Chapter Ten

Gulf along with his brothers and Lia, were getting impatient waiting for Zee and Saint. 

"Tae,Tha, wanna bet on something?" Gulf asked looking towards the entrance. 

The others immediately looked at him anticipating what bet he was talking about. 

Tae and Thanit nodded in unison as a response. 

"10,000 bucks each, that they'll walk in holding hands and puffy lips." Gulf said smirking. 

"That's difficult since I somehow feel the same but, I don't think they'll take it that far." Thanit said contemplating, while the others had no idea at all.

"So? What are you guys gonna choose?" Gulf said looking at his brothers.

"I'm with Gulf at this." Nine said smirking since he knew his best friend as much as Gulf did. 

Gulf looked at Nine and smirked while bumping their fists together. 

"So are the rest of you on the other side?" Nine asked. 

"Zee is shy so I really don't know but yeah I'll be against." New said, while Tae and Thanit second that and all the others looked at Gun and Pavel. 

They both looked at each other and shook their heads. "I ain't betting on shit I have no clue about. I'd rather waste my money on my heavenly chicken nuggets." Pavel said drooling over the thought of chicken nuggets. 

"I second that." Gun added. 

"Chickens!" The five of them exclaimed in unison, making both of them roll their eyes. 

Lia had fallen asleep on the way as she had been tired playing till late night and waking up early. 

Gulf had 15 more minutes in his hands as the competition had been delayed due to the late arrival of the sponsors.

They waited for almost 5 minutes for Zee and Saint while placing a bet on them.

They all turned their heads towards the entrance waiting for them to arrive and they finally did. 

Gulf and Nine grinned and high-fived each other and turned to look at their elder brothers faces. The look of defeat lingered on their faces. 

Now turning back to the two. What else can we say? As Gulf had predicted, they came hand in hand clinging onto each other. Oh, and not to mention those red puffy lips which indicated they had been busy sucking each other's souls out. 

"And there goes your 30,000 bucks." Gulf said laughing cynically. 

Zee and Saint looked at each other in confusion for a moment before Zee's eyes widened. 

"Oh no. Don't tell me you bet on us?" Zee asked looking at his smirking brothers.

"Oh yes, we did and this time we went for 10,000 bucks each." Nine stated smirking. 

Zee just widened his eyes and this time Saint did too. "What...what bet?" Saint asked looking at Gulf who'd been trying his best to hold his laughter. 

"Well, Gulf placed the bet that you'd be walking in holding hands and with you know, puffy red lips." Tae said bursting into laughter while the others except Zee and Saint joined into the laughter fit as well. 

Saint and Zee immediately went beet red at the information and a second later, Gulf earned death glares from Saint. 

"But, in amazed at the accurate guess you made. I am curious you know as to how did you know." Thanit asked Gulf. 

Gulf and Nine looked at each other, trying hard to suppress their laughter. "Well, we will keep that for sometime later when all of us gather together again since I've got a competition to go to in a few minutes." Gulf said while the others nodded.

After a few moments, Gulf entered the locker room and changed into his long sleeve T-Shirt along with black jeans and the navy blue sneakers that he always wore for shooting. He picked up his shooting glasses and his headgears, all ready and set for the competition. He looked at his phone one last time before heading to the range.

When he was about to close his locker, his phone chimed and he immediately took it out and smiled reading the content.

Mr. Hotness🔥

All the best cuteness. Do well cause I'll be watching you. 😘

Gulf smiled at that message, but stopped for a moment. Watching me? He? Here? Oh my god! Gulf was internally screaming when he heard this and it made him want to win more, since Mew told him that he'd be getting a reward if he won.

As he was about to get out of the locker room, a guy bumped into him from behind. The guy stopped for a moment and turned back. "I won't be going easy on you this time." He said smirking.

"Well, it's good to see you and I genuinely hope you don't since it won't be fun to win easily." Gulf added winking at the guy and leaving him all alone, fuming in anger. 

"Hey bud! Why are you so red? Are you sick?" Mew asked as he entered the locker room just moments after Gulf left.

