Aleatory

Chapter 9 | Xavier

Dedicated to AayushMohanan for letting us write him into the story.

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"Rob," I say startled. "Coach Rob? Is that really you?"

"It's been more than a year hasn't it Xavier?" he asks confirming my assumption.

"Oh God, it really is you. How have you been doing?" I say smiling. "I'm fine but what are you doing with MS?" he asks.

"Oh, she ran me over with her car." I say nonchalantly.

"What! Give the phone to her." he says in shock. Smug I hand the phone over to her saying "He was my MMA coach for 3 years."

MS hesitantly places the phone on her ear not knowing what to expect. She cringes to my great satisfaction as she gets chewed out by Rob for running me over.

I slide into the booth or well attempt to but I just end up pulling my already bruised and sore ribs sending a sharp jolt of pain up my side. It makes me flinch back which just jolts my injuries even more.

Brooke comes back muttering something about a long as hell line and puts down a tray with burgers in front of me. Though I had been really hungry and the burgers looked like a greasy heaven I was in no mood to eat right now. The medication the nurse had administered to me had worn off and the pain was overwhelmingly unpleasant.

Every single movement I made was sending excruciating waves of pain through my body and even though I was happy I had spoken to Rob after such a long time it still wasn't enough to distract me from the pain. Deciding to go to the restroom for a while I ask Brooke to assist me there.

"Hey listen. Reagan has been gone for quite a while now. I'm just going to go and check on her. You can make it back to the table on your own right?" she says pushing the door of the loo open for me. Though it irritates me that she was ditching me when I needed help and was in pain I tell her to go ahead.

Splashing some cool water on my face I lean onto the counter panting a bit. I pull out the packet of pills from the pocket of the pants MS very gratefully bought for me and I swallow one of them dry hoping for some relief from the pain.

Although I had experienced pain far worse than this when I was still fighting, it had been quite a long time since my last fight. Wiping my hands and face dry with a napkin and throwing it into the dustbin I try to hobble out on my crutches.

I'm instantly drowned in the commotion and smell of the restaurant. A slightly nauseating feeling overcomes me and I have to take a breather. My eyes dart over to MS who is still on her phone and then glance around for Brooke who is nowhere to be found. She must not have found Reagan yet.

I look out of the backdoor near the washroom and decide to take a step out for a minute. Struggling with my crutches I manage to open the door and exit the restaurant.

My eyes immediately meet the figure of a tanned man with a close-shaven beard and a cigarette stub hanging from his lips. He seems to be preoccupied with something but gives me a timid grin nonetheless.

I stretch my hands over my head and instead of receiving a satisfying pop from my back and neck I'm met with a sharp intense shooting pain in my ribs. My wince is very obvious and it gains the attention of the stranger beside me.

"Hey dude are you okay? Do you need to sit down somewhere?" he asks concerned, his hands moving towards me. I move back a bit and say "I'm fine. It's just taking a while for the painkillers to set in."

He stares at me for a while not saying anything making me feel highly uncomfortable. "Hey you're Asian!" he says suddenly his face splitting into a creepy grin.

"Um... What?" I ask confused. "I mean no offence. I'm just excited to meet another Asian. I mean I'm Indian and you must obviously be Chinese or Japanese or something."

"It's Korean." I say annoyed. "Or well half Korean."

"Omg I've never met a Korean. Say something in Korean to me." he says.
I look at him unsure of what to say but he doesn't take the hint and continues to look expectantly at me.

"Okay... Do you know annyeonghasaeyo?" I cautiously ask. "It means hello." I say after the silence becomes even more uncomfortable. He instead smiles broadly and says "Hey I'm Aayush. Aayush Mohanan. I wish it was Khanna though."

Slightly curious, I want to ask him why but decide not to as I didn't want to prolong any type of conversation with him. I smile a bit awkwardly and say "Okaaayy~ I'll be going back in now. It was nice to meet you."

Just as I turn to leave I hear a loud thump and some muffled voices. "What was that? Did you hear that?" I say peering around trying to find out the source of the sound. He gives me a startled look that reminds me of a deer being caught in the headlights of a speeding car.

"Uh... W-what noise. I didn't hear anything. I think you must be...um... Hallucinating. Yes hallucinating. You seem to have hit your head somewhere." he stammers. I am a little weirded out by his frantic response and stare at him for a moment. "Did you really not hear it?"

He nods frantically and says "I think you're imagining things right now dude. You should go in and sit down. Your head injury must be acting up."

I contemplate pursuing the matter further but instead decide to drop it and leave "It was nice meeting you but I think I'll head back in now."
He helps me open the door and then I hobble back towards where MS is sitting.

"I just met the weirdest guy ever." I say sliding into the booth thinking about Aayush. I did find his behaviour very suspicious but even if he was doing something illegal it was of no importance to me so I chose to ignore it.

This time I was able to slide into the booth without feeling as much pain as before. The painkillers must finally be setting in.

"Oh really. " MS says after a long pause in a distracted tone, glancing at me for a minute and then turning back to her laptop. She seems to be furiously typing away at something and it makes me wonder what she does for a living; especially to have been able to pay for all my hospital bills and the CAT scan.

"What are you doing? " I ask curious. She suddenly slams the laptop shut and defensively states "Nothing. Just some work."

Just as I start to ask her what exactly it is that she does for a living I'm interrupted by a frantic Brooke.

"Guys." she anxiously states fighting through tears. "She...she's gone. I've looked everywhere. I knew I shouldn't have left her alone...especially after we brought her here. I-I I can't find her. It's all my fault. Where is she? "

"Brooke, what happened? Tell us clearly." MS says drawing her back to her senses. Brooke sniffles and wipes her tear stained cheeks.

"It's Reagan. She's missing."