Ava

I bit back a chuckle as I looked at Jett, who was trying so hard to keep Isabella in her lane. Her face looked livid, ready to hurt. She was a sweetheart, but a little bit too protective over the people she cared about. And at the moment it was the person against Elias.

This match wasn't as easy as the previous one had been. His opponent was two times his size, and probably a mind reader, because he seemed to know exactly what Elias was going to do next. He blocked off all his punches, and caught him off guard. He had punched Elias three times in his stomach, and two on his face.

When the referee blew the whistle for a time out, Eli's coach rushed to him, no doubt giving him some inputs. He was breathing harshly, sweat dripping down his body, staring at his opponent. I looked at his expression, and walked down the stairs. Climbing a step towards the ring, I poked my head between the bars. "Elias?"

He snapped his gaze to mine. "He's fucking me up. I don't know what to do-"

"What's your strength?" I asked. "What do you do best?"

"Agility." He exhaled harshly, closing his eyes. "Confuse the opponent."

"Why aren't you confusing him?" I whispered just when the referee blew the whistle again. He got up, looking at me the last time. "Confuse him, baby. Be less predictable. Surprise him."

He walked in front of his opponent with a new confidence. I walked back to the seats. Isabella had her eyes glued to the match but Jett looked at me. "What did you tell him?"

"I made him remember what he's good at." I replied, smiling when he dodged a punch aimed at his face. 

Elias swung his fist on the other man's stomach, who, in order to protect himself, shifted his hands from his face to his lower body. And that's when he got punched in the face, because his focus had shifted in defending something else. Elias got two more punches like that, gaining his confidence back. He was aware of his strengths, which he used to his advantage, and he also knew his weakness, which he didn't let the other guy use against him.

Elias won again. Not easily, but he did, and at the end of the day that's what people remember. Isabella's shout was the loudest, and the glare she sent to the other guy was enough to make me shiver. The crowd cheered too, it seemed no one had actually wanted him to lose.

Then he turned around and did the cheesiest shit I'd ever seen in my life before. He pointed to me, then to his heart, then blew me a kiss, whispering a small, "Thank you."

And even though it was so cliche, I still felt my heartbeat go wild. My mouth turned up into the biggest of smiles and I winked at him. There were some questions raised by his fans, but he didn't answer any as he jumped down the ring, walking into the changing rooms.

"That was so awesome." Isabella shrieked around me. "He literally just dedicated his whole win to you."

"He shouldn't have." I replied. "I just reminded him of something he already knew. He won by his own efforts."

Elias reappeared from the changing rooms after ten minutes, now dressed in black ripped jeans and a white tee. A leather jacket on top, two silver chains around his neck. He stopped by to talk to some people who approached him, then continued his walk towards me. I was sitting on a bar stool, and he didn't feel like bending down, so he pulled my hands, making me stand up, then cupped my jaw and kissed me.

"Hey you." I whispered against his lips. "Congratulations."

"He hit my jaw. It hurts, Ava. Kiss it better?" He murmured.

I chuckled. "You can apply an ointment on it, because that is what will make it better."

"Please?"

"Stop saying that word to me." I muttered, lifting on my toes to press the softest of kisses to his jaw. "I can't say no after that."

He grinned. "That's why I say it, amor. And I don't say it often. So you can imagine how much I needed that."

He slung an arm around my neck, pulling me into his body as we made our way outside. Jett and Isabella had left a couple of minutes ago. I noticed the stares we were getting as we walked together, but didn't pay much attention.

Elias drove us to his apartment. His fingers twirled a strand of my hair as we rode up the elevator, and when I looked up at him in amusement, he was looking ahead. It almost seemed he didn't even know he was doing that. It seemed as if the move came natural to him, involuntary, unconscious. I found that cute.

"What are you wearing?" I asked him as he punched in the code, then closed the door behind us. "Oh by the way, you didn't think of telling me there was a dress code?"

