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6

In my dream, I was sitting in the lush green garden of my backyard. The birds were chirping, the sun was half hidden in the clouds and the wind was blowing against me. I knew it was a dream but I couldn't help but feel intoxicated by the cool breeze. I closed my eyes, leaning against the tall tree, and faced the sky. The cold wind blew back my hair, brushing them from my face and tangling them. The dewy ground felt nice as I pressed my palms against it.

Inside, surprisingly, I felt happy. I felt as if a huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders. Relief had never overpowered as much ever before, proving that I was dreaming. That wouldn't happen in real life. Happiness and relief would come to me, I knew that. But not now, not when everything felt as if it was falling apart. Not when it felt as if it was getting worse every day. Not when my hopes were crashing down. I didn't even know which way to go to even search for my answers, let alone be sure of where to find them. I couldn't even get to a place to escape from my problems, at the very least. There was no sign to lead me to home if not to find solutions.

And so I woke up, partly because I was beginning to feel ugly but mostly because there was loud banging on the door.

"Hillary!" Tyson yelled from the other side of the door. I flinched at the sudden sound but didn't respond verbally to it. Maybe if I didn't, he'd go away.

The banging started again and I grabbed the other pillow and put it on my head, trying to make the sound less annoying. For a while, it worked but then the banging got louder, much more urgent. Was there somewhere I had to go to?

The door opened, crashing against the wall with another loud sound as Tyson entered. I didn't open my eyes or made any motion at all in response. I heard him as he walked over to stand over me. He put his hands on the bed, sitting down…probably to yell at me. I was just too lazy to respond physically right now so I ignored him. Bad move.

"HILLARY! WAKE UP!" Tyson yelled loudly again. Gosh, headache first thing in the morning. Nice.

"Go away!" I finally yelled back in anger, rolling over so that my back was towards him.

He sighed and it was quiet for a while. It seemed as if he had left. The thought relaxed me instantly and I started to drift back to sleep.

It wasn't a pleasant dream. I could feel or see nothing but the pitch-black dark. Feeling helpless, I staggered around, looking for something I didn't know of. I found nothing.

And then it happened. One second, it was the blackness that hovered around, stretching on like the never ending sky; above and below. The next, there was an excruciating pain running through my body. It was as if countless of needles were piercing through each part of my body, each cell. I made no sound as the coldness dragged me under…

Cold?

With a loud gasp of pain, I sat up, feeling alert. My eyes flew open, all signs of drowsiness gone and replaced with a few tears that fell down my cheeks. I looked up to see Tyson standing beside the bed, looking smug and holding an empty bucket of water in his hand. My eyes darted towards the door where the rest of my 'friends' stood, looking surprised. I looked back at Tyson, ignoring the burning sensation behind my eyes.

I said nothing. Instead, I looked down at my hands and bit my lips in a futile attempt to control my anger. I shuddered as the wind hit my cold, wet body from the window and cursed myself for leaving it open.

"Hils?" Angry as I was, I made no attempt to answer Max when he called me.

I raised my hand and took off the covers that clung to my clothes and placed my feet down on the floor.

"It's the 22nd of July." Max said, walking over with a towel in his hands. He handed it to me and I took it before closing my eyes. I tried to fight off the drowsiness from them…22nd July? Why did it sound familiar?

I couldn't remember. It felt like too much work just to think. It was probably because it's hard to do so when someone wakes you up like that. Or maybe my anger was clouding everything else.

"Yeah, sure." I replied, my voice sounding thick from sleep. I got up and rubbed my eyes, still trying to fight away the sleep. I grabbed the clothes that I had left out to get dried yesterday and walked towards the washroom, ignoring the small crowd at the door.

After the shower—where I stretched my tired body like I'd never stretched it before and heard the soft cracks as my bones moved—I managed to shake off the sleepy feeling and change into less cold, wet and clingy clothes. But I was just as much worn-out as I had been when I had woken up.

'Morning grumpiness' (as Tyson had put it when Max had pointed out that he should apologize for upsetting me) hadn't left me yet. Everything seemed irritating; the clatter of the spoons on the marble plates as everyone ate, the silent whispers the guys were passing each other, Tyson's loud laugh, the tap water as it ran down the sink where Grandpa was washing the dishes, Kenny's constant typing in the background…

I bit my lips and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself.

"Right Hillary?"

I looked up at the sound of my name. It was Ray.

"What?" I asked, my voice still thick from sleep. Ray looked at me apologetically before saying what he wanted.

"You're gonna help us keep the press of Tyson's ass, right?"

