Gooday everyone,

Hope you are all well.

We've made it to the midway point of the story. I have worked out there will be roughly 30 chapters, so there is still a long way to go.

Hope you're all still with me and enjoying it.

There is also a thought running through my head as whether or not to do a sequel, but I kind of want to leave that to you guys, if you think you'd enjoy one, then please message me or let me know in some way.

I know there is a long way to go, but I'm going to put it out there early, so people can have a think whether they would like to read more.

Anyway, there's a thought to leave you with, until then, enjoy the chapter…

Buckle up and enjoy the ride,

Writey x

Jaden's POV

Have you ever won a surprise award at school or in a sports team, but known you've not actually done anything for it?

That was how I felt as I stared at Solomon, in my doorway, after revealing to Alexis and I that we had apparently bought the card shop.

I looked towards Alexis, who had gone pale, if it wasn't for the shocking news we had just received, I'd have thought the she was falling ill again.

I looked back at Solomon, he seemed so excited, but I was just completely confused.

Unless my parents had bought it for me as a gift, which was highly unlikely, who the heck would have done something so generous.

I looked towards Alexis once more…

It wouldn't have been any of her family, they didn't even speak to her that much, which made me angry at the thought of it.

But I just don't understand, how could we have bought the card shop, there wasn't any plausible way we could afford it…

Oh god…

What happened if we went to pay and didn't have the money, how could we face Solomon then?

There was no way we could afford to buy the shop between us.

I had to be honest with Solomon, it wasn't fair for him to believe that we had actually agreed to buy the shop from him.

"Solomon," I said, getting nervous, I wasn't sure how he was about to take this news.

I saw the expression change on his face, it certainly wasn't excited.

"We haven't agreed to buy your card shop," I said, looking towards Alexis, who nodded.

Clearly, she was in the same mindset I was.

We simply couldn't afford it.

"You know I would love too," I said, placing a hand on the man's shoulder, "but, we don't have the money nor the knowledge to be able to run a shop."

The expression on Solomon's face changed again, but this time he was definitely confused.

"This makes no sense…"

He rummaged around in his pocket for something.

"Ahh, here we go," he said, pulling out a piece of paper, a document, of sale.

He handed the piece of paper over to me, and I moved it so Alexis could read at the same time;

Dear Mr Muto,

We are pleased to announce the sale of your card shop has been agreed, there has been a large offer made, and the bank, including De'Angelo, have accepted on your behalf. Please feel free to contact us about anything you may have questions about.

The money shall arrive in your account when the payment has been made, until then, please make sure you vacate the premises, as of midday tomorrow.

Yours,

Archibald Cartwright

Bank CEO

Underneath, it was as clear as day, the sale confirmation…

Purchased buy: Mr Jaden Yuki, Miss Alexis Rhodes

Date Purchased: July 26th, 2020

Confirmation of Purchase: Confirmed

Purchase Overseen By: De'Angelo Rodriguez

I looked at Alexis, there was no mistaking, that was definitely our names on the document.

"You see," Solomon said, smiling once more. I'm pretty sure I could have told him the world was ending and he would have been smiling, "there is a document to prove it."

He was right, it was in writing, Alexis and I had purchased the card shop.

"I don't believe it…" Alexis said, staring at the paper, if I was reeling from the news, she must have thought she was still in a dream.

"Yes, my dear, that's why I came, and just by chance, you were both here."

Everything was starting to sink in now, this was going to be a problem.

"When De'Angelo came and visited the shop earlier, I too didn't believe it, Amalie as well, she started laughing, but it clearly says it here in the document, you are the owners of the card shop, or rather will be," he said, taking the piece of paper back from us.

I turned to look at Alexis, I hated to think how stressed she was right now.

"Well..." I said. It was all I could manage; I didn't really have much else to say in truth.

"Yeah..." she said back, this conversation was going to go well.

"I know there is a lot for you both to process," Solomon said, stepping closer to the door, "but I am honestly glad it's going to people I can trust."

Suddenly a thought hit me.

"I know," I said, I could see a way out of this mess, "what if we give it to you?"

"Huh" Alexis said, she would understand in a second.

