Falling For The Mafia Underboss

CHAPTER 6: FOR THE LAST TIME

Kelsi woke up groggily. She had a weird dream which she could now barely remember, but there were faceless masks and gunshots, then something about burgers and dark gray eyes, and then her grandfather was yelling at her to run, just before she woke up. She yawned and opened her eyes.

Where am I? she thought, disoriented as she looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling.

“Good morning,” a voice said.

Kelsi jolted up and saw Aki sitting on the couch beside her. The memories of last night came back to her in a rush.

“Morning,” she said as she rubbed her eyes.

“Well, it’s technically not morning anymore, since it’s half past two in the afternoon,” Aki said, grinning. He was still wearing the same white shirt from last night, and his hair was tousled, but he still looked good.

“What? Geez, I slept for too long,” Kelsi said as she got up. “I need to use the bathroom.”

“I got us some breakfast too,” Aki said brightly. “But then it's technically not breakfast anymore, so lunch? Brunch?”

Kelsi groaned. “Alright, Aki.”

She finished her business in the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her face was bare but the dark circles under her eyes weren’t that visible anymore. Her hair had dried to natural waves when she woke up from sleeping with her hair still wet. She noticed that her wet clothes that she had hung out to dry last night weren’t there anymore.

“Aki?” she called out.

“Yeah?” His voice sounded muffled through the door.

“Where are my clothes?”

“Oh, I took them to a laundry place. I’ll pick them up later.”

Kelsi was grateful that he had done that for her, but she was also embarrassed at the thought of him handling her dirty clothes, not to mention her underwear.

Her whole body was still aching a little so she stretched a few times before heading out.

Kelsi joined Aki at the table for breakfast, lunch, brunch or whatever it was. The table was crammed with fluffy pancakes, juicy sausages, crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, and some toast.

“How long have you been awake?” Kelsi asked as she poured maple syrup all over her pancakes.

“A bit,” Aki said with a mouthful of eggs and bacon. “I just got back as soon as you woke up.”

“Oh, did you buy these then?”

Aki laughed. “I know nothing of cooking. Of course I did.”

“The food is really good, though.”

“I agree.”

As she ate, she wondered what was going to happen now. Now that her head was clearer, she needs to figure out what to do moving forward. She started feeling ashamed as she realized how she was intruding on Aki’s life. Last night, he acted immediately when he saw that someone needed help, but he was not at all obligated to continue providing care. She was just a stranger who wasn’t his responsibility. He must have been fed up with her already. He must be thinking of ways to get her out.

She dreaded how she would talk to him about it as time passed.

After they both finished their meal, Aki turned to Kelsi with a serious look on his face.

Here it comes, Kelsi thought anxiously.

“Kelsi—“

“I’m sorry!” Kelsi interrupted before he could kick her out. “Thank you so much for everything. I’m going to go now,” she said as she stood up.

“What the hell are you on about?” Aki said with an exasperated face. He stood up too.

Kelsi took a deep breath. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me. But I really hate to intrude any more than I already have,” she said sheepishly.

“And where, exactly, are you going to go?” he said with hands on his hips.

Kelsi shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll figure it out.”

“You won’t last a day out there on your own.”

“What?! Excuse me, I’m not that weak.”

“Yeah, right.”

Kelsi was upset now, she also put her hands on her hips. They glared at each other.

“Watch me,” she said as she headed to the door.

Aki grabbed her arm as she passed him.

“What?” she said curtly, glaring up at him defiantly. Aki was tall, the top of her head barely reached his chin, and she was five-foot-five.

“Okay! Just relax, okay?” Aki said as he broke into a grin.

“What?” Kelsi repeated loudly. “It’s not funny!”

“I know it’s not,” Aki said as his face softened. “I’m sorry.”

“Hmph.”

“You’re a feisty little girl, aren’t you?”

“I’m not a little girl! I’m already eighteen, hello?” she said with frustration.

“Right, that’s what I was trying to say. I need to get you a birthday gift,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Kelsi groaned. “Aki, you don’t have to. I’ve already imposed on you so much.” She averted her eyes.

“Look at me.”

