Chapter 54:
Chapter 55 — The Gamble
My New Home
◽The Next Day◽ (Monday, 8 August 2050)
JJ woke up with a yawn in what could only be described as a luxury jail cell. 「Damn... Ow.」 He held his left cheek. 「Grandma ain't have to hit me that hard.」 He saw Mika, a young police officer, guarding him. 「Where's everyone else?」Mika giggled. 「They’re on the other floors. Some are outside dealing with angry protesters and reporters!」JJ was confused. 「What?」Mika: 「Yah. Turns out your daughter shooting that reporter with a sniper that didn't make any noise pissed people off. That, and the fact a lot of weapon companies want to see you.」JJ: 「My family?」Mika giggled. 「The fact your two dogs are as big as they are, that was enough to deter everyone who went there.」JJ let out a huge sigh of relief. 「Okay, that’s good.」Mika looked around the cell, curious. 「You know, I don't understand it.」JJ: 「And that is?」Mika: 「Your cell. It's basically a hotel room. You have a TV, a queen-sized bed, a fridge, nightstand, a small bookshelf, and while you were out cold, your grandmother brought your work laptop!」JJ chuckled, leaning back. 「Well, considering I can break down that gate and leave whenever I want, it's not that difficult to understand.」Mika looked at him, laughing softly. 「Yah, you’re right. But question: would you really slap someone with a used condom?」JJ looked at her, his eyes challenging. 「Hmm... You want to find out if I can or not?」Mika blushed slightly, instantly backing away. 「No, we can't do that.」JJ smirked. 「Says who? You know no one will know, and even if they saw, they won't say a thing.」Mika: 「You can't be sure about it!」JJ chuckled, gesturing to the empty hall. 「You see anyone come in ever since I was put here?」Mika paused to think. 「No, I didn't.」 JJ gave her a knowing look, and she blushed again. 「No, that's not true! Besides, they won't allow it!」JJ chuckled, enjoying her internal conflict. 「You do realize you don't have the clearance or authorization to guard me, and yet here you are.」Mika crossed her arms, a determined look on her face. 「Alright, let's say you are right. Then what? This could ruin my career!」JJ had a small, tempting grin. 「You can always be a policewoman in Militia. All benefits included, plus for your family too.」Mika bit her lower lip, considering the seductive offer. 「Okay. So, the rest of the details we'll discuss within an hour?」JJ chuckled, knowing he'd won. 「If you say so.」
◽The Next Day◽ (Tuesday, 9 August 2050)
Mika woke up tightly embraced by JJ. 【What the hell happened last night?!】JJ, already awake, chuckled softly. 「Seems like my little spoon finally woke up.」Aurora stood outside JJ’s cell and saw him holding Mika. 「Hm. Grandson, does that look like a woman of Viking descent?」Mika blushed furiously and hid underneath the blankets.JJ chuckled, unperturbed. 「She’s not, but...」 He grabbed Mika’s butt underneath the blanket. 「'Be fruitful and multiply,' remember you told me that?」Aurora laughed. 「Fair enough. But c’mon, let’s go. We need to talk at your place.」JJ laughed, rubbing the part of his face she punched yesterday. 「You say that after knocking the shit outta me yesterday... Sorry for the foul language.」Aurora waved her hand dismissively. 「Don't stress it. Besides, you did deserve that for hiding my great-granddaughter from me!」JJ scoffed playfully. 「Fair enough.」Aurora: 「Alright, you have thirty minutes to get ready!」 She then left the cell.JJ: 「You can come out now. She’s gone.」Mika emerged from the blankets, wide-eyed. 「So, so that was your grandmother?」JJ put his hand around her waist, pulling her close. 「Yah, and guess who got thirty minutes to themselves?」Mika was surprised. 「I don't think that's what your grandmother meant!」JJ chuckled, reassuring her. 「Trust me, if she didn't like you, she'd drag you out of the bed herself and whoop ya with a belt!」Mika turned to face him, shocked. 「What, really?!」「Yep.」