"Think about it, we could buy it, although I'm not sure how," I could see Alexis shudder at the thought, she had a house to pay off, "and then you could take charge of it again."

I thought it was a brilliant idea, and clearly Alexis did too, her facial expression changing to a hopeful one.

However, I looked at Solomon, who just had a small smile on his face.

"Honestly," he said, looking down at his shoes, "I really appreciate the offer."

Oh no, that doesn't sound good.

He looked at both of me and Alexis, before continuing, "but I'll have to say no."

My mouth fell open. After all the complaining, Solomon didn't even want the shop back…

"It's not that I don't want it, far from it in truth, I'd love to have it back, it's just… I'm getting on a bit and maybe it's a good thing for you guys to have it, I've been thinking about retirement for a while."

I saw a little tear in Solomon's eye, either way, this was very hard for him.

He wiped away the tear before continuing, "it might be a fresh start for us all, just the thing we've been looking for."

He was right, I had been looking for something to do, a new path, a new career for me to lead…

This could be it.

"Anyway," he said, smiling once more, he was basically out the door at this point, "it might be good, you guys could bring new ideas, things I've never thought of, hey, you're a great match clearly."

I felt my cheeks go red, I knew he meant about the stuff with the aura, but still, there was something else underneath that comment that made me feel shy.

"So," he said, clapping his hands, "it's settled, you shall have the shop."

As much as I was worried about all the logistics, I was excited as well, it would be nice to have a shop to run, especially with Alexis.

Solomon opened the door, and started to head outside, before peering back in, "oh before I forget, you need to meet at the bank tomorrow to sign everything off and make the payment."

I felt a twist in my stomach. We had to pay tomorrow, that was not good.

Just as Solomon was about to leave, my dad reappeared.

"Oh," he said, coming to stand next to me, "are you heading off Solomon?"

I really didn't want to have a conversation with my dad about everything here, right now.

"Oh, yes Malcom, unfortunately I am, I need to get back home, it has been a long day," Solomon said, smiling at my father.

"Not even a drink," dad said, it was like he was trying to tempt him in, almost to explain more him and mum I expect.

I saw Solomon hesitate for a second, before he looked back at me and smiled, "I'm sorry Malcom, I must be off, I will take you up on that soon though."

"Of course," dad said, smiling, "you're welcome any time."

I had a sudden thought, had they heard the conversation?

Before I could ask, dad retreated into the living room.

I turned back to Solomon, "well…"

That was I could seem to say tonight.

"Yes, I shall see you both in the morning," and with a smile and a swift exit, he was gone.

There was a momentary silence.

I felt like I needed one after the day I'd had.

I felt a hand tap me on the arm, and I looked at Alexis, who was smiling.

"You okay?" she said.

I smiled, instantly all the worry and stress disappeared.

"Yeah, I am," I said back, "I just don't know what we're going to do, we definitely don't have the money."

Alexis shook her head, I knew the price the shop would be, and I don't even think my parents could afford it.

"I just don't get it, we didn't buy it," Alexis said.

That was the other point, how did we end up with it?

"Either way," she said, smiling back at me, "let's not worry about it until tomorrow, we've had a long day and I want to finish that film."

I smiled, she was right, we'll worry about the card shop when we need too, right now I want to relax.

Alexis smiled at me. She had certainly rubbed off on my family, I could tell, my mum especially. I think she enjoyed having another girl in the house, who didn't just want to play with a toy kitchen all day.

It suddenly dawned on me, "Alexis, we still need to work out where you're sleeping…"

I hadn't thought about it with everything going on, but we still hadn't established where she would stay.

I mean, there wasn't a whole host of places she could stay.

You had the living room, or my room…

I went red in the face at the thought of Alexis staying in my room, I'd never had a girl stay in my room.

It made my heart beat a little faster…

Alexis turned around, she looked surprised by the question, "umm… maybe I should stay downstairs, if you're parents are okay with that."

I felt slightly deflated by her response, more than perhaps I should have been…

"Yeah," I said, putting on a smile, why was I acting so weird?

