Chapter 17

Rex in the Real World

Rex woke up and felt a bit comfortable in his back touching his bed. His right leg, as usual, was aching and so to cure it, he had to walk and adjust its settings. Thankfully, the maintenance kit for the robotic leg support was delivered two days after his stay in the safe house and so he had no problem trying to cure his bad leg.

For the past month, he’d been doubling his exercise regimen and his stretches are becoming more and more athletically inclined.

He had passed through the sixth month of rehab ever since the incident. And he felt that he can finally put a few weight on the bad leg and adjust the leg support on its lowest setting. The moment he did that, the first try he walked, he fell down. There was no one to catch him and he fell down on the bench on the mini garden.

On the pain, he couldn’t help but shout.

The crashing noise and his scream was loud enough that the kids playing outside peeked on the bottom of his gate.

When they saw that he fell down, they all scattered and called for their parents and older brothers, and even sisters, to go and help him.

Rex’s fall hurt his right elbow and it made recovery from his fall harder. Then the people came and peeked below, they saw him and called out at which Rex did not try to reject since his right leg actually hurt.

He flicked his fingers and made a sound, the electric lock disengaged and the gate opened, pulling itself in for four times and some of the people who saw it made reactions of awe before they helped him stand.

“Are you alright?” The adults who helped him stand asked Rex. “How did you fell down?”

Rex checked the robotic leg support and he grimmed when he saw that one of the main shaft broke.

“I was trying to do a new exercise regimen but I think I over adjusted it and I fell down. And now, not only does it hurt, it actually broke. I‘m in deep trouble.”

There were almost 15 people there, both children and adults, with younger ones and those around and a bit more than his age were also present. Some were all worried about him, some was just trying to join the loud commotion, some were actually helping him, and some are actually just looking at his somehow cute face.

Rex hadn’t been in the barbers so his hair was long and its slightly brown black color gave off impression of ethnicity.

His right eye had a cut that left a scar. His lips also had a scar that looked like a slash of something sharp from the upper to the lower. It gave off a bad boy aura and the young girls and adults alike marveled on how it gave additional charm on his mysteriousness.

In a very unique and rarest of the rare opportunities, they got a chance to finally see the boy next door. And just like how rumors of his coolness spread amongst the women of the neighborhood, this here was a chance that only come once in a lifetime. For that matter, the people that gathered in his house became 7:3 in favor of girls.

—young girls at that.

When Rex was finally sitting up on his bench, right leg outstretched, a teen girl quickly brought a med pack from her own house and started to cure the bruise on his right elbow. Good thing, his left arm with a cast wasn’t injured nor damaged.

As the treatment went on, that’s when he noticed that some of the people there are looking around at the small garden where they are. Some of them were old ladies.

“You live alone?” A man spoke up.

“Yeah.”

Then another interrupted. “I sometimes see an old woman coming here on weekday mornings. Is she your auntie, or your mother?”

Rex paused before he answered that question in a trembling manner. Somehow, he had lost his voice on how to talk to people.

“C-Caretaker…”

“Wow!” A few people exclaimed. Then another man asked, “What about the people in lab coats?”

“They are…” Rex paused and was averting any eye contact to anyone. “My…my doctors.”

At his answer, a unified understanding came from the surrounding people. Then, the teen who was treating his elbow asked, “I saw you when you came with your limousine. You must be rich.” and her face was flushed in red.

He could lie to them and say yes. But then, that’d be digging his own grave since he wasn’t even close to any of Augustus’s henchmen.

And so he just answered with a tinged of truth.

“No. My parents are dead.” And he actually said that with a sad expression that seem to stab at everyone’s hearts. “That‘s…my guardian.”

No one made a reaction. Somehow, they can see the picture on where this injured guy stood. And the ladies, most especially, wore compassionate eyes that they are almost on the verge of crying. Then, the teen finished her job and put on the bandages on his elbow.

“It‘s done.” She said with a beautiful smile. “Do you still have something that needs caring or fixing? I‘m a nurse student so you can ask me…”

She did not finish her adorable words since another pair of teens interrupted her.

“Hello, I‘m Anna. I‘m an HRM student. If you want any dish, I will cook for you.”

“Hi. I‘m Rio, I‘m an Engineering student and I can fix your leg support for you.”

“Really?” At those words, Rex actually felt really happy. “Can you really do that?”

“Of course!” Rio replied happily. “It just needs a bit of a fixing and…”

Then the teen nurse interrupted. “By the way, I am Elsie.” Her brows were twitching. “If it‘s not rude, can we ask for your name?”

