Chapter 1: The Lunatic with a Gun

If there was one thing that Annie enjoyed, it was her blissful Friday’s off. Annie was never scheduled to work a Friday shift, and Star was at school on Friday’s, thus, Annie had the whole day to herself… or so she liked to believe. Unfortunately for Annie, most of her Friday’s were spent on going grocery shopping for the week or running errands, this time she was out shopping for food. Annie sighed to herself, being an adult was indeed difficult. Such woes almost made her miss the time she spent with her family during her youth, being harassed daily yet having a free roof over her head and a guaranteed bed to sleep in most nights… almost. Annie quickly finished off picking up the items on her grocery list before heading to the check out to secure this week’s meals. After successfully paying for her items, her card didn’t decline thank god, Annie picked up her grocery bags and started walking the long journey back to the small apartment where both Star and herself resided. Annie didn’t make a lot of money at her part-time job, and so she couldn’t afford luxuries like a car or fuel and thus, had to travel most places via public transport or on foot. Unfortunately for Annie, public transport sucked in her area and so she usually had to make most of her journeys on foot. Suddenly, out of the corner of Annie’s eye, she caught a glimpse of two young men in a back alleyway, whispering amongst themselves and overall, looking pretty suspicious. Annie sighed to herself, she knew that she didn’t live in the best area, but still, did they really have to be doing this stuff in broad daylight? Annie couldn’t really believe how careless some people were. She decided to continue on, ignoring the two fellows, when suddenly a loud gunshot sounded from the opposite direction as one of the two young men in the alleyway dropped flat on the ground, a pool of dark red liquid forming around his head. Annie froze. What?

Annie knew that she didn’t live in the most desireable location, she knew that her neighbourhood wasn’t particularly the best nor safest place to reside in, and yet, out here, in broad daylight, some absolute lunatic was out here shooting a damn gun at two shady people in an alleyway. Annie wasn’t even that far from the Main Street, it wasn’t even afternoon yet, it was exactly 11am in the morning, and yet some absolute buffoon had the audacity to shoot a godamned gun right next to a grocery store. Annie turned around to have a good look at the idiot who thought it was a smart idea to go shooting guns in broad daylight, making the decision to go straight to the police station after giving whoever it was a good earful. Her brown eyes peered up into two crimson red ones, glaring at her from underneath a white fedora. The obnoxious stranger had long blonde locks flowing down to just below his shoulders and was wearing a grey and black suit, rather flashy for this time of day. Annie thought to herself for a minute, wondering how a person could have red eyes, when the tall male smirked down at her. “Shouldn’t you be running away by now, little miss?”

Seriously though, was he wearing contacts or something? Maybe this was a film site.. was he an actor? He certainly had the looks to be one. Annie sighed to herself, deciding that she didn’t have the time for this, especially if she wanted to get back home in time for her weekly episode of The Real Housewives of Tropey Manwha. “Aight, bye.” Annie shrugged, gathering her groceries and proceeding to make her way back home. She managed to take around a solid 5 steps before hearing the man she had left behind burst out laughing. Wow, it seemed that he really was some sort of lunatic. Annie decided to ignore this, however, another gunshot soon followed her next footstep, making her pause in her tracks as the bullet planted itself right next to her foot. “Where do you think you’re going?” The man behind her spoke in a low and ominous tone, making a chill run up Annie’s spine.

Annie could immediately tell that she would be in a bad situation if she didn’t manage to escape soon, but still, didn’t he literally just tell her to run away or something? Annie didn’t really want to run around though, it was midday and she was in the middle of carrying heavy groceries back home, she didn’t really have the energy to be fleeing at this moment. Annie dropped her groceries to the floor, deciding that she might as well get this interaction over and done with so that she could get back home sooner rather than later. Annie turned around to face the strange man with a gun, not really being able to tell what sort of gun it was, probably like a hand gun or something??? Annie had no idea. “Is there something you want..?” Annie sighed, folding her arms over her chest. If Annie kept on encountering weirdos like this on her way back home, she would never get back in time to watch the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Tropey Manwha.

The idiot with the gun looked Annie up and down, making her a bit uncomfortable, before raising the hand holding the gun to his right and shooting the other man in the alleyway, not even looking away from Annie. Annie would have been impressed by his aim if it weren’t for the super awkward situation she was in, why was he just looking at her??? Annie could never understand some people. The man gave her a mischievous grin, “Interesting..” he said before walking towards her. Oh no, Annie knew what kind of a situation she was in when some handsome guy behaved in weird and somewhat morally-grey ways before saying the i-word. Annie immediately took a step back, but as she did the strange man walked right past her. What??? Annie froze again, becoming more and more confused at this man’s behaviour by the second. Annie turned around to face the direction he was walking to see the man step into a mysterious black vehicle which definitely was not there before, Annie was 100% certain of that.

Just as he was about to step in, the weirdo turned to face Annie once more, “You’re an interesting woman, let’s meet again sometime.” He chuckled before closing the car door and driving away. Annie blinked a few times after the strange man with the fedora had left the scene.