Kelsi looked up. Aki was looking at her with a gentle look in his eyes.

“You are not imposing on me in any way,” he said, enunciating every word slowly. “You’ve gone through a hell of a lot. I can’t believe this happened to you. If I hadn’t found you when I did…” His voice trailed off.

“Look, you have nothing to worry about, okay?” he continued after a pause. “We’ll figure this out together. I got you.”

Kelsi breathed. She didn’t realize she was holding in her breath while she was hanging on to Aki’s every word. She was not expecting him to say that. All the while she thought the exact opposite, that he was looking for a nice thing to say to let her know he wanted her gone.

Instead, he wanted her to stay, and that mattered a lot to her.

“Are you sure?” she asked quietly.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“But umm, don’t you have, like, work or something? I don’t want to take any of your time.”

“You’re good,” he said, smiling. “Can we go out now?”

Kelsi tucked in a loose lock of hair behind her ear and smiled shyly. “Okay.”

Aki grabbed a pair of large slippers from a shoe rack beside the main door and placed them in front of Kelsi.

“You can use these for now,” he said.

“It works, I guess,” Kelsi said as she put them on. It was way too big for her, but at least the soft material felt nice on her sore feet. She cringed at the thought of going out in public with what she was currently wearing. She was self-conscious of her appearance — oversized clothing, tangled hair and face, bare.

Suck it up, Kelsi.

They were driving around the city a few minutes later. The weather was warm and good today; the sky was a deep blue with a few wisps of clouds.

Kelsi was curiously looking out the window, finally able to see the city in daylight. Aki's apartment was situated in a residential area mostly comprising of small and large multi-story buildings. They were now driving along a street not much different from where Kelsi did her barefoot marathon the previous night. Occasionally, they would pass by construction sites that looked as if they were started but not completed. A few people were coming in and out of the few open shops fronting the commercial buildings that lined the street. Some even had graffiti all over them. Still, the buildings had that same worn look as if once they'd been built, no repairs or restorations were ever made. The same goes for the roads; some of the asphalt were cracked and, from time to time, the car would make little bumps from the many potholes on the road. The wear and tear of the city is very visible. It was not like this at all, back in Salvadora.

"The city is… pleasant," Kelsi commented, trying to be nice.

"This isn't even the 'city' city, you know," Aki said. " We're way up north, on the outskirts. You haven't really seen Gaunt City yet."

Kelsi turned to face Aki. "Tell me about Gaunt City."

“What do you want to know?” he asked, his eyes still on the road.

“Everything,” she said with a shrug. “You know, I think I’ve heard about this city before.”

“Yeah? What about?”

“That it’s not really the nicest place to be in,” she said carefully. She wanted to know if this was the infamous city she had heard about before.

“I heard that it’s scary,” she whispered loudly. “That there’s a lot of dangerous gangs and scary people and criminals that do criminal things and that you could get stabbed just by walking around!” she finished breathlessly.

Aki burst into laughter.

“What?” she said, annoyed. “It’s not funny! It’s true! I saw it on the news too.”

“Right,” he said, still smiling. “That’s what they say, huh.”

“Yes! That’s why I was wondering why it all looks normal so far,” she said, gesturing to the people loitering outside the shops. “But then again, I was kidnapped and ended up here, so it must be sort of true.”

“Well, it is a lot toned down in this part of the city,” he said.

She stared at Aki thoughtfully. “But you’re here and you seem fine… How long have you been here?” she asked.

“I’ve lived here all my life,” he said. “And yes, some of what you said is true. There are gangs, but they don’t go around stabbing random people,” he said. “They mind their own business. They actually do a better job of keeping things in order around the city than the shitty officials here.”

Her eyes widened. “So it’s true then? This is the Gaunt City.”

“Yeah, but you really don’t have to be scared. As long as you’re not doing anything wrong, they'll just leave you alone,” he said. “And you’re with me.”

“What does that mean? Doesn’t the local government do anything about it?”

“Nah. They’re the ones causing the problems. They extort the hell out of us. They demand impossibly high taxes that make no sense, and it doesn’t even come back to the people. The pay you get from working a normal legal job is barely enough to survive. That’s why people resort to other means,” he explained.

