Rising Against Fate

The car stopped in front of Razak's house. It was a two-story house that could be considered quite big for just a teen to live. The outside design was plain with nothing eye-catching except the tall concrete fences.

Razak got out of the car first and took out the wheelchair from its trunk. He then walked to Alice's side and opened her door. Like last time, she was having a hard time getting out, so he caught her arms and helped her get in the wheelchair.

"It's so big, don't you feel lonely staying here all by yourself?"

"No, I am used to staying alone."

That was an honest response from Razak, but for obvious reasons, it made Alice feel sad. To her, even though her brother was kind, hardworking, smart, and an ideal person in every regard, she couldn't shake off the feeling that deep down he always felt lonely. He could get along with people of almost every field and experience, but she always knew that there was no one with whom he could share his feelings, not even her.

This feeling once bugged her so much that she even went to the length of investigating his childhood. And what she came across brought tears to her eyes. Even though she knew everything about his childhood, after knowing what he had to go through, she couldn't bring out the topic herself. Neither did Razak ever say anything about his past. So, despite the urge to talk and console him so that he could let go of the past and be happy at the present, she never got an opportunity to get past of what she considered an impregnable fort of fake emotions suppressing the real one.

Sam was programmed to send a pop-up whenever Razak is in front of the gate. After Razak responded to the pop-up in his MM, Sam opened the gate.

Alice slowly rode the wheelchair inside while Razak walked next to her.

Unlike the Villa, this house wasn't designed to suit the movement of her wheelchair, so this restricted her from going upstairs.

The house was spacious. But even with this many things for a single person to take care of, it was organized and clean. Even though the house-bots were the ones who played the greatest role in this maintenance, she couldn't help but admire her brother by thinking, 'as expected of my brother.'

Alice was looking at the pictures and paintings on the walls. Razak wasn't necessarily interested in those, but those were the things that were there when he moved in, so he decided to let them be.

"This way is the sitting room."

After Razak said that, both of them slowly went towards the sitting room. The sitting room was spacious with wooden flooring. There was a sofa set at the center and a screen on the wall in front of it. In a way, it looked like a perfect classical setup.

"You must be hungry, is there anything you like to eat?"

It was way past her usual lunchtime so she had started feeling hungry at this point. Even though she wasn't showing it, this journey was a lot tiring for her.

"You are also having lunch with me, right? So, I will eat whatever you decide to eat."

"Then Sam, prepare pasta with tuna and avocado."

"It will be ready soon, sir."

There was a moment of silence as the food was being prepared. Alice was hungry so she didn't speak anything and just kept on looking at the paintings on the wall. Meanwhile, Razak checked the condition of the white car.

The white car had reached the villa which supported the fact that the attacks were done just to judge their strength.

Considering the fact that Villous had already started collecting allies and supporters for the election, it wasn't surprising that the news reached the ears of people who don't want to see him rise up.

Even though the men who attacked them were just hired criminals, the people facilitating them were definitely influential.

Normally, no one would go to this length just to test someone's strength. That is, if it was an individual or an organization. This all pointed towards the fact that a clan was involved, or…

Razak sat on the sofa and leaned back. It wasn't usual to see him thinking this deep, so when Alice saw him do that, she smiled. Razak always seemed somewhat different than normal, so whenever she used to see him act like a normal person, she couldn't help but be a little happy.

Swapping men wasn't a big deal, but the way they used the road maintenance sign and closed a lane in such a busy highway was.

'Who could be behind all this?' Razak thought as he closed his eyes. He would have already reached some kind of conclusion, but there were far too many variables in this equation.

The first and foremost being the fact that there were several other methods that could be used to close the road. Even if the other clans were involved, they would need to do that without being noticed, which was almost impossible.

And on top of that, there was always the option of breaking the road yourself and requesting a fix. Considering the fact that there were underground pipelines and tunnels under the road, this shouldn't be that hard of a task.

He opened his eyes and looked at Alice who was staring at him.

At this point, one thing was for certain though. Alice's life wasn't in an immediate threat. But he knew that it wouldn't be wise to tell her that now since the enemy's real motives were still unknown.

"Alice, when you return home don't stop the car anywhere. Only do that when you are at risk, okay?"

"Umhmm," Alice said with a nod.

"Sir, Miss, the lunch is ready."

After Sam said that, both of them went towards the kitchen. Even though the food wasn't according to Alice's preference, she ate it without complaints.

Right after they finished eating, Razak received the notification that the car that Villous sent was outside. Razak smiled when he saw the notification.

"Alice, Nia is here to pick you up."

"I knew that he would send her. She barely even talks to me."

"Yes, but she is reliable. And if you remember right, she was one of the masters who trained me, so I think it will be safe to go with her."

After Razak said that, both of them went outside. There, a woman who appeared to be in her early 30s was waiting for them.

"It's good to see that you are doing well, Nia."

"Good to see you too kido. I wish I could talk with you more, but I have a job to do."

After saying that, Nia caught Alice's shoulder and helped her get in. For a woman, she wasn't even as gentle as Razak.

"Okay, see you next time then."

"See you next time kido."

Nia then walked to the driver's seat. It looked like she was going to drive the car herself, which was what Razak expected from her.

Razak waved them goodbye when the car was about to leave, and after they left, he walked back inside his house.