"No! I'm pissed!" Joong retorted.

"Huh?" Mew asked genuinely confused. 

"I guess it's that guy you're jealous of. Am I right?" Off asked as he entered inside the room and Joong just nodded as a response. 

"Care to tell me what's happening?" Mew asked looking at Off and then at Joong. 

Off just nodded. "I'll explain to you later. Let him go since it's almost time." Off told Mew. 

"Buddy! Give it your all. We're rooting for you here." Off said side hugging his baby brother, followed by Mew.

"I'm not gonna loose this time to him." Joong mumbled as he went out the room.

"What's with him?" Mew asked Off who just shook his head. "Come here you curious cat, let me tell you cause only then you'll be at peace." Off said dragging Mew to the VVIP area. 

To their surprise, Gulf's whole family were there along with another cute boy, whom Mew didn't recognize. Mew went towards them and they too were surprised seeing him present there.

"What are you doing here? Don't tell me you came to see Gulf?" Tae asked.

"Umm..yes and no." Mew replied while Off eyed him curiously. 

"Huh?" Thanit said confused at the answer. 

"Well, my little brother is competing and I came to see him compete and you know...Gulf as well." He said the last sentence a bit softly. 

Tae and Thanit looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Well do introduce your little brother to us after the game." Tae said patting Mew's back. 

Mew greeted each one of them and stopped when Gun turned to ask him something. "Who might that guy be if I may ask?" Gun said pointing at Off with his chin. 

"Oh! I completely forgot. He's Off. My elder twin." Mew said introducing Off to them. 

Gun nodded and turned to look at Off and their gazes met for a few seconds, before they turned their heads away. 

Mew turned to Zee and greeted him and looked at Saint who realised that Mew wasn't familiar with him and he decided to introduce himself. 

"Oh! How stupid of me. I am Saint, Nine's and Gulf's best friend." Saint said bowing down to Mew.

"And my boyfriend." Zee stated firmly and Saint turned to Zee with widened eyes. 

The others except Nine gasped at the information. "I am so needing details big bro." Pavel said nudging Zee. 

"Finally." Tae and Tha said grinning and Saint looked at Zee questioningly and Zee just nodded, indicating that it was a talk for another day. 

Mew then turned to his seat and asked Off to tell him was was wrong with Joong and after knowing the story, he just said one sentence. "He had a girlfriend and I didn't even know." He stated sadly. "Well now you do." Off said patting his back. 

Lia came towards Mew and stood Infront of her with her extending her arms. "Why are you sad, Uncle Handsome?" Lia said pouting. 

Mew looked at her outstreatched arms and lifted her quickly, placing her to sit on his lap sideways. "I'm not sad princess. I am fine. See?" Mew said flashing his million dollar smile, which made Lia smile as well.

Off on the other hand never saw his brother interact with anyone else this way and the scene infront of him melted his heart. His usually cold and stern brother being all smiles and happy. 

Lia spotted Off staring at Mew and she frowned. "Bad Uncle! You don't stare at people like that." Lia said frowning, which made Off smile. She's cute. "Well, it's not wrong to stare at your own brother I guess." Off stated looking through the glass window. 

Lia stared at Off for a moment and pulled the hem of his shirt lightly. Off looked down to see her clutching on his shirt and pouting. Well he wasn't exactly a fan of babies and didn't know how to deal with them so, he was clueless as what or how to react to the situation.

He ignored it and Lia pulled his shirt lightly once again. He looked at her for a moment and spoke. "Is something wrong, young lady?" Off stated politely. Lia just shook her head and extended her arms towards him. He looked confused for a moment not knowing what to do, then he remembered Mew lifting her up and he did the same, though he didn't know why the little girl wanted him to hold her. 

He picked her up and made her sit on his lap sideways and she seemed very happy for what? Nobody knows. 

"Oh god! That's new. She never gets this comfortable with someone she just met. Guess my daughter likes you a lot." Thanit said smiling at Off. 

"I guess so." Off said smiling awkwardly. 

"I'm just not good with little kids." Off added scratching his non itchy head. 

