A.N.D.

Chapter 7

Hindi ako tanga para hindi maintindihan yung sinabi ni Cyrus. I am next to Ashnaira Castro. I am next to die.

What now? Are they hunting XD now? Are they gonna annihilate all of the members? They can try. But I don't think they will succeed.

Hindi ako napa-'what the hell' dahil don sa sinabi ni Cyrus, napa-'what the hell' ako dahil nandito siya. Bakit nandito siya? Last time I checked, he was in Seattle. The airport prank. Oh, hell. I haven't forgotten about that.

"What are you doing here, asshole?" I asked him, very much annoyed.

Tinaas niya yung mga kamay niya as if saying 'I surrender'.

"Hold up, honey," that's what we call each other, 'honey' or 'hon'. "I came back here in the Philippines when Carrie did. I was tailing her." Yeah, he's also one of us. But a pariah. Or can also be called an outcast.

If outcast literally means a rejected person by the society, it is far more different here. A pariah in our world can not belong into any gangs.

Two reasons. They are either too strong to be just a member of a gang or they are too catastrophic to lead a gang. Pariahs are dangerous. They are too manipulative. Nobody wants to mess with a pariah.

Cyrus Aguilar used to be a pariah years ago, back when I was not a part of a gang yet. He managed to change because of Ashnaira. He managed to be a member of eXtremely Dangerous for a year or two. He was better, he was tamer, he was calmer, and he was kinder. But the death of Ashnaira Castro changed everything,  her death leads Cyrus to be what he used to be, a pariah. And now, he is more dangerous, more manipulative, more deadly, and a killer. After all, the late Ashnaira Castro was his loving half-sister.

"Why are you tailing her?" I asked.

"An obvious answer, hon." Ashnaira.

"What?! Carrie has something to do with Ash's death?"

"Yes. And I will definitely torture whoever that is who killed my sister. Carrie knows something, I need information that only she can give me." Pain and sadness are visible in his eyes. He still can't get over everything. We all can't. But Cyrus and Daniel are much worse.

Ashnaira is a walking perfection. Although her family is a little complicated, that doesn't made her less of a perfection. Hindi ko rin alam kung bakit siya pa. When XD decided not to investigate on her death, that's when Cyrus left us. Of course we don't hold grudges against him. But that's also the time when he came back to being ACE. There are a few pariahs sa mundo namin, at lahat sila nakakatakot. Kung makakasagupa ka man ng isang pariah, wag yung may pangalang ACE. Because that name, ACE, is equivalent to 3 pariahs.

"UNO," tawag ni Cyrus kay Jayvee. Tiningnan lang siya ng huli. "You won't kill Carrie, do you understand me?" He said with finality in his voice.

"Let's see about that." Jayvee answers, without any hint of fear in his voice. He is even smirking.

Tumawa nang mahina si Cyrus at tumingin sa akin, "C'mon, UNO. She's your ex. Give some concern about her." sabay talikod sa amin, heading to the door.

At doon nanlisik yung mga mata ko.

Kinuha ko yung .45 ni Jayvee sa tagiliran niya at tinutok kay Cyrus.

"C'mon, ACE. One step and I will definitely shoot you." I said seriously.

"Can you? Really?" He asked, mocking me.

And so I shoot him, a few inches away from his ear.

"Oops. I think I missed." I chuckled darkly. "Now tell me, how did you know I am next? Anong kinalaman ni Carrie dito?" sunod sunod na tanong ko, still pointing the gun at him. Habang nanonood lang yung mga kasama namin sa loob ng kwarto.

He smirks. "Do you want a clue?" I remained silent. "This person will soon betray all of you. This person is very much in your life. So, watch out, cousin. You don't know but maybe this person has been pointing the gun at you for a very long time now." gumawa siya ng sign sa kamay na baril at tinutok sa akin yon sabay sabi ng, "Bang!"

That made things more complicated. And because he pissed me off, lalo na don sa airport prank, I shoot him in the leg. "Bang!" I said, nang medyo nawalan siya ng balanse sa pagkatayo. Naglakad na ako papunta sa pinto and since he is blocking the way, itinulak ko siya. "Tabi nga!" I opened the door but before I walked out of the room, I left him a few words. "That's for the airport prank, asshole."

And then I left them there, with Jayvee following me.