'Oh, the things that I do for my mother!' Reuben gulped down another drink and faced the man sitting in front of him.
"I need a favor." His voice sounded hoarse because of the hard liquor that he had been chugging.
"What is it? Is everything alright?" The opposite person sat straight and looked at him seriously.
"She's doing it again, Wayne!" He pulled his hair and heard his friend snicker.
'This asshole is laughing at my misery!' Reuben glared at his best friend, Wayne Luo.
"You hijacked my car after I returned just so that you can bitch about your mom?" Wayne laughed and mocked him.
When Wayne's flight had landed in the country, his plan was to first visit Yang Manor and surprise Lina.
But all his plans were thwarted when he entered his car and found this block of ice he called his best friend, waiting for him.
"I'm not bitching! I'm sharing my problems with you!" Reuben retorted angrily.
"Now what did Madam Ming do?" Wayne asked and was eager to know in what way had she tried to set him up with prospective brides this time around.
Reuben just tossed his vibrating phone to Wayne. He opened it and found a plethora of pictures flooding his mailbox.
"What's all this?" Wayne asked as he looked at each one of them.
"The noose that my mother wants to tie around my neck. She's giving me the option to choose which one can torture me the most." He ate the appetizers and explained it to Wayne.
"These mini sandwiches are amazing!" He said with his mouth full.
"You would be hit so hard on your head if Mrs. Ping was around." Wayne pointed at the sauce that was on his chin and handed him a tissue.
'That's the housekeeper that took care of them when they shifted to live with their cousins.' Reuben had heard a lot about the people who took care of Wayne and Wade but never had a chance to meet them.
"Fake nose"
"Botox"
"Cockeyed"
"Slept with her"
"This one too"
"And this one"
Wayne kept flipping through the pictures of socialites and pointed out what was wrong with them.
"You've slept with half the women in the city!" Reuben yelled when Wayne just kept saying 'and this one' over and over again.
Though he did not have anything against women who lost their virginity before marriage, he surely did not want to sleep with someone who had slept with his friends.
'That's against the bro code!' He solemnly shook his head.
"Bro you have to start somewhere soon. How long do you plan on being a virgin?" Wayne asked like a concerned brother.
"Even that dork brother of mine lost his, long ago." He continued and they both laughed.
"That head librarian when he ran away from the country to hang out with your cousins," Reuben remembered when Wade had called them afterward and declared that he was in love.
Later he had come to know that the woman he lost his virginity to, was already married. Thus breaking an innocent Wade's heart.
"He always had a thing for older women. I pity the guy though." Wayne laughed at his brother's misfortunes.
"Getting back to my favor." Reuben pulled him back from his gloating and got back to the agenda of this meeting/ kidnapping.
"What was the favor again?" Wayne asked and waited for his reply.
Reuben retold everything about his deal with his mother, that she would stop pestering him to get married if she gets Obsidia's jewelry before it releases in its stores.
"That's tricky, Reuben. Why don't you go and meet Wade for this? He's the VP of Obsidia, not me." Wayne just shrugged his shoulders.
"I did and that asshole refused! He said that the designer and the President had decided to auction them and they can't even give me the drafts so that I can placate my mother till the auction." Reuben was truly frustrated by the constant harassment that he faced.
'Isn't that Nana? I now know why Wade refused to help him.' Wayne was enlightened when he heard Wade's reason.
"And how do you want me to help you?" Wayne asked.
"I want you to get me a meeting with the President. I'll talk to her and convince her in my own way." Reuben then gave an evil smirk which caused Wayne to shiver.
'There's no way I'll let him meet my precious Nana! What if he scares her?' Wayne decided that he would not let them meet under any circumstances.
"Just a second! How do you know that the President is a woman?" Wayne's sharp ears caught on the words that Reuben spoke.
"Oh, that? That idiot brother of yours let it slip out when we were talking." Reuben laughed heartily and did not notice Wayne gnashing his teeth.
He got up from his seat and walked to the window and pulled the curtains aside, he looked down to see what was going on around them.
'That dolt!' Wayne cursed his stupid twin, who at that exact moment sneezed during his dinner with the company's President that he had gone to meet.
"Haha... what an idiot!" Wayne fake laughed to cover his anger.
"But I can't help you out in this situation. You see that woman is out of the country. So I don't think you can meet her." Wayne cooked up a story to cover for Wade.
Reuben looked away from the window and stared at Wayne.
"How do you know that?" Reuben eyed him suspiciously.
"Ah.. that... I.." Wayne tried to find a valid reason to make Reuben believe him.
"Don't tell me you've slept with her as well." Reuben shook his head in disapproval and mumbled 'Manwhore'.
Wayne instantly choked on his beer and coughed. He glared at Reuben who went back to looking out the window.
"What the hell man! That's my s.." He shut his mouth before he could finish that sentence.
But Reuben seemed distracted and did not pay attention to what he had just said.
"I'll be back in just a second." Reuben rushed out of the room and Wayne was left behind confused.
'What's wrong with him?' He stared at the open door and heard the loud music that slowly decreased as the door closed again.
'Well, anyway I'm glad that his attention was elsewhere or his sharp ears would have caught onto my slip up.' Wayne took a sigh of relief and once again went through the list of pictures in Reuben's phone to check who else he had slept with.
'This one sure was feisty!' He purred seeing one image.
------
When Lina and Stacy reached the location that her friend had sent, they found a huge two-storeyed warehouse in its place.
But it was in no way an ordinary run-down warehouse. It had the structure of a warehouse but looking at the flashing lights that they could see through the tinted windows, it most definitely was a club.
It had a board over it *TREMOR*
They were still inside the car when Lina received a call. It was her friend informing her that she was already inside.
"Stace, let's go." Lina then opened the door and got down.
She looked around the car park and found various luxury cars surrounding them.
As Lina walked hand in hand with Stacy, she felt a chill run down her spine, thanks to the open back on her dress.
'Should have brought a jacket along. It gets cold in the night here.' She removed a strand of hair that got stuck to her lip gloss.
Today she left her hair open and had styled them in loose curls.
They soon entered the warehouse and found that the interior was a polar opposite to its exterior.
There were colorful spotlights all around that lit up the dark place. The bar was magnificent with its huge collection of liquors that made Lina thirsty just by looking at it.
The dance floor was filled with people dancing away at the fast-paced music that was blasting on the speakers.
Waiters were constantly maneuvering through the drunk people to reach the booths positioned on the other side of the floor.
She searched for her friend in the crowd and finally found her waving at them from one of the booths.
"There she is!" Lina yelled so that Stacy could hear her over the loud music and tugged on her hand to get her attention.
She led the way and Stacy followed.
As they made their way through the dance floor, which was the shortcut to reach the other side, Lina and Stacy were the centers of attraction there.
They received hoots and shouts and Lina just smiled while waving whereas Stacy blew kisses and winked at the cute guys that were around.
Soon they reached the booth and her friend stood up to hug her.
"I missed you baby!" Lina hugged her tight and squealed.