"Our Lia will be of great help then." Tae responded and Off just smiled. 

Lia had been snuggling in Off's arms, which she found oddly comforting and the sight made Off smile. He didn't know why but it felt nice having a baby snuggle close to him. Children weren't exactly a fan of him since he wasn't the friendly and approchable type though he was loving and kind, his lack of communication and his strong looks made people misunderdtand him.

They turned their attention towards the grand TV set that had been placed in the room for them to watch along with the big glass window from where they could see the competition being held below them. It was an outdoor shooting competition, with lots of crowd gathered to see the competition being held.

They could see Gulf and Joong at their respective places. Joong was stationed at booth number 3 while Gulf was at 5. 

Gulf turned to look at Joong and smirked while Joong was pissed. He hated Gulf solely because Gulf was the only person who was able to mock him and insult him at least that's what he thought, but for Gulf it was a different case. He'd simply call it as "showing a brat where he belongs." He behaved that way with Joong because he hated how arrogant and bratty that kid was. He hated his over the top attitude and the way he looked down on others. It was enough to rile Gulf up and so, he was there challenging him openly for a fight. 

The game was on the bullseye shooting category, including handgun shooting.

It was an outdoor one hand competition of a maximum score of 900. 

They were to use a single handgun for all the three rounds. The shooters must fire the pistol one-handed at 6-and 8-inch bullseye targets placed 25 and 50 yards downrange respectively.

Gulf used a SIG Sauer P320 Nitron Full-Size as his handgun, whereas Joong chose a Glock G34 Gen5 as his. 

The bullseye diameter was 8 inches (20 cm). It has 4 strings of rapid fire. Each string consists of 5 shots in 10 seconds at 25 yards. The rapid fire targets have only the 9, 10 and X rings inside the black circle and each shot scores a maximum of 10 points. 

The first round was the rapid fire shooting round. They had 10 seconds for each 4 rounds to shoot 5 shots towards the bullseye, at a distance of 25 yards (23m). 

They positioned themselves and the gun with one hand towards the target and at the sound of the whistle, all of them shot continuously. 5 shots in 10 seconds for the first round.

Gulf had managed to shoot at ring "X" three times and at ring "10" the other two times. 

Whereas, Joong had managed to shoot four times at ring "X" and one time at ring "9". He looked over at Gulf hoping to see a pissed face, but Gulf instead was impressed. 

You did keep your word of not going easy on me. I like it. Gulf thought to himself. 

At the second round however, Gulf went all out on him, hitting the "X" ring all five times and Joong had hit the "X" ring thrice and the ring "10" twice. 

Damnit! Was he going easy on me the first time? He definitely is way too good to be shooting at such a distance with proper accuracy. Joong thought to himself as he was indeed awestruck by his polished skills, his hatered kept aside.

After the completion of 4 rounds of rapid fire, Gulf had a score of 180/200 while Joong had a score of 170/200. 

They moved to the second and third phases of the competition gradually and after completion of all the rounds, the competition came to an end. All the competitors shook each others hands and when Gulf and Joong came face to face, Gulf shook Joong's hand enthusiastically and whispered, "You were quite good today and I am impressed that you kept your word of not going easy on me." He said and patted Joong's back softly. 

Joong felt weird. He liked being complemented by Gulf and it was weird to him since he thought Gulf would mock him but he didn't and instead praised him. That might have worked a little bit and had made him hate Gulf a little less. Maybe? 

The results were announced shortly and as expected, Gulf won the match with a point of 870/900 while Joong stood second at 865/900. A close win. Gulf was impressed since Joong had been better at his skills since the last time they met and he had fun competing side by side with him.

Though he was a brat, he was good at what he did and Gulf liked that one thing about him.

After receiving the medals and certificates, they headed towards their locker room to get changed.

They had texted their families that they'd be coming up after getting changed and told them to wait. 

A few moments later, they came back fresh and changed. They grabbed their belongings and headed towards where their respective families were. Joong had left first, followed by Gulf.

They had no idea that they were apparently heading towards the same destination. The VVIP room, where God knows what would be happening in a few moments.