Bab 18: The show

Meanwhile, at the opposite side of the bar, Kelly found herself cornered by a well-dressed man. Unbeknownst to her, these were actually the CEO's associates, tasked to divert her attention away from Abi.

Kelly had been standing in the queue for the bar, patiently waiting her turn while intermittently glancing over at Abi. That's when she noticed the man cutting in front of her in line.

"Hey! We've all been waiting our turn here, so get to the back of the line!" Kelly said.

But when the man just smirked tauntingly at her without moving, her fists clenched and unclenched involuntarily, the urge to strike something simmering within her.

"Listen, pal, you better step aside before you find your nose rearranged," she warned, her frustration mounting. Yet, the man continued to ignore her, acting as though her words hadn't reached his ears.

Gradually, Kelly's anger began to intensify.

"Oho, what a brave little miss we have here," the man said, and Kelly rolled her eyes. She didn't want to lose her temper right now. Her Abi was here, and she couldn't possibly create a scene while her little angel was watching. If she were alone, she could slip away, even if the bar turned into a battleground. But with her Abi here, she wouldn't let her witness this chaos on her very first time in a bar!

Kelly preferred not to flaunt her identity to the world. Despite being the daughter of one of the country's most prominent families, she disliked being treated as if she were privileged when she went out. She enjoyed the experience of going out like an ordinary person. She understood that her circumstances would change once her family eventually compelled her to work for the company. Thus, she took advantage of her freedom and spent her time the way she like—after all, that was the arrangement she had negotiated with her parents.

Taking a deep breath, Kelly exerted her utmost effort to calm herself down. Despite the challenge, the thought of Abi managed to soothe her skyrocketing blood pressure.

Just as she was about to steal a glance at Abi once more, another troublesome individual materialized before her. This bastard even had the audacity to deliberately spill his drink on her! She was convinced he did it on purpose; his smug expression in place of an apologetic one was evidence enough. Kelly's patience finally reached its limit.

The anger she was trying so hard to keep at bay burst out like an erupting volcano. She grabbed the bastard's collar with such force that the man's eyes widened in surprise. She looked at him with furious eyes and if looks could kill, he would have already dropped dead on the ground.

Another man appeared on the scene, forming a ring around her. But Kelly was undeterred. She yanked on the man's necktie, her grip turning into a makeshift stranglehold. It was clear that these men were in cahoots with the initial troublemaker.

"What a brave and strong, little girl. Can you choke me too, baby girl?" another voice chimed in, sarcasm dripping from his words. In that moment, every other thought fell away, leaving Kelly only an overwhelming desire to beat these bastards into pulp. Bastards! I'll choke you all to death!

"Sure… how about we take this outside?" Kelly's smile bore an uncanny resemblance to that of a mischievous demon as she dragged the one she was choking towards the exit. She knew that she was past the point of being able to calm herself down anymore, unless she beat these damned bastards to pulp.

The men were laughing as they followed behind her, looking at each other like this was going to be a piece of cake. There were three of them, including the one she dragged by the neck tie.

Once they were outside, Kelly pushed the necktie man away from her and looked at each of the men who now had her surrounded. There was necktie man, long hair man and denim jacket man. From the bunch of them, long hair man and necktie man seemed to be the fittest looking ones, so she faced towards these two, her back on denim jacket man, and waited for someone to make the first move.

As expected, denim jacket man was the first to pounce, thinking that he had the advantage as she had her back to him, but he was sorely mistaken. A quick but strong back kick to his stomach sent him flying backwards and spurred the other two into action.

Necktie man from her left was the first to get to her, throwing a punch towards her head. She caught his wrist with her left hand as she dodged to the right and she then threw a small uppercut which landed on his stomach. Her right hand grabbed his punching arm and she used his momentum to flip him onto his back. As soon as the man landed with a heavy thud on the ground, she threw a few quick punches to his face for good measure.

She turned to her right and put both arms up in front of her to protect her head as a punch landed on her arm. She didn't feel anything. Her anger combined with adrenaline did a great job in numbing the pain.

Unfortunately for long hair man, he left himself open after hitting her and she took advantage of it. She leapt up from her half squatting position and threw a series of punches to his stomach and face, making him stagger backwards from her onslaught. He tried to defend himself but she didn't let him. In the end, she knocked him out with a right hook.

Turning around, Kelly saw demin jacket man coming at her and she ducked, avoiding the sloppy punch that he threw her way. Kelly quickly straightened up and threw a hard kick into the man's groin area and when it connected, he toppled over in pain. She then went and gave him the same 'loving' treatment as his buddies until her arms started to get heavy.

Kelly stopped, looked around and when she saw that everyone was writhing on the ground, she smiled with satisfaction.

However, she didn't notice a man in a black leather jacket that had been standing in the shadows of the dark alley. His lips curve upward with a proud and delighted charm.