“So what do you do for a living, Aki?” Kelsi asked as she processed what he said.

“We’re here,” Aki said, avoiding her question, as he drove the car to the parking lot of a commercial building.

“What’s your foot size?” he asked.

“What? Seven, why?”

“Alright, I’ll be right back. Stay in the car,” he said as he hurried inside a department store.

Kelsi sighed in annoyance from being left behind. But then again, it would be hard for her to walk with the oversized slippers.

Shortly afterwards, Aki came out carrying a big paper bag.

Is he buying food again? We just ate, Kelsi thought.

Aki passed the bag over to Kelsi.

“What’s this?” she said as she looked inside the bag, and took out a shoe box.

“You got me shoes?!” she said in surprise.

“Well, you can’t be walking around on those,” Aki replied.

She opened the box and found a pair of pink espadrille loafers. She turned to Aki and smiled.

“Pink, really?”

“I don’t know. You’re a girl,” he said, embarrassed. “I’ll take them back if you don’t want them then,” he said as he made a move to take the shoes.

“No, I love them!” she said happily as she pushed away Aki’s hand.

She put on the shoes and they were a perfect fit.

“You can at least walk around now,” he said coolly, but he looked pleased.

“Thank you. I owe you,” she said earnestly.

“Nah,” he said. “But there is something I’d like you to do though.”

“Sure! Anything.”

Aki took a deep breath and turned to Kelsi, his face serious. “I need you to show me the place where you were taken to, where you escaped from the men who took you,” Aki said as he studied her face.

Kelsi froze. Fear slowly spread throughout her face. The thought of going back to that place, which caused her great trauma, made her want to throw up. Kelsi shook her head and looked down, nervously fidgeting with her pendant.

“Kelsi,” Aki said gently. He put his hands on her shoulders and gave a reassuring squeeze. “I need you to be brave, okay? Don’t be scared, I will be with you all the time. I just need to see the area where it happened.”

“Why?” she asked weakly.

“Just so I have a place to start.”

“A place to start for what? Just forget it, Aki.”

“I can’t,” he said stoically. “Look, can you remember where it is?”

“I don’t know. I ran for so long.”

“You think you can find it if we retrace your steps?”

“I… think so.” Kelsi paused. If it was up to her, she’d never want to go back there for as long as she lived, but on the other hand, it would be good to show Aki the place so he could avoid it later and be safe. She should probably face her fears now rather than deal with it later. She won’t be alone this time, at least.

For the last time, Kelsi, she thought.

“Okay,” she finally said. “I came from the other end of that park last night.”

“Okay, he agreed. “Let’s go?”

Kelsi nodded.

A while later, they were parked on the side of a road beside the park entrance where Kelsi had walked through last night. It looked way different in the daytime. Last night, it was dark, creepy and the rain made her hard to see, but she knew she had been her before. This was the place.

“This is it, I entered the park from here,” Kelsi said. “And I came from around the corner, there.” She pointed at the direction of the street to her left.

Aki nodded as he started the car in the direction she pointed. “I’ll drive slowly and you’ll have to look out the side, okay? Let me know if I need to stop.”

Kelsi intently looked out the window as Aki slowly drove them on the lane closest to the sidewalk. They passed by the many buildings she had run past the previous night, but some of the shops in front were now open and a few people were walking around. They passed by the area where she had previously gotten scared of the group of men that were huddled together.

“Aki, slow down,” Kelsi said as she spotted an alley ahead. “I think I came from that alley.”

“I make a right here?” He said as he signalled.

“Wait, can the car go in there? Its only one lane,” she said worriedly.

“Yeah we can,” he said as the car turned right into the alley. “Let me know if we need to make another turn.”

They continued driving along, occasionally making turns, as Kelsi concentrated hard trying to retrace her steps. For a couple of times, Aki had to carefully maneuver the car on tight squeezes that weren’t meant for vehicles.

Many turns later, Aki looked over at Kelsi and noticed her face getting confused.

“We’re lost, aren’t we? He asked.

“Umm.. I swear I could’ve gone through here,” she answered, her brow furrowed.

