Starting from Zero

Book 3, Chapter 24

Retrieval

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"Son! How did it go?" Father asked the second he picked up my call.

"The plane took off!"

"You didn't stop her?"

"I was too late!"

"In that case..." Father paused for a second. "Don't worry. Go to the reserve runway and wait there!"

On the plane, Rose's family are looking out from the window, except Rose, weeping. A handsome looking middle-aged man and a showy woman are sitting beside her--Rose's father and stepmother.

"Darling! How much will that old man give us?" Asked the woman.

The male gave her a stern look. "We aren't selling our daughter! Why don't we just go live with her? We're her parents, of course we can stay!"

"Yes you're right! Now you mentioned it, we could just live with our dear daughter. The old man will surely treat his relatives-in-law nicely, right?"

But the pilot's announcement interrupted their shameless discussion.

"Attention, dear passengers. The ground services just notified us that there may be a potential technical issue on the plane. To ensure your safety, we have decided to return to the airport and commence a full check over the plane. After landing, please follow the attendants and transfer to another plane we've prepared for you. We're sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused, and we sincerely hope that you have a smooth travel. "

"What?? Return?" The man complained, "We will be late!"

One of the attendants comforted him politely: "Please do not worry. We will be using our latest model, which is faster than the current one. You may even arrive about 10 minutes earlier."

"Really? Wonderful then!"

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On the other hand, I'm already waiting at the departure gate of the reserve runway. This runway also provides services for medium and small sized private charter flights, it got some nice equipment. I looked through the huge anti-shock windows which also serve as telescopes and watched as the plane made a U-turn and headed back towards the airport.

When the passengers are moving out, I anxiously searched for Rose among the crowd. And soon I saw her, almost getting dragged by a pair of middle aged couple.

"Rose!" I shouted out loud.

"Ziri?"

All three of them looked at me in shock. Then Rose managed to shake herself free from the grips and ran towards me. Of course, I opened my arms and accepted her in.

"I thought we'd never see each other!" I tried to hug her tight to give her more comfort.

She just cried, and trembled. She doesn't need to say anything, I can understand all.

Butterfly gave us a warm smile upon seeing such a scene. Rose's parents, on the other hand, were not impressed. Her father recovered and stormed towards us.

"So you're that Ziri?" He pulled Rose away and punched at me. "You looking for trouble?"

Of course he didn't hit me, because Big K already stepped in. Big K may not be smart, but that muscle and reflexes of him are way beyond any human standard. I've received special treatment and supplement from very young but I'm sure that's still no match for Big K--we're limited by our human gene, he isn't.

Big K caught the gentleman's fist and gave it a "light" squeeze, then Rose's father knelt down out of pain, who released his other hand on Rose and tried to pry open Big K's vice-grip.

"Arrhhhhh! Do-do you know who I am??" He bluffed while still trembling out of pain. "I'm an official Japanese resident!" He tried to take out his Japanese passport he just bought from the authorities.

Big K really wouldn't care about that. The only thing he knows is that Rose's father is an enemy. He squeezed harder. Rose's father just fainted.

"I know you're orphans, you all have a poor life right? Leave us alone, I can give you money!" Rose's stepmother tried to persuade us. "What do you say?"

Well money is the least of my concerns. As for Butterfly and Big K...no one would ever pay them better than my dad, I guess. It's funny how she actually believes we're orphans. That must be from Rose. Obviously Rose told them about what she knew about me.

Too bad those information was no where even near accurate.

If they had known who I am, they would not set up this plan at all. If things didn't end like this, I may have decided to just pay them a sum to free Rose (though it doesn't look good in some way). Now I'm not going to give them any chance since they've gone too far.

I signaled Big K to release Rose's father, walked up myself, then lifted him off the ground by the collar with only one hand.

"I'll only warn you once: I'm taking Rose with me and you'd better not do anything stupid. That Japan passport you just bought won't help you, any passport won't help you for that matter. Even if you a the president of some place I can still make you disappear from this world anytime I like, you hear me?"

I threw him out towards a row of seats, knocking them over.

"Now beat it! Don't let me see your face again within this land!"

I picked up Rose in a princess embrace and walked towards the exit (she's still trying to take in the situation). I made that scene on purpose, for this is what my father told me--The best way to prevent someone from revenging on yourself is to completely destroy his courage in the first place.

Rose still didn't recover from her shock when our car left the airport.

"Are you ok? Or, are you scared? I was violent. You won't mind what I did to your father right?"

She shook her head. "I loved it! You know what, I always thought you are a strange guy. You looked...girl-like. I never thought you had that in you! That was awesome!"

"You don't say?" I laugh. "Awesome, I love that word."

"Oh right, where did you steal this car?"

"*Cough--*"

I nearly crashed my car into the median block, if not for the computer which helped me correct my course.

"Steal?? This is MY car."

"Huh really?" I see disbelief all over her face. "I know the government provides orphans with necessities for studying and living. But I never heard they provide cars too. You look no older than me. I don't think you have the money to buy this stuff."

"...Bah-hahahaha! I can't hold it anymore!" Butterfly, who is sitting at the back, broke out her laughter. "Since when did the young master of Sai Family became an orphan? Hey Sairin, did you create that lie just to win her sympathy?"

"Sai family?" Rosed looked back at Butterfly. "Which Sai family?"

"Well you don't see this family name very often do you? The one that runs Dragon Fate Corporation, you know it right?"

"Dragon Fate? That very number two largest corporation in the world?"

"Of course. Dragon Fate is registered trademark. It's illegal to use a duplicate anyway."

"But--You--You're--You're--" She pointed at me and stuttered.

"Calm it alright?"

"You lied to me? If my parents had known this they would never send me to Japan."

"I didn't lie. You said that orphan part first."

"Why didn't you explain then?"

"Well I couldn't! You were like a talking machinegun!"

Rose didn't protest, which means she knew how she really looked back there.

"Where are we going to now?"

"My mother's mansion. My parents want to see you. Badly."

"Don't tell me-- Stop the car!"

"For what?"

"I can't just go like this! Give me some time to prepare!"

"Don't worry, it's not a beauty contest. They just need to have a meeting with you in person, really."

"But-but this is embarrassing!"

"No sweat. I got you. You gonna meet your future parents sooner or later. Besides you look good!"

"Wait! I didn't say I'm actually marrying you."

I slowed down the car. "You're not? Then let me send you back."

"You-- Ugh!" Rose humphed.

I drove into mother's mansion yard while laughing. "Just come with me, dear Rose!"

"Young master, we've done our work, so we'll leave here." Butterfly dragged Big K away while bidding farewell.

"Alright. Use my car. Just park it in front of sector 9 when you're done. See you two later!"

We both entered the mansion. Rose hid behind my back and looked around the place nervously.