I immediately bowed my head, "I am so sorry for-"
"Why are you apologizing? You are just a kid." He looked at me with a small smile, to then turn towards the man sleeping on his bed, with anger he said, "Aye yo, why am I hearing that you have been talking behind my back."
Hearing no response, he grabbed a pillow and threw it, hitting Brian dead in the face. "Don't act like you are sleeping, I know you aren't. You always pull that shit whenever you are caught doing something stupid. So wake up, before I whoop your ass awake."
Brian jolted up immediately, "You do know that I only woke up because you threw the pillow at me, right? So... what mistake did I make this time, did I deliver the package to wrong address or-"
"No, and you already know the reason but there is no point in mentioning it now," he sighed at the carefree expression on Brian's face.
"Pfft" Kid Brian snickered, which surprised me.
Antonio turned his attention to us, silencing kid Brian as he poorly attempted to hide his smile.
"Kids, you better not tell this to your family or brag to your friends, okay? Or the police officers will come for your cool Brother Ant and stupid Uncle and take us away."
He leaned closer.
"So if you wanna eat more like you did today tell no one, if you do that..." he slowly whispered, "I will give you chocolates."
Both kid Brian and I nodded, but kid Brian did it a bit more enthusiastically. I was just surprised, watching kid Brian smile, an actual smile.
'I-wait, did they do this comedy skit just to make us comfortable? It's obvious that Brian didn't plan for it, so Antonio is the one who started the play while Brian followed along.'
"What do you think about learning under him, Arwin?" Brian asked in his carefree tone, I had grown up with.
"I—Wait! What?" I immediately turned to Antonio, he winked at me in amusement.
This was going to fast for me.
"Now, now hold your horses. Kid, before I even teach you, answer me. Why should I even teach you anything?"
I looked at Brian in surprise, 'What the fuck Brian? You could have at least said something before you throw me in the pit, even a hint would have been good.'
'I—No, no think about the current situation, why should he teach me? This is the most basic question many protagonist get asked in stories, why would he- Wait, shouldn't I think of the opposite? I mean I have been going with his flow for all this while. So what can he offer? What?'
I knew he could hack and modify androids. He also had knowledge on repairing cars, not as valuable as IT skills but still a valuable skill to learn.
'Since Ambra won't pay for my education, I am pretty sure whatever I learn will be valuable enough on its own, I can always make money by repairing cars to fund my education. Okay, so he has money, customers, knowledge and valuable experience.'
I glanced at kid Brian, then towards Antonio's face, scrutinizing every detail, 'What should I say? I have nothing of value to offer. Well nothing to my name. Can I say, I self-learned basic programming on voice model for androids?'
'Nah, he would be better than me in that area. A thirst for knowledge? No, that's just something every student should have. I mean I can say, it's because he owes a favor to Brian- yeah no, Brian would kick me out himself. What can I offer-wait is this reverse psychology?'
"I am waiting for your answers, Arwin."
I looked up and then down again, thinking hard to come up with any appropriate answer 'Think Arwin, think. What shou-'
"You passed Arwin," Antonio said, I immediately looked up, seeing a smirk on his face.
"Huh? But why?"
"Well kid, that is your homework. And I want the answer when Brian brings you next time."
I nodded, feeling like I had lost somehow. I felt a palm on my back, as I turned to see kid Brian smiling, happy for me.
I faked a smile, still thinking about the question only to then remember, 'What about this kid here, I mean if I am taught by Antonio then this kid will be alon—No! Arwin, if you constantly think about others you will fall behind, and he is just a kid just because I am interested in programming doesn't necessarily mean he will be too. But I could convince Antonio to also accept him as a student.'
I scrutinized Antonio's face, as he turned his attention to me, "Thank you bro-Mr. Antonio for this valuable of-"
"Okay kid, I don't like the monotonous polite answers coming from a kid. Be happy, jump around, you may be smart for your age but you are still a kid. And call me Brother Ant or teacher, if you want, my student," He laughed seeing my expression.
I felt weirded out at the thought of calling someone "teacher" at my age but there are things a man has to do to survive.
I gave a nod, 'I guess, I will try to feel what kind of person he is before asking for anything.'
Both "brians" congratulated me, and we started to head home. By the time kid Brian got home, it was already 9 pm. Which was very fucking late for a 5 year old kid to get home, way past any curfew I knew.
"What are you so lost in thoughts? You know, if you don't feel like learning under him then you can just refuse. There is no need to feel pressure because of m-"
My head shot up looking at Brian, I almost shouted, "No! I really am interested, if he is the one who hacked Con then it would be great to learn under him and..."
I thought about after I had learned everything.
'When I am done learning, do I have to join their gang of sorts? Is Brian a recruiter or some sort. Because if that's true then the only one I can run to, will be the authorities and they definitely don't look kindly on criminals, but if I choose to stay. I might die somewhere with a knife in my guts by the enemy gang.'