"Plus," I said, snapping out of my thoughts, "wouldn't want to keep you awake with my snoring."

I had no idea why I had said that.

Alexis laughed slightly, but she seemed disappointed.

We made our way silently back into the living room, I was really hoping that my parents hadn't heard the conversation we'd had with Solomon, it was the last thing I wanted to talk about.

We went inside and my parents were sat, looking at something else on the television.

Mum looked up and smiled at us, "so, how was your conversation with Solomon?"

I stopped.

Dam it.

I just had to play it cool.

"Yeah it was fine thanks."

There that should do it.

"Good," she said, "what was it about?"

Oh no…

"Err… um… well…"

"It was just about earlier," Alexis said, thank god she was here, "Solomon just came by to make sure I was okay, nothing major, Jaden was just asking loads about the shop."

I sighed that was a good answer.

My parents looked at me and I realised, I hadn't actually answered.

"Oh, ugh, yeah, exactly what Alexis said…"

I was making a real mess of this.

"Well," my dad said, switching the channel back over to the film, "I'm sure he's glad that you are okay, Alexis."

It looked like they hadn't heard anything, which was good.

I didn't really want to have to talk to them about buying a card shop that I had no recollection of purchasing…

Or the fact that I couldn't afford it.

I'm still not sure they were clueless, it's pretty hard not to listen in, especially since I know what my family are like.

We both sat back down in the seat we were in, it was nice, being close, having her here, something felt right about it, but I wasn't sure what it meant.

Hell, I wasn't sure what anything meant these days.

There was so much that I was unsure about, all these mixed feelings I had with Alexis, they all just made me confused.

Everything with the card shop. What was that all about? How had we ended up with it? Why had it been with Alexis?

But the most puzzling was about the aura.

DK knew something…. I was certain.

But, what?

It was clear to me that he had seen something similar before, but the question is, what does it mean?

I knew I would have to ask him when he got back.

If he came back?

I put all the thoughts aside and looked at the tele, this film was so confusing, why did the robots dance all the time?

So strange…

We all sat and watched for a while before mum took a sleeping Tess to bed, Josh went up not long after and mum never returned.

Dad and I watched the rest of film, but I could tell Alexis had fallen asleep at least twice during the ending.

At one point I'm sure she was snoring lightly; it was kind of cute.

Hold on, since when did I use the word cute.

Do you see what I mean about confusing thoughts!

"Right," my dad said, standing from his chair, he'd managed to awake Alexis as well, "I'm going to hit the hay, another long day at work for me tomorrow."

"Alright dad," I said, giving him a hug.

I didn't mind the affection, we'd always done it, so why change?

"Goodnight, Mr Yuki," Alexis said smiling at him.

He held his arms out and Alexis anxiously accepted the hug.

It was funny, I had never seen my dad, or mum for that matter, act like this around anyone.

"Sleep well," my dad, said letting her go and heading upstairs.

"Right," I said looking at Alexis, "are you going to be okay down here?"

I knew she would be fine, but I wanted to be sure.

"Yeah," she said, getting all the pillows and stuff, "I'll be fine."

I was sure there was a hint of sadness in her voice, but she was probably just tired.

"Okay, I'll see you in the morning."

I didn't get a response, she had probably already fallen asleep, so I went upstairs to bed.

I put my head on the pillow and I thought it would have taken me a while to sleep, but, in truth, I was out like a light.

Alexis's POV

What a nights sleep!

It had been one of the best I'd had in a long time.

But, after the day I'd had, it wasn't surprising I had fallen asleep so quickly.

It had been quite a day, but I wouldn't have thought I would have ended up potentially owning a shop.

Owning a shop with Jaden.

He had been down early this morning. He'd said that we should keep everything a secret until it is all sorted out, especially if his family asked questions, I couldn't blame him, it was a particularly stressful situation.

He'd made us some breakfast this morning as well.

He was a surprisingly good cook.

Although, I wasn't going to tell him that.

He'd also shown me around the house, he'd meant to do it yesterday but with everything going on, hadn't been able to do so.

When I pictured Jaden's room, it was actually the opposite.

I hadn't pictured something quite so… grown up.

