CHAPTER 18 | Laughs, Howls, Squeals, and Excited Noises
The black Rolls Royce was parked on the parking space inside the wide lot of Lupin de Lima’s residence. Gin and Felix got out first from the backseat, followed by Jackson and Nick from the front seat. Nate got and out and assisted Axel. When he was out, Jackson and Felix placed a hand on either side of his waist. Axel placed his left arm on Jackson’s wide shoulder and his other arm on Felix’s broad ones. The two guided him to walk while the others led the way inside Lupin’s mansion.
Surprisingly, the whole residence was empty. There were no guards and there was no trace of Mr. de Lima anywhere. The six young men proceeded to the second floor, where Mr. de Lima’s study was. They were wrong, the mansion wasn’t completely empty. A housemaid was there, watching them climb up the stairs with a feather duster in her hand. It took her about a minute to process the scene before hear before she screamed, “Thieves! Thieves!”
The guys snapped their heads towards her direction and the housemaid was stunned for a second. No thief ever looked so good-looking as they were. No thief ever dressed as fine as they did, too. Finally, her eyes darted at the only man without a highlight on his hair. She recognized him.
“Axel!” she exclaimed and walked up to him. Gin, Nick, and Nate scooted on one side of the staircase to give space for the housemaid, but she backed off – startled. Her eyes widened as she gasped, placing a hand to cover her mouth, her other hand still holding the feather duster. “Axel! What happened to your leg?”
“It’s nice to see you again, too, Nana Rita.” Axel smiled at her, showing her his perfect set of teeth.
“You rascal!” Rita walked up to him and tugged his ear. She was already wrinkly at sixty-five, but she sure was still strong. Axel winced in pain in between Jackson and Felix who only laughed in amusement.
Rita led the six of them to the second floor living room and made them sit on the couch. After more than five minutes of waiting, Rita walked in the room with a first aid kit on one hand and a basket full of chips on the other. She gave the basket of chips to Gin and she placed the first aid kit on the floor. She opened the kit and took out a roll of bandage, cotton balls, betadine, stainless tweezers, a plaster, and a bottle of antibiotic. Gin and Nate already had their hands on the chips as they watched Rita unwrap Axel’s thigh which was still bleeding. Felix and Nick grimaced at the sight of blood while Jackson kept a straight face as he stared at the bullet stuck in the side of Axel’s flesh.
“Now what?” Nate asked in between bites.
“We’ll pull it out,” Rita answered, her eyes on the bullet. “The wound isn’t deep and the shot is on the side of the inner thigh. It’s almost like the bullet just grazed on his skin. Unfortunately, the bullet got caught on the flesh. He can still stand and walk which means that the bone may not have been hit. It’s safe to pull the bullet out. If we don’t, the lead might poison him.”
“Are you sure, doctor?” Felix asked her.
Rita shook her head. “No, ‘cause I ain’t a doctor.”
“Oh well,” Nick sighed. “We might as well just trust your gut. Pull it out Nate.”
“Me? No, I can’t!” he refused, backing away. “You pull it. It was meant for you anyway.”
Nick glared at him, but nodded nonetheless. “Here goes nothing.”
“Wait,” Axel spoke, looking a bit nervous. “Let me just hold this pillow.” He reached for the pillow beside him and placed it between his arms, hugging it.
Nick kneeled on the floor and positioned himself in front of Nick. He grabbed the tweezers. Axel closed his eyes and bit the pillow, preparing himself. Just as the tweezers was an inch away from Axel’s wounded thigh, Nick pulled his hand away and smiled sheepishly.
“You know what, I hate blood,” Nick said and stood up. “Jackson, you do it.”
Jackson hesitated at first, but kneeled in front of Axel nonetheless. He grabbed the tweezers and it touched the end of the bullet. Axel tightened his squeeze on the pillow as he bit it with his eyes closed. However, his anticipation turned into frustration when Jackson also pulled his hands away. He threw Axel an apologetic look, silently telling his friend with his eyes that he couldn’t do it.
“Let me do it,” a voice said as a hand pulled the tweezers from Jackson’s hands. With no hesitation, the tweezers pulled out the bullet from Axel’s thigh. Axel was unprepared. The bullet was already plucked out of his thigh when he screamed.
“That was so cool,” Gin commented as he nibbled on the chips Rita gave him.
“Be grateful it isn’t bad,” Mr. de Lima said as he poured a betadine on a cotton ball. “Who did this?”
