Chapter 336 - Understanding - Backstory (2/2)

”Can we just skip the feast and I take you here right now?” I said as I kissed her.

”Hmm? I thought you said you were sore?” Kaley replied while raising an eyebrow.

”Well, I'm hard too.” I cheekily said.

”Oh god! Hahahaha!” Kaley started laughing but she leaned over to me.

We were hugging each other when we heard a knock on the door. Kaley just mouthed 'later' before she took my hand and we opened the door.

We were greeted by a butler and he made a small bow before guiding us to their dining area. Several round tables were present with fancy decorations. Everyone was standing by the side of the tables though a few chairs were placed near the walls. We saw that Tatiana, Cynthia, Ilya, and Irene were already there with the other guests like Ben and Jerry. Tatiana and Ilya were looking so uncomfortable and the same could be said for Irene. Cynthia was hiding her phone underneath the table and the other guests were just simply chattering with each other. Jared and the rest of our group were outside in the yard partying and the ones invited to this dining area were the ones Mr. Cuervo requested personally.

We were guided to our spot and the only ones not present were Mr. Cuervo and his wife. A few servants were approaching the other guests as if they were taking their orders. They finally approached us and they started asking us for our drink of choice and it felt like they have everything. Kaley chose for us and Cynthia immediately tried to get my attention.

”Hey! You two look great!” Cynthia tapped me.

”Thanks, you too. Tell me, how hard was it to convince Tatiana to wear a dress?” I chuckled when I heard Tatiana groan.

”Ugh! I had to made a lot of promises just for her to agree! Did you know...” Cynthia started telling me her trials and tribulations while Kaley and I started laughing.

”How about you Ilya?” I tried to get his attention.

Ilya kept on adjusting his tie and he can't seem to find the right way to lean on the table.

”Hey coach, can I just go outside? I really hate fancy gatherings like these...” Ilya whispered to me.

”Me too bud but we have to power through this.” I whispered as well.

”This is harder than the matches. We didn't even get to fight!” Ilya asked for a drink.

”Mr. Cuervo has a gym downstairs. You could ask to use it after this?” Cynthia added.

”He does? Now we're talking.” Ilya became energized.

”Uhh, no we're not. I'm injured.” I broke his bubble.

”What?! What happened?” Ilya was upset.

”Kaley happened. If you managed to receive more than five kicks from her, I'll just admit that you're better than me, is that okay?” I lied so Kaley could practice with him. Cynthia and Tatiana just smiled when Ilya immediately agreed.

”I'll receive ten to prove a point.” Ilya muttered.

”Your funeral.” I thought to myself.

We continued on talking to pass the time and we even mingled with some of the guests. We found out that some of them were past winners and they were simply invited back just to watch the games. I received a few praises and I managed to fish out a little information while we're talking with them. I found out about their general location and their situation in this apocalypse. I still didn't divulge that we're looking for the people that killed Lester's relatives since I was still making sure that they were not the ones who did it themselves. I was vague as possible and I was slowly anchoring the conversation to that place to get some sort of reaction.

In the end, still no clue.

I then told Ilya to tell me if he could recognize some of them but so far, they were all unfamiliar to him. Same as earlier, we didn't tell them that we're looking for two more members of Tatiana's team because they'll immediately know that we were the ones sending out feelers every single day. However, what I mentioned was that we've been hearing the feelers ourselves and we were trying to keep an eye out. Things just got a bit dicey when they asked about Ilya and Tatiana because they've been calling Ilya 'Vladimir' and if that wasn't sounding Russian, nothing would. Even Tatiana's name was a common Russian name and it would be difficult to get through that hurdle.

We managed to lie our way through by saying that Ilya used to an MMA fighter abroad. He retired because he was diagnosed with being punch drunk so he used all his money to buy land here and even managed to score a local wife. The lie was perfect because he won several matches, tanned all over because of daily farm-work, and Irene told them about his wife.

Tatiana's 'backstory' was a little~ different.

”I'm a mail-order bride.” Tatiana confidently said.