Brian seemed to notice my expression as he replied, "Do you want me to ask Ant, if he would teach your friend as well."
My expression relaxed a bit, 'Wait, what does he mean by that?... Oh, he must be thinking that I was sad that Antonio didn't ask kid Brian to be his student as well, and as a kid I must have been hesitant to ask for my friend to be included.'
But it felt nice at gaining something I didn't know I needed, a guidance.
"Um, would you ask?" I looked up from my musing, facing him.
"Well I could, but would Brian even want that? Go ask him since he is your friend and if he says yes. Then good, I will do whatever it takes on my part."
I nodded, and exited the car. As he escorts me up in silence, by the time I was in front of Ambra's house, Brian rang the door bell only for Axel to open it. It seems that Ambra hadn't come back yet, so I waved goodbye.
"Good night, old man." I hesitated a bit but I was able to spill the words out of my mouth, "And thank you Brian, Thank you for everything."
I felt his warm hands on my head, as he gently patted me, "Don't thank me yet kid. Antonio may be like a cool and funny brother, but he is one stern teacher so don't embarrass me, okay?"
"Haha, I will definitely embarrass you."
He shook his head and mutters something only to then say, "Well good night kid. I will meet you tomorrow."
I watched him enter the elevator as I waved goodbye one last time before closing the door.
I was once again alone in this apartment.
Alone with Axel, but the silence today felt different tonight. Tomorrow, I had a teacher. For the first time since ever arriving here, I was looking forward to my future.
But first I needed to get some sleep.
***
Brian Noose
Sigh
Brian walks back to his car, his phone rings, "So, did you drop the kids?"
"Yeah. Look I was goi-"
"You were going to tell me when, Brian? You have got to learn to control your impulsive side, but I am going to let it slide this time."
"Sooo. Are you actually going to teach him?" Brian asks with hesitation.
"Why the hell not? He is a smart kid, smarter than when you were younger at least and a curious one at that. I don't know how you found a kid like him but I will check tomorrow whether he has dedication or not. Oh! and I would be carful what you talk in front him."
"Oh come on, is it about that again. Look I said sorry, oka-"
"No that's not where I am coming from but you owe me one for that, but did you notice when we talked about gang and authorities. He didn't question whether it was good or a bad thing, just whether they were caught or not."
"Oh come on, he was just curious."
"Well, Brian- I am talking about his friend not you, he seemed scared about authorities, which most kids are. But Arwin? He didn't care about whether it was morally right or wrong, he only seemed interested whether I could hack."
"And that, Brian is a dangerous sign."
Brian remains silent, as Antonio continues.
"You might want to teach him about boundaries early on.
"He's a kid."
"Exactly."
Brian grunts in acceptance.
"I also hope he learns when to stop and how to reassess his situation to not make an impulsive decision like you. You know Mark, he was also like him-"
"Don't you dare say that fuckers name. And don't compare him to Arwin, Arwin's a sweet kid. You may not know him, but I have been with him for 5 years and he is nothing like that piece of shit." Brian replies with hatred.
"I know Brian, I don't know many things about Arwin, but he doesn't know what's right from wrong. Then you to have teach him so he doesn't become—so he doesn't choose the wrong path in his life."
Brian lets out an audible sigh, he asks "So what did you actually call about? I know it isn't just about Arwin."
"Sigh Your next delivery, and it was also about Arwin. He will go far in life."
Brian begin to feel fatherly pride rise in him at that comment, "Of course he will go far. Once you teach him, I will send him away to a safer city to work in. Away from this hell hole of a city. But yeah, I guess I will come there and we can talk about the next parcel they want me to deliver."
"Oh, and get some beers on the way, I bought a movie to watch."
"Yeah, yeah I am heading over."
---
AN: The old ch "10" was posted on 31/12/2025. This is part 2.
AN: Well I guess this is it. This is the last chapter to be uploaded on 2025 before the new year.
I had planned to write chapters upon chapters on this story in 2025 but as you guys know, I failed miserably and wasted time. But you guys are not here to listen to me bitching about myself.
So, I want to say Thank you - oliviaxcomm for being the first commenter to encourage me and try to sell me Book cover made by you. from website Scribblehub on 7/Aug/2025
Darinflyhigh - For also trying to sell me Book cover made by you. from Website Royal Roads on 22/Aug/2025
Deusdamorte – For encouraging me to not stop and I hope you are currently reading from website Royal Roads on 7/sep/2025
jeyebhutto - For also encouraging me, that yes someone is reading this novel with such bad upload schedule and ask me about how I write from website ScribbleHub on 30/Nov/2025
This is it, and thank you to all unknown readers who have not posted any comments.
HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone. (2025 was a good year, not great. Wanna know why? cause 2026 will be the great one)