“Uncle,” Axel said as he glanced at Mr. de Lima’s serious face. “Can we stay for dinner? Ow!”
Axel hissed in a stinging pain as Lupin cleaned and disinfected his wound. “Sure, since you fulfilled your promise to get the rascals back here,” he said, referring to Nick, Nate, Felix, Jackson, and Gin who only laughed nervously as they swallowed their own saliva.
Lupin stood up after he finished wrapping Axel’s thigh with a new bandage.
“We’ll talk later. I only came back to get some files in my study. I’ll leave now and be back in four hours,” Lupin said and glanced on his Rolex wrist watch. “The guards are back on duty. They’ll be watching you. Don’t do anything stupid. Rita, please accompany them.”
“Yes, sir. Come back safe,” Rita said as Lupin descended down the stairs.
Nick sighed in relief when Lupin left. “Maybe it’s a good thing you got shot. He didn’t pay much attention to us.” Rita poked his side with her feather duster which somehow found its way back into her hands, her brows furrowed and forming a frown. Nick only smiled sheepishly.
Axel shook his head in amusement and spoke when Rita went downstairs. “I’ll rest for now then I’ll leave at four. I’ll be back by five.”
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Nick quickly said, frowning. “I’m not allowing you.”
“Bro, I’m not asking for your permission.” Axel laughed and elevated his leg on the couch’s backrest, then lied on his back and rested his head on the couch’s armrest.
“Look, you’re not going anywhere. You’re uncle clearly said to not do anything stupid.” Nick frowned some more though Axel couldn’t see him with his eyes closed.
“I have something to do, okay?” Axel defended. “And it isn’t something stupid. It’s something important.”
“Right!” Nate said way too enthusiastically. “What could be more important than your safety and treatment?”
Felix got the clue and joined Nate. “Right!” he exclaimed happily. “What could be more important than your girlfriend?”
Axel’s eyes shot open and all five guys were staring right at his reaction.
“Got ya!” Nick said as the five of them laughed. “Who’s this girlfriend we never heard of?”
“You’re hiding secrets now, huh?” Nate teased.
“And did you just phoned her number under ‘My Princess’?” Felix added, grinning playfully.
They all laughed, except Axel who was starting to turn red. He snatched the pillow he used earlier and used it to cover his face, pretending to be asleep.
Gin smiled playfully. “We know you’ll be picking her up from school, big bro.”
“She seemed to worry about you, though,” Jackson said, speaking for the first time in the past two hours. “She told you to be careful.”
“She did?” Axel asked, uncovering his face. “You guys are kidding. How did you even…” he paused and grabbed his ringing phone from his coat’s pocket. “Wait, someone’s calling.”
The boys gathered around him and looked over his phone. “My Princess is calling…” they read the caller ID in unison and laughed, howled, squealed, and made excited noises all at the same time.
“She called earlier. We answered it for you,” Gin admitted with a grin. “Answer her, big bro.”
“Put it on speaker!” Nate exclaimed excitedly.
Axel did so. He swiped right to accept the call and tapped on the speaker. He placed the phone above his chest. The boys calmed down and began to listen, grinning from ear to ear other than Jackson who had a ghost smile on his lips.
“Hello, princess,” Axel greeted first. Gin and Nick clamped each of their mouths with both their hands, preventing a loud laugh from escaping while Felix and Nate let out a low teasing snort. Jackson only shook his head as he prevented a smile from forming on his lips, feigning a shudder and cringe of disgust for his friend’s love life.
“School ended early due to an emergency meeting. You don’t have to pick me up,” Bella said from the phone speaker. “Where are you? I’ll come instead.”
The boys grinned all the more and prevented themselves from laughing and shouting.
Even Axel couldn’t hide a smile. “Do you miss me that much?”
Bella clicked her tongue from the other line. “Tsk. No, I don’t.”
“Don’t come, then.” Axel smiled as he ran a hand on his hair. “I’ll pick you up now.”
“I’ll wait for you by the convenience store near our academy,” Bella said and the phone call ended.
Axel lowered his leg from the couch’s backrest and tried to stand up, but his thigh still hurt so badly. He knew he couldn’t walk properly on his know, let alone drive.
“We’ll go with you, don’t worry,” Nick said as he flashed Axel a playful smile. “I want to meet this girlfriend of yours which I only heard of today.”
“Is it that shocking?” Axel asked as he placed his left arm on Felix’s shoulder and other on Jackson’s.
No one answered him. Instead, they only gave him a meaningful smile which he did not understand at all.