sleep

Ethan chuckled and heads to his room, thinking about the events today.

"I think, she likes me back also..." Ethan sighed and slept peacefully.

*Meanwhile in a secluded area*

Michael was panting and feeling exhausted and entered the door where his uncle awaits him

"My my, who did this to you?" His uncle asked, looking concerned.

"Some damned bastard from school, he was really good at fighting..." Michael sighed, laying back at his chair.

"I see...then he must be a tough opponent then..." The uncle sighed, reading the newspaper.

"N) kidding, there were five of us and defeated us effortlessly..." Ethan rolled his eyes.

The uncle stood up and put his hand on Michael's shoulder. "Don't worry you'll get revenge on him one day..."

The uncle walked into his room and called someone.

"Hello, can you be of service to track down a college student...he beated up my nephew badly..." The uncle sighed.

"No problem...Lion..." The recepient replied before hanging up.

Lion sat down and wore his lion mask, contemplating while drinking wine.

"This is war..." The Lion said.