❣️LOVE IN THE ELITES’ WORLD❣️
🌏🌏Her new world 🌎 🌏
📖📖CHAPTER FORTY TWO. 4️⃣2️⃣
❣️❣️journey of repentance ❣️❣️
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*
*
Paulina went to class and glanced at the MASS empty seats before taking her own seat.
During the class, she couldn’t stop thinking about the contempt of the note, and what Sophia told her earlier. She was never the type to be absentminded in class, but the thoughts of everything was overwhelming. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice when the MASS enter the class until Micheal walked up to her.
“Are you ok?” He asked, and she looked at him with a smile.
“You’re here,” she muttered, and he nodded.
“Let’s have lunch together, later,” he said, and she nodded before he proceed to his seat.
Austin waved at her, and Stanley winked at her but Steven wasn’t with them.
“Who cares about him,” she grumbled, and started wondering the situation he might be facing.
*
Later during recess, Paulina followed the MASS to their suite, and Micheal lead her to his study. Austin already gave her a tour around their suite, but she has never entered the study before, he told her it was Michael’s domain, and no one dares to trespass. There was nothing sightseeing there, it was filled with documents, books, and a personal computer. She started wondering how difficult it must’ve been for him to live that way, remembering everything Sophia told her about him.
“This is your office here?” She said, and he nodded.
“You can call it that. I do nothing but study here,” he said, and she nodded.
“Following its name, study room, that could only be its purpose,” she said, and he smiled.
“Why aren’t you asking me anything?” He asked later, and she looked at him.
“What?” She muttered, feigning ignorance because she knew he was referring to the news about him.
“Stop feigning ignorance, the entire school are talking about it,”
“I know you have no choice. There is a scandal about you, so I believe you are probably doing this for a reason,” she said, following the contents of the note.
“Yes, I’m sorry. My true identity is my weakness. It could jeopardize my future, and everything I’ve worked so hard for will be in vain. We live in a society where being an illegitimate is a crime,”
“If being with Ava will be good for you, then you should do it,” she said, and he looked at her.
“What about us?” He muttered, and she held his hand.
“I’m still here, Mike, we will always be friends,” she assured and he shook his head.
“Just until the rumors about me dle down, just until I don’t need her anymore, just until I can stand on my own, just until we graduate from high school. I really don’t know, Lina, but will you still be there?” He muttered, and she nodded.
“Yes, Mike, I’ll still be here. I believe you will gather the strength needed to stand firmly on your own. You are right, we live in a society where being an illegitimate makes you an outcast,” she muttered, and he embraced her.
“Thank you, Lina, I promise to get this sorted out soon, I promise,” he muttered, and she nodded.
*
They sat together in his study ik silence, she could instantly tell that he didn’t know how to face his friends.
“Why did you broke up with Ava? I heard that you were head over heels for her,”
“I was, but she broke up with me and I have no feelings for her anymore,”
“Why did she broke up with you?” She asked, and he looked at her
“She called me a piece of trash, and broke up with me,”
“Why? Why would she call you such?”
“I was also confused, so I kept pestering her until she released the bombshell. She found out about my biography, and dumped me because we can’t be in the same standard. That’s what she had against me, and that’s why she broke up with me,” he said, and she gasped.
“That must’ve been really painful,”
“I was heartbroken because she left me for being an illegitimate, not because I was affected by her absence. I instantly realized that no one will ever accept me for who I am, I’ve to live on with no who knowing about my past. That was why I was hurt, she left me for being me,”
“How did she found out?” She asked, perplexed.
“Through an anonymous informant,”
“Who could that be? That means someone else is aware of your true identity,”
“Just me, my parents, and of course my biological mother. And now, Ava, and you. So who could the informant be?”
“Do you think it’s your mother?” She asked, and he shook his head.
“It was me,”
“What?”
“I was feeling overwhelmed by everything. I’ve to live like this for the rest of my life when I’m not even a real elite. I wanted to be true to myself for once. There is no way I could tell my friends, so I think of the best way to tell her, and sent it anonymously. Surprisingly, she reacted to it almost immediately. She called me a piece of trash, and left. But I still refuse to believe that she left me because of that, so I became persistent bug that was it. She threaten to expose me if I ever go close to her, and with that we went our separate paths. She went to England, and I continued living my life,”
“Oh… you must’ve really loved her for you to confidently send that to her,”
“I guess I did. She was my first. Since I became Micheal Russ, I devoted myself to being strong so I can win against my mother, and I can only do that if I was above her, so I worked really hard. I thought it was fate when we first met, she smiled so brightly, and for the first time, I met a girl who wasn’t drooling over me. She was dauntless, and filled with vigor, so had a lot of admirers, and they were always intimidated by her presence. All those qualities got me attached to her, I guess I was already used to the aura my mother processes, so I got carried away by that and found myself falling for her strength. Ava is really scared of no one, I bet you know better,” he said, and she nodded.
