Episode 4

Continue..

Hazel's pov

What happens if I run away?

I shook my head at my thoughts, knowing that I would very possibly die if I attempted to escape. Guess I was stuck here until my idiot of a brother realises how bad of a mistake he made and fixes it. Or chris realizes I am way too annoying to keep around and he sends me back home.

Whichever option, I just wanted to go back to my normal life once again...

Chris had left the minute his food was polished, not with a single word of gratitude towards his sister. The minute he left, Izzy turned towards me and we struck up a conversation. As it seems, she also attended the same school as me and we found out we were in the same grade. Our grade was not very close to one another but there still was an undying amount of gossip, normal when it came to co-ed school

It was then I voiced out my concern to her. "What if chris doesn't let me attend school anymore?" I asked, my voice slightly dejected. I knew I probably had no say in the matter and it was all in the devil's hands if I could finish up the last year of my education before graduating near this time next year.

Izzy opened her mouth to retaliate but after a single raise of my eyebrow, she shut her mouth and nodded in agreement. "Who says he has to know?" She asked me and took my silence as a prompt to continue her train of thought.

"I mean if you will to go to school on Monday, with me, he can't say anything or do anything about it till you get back home so??"

I nodded with her suggestion and agreed to it as we cleared the table and placed the dishes in the dishwasher. At that point of time, nothing bad came to mind that said

against the idea but if I had known what this idea may have caused, I wouldn't have agreed so rapidly.

....

The next morning, I was awakened by the insistent knocking on the door. When I opened my eyes, a wave of anxiety had washed over me at the unfamiliar surroundings.

After a moment of sheer panic, my eyes found a photo frame I had placed on the bedside table and that was when realisation dawned upon me about the crazy events that had occurred.

This foreign room wasn't one in which I had grown up in but instead, it was one that I would sadly continue to live in. I didn't have anything against the room itself, which was so artfully decorated, but my grudge was more against the way I was forced to live here.

I tentatively walked to the door, not knowing whether I should bring a weapon with me in case of safety. I mean, I was staying in the house of a gang leader- anything could happen, right? But as I opened the door,

I tentatively walked to the door, not knowing whether I should bring a weapon with me in case of safety. I mean, I was staying in the house of a gang leader- anything could happen, right? But as I opened the door, quite the contrary to what I was expecting greeted me.

Stood with a nervous smile on his face was a man that could not be older than twenty. His arms were folded across his chest, highlighting the slight muscles in his arms and his lean body. His hair was a shade of dark brown and his eyes the colour of chocolate.

But more so what surprised me was the friendly aura that he held, the opposite of the demeaning one that constantly surrounded chris's. Why was i even comparing the two together, just because chris acted like he had a stick up his *** does not mean everyone here did.

"My name is Noah, Noah Williams and you must be Hazel," He declared and I let out a loose sigh. What was it with everyone knowing my name already? It was getting on my nerves slightly and made me wonder, did they talk crap behind my back before I came here?

"It is a strict policy here that whoever resides must know the basics of fighting, to protect themselves in need of harm. So can you get ready in about ten minutes? I need to take you to the gym and assess your capabilities. I will meet you in the kitchen," Noah continued and I nodded before shutting the door.

My mind was reeling slightly about two things.

1) If they needed to 'assess my capabilities' then they clearly didn't know about the previous job I had. Which meant that whoever was my set trainer was in for a slight surprise.great it will be fun

2) Noah had asked me if I could get ready in ten minutes and that threw me off slightly.Asking me a question meant that I had a say in what goes around here, what if I had said no? Would that have been allowed?

I shook my head slightly, reminding myself that he probably worked under chris. That meant that NO one could be trusted, no matter how good-looking or seemingly harmless.

