137 Substitutes

"Hello? Kelly?" she said as she answered the phone and Abi's eyes slowly widened. "H-huh? Are they alright? Okay, I'll be right there!"

"What happened?" Xavier asked, seeing her panic but Abi just told them to go and find a seat inside as she rushed towards the back door where she came out from.

"I smell trouble," Xavier uttered. He then turned to Alex to ask him if they were going inside the hall but the man was already walking away and he was heading straight towards the door where Abi had entered.

Of course, Kai and Xavier followed him, like little puppies following their master.

Once they were inside, they found out that a few people who had drunk some of the drinks from a fast food delivery were now suffering from stomach aches. It seemed that something may have been something in their drinks. Fortunately, only four male staff had a drink and the aches weren't that severe. It was just making them run back and forth to the bathroom. Abi gave them some medicine to take but it would take some time to take effect so they were no longer in shape to do their tasks.

"Oh no, what should we do now? We're about to start! There's no time to go and get other people," Kelly was biting her lip as she panicked.

Abi, too, was feeling a little anxious now.

But it was then that her eyes fell onto the three men who just came and an idea lit up in her eyes.

Abi ran towards Alex and held his hand.

"Alex, uhm… can you grant me a request?" she was anxiously pressing Alex's fingers as she asked. "We need someone to replace them. Can I ask a favor and uhm… can you guys replace them? Please?"

Abi was feeling a little regretful. She had invited them to come and watch the play, not to be participating in it as a staff member, but now, with things being how they were, she had to ask them for help. She felt that she had no choice but to shamelessly ask them.

Meanwhile, Kelly was in shock from seeing the three creatures that Abi was asking to replace their fallen comrades. She was already shocked by their presence alone, and now, Abi was actually asking them to become their staff's substitutes?! And that guy in the middle was that hellishly mysterious king from hell, Alexander Qin! Oh god, Abi, are you serious right now?!

But, as she thought about it, she also knew that they had no choice. They couldn't possibly drag people from the audience because they were all old people and the task was something for agile men to do!

Kelly just silently watched as Abi begged the man and she couldn't ever imagine that Alexander Qin agreeing to do something like this. 'There's no way in hell he would accept to do this, Abigail! Just ask him to send his bodyguards if he had any!' she thought.

Kelly wanted to barge in because they were running out of time but she was scared of that guy!

"Uhm, Abigail… what kind of tasks are those men supposed to do?" Xavier butted in.

"It's not that hard. I promise, it's very easy."

Xavier's brows lifted up. He looked at Alex and he was about to speak when...

"I volunteer." A deep voice echoed and everyone looked at the man who just came in.

E-ezekiel Qin?!!!

Kelly looked like she just saw a ghost. She didn't know what was going on anymore. Not only was Abigail's devil here, now this Demon turned up out of nowhere! What the hell was this man doing here?! Did Abigail know him?

"Miss Chen, what do I need to do?" he asked as he walked closer to Abigail.

"Oh, Mr. Qin. Thank you so much. Uhm… you just need to –"

Before Abigail could explain, Alex suddenly wrapped his arm around Abi's shoulders.

"Tell me what I need to do first, little fruit," he uttered near her ear and Abi's head snapped to his face.

"You agree?!" she exclaimed, wide eyes.

"Yes, you need four men, right? Count these two in behind me as well."

Abi immediately hugged him. "Thank you, Alex!"

Everyone: ". . ." They only turned up to watch a play so how did they end up getting roped into becoming part of the crew?

Kai felt like pinching the skin between his brows as he watched Zeke and Alex, while Xavier looked like he was being entertained to the max.

"So? What do you want us to do?" Xavier asked excitedly but it was then that Kelly bravely called out for Abi's attention.

"Abi, it's almost time. You still need to change into your costume," Kelly reminded her and Abi immediately jumped in panic.

"Please, just standby, I will tell you what to do once I return," she told the four men and just like that, she and Kelly disappeared, leaving the four men standing there, with Alex staring at Zeke with daggers in his eyes and Kai just staring at them.

Xavier's eyes were darting back and forth between Alex and Zeke while nudging Kai.

"What's going on with those two?" Xavier whispered.

"Don't ask me."

"What's Zeke doing? Is he seriously hitting on Alex's girl?"

"Shut up, Xavier. Zeke's not an idiot to do something like that."

"Then why is he doing this? Our mighty Zeke never acted like this before, you know that."

"Stop asking. How should I know? Go ask him, not me!"

"Could it be that he likes Abigail, too? Or is he just trying to provoke Alex? But he's acting very strange! That guy's never acted all nice like that before, not even towards his family! I mean, when did he even learn to become like that?!" Xavier continued rambling on and didn't notice that Kai had already walked away from him.

Kai walked towards the wall on the other end of the room from that noisy, gossiping auntie, and just leaned on the wall and closed his eyes, as if to block out the world for a second.

Somehow, it seemed that the world he knew had now been turned upside down.