“ I wonder why she changed her mind about the engagement,”
“Because she wants me to be her puppet. She thought that’s all I worth, that’s why I would never drag myself to that position,”
“If you liked Ava because of her strength, then why do you like me? You clearly like strong women, and I’m not fit for that,”
“When we were younger, others bully you for being weak, so I thought of a way to protect you from them, and we eventually became friends. I can’t say my feelings develop then, because we were just kids and innocent. We enjoyed each other’s company and that’s all it was. But when we met again, when Ava bullied you on your first day, I was happy to see my long friend again, and I was frightened that I might not be able to protect you this time. I could say it all started because i wanted you to be safe. You were cast out and stepped on because you were different from them, but you were not different from me. We’re both outcast in this school that represents a world on its own. That was it, I fell for you while trying to protect you because we are both the same,” he said, and she chuckled.
“I don’t know if I should drool over that. Or, shouod I applaud m myself for being weak?” She teased, and he chuckled.
“I don’t care about strength anymore, I was just carried away by stress and think I could release some stress with her. But I was wrong, I was even more stressed when we started dating,” he said, and she scoffed.
“We shouod go join the others,” she said, and he gestured in agreement.
*
They went to join the others who seem to be having a serious conversation.
“What’s wrong?” Micheal asked.
“Austin might have to quit basketball,” Stanley muttered.
“What? What happened man? Are you sick? Did you hurt your back or your legs? Do you need surgery? I’ll get the best doctor in the world to fix it, you can’t quit. Not now, not until you graduate to work at your company. You can’t quit now!” Micheal said, and they all looked at him.
“I never said I would!” Austin blurted.
“Then what’s Stanley saying?”
“His father threatened to ground him from basketball,” Stanley said.
“What nonsense! Is it because of your attendance? Is he at it again? You guys shouldn’t have waited for me, you should have gone ahead to class,”
“If the penalty of skipping classes will cost me basketball, I would be the first in class every morning. I don’t love you guys that much,” Austin said.
“Did he complain about your lavish spending?” Micheal asked.
“Then he should have just seized my cards,” Austin muttered.
“Then what the f¥ck happened?!” Micheal snapped, starling Paulina.
“He has to get at least 20% on his mid-semester examination, else he will be grounded,” Stanley said.
“Have you thought of another sport you like? You are quite the athlete,” mifheal said, and they all chuckled expect Austin who glared at him.
“I’m not giving up on basketball, never! I’m going to win a trophy in the next tournament,” with that he burst out.
“Man, you are too harsh,” Stanley said unable to control his laughters.
“He is barely managing to maintain his place at the bottom, how do you expect him to fly to 20% when the mid-semester examination is just around the corners,”
“It’s really easy for a bottom student to do 20% better than a top student,” Paulina said.
“In that case, it’s easily for a pauper to become an elite than Austin to do 20% better,” Stanley said.
Paulina and Micheal steal glances at each other before looking away nervously.
“That being said… guys, I think I’ve to buckle my shoes. I’m starting to slip,” Stanley said, and they both looked at him.
“Slip, as how?” Micheal asked.
“Man, this is really serious. I did a mock mathematics exam last night, it was an hour exam, but I barely managed to answer the questions within the time limit. I even guess some of the answers, I didn’t have enough time to solve them. Man, I’m do0med!” He said, Micheal exhaled heavily.
“What sort of exam is that?”
“It was just for fun. It’s for master’s students, I applied for the mock exams online for fun, turns out everyone could apply. But I couldn’t even meet the target,”
“Master’s exam?” Micheal repeated.
“That’s not the point, man. It was a math exam,” he whined, and Micheal shook his head before patting Stanley’s shoulder.
“I had enough of you, guys,” Micheal grumbled, and let out a heavy sigh.
“I think I’ve a way out,” Stanley exclaimed, and they both looked at him.
“I actually hope it’s a good way, so you would do better in the next professor’s exam,” Micheal said.
“This is my way out,” he muttered, and brought out a card.
“Isn’t that the card to the maths club?” Paulina asked.
“This is my last shot,”
“But Jessica would never approve you,” Michael said.
“I got it all planned, so just wish me luck,”
“Seems like you got it all planned out before now,” Micheal exclaimed.
“I need to sort out myself, I really need to do this,” he whined, and left.
“Do you think he is really going to the math club?” Paulina asked, and Micheal shook his head.
“No. He is going to wait for Austin to convince him. I had enough of those guys,” Micheal exclaimed.
**
**
IN AN UNKNOWN PLACE^^^
^
Mr. Ethan crossed his legs in a dark room, and he turned on the light when he heard footsteps approaching.
