his head where he bumped into that
girl. Victor remembered that underneath her sweat shirt, that girl
was wearing a sports bra. And when Archer came to pick her up, Victor
noticed that he was wearing sports shoes.
“ So
they were there doing something sporty.. what were they doing there?
Gym??” Victor was talking aloud to himself and this was
freaking out the people sitting around him, “Think you idiot,
think!” he yelled at himself, pinching his forehead.
Quickly he
started typing in his laptop. He searched for any place around his
location where people could go for fitness activities. The results
came out with three locations —
The Rush
— an adventure club
Max Gym
— a simple gym, and
Rick’s
Dojo — a martial arts school
“ I
need to check these out,” he said packing his laptop back in
the bag. People were relieved as he left.
Victor first
reached Max Gym. He went to the reception and showed Archer’s
old picture on his phone, “Hi, I am looking for this person.
Does he come to your gym?”
The
receptionist was taken aback by Victor’s in your face attitude.
She looked at the picture and then at Victor. “I am sorry but
who are you?”
“ You
have not seen him here?” Victor shoved the picture in her face
again.
“ Noo!
And please stop trying to reach over the counter,” she warned
Victor.
Victor did
not want to waste his time there and so he walked out. Next stop —
Rick’s Dojo. As he walked inside, he only saw little kids
training in the dojo. A scrawny man with a black belt and karate
outfit came up to him with a big smile, “Welcome to Rick’s
Dojo, May I help you?”
Victory
looked around with amazement. “I don't think so!” he said
and left quickly.
Minutes
later, he was standing at the reception of The Rush. “Hi, I am
looking for this person. Does he come to your gym?” Victor
repeated the same question.
The
receptionist looked at the picture and replied, “We are an
adventure club and not a gym. And we do not share the details of our
customers with general public.”
A big smile
appeared on Victor’s face, “That's all I wanted to know!”
Victor
pocketed his phone and left. Now he started hanging outside The Rush,
every day of the week around the time he bumped into Vera. The
weekdays did not yield any result, but on Saturday, he hit jackpot.
“ Oh
yeah!” he cried with joy as he saw Archer and Vera entering the
club. Quickly he snapped a few pictures of them and noted the time in
his small journal.
“ I
got you Billionaire!” Victor was really happy.
Chapter 5
Vera and Archer were
making regular appearances at The Rush. Together, they observed each
other’s climbing techniques and improved themselves. Unaware of
being stalked by a sociopath with a high end camera, both of them had
grown really fond of each other.
“ Hey,
can I ask you something?” Archer said with a hesitant smile.
Vera’s gaze told her that she was waiting for his question.
“Would you like to go out with me?”
“ Aren’t
we out right now?” Vera knew what Archer meant, but she decided
to have a little fun with it. Archer was an expert at sarcasm and he
instantly picked up what Vera was doing.
“ Let
me take you out on a dinner. A proper dinner!” Archer did not
beat around the bush this time.
Vera wanted to say yes,
but her last date flashed before her eyes. She was not sure whether
her mother will unintentionally ruin this date or not. But she did
not want to let this opportunity go. “Can I think about it?”
she asked.
Archer was not expecting
anything other than a yes, and so he was a little surprised.
“ Of
course!” he said while wondering what could have possibly made
Vera have second thoughts about a date.
That day both of them
did not talk much like usual and left the Club a little early. Victor
noticed this sudden deviation and followed Vera like he did every
week. By now, he knew where Vera lived and worked. He was collecting
enough juice to make a
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