I clenched my fists and jaw, still standing and waiting for them to say anything until Val broke the tension. "Let's start the meeting in 10 minutes. I'll just change and wash up."
My eyebrows met at his sudden change of attitude and mood but then I remembered what Henry said a while ago. So this is how he changes his mood so quickly—unpredictable, which is... dangerous. I should be careful.
"I said, I can handle myself! What part can't understand about that?!"
I looked at Shirley when she shouted Henry. I thought she was crying earlier but when I looked at her face intently, I couldn't see any traces of a tear. What a hard-hearted woman, huh.
Henry stood and just arranged the things back to their normal places. Not so long enough, Val came back with a different posture. He sat firmly on his swivel chair and intertwined his fingers together before we sat secondly on our own chairs except for Shirley.
"A rare diamond, a hundred billion dollars, and a document containing the certificate of transferal of the property," he started and I couldn't help myself to be shocked even though I should already think that this would happen. But I don't really have an idea of their doings because I don't know them well or the real purpose of their group. "Those are the things that you need to steal from the wrong person's hands."
He eyed us one by one before he leaned over his table and held his hands together. "Gremor Delvis. Find him no matter what. If you need to dig his place, do it. I want it all to be done in a week."
In a week?! All of it?! How can we even do that without getting arrested by the police?!
"I know what you're thinking. Don't worry, you won't do anything much. You'll just be their lookout while they're on my commandments. Besides, you're still under the training by Henry from now on until the day that Henry already saw your improvements and potential. Am I right, Henry?" Val looked at Henry.
"Yes, Boss Val," Henry then answered.
"Hmm, what do you say?" His eyes suddenly darted on me.
"Uh—I—Y-Yeah, sure. Do I have a choice to refuse?"
His face turned sour which made me bite my lip and looked away. I don't want to say this but I'm kinda thankful when Shirley diverted his attention when she stood and was about to walk out of the office. Val glared at her intently. "Where do you think you're going?"
She stopped and lazily turned her body around to stare at him back. "What? Isn't the meeting still not finished yet?" She raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms. "If you have something to say to me, you know where to find me." She winked at him but rolled her eyes after and turned her back and started walking away.
When I looked back at Val, I couldn't paint his face anymore. "Meeting adjourned," he declared and stood up grimly before he seemed to follow Shirley and left us speechless.
It took a minute or two when Henry let out a deep breath and stood. I looked at him. "Well, then... Shall we?" he asked.
"Huh?" What are we going to—wait— "Oh! Training, is it? Sure." I smirked and followed him to the gym when he started walking and led the way. Shit! What have I been even thinking?
"Are you sure you're already okay with that suit of yours?" he suddenly asked while preparing for our match.
I crossed my arms and stood in front of him. "Is there something wrong with my suit? I wasn't informed that I will be in training so I didn't have a chance to pick the right one for this match. So, just bear with me," I tried to punch his face but his hands were way faster than mine to easily stop it before I could even touch his face.
He smirked. "Impressive and brave enough but still need a bit more."
I rolled my eyes and was about to take my hands away from him and put them down when he suddenly twitched them. "Argh! Ouch! What the hell!" I keep on calling him but he didn't stop. "Stop! Fuck you, Henry!"
I heard his chuckle and finally let me go. "Okay, okay. I just want you to be used to the pain when someone did that to you to annoy them. By that, you'll have enough time to—"
I did my best to act like I was still in pain—well, I am—and fastly punched the side of his body. "To think of my next move? This was way more effective, though." I smirked at him and he smiled back. You're messing with the wrong girl. I was known to be so competitive and always appear confident, you know—though I could really say that acting taught me so much than anyone could even think of. Then he started attacking me again.
I was getting used to and learned his attack and did my best to avoid it but—
"Argh!" I groaned in pain when he punched my shoulder. Fuck! That really hurts! Can't he just let me win?! I glared at him but he was now fierce and serious as hell. I swallowed hard, getting sweat now.
I composed myself and defended myself from his attack. "If you just keep on defending yourself, you'll keep on losing. Try to attack, step by step, without them knowing."
Can I even attack in this state? Gosh!
"Stand up, Dilly! Stand up! Be braver!"
I carried myself to get up but when my feet met the ground, everything started to get blurry and I couldn't hear anything. My head was spinning and the next thing I knew, I was already lying on the ground until everything shut down.
And that terrifying nightmare played in my mind once again...
———
"Br-Bro... B-Brother...?"
I was sitting on the ground and there he is, my brother, standing in front of me. His back was the only thing I could see but I knew it was him. It's him! My brother is here!
"B-Brother! Hey! Turn around! Come here! Brother..." My tears started flowing down from my eyes like a river and I couldn't stop it with my tiny trembling hands. I started to crawl just to come closer to him but when he talked, it froze me to death.
"Brother? Who?" he asked with a scary deep voice like a monster and slowly turned his only head to me. His body didn't move made my body tremble even more! Who is he? Where's my brother?!
When he started walking backward, I frantically crawled myself back just to get away from that fucking ugly look-alike monster of my brother. "D-Do-D-Don't come near me! D-Don't!"
When he saw how frightened I was, he chuckled and kept his smirk on his face as he bent over his body closer to my face and whispered something that sent chills down to my spine.
"Wasn't he already dead?"
Then unknowingly, I started coughing blood and running out of breath. The unknown place was getting hotter and the last thing I saw on his face was his grimly smirk as if he was enjoying, watching me die.