To Be Wanted (Sequel to Unwanted)

Chapter 2

Lei's POV

Present Day (December 6, 2018)

Bronx, NY

  "The next time your punch doesn't land on the center of this pad I'm going to make you jump rope for 15 minutes straight! Got it?!" My trainer Jeremy said, obviously annoyed. I nodded my head in response to his statement. Although my body was in pain, I couldn't stop in the middle of my training session with him. Jeremy was one of the most sought after boxing trainers on the East Coast. "Let's do another three reps of 100 jabs. And if you execute each punch correctly, we can call it quits for today." He added while lifting up his hands that were cover in red Everlast punching pads. "Come on Lei. You've got this shit." I thought to myself. I had to get it right this time around because I didn't have it in me to jump rope. Ten minutes later I completed all three reps of jabs without any mistakes. I stepped out of the ring, sat in a nearby chair, and decided to look around the gym. All of the walls were decorated with pictures of famous boxers - Joe Louis, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Sugar Ray Leonard,Mike Tyson, and so many more I didn't know. Well, Mike Tyson had a whole wall dedicated to him since he is from New York. Some days I wake up still thinking I am in Shanghai instead of New York, but shit went down back at home and I decided to come here until things cool off. It wasn't all bad at least I get to be closer to her. 

Ty.

Flashback 

October 20, 2018

Beijing, China

Huang's warehouse 

  "Your reckless behavior has put us all at risk! Its like you want to draw attention to yourself and get killed by the Greeks!" Jian seethed while looking at me and Bo. Jian was the leader of the Huang clan. He is tall, thin man with a wispy beard and appears to be in his 50s. "Sorry. I know that nothing excuses my behavior, but..." I began to apologize. "Shut up.", he interrupted, "You're right,  there is nothing you can say to excuse your sorry ass behavior and fuck ups. Thanks to your wild and flashy party lifestyle over the past couple of months the Shanghai police are now conducting an investigation on you and Bo. If it wasn't for the fact I had some officers on my payroll,",  Jian pointed to a stocky guy dressed in a police uniform, "I wouldn't have known that you were being investigated." "We will stay under the radar for now on. We'll only do shipments and go to meetings. No more partying. We won't draw anymore attention to ourselves that could affect your business." Bo promised. "You're damn straight you won't draw anymore attention to us because I am shipping both of you off to the States until everything cools off. I can't risk anymore mistakes." Jian said in a somber voice. "What? The States?" I asked incredulously. What the fuck? Why the State? I've been avoiding everything that reminded me of her like the plague. "Yes, the States. I have a business partner that lives in New York and he owns a boxing gym. I sent him a tape of you and Bo fighting. He thinks both of you have potential. He agreed to have someone train you two. This is going to take at least a few months to cool off, but once everything cools off I will send for you two. I promise to continue protecting your family." Jian replied. " When do we leave?" Bo said excitedly. I could see the wheels working in his head. He was going to try and see Ni Ni. Although, he hasn't had any contact with her since July. "Tomorrow. Now you're dismissed." Jian answered and waved his hand to motion us to leave his office. 

   "Earth to Lei." Jeremy said while waving his hand in my face. "Huh?" I said. "Did you hear anything I said at all?" He asked irritably. "No, I was out of it..." I said while scratching the back of my head. "I don't even know why I try talking to you half of the time. Its not like you even listen." Jeremy huffed as he pulled out his phone. The past six weeks Jeremy and I became really close. We developed a friendship outside of our trainer-trainee relationship. People at the gym joke around and call us twins. For one, we were always together. For two, we were both the same height and the same body type, except Jeremy's body was a little bit leaner. For three, both of our birthdays are in December. Jeremy and I hate when people call us twins. I jokingly called us yin and yang once and it stuck. Jeremy was dark skin, with a broad nose and goatee, and always wore his hair tapered at the sides and the top braided up into a bun. I envied the fact that his hair could be braided without unraveling easily.