I slipped on a black pair of exercise pants and a grey sports bra, tying my hair into two boxer braids. Glancing at myself in the mirror, 'they were still visible ' the first thing I saw was on mirror the marks on my back which ended up at my side

' no no I can't let it expose like this ' I said while finding something to cover them And without thinking anything further I changed my clothes probably only my sports bra I wear another which was capable for covering my marks yet it exposed my waist and there I was bit unsure about how much skin I revealed. I was used to this being my outfit for when I worked out but who knew what type of people I was going to be surrounded here

On a spur, I put on a grey tank top before grabbing a bag that had my running shoes, a water bottle, my phone and my earphones. I stepped outside of my room, shutting the door quietly behind me before making my

way to the staircase.

Walking down softly, I tried my best to avoid the creaks like I had been trained to do so in my old house to avoid my father knowing of my presence. Though a moment later I realised, this was no longer the wooden staircase I was so used to walking down but instead, it was made of marble and had a lush red carpet which already muffled the sound of my footsteps.

That thought allowed me to hurriedly make my descent before I froze in my tracks. There were two hallways I could enter but which one led to the kitchen again? Why was everything here so confusing and so gigantic? Was it to confuse the enemies that tried to breach the place?

"Follow me," Came a deep voice from behind and I turned to see chris walking down leisurely. "I'll get Isabella to give you a tour later," He told me as he strode in front of me now and I nodded my head before realising he couldn't see me. I stuck with a mere,"Thanks," instead.

Breakfast was delicious, with a wide spread of food already laid out on the kitchen table. This time there were four of us eating, Isabella, chris, Noah and myself. We ate in yet again a comfortable silence, though I would have appreciated a conversation other than the normal salutations.

I had a feeling chris preferred eating with no talking because he was always on his phone during the meal. Honestly, if you ask me, using a device was ruder than having a conversation but no one asked me so oh well...

After we returned our plates to the sink, I followed Noah to the training room in the basement and what greeted me was enough to render me speechless. Furnished mats and the best-equipped room I had ever seen made my eyes widen with shock.

To the left side rested many punching bags and a rack of punching gloves. And on the right were various weapons ranging from swords to daggers, along with targets which had numerous holes in them from previous use. The middle of the room was farby my favourite though, a spectacular boxing ring in which I couldn't wait to enter.

As I took in my surroundings I noticed a door on the far right and Noah told me that led to a soundproof room for gun practising. This, everything here, made it all too real on where I was actually living. While the upper part of the house could conceal the reality, this place just brought it into brighter light.

I was indeed living with a dangerous gang that probably, could kill me off without a second thought. What was my family thinking in dealing with them and what did a bunch of engineers have to do with the dangerous gang that could result in me being taken? Was my family even actual engineers anymore, I had no clue but something told me I didn't want to know either...

We made our way to the boxing ring after a quick warm-up stretch, where Noah began to speak to me like a two-year-old that had never heard of this concept before. Just wait till I take you in the ring man, then you'll see who's the real baby.

"Okay so just slip on the gloves, I promise to go really easy on you. I just need to gauge your strength before moving onto proper training," He instructed and I nodded on, feigning the cluelessness he expected me to have.

Someone blew a whistle for us to began and I immediately shifted my weight to the balls of my feet, allowing me to be more flexible and quick with my movement. Noah reached his fist out to punch my cheek but I easily dodged that, assessing that the left side of his was left unprotected.

I took that to my full advantage, using that as a target spot for my first punch. I had always learnt that you had to make sure your one punch was equivalent to ten of your opponents, that way you would still get the damage done but effectively.

The minute I punched him, he fell because I had caught him extremely off guard and so I knelt down and continued to ram that side, waiting for him to tap out. It wasn't until I heard an undeniable crack did I pause in my tracks.

I got off him, taking his hand and yanking him to his feet, wincing at his moan of pain. I had a feeling I went way too far with that one, shaking my head at his stupidity for not tapping out. Two men that had been training in the corner while watching our match with interest, rushed forward and slung Noah's left arm over one of their shoulders while his right hand nursed the sore area.

"I am so so sorry," I gushed profusely but Noah just smiled sincerely and praised me, "I did not expect you to be that good. I have to go check this out but you wait here, I 'll get you another sparring partner," He told me and I did as he instructed, watching him get carried away to the medical area.

I sat down on the benches, all alone in the room as I awaited my new partner.

TBC

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