Pausing, Ned then asked quietly, “In that case, may I have the honor of your real name?”
Anyone could tell right away that Vicky was not Frank’s real name.
Frank frowned slightly when he saw Ned’s earnest gaze and eventually sighed. “Frank Lawrence.”
“Frank Lawrence?” Ned nodded solemnly then. “Well, it’s an honor to have a heart-to-heart with you, and I’d really like us to be friends. And thank you for saving me yesterday, or Pax would really have killed me right then and there.”
Ned then smiled exasperatedly. “To think that the gang I personally fostered would bite my hand instead.”
“You fostered them?” Frank raised a brow.
“Yes.” Ned nodded and looked around to ensure that there was no one eavesdropping before speaking under his breath, “See, the truth is that family is embroiled in a familial dispute that only escalated as time passed. Everyone is so hell bent on becoming the next of the family. It’s crazy.”
Ned then sighed. “My brother Yuri especially tried to kill me several times. That’s why I backed the Sunblazers and announced that I’m gay—it’s all self-preservation to deter him, or I’d be dead already.”
Frank appeared disappointed right then—it seems that the Jankos’ family dispute was way worse than the Lanes’… They were actually ready to kill their own brother!
Ned, who had been keeping watch all along, pressed Frank when he saw the look on his face, “Well, I’ve actually realized that the Sunblazers have never mattered to my brother… All the things I did were no more than petty struggles, and I’m just a clown in his eyes. It’s all conceit in the face of real power.”
He then leveled a determined look at Frank.
“So, you’re saying…?”