I blinked. The press? And then it sunk in. My senses perked up; my eyes came into focus and I tried to register the situation. Today? The countless times the guys mentioned it, the countless calendars it had been marked upon all over the house, all the times they had rechecked their reminders to make sure they didn't miss it… 22nd of July…

"Today?" I asked disbelievingly, my voice sounding alert, almost anxious. "The tournament is today?"

I couldn't believe it. What type of a coach was I? The tournament, the biggest event of the year, was TODAY! And I hadn't even realized it! Why hadn't anyone told me? Why hadn't they reminded me? Why couldn't I keep track myself? I hadn't even realized that the tournament that the guys had been training for a year was due today! And I was busy SLEEPING!

Everything was quiet as the guys stared back at me with shock. Tyson's hand was paused in front of him, holding the fork mid-way to his mouth. Kenny's mouth was hanging open. Max looked disappointed, even Ray had failed to keep a calm expression. Even Kai couldn't keep a normal face. His gaze was more tormenting than the rests'. There was disappointed, like Max but stronger and clearer, and then there was anger. I deserved that. I wondered why they called me a part of the team, let alone a friend, when I could barely just remember one of the most important days of their lives.

Their faces gave me the answer I needed and immediately, I stood up and ran towards my room. I locked the door and panicking already, I looked at the clock, hoping I wasn't too late.

4:45 am…

I remembered Mr. Dickenson telling the guys some time that the ride will pick us up at five in the morning. Fifteen minutes. Enough time for me to thrust everything into my empty duffle bag. I scowled at myself for being so stupid to forget something like the tournament. Maybe the guys shouldn't have woken me up. It was only fair that I'd be left behind for doing that. Maybe then I'd never let them down again.

I threw my shampoo bottle and my comb on top of the hurriedly-shoved clothes and closed the zip. I threw the bag over my shoulders and walked downstairs, feeling guilty.

"I'm so sorry I forgot." I started half-way down the stairs. Apparently they had been waiting for me, standing there at the end of the stairs, looking impatient. All of them had their bags around their shoulders too. "You guys should hit me or something, really."

"That's okay, Hils." Max said with a smile. But his expression was completely different. Disgruntled. I guess I deserved that.

"I'm sorry." I muttered once more, reaching the end. "I can't believe this. I was so distracted! I didn't even—"

"Let's get going, Hillary." Kai said, cutting me off. I couldn't find it in myself to look at him angrily, I was feeling so guilty!

At least they forgave me, I thought, trailing behind them glumly as they walked out. We waited outside for the ride to arrive. I fidgeted nervously with my fingers, trying to keep myself awake. I was only human and I had had barely three hours of sleep, it was natural that sleep was coming to me. I fought against it though. I didn't want to slip up again. There was much to do today. First, we had to go to BBA in the bus that would be arriving now. We'd meet Mr. Dickenson, the head of BBA and the General Manager of the tournament, and he'd take us –and many other contestants—to the place where it the tournament was being held. I wondered idly where it was this year. As ignorant as I had been, I wouldn't have even have known that.

Grandpa came out for a short goodbye. He joked about how Tyson would eat up all the restaurants like he had done last year and how Ray could try out different hair products from different countries that might do miracles for his long mane. He wondered aloud if Max would ask Mariam out this year and if Kenny would 'make a move' on Emily.

Thankfully, the ride arrived just before Grandpa moved towards me for joking, and I thanked my lucky stars. He wished us good luck and hugged Tyson for a long time while we got inside the bus and threw our bags at the bottom of the first few seats randomly. When everyone was inside and in their respective seats, Kai motioned for the driver to start moving.

Grandpa kept waving till we were out of sight and then we relaxed. I had taken a seat in the middle while everyone else crowded in the front and Kai sat at the very back. It took about two hours to get to the BBA, from my experience, from the Dojo. I guess it could hurt no-one if I zoned out for a bit. I leaned against the comfy seat, feeling sleepy already and closed my eyes.

"Hey."

My eyes opened and I looked up, blinking in drowsiness. Kai took a seat beside me and I relaxed back again, closing my eyes. It wouldn't hurt him if I didn't speak, would it? He liked silence.

"Are you tired?" He asked and I realized that he had no apparent intentions of keeping quiet. I opened my eyes, blinking sleepily again, and looked up at him.

"Yeah." I murmured softly in reply, looking away from his gaze. "Aren't you?"

I remembered that he was up just as late as I was—probably even more late than that—and he looked minty fresh. As soon as I thought that, I blushed, remembering about how I had realized that I had feelings for him. It wasn't a comforting though, rather an anxious one with him this close.

