Kaijun POV

"Eli, come here. I got something to tell you." I mutter, blinking unnaturally and looking away.

My clammy palms clutch the ends of the railing in the playground.

"Yesh?" Elicia asks in her usual chirpy voice.

I close my eyes and what happened just an hour ago replayed in my mind.

"Loh Kaijun. What is going on between you and the brat, Elicia! " Aidan bellows, his voice echoing through the dark, intimidating me.

"I like her." I glare into his eyes, lifting my chin. For the first time in my life, I feel rebellious against him. Like a rising tsunami seconds from hitting the coast, I challenge him again, "She is kind, she is charming, and is any of the other girls here like that? No!"

"Cute? Kind? Charming? Rubbish! She is just a girl who is literally useless! Her saving grace is that she is just loved by her brother - yet another idiot! You have 2 choices. One, you bring that girl to me," His hand slams hard on the table.

"Two, you die."

I recall the times Eli and I had together.

We met for the first time in The Class of Hope. Love at first sight.

A year later, it was her birthday. Her brother, Hoseung, was hosting a birthday party for her. All her friends were invited.

All except her boyfriend, me, for our relationship had to be kept a secret.

How I wished I could join the birthday party and for once, be her legitimate boyfriend.

But no, I couldn't.

Hoseung would have blown off his top if he ever knew that I, the son of a criminal wants to marry Eli, whose family was among the most prestigious in the class of hope.

I could only stand in front of her massive bungalow and wait as the watch on my wrist go "tick tock tick tock" until it reaches the time of our rendezvous.

At 5 pm sharp, she came out of her balcony wearing a velvet dress that reached her heels with a gait suggesting how happy she was. Without me. I brushed the thought off hastily. I'm not going to be a clingy boyfriend.

She looked dazzling. Somehow, it makes me feel almost ashamed in my T-shirt and jeans.

Elicia... she was wonderful.

She smiled at me, " Hello, my Romeo."

"I'm sorry?" I cocked my head to one side. Did she forget my name or something?

"Oh, it's just a scene by this famous British writer, William Shakespeare. It's a tragic love story with the two characters, Romeo and Juliet. There's this scene where Juliet stood on her balcony and thought she was alone and reveals her love towards Romeo... They are exactly like us, you know. You should totally check it out." She explained, still carrying one of her radiant smiles.

"Oh," I weakly replied. My father, whose life was to be spent in prison, left me behind. I did not have time to sleep, much less read.

She looked sheepish for a moment, realising that she had embarrassed me.

Before she could apologize, I took out a nicely wrapped box. I threw it upwards with precision. It landed right on the table next to her.

Picking it up, she grinned. She unwrapped it slowly, carefully, as if it was a fragile butterfly.

Her smile widened when she finally opened the box.

Inside was a bracelet I had saved up for a very long time. I know it's not a valuable gift, but at least I tried.

Suddenly, Hoseung's voice broke the moment of silence, "Eli, what are you doing? Come in, we are going to cut the cake!"

Panic flashed across her face, she cleared her throat, " I'm coming!"

I grin. Laugh. But I can't. My stomach is in knots. It hurts to laugh. My head just bobs up and down, with no sound coming out of my mouth.

I come back to reality when Elicia touches me.

Eli's hand lands softly on mine, her thumb slowly caressing mine. "Elicia. You fool! It's a miracle you didn't even suspect me!" I rage, flinging her hand off mine.

I see Elicia shaking. For a moment, I hesitate. I ponder if I really should do this. But this is my last chance to be the apple of Aidan's eye. I broke his trust, and I won't again.

In a split second, I swipe out my towel filled with sleeping gas and put it over her nose. Instantly, she falls to me. I hold on to her bottom and her top. I fiercely throw her into a big, black bag without any second thoughts.

I dump her into the back seat of my car. At lightning speed, I drive the car to the Headquarters.

A small groan escapes Elicia' lips.

I open the bag and look at her delicate face with her brows furrowed, I can't help but kiss her on the forehead one last time.

I love you, Eli. I really do. Your charm, your hair, your body, every inch of you.

After that, I drive silently to the Dark's headquarters without thinking about anything.

His trust for my love. I am a total coward. A damned coward! But can I do anything?

I carry the big bag with difficulty as Eli is awake now, and she struggles to get out of the bag. I tie up the bag and poke a small hole for air to go enter and escape.

I accidentally poke her leg with it.

She groan softly again, and my heart stops a beat.

Shaking my head violently, I clear all thoughts of our love and throw her into a cell in the Dark's Headquarters and I rush off to Aidan's office.

"Aidan, Elicia is in Cell 21!" I bellow.

I catch the smirk on his face. Okay, this ain't going to be good.

"Put me on line with Hoseung." Aidan orders.

