Kryptonite

Diversion

"The things she makes me do," James grumbled as he lined up at a local stand. To his dismay, there were about 30 people in front of him and given how many people were working at the time, it would probably take him half an hour to get that damned Mango Graham Shake and go.

Maya had to run a few errands, leaving James alone to watch Nadine in the meantime. As soon as she had left, Nadine began to complain about wanting something sweet. Being the only person left with her, he was the only one she could ask.

"Pabigyan mo ako, I could've died," James repeated as he mocked her reasoning for why she needed it. Though given all that had happened, he decided to be nice and get her the shake.

"Plus if I didn't get it, she would've complained the entire time," James said to himself as he took a few steps forward as the line began to move ever so slightly.

James checked his phone and noticed a few missed calls and texts from both Ivan and Lauren:

Lauren: Where are you?

Ivan: You were there, weren't you?

He tilted his head back as he began to think of what to reply.

James: Something came up, I'm okay. I'll explain later

He had a feeling both Ivan and Lauren knew at that point that he most likely got involved in some way with the Ardiente Scandal. X himself probably also knew.

It's Kevin's betrayal that's probably going to be most surprising, James thought to himself. As soon as Maya returned, he was going to head to their hideout and inform X about all that transpired.

It still surprised him that they had missed out on so much information regarding the Ardientes and others involved. But what shocked him most was Kevin's betrayal and what that potentially meant.

It wasn't like JustX to miss out on such a large scheme like that, which made him wonder if some sort of tampering occurred. And if Kevin was connected to tampering any sort of records or information, he theorized that he most likely wasn't working independently, which meant that there were traitors in JustX and X needed to be informed.

But why would they? he thought to himself as scenes of his fight with Kevin played through his mind. Was it the money that made him forget where he had come from? Was it worth more to him than justice?

His train of thoughts were interrupted at the sound of his phone ringing. Glancing at the contact name, he could only sigh as he brought the phone to his ears.

"Yes, your highness?" James greeted.

"Nasaan ka?" Nadine asked.

"Waiting in line," James replied. "There's maybe 30 people in front of me, just so you know."

"Wow, really?" Nadine responded.

"Yes, so don't expect me to get back right away. "

"Did I say that?"

"Why else did you call?" James insinuated 

"Because it's taking longer than I expected," Nadine answered.

James could let out a dry chuckle. "So tama ako."

"Hindi naman sa ganon. I was thinking maybe you got lost or something."

"So nagalala ka para sakin?" James teased.

"Ewan ko sayo! Alam mo, if you're going to get mad over having to wait in line then just come back," Nadine spat.

"Well, given that I'm already in line, I might as well just wait," James maintained. 

"Wag na lang, just get back here."