Don't get me wrong, he certainly isn't childish, but his room was actually quite tidy, and it was quite sophisticated.

It just wasn't what I was expecting.

Today was a big day.

I had just finished getting ready back at home, I had left early this morning in order to find something nice to wear.

I had only been able to say thank you to Susan, Malcom had already left for work when I'd woken up.

To be honest with you I was slightly nervous.

I had been in New Domino less than a week, and I was only just finding my feet, how was I going to manage a card shop as well…

If we even kept it a card shop, I suppose.

I gathered everything I needed.

In truth I didn't know what I needed.

It wasn't a long journey to the bank; I had left in plenty of time to pick up my car on the way. The bank was located in the centre of town, so I knew parking would be a nightmare.

Jaden had promised to meet me out the front. That was a good thing in truth because I didn't know where I was going or who I was looking for.

He arrived about 5 minutes after me. He wore a smart, grey suit.

If I was being honest, he looked incredibly handsome.

"Hey," he said, coming up the steps besides me.

In fact, he also looked incredibly intelligent.

I realised, that he was wearing some simple glasses.

They certainly had the desired effect.

"You ready to go in?"

I nodded to him and followed.

The bank was huge. It was an old stone building, with a marble flooring. It had desks running all the way down the side and several spiral staircases, one in each corner of the room.

A balcony ran around the side of building, it had offices breaking off and several other floors, towering above it.

"Wow," Jaden said, staring upwards, "I didn't realise it was this big."

It was true, even for a bank, this was a huge building.

I waited just inside the doorway, whilst Jaden spoke to someone on a desk.

I felt someone tap me on the shoulder and I turned around.

"AMALIE," I shouted. I probably got a few looks from people, but I didn't care.

"Hey," she said, she didn't sound like her usual self.

I let go and looked at her. She was all dressed up and looked just as pretty as she did at the reunion.

"Are you okay?" I said, looking at my friend.

Amalie stayed silent for a second, "I can't believe you didn't tell me."

I looked at her, was she… was she angry about this?

"Hey, we didn't even know ourselves," I said, half laughing, I hated arguing in public places, it just made me awkward.

She looked at me confused, so I explained to her.

I told her about everything, I even reasoned with her about the price.

"I guess," she said, looking at Jaden who was walking back.

He smiled and hugged Amalie, "hey."

"What I don't get is, why did they leave it so late, why not just sort this out ages ago," Amalie said.

She was right, from what I had gathered, it was all very last minute.

Jaden told us that they were running a bit late, so we were told to go to the waiting room.

Solomon and Monty were already there and seemed to be even more excited than yesterday.

We chatted for a while but weren't waiting too long.

"Mr Yuki, Miss Rhodes," said an elderly gentleman in a black suit.

He looked very important.

"Archibald?" Solomon said, getting to his feet.

Instantly everyone got to their feet.

I followed quickly.

"Solomon, oh how good to see you," said the man, he went over and shook his hand.

Solomon looked shocked, "I wasn't expecting to see you today."

I really hadn't a clue who this man was.

"Mr Cartwright, it's a pleasure to meet you," Amalie said.

Well, if Amalie was talking formal then he had to be important.

"Now, now," said Mr Cartwright smiling, "we don't need all these formalities."

It suddenly clicked, this was the CEO, Archibald Cartwright.

I suddenly felt myself get nervous, if we were dealing with him, without payment, this was going to get embarrassing.

"Aha," he said, turning to me and Jaden, "I'm guessing this must be Mr Yuki and Miss Rhodes?"

I smiled and nodded.

"Indeed sir," Jaden said, shaking his hand.

He seemed relatively calm.

Well calmer than me anyway.

"Shall we get down to business?"

Mr Cartwright led us up a spiral staircase, and into a large office at the end of hallway.

"Please take a seat," he said, opening a door.

There was already a man inside, who, once the door was opened, turned and smiled excited, "Jaden!"

"Hey," Jaden said, fist bumping the man.

I laughed, it seemed rather informal.

The man turned to me, "ahh and you must be Miss Rhodes."

He held out his hand, "I'm De'Angelo Rodriguez."