◽1 Hour later at JJ's House◽
Nikolai walked into the living room and saw his father. 「Otets? (Father? )」Dimitri saw Nikolai. 「Ditë. (Child.)」Olga (Nikolai’s adopted mother) giggled. 「Kazhetsya, ty zabyl obo mne, synok. (Seems like you forgot about me, son.)」Nikolai: 「Mat', k-kak ty? (Err... Mother, h-how are you doing?)」 He went to her. 「Khochesh' chto-nibud' vypit' ili poest'? (Would you like anything to drink or to eat?)」Olga gestured for him to relax. 「Ne volnuysya, eta tvoya devushka Oliviya byla khoroshey khozyaykoy. (Don't worry, that Olivia girl of yours was a good hostess.)」 She sighed dramatically. 「Zhal', chto ty ne mozhesh' zhenit'sya na ney... (Too bad you can't marry her. For someone who's not from the motherland, she makes a good beef stroganoff.)」Nikolai smiled faintly. 「Da, gotovit. (Yah, she does.)」Olga tapped the spot next to her. 「Sâd' so mnoy i rasskazhi, kak ona nauchilas' tak khorosho gotovit'. (Sit with me and tell me how she got this good.)」Nikolai sat down, and immediately Olga grabbed his ear and pulled. 「Oy, oy, oy! Mama, kak ty mogla tak lhat'? Eto zhe nizhe tvoyego dostoinstva? (Ow, Ow, Ow! Mother, how could you lie like that?! Isn't it beneath you?)」Olga giggled, keeping a firm grip. 「Eto tak, no predstav' moye udivleniye, kogda ya snova uvizhu svoyego syna v novostyakh po vsem nepravil'nym prichinam! (It is, but imagine my surprise seeing my son make it on the news for all the wrong reasons again! Not to mention my granddaughter who killed people on live TV!)」Nikolai, still enduring the ear-pulling, sighed. 「Ty ne mozhesh' vinit' menya, ona vsa v menya! (You can't blame me, she's just like me!)」Olga grew serious. 「Tak ty khochesh', chtoby moya vnuchka zhila toy zhizn'yu, kotoroy ty zhil do stabilizatsii Militsii? (So you want my granddaughter to live the life you lived before you stabilized Militia?)」Nikolai sighed deeply. 「Net, ne khochu. Ya ne znayu, chto delat'. (No, I don't. I don't know what to do.)」Olga: 「Togda poprosi o pomoshchi! Ya tebe uzhe govorila, ne nado derzhat' svoyu bor'bu v odinochku. (Then ask for help! I told you before, there's no need for you to hold on to your struggle on your own.)」 She released his ear.Nikolai, rubbing his left ear, murmured. 「No, mama, eto slozhno. (But Mother, it's hard.)」Olga cupped his face in her hands, her voice tender but strong. 「YA tozhe tak dumala do togo, kak my tebya usynovili, no posmotri na sebya seychas! (That's what I thought too before we adopted you, but look at you now! You no longer that weak little boy who'd want to go to war for any reason.)」Nikolai chuckled flatly. 「Da, ty prava naschet etogo. (Yah, you’re right about that.)」Olga: 「Tak kak ty sobiraesh'sya s etim spravit'sya? My mozhem chto-nibud' sdelat'? (So, how are you going to handle this? Anything we can do?)」Nikolai: 「Chestno govorya, net, no nikto ne znayet, poka chto-nibud' ne sluchitsya. (Honestly, no, but no one knows until something does happen.)」Olga laughed politely. 「Pozvoni nam, yesli chto-nibud' ponadobitsya. (Call us if you need anything.)」Nikolai: 「Khorosho. (I will.)」Olga looked at Olivia, giving her a serious appraisal. 「Ty znayesh', chto delayet yego schastlivym? (You know what keeps him happy?)」Olivia nodded eagerly. 「Da, znayu. (Yes, I do.)」Olga smiled, satisfied. 「Khorosho, tak i derzhi. (Good. Keep it that way.)」 She stood up. 「Ladno, vnuchka! (Alright, granddaughter!)」Shizuko replied, shocking Nikolai. 「Da, babushka? (Yes, grandmother?)」Nikolai was surprised but masked it. 