Life with her is inexplicable; that I will map a path as long as the time is enough to reckon my actions.
The room was dimly lit, and the air filled with the rhythmic percussion of bouncing fists against punching bags, whirls of jump ropes, and grunts from fighters testing their limits. The walls decorated with motivational posters and pictures of legendary boxers showed faded banners from erstwhile tournaments. An atmosphere at once gritty and inspiring, full of sweat and determination.
"Daisy, when we came to college, something I remember," Lawrenz began with a reflective expression on his face as he stood amidst the clang cluttering this busy gym. Grunts, gloves hitting punching bags, and the rhythmic hum of jump ropes vibrated in the air.
"Oh, do tell, Lawrenz," Daisy said, her lips curving upward as her eyes lit with interest, back against the ropes of the boxing ring in her own clinging gym apparel. She was highly sweaty from her own workout. A bead of sweat she swabbed at on her forehead; her breathing was still a little hard from her last round.
Lawrenz smiled, pausing a second to gather his thoughts. "I wanted to be a lawyer. You know, help people, fight for justice in the courtroom." But right now, here in this gym, I want to be a fighter. Boxing is so much fun, but I want to train in other sports like Savate, Krav Maga, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Judo—that's not all. That was an outburst of zeal, yet resolve, that was funneled into Lawrenz's voice as his eyes glowed amidst the blinding fluorescent lights.
Daisy tilted to the side, interest piqued. "What made you make that drastic career change? I mean, from lawyer to fighter—those aren't exactly contiguous career steps."
Lawrenz laughed and scratched at his neck. "Really, it's not so sudden. The disciplines involved in martial arts have always interested me, not to mention the strategy, and right here, in the gym, I'm alive. All of this—the physical challenge, the mental focus—it's all so liberating.".
They suddenly both laughed, their chorused laughter blending with the cacophony of the gym. The spark of interest blazed in Daisy's eyes. "Because of that notion you have, I got interested fighting too."
 "Really, Daisy?" Lawrenz was beaming proud. His smile creases up his corners, very much a contrast from a focused look he usually wear in the gym.
"Try me, Lawrenz," she said and bounded through the ring in his direction. That sporty yet strict look on her face, Lawrenz further did not know what all she was up to. All of a sudden, with one leg flown up high at his face, flying, he moved backward quickly; even at that sudden movement, his reflexes were sharp.
"Yea that's so weird to see," he added, disbelieving as she smiled sweetly. "Lawrenz, this time I want to be strong for you."
"I just remembered the day that I was so clumsy and you came to the rescue of me," he recalled, pulling her to a tight hug. "I can't lose you…"
It was after they had spent a very long time that an ultimatum from the message came through to Lawrenz, to open the box or face some dire consequences. "They must be joking again," he thought and shrugged off the threat as he headed down to the locker room. He took a very long shower with hot water drumming onto his muscles and prepared to give Daisy a ride home.
As he went on his way, he saw a super sports car right at the front of a five-star hotel. He bent a bit and murmured low, "Lamborghini Veneno." He went on to observe the fluid curves, sexy silhouette, and the full throaty hum of the idling engine. More gas when the green light appeared ahead, allowing him to whisk away his thoughts still floating to the message gotten lately.
"Son," his father testified as he came back home; the sound seemed to emanate from the entire foyer of their mansion.
"Hello, Dad, how are you?" Lawrenz asked as he did not get up to take his father, who would sit next to him in the garden. The gardens were reason enough to visit the estate in their own right. The flowers were perfectly manicured, and the hedges were closely clipped. They sat together as the maids prepared their drinks. The ice clinked soothingly in the glasses, as familiar as sound could be.
"I noticed something about you, your body has changed to that of a masculine man," said his father, eyes running down Lawrenz's frame—a mix of pride and concern.
Lawrenz smirked. "I changed not because of being a fat boy. I changed because it's free—we all have the freedom to choose, Dad."
"Yeah, anak, of course. Well, always put in mind that I am right here, no matter what. Just take good care of your health."
"Yes, no problem. Thanks, Dad."
_________ End of Flashback ________
But the path without her is still up to me. it only a box they are chasing yet i foUnd myself in the destination.
THE SOUND OF CLASSICAL MUSIC FROM PLAIN ROUND SHAPE MUSIC PLAYER OF 18's and 19's
He sat in silence for some time and reflected upon the fact that he had won the game of chess earlier by using a knight to deliver checkmate. He soon started to ponder over the Dash Armenda figurine. The horse was symbolic of strategic and guile; those were the very qualities which he needed to draw upon now more than ever.
"You're just a boy, fat and nerdy as they describe you, Lawrenz," Nick Gregory sneered, the very voice full of contempt, as they faced off in some darkened backroom.
"Probably, while they described you as a loser," Lawrenz shot cold, seeming cold with how he stood his ground.
Raze Orange laughed from the corner, crossing his arms over his chest. "He may have been in a coma, but Lawrenz is still undefeated, Nick."
But Nick Gregory had, he felt, taken something from him—something that surely was the tipping point now. Daisy was with Lawrenz no longer, for a strong sense of injustice was burning inside of him. "That is like law, in its blindness, sees that there should be justice for that man who does really fight, though on one side; that deceives his adversary. Well, that is fair—cheat or not cheat, the creation of humans is the law," he thought bitterly.
Nick Gregory drew a gun and pointed at Lawrenz in his rather steady hand. "Open the box or this is your last day in the world."