I shook his hand, "hello lovely to meet you."

"De'Angelo," Mr Cartwright said, "shall we get started?"

"Indeed," he said as everybody took their seats.

Solomon, Monty and Amalie all had different documents to sign, I wasn't sure what, but I knew Solomon's was to agree to the sale.

"It's impressive," Solomon said, "I wasn't expecting the CEO to be involved."

Mr Cartwright smiled.

"Well Solomon, I couldn't have one of my best friends having sub-par treatment, now could I?"

Even though I barely knew Solomon, I was still surprised at the fact that he knew someone like Mr Cartwright, but I guess everything was surprising me recently.

"And, Kyle and Sabrina never would have forgiven me if this deal had failed."

I looked at Solomon who just laughed.

"Right," De'Angelo said, moving round next to me and Jaden.

He had a small tablet in his hand, "there doesn't seem to be much left for you guys to do actually."

I was confused, we didn't have a lot to do.

"What do you mean?" Jaden said.

De'Angelo seemed to be in another face, however.

"I just need you both to authorise the payment," he said, holding out his tablet.

It had a load of writing on it and a fingerprint scanner.

"Wait, wait," Jaden said, standing up, "I don't understand."

"What do you mean Jaden?" De'Angelo said, "you've already paid, you just need to authorise it."

Everybody in the room except for De'Angelo and Archibald seemed shocked.

"Please explain," Jaden said barely, getting the words out.

De'Angelo looked at us for a minute before typing on his tablet for a second.

"See," he said turning it around to show us.

I gasped.

I couldn't believe what I was looking at.

There was an account, with both mine and Jaden's name on, with an absurd amount of money in it.

"You registered your joint account last night, just before we had confirmation of the bid," De'Angelo said, smiling at us.

It was true, it said it was only just registered, but how did it get here?

"It is only you two that could have created this account, our systems are floorless, I can assure you, we will not be hacked," said Archibald.

Something was going on here, but facts are facts, me and Jaden owned this account.

I could pay off my house, Jaden could buy a house and there would still be plenty left.

"Now," De'Angelo said, "the money for the shop has already been taken, I just need confirmation."

He held out the tablet.

Jaden and I looked at each other.

As much as this felt wrong, the fact was, we had the money.

I went first, I placed my thumb on the scanner and a tick came up on the screen just next to it.

Jaden followed, quickly after, not hesitating.

I guess he just wanted this over as quickly as possible.

"Well," said De'Angelo, "it's been a pleasure Solomon, I hope retirement treats you well."

I zoned at this point, everything was sinking in.

I was joint owner of a card shop and I was also very, very wealthy.

I don't know about you, but that didn't sound like a bad start to the day.

It was a good job I had five seats in my car.

Everybody had agreed to go back to the card shop.

The journey was great, everybody was in good spirits, I mean after being told you're now very wealthy, Jaden and I did have a valid reason.

Once we arrived at the shop, I actually took a look around, it wasn't that I hadn't before, I was just a bit pre-occupied.

I noticed that most of the stuff had been put back in place.

"Hey Solomon," Jaden said, scanning the room as he entered, "why's all the stuff still up?"

I scanned the room and realised everything must still belong to Solomon.

Solomon looked around, "it's not my stuff anymore Jaden."

I looked at Jaden, who seemed genuinely confused.

Solomon smiled, "Jaden, the stuff is yours now, I want you to continue the legacy of my shop."

Jaden shook his head, "no way Solomon, I'm not taking these from you."

Solomon smiled, "Jaden, you're not taking them from me I'm giving them to you."

I could tell that Jaden was genuinely uncomfortable by this.

Then I had a thought.

"I know," I said, going over to the counter, "we'll buy them off you, your last sale ever."

It was a crazy idea, but that way they both win, Jaden doesn't feel like he's just taking them, and Solomon still gets to give us the cards.

Solomon pondered it for a minute, this all must be pretty hard for him, given how long he's been doing all this.

"Okay," he said, "but I don't want a lot."

I looked at Jaden who smiled at me.

Yeah, that was the right thing to do.