"I am." He replied, his voice just as soft as mine had been. I looked up at him. He didn't look tired. Why was that? Three hours sleep didn't seem sufficient enough. But then again, I hadn't been sleeping well lately. And maybe all those sleepless nights were finally getting to me. That was probably why I was feeling so exhausted right now.

"Did you need something?" I asked, trying to avoid his eyes. His skin, in the dim light from the window, seemed so delicate. I had never used that word for Kai, it seemed strange. He was so strong and independent, so reliable. Never had he shown any signs of softness. But it was just that his skin was so pale and smooth and…gosh, it made me want to touch him.

He smiled at me and I couldn't help but marvel over how nice it looked on him. It was distracting, so I forced myself to look away. How weird would it look if I'd be staring at him like that?

"Go to sleep." He said, still smiling politely at me. "I'll ask when you wake up."

I didn't wait for him to leave as I closed my eyes and rested my head back against the seat again. I must have fell asleep right then cuz it felt like just seconds later that Kai woke me up. I was surprised; he was still sitting next to me. Hadn't he left when I had fallen asleep?

"We're almost to the stop." Kai said in a low voice. I didn't look up to see what his expression was and neither did I reply. The exhaustion hadn't left me completely but it had gotten bearable and I wondered how long I had slept. The sun had risen completely; it should've been about seven or something.

I rubbed my eyes with my front fingers, trying to adjust to the bright light. My back felt oddly stiff due to staying at the same position for a few hours and I stretched a bit to relax my muscles. Already it seemed like a very bad day, I wondered how it would end. There was so much to do. Well, all the guys had to do was to set their stuff in their rooms and worry about the preliminaries. But, I had a lot to do. Arrange meetings with the media, keep the press away, help Mr. Dickenson with some paper work I had promised, keep the guys locked up inside their rooms to make sure that some random weirdo's don't attack them, make sure they don't consume something that might cause some trouble in the upcoming match (that was difficult, the hotel service was FREE for the contestants) and all the usual stuff. Being tired like I was now wasn't gonna help.

"What's wrong?" Kai said, noticing my frown. I just shook my head in reply and muttered a very low 'Nothing' just as the bus came to a stop. I peeked out the window at the tall building where all the BBA staff was, waiting patiently for the contestants to arrive so that they could leave for their destination. I felt goose-bumps just thinking again about all the work I had to do.

"Come-on, Hils." Kai said, getting up. It was the first time I looked at his face after I woke up. He turned his back immediately but I thought I caught a glimpse of confusion on his face. Confusion? Why was he confused? Had I said something I shouldn't have?

I didn't get time to ponder over what was wrong much. Just like I had predicted, there was SO much to do. As soon as we entered the building, where Mr. Dickenson stood waiting for us, he showed me the very, very huge bundle of papers. He said that it contained all the information about the contestants that the company should know of before they let them compete. They had been checked but I had been given the subtle task of arranging them according to their registration number to 'make it easier to get them if any future problems may arise'. I eyed the humungous bundle as some guy took it away, probably to the plane, before shuddering internally.

And I had thought that today was gonna be the hard day. It seemed as if it would take me days to get the task done, there were a millions of people all across the world that had competed in the tournament this year!

The guys looked at me apologetically as I sighed in discomfort.

"I hope it's not much to ask, Hillary." Mr. Dickenson said. At first, I thought he was being sarcastic but then realized that he was serious and I instantly raised my hands up in defense.

"It's okay, Mr. D." I replied, smiling politely. "I hope you don't mind it being a little late though."

"Of course not!" He said as if I had asked him to kill all the people in this building for ten dollars. "I could've made my secretary do it but she's on vacation. And you know how busy the tournament gets, don't you? You only have one team to manage and I have to control the entire BBA! I hope you understand, Hillary. Once again, I'm so sorry—"

"It's okay, Mr. Dickenson. I'll do it." I replied, feeling sorry for him all of a sudden. Poor Mr. D.

And so that's how I got myself into the mess I was right now. I grabbed my head in frustration, staring at the countless sheets of paper in front of me. My veins twitched as I heard Tyson's peeling laughter from behind. Couldn't he be just a tiny bit considerate? It was bad enough that I wasn't getting to enjoy the normally thrilling ride in the plane but he had to make it worse by showing me that everyone else was having fun. Why couldn't they suffer along with me?

Maybe Tyson should have left me behind. Maybe then I wouldn't be stuck like I was right now. But then again, this was probably a good punishment. The guys must be getting a good kick out of this.

