One Man Band System

Later that night, at a rooftop bar in the middle of the city, Eric sat at a table with Caleb. A waiter came over and dropped off two bottles of beer for them and a cocktail for Caleb. Once the waiter stepped away, Caleb spoke up.

"So, why did you bring them along?" Caleb asked, pointing behind Eric.

Eric glanced back at the table behind him and saw Emma, Chloe, Monica, Priya, Heidi, and Laura. He turned back to Caleb.

"The apartment is being cleaned by a service crew... plus, the smell hasn’t completely cleared out yet. Besides, why did you bring a pregnant woman here?" Eric asked.

Caleb leaned his head to the side. Sitting right in the middle of the six girls was Avery, her hair tied up in a messy bun, still wearing her nurse scrubs, chatting away happily with them.

"Oh... I just picked her up from work and brought her along," Caleb answered.

The two went quiet again, "clink," tapping their bottles together before taking a drink. Even after a sip, nobody spoke. The only sound was the lively chatter of the girls behind them, joined by Avery, underneath the soft, soothing background music. After a long silence, Caleb finally broke it.

"Sorry, Eric. I really didn’t get what was going on back then. I even called you right when Mike was there," Caleb said, looking completely frazzled and exhausted.

"I already told you it’s fine, so why bring it up again?" Eric replied calmly.

"Fair enough. Look, I heard the whole story from Mike. He came over to my apartment by himself and talked to me and Avery," Caleb said.

"What did Mike say?" Eric asked.

"He laid everything out, and he also explained that the comments on that video weren’t true. Looking at who’s right and wrong, it’s clearly on Ruby. She was told to back off, but she just kept pushing anyway... so, yeah... that’s how it is," Caleb answered.

"I see," Eric replied.

"But man, I didn’t expect Ruby to actually come here and end up going to the same school as Emma and her friends. Is that going to be a problem?" Caleb asked.

"No way, don’t worry about it. Emma and the others aren’t going to bully Ruby, that’s for sure. As long as Ruby doesn’t go looking for trouble with them," Eric answered casually.

"Good to hear. One more thing, I also want to apologize... Avery didn’t know anything about your situation with Jade and Ruby. She just blindly gave them your building’s address. Once I found out, I sat her down and explained everything, and she felt incredibly guilty. That’s why some of those texts I sent were apologizing on her behalf," Caleb said.

"Yeah... I read them. It’s no big deal. Besides, I don’t live there anyway, and looking at the security footage, I already know Jade, Ruby, and Mike showed up with someone else," Eric said, taking a swig of his beer.

"That was Mike’s older brother, Anthony. His boss told him to recruit you. He works at Trinity Entertainment," Caleb replied.

"Oh... I see. Whatever," Eric said, too lazy to discuss Anthony any further.

"But why did you want to meet up here? Wouldn’t it be more private at our usual bar?" Caleb asked.

"Well... it’s a bit awkward to bring them over there," Eric answered. "Laura is with us, and I really don’t want to deal with her uncle over taking his niece out late at night," Eric thought to himself.

"Works for me, I don’t really care where we hang out. Plus, Avery’s never been here, so it worked out perfectly," Caleb said, taking a swig of his beer.

"Hello, boys."

Hearing a woman’s voice right next to their table, Eric and Caleb turned. Eric reacted instantly, jumping up and spinning around so fast that "clink," he accidentally knocked his beer bottle flat onto the table. Seeing Eric bolt upright, Caleb stood up too. He locked eyes with the woman and gasped.

"Melissa... what the hell do you want here?" Caleb shouted.

At Caleb’s loud shout, Emma, Monica, Chloe, Priya, Heidi, Laura, and Avery completely stopped their lively chatting and whipped their heads around toward Melissa. She was standing there with a smirk, posing sexily with her hands on her hips right next to the table.

Melissa was wearing a red office blouse, a black skirt, black stockings, and a pendant necklace that stood out clearly, thanks to her deliberately leaving her top two buttons undone to show off her cleavage.

"Who are you again... oh right, you’re Eric’s cousin... if I’m not mistaken... your name is Caleb. We met once before you ran away," Melissa said to Caleb, smirking.

