Defecting wasn't working out so far for the restless thug as he noted that the back alleys were beginning to resemble a maze; and, knowing that the three henchmen chasing him had split up, was enough to determine that Hui’s afternoon was turning into the perfect concoction of a sh*tshow. Although he wasn’t a fan of running, or really anything one would deem as “exercise,” Hui effortlessly sprinted throughout the concrete jungle, followed by the haunting sound of his own panting. When you want something fear and adrenaline take over and Hui wanted nothing more than to escape this city. He wanted to start fresh.

“Honcho just wants to talk to you, kid!” River called, the clear lie mixing beautifully with the acoustics of the dirty alleyway.

“You’ll be dead if you keep running, Picker!” Lighter croaked, cackles following soon after his threat. Hui knew after three years with these men that they would love nothing more than to skin him alive. As the muscles of the group, it wasn’t surprising to Hui that they sometimes grew tired of dirtying their hands and wanted to learn a trick or two from Honcho’s favorite little pickpocket.

As he turned the corner and nearly ran into a misplaced hand cart, Hui felt his heart drop deep in his chest. In front of him, confidently chuckling to themselves, stood River and Lighter. They walked toward him, stretching their limbs preparing to properly relay the boss’ “message.”

Hui turned to run back the way he came, but the third henchman, Rowdy, was already waiting eagerly at the entrance of that very Alley. Hui knew that this was one of those times where you just had to take the boss’ beating and hope to God you’d still have money for food that night, but he wasn’t planning on letting these poor excuses for henchmen return to The House unscathed.

Hui looked up at the clear sky, and let out a breathy laugh. If all had gone well, he would have been at least two hours out of the city walls by now. If, of course. Ruffling his blonde hair, he could feel the scum of the city gelling it stiff. “C’mon,” he gasped as he hunched over, his body beginning to ache from the sudden excessive exercise. Hui waved the three men on as they approached him. “Let’s make this worth it, alright? Just don’t ruin my shirt.”       

River was the first one to swing, knocking Hui back as the young boy clenched his jaw. He felt the bruise forming immediately, already predicting that it would show its face by the end of the hour. “If you take money from Honcho again,” River grunted, as he held Hui up against the wall, “he wants you to know that there is no way you’ll ever leave this city.” He stepped back to let Lighter knee Hui in the stomach and watched with his arms crossed over his chest as the blonde doubled over. “Of course, though, he wants you to know that you could leave in a body bag if you so choose.”

Rowdy pushed Hui back against the wall and threw punch after punch across the pickpocket’s face. The cuts began to form as the Boss’s message left Lighter’s lips.

“Honcho will be at The House tonight to oversee an incoming shipment from our cousin crew. He said if you want to get back into his favor and into H you’ll need to either get back the money you took—with interest—or lose ties with the gang. You’d become a boy with a target on his back the rest of your days in this city. It wouldn’t even take till nightfall.” He kicked Hui’s knee, and the young boy cried out. He slid down the wall and rested his back against a pile of garbage bags that molded to his figure as he leaned against them. So much for keeping his poker face, he thought. “Knowing you,” Lighter continued, “you’ll come whimpering back seeing as how Honcho is practically your mama in this sh*thole of a city. He has a job just for you—a way to get the money back and some faith from the big man.”

Rowdy tossed a crumpled piece of paper onto Hui’s lap and smirked down at the young boy. “Apparently one of the sugar daddies got to thinking that it was a good idea to get some of his girls and leave the city. As if he couldn’t have made a worse decision the idiot even decided to steal Honcho’s pretty portion of one million from the girls’ earnings and used it to give them a car as a present.”

“If you go to this club tonight, the two escorts should be yakking it up at the bar waiting for the ‘all clear’ from their papa.” Lighter spat. With a shrug, he added, “You get their car keys, you get what is now Honcho’s car. You get the boss’ car, you get Honcho’s trust back—at least a little bit of it. You can build that trust back up, though, right champ?” He leaned over and tussled Hui’s hair.

“You have until midnight to get the keys, get the car, and bring it back to The House.” River nodded at him as he stepped back to leave. “You do that, and Honcho says you’ll be close to paying back that damn 10K you stole from him.”

The three turned from Hui and began walking down one of the many legs of the concrete maze. Though they were out of sight, Hui could faintly hear Rowdy joking to the others.

“10K, what an idiot! He thinks he could ditch both The House and get out of the city with that much?” The brute laughed as the thoughts grew in his small mind, “And he still thinks he’d have enough to start his image over! Give me a break!”

"I just love that he thought 5k was enough to keep Ajax quiet on the border!" Lighter added, their laughs growing.

As the laughter faded away, though, Hui sat dejected amongst the trash. He rubbed his porcelain face and winced at the cut on the bridge of his crinkled nose. Staring down at the piece of paper in his bruising hand the novice thug couldn’t help but reminisce over his past few years working alongside those same men who had just threatened him. How funny it is, he thought, that the world can bring you to points such as this one, when all you wanted starting out was to live an untainted life.