「Ona govorit po-russki? (She can speak Russian? )」Shizuko looked at Nikolai. 「Teper' ty znayesh', pochemu ya poprosila telefon posle zvonka prababushki! (Now you know why I asked for a phone after great-grandmother's call!)」Nikolai: 「Spravedlivo. (Fair enough.)」Shizuko looked back at Olga. 「No babushka, chto ty govorila? (But grandmother, you were saying?)」Olga: 「Khochesh' nauchit'sya gotovit' lyubimyye blyuda tvoyego papy? (Wanna learn how to cook some of your Papa's favorite dishes?)」Shizuko gasped with joy. 「Pravda? Ona mozhet prisoedinit'sya ko mne? (Really? Can she join me?)」 She pointed to Sora.Olga: 「Da, konechno. (Yah, sure.)」Sora, confused, asked Shizuko. 「What were you talking about, Mary?」Shizuko: 「Wanna learn Papa's favorite food?」Sora nodded eagerly. 「Yah, yah, yah, yah!」Shizuko: 「Alright, let's go!」 She looked towards Hana and Emiko. 「We’ll be cooking with Grandma!」Hana giggled. 「Yah, sure, go ahead, but listen to your grandmother!」Shizuko & Sora: 「Kkkkkaaaaaay!」 They left with Olga.
Dimitri grew serious. 「Khorosho, synok, kakoy plan igry? (Okay, son, what is the game plan?)」Nikolai mirrored the seriousness, but with a dark joke. 「Nu, snachala my p'yem vodku, vtoroye—my derëmsya s medvedem! (Well, first we drink vodka, second we fight bear!)」Dimitri chuckled, nodding to the old family tradition. 「Khorosho. Yest' li eto v nalichii? (Good. Have that the product?)」Nikolai: 「Konechno.(Of course.)」Aurora, calmly sipping her tea, broke the tension. 「You know, saying that in front of the person who pays your salary is crazy!」Nikolai and Dimitri both looked at her and muttered. 「Tch.」Miyeon was surprised. 「You're in charge of their finances?」Aurora: 「Yes. That’s the bare minimum you have to do as a woman of the Samuels family, because for some reason, the men in our family, for all their intelligence, aren't immune to dumb decisions!」Miyeon looked pointedly at Nikolai, then back at Aurora. 「Yah, I understand what you mean by that, Ma'am.」Nikolai: 「I don't make dumb decisions!」Miyeon looked at him with lethal seriousness. 「This the same guy who bought a company that belonged to the family of a guy who was a mild inconvenience to me and my sister! You don't even need that construction company!」 Her voice rose with genuine anger. 「This goes for all of you! When I say make one more major wasteful purchase, and I swear... OOOOOOHHHHH! That really pissed me off!」Aurora looked at Jiyeon, sensing the emotional core of the outburst. 「So, your sister...」Jiyeon: 「Although she has her problems, when it comes to caring about family and generational wealth, she cares about it the most, since my father almost made us lose our wealth and...」 She let out a sad sigh. 「Some opportunist tried stuff with us...」Aurora: 「So you were molested as kids?」 Jiyeon nodded yes, tears welling up. 「So, this was before your mother met JD?」Jiyeon: 「It was.」Aurora gave a sad chuckle, the full weight of the tragedy settling on her. 「So he let my daughter die with her twins, while being a hero for another woman and her twins.」 She looked at Jiyeon, her eyes filled with sympathy and resolve. 「Look, I'm not hating. You clearly suffered. But I can swear this on my life: if you take care of the Samuels' lovable idiot, he'll do the same for you, too.」Jiyeon was surprised. 「Wait, you mean JJ and the others?」Aurora: 「Yep.」 She stood up and looked at Nikolai with a renewed, dramatic purpose. 「Ay, Grandson, so when's your trial date, so we can testify?」Nikolai: 「Two weeks from now.」Aurora chuckled, radiating confidence. 「Alright, Samuels family! We are aura farming that day! We’re going to make headlines for every news station in Militia! Am I understood?!」The entire Samuels Family contingent was instantly pumped up. 「YAH!」