"What do you want?" Caleb asked, immediately getting on guard.

"Nothing, just wanted to say hi. That’s allowed, right? We’re in the same bar, and greeting people at a bar is completely normal, so I’m not breaking any laws," Melissa answered casually, shooting a sharp look at Eric.

Eric didn’t flinch. He just stared back at Melissa’s face with a cold, indifferent look. It was a face he knew all too well, ever since his older brother first brought her home. It was the face that used to talk to him all the time, helping him with his homework and studying.

It was also the exact same face from the video with him, the one that ruthlessly betrayed and framed him until he was kicked out and abandoned by his family.

"Hey."

Melissa looked over as Emma, Monica, Chloe, Priya, Heidi, and Laura marched over and immediately shielded Eric. Chloe stepped right up to the front line, and the second Melissa locked eyes with Chloe, her expression faltered for a brief moment before snapping right back into her original smirk.

"You’re Melissa, right? What exactly are you doing here?" Chloe asked coldly.

"It’s nothing, Ms. Chloe. I just happened to spot two people I know and wanted to say hi. Don’t look too deep into it, I’m leaving... bye Caleb... Eric," Melissa said flirtatiously.

But before she left, she actually stepped closer to Eric, bringing her face right up to his ear. Eric could easily catch the smell of alcohol on her breath and feel her breathing against him, but before he could even move, Melissa whispered:

"Don’t worry, I don’t mean any harm. Let me tell you something, I’m at your girlfriend’s company because I want revenge on two old bastards over there. I promise, once I pull this off, I’ll get out of your sight for good... oh right, today is my 24th birthday. So please tell your girlfriend that I don’t mean any harm, and please don’t mess up my plans, consider it my birthday present," Melissa whispered right into Eric’s ear.

Without a second thought, she whipped out the smartphone in her hand, snapped a quick selfie with Eric, and before Eric could even react, Melissa turned on her heel and walked back to the edge of the bar. She downed her drink, slapped some cash onto the counter, swung her purse across her shoulder, and walked right out without looking back once.

The eyes of Eric, Caleb, Avery, Emma, Chloe, Monica, Priya, Heidi, and Laura followed Melissa’s back until she walked out the door and completely vanished from sight. Right after that, Priya muttered in annoyance.

"What is her problem?"

"Who knows... absolute psycho," Heidi answered.

"You guys remember her face, right? Next time we see her, just drop her," Laura said.

"Look at you... always wanting to jump straight to throwing hands. But honestly, yeah, her attitude is incredibly aggravating," Monica added.

"She took a selfie with Eric," Emma noted.

"Yeah, and that is a massive problem for me," Priya, Heidi, Laura, and Monica chimed in one after another, all agreeing on the exact same thing.

Avery walked over to Caleb, immediately wrapping her arm through his while resting a hand on her stomach. She looked up at Caleb.

"Who was that, babe?" Avery asked.

"She’s Jason’s ex-girlfriend... the person who framed Eric and forced him to move to this city," Caleb answered.

Hearing Caleb’s words, Emma, Monica, Priya, Heidi, and Laura, who already knew all about Eric’s past, instantly whipped their heads back toward the door. They obviously knew the story behind Melissa, but since Eric had never actually mentioned her name before, they were only just realizing that the person who framed Eric had been standing right next to them.

Meanwhile, Chloe, who had also just heard the story of Eric’s past earlier, stared at Eric with an unreadable, mostly freezing expression. As for Eric, Melissa’s whisper had made his jaw tighten.

He was thinking hard, trying to process exactly what her words were supposed to mean, even as his heart kept pounding heavily against his chest. Suddenly, Chloe placed a hand on Eric’s shoulder. He instantly turned to look at her.

Her face looked anxious, desperate to know exactly what the employee from her office had said to him.

"What did she whisper to you?" Chloe asked, looking genuinely curious.

"I’ll tell you the detail later... for now, she mentioned two old bastard in your company and getting revenge on them, saying that’s why she’s at your company," Eric answered.

Hearing Eric’s words, Chloe immediately went quiet. The two of them just stared at each other, completely speechless, as they both kept processing exactly what Melissa’s words meant.