Chapter 82 – Unexpected Encounters

Alex was lost in his thoughts, walking aimlessly on the road. What happened today at his house kept replaying in his mind. He knew it was impossible to run away from this chaos. He had to find a way to get out of it before it was too late.

"Hey! Where are you going? Do you want to die?" Suddenly, someone pulled Alex's arm and saved him from getting hit by a car. And only then did Alex come to his senses and realize what was going to happen. He was going to lose his life.

"Are you alright?" The old man asked, Who had just saved Alex.

"Yeah, I am," Alex said, looking around to see where he was.

'How did I come here?' He thought to himself as he saw that he was on the other side of the main road. He was going to Emily's house, so how did he end up there?

"Be careful, young man. If it wasn't for me, you were going to die today," said the old man, still holding Alex's arm.

"Yeah. Thank you very much for saving my life." Alex nodded and smiled at the old man.

"What? Are you going to thank me just with words?" The old man asked, holding his hand even tighter on Alex's arm as if he were afraid that Alex would run away.

"What? What do you want?" Alex looked confused.

"You seem rich. Give me some money. I haven't eaten for two days," the old man said with a weak smile, and only then did Alex look properly at that man. His clothes were dirty, and he seemed weak. Alex assumed that he was a homeless man.

Alex nodded and took out his wallet from his pocket. He retrieved his credit card and other important things before handing the wallet to the old man, which was full of money.

The man was surprised to see that much money in his hand.

"Are you giving all this to me?" The old man looked surprised.

"Yeah, it's all yours. You saved me, so it's my thanks." Alex said.

"Oh, thank you. Thank you so much," the old man said as he bowed his head numerous times in front of Alex, and then he turned around.

"I wish that every day someone would get into an accident and I would save them. Then, every day, I would make lots of money," the old man said to himself as he walked away.

Alex heard that and smiled to himself. He didn't know if he should get angry at that old man or try to understand his reasons for saying that. But Anyway, there were lots of things going on in his life that he couldn’t understand, so why bother to understand other people?

Alex flagged down a cab and then sat down in it.

Within fifteen minutes, he was standing in front of Emily's house.

He rang the doorbell, but no one answered. He rang the bell again, and again, no one answered. He called Emily, but she didn't pick up the call.

' Where she could go?' Alex thought as he dialled the number again, but the call kept going unanswered.

"What are you doing here?" Alex heard a familiar voice and turned around.

It was Nelson, smiling at him.

"What are you doing here?" Alex asked, rather than answering Nelson.

"I just saw you, so I came to say hi. But what are you doing here? Didn't Emily tell you that she was going shopping with Shelly today?"

"No. Oh yeah," Alex said as he remembered something. When he was with his mom and Natasha earlier today, he heard a message notification, but he couldn't check it then.

Alex quickly opened his message box and saw that Emily had already sent him a message telling him that she was going shopping with Shelly. And with the message, she sent cute smiling and kissing emojis. Alex smiled as he saw tat.

"Wow. What are you smiling at?" Nelson asked, walking towards Alex, but before Nelson could see what Alex was smiling at, Alex closed the message app and put his phone in his pants pocket.

Nelson made a face as Alex did that.

"Don’t be sad. There was nothing for you to see." Alex smiled and put his arm around Nelson’s shoulder. " By the way, I have something to talk about with you. Tell me where we should go." Alex looked at Nelson.

Nelson nodded and suggested, "How about going to my house? My mom and dad aren't home. Maybe we can drink and chat."

"Alright." Alex liked the idea.

"Okay." Nelson took Alex's arm off his shoulder and held his hand as he guided him towards his house.

Alex felt a little weird holding hands with Nelson like that. But he also liked it. It was as if they were two kids from primary school going home together, holding hands.

"Oh my!" Suddenly, a lady in her forties put her hand on her mouth as she saw Nelson and Alex holding hands, coming towards her Direction. Her heart skipped a beat. She was surprised.

"I knew it. I knew it. I should tell Emma about it." The lady said and returned to the direction she was coming from.

"What was that?" Alex asked Nelson, as the lady was gone.

Nelson grinned and let go of Alex's hand. "She is the gossip queen of our neighborhood. She thinks I'm gay, and I love to tease her."