Jaden and Solomon chatted for a while about a price. It wasn't a simple conversation but eventually they came to an agreement.

Jaden and I continued to survey the scene, there was so much we needed to do, but I also had ideas running through my head.

Hey, maybe this whole thing wouldn't be so bad after all.

Maybe this was just the thing I was looking for.

Solomon told us everything we needed to know, every little detail about the shop and all the various information. Jaden had told me that would be my side of the business, the running of the shop. I didn't mind it too much, just as long as I got everything right.

Jaden told Solomon he could come by anytime, that was clear anyway, but he wanted to be sure.

"Oh Jaden," he said, smiling, "you won't be able to keep us away."

Monty and Amalie smiled.

I could see some sadness on Amalie's face, she was sad to be leaving.

"Amalie," I said, "do you want to work here, with us?"

It was an impulsive decision, but one that I knew Jaden would agree with.

"Yeah," Jaden said, going over to her. He slung his arm over her shoulders and part of me got a little jealous. He never did that to me.

Amalie looked at us, almost shocked, "are… are you sure?"

"Of course," Jaden said laughing, "who's going to tell me what to do?"

Amalie laughed and then looked at me, "we can both keep him in line?"

I smiled, "that's a deal."

Everybody made their way outside.

Solomon handed Jaden the keys.

Jaden smiled and handed them back, "one last time?"

Solomon smiled, it was clear he was full of emotion, and he locked the door.

Compared to the previous trip in my car, everything was mute. I think everybody just wanted to reflect.

Jaden was the last person I dropped home. We had planned to have a meeting in the morning about everything, it was important we acted fast, I wanted to be up and running as soon as possible.

There was one thing that had been playing on my mind though.

"Jaden," I said. He turned to face me, "last night Solomon mentioned some cards, what did he mean."

Jaden looked confused for a minute, but then he reached inside his jacket pocket.

I wasn't really sure why he had his cards with him, it didn't make a great deal of sense, but I guess he had them.

"Here," he said, showing me the cards, "I was thinking about this actually, maybe they're connected in some way, like to the aura, I'm not sure, but ever since I've had them, strange things have been happening."

He held out the cards and I still couldn't believe it, he had Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl.

There was also a fusion monster, one I'd never heard of.

I took the cards from him and there was a bright flash of light, it was blinding, a lot like the one in the card shop yesterday, except this time, I didn't feel strange at all.

After a while, the bright light vanished, and it took a second to adjust my vision.

"What the…" I heard Jaden say from beside me.

Once I gained my vision, I realised we weren't in my car anymore.

"Impossible…" I said.

I look at Jaden, we were in fact, sat in his front room.

"Oh," I heard a woman say.

Susan came into the living room, "I didn't hear you both come in, let me get you something to eat and drink."

She quickly left and I looked at Jaden.

He was absolutely stunned.

"How… how the…"

I felt a presence behind me.

It was probably just Josh…

I turned around and I nearly fainted again…

"What… what the…" I said.

If Jaden was already stunned, this was about to finish him off…

He turned around and saw what I was looking at….

"No…. no way…"

I could barely believe my eyes….

In front of me…

Floating right there…

Was Dark Magician Girl…

"Oh," she said, "hello miss."

Oh…

And she talked…

Neutral POV

Two men stood in a doorway, arguing about something.

"I don't care, I need to tell her," said the man outside. He was clearly frustrated.

"She's not here anyway, she said she would be back later," said the other one, clearly trying not to lose it.

The man outside turned around, looking defeated.

"I know you care about her," said the man inside, he was clearly torn between these two people, "but you know she likes him, it's obvious."

"I know," said the man walking away, "but I just want to tell her how I feel."

He stopped for a minute turning to face the other man…

"I need to tell her I love her," he said finally walking away.

What the two men didn't notice, was the dark hooded figure, stood across the road, watching their every movement…

Well… What did you think?

Another nail biter maybe? Or a boring old load of nonsense?

Let me know anyway, don't forget to let me know about a sequel, it will give me time to plan the ending to co-inside with the next one if you guys do want to hear more.

However, favourite and follow, for those updates and until next time.

It's been me,

Writey x