Chapter 69 Realisations
While showering and thinking deeply to himself, there were two big things that he realised.
Firstly, his Gangster Instincts would become dull and less sensitive when his body was in a fatigued state or when he lost consciousness, and also wouldn\'t be as clear.
Upon falling asleep, he hadn\'t even noticed Achara giving him a blanket or pillow, and when she approached him in the morning, he couldn\'t even sense that she didn\'t have any malicious intentions.
Secondly, his memory and mind felt sharper than usual, or at least when it came to combat and the fights that he had seen.
In his sleep, he watched his three fights multiple times over and learnt from his mistakes and what he did well, and it was too clear and real to be a dream.
Which he attributed to the Martial Arts Talent that he had recently been rewarded by the system.
And going over everything that had happened last night, he confirmed to himself that his decision to get Karim to uproot the Wolf Gang\'s drug trade was the best plan of action that they had.
Going up against them directly would be suicide, and leaving the shower, he took off the plastic cover he had put over his cast so that it didn\'t get wet and looked at himself in the mirror.
Seeing how battered his body was, he couldn\'t help but shake his head, knowing that explaining it to his mother would be a hassle.
Especially with a broken wrist that was covered in a cast, which couldn\'t be concealed like the bruises and scars on his body.
While his face also had a few bruises and thankfully he didn\'t have a black eye or any other prominent bruising on his face, but it was enough to be noticeable.
Thinking of an excuse while getting changed, Xavier also decided that he needed a haircut with his hair started to get too long, as he joined Achara to eat at her table that had quite a lot of food prepared.
And as soon as he sat down, after waiting for him to join her for a quite a while, they both got stuck in and started stuffing their faces.
It wasn\'t long after until all the food had been devoured by the two of them, and she initially thought that she had made too much food, but it seemed she had underestimated how much the two of them could eat.
"I didn\'t think a girl like me could eat that much," she couldn\'t help but comment, before Xavier burst out into laughter.
"A girl? You\'re more frightening than most men," he teased before they started bickering once again.
But neither of them had the energy to continue for much longer, before Xavier asked her for his envelope so that he could count his money.
He eagerly began counting, and it was over 5000, and seeing how excited he had become, she couldn\'t help but shake her head.
It was quite a large sum, but not even to risk one\'s life for, and she didn\'t plan on fighting regularly at the Wild Dog Fight Club.
However, she could tell that Xavier wasn\'t thinking the same thing.
"What about you Achara? How much did you get paid?" he asked.
"And did you get paid in one-dollar bills? That\'s such a fat envelope."
She shook her head and showed that it was all hundred-dollar bills.
"Then just how much money is that?" he asked in amazement.
"I haven\'t counted properly yet, but it\'s around 40 grand," she answered before adding, "And it was all thanks to you."
Explaining how she had betted all her money on him, since the odds were so stacked up against him on all the matches, those that betted on Xavier made a killing, and one of them was Achara.
Xavier couldn\'t help but be amazed and annoyed with himself for not thinking about betting on himself for his matches.
"Damn it. I was confident I was going to win anyway, so I should\'ve bet on myself. But I\'ll do that next time."
Achara laughed seeing his frustration, but then said something that surprised him.
"Don\'t worry. I was planning on splitting it with you, and I was glad that you dragged me along with you. I opened a knot in my heart, and if it weren\'t for you, I wouldn\'t have been able to move on past that day or win any of the bets anyway," she said as she started to split the money.
"It\'s fine Achara, it\'s your money, so just keep it. And what\'s yours is mine anyway, because I\'m your boss," he said with an evil smile, but in actuality was grateful that she would be willing to do so.
She just smiled and didn\'t bother arguing with him.
"But can you do me one favour?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure, what is it?"
"Could you give Karim some money? The money I got is just enough to cover my expenses, and I\'ll pay you back after."
"There\'s no need. This is too much money for me to spend and I was planning on giving half of it to you, anyway. How much should I give him?"
"A couple hundred bucks should be enough, and tell him if he ever needs more, to just come to you. I\'m also planning on getting him to start to train with us, and maybe even get his little friends to train in our dojo as well."
"Obviously we\'d still charge them for our top-class training," he added shamelessly.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. Were you serious about getting Connor to fight in the Wild Dog Fight Club?" Achara asked, remembering Xavier\'s previous comment about another friend being more suitable for the name \'The Unstoppable Titan\'.
She liked the idea of the Unstoppable Trio, but she was doubtful that Connor was ready for it and also didn\'t want to drag him into it.
"Yes, what better way for him to get stronger and for us to build our strength and reputation? \'The Unstoppable Trio that never loses\' doesn\'t that sound cool? And I\'m sure with Connor\'s size, he\'ll be a fan-favourite, unlike me."
She couldn\'t argue with him there, but was still slightly worried.
"Relax. Not anytime soon, and I obviously won\'t force him to go. Once we train him and prepare him for it, it\'s the best way for him to progress and earn money until we are able to upscale the gang."
And after saying that, he thanked her for the food and clothes, before getting up to leave in a hurry despite the pain his entire body was in.
"Where you off to? Weren\'t we meant to hand out flyers and focus on the dojo today?"
Xavier had forgotten all about that, then took out his phone and called Karim.
He quickly picked up, from the sound of it, he was on his way out of school and it was around time for school to be finishing up.
"Yo, what\'s up, boss?"
"Boss? Just call me Xavier. And I\'ve got a job for you."
Hearing that, he paused for a moment and his close friends, who were listening in to the call, were worried he was going to ask them to do something crazy.
"What is it?" asked Karim, who Xavier could tell was hesitant just from his voice.
"Don\'t worry, it\'s something small. Just come with your little buddies, who are probably listening right now to this Muay Thai dojo. I\'ll send you the location. All you\'ll need to do is help out Achara, that woman you saw with me that day."
"Is that it?"
"Yeah, you\'ll be handing out flyers and doing whatever she says. Then later, you will receive some training."
"Oh, okay. We\'ll be there."
"Good, and she has the money you asked for, and make sure to train hard, otherwise..."
"Yeah, yeah. Don\'t worry boss," Karim stopped him before he even needed to make a threat and ended the call.
"That brat needs to be taught some manners," Xavier commented, annoyed that he had been hung up on, while Achara just laughed.
"By the way, I\'m fine with their help instead of yours, but where are you off to?" Achara asked, unable to hold back her curiosity, seeing how excited Xavier seemed to be.
"Oh... I\'m going to take my mother shopping for the first time and treat her, as well as pay our rent," he revealed, slightly embarrassedly.
She was surprised by his answer, and it explained why he was so happy to have earned the few thousand in a single night.
"Well, have fun then. And don\'t forget to buy me a gift as well for leaving me to work alone and train those guys alone," she said jokingly.
"Yeah, definitely," he responded sarcastically.
"And I\'ll be back to train with Connor tonight, so we can help you whip those kids into shape," he added before rushing off.
"Train?! Are you crazy?"
But he was already off and all she could do was chuckle to herself as she began clearing up the table.