A few hours before
"Have you finished your practice?" Alice was surprised that Tommy ended the practice even earlier. Usually, Tommy would stay here for a longer time.
Tommy nodded his head. "Yeah, I need to go home."
In truth, he was just worried about his mother. This morning, he couldn’t find the trace of her in the house. From her mother usual activity, he knew that she rarely left the house aside from going to a pub or bar during noon to night.
It was useless to worry so much in the morning because it was possible for the woman to stay over in her lover’s house, so he decided to check on her again when he got home. For that reason, he chose to end the practice earlier.
He wanted to stay with Alice longer, but his worry got the better off him.
"I see. Take care of yourself," Alice smiled.
"You too," Tommy smiled back. "Be careful on your way home. It’s rather dangerous."
"Okay."
After bidding his farewell, Tommy made his way to his house. Along the way, he saw many other people looked at him with hungry eyes. He knew, they thought of him as easy prey.
’As Tommy, I look rather weak.’
As he made his way to the house, he saw his mother in the embrace of a man. He didn’t know who that man was as his mother always stayed with a different man every day. At this time, his worry was already ceased as he knew that his mother just stayed at another people’s place.
Not wanting to disturb her, Tommy leaned on a different building and waited patiently. This was the usual custom and the very reason he didn’t want to stay at home. His mother always spent the day in the bedroom and each time, he would see a different man walking out of the place. Most of them looked rich, which probably the reason his mother tried to get close to them.
After a few minutes, they were separated from each other. His mother cried and held onto the man’s clothes, but he shook his head. He raised his hand and pointed to the back. His mouth was talking something as Tommy’s mother’s face changed to be extremely pale.
She yelled hysterically and clutched the man’s clothes. Tears poured out from her eyes. This time, the man shoved her away. The force behind his push was quite big as the poor woman fell on the ground.
Seeing the completely different development than what he usually saw caused Tommy to be surprised. He couldn’t hear them from this distance, and he too didn’t have any interest to hear his mother begging other people. It was distasteful.
This time, Tommy chose to walk closer.
The group of men came forward and picked his mother up. Their movements were extremely forceful. The woman wailed so loudly that it caused many passersby to turn over. However, not a single one of them dared to move to help the poor woman.
In Black Street, they shouldn’t intervene in other people’s business if they didn’t want to die.
"What are you doing?" Tommy stepped in and pushed the man back. He shielded his mother while staring at them with raging eyes.
The man frowned. "Don’t interfere, young man. She steals a pricey bag of drugs from us, so we’re going to take her away."
Tommy’s face paled when he heard what his mother did. From a long time ago, he knew that his mother didn’t do any work and always searched for a rich man. However, this was the first time he heard about his mother stealing a drug.
"Do you have proof?" He asked through gritted teeth.
The man laughed. "Do you even need proof? Move aside, a wastrel like her is not worth your time."
Tommy stayed still and didn’t move. Even if she was someone like this, he never saw her as someone unworthy. No matter what, she is his mother. He couldn’t possibly leave her alone.
"Don’t bother with my mother!"
"Your mother? I see. No wonder that you’re this bad. A wastrel like you is truly befitting to be the son of this disgrace," the man laughed.
Hearing them cursing his mother, Tommy’s eyes narrowed. He admitted that she was not perfect and often caused him to feel pain. However, he couldn’t leave her alone.
"Men, beat them up. Show them what will happen when they steal from the Red Gang."
Red Gang? Tommy recognized this name as one of the biggest and most notorious gangs in Ryukalin Clan’s territory. They have several discords with the clan, but never gone too bad, which was the reason they still stood proudly here.
He knew they were powerful, but so what? He too was quite powerful.
The moment they attacked him, Tommy didn’t stay silent. He didn’t bring his sword with him, so he was fighting barehanded. Besides, there was simply no way he could take them out. They would surely recognize his fighting skill as Tom from Fiore Group.
He lunged forward and threw a barrage of punch and kicks. His movement seemed uneven, and it caused the men to fall into confusion. Still, their attack landed on his body too at times, making him wounded hard.
"You’re quite a problematic young man," the man took out a knife. "Let’s end this here quickly."
He thrust the knife towards Tommy. For Tommy, this degree of attack wouldn’t faze him in the slightest as he captured the man’s hand and twisted it. The knife that was directed to him was not heading to the man’s chest and pierced it deeply.
"Young Master!"
"You! You’ll pay for this!"
As the men scurried away, Tommy sighed. The gang would surely create more troubles for him in the future. If they were only at those guys level, he wouldn’t have any problem, but if they were stronger, he might have just courted death.
Tommy turned around and looked towards his mother. "Mother, are you alright? Do they hurt you?"
Tommy’s mother looked towards Tommy with reddened eyes. She yanked the hand that Tommy used to touch her.
"Don’t touch me with your filthy hand!"
Hearing the yell, he jerked his hand back. His mother still looked distraught with dirty clothes and so on. However, it was not the most important point as he realized that his mother was still staring at him with hatred.
In her eyes, all she could see was her husband. The man who left her alone with Tommy.
"Why do you come here? You should have never come! I never acknowledge you as my son!" the woman yelled hysterically.
"Mother...."
"Don’t call me ’mother’! I hate you!"
With that, the woman threw a stone towards Tommy. This time, he didn’t bother catching it. His eyes were looking towards his mother with a sad gaze. He missed the past when his mother still looked at him tenderly and cared for him. Unfortunately, it would never happen again.
From the day his father left them, his life has been filled with beating every single day. Even he was not sure how he managed to hold on and didn’t go crazy under the harsh beating his mother gave him.
"I’ll go away."
"Just go!" she threw more stones to Tommy as she cried loudly.
Seeing she was crying hysterically, Tommy walked back. His steps were heavy, but he knew that he didn’t have any other choice. He couldn’t change the past. He moved back to the dark alleyway and leaned back on the wall. His eyes were staring at the wall as his thoughts darted to his mother.
Even after all these times, he couldn’t bring himself to hate his mother. She might have treated him very badly, but he couldn’t change the fact that she is his mother. The same mother who used to care for him with affection.
DRAP! DRAP! DRAP!
"That b*tch brat is here!"
Tommy looked sideways and saw an army of men. His lips curled up. Was this his punishment for not taking care of his mother better? He didn’t know anymore. He couldn’t help her and only bore the brunt of her mistake.
Tommy clenched his fist. Right now, he had to fight if he wanted to stay alive because these people were ready to kill him.
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