JJ woke up with a yawn in what could only be described as a luxury jail cell. 「Damn... Ow.」 He held his left cheek. 「Grandma ain't have to hit me that hard.」 He saw Mika, a young police officer, guarding him. 「Where's everyone else?」Mika giggled. 「They’re on the other floors. Some are outside dealing with angry protesters and reporters!」JJ was confused. 「What?」Mika: 「Yah. Turns out your daughter shooting that reporter with a sniper that didn't make any noise pissed people off. That, and the fact a lot of weapon companies want to see you.」JJ: 「My family?」Mika giggled. 「The fact your two dogs are as big as they are, that was enough to deter everyone who went there.」JJ let out a huge sigh of relief. 「Okay, that’s good.」Mika looked around the cell, curious. 「You know, I don't understand it.」JJ: 「And that is?」Mika: 「Your cell. It's basically a hotel room. You have a TV, a queen-sized bed, a fridge, nightstand, a small bookshelf, and while you were out cold, your grandmother brought your work laptop!」JJ chuckled, leaning back. 「Well, considering I can break down that gate and leave whenever I want, it's not that difficult to understand.」Mika looked at him, laughing softly. 「Yah, you’re right. But question: would you really slap someone with a used condom?」JJ looked at her, his eyes challenging. 「Hmm... You want to find out if I can or not?」Mika blushed slightly, instantly backing away. 「No, we can't do that.」JJ smirked. 「Says who? You know no one will know, and even if they saw, they won't say a thing.」Mika: 「You can't be sure about it!」JJ chuckled, gesturing to the empty hall. 「You see anyone come in ever since I was put here?」Mika paused to think. 「No, I didn't.」 JJ gave her a knowing look, and she blushed again. 「No, that's not true! Besides, they won't allow it!」JJ chuckled, enjoying her internal conflict. 「You do realize you don't have the clearance or authorization to guard me, and yet here you are.」Mika crossed her arms, a determined look on her face. 「Alright, let's say you are right. Then what? This could ruin my career!」JJ had a small, tempting grin. 「You can always be a policewoman in Militia. All benefits included, plus for your family too.」Mika bit her lower lip, considering the seductive offer. 「Okay. So, the rest of the details we'll discuss within an hour?」JJ chuckled, knowing he'd won. 「If you say so.」
◽The Next Day◽ (Tuesday, 9 August 2050)
Mika woke up tightly embraced by JJ. 【What the hell happened last night?!】JJ, already awake, chuckled softly. 「Seems like my little spoon finally woke up.」Aurora stood outside JJ’s cell and saw him holding Mika. 「Hm. Grandson, does that look like a woman of Viking descent?」Mika blushed furiously and hid underneath the blankets.JJ chuckled, unperturbed. 「She’s not, but...」 He grabbed Mika’s butt underneath the blanket. 「'Be fruitful and multiply,' remember you told me that?」Aurora laughed. 「Fair enough. But c’mon, let’s go. We need to talk at your place.」JJ laughed, rubbing the part of his face she punched yesterday. 「You say that after knocking the shit outta me yesterday... Sorry for the foul language.」Aurora waved her hand dismissively. 「Don't stress it. Besides, you did deserve that for hiding my great-granddaughter from me!」JJ scoffed playfully. 「Fair enough.」Aurora: 「Alright, you have thirty minutes to get ready!」 She then left the cell.JJ: 「You can come out now. She’s gone.」Mika emerged from the blankets, wide-eyed. 「So, so that was your grandmother?」JJ put his hand around her waist, pulling her close. 「Yah, and guess who got thirty minutes to themselves?」Mika was surprised. 「I don't think that's what your grandmother meant!」JJ chuckled, reassuring her. 「Trust me, if she didn't like you, she'd drag you out of the bed herself and whoop ya with a belt!」Mika turned to face him, shocked. 「What, really?!」「Yep.」