“I… I hallucinated that, right?” Annie mumbled to herself, picking up her groceries once more. It was a rather hot day today, perhaps Annie had somehow gotten heatstroke and imagined the entire encounter??? Annie thought to herself for a moment, surely a man as idiotic as him couldn’t exist, especially one with red eyes such as his. Annie sighed to herself, wondering if she should perhaps stop watching The Real Housewives of Tropey Manwha, before slowly continuing her journey through the scorching heat back to her home.

Upon her arrival back to her cheap and shabby apartment, she found a familiar tall and annoying male obnoxiously leaning against her door. Annie was becoming rather impatient at this point, apparently one encounter with a strange and annoying man just wasn’t enough for a singular chapter, noooo. Annie put down her groceries once more, and rolled up her sleeves, “It appears that one beating wasn’t enough to satisfy you, Mr Xian… are you perhaps a masochist?” She asked the intruder standing at her doorstep. Harrison turned to face Annie, his blue eyes staring deep into her brown ones, as if searching for something. Was it perhaps a glimpse of sympathy that he was after? Or maybe a hint of wavering affection that Annie might’ve had for him at some point during these past five years… Unfortunately for Mr Harrison Xian, neither sympathy nor affection were home at this moment.

As Annie reeled her fist back to serve Harrison Xian a knuckle sandwich, finally, a glint of reason appeared in his eyes as he sheilded is face, exclaiming, “I just want to talk about Star!”

The man was finally speaking a language that Annie could understand. Annie sighed and lowered her fists, “You have thirty seconds to tell me something sensible before I drop kick you.”

Harrison Xian folded his arms over his chest, staring deep into Annie’s cold eyes, no longer filled with any hint of attraction towards the man. It was clear that any affection that she’d once had was long gone. “I’m… really sorry.” Harrison began, “if I’d known that it would’ve impacted you this much, I never would have left…”

“Is that all?” Annie raised an eyebrow, unfazed by the man’s long overdue apology.

“No, things are now… complicated…” Harrison intertwined one of his hands with hers. Annie, upon noticing this, quickly pulled her hand back, still unfazed. At this point, she was getting annoyed that she was missing out on the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Tropey Manwha… she did say that she should probably stop watching it, but would she really? Harrison sighed, “Look, Annie, don’t ask any questions, you just need to marry me, ok?”

…

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“Your thirty seconds are over, leave before I make you leave.” Annie was just gonna ignore that. Yup. She was just gonna pretend that he didn’t just say that, he would **** right off, and then Annie would pick up Star from school in a couple of hours after watching the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Tropey Manwha and cooking tonight’s dinner. Annie plastered a polite smile on her face before rolling her sleeves up once more, things might get a bit messy after all.

“Nonononononono, Annie, hear me out, there’s a reason we have to do this,” Harrison stuttered, Annie wasn’t really listening right now though. Harrison took a step back, “Star is our kid.” Annie couldn’t help but laugh at this statement.

“Our kid?” She chuckled before slapping him right in the face. God, she’d wanted to do that for a long time. “Mr Xian, I don’t know if you’re on drugs or whatever, but you’d made the decision to get the **** out of Star’s life as soon as you abandoned us, now leave this place before I hospitalise you.”

Harrison put a hand up to his bruised cheek, surprised. “Annie… I didn’t have a choice,” he turned his head downwards, gritting his teeth, “I would’ve stayed but…”

“Shut up,” Annie snapped back, finally losing her temper, “I don’t want to hear it, piss off.” Annie gathered her groceries and unlocked her small apartment, trying her hardest not to get too emotional over the whole situation. Just as Annie was about to slam the door in Harrison’s face, he stopped it, wedging his foot between the door and it’s frame.

“Let me know when you change your mind.” Harrison held out a small black box with a business card attached.

“Fuck off.” Annie snatched the business card and box before shoving his foot out of the small gap, slamming the door in his face and locking it. Annie let out a deep sigh, why was her life like this? She dropped her grocery bags and slid down to the ground, looking at the contents of what Harrison gave her. She was tempted to read the business card, but was too emotionally drained to deal with whatever the **** he wanted for the time being and tossed the items aside. First the weird hat dude, and now Harrison Xian, Annie couldn’t help but wonder what else the shitty writer of this melodramatic novel had in store for her. After hearing Harrison Xian’s footsteps fade into the distance, Annie took a few deep breaths and stood up, picking her groceries up off the floor. Regardless of both Harrison and the other dude, Annie had her own life to attend to. She still had to tidy the house, make dinner and regain her sanity before picking up Star after school today, she couldn’t afford to be this pissed off… not in front of Star, at least. Annie put the groceries away before turning on her cheap TV just in time to catch the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Tropey Manwha, settling down on the couch and feeling relaxed for the first time since dropping off Star at school this morning.

(DISCLSIMER: this is a work of fiction, it’s also a parody romance novel and is meant to be taken comically. All the characters etc are fictional and are not related to real people or places in any way, shape or form)

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