"So what you did just now was..." Alex was speechless. "You were teasing that woman?" Alex was upset that he had been used by Nelson to trick someone.

"Yeah, but why are you looking so sad? Ah, wait. By chance, you liked holding hands with me, and you didn't like when I said that it was to tease that women?" Nelson asked, grinning.

"Shut up. I liked it, but not that way. When I was a kid, I used to see other kids going home holding hands with their friends. So today, as you held my hand, I just felt like I was living that moment now. But it was all a joke, huh?" Alex punched Nelson's arm.

"Ouch. That hurts, man." Nelson said, rubbing his arm with his hand.

"Stop overreacting. I didn’t hit you hard." Alex grinned and walked ahead of Nelson. Nelson followed Alex, and after coming in front of his house, he pushed open the door, and they both entered the house.

"Do you like to sit here or want to go into my room?" Nelson asked, walking towards the kitchen to grab the wine bottles and something to eat.

"No, I'm fine here," Alex said, plopping on the sofa.

"No, we are going into my room. I won't have to worry about cleaning if we eat and drink in my room." Nelson said, coming towards Alex with a wine bottle and snack.

"Then why did you ask me in the first place? For formality?" Alex smiled, getting up from the sofa.

" Yup." Nelson smiled at Alex, and they both headed to Nelson’s room.

As they came into Nelson’s room, Nelson kicked open the door and entered.

"Welcome to my humble room." Nelson said as he placed the wine bottle and snack on a table.

Alex was shocked as he entered Nelson’s room. It seemed like Nelson’s room didn’t belong to his house. His house was neat and beautiful. But Nelson’s room was a total mess. His clothes were scattered everywhere, and his bed was undone too. The furniture in his room also seemed out of place.

Nelson kicked his clothes away and said, "Kick them away and come here. Don't worry about dirtying them; they need to be sent for laundry."

"Why is your room so dirty?" Alex asked, making his way towards Nelson’s bed and sitting on it.

"Well, that's because I don't take the time to clean it. I have a lot to do every day. I'm just too busy to take care of my room." Nelson grinned and dragged the table in front of Alex.

"Is it the same wine from last time? If so, I don't want to drink it. Last time I drank it, I slept till eleven the next morning."

"No, it's not the same. Though the bottles look the same, the wine is different. It has low alcohol levels. It doesn't make anyone drunk easily." Nelson told Alex and filled a glass of wine for him.

"That's good, then." Alex grabbed the wine glass from Nelson and drank it all in one go.

"Wow. You drank it all at once. What exactly happened today? Oh, that matter of Natasha, has it been solved yet or not?" Nelson asked as he poured himself some wine.

"Not yet." Alex put the empty glass down on the table. "She is still hanging around my neck, and it's only getting worse."

"Why? What happened?" Nelson asked, and Alex told Nelson everything that happened today.

"Now I don't know what to do. In a week, my mom is going to make me marry her." Alex seemed irritated.

"But why did you say yes to marrying her? You can’t leave my Emily." Nelson grabbed Alex's collar.

"I'm not going to do that ever." Alex took Nelson's hand away from his collar and straightened it.

"I think that she is after my money, so I have to find a way to prove it to Mom."

"That's easy." Nelson smiled.

"How?" Alex asked, and then Nelson told Alex a plan.

"That's a good idea, but before that, I have to do something else," Alex said, getting up from the bed.

"What is that?" Nelson asked, taking a sip of his wine.

"I will tell you after I successfully do it, but thank you for your help. I think your plan would help me." Alex smiled.

"Of course it would. After all, it's my plan, and my plans rarely fail. Anyway, do you want more?" Nelson said, raising the wine glass towards Alex.

"No, I have to go somewhere now. If I hadn't, I would definitely drink with you more," Alex said, walking towards the door.

"Alright, if you need any help, tell me. Your friend is here." Nelson said, making Alex stop.

"Thank you." Alex turned around and smiled at Nelson before walking out of the Room.

"Bye," Nelson said and grabbed his wine glass once again.

"He has lots of problems in his life." Nelson muttered to himself and drank all the wine at once.

He put the empty glass on the table and fell back on the bed. "I wish I could do something for Emily and him." He stared at the ceiling.

" But for now, let’s just sleep. I'm tired." Nelson turned around on the bed and closed his eyes before dozing off.