I dial the Righteous' Headquarters and is directed to Hoseung immediately.

"Well, Hoseung. Long time no see. Wait, are you missing someone? Perhaps... the girl you love most? Where did she go to? Oh, she's with me!" Aidan says, with sarcasm.

"Bring Eli back. Now." Hoseung booms, his voice radiating with authority even through the phone. It was evident in his voice that he sounded worried.

"What are you going to do? It's time I make the orders, Hoseung. Bring me 5 of your men and make them mine," Aidan sniggers. He glances at his watch, "You have until 3pm today. I'll see you then." With that, he hangs the phone up.

Devious of him, very devious indeed. Hoseung will have to make a difficult decision with that tiny brain of his - Blood or Honour. Will he choose to save his one and only sister, Elicia or give up 5 of his men and gain a disadvantage for the War Of Hope next month?

-At 2:59pm-

"Time's up," I say, " Let's see if your brother kept his promise."

With Aidan leading, I follow suit, carrying Elicia, who fainted a moment before. Behind me, there is Zi Ying, Elvis, Khalid, Cheng Ho and Xiao Hui, all carrying a pistol each.

I take a look at Elicia again. Her wonderful face. It was mine. But it isn't anymore. However, I am now Aidan's right hand man.

At the price of love.

As we make a turn at a corner, Hoseung stands there, hands in his pocket.

I couldn't wait to figure out his decision.

"So, what's your decision?"

Hoseung snaps his fingers and five people enter the building.

He says, "I've kept my word, so should you."

He looks at Eli and spots a bruise on her face.

Hoseung immediately points his gun at Aidan, asking if he had hit Eli.

"Marksmen. Note your position. Ready to engage at target." Hoseung says into his telecom.

Aidan shakes his head and tutts.

He grabs Elicia by her collar and brings her forward. Elicia dangles from Aidan's hand. Hoseung looks at the bomb vest Elicia is wearing and identifies it immediately - the typical PVC type.

"Stop. Stop. Hold your fire. Hold your fire." Hoseung quickly adds on.

Aidan raises his eyebrows, signalling Hoseung to hand over the men.

"Let the hostage go first."

"No, I need to have the guys first, or else, she dies." Aidan points his gun directly at Elicia's chest.

Bang! With a swift shoot from Hoseung, Aidan's gun goes flying into the air. I gasp in horror, wondering if I am supposed to fire at Hoseung.

"Are you crazy?" Aidan shouts.

"I guess you can say that. So, don't scare her, don't touch her, and don't talk to her. It's only me you should deal with. Take me instead." Hoseung negotiates in a cool tone.

Aidan signals me to take over the conversation while he goes to grab back his pistol.

"Well, well. They say blood is thicker than water," I improvised, "Hand them over."

"Give Elicia back." Hoseung shouts in fury. He looks apologetically at the five people and signal them to go over to the other side. Xiao Hui, Zi Ying, Khalid, Cheng Ho and Elvis bring them to their rooms. Aidan asks me to put Elicia back into her cell. Walking back, I stop to listen to their conversation.

"Much appreciated." Aidan bows, the evil grin cracking on his lips.

"You will pay for this, Aidan." Hoseung rages. With that, he stomps away. I quickly continue down the stairs to Cell 21.

After placing Elicia gently on her cell, I stride to Aidan's office. Just before I knock on the door, the Dark's Emergency Alarm sounds.

Beep... Beep...

Aidan's voice reverberates throughout the headquarters through the Public Announcement System, "Members. The Neutral, Miss Qian Hui is on her way to our headquarters for a special meeting. Kaijun, please come to the Meeting Room 3. The rest, please stay inside the Gym until further announcement."

All the members rush off to the Gym and I knock on Aidan's door, wanting to go inside the Meeting Room together. Aidan exits the office and he smiles. Just then, the door of the Entrance opens. Five men in black suits heads towards the direction of the Meeting room 3. I look suspiciously at them. Once we turn the corner to the Meeting room, the same five men are waiting for us. One says in a tough voice, "We will need to take out everything you have on your body as it might be of danger to the Neutral." Two of the bodyguards touch every part of my body and takes my smartphone, pistol, dagger and my jacket away. The last two do the same to Aidan. After that, we enter the Meeting Room. "Please wait for the arrival of the Neutral."

A few seconds later, the sound of high heels can be heard. The Neutral enters. She remains standing at the podium.

"Hello." She says in her sweet voice. Suddenly, the hands of five bodyguards point their pistols at Aidan and me. Panic seared in me.

"You know what to do. Put me on the Public Announcement system, now!" Her voice changes. The Neutral takes off her mask. But it wasn't her. Someone familiar, yet not at the same time.

Somebody else....

Charmaine.

