1 One day, Christopher, I give you one day

// 7:31 PM //

"Give me the remote!" A young girl nearly 13 years old lunged at a young man while shouting.

"No! Do your Homework!" Christopher caught her incoming head and pushed her back making her tumble down the couch and fall flat on her back.

Her cute face grimaced in pain while her oceanic blue eyes got watery and she sobbed, suffering the fall and she teared up.

"I-I didn't push that hard..." Chris paused the DVD that was playing on TV and helped Cassie back up while mumbling softly in his defense.

"..." Cassie's eyes dripped more tears while looking at Chris, feeling wronged.

"FINE! TAKE THE REMOTE!" Chris shouted, annoyed. He threw the remote at her and rolled his eyes.

"Ow! Hmph." The remote collided with her cute small face making her grimace and humph in displeasure. But, somehow her crocodile tears automatically stopped falling.

"Tsk, Drama queen. You and Cathy are the same." Chris muttered remembering his fickle twin sister, Catherine.

// 8:14 PM //

Chris who was watching the comedy-drama playing on the DVD player with Cassie, suddenly felt his pockets buzz.

He took out his phone and saw that it was an unread message, a message that made his eyes widen in shock and sucked every tiny bit of happiness from his mood.

// Son of a Shark: Come to the alleyway behind your house. //

// Christopher Swarts: Why? //

With shaky hands and a few drops of cold sweat on his forehead, Chris mustered enough courage to type back.

// Son of a Shark: Since you don't want me to come over. You have 5 minutes or...// Sharky left his message incomplete, however, Chris clearly understood the unsaid threat...

"Cass, I will be back in a while." Chris patted the short teenager sitting next to him and got up from the couch. Equipping a pair of cheap-looking slippers and left the small 1BHK apartment.

As he descended from the dilapidated building, his gaze scanned through the layers of dust on the floor, revealing a multitude of small bugs and insects that seemed to revel in the decaying walls catering to their every need.

Emerging from the two-story structure, Chris was enveloped in the tranquil glow of the moonlight that illuminated his path.

He walked into a narrow alleyway, where unsightly insects and stray rats were a common sight.

With a sense of dread, he looked above to see four towering figures standing tall with their imposing 6'5 heights and muscular strong looking bodies.

"Welcome~ Christopher, right on time," said Sharky, his muscles rippling as he spoke in a falsely friendly tone. "I hope you're ready to settle your debt."

"I-I don't have the money right now, sir," Chris pleaded, his voice shaking as he fought to keep his composure. "Please, just give me a few more days."

"Don't worry, Christopher," Sharky said, his smile widening to reveal a mouth full of yellowed teeth. He took slow, deliberate steps toward Chris, his eyes never leaving the younger man's face. "I'm sure we can work something out."

"You have a fine body, Christopher." Sharky placed his veiny hand over Chris's shoulder and remarked, however before Chris can even ponder over his off-sounding words,

*Bam*

"Argh! *barf* " Chris's handsome face contorted in agony as he doubled over in pain suffering a strong punch right into his guts.

"We need his organs intact, you idiot!" Sharky spat to his loyal crony and turned back to the vomiting Chris.

"P-Please, I will pay back the debt in fe-" Chris tried to plea but he was interrupted by a devastating kick that sent him crashing into a garbage can.

"Did I allow you to speak?" Sharky looked at the fallen Chris coldly and spat, "Listen, Christopher, I will give you 1 last day to pay back your loan, or else... I know many other methods to recover my money,"

Sharky suddenly remembered something and added, "I also saw your sister once, she was really pretty. In case you don't have money you can always sen-"

"I will get the money," Chris interrupted, his eyes blazing with fury as he stood up against Sharky's towering figure.

"You dare cut my words?!" Sharky roared with a menacing look on his face as he took striding steps toward Chris's already limping body.

*Bang* *Clank*

Suddenly, there was a loud bang as Sharky threw a heavy punch, which narrowly missed Chris's head and instead hit the garbage can, causing a metallic clank to reverberate through the alleyway.

"You!" Sharky sent another punch at Chris's torso but, Chris managed to bring his skinny arms to block that. Alas, just with the force of the punch, Chris fell back down grunting in pain.

"One day, Christopher, I give you one day." Sharky sneered at the fallen Chris and turned to leave, but not before kicking him one last time...

*step* *step*...*step*

The four men left Chris lying in the alleyway as they walked away in this beautiful curtain of night.

"Ugh..." Chris groaned in pain trying to push his weak body up from the ground, "10,000$? In one day? hahaha." Chris cackled with his broken sense of humor, finding it funny that he needed to collect 10k in just one day.

"Even with 7.4k of our savings we need 2.6k more..." Chris sighed heavily and began to walk back to his apartment, experiencing a headache over the crisis.

However, on his way, he caught sight of someone he wished he didn't see. In this dim moonlight, her face glowed with a certain charm, her black silky hair matching the serene midnight darkness. Her tall beautiful figure walked towards the same destination as Chris.

"C-Chris...?" The figure asked with uncertainty after hearing footsteps behind her, she turned and saw a familiar face limping on the street trying to hide from her sight but his slow speed prevented him.

"H-Hello Cath." Chris showed a wry smile and stopped trying to run away.

"What happened?!" She asked, concern evident in her eyes.

"Uhh, nothing... let's go home, Cass made a delicious dinner." Chris waved the question off and quickly tried to change the subject by walking ahead of her.

"Chris, I am not stupid." Cathy caught his arm and looked deep into his troubled hazel eyes.

Chris also looked back in her blue eyes, entranced for a second. He sighed deeply and began to explain the financial crisis. Of course, he left out the getting-beaten-up part.

"W-What...are we... going to do?" Cathy asked, her voice filled with worry and tension.

"We will figure something out, we always do." Chris smiled at Cath, but that smile merely looked like a fake mask that he wore to hide his pain from Cathy.

"Chris...sob," Cathy hugged Chris gently and sobbed, "I miss Mom and Dad, Chris..." she cried into his shoulders.

"..." Chris didn't know what to say. He held her tightly, stroking her hair. Unconsciously he felt his own eyes tearing up and some drops ran down his cheeks...

A memory that he hated wholeheartedly suddenly began playing in his mind again...