High Energy Collision [Completed]

Chapter 16 - you're extra-ordinary

Plan was behind.

He had promised to his seniors at the research group that he would work through a new theory recently published in a paper by an Austrian team, and he had fallen asleep over it last night.

That was why he had gone back to his routine of reading scientific papers while crossing the campus. He felt walking while reading also helped him think.

As he approached the entrance of the main building, he noticed a horde of reporters with tv cameras waiting there. Most of them looked foreign. He saw the logos of big international stations like CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera.

He shook his head, wondering what kind of drama around the rich people of UdG had brought these reporters here. And, for a short, blissfully ignorant moment he was glad it had nothing to do with him.

Then someone pointed at him and it was as if time slowed down around him.

Plan felt frozen to the spot, eyes popped open in shock while the bulk of reporters came running towards him.

It felt like a déjà vu. He was back at the village again. Journalists swarming towards him like insects. Just ten times worse. Like midgets had turned into locusts overnight.

He wanted to run and hide.

But there was no escape.

He was trapped.

Just before the reporters could reach him, he felt the reassuring touch of someone's hand on his shoulder.

When he turned around his heart skipped a beat. He looked directly into the smiling eyes of Mean and from his current perspective, he looked like a guardian angel, suave and confident, and protective.

The locust-like swarm of reporters seemed to stop and make way for Mean. A little behind them on either side of the White Hand leader, Plan now saw the rest of the group get in formation around him.

The tomboyish girl he had talked to once, whose name started with V, was shielding them on the right like a bodyguard. Win did the same on the left – Plan didn't have time to be surprised he was here, he had probably joined them after he had talked to Mean at the Café last week.

Finally, the girl who looked like a porcelain doll put her hand on Plans other shoulder and helped him advance together with Mean.

All that was missing from the picture to make it feel completely surreal were sunglasses. Neither of the members of White Hand wore any and for some weird reason this bothered Plan at the moment.

Any random thought was better than trying to face the fact that these foreign tv stations were here for him.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," he heard Mean address the crowd like the media pro he was, "welcome to our campus, and to our beautiful country for those of you who came from far away. We're White Hand, representing the best and brightest of UdG. Please stand by while the media office organises your interview requests. We'll be happy to assist you later."

Cameras were rolling, flashlights were getting off around them, and Plan felt the only reason he was able to withstand the sudden attacks were the reassuring hands on his shoulders – Mean's in particular – and the radiant beauty of the two people next to him. He imagined they were eclipsing him so thoroughly that they were like the sun, and he was only a little insignificant planet orbiting it.

With the help of the four members of White Hand, Plan managed to get inside the building quickly and unscathed. He didn't protest when Mean and the doll-like girl softly steered him towards the ornamented wooden door on the top floor of the building, that opened to the private study room of White Hand.