◽1 Hour later at JJ's House◽
Nikolai walked into the living room and saw his father. 「Otets? (Father? )」Dimitri saw Nikolai. 「Ditë. (Child.)」Olga (Nikolai’s adopted mother) giggled. 「Kazhetsya, ty zabyl obo mne, synok. (Seems like you forgot about me, son.)」Nikolai: 「Mat', k-kak ty? (Err... Mother, h-how are you doing?)」 He went to her. 「Khochesh' chto-nibud' vypit' ili poest'? (Would you like anything to drink or to eat?)」Olga gestured for him to relax. 「Ne volnuysya, eta tvoya devushka Oliviya byla khoroshey khozyaykoy. (Don't worry, that Olivia girl of yours was a good hostess.)」 She sighed dramatically. 「Zhal', chto ty ne mozhesh' zhenit'sya na ney... (Too bad you can't marry her. For someone who's not from the motherland, she makes a good beef stroganoff.)」Nikolai smiled faintly. 「Da, gotovit. (Yah, she does.)」Olga tapped the spot next to her. 「Sâd' so mnoy i rasskazhi, kak ona nauchilas' tak khorosho gotovit'. (Sit with me and tell me how she got this good.)」Nikolai sat down, and immediately Olga grabbed his ear and pulled. 「Oy, oy, oy! Mama, kak ty mogla tak lhat'? Eto zhe nizhe tvoyego dostoinstva? (Ow, Ow, Ow! Mother, how could you lie like that?! Isn't it beneath you?)」Olga giggled, keeping a firm grip. 「Eto tak, no predstav' moye udivleniye, kogda ya snova uvizhu svoyego syna v novostyakh po vsem nepravil'nym prichinam! (It is, but imagine my surprise seeing my son make it on the news for all the wrong reasons again! Not to mention my granddaughter who killed people on live TV!)」Nikolai, still enduring the ear-pulling, sighed. 「Ty ne mozhesh' vinit' menya, ona vsa v menya! (You can't blame me, she's just like me!)」Olga grew serious. 「Tak ty khochesh', chtoby moya vnuchka zhila toy zhizn'yu, kotoroy ty zhil do stabilizatsii Militsii? (So you want my granddaughter to live the life you lived before you stabilized Militia?)」Nikolai sighed deeply. 「Net, ne khochu. Ya ne znayu, chto delat'. (No, I don't. I don't know what to do.)」Olga: 「Togda poprosi o pomoshchi! Ya tebe uzhe govorila, ne nado derzhat' svoyu bor'bu v odinochku. (Then ask for help! I told you before, there's no need for you to hold on to your struggle on your own.)」 She released his ear.Nikolai, rubbing his left ear, murmured. 「No, mama, eto slozhno. (But Mother, it's hard.)」Olga cupped his face in her hands, her voice tender but strong. 「YA tozhe tak dumala do togo, kak my tebya usynovili, no posmotri na sebya seychas! (That's what I thought too before we adopted you, but look at you now! You no longer that weak little boy who'd want to go to war for any reason.)」Nikolai chuckled flatly. 「Da, ty prava naschet etogo. (Yah, you’re right about that.)」Olga: 「Tak kak ty sobiraesh'sya s etim spravit'sya? My mozhem chto-nibud' sdelat'? (So, how are you going to handle this? Anything we can do?)」Nikolai: 「Chestno govorya, net, no nikto ne znayet, poka chto-nibud' ne sluchitsya. (Honestly, no, but no one knows until something does happen.)」Olga laughed politely. 「Pozvoni nam, yesli chto-nibud' ponadobitsya. (Call us if you need anything.)」Nikolai: 「Khorosho. (I will.)」Olga looked at Olivia, giving her a serious appraisal. 「Ty znayesh', chto delayet yego schastlivym? (You know what keeps him happy?)」Olivia nodded eagerly. 「Da, znayu. (Yes, I do.)」Olga smiled, satisfied. 「Khorosho, tak i derzhi. (Good. Keep it that way.)」 She stood up. 「Ladno, vnuchka! (Alright, granddaughter!)」Shizuko replied, shocking Nikolai. 「Da, babushka? (Yes, grandmother?)」Nikolai was surprised but masked it. 「Ona govorit po-russki? (She can speak Russian? )」Shizuko looked at Nikolai. 