  My train of thought was interrupted by Jeremy's thunderous laughter. "My homegirl is a trip. She made a video about why girls with little booties are better than others. You've got to watch this." he put his phone in my hand. I look down at the video that was posted on Instagram.  As the video began to play I felt my heart stop. " Fuck it is Instagram?! I'm here to bring you another one of my videos. 'Why girls with little booties are better everyone else.'  Reason #1: Girls with little booties don't cheat because they can't fam... Literally, they're not in high demand. Everyone wants a girl with a big ole Judy. Reason #2: Girls with little booties have to work that much harder to make it jiggle, so ya know they not going to be lazy. Reason #3:  Girls with little booties tend to have bigger personalities to make up for their small butts. Well my minute is up. Until next time loves." the caramel beauty finished. I rewatched the video three more times. Each time becoming increasingly more bewitched by her hazel eyes and plump lips. "Damn. Can I have my phone back? Or nah." Jeremy snatched the phone out my hand. "Who is she?" I asked. " That's my friend Ty'Aira. I dated one of her close friends in undergrad for like a year. I haven't seen her in a couple years, but we still keep in contact. She cool people, just a little bit of a hothead." Jeremy replied. I was 99% sure Ty'Aira was Ty. Damn she still looked as gorgeous as ever. "I know her. I met her back in July when she visited Shanghai for her birthday with Ni Ni and Day. Remember I told you about an American girl I met in Shanghai this last summer? Her last night in Shanghai we got into a big argument and I never spoke to her again? Well, that's her..." I mumbled. Of course I didn't tell him the whole story that went down between Ty and I. I was too ashamed to tell him. "What? How? Like, how did you get Ty? In undergrad, she didn't date ANYONE. She told me no one caught her eye. Ty is like a boss. Every guy at our school was intimidated by her and no one dared to approach her. On top of all that, Ty is gorgeous. Lei, you have no clue how many guys are trying to get her attention." Jeremy said in disbelief. "Really? She was easy to talk to when I met her at a club in Shanghai. I really feel bad about how things ended between us. I really just want to see her and apologize." "WELL... I am opening up a dance studio in two weeks. Ty has always been one of my biggest supporters, so I'll invite her, but on one condition, after I invite her and she accepts the invitation I have to post a pic of us together on IG hanging out or whatever. I don't want her to think I was plotting against her." "Deal. Well hurry up and DM her." I said desperately. 

  After ten minutes of us sitting in silence, Ty finally responded back to Jeremy's DM. "Ty said she would love to come up for it. If she come up it would be for the weekend from the 21st to the 23rd. She can only come if she have enough money to buy a ticket up here." "I'll buy her a round trip plane ticket. I can give you the money for it. I don't want to let the chance to she her pass me by." "Lei... how about we jusr buy her a bus ticket? Nobody buys a flight from Baltimore to NYC. Baltimore is literally a three hour drive, which means the flight would be like 30 minutes. Plus, she is not the type to accept extravagant gestures like that." Jeremy reasoned. "Okay." Five minutes later we purchased her a Greyhound bus ticket. Jeremy sent her a screenshot of the ticket confirmation. Ty responded back immediately thanking Jeremy for buying her bus tickets. "Well that's done." " Do you mind if I hold your phone for a little bit to check out her profile?" "Nope." Jeremy passed me his phone. I scrolled through her profile. She had over 200 photos. A lot of them were just selfies of her. A few were photos of her with other people. I noticed she loves to tilt her face to the left when she takes pictures. Each photo I looked at amazed me. It was like I was seeing her beauty all over again for the first time. Once I was finished looking through her photos, I decided to check out photos she was tagged in. The first tagged photo of her popped up and I clicked on it. In the picture, it was a selfie taken by a dark skin guy cheesing while Ty was curled up under some covers in the bed knocked out next to him with some drool on the side of her face. The picture was captioned "MY HEART". As I read that caption, I felt my heart break.