Rex paused for a moment before he spoke. “D-Dex.”

Elsie nodded at her. “Nice to meet you and Anna, Rio, can I have a word with you two?”

The two called names looked at her, pouting. Then they followed her outside and the man earlier replaced them and gave him a metallic staff from nowhere.

“This is my grand father‘s. My name is Matt. I‘m just the house up front on the right. You can use this until your leg support is fixed. I won‘t ask questions on how you got these injuries ‘coz my instincts tell me that it‘s a personal business. But if you need anything, you can always call me. We‘re neighbors after all.”

At those kind words, Rex felt so small, he could’ve shrunk and hid on where he was sitting.

Then Matt stood up and turned to face everyone that gathered there. He told them that everything was alright and he literally controlled the crowd to back off and give him space. When they exited the premises, Matt waved a hand and told him it was okay to close the gate so Rex snapped his fingers again and the door followed the command with a smooth sound.

When he was alone, he sighed heavily and listened as the sound dispersed outside. But from below, there are still a few shadows standing in front of the house and he felt awkward that he had to need their help.

Then, a knock came from the gate.

Rex combed his hand as if holding a door knob and turned it left, then the lock on the side for people made a sound and Rex slid it right to open it.

At that, Elsie peeked and along with her was Anna and Rio. And they all smiled when they saw him sitting on the bench just outside his house.

“Ah, well, we‘ve decided…” Elsie began and Rio bid a smile and continued.

“…since you can‘t cook right now, we decided to bring you food.”

Then Anna finished with an adorable smile. “Can we do that?”

Rex was weak with those kinds of smiles. He could only remember when Baron was doing that when he’s either asking for a fight story or a piggy back ride.

Rex nodded weakly and told them. “I‘m sorry if I‘m asking you, so please…” And then he reversed. “But I promise, someday, I will repay you with the same level of kindness.”

Seeing his eyes and his reaction the three teens all made a smile and they bid goodbyes and closed the gate themselves. But then, outside, he could hear giggles and Matt’s rebuke.

And at that, due to pain and sudden exertion of effort and physical strain, Rex felt weak and actually felt sleepy. He went inside the house and sat on the sofa. He used the staff with difficulty since his leg support was broken and his right leg was actually stuck outstretched.

“Why me?” He let go of a long held breath.

And just as he was about to sleep, a call just came that made him jolt up. There was only one person in the world who would have the audacity to call this house.

And so he answered.

“You called?”

“I saw what happened.” It was not Augustus but the right hand man, Rude. “You actually made the whole neighborhood worried.”

“It wasn‘t intentional. And by the way, how did you see that? You actually said ‘whole neighborhood’.”

“It’s simple. We have more eyes in that place than you can imagine.”

“Heh. I thought so. To make sure I won‘t run away, you actually planned on checking up on me every damn minute. Don‘t tell me you also watches me while I‘m taking a dump.”

“We‘re not that low.” Rude’s face was stern and in killer mode. “Eitherway, we called to tell you that we will not be responsible for what you do outside the job. I think it’s been explained by Graham, but I will tell you again, one of the reason we don‘t want you out and socializing with people is the very reason that we won‘t be responsible if anything happens to you. That include you getting hurt unnecessarily. Do you understand?”

“I do.”

“Good. So what‘s with the staff?”

“My leg support broke and one of the neighbors gave this to me as a form of help.”

“I see. I‘m sorry, but what I said is final.”

“One of the neighbors offered to help fix it. Can I at least get that much?”

“Just outside the house. That‘s all.”

“It‘s fine.”

“Very well. Tomorrow, the doctors will be arriving. You can tell them what you need.”

“I appreciate that.”

Maybe sensing that Rex had a solid rock, flat faced expression, Rude asked something that was outside of his commands. Call it charm, or maybe sympathy, even Rude himself seem to realize it was a lot of trouble too.

“Is there something wrong?”

Rex could only stare at the face of the man in the holo panel. He straightened his pose and said with as much hate in his voice as he could. And with his long practice on improving his acting skills inside Terroa, he was positive that the message went across.

“Can I see my brother?” And as per usual reaction, Rude came quiet and he actually looked beside him and then shook his head. “I thought so.”

“I‘m sorry but you got your deal.”

“I know.”

“Good.”

“Do you need something else?”

“No more.”

“Then can we end this call? I‘m sleepy.”

“Alright. Just remember, time is against you.”

“I know.” And the call was cut.