Chapter 183: Escaping Eager Fans

“Ethan, this is literally just a normal city street,” Ruby chuckled, looking around at the cracked sidewalk and apartment buildings. “Trust me, even down here, people know my face. The second someone looks out their window—”

Right on queue, a second-story window creaked open right above us. An old lady in a nightgown peered out to throw out some trash, stopped dead in her tracks, and rubbed her eyes.

“OH MY GOD! IT’S RUBY!” the woman shrieked, her voice echoing down the quiet block. “RUBY IS ON MY STREET! JIMMY, GET THE CAMERA!”

“See?” Ruby smirked, turning to me with a triumphant grin. “Told ya—”

Instead of running, Ruby reflexively threw her chin up and started doing her bright, classic pop-star wave toward the window. “Hi! Thank you for the support!”

“Not here, Ruby!” I snapped, grabbing her wrist tightly before the old lady’s kids or half the neighborhood could swarm us.

“Hey! My fans—”

“We’re taking a private flight out of the state right now,” I said, yanking her along as window after window started popping open down the alley. “If we stay here for another two minutes, there’ll be fifty people with smartphones surrounding us.”

I pulled her hard, her heels clicking rapidly against the pavement as her massive purple gown billowed behind her. She stumbled slightly, bursting into a loud, frantic laugh as we ducked into a dark side alley just as the first apartment front door slammed open behind us.

“Where are we even flying to?!” Ruby gasped, breathless, clinging onto my arm as I dragged her away from the growing noise of shouting fans.

“Somewhere they can’t trace,” I replied, checking my watch. “Keep running, pop star.”

We rounded a sharp corner, expecting another empty alleyway—only to burst straight into a bustling, brightly lit night market packed with hundreds of people.

We both froze dead in our tracks.

Street food vendors were shouting, neon signs flickered above our heads, and everywhere you looked, people were glued to their phones or staring up at a massive digital billboard mounted on the side of a building.

The billboard was playing a breaking news broadcast on loop: “WHERE IS RUBY? POP STAR MYSTERIOUSLY FLEES MET GALA RED CARPET WITH UNKNOWN COMPANION.”

“Oh, bad…” Ruby whimpered under her breath, her hand tightening around mine until her knuckles turned white. “Ethan, this is very bad.”

People around us were already muttering, staring up at the screen.

“Did she really just walk out?”

“Who was that guy in the dark suit with her?”

“Back up. Slowly,” I muttered, carefully taking a step back into the shadow of the alley.

Ruby nodded rapidly, sliding behind my back to use my shoulder as a shield. “Right behind you…”

We were just two paces away from slipping back into the dark when a guy carrying a bag of takeout looked up from his phone, looked at me, and then glanced right at Ruby’s vibrant purple hair and her iconic, one-of-a-kind UncuT gown.

His eyes went wide as saucers. He dropped his food onto the pavement.

“HOLY SHIT! THAT’S RUBY!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, pointing straight at us.

In less than a second, the entire street went dead silent. Hundreds of heads snapped directly in our direction. Phones instantly whipped out, camera flashes started strobing, and a wave of pure, chaotic adrenaline rippled through the crowd as they realized the biggest pop star on the planet was standing right in front of them in an open alley.

“RUN!” I yelled, pulling her into a full sprint.

The crowd surged forward like a tidal wave, phones held high and shouting her name in a deafening frenzy.

I didn’t think twice. I grabbed Ruby’s wrist and bolted down the side street, her heavy purple dress rustling wildly with every frantic step. Right at the corner near a transit stop, my eyes locked onto a row of city rental bikes locked into a rack.

I slammed my foot onto the release lever of the nearest bike, yanked the handlebars, and popped it free from the dock.

“Get on!” I yelled, throwing my leg over the seat.

“On this?!” Ruby gasped, staring at the utility bike in total shock, but the sound of fifty screaming fans rounding the corner left her no choice.

She hiked up the long train of her expensive UncuT silk-velvet gown, tucked it tightly around her legs, and hopped onto the small metal rack over the back wheel, clinging firmly around my waist.

I stomped down hard on the pedals, pushing with all my strength. The city bike surged forward just as the first wave of fans reached the curb, their camera flashes strobing uselessly behind us.

We wove through tight alleys and zipped past baffled commuters, cold night air whipping through our hair.

Behind me, Ruby let out a loud, breathless burst of laughter. She leaned her head around my back, watching the crowd of starstruck fans fading into the distance, completely out of breath and bewildered.

“Look at their faces!” Ruby giggled wildly, her arms hugging me tight. “Did you see that guy who almost tripped over the trash can?! Oh my god, Ethan!”

I glanced back over my shoulder for a split second. The heavy burden she had been carrying all evening—the stress, the suffocating fame, the exhaustion—was completely gone from her eyes. She was just giggling, bright, and genuinely free.

A quiet, satisfied smile spread across my face as I kept pedaling into the dark, quiet streets, heading straight for the private airfield. For the first time in a long time, she was just being a normal girl.

My main focus was getting us to the hill train station up on the ridge. At this hour, the late-night routes were practically empty, making it the perfect getaway to slip into the next state without a paper trail.

Lady Luck was on our side. The thick crowd of fans thinned out as we pushed the city bike up the dark incline. By the time we pulled up to the local station, the platform was almost deserted.

I ditched the rental bike, grabbed Ruby’s hand, and rushed toward the turnstiles. The automated gates were silent, and there wasn’t a ticket attendant in sight. Without hesitating, I pulled her right over the barrier.

“Wait, did we just hop the turnstile?!” Ruby gasped, catching her breath as she smoothed down her purple dress. “Oh my god, Ethan, this is officially the first crime I’ve ever committed in my life!”

She paused for a second, tapped her chin thoughtfully, and then smirked. “Wait… actually, no it’s not. I stole a designer lip gloss in high school. Second crime.”

Before I could roast her, the quiet rumble of the hill train echoed down the tracks, and the metal doors slid open.

“Get in, second-time offender,” I chuckled, pulling her into the empty train car just as a small group of sharp-eyed fans burst onto the station platform, shouting her name and pointing frantically.

The heavy glass doors hissed shut right in their faces.

As the train jolted forward and began its smooth climb up the tracks toward the state line, Ruby pressed her hands against the window. She flashed her signature, brilliant pop-star smile and gave the stunned fans on the platform a dramatic, sweeping wave as we faded into the dark night sky.

She fell back into the plush train seat beside me, letting out a deep, giddy breath of pure freedom.

Power Ranking Weekly #10

Oct 13, 00:05 – Oct 18, 22:00

Mass release 50 chapters