"There's a dress code?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Alex said it's blue." I said. "That's why I brought a blue dress, Elias."

"Oh." He said. "Well, I can find a blue shirt, not a problem. Light or dark?"

I raised an eyebrow. "That's a stupid question. You know what I'll pick."

He chuckled, pulling me into the bedroom. "I love that you know that I know you so well."

Elias not so coincidentally matched with me. He chose a dark blue button down shirt, leaving the top two buttons open, and a white ripped jeans. I was dressed in a dark blue dress that ended up till the middle of my thighs, pairing it with white heels. He acted surprised when he saw my outfit, but he had already seen it beforehand, he matched deliberately. 

"It was meant to be, amor." He said, looking at me through the mirror as I applied a coat of eyeliner. "I didn't have anything else."

"You have a bigger closet than mine." I said.

"So? Bigger closet doesn't mean more clothes."

"That would have made sense if it was true." I checked myself for the last time before turning around. "There's not an inch of space in there that's vacant."

"You snooped through my closet?" He raised an eyebrow. "You looking for more clothes to steal? Or you checking if I have enough place for you to keep your clothes?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but couldn't think of a comeback.

"Because I'd give you however many clothes you want, amor. No need to steal." Then his eyes twinkled. "As for the latter, I'm sure I don't wear a lot of clothes in there. Might as well give them away."

"Is that your way of asking me to move in with you?" I tilted my head to the side.

"No way, Ava." He gasped dramatically. "Do you want to move in with me?"

"Yeah we're not having this conversation right now." I muttered, walking past him. He chuckled, following me. 

He kept his arm around my waist all the way till we reached his car. My phone rang just when he sat in front of the wheel and started the engine. I pressed it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Ava? It's Brenda." I heard her frantic voice from the other side. "He's still out."

"I know." I sighed. "I saw him the other day. I've told Patricia and she must have told the board-"

"Keith called to tell me that he knows the judge and that's why he managed to get out. He said I should try and talk to the board. I didn't understand much, he was rushing pretty fast because he was in the hospital, that's why I called you. Should I talk to the board?"

"The board already knows this, Brenda. I've told my boss everything, and she must have repeated the same thing to the board. There's no problem if you do, but there's no need to talk to them right now." I said. "Why was he at the hospital, by the way?"

"His sister got into an accident."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Kira?" When realisation dawned, I saw a link there, connecting everything. "Which hospital did you say it was, Brenda?"

"I-I don't know the name actually. Why?"

"Could you get me the name of the hospital?" I asked. "But don't let him know it was me. And don't ask it abruptly. Initiate a normal conversation, and casually ask him the name of the hospital. Can you do that?"

"Um, yeah. I'll let you know when I find out." She said, pausing for a second. "Can I ask why?"

"I have a theory, and I need the name to find out if it's true." I stared at the red lights as we stopped at the signal. I had momentarily forgotten we were still in the car. "Thank you, Brenda."

My mind was still working when I hung up, trying to find the possible connections. I'd already had doubts about Kira, and her idolisation to one of the worst men I'd met in my life. No sane woman would look up to a man like Fred if she was in her right senses. And if Kira was in the same hospital as me, as Fred, that would prove everything I'd suspected. 

"Everything okay?" Elias looked at me from the corner of his eye. 

"I hope so. I have a theory." I murmured. "And everything would be okay if it's true."

He intertwined his fingers with mine, holding my hand, letting me know he was here, he would always be here. Elias never left. However much I pushed him away, however much I ran, he was always here. And that scared me earlier, because it was too overwhelming. But not anymore. Because now I didn't want him to go anywhere. I wanted him here, with me. 

And when he tightened his hand around mine, as if he had heard my thoughts, I knew he would never leave.

-⍣-

This chapter was pretty fluffy I feel. You're gonna meet the friends in the next one, so keep a lookout for that, there's gonna be drama of course, it's me.

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