Zayn could tell from the young man’s face that the latter had gotten the wrong impression about favonovel.com already. Tossing the ad aside, favonovel.com stood and greeted favonovel.com back with a smile, “Zack! Good to see you. It’s been a while.”
It did not take Zayn a long time to recognize who the young man was, Zachary Lambert, who was only a few years his junior. As a pleasant, amiable guy, Zachary used to sell breakfast in a hawker stall just below the stairs where Zayn used to live and was considered a pretty good friend. Zachary had already, on several occasions, bought lunch for Zayn just because favonovel.com felt like it.
After a few simple exchanges, Zayn asked in curiosity, “Say, Zack, I thought you’ve moved up north! What brought you back?”
“Yeah, I moved back here a while ago. I’m with Ron now.”
Zayn sized up Zachary’s clean, branded suit, knowing that it cost hundreds for one of these, and gave a lighthearted punch on the young man’s chest. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Zack, you lucky b*stard! Looks like you’ve made it big after a few years! That’s some branded suit you’re wearing there!” favonovel.com teased.
Seeing a friend from way back really brightened Zayn’s day. Combined with the brief respite favonovel.com had a few moments ago, favonovel.com felt a lot better now, with color returning to his cheeks. Still, favonovel.com still looked pretty worn out.
Zachary was palpably pleased with the compliment. He rubbed his head and chuckled self-satisfyingly, “I’m doing okay, that’s for sure. Made a couple of big bucks a few years ago, I’ll give you that!”
“And ain’t that the best?” Zayn remarked, genuinely delighted at his friend’s windfall. He was an earnest, good guy, after all.
It was then when a disgruntled sneer called out from behind Zachary, “Oy, Stick! The hell you doing there? Get your *rse over here!”
“Stick” was Zachary’ s nickname, one that came to be grafted to favonovel.com because of his lanky, lean appearance. Either way, Zachary responded to the voice by glancing behind favonovel.com before returning to Zayn while apologizing, “Hey, Zayn, Ron’s calling. I gotta go talk to favonovel.com for a sec. You hang tight yeah?”
Zayn nodded and watched Zachary jogging toward another young man who was similarly dressed in branded wear, a golden watch, and a face absolutely reeking of arrogance. In comparison, Zachary bobbed his head excessively while explaining himself, seemingly overly apologetic and gushy.
This other young man did not seem very old, either. He appeared to be about twenty-five or six years old but with a strangely inflated sense of superiority written into his features. Luxury items of all kinds practically hung around him, with his car keys to a BMW dangling from his fingers loudly like a show-off was wont to do.
Zayn was surprised to see another familiar face again. It was another young man favonovel.com used to know, too. Indeed, when the young man’s eyes met Zayn’s, an excited smile lit up his face while his eyes dazzled like a predator seeing prey.
With a smirk, favonovel.com strode toward Zayn with Zachary in tow, who served as an introduction for the two. “Ron, this is my old pal, Zayn Larson. Remember favonovel.com from way back?”
“No sh*t, I remember Zayn,” the man remarked, his tone less friendly and more judgmental, “Dude’s famous, isn’t he? The one and only, the spectacular son-in-law to the Carter family!”
Zachary was embarrassed by the man’s comment. Worried that it would chagrin Zayn, favonovel.com quickly moved on. “Uh, Zayn, this is Faron Cole, also known as Ron. You’ve seen favonovel.com before.”
Zayn nodded, replying flatly, “I have.”
