A/N: Hola! It's rkoviper with another update. There's something important that I should note about this chapter. It's about Randy's conversation with John regarding Layla. He hints at his involvement in the magazine business prior to the events in the first Strangers story.

Hint, Hint: Strangers prequel, Famous Girl.

Randy stood with his hands behind his back, rocking back and forth, heel to toes, as he watched his boss, Mr. Regal work intently. It took a lot for him to come to his office, but standing in front of him now, he almost regretted his decision.

"Mr. Regal."

He jerked up, surprised to see Randy standing before him. "Oh, my apologies Randall. I've been too caught up in work to notice you standing there."

"Don't worry about it sir. If I may ask, can I pitch an idea to you?"

"Go ahead, throw it at me."

"My first few days here it's come to my attention that we've been doing a lot of promoting here in the United States, and while I understand that we are going to be moving to the United Kingdom soon, and continue our work there – a thought crossed me." Randy explained, pausing to evaluate the reaction of his boss.

"What's that?" Regal urged for him to continue.

"Why not make the magazine international? I've made a few calls in hopes of hiring someone who might be able to translate what we write into many, many languages. And I even thought about changing the companies name so it'll attract more attention."

"You know what, that's actually not a bad idea. What are your thoughts?"

"Hm. I didn't want to get too flashy, so I came up with something basic. How about Regal Inc?"

"Regal Inc." The name rolling out of his tongue, and after saying it to himself a few times, Regal couldn't help but smile. "I like that. And the magazine, it would still be based off of love and relationships?"

"Well – yes. I thought of love and relationships being the main category, the main issue. For instance, to show it's importance, every love and relationship column could be center page. But at the same time, I thought we could make the magazine a lot more broad. We could include games like crossword puzzles, word searchs, hell – even some brain teasers. We could throw in some facts about the world here and there, you know – give it some diversity. I think if we could do that than the magazine will appeal to people of all kinds."

"Very nice. I like it a lot. You think you'll be able to work this out? In the end? I mean this is your idea."

"Very much so, Mr. Regal."

"Alright, then I approve."

Randy brought his fists together, and swung his body as if he was a baseball player hitting a homerun. "Thank you very much sir."

"How's the promotional event coming along?"

"It's set up right now. Layla and Michelle are out passing out flyers, and Jack is out at the carnival."

"Very nicely done, Randal. Keep it up."

"Way to go, John. You nearly screwed up my plan with your grade A acting skills." Randy commented over the phone.

"I can't help it. He pissed me off so much – I don't know his intentions, and neither do you. Furthermore, I don't get why I have to be the one to do all of your dirty work!"

"I have a job to do. Time is money, and before you say anything else, yes, there will come a time where I will come face to face with Candice myself. But for now, since I have a job to do, I need you to keep an eye on her. You know – without making yourself look like a jackass."

"Open the door."

"What?"

"I'm outside of your office, open up."

Hanging up the phone, Randy strolled over to his office front door and opened it to find John. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you." He strolled inside the office as Randy closed the door. "What is it? Is Candice alright?"

"She's fine, but I came here to talk about you."

"Me? What about me?"

"Is this really worth it? You and this plan in getting back at Layla?"

"Of course it is." Randy turned away from him. "I'm getting a little fed up with Layla's antics, and how she thinks I'm her little puppet, and how she thinks that she pulls the strings in this relationship. I knew from the start – that as soon as she came to New Jersey, that she had an agenda."

John's eyebrows shot up. "Oh? So this is all about revenge? Somehow I get a feeling that somewhere down the road of your first relationship with her – that she must've done something to piss you off yes?"

Randy smiled at him. "Yes. There was a time where I was once in love with Layla, John. It was more of a friends with benefits relationship with her, than an actual real romantic relationship. And now, I know that she looks at me like I'm her personal dildo."

John clicked his tongue. "Seriously? What's with her? I'm sure she can get any guy she wanted if she actually tried to."

"Maybe – maybe not." He grinned mischievously like a child who had just played a prank on their older sibling. There was something hidden in his blue eyes, John noticed, something dangerous lurked behind them.

The two men stared at each other for a while, with John trying to decipher just what exactly is going on inside his friend's mind. After a few moments, a look of surprise crossed John's face, and he looked at Randy as if he knew what he had been thinking.

"Wait – you did something to her back then?"

A smirk tugged at the corners of Randy's lips. "Come on, John. You didn't think I got the job at Divas magazine without having any sort of background experience, do you?"

John was amazed. "So that's it. You started a blog – about her, right? That's why it was so easy for you to get this job at Divas magazine, and now here too? And this was before you came here to New Jersey?"

"I didn't necessarily start a blog about her. She might've been the inspiration behind them all - yes – but they all weren't solely about her.." Randy answered.

"Does she know that you did that? You know – that blog you wrote before all of this?" John asked him. He smiled deviously. "No – but I think the more she went around dating guys, the more guys found out about the source of my inspiration."

"And now you're getting back at her... again?"

"Some people just don't know when to take no for an answer."

"That is messed up. I think I've had enough learning about other people's secrets, and pasts, so I'm going to leave now. And when I leave, I'll leave the door unlocked, in case, you know, Satan shows up to collect your soul." John joked.

"I don't wear halos, so I'm no Angel, and I never said or claimed to be perfect. I just know what's right. Life is a learning experience, my friend, and Layla, and Dave too, will learn soon enough what happens when you mess with Randy Orton."

"That's what this is? A life lesson?"

"Yes."

John shook his head, smirking at his friend. "Poor Satan, he'll come for your soul and leave empty handed."

I apologize if some of you didn't find this appealing. I'm kind of out of it right now. :/

It's a chapter with not much action, just information. In an effort to keep this story going at a decent pace, (and keep it long & lengthy) I didn't want to write too much here. Instead, I decided to have this chapter be SOLELY focused on Randy opening up about his romantic past, and what kind of went down between him and Layla before the first Strangers story. It's also a plug for the Strangers prequel, Famous Girl, that will be published in the near future.

The next chapter we will have Randy and Candice's time at their respective events, and even have them cross paths at some point. So yes, you can probably expect a long chapter and then after that, we shall change paces and get some action going.

(I may not update as much here, but outside of FanFiction, I do plan. I actually started writing a scene for this story not too long ago, so don't think that I've got nothing up my sleeve.)

Enough talk, review if you'd like. :)
(^^it'd make me happy if you did)