I continued bravely back to work. The flight was long, just as I had expected. Yeah, sure, why not make things difficult for lil' ol' Hils, right? Everyone hates her anyway. She has no life. She can't even walk properly without slipping on her own feet. Yeah, go ahead God and punish me for all the wrong things that I have done. I don't wanna ask but why doesn't Tyson get this punishment? He's probably committed more crimes than I have what with all the meat he's wasted instead of saving it for someone who actually needed it. But, sure, give me the punishment for yelling at my Mom. Why not?

I sighed again. Like I was saying, the flight was long, elongating my misery all the more. I thought it was very considerate of Ray to bring me some coffee before running off to torturing me again. And I also thought he deserved the inappropriate gesture I gave him behind his back. Good thing that there were no kids standing by. That would've been bad.

"Registration number 10045," I muttered to myself, placing the paper on the neat pile next to me. That was where all the dealt-with papers had been placed. It was also my favorite pile of all the seventeen ones.

I looked at the picture of the brown-haired girl briefly before putting it on the dealt-with pile. Just out of curiosity, I kept glancing at the pictures to see if I recognized any of them. Many people I knew had participated. The Saint Shields, The White Tigers, The All Stars, The Majestic's, The Blade Breakers and many others had been on top of the lists due to their high scores. Aside from them, I recognized a few guys from our school and a few from Tyson's and mine's neighborhood. I vaguely remembered a few from when I had seen them last year in the competition. Many of them were unknown though and I had never seen any of their faces.

I took a sip from my coffee and leaned back, sighing in frustration and deciding to call it quits for a day. I was so exhausted that it felt like I would never wake up once I go to sleep. I pitied myself. Was it so hard for my friends to help me? Was I that repulsive?

"Are you done?"

I looked up to see a guy in the BBA uniform, staring at me expectantly with a smile on his face.

"No," I replied, smiling back. "But I've had enough for a day."

He nodded understandingly before motioning for some other guards to take away the papers. It made me smile that one guy had his uniform worn inside-out but I managed to hide it. He looked oddly nervous, maybe he was new or something. The first guy gave him the undone bundle to put into some small trunk that was lying somewhere nearby.

Was it just me or was there something weird about that guy? The way he looked meaningfully at the bundle of sheets in his hands was almost like how Tyson would look at a piece of chicken that was in his hands but it belonged to somewhere else. A mixture of guilt and longing, I had no problem recognizing it. Was there something wrong here?

And then I saw him, sitting beside the fifth seat in front of me, looking in my direction. His hazel eyes stared at me like how a hunter stares at his prey. Menacing. Threatening. And that was all it took for me to feel more light-headed than I already was feeling. He looked up, his smile not faltering even a little bit and I flinched spontaneously.

I couldn't, however, even guess what my face looked like now. What I was feeling inside was just so much more preoccupying.

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?...Why did he follow me? Why was he so obsessed? Why follow me here?

It felt as if there was some big lump stuck in my throat, making it hard to breathe properly. It felt as if I had put my hands very close to a fire, what with the speed at which they were sweating.

He began to get up and I got up too in response. He started to walk towards me but I turned around on my seat and looked at the guys.

"Um…" I started nervously, wondering again how my expression looked to them. All of them were sitting around a big table, just like most of the teams were on this place, looking as if they were having a very interesting conversation with the way their faces were twisted up into small smiles. They stared up at me, considering how I was peeking down at them from the top of a seat, looking confused all of a sudden at my expression.

"Can one of you come here, please?" My voice sounded barely my own as I whispered this. Kai was the first one to respond. He got up and looked at me with a curious look before his gaze traveled behind me and his eyes turned wary. I didn't look behind to see what he was seeing. Had he caught Drew trying to do something that would look suspicious? I didn't know and nor did I want to. He kept looking behind me as I turned around to sit back on my seat. It was then that I looked up at what had gotten Kai to pause like right now.

Of course, it was Drew. But he wasn't half-way turned around as if caught altering his path like I had suspected. He was looking back at Kai boldly, staring back with a doubtful expression and standing a few steps away from his seat, closer towards me. I looked at Kai, who was undoubtedly staring back at Drew with the same doubtful look as his own, and clutching at the seat I was sitting at. Did they know each other? Was that it? Or, as intuitive as he was, did Kai suspected something bad about Drew?

It was Kai who broke the silent conversation they were having, turning away ever so slightly but not breaking the eye contact. His eyebrows furrowed and he took a step towards me, inching closer. It felt like a protective gesture but I knew Kai better than to feel the need to protect me from some guy he had just seen. Or maybe that was it. Did he feel the unexplained need to want to guard me from Drew? Was that what his instincts were telling him?

And then it was Drew who broke the contact completely. Turning his back on Kai, he walked back towards his seat and never even glanced back. It was when Drew had completely sat down that Kai relaxed. His grip loosened and he turned his head to look down at me.