「Teper' ty znayesh', pochemu ya poprosila telefon posle zvonka prababushki! (Now you know why I asked for a phone after great-grandmother's call!)」Nikolai: 「Spravedlivo. (Fair enough.)」Shizuko looked back at Olga. 「No babushka, chto ty govorila? (But grandmother, you were saying?)」Olga: 「Khochesh' nauchit'sya gotovit' lyubimyye blyuda tvoyego papy? (Wanna learn how to cook some of your Papa's favorite dishes?)」Shizuko gasped with joy. 「Pravda? Ona mozhet prisoedinit'sya ko mne? (Really? Can she join me?)」 She pointed to Sora.Olga: 「Da, konechno. (Yah, sure.)」Sora, confused, asked Shizuko. 「What were you talking about, Mary?」Shizuko: 「Wanna learn Papa's favorite food?」Sora nodded eagerly. 「Yah, yah, yah, yah!」Shizuko: 「Alright, let's go!」 She looked towards Hana and Emiko. 「We’ll be cooking with Grandma!」Hana giggled. 「Yah, sure, go ahead, but listen to your grandmother!」Shizuko & Sora: 「Kkkkkaaaaaay!」 They left with Olga.
Dimitri grew serious. 「Khorosho, synok, kakoy plan igry? (Okay, son, what is the game plan?)」Nikolai mirrored the seriousness, but with a dark joke. 「Nu, snachala my p'yem vodku, vtoroye—my derëmsya s medvedem! (Well, first we drink vodka, second we fight bear!)」Dimitri chuckled, nodding to the old family tradition. 「Khorosho. Yest' li eto v nalichii? (Good. Have that the product?)」Nikolai: 「Konechno.(Of course.)」Aurora, calmly sipping her tea, broke the tension. 「You know, saying that in front of the person who pays your salary is crazy!」Nikolai and Dimitri both looked at her and muttered. 「Tch.」Miyeon was surprised. 「You're in charge of their finances?」Aurora: 「Yes. That’s the bare minimum you have to do as a woman of the Samuels family, because for some reason, the men in our family, for all their intelligence, aren't immune to dumb decisions!」Miyeon looked pointedly at Nikolai, then back at Aurora. 「Yah, I understand what you mean by that, Ma'am.」Nikolai: 「I don't make dumb decisions!」Miyeon looked at him with lethal seriousness. 「This the same guy who bought a company that belonged to the family of a guy who was a mild inconvenience to me and my sister! You don't even need that construction company!」 Her voice rose with genuine anger. 「This goes for all of you! When I say make one more major wasteful purchase, and I swear... OOOOOOHHHHH! That really pissed me off!」Aurora looked at Jiyeon, sensing the emotional core of the outburst. 「So, your sister...」Jiyeon: 「Although she has her problems, when it comes to caring about family and generational wealth, she cares about it the most, since my father almost made us lose our wealth and...」 She let out a sad sigh. 「Some opportunist tried stuff with us...」Aurora: 「So you were molested as kids?」 Jiyeon nodded yes, tears welling up. 「So, this was before your mother met JD?」Jiyeon: 「It was.」Aurora gave a sad chuckle, the full weight of the tragedy settling on her. 「So he let my daughter die with her twins, while being a hero for another woman and her twins.」 She looked at Jiyeon, her eyes filled with sympathy and resolve. 「Look, I'm not hating. You clearly suffered. But I can swear this on my life: if you take care of the Samuels' lovable idiot, he'll do the same for you, too.」Jiyeon was surprised. 「Wait, you mean JJ and the others?」Aurora: 「Yep.」 She stood up and looked at Nikolai with a renewed, dramatic purpose. 「Ay, Grandson, so when's your trial date, so we can testify?」Nikolai: 「Two weeks from now.」Aurora chuckled, radiating confidence. 「Alright, Samuels family! We are aura farming that day! We’re going to make headlines for every news station in Militia! Am I understood?!」The entire Samuels Family contingent was instantly pumped up. 「YAH!」
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