"Galaxy exists, if I die, just find me again, Nick." He stood on his feet; Raze Orange only looked for a fight, suddenly throwing an uppercut at Lawrenz, who shifted aside quickly, but Nick was ready and connected a punch into Lawrenz's stomach, doubling him over in pain.
Nick picked up his phone, smirking. "Hi Daisy, my wife. Prepare our dinner, I'm coming home."
The darkness masked the tears in Lawrenz's eyes. "Love her as if you can protect her."
"Lawrenz, she chose me. We're married."
"That's rough," Raze Orange said as he laughed mockingly.
"But she doesn't belong to you, Nick." Then, after he said that, Nick kicked him until he couldn't stand up anymore.
"You can't fight now. You've become weak, just as I expected. She never loved you, and the moment you were deceived, she tricked you into thinking that Daisy is on the same page, Lawrenz."
He tasted his own blood on the lips. He smirked; in fact, he had never betrayed Daisy when he met her for the first time.
Everything went black. Lawrenz came around weakly in a trash-filled street; the smell was more than his senses could stand of rotting food and filth.
__________
The thrum of engines was constant, cut through only by the staccato blasts from the horns of people giving vent to their irritable patience. Tires made a hissing sound—like a beat on the asphalt, ebbed, and flowed into the vehicle motion. Faraway wails of sirens pierced through this scene now and again, until it was one of urgency. Motorcycles, whose characteristic high whine is familiar to everyone, revved amidst the lower rumble of the bigger vehicles. Some pedestrian babble, bicycles tangling into each other, supplemented the whole soundscape. It was this very multitude that swelled into a rich tapestry of noise and gave a voice to the relentlessness of the city itself. 
"Where am I?" he asked, noticing that the newspaper beside him was written in Cantonese. He was to the west of Hong Kong, on the southern coast of China.
They had dumped him in the garbage like expiration waste. Weak and starved in an overstated way, Lawrenz had never felt like this in his life. His body lay bruised from the beatings taken in the stinking alley, the clothes grimy and torn. He would find it hard to breathe with the stench of rotten food and human excrement all around him. Where's my phone? It was gone. His pockets were empty, with no way of calling or contacting anyone for help.
As he struggled to sit up, his circumstances finally dawned on him fully. He started scanning his mind for solutions to what had happened earlier for him to be in such a situation. It was then that he remembered; this was the start of another battle in his life. His way forward was becoming even hazier. "And what did I do after some years because of that ill-omened box which I found on my birthday?" he shouted back, his voice resonating in the alley filled with filth. Anger overflowed while he kicked a nearby trash can loudly onto the wall.
Lawrenz's heart was racing, hammering his chest. It all flooded back—the box, the threats, the treachery. He felt bewildered, out of place, and a little down, but deep down inside him, he could feel the burning fire of determination. This wasn't going to be the end of him; it was just another hurdle in his way. He had been through many hardships and always got out of them tougher than before. "This definitely would not be the end." One would see him rise again, even better and more strongly armed than ever.
He wriggled to his feet, the muscles protesting all around. Another second and the world spun around; he kept himself from going down by one hand against the wall of the alleyway. He could not be standing here. He needed to get out and get on his feet—to take back his life. His eyes swam in tears, filling up within himself; pain, anger, a drive to act. He took a deep breath and focussed his mind on faraway sounds—the very distant hum of activity beyond the alley.
"Look at him—a bum," said a small boy as he stumbled forward. She watched far beyond on, tears stream down in Daisy's eyes.
"Yeah, he is." She tried to shake off her emotions, but it was genuinely true to her that Lawrenz, she can't save him. "He fails again in his life."
Being about in the car under him, Nick Gregory heard the boy's comment. "Daisy, indeed, the man who can beat me is now there losing gradually," he chuckled with cold satisfaction in his voice.
"Dad, do you know him?" the little boy asked with wide eyes.
"Of course he is, a man that fights without knowing his path. He is the defeated one. Watch him until he runs out of breath." Nick Gregory was advising his son, the little boy, to be that kind of a person who did not care about the situations of others.
"I will not be like him, Dad."
"Good boy," Nick said, ruffling on his son's head, having a smirk on his face, feeling satisfied.
Daisy clung to her son in protection but couldn't protect herself. She turned around towards Lawrenz with a heavy heart: regret and sorrow reflective on her face. After all this, she still had feelings for him. She wanted to help him; reach out, but? Nick was too tight in his hold over her life. She turned away, unable to bear the sight of his suffering any more.
Well, on the other hand, for his part, Lawrenz trudged forward, his strides being slow but purposeful in pace. He would not give up. He could not. For with every step he took, he would imagine what greater strength he had to stand again, to endure and to fight. The world without could be so mean and unforgiving, but he had a flame that could never go out.
As he trudged through streets unknown, a plan began to formulate in his mind. He would find his way to rebuild; he would come out more powerful than ever. He was going to turn this setback into a catalyst for his ultimate triumph. Lawrenz was going to rise again, and once he did, so were the witnesses to just how broken he had been.
He looked up toward the sky. Now, there she burst forth—sheer hope: the thin wedge, from out of the cloud of despair. Far from finished is his journey, but he is determined to be ready for what is lain in front of him. With each pace he took, his will was gaining in strength: unbowed and unyielding. This was not the end of his story but the beginning of another—an account from ashes on the way to destiny.