Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 209. About anything

"Kenny, you have to wake up."

I was awoken by a paw patting my cheek.

"What’s wrong?" I asked while looking around.

Henry sat on the bed I lay on, and my grandmother stood in the doorway, while a few people with suitcases were in my room.

"Am I being kicked out?" I asked in confusion.

"You are. A gangster doesn’t belong in my mansion." My grandmother scoffed.

"The center, remember what we talked about? We’ll go there now; you slept for a whole week." Henry intercepted.

"Ah... okay." I sat up and noticed that I smelled quite a bit.

"Can I shower before we go?"

"A gangster doesn’t need to shower." Came the snarky remark again.

"Yes, we’ll leave in an hour. Do you need help?" Henry asked.

"No, thanks." I tried to crawl out of bed and wanted to go to the bathroom, but Henry grabbed my hand and held me in place.

"?" I looked at him and then saw that some infusion was attached to my wrist.

"Ah." Still groggy, I sat down again when a doctor came in and removed it.

Then I stood up and walked to the bathroom. Though I didn’t know this mansion, the door was half open, hinting that there was a shower inside.

After undressing and stepping under the hot water, I finally felt pulled back into my body. Until now, not only did my memory feel foggy, but so did everything inside and outside of me.

Too tranquil to speak of horrors that had happened.

So damn tranquil that it felt like everything I experienced had been a lie.

And if everything was a lie, then why did I have to experience it in the first place?

Ah, my grandma was right; I didn’t even need a shower when I was already bathing in self-pity.

I just wished for this damn blue sky and these messed-up white clouds to disappear along with the glistening sunshine, for at least a raging storm would make me feel more comfortable, would make everything more real.

After washing myself, I dried off and stood in front of the mirror, barely recognizing my reflection. A bit skinnier, yes, but mostly just like a worn-out shell.

I forgot to take clothes with me, so I wore a bathrobe to go out. When I did, my grandmother was still there, though she wasn’t looking at me, while Henry waited and the bodyguards, along with the luggage, were gone.

When I opened the closet, it was empty.

"What should I wear?" I asked, and I saw Henry stand up and leave the room.

"A gangster doesn’t need clothes; isn’t your skin already covered by these strange images?" The old dragon excelled in taunting me.

I chuckled.

"Fine, I’ll go out in the bathrobe, showing anyone that Mrs. Howard is too stingy to spare her grandson a bit of fabric."

"A bathrobe is fabric; who said you could take it with you?"

"You really want me to go out naked, you old hag?" I laughed, and Henry came back just in time with clothes.

"No respect for the elders..." My grandmother harrumphed.

"Gangsters don’t need to have respect." I said while closing the bathroom door, only to hear something crash into it.

I smiled, and after putting on my clothes and drying my hair, I came out again. There was nothing on the floor, so she had probably just thrown her stick.

"So? Let’s go?"

Henry nodded and put his left arm around my neck, leading me out.

I grabbed his left wrist while we went down, feeling him look at me strangely.

"What?"

"Nothing." He smiled lightly at me.

When we were outside the mansion, I felt the sun I had already seen shining awfully bright. In front of us was a big black car that allowed us to sit across from each other instead of beside each other.

I saw Ethan for the first time in forever and nodded at him while we boarded the car. He and my grandmother took another one, apparently coming with us.

Once we started driving, I leaned back and watched the outside through the tinted windows.

"Don’t you have any questions?" Henry asked me.

"Not really."

"I talked to your friends." He suddenly said, and I turned to him.

"You did?"

"Kenny, everyone is fine, but it has been two years since the south district collapsed."

"Fuck... really?" That is a damn long time; good thing my grandma was inside that hole and got younger, or I would have had to probably bury her after coming out again.

"Yes. There is a possibility that two more portals have opened, maybe even more—countries around the world have decided that every male who came of age in the last two years should report for extended military service."

"So Jordan, Danny, and Omar are doing that right now?"

"Yes. They are fine. When they saw the news and online posts, they all left their training and annoyed your grandma and me. Since then, I have been updating them."

I chuckled. Sounds like them, so persistent even after two years.

Henry’s eyes were glued to me the entire time we talked, as if he still couldn’t believe I was back.

"After the Center, will we go into the military as well?" I looked back at him, not able to ignore his staring any longer.

"No, it doesn’t concern people who have committed a crime..."

Ah, that hurt a bit. I really thought I would be free after being discovered innocent regarding Henrietta2.

"I’m sorry, please forget that. Everybody knows you are not a murderer, that you are a hero instead."

"What are they charging me with?"

"Ethan had already predicted it, and it really came: attempted manslaughter, excessive violence, grievous bodily harm... a few smaller things as well because of the incident in the prison showers." He clenched his jaw and flexed his wrist, apparently more unhappy about that than I was.

"Mhm." Maybe it was good like this. If I suddenly had my absolute freedom, I would probably feel just as empty as I have felt since coming back. Should they put me wherever, it doesn’t matter.

I watched the scenery change as we left the city when Henry came to my side and put his head on my shoulder in a position that didn’t look comfortable at all.

"Tell me something: how are you? What are you thinking about?" He asked like a spoiled little pup.

"I don’t know; I am not thinking about anything."