Luke didn’t bother to look at John and directly said to Erika “Hello dear cousin ,I was devastated when I heard that you got into an accident . Thank God you are OK now “ He gave a flower banquet with a warm smile .

Erika on the other hand froze when she saw Luke .John couldn’t feel any genuineness from Luke’s body language and his intuition was warning him to stay away as for as possible from that person . Suddenly John saw Carl moving slowly towards him .He could clearly see some sort of tension between Luke and his grandfather.

Erika nodded and accepted flower banquet . She didn’t bother to say ‘thank you’ as usual . Luke didn’t care as if he already knew the response. He slowly surveyed the room and locked his gaze on John “This is ….?”

Old man anticipated that question and quickly said “He is our benefactor that called ambulance and saved your cousin .His name is John. I was introducing him to Erika.”

Luke’s eyes twitched a little and became calm again .He plastered a fake smile and said “Thank you Mr. John I can’t express how grateful I am .Although I can’t repay your kindness ,I am more than happy to help you if you need any help.”

John didn’t sense any sincerity in his words so ,he didn’t bother to say much and only nodded in response with a fake smile. Suddenly the entire room became little awkward with no one talking .

Luke said in a hurry “Cousin I have something to take of , I will see you later . Don’t worry about business stuff , I will take care of everything . You just concentrate on recovering .”

Erika still didn’t talk anything only nodded mechanically . Luke was already used to his cousin’s way of talking .So he smiled and left calmly . As he left the room . His smile turned into seriousness . He called someone and said “Maya ,I need to know everything about this John within 24 hours.”

On the other side came swift reply “No problem boss.”

John couldn’t control his curiosity anymore “Old man, was he your another grandson? How come you are not happy to see him?”

Old man patted John’s shoulder and went to close the door. “John sorry to involve you in this matter .I didn’t know he would be this quick . You need to be careful from now onwards.”

John saw a solemn expression on both Erika and Old man. He didn’t understand the situation completely and asked “Why? What did I do?”

Old man hesitated a bit and seemed like he made a hard decision “John you must not tell this to anyone . It is not first time that Erika has involved in an accident . I have already forgotten the number over the years. Although I don’t have any proof .I am 80% sure that Luke has something to do with all these incidents .

He has considered Erika as obstacle in his grand ambition and seek nothing but her demise .He is extremely petty person who seek revenge for small matters let alone controlling the entire Martin Group . You saved Erika this time which probably foiled his plans .So what happens next is beyond my imagination. You should inform me if anything unusual happens , hopefully it is just me over thinking.”

John’s intuition came right .’I knew he was not normal . But to think that he went as far as trying to kill his only cousin.’ He couldn’t help but look at Erika who looked gloomy. She seemed like she was used to Luke’s hypocrisy and backstabbing . He wanted to console her but he didn’t know where to start. He had no connection, no power or money to influence anything or anyone. He felt helpless.

Guessing his thoughts Old man said encouragingly “Don’t worry john .I will protect Erika as long as I live .You better worry about yourself .”

John understood that everything would came with a prize and the prize this time was enmity with Luke . He is already facing existential crisis with the system and its missions .Trouble with Jake was not over too. One more trouble didn’t seem to a burden at all. He nodded seriously to make the Old man relax.

‘If it was before I would be like a sitting duck for my enemies but now I have my system .All I need do is level up faster and open reward section. I am sure my virtual master would not disappoint me. Oh , I almost forgot to take her number.’

John came near Erika and said “Since we are dating lets pick up a location this weekend?”

Erika who was feeling gloomy suddenly became startled “Who is dating you? I said I have given you an opportunity to pursue me ,nothing more.”

Old man stood there in a daze .He didn’t expect that young man in front would be so daring in front of him. He was both happy and sad at the same time. Happy that John didn’t back off when things turned difficult .Sad that he involved an innocent person in the middle of his family problem. He started regretting his impulsiveness to meet John.

John only smiled and didn’t rebuke her “I understand .At least give me your number so that I can keep in touch with you.”

John was an experienced negotiator .He knew how to bargain everything from cloths to vegetables from childhood. He anchored an impossible request which he knew she would reject then he asked a smaller request that was phone number which was what he wanted all along .

Erika didn’t mind giving her number .She thought that the request was quite reasonable . On the other hand ,Old man opened his mouth wide . He was in awe! How could he not understand a standard persuasion technique . He was born and brought up in bushiness .He immediately recognized John’s motive and secretly gave thumbs up .

[Congratulations to user .You have successfully completed your sub-mission . Awarding you 1 lucky charm]

John had no idea what luck charm was so he asked in his mind ‘Eva what is lucky charm?’

[Lucky charm :( One time use only)

Details : User can boast his luck 1 hour upon activation]

John was disappointed after seeing its description. He didn’t understand the Value of his reward and thought that it was useless. He consoled himself by saying ‘Good rewards are just right around the corner.’

John didn’t disturb Old man and Erika’s re-union any longer .After saying goodbye he left to take care of his Mom. ‘Currently 6 months of hospital bill already paid by the Old man. I don’t have to worry about Mom for the time being but my savings are almost over .I need to get a job soon .In the mean time I still need to prepare for supplementary exam . Time is running out .’

John wanted to share everything to his Mom but he didn’t want to hurt his already ill Mom so, he decided to wait till the right time . He completed his hospital formalities and informed Carl to take care of his mother before leaving to his home.

John could have asked Carl for help regarding Jake but he decided to not to. He was already very grateful for Carl for saving his Mom . If he couldn’t even handle a small problem, how could he be worthy of his grand daughter.