“Boss…”. A man called upon seeing him, and he immediately fell to his knees.
“Don… you… you got nothing off your sleeves, you don’t even have guts, so why could you betray me?”
“Boss… I… I was threaten, I confessed to you that I was threatened. My brother is the only family I had, and he was abducted by Mr. Packard, my brother just wanted to have a good life, he just wanted to study and be a doctor. He is weak, and scared. I had to save him,”
“You said so. And that made you weaker,” Mr. Ethan said, and patted his shoulder. “What shouod I do with you, Don? You betrayed me, I lost my father, and almost lost my daughter. It was all your fault, Don. I lost two, while you were trying to save one. That wasn’t your promise to me when I took you in back then,” he said, and Don started to shiver, remembering the past.
*
*
FLASHBACK to when Don was a teenager***
*
Don ran out of the stationary trying to escape those running after him when a car pulled up in the front of him.
“Get in, kid,” Mr. Ethan who was seated at the backseat said, and Don quickly entered the car when he saw a police van, and the car drove off in hurry, escaping the police.
*
The car drove nonstop even after they have escaped the police van, and Don started shivering in fear.
“Sir… where are you taking me?” He shuddered.
“I assume you are dauntless that’s why you could steal, but turns out I was wrong. I’ve been observing you for while, but I can’t believe I got the wrong impression about you,”
“Sir… I’m not a thief,”
“You just got released from juvenile prison for theft. And now… you robbed a stationary. What’s this? A dictionary?”
“My brother needs this. I didn’t intend to steal it,”
“I know. We all have reasons for everything we do. From now henceforth, you won’t need to steal from others again, you will join me and we will make good fortunes together,”
“What do you mean by that, sir?”
“I mean… you would be able to afford everything your brother will ever want, and more,” he said, and Don eyes brightened.
*
*
FLASHBACK ENDS***
*
Mr. Ethan chuckled looking at Don who was pleading.
“This isn’t how I raised you, Don,”
“I’m really sorry, sir. I’ve been repenting ever since,”
“Admiring to your sins, and pleading for mercy is for loser… because it can’t change anything. How have you been repenting?”
“Sir,”
“What do you have on those Packard’s? That’s how to repent. It’s not called repentance without a weapon “
“Sir… the Packard’s are really a strong and discreet family, I got nothing on them,”
“There you go lying again. I thought you have repenting, but you still have a long way to go. Why did I even summoned you here?”
“Sir, I don’t want to drag you into this any longer. Mr. Packard… he is my enemy now. So allow me get back at him for you, if anyone had to go to jail… it should be me,”
“Why should you go to jail? If anyone has to go to jail, then it should be the villain, we can only accompany them. So tell me, what do you have?”
“I’ve been monitoring the Packard’s since you went to jail, and something suspicious happened,”
“Now I’m interested,” Mr. Ethan said, patting his back and Don forced a smile.
*
He went to seat, and showed Mr. Ethan a picture of a man.
“Who is this?” Mr. Ethan asked.
“I don’t know. I dint know how is he is related to the Packard’s, but he is somewhat suspicious. Mr. Packard sent him to jail right after you went to jail, he was locked up in the detention centre without trail.”
“What was his crime?”
“He drunk drive, and caused an accident,”
“Oh…”
“But he wasn’t the one driving the car. A lady was the driver but they both fell unconscious after the accident and the lady wasn’t found in the crime scene afterwards, and the car was also disposed
“How sure are you?”
“I was there. I coincidentally to witness it,”
“Why are you telling me this?” Mr. Ethan asked, yawning loudly.
“Because he could be the Packard weakness,”
“How? I’m getting bored,”
“He got released years ago, he was lucky to meet a mafia boss who offered him a job in jail and helped him out, but he has been stalking the Packard’s since then. Most especially Mr. Packard’s granddaughter. She noticed at a point, and had a confrontation with him before she left the country. She left, after her last confrontation with him,”
“Wow! What do you assume?” Mr. Ethan exclaimed.
“I believe he has a connection with the Packard’s, a close connection. So I’ve been keeping a close watch on him since then. Recently, a reporter wrote a story about the accident from years ago, but the post got deleted, and the reporter went AWOL,”
“Don, this will be your final repentance. I prefer to work with a traitor because I know they might betray me again. And you know me well, I like risking it all. Charlotte is so soft, she is just like her mother, and I’m glad she grew up that way, but because of that… I can’t take action the right way,”
“Miss Charlotte is alive?”
“I’m not done talking,”
“I’m all ears, sir,”
“Gosh… where was I? Yes. I wang you to bring this man to me in whatever you can, that will be your first assignment for your final repentance. If he really has something against the Packard’s, then I could use him while I fulfill my promise to Charlotte “ he said, and Don bowed.
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TO BE CONTINUED…
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