“Should we go back?”

“No! It’s got to be here somewhere,” she said as they emerged out on to a small street with abandoned-looking buildings on the opposite side. “Here!” she said suddenly. “I think it’s this street!”

Kelsi concentrated hard, looking for anything she could remember. She knew those buildings looked familiar, but the alley they came out of didn’t look like the same one she had taken after escaping the van. They continued moving slowly, passing a couple of people sitting on the front steps of one of the buildings. She eyed them warily.

Kelsi caught sight of something on the right, a few yards away. It was a large, green overflowing dumpster. She immediately remembered how the driver was taking cover behind a dumpster during the gunfight. She quickly pointed it out to Aki.

“Look! Stop here,” she said. “This is the place.”

No doubt about it, this was the exact place where the van had stopped to make the supposed drop. She felt as if she was back in that moment when she was finally able to free her eyes, amidst the horrifying gunshots a few feet away, as she cowered in the back of the van stricken with terror, trying to escape for her life.

“Are you okay?”

Kelsi looked up.

Aki was watching her. He must have observed how affected she was by the memory.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Kelsi said. “See that dumpster? The driver was crouched behind that during the gunfight. The van I was in was parked here, and right around there was where the other black car was parked,” she explained as she pointed out the different places she mentioned.

“I’m gonna check it out, okay?” Aki said as he got out of the car.

“Be careful,” she called out, and he gave her a reassuring smile.

Kelsi stayed inside the car and watched him approach the dumpster. He looked around for a bit, crouched down and picked up something from the ground. He walked back to Kelsi.

“Look.” He held up a tiny, gold, hollow tube thing between his fingers.

“What is that?” she asked curiously.

“It’s a bullet casing,” Aki responded. “There’s more on the ground over there, from the shots he took. It’s a nine mil.”

“A nine what?”

“It’s the size of the bullet. Did he have a pistol?”

“Yes,” she confirmed. She had watched enough movies to know what a pistol looks like.

Aki nodded and walked away, continuing with his inspection. He moved towards the place where she estimated the other car was and looked over the ground for a bit, then he walked towards the two people sitting on the stairs, who they had passed by earlier.

Kelsi looked over anxiously, suspicious of the two men. He chatted with them for a little while before finally returning to the car.

“Why did you go over to them?” she demanded. “They could’ve jumped you, they could have been the bad guys!”

Aki held his hands up. “Relax,” he said with a smile. “I’m okay. I just asked them a couple of questions.”

Kelsi was still frowning.

“Were you worried for me?” he asked.

“Of course,” she muttered. She wondered if Aki was just brave or if he just didn’t have a sense of self-preservation.

He smiled again. “Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

“How can I not,” she said under her breath.

“What?”

“Nothing.” She replied, loudly this time.

“Thank you,” he said. “For coming here with me. I know it was hard for you.”

“Now don’t ever come back here again, okay?” she said sternly, to which Aki laughed.

Why was he never taking it seriously? she thought, but Kelsi felt more at ease too, now that it was now over and she could finally push it back to the deepest recesses of her memory.

“Yes ma’am,” he said. “It’s late, we should go back. I still need to get you your birthday present,”

“You already got me shoes,” Kelsi said, surprised that Aki remembered. She even forgot it was her birthday after their little excursion.

He took out a phone from his pocket, checked it and quickly typed in a message, before putting it back. He started the car.

“We’ll be meeting a good friend of mine. She’ll be in the place where we got your shoes from,” he said as the car started to move.

“She?” Kelsi asked, her eyes narrowed.

Aki glanced at her and smirked.

“She’s a friend that is like a sister to me. A friend-sister,” he said quickly.

“You don’t have to explain,” Kelsi answered with her eyes fixated forward.

Something inside of her stirred. She was suddenly overcome with a heavy feeling she had never felt before. Why did she care if Aki had another girl friend or friend-sister, whatever that means. She’d only known him for less than a day. For all she knew, he may already have a girlfriend.

Does he have a girlfriend? Curiosity was slowly burning up inside her. She was dying to know, but she didn’t want to ask.

Without realizing it, she sulked for the rest of the ride.