Hesitantly, Aidan activates the system. Charmaine says with a speaker adjusted to fit in Aidan's voice , "Khalid. Unlock Elicia's Cell and pass her to the people waiting outside the headquarters. Now." I see Aidan smirk, and I know why. He has made an order previously that if his order doesn't end with a 'Do You Copy', it is a warning that there is danger and that backup is needed. By now, all the members of the Dark would have been out of the Gym and headed their way towards here.

Footsteps are heard, getting louder and louder every second. Charmaine demands three of her bodyguards to guard the Meeting Room immediately. With the two bodyguards leading her, she jumps out of the window skilfully.

Aidan looks at me in the eye. "Get Elicia. Bring her to the interrogation room." I nod and head off.

I hear some commotion, probably the members of the Dark barging into the meeting room.

I go to cell 21 and see Elicia squatting down and crying. When she sees me, she quickly wipes away her tears.

"Why...why are you doing this?" She mutters in between sobs.

"Honour." I answer.

"Please, Kaijun. Let me out! It hurts and I'm hungry... Think about the good times we had!" Elicia whimpers.

It is then I recall the wonderful memories we had. We made each other cry, laugh and smile. We were the best couple. But, I've decided already. I was going to be the most trusted man of Aidan's.

"Sorry, Elicia. But I gotta bring you to the Interrogation Room." Elicia looks at me pitifully. "Aidan's orders?" I nod. Reluctantly, she stands up and waits for me to open the cell. I place the towel over her nose and her chest falls perfectly on my arms. I drag her to the interrogation room.

I stand at the corner of the room, recording the conversation. Elicia is tied up on a chair.

Elicia soon wakes up and she looks around the room. Aidan is sitting opposite her and he looks at his file. Probably a list of questions he is going to ask her.

"Now. Elicia. You will have to answer the questions truthfully," Aidan demands, "Let's start with this question- How are you related to Hoseung?"

Elicia mutters, "He...he... he is my leader." Suddenly, she musters up her courage and shouts, "He is also my brother and I love him and he loves me very much, and he will rescue me at all costs!"

"Well, this isn't going the way I wanted to. Kaijun. Let's stop the interrogation for now. Bring her back to her cell and guard it. And no. Don't use the sleeping gas for now. We need to save it for later. Haha!" He laughs evilly.

I untie Elicia and crosses arms. I escort her to Cell 21.

After locking the cell, I sit down on a chair and look at Elicia. She is standing and leaning on the wall. Suddenly, she shouts, "Kaijun! Help..." She collapses to the floor with a dull thud. I swiftly open the cell door and go to Elicia. I shake her chest vigorously. Just then, I hear a jingle of keys and the cell door slams shut. The man who locked the cell was... Hoseung.

"Elicia is dead. I can't save her. So you! You! You killed her! Just rot to death with her! If only you didn't like her, this wouldn't have happened! It's... it's all your fault!" Hoseung breaks into tears. "She's gone! I loved her as my sister and we spent 19 years together! You ruined it all!"

Suddenly, I see the newly recruited five men, Nathan, Jie Sheng, Winston, Rui Kai and Linus walk into the corridor . "Help!" I shout frantically. Hoseung, too preoccupied with his crying, doesn't realize that the five men approached him.

Linus skilfully punches Hoseung on his neck and he drops to the ground. Kaijun stands up slowly and smirks.

"Nice trick there, Kaijun." Nathan whispers. He then digs into three of Hoseung's pockets to find the key to unlock the cell.

"Now, we've got the duo here. We can keep them here and they will come in handy for the War Of Hope next month." I laugh evilly, "Elicia will wake up soon. I inserted a drug inside her just now! Now, undress them fully and on their heads, place our latest invention - the cap that can make the wearer be hypnotised. They can't have any clothing on for this experiment!"

Winston and Jie Sheng walk into the cell and undress the two hostages.

Bang! Bang! Jie Sheng, who was holding onto Hoseung, still dressed, drops him. Jie Sheng himself falls on Hoseung. The bullet hit Jie Sheng's thigh and the blood drops onto Hoseung's face. Winston , who was halfway removing Elicia's skirt, collapses onto the floor with a pool of blood below him. Elicia lays on the floor, in the same position as Hoseung. I turn and look at the location the guns were shot from and I gasp in horror.

Here they are.

Again.

Author's Note :

Hello  readers! It has been a while since our last chapter! The reason why we took so long was because we had a few plot holes here and there and we had some trouble solving them. We put in a lot  of effort and thinking into this chapter and we sincerely hope you enjoy it.

And, note this will be our final chapter until the end of September. We have something very important going on during August and September. We promise you , we will be back for another tension-filled chapter by the end of October and we hope we can finish until Chapter 10 by the end of this year!

That's all for now, folks!