Falling For The Mafia Underboss

CHAPTER 5: SAFE

“We’re here,” Aki announced.

Her thirst quenched and her hunger sated, Kelsi got out of the car and looked around. They had pulled up to a driveway in one of the similar looking apartment buildings that occupied a whole block. The buildings too had that same worn and sketchy look, similar to the ones she passed back when she was alone. She carried the extra food for Aki and followed him up a stairwell, to a door near the end of the hallway.

“Come in,” he said as he opened the door and took the bag of food from Kelsi.

Kelsi stepped inside. The room had little space — directly to the side of the door was a tiny kitchen area with a small table and two chairs. On the other side, a single bed was pressed up against one corner with a plush couch directly in front of it. A single cabinet, placed under the only window of the room, separated the bed and the couch. It was small and decorated to the bare minimum.

Aki opened the cabinet and rummaged inside for a bit, then he returned to Kelsi and dumped some clothes and a towel on her hands.

“Here, you should go take a shower and put these dry clothes on,” he said, pointing to a narrow door beside the couch. “These are the smallest clothing I own, I think they should somehow fit you.”

“Okay,” Kelsi replied thankfully, “You should eat too.”

“I will.”

Kelsi entered the tiny bathroom and locked the door behind her. She placed the clothes and the towel on the small space beside the sink, and let out a deep breath. She was alone again with her thoughts in that tiny space. She pushed the memory of her whole ordeal to the back of her mind. At the moment, she was safe, and she’d rather focus on that.

Kelsi gingerly took off her clothes, starting with the scarf around her neck that previously covered her mouth, and had some difficulty getting her hoodie over her aching arms. She threw her wet clothes over the wall-mounted towel rail to dry, making sure to place the underwear under the outer clothing so they couldn’t be seen.

She entered the shower and fidgeted with the knobs until she got the right temperature. The warm water felt so good on her aching body. She had a slender frame, but she had always been too lazy to exercise, that’s why her whole body was aching so much from the strenuous physical activity from earlier.

After she was done with the shower and drying herself, she inspected the clothes Aki gave her. She put on an oversized black t-shirt and some sweatpants, thankful that they had drawstrings so she could at least make them fit on her waist. She was half way to opening the door when she realized she didn’t have any underwear on. She sighed. She was too tired to care.

Aki was lounging on the couch when Kelsi stepped out of the bathroom. He had changed out of the sweater he was wearing earlier to a white t-shirt, exposing tattoos on his left arm. Kelsi noticed that he wasn’t actually lanky, as she thought earlier, but lean and muscular.

“The clothes… kinda fit,” he said as he looked her over.

“Thanks.” Kelsi folded her arms over her chest, embarrassingly aware of her lack of inner clothing. She stood awkwardly and looked around, not knowing what to do.

“You can take the bed. You must be tired,” Aki said.

“What about you?”

“I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Kelsi walked over to the bed and sat down, facing Aki on the couch.

Aki glanced at her feet and reached into one of the drawers of the cabinet, taking out a small jar.

“Give me your feet,” he said, tapping his lap.

“Why?” Kelsi asked, surprised. “What’s that on your hand?”

“It’s an ointment, for your wounds,” he explained as he reached over and took her feet on his lap. He frowned as he examined the many cuts on her feet.

“I can do it myself,” Kelsi said, embarrassed. She tried to pull them away but Aki held them in place.

“It’s going to sting for a bit,” Aki warned as he opened the jar.

Aki gently applied the ointment to her feet. It did sting the moment the cream seeped into the open wounds she got from running barefoot for who knows how long, but then right after, a nice cool soothing sensation slowly spread out.

Kelsi sighed contentedly as Aki continued to gently massage her feet and ankles.

“Better?” he asked when he was done.

“That felt really good. Thanks,” Kelsi replied as she pulled back her feet to the bed.

“Don’t worry, the sheets are clean. I barely use this place,” Aki said. He stood up and turned off the lights, except for a single lamp shade on the table that gave off a dim warm light.

“Don’t you live here?” Kelsi asked as she crawled under the sheets.

“Well, this is mine, but I don’t really live here,” he answered as he also stretched out on the couch.

“Oh,” Kelsi said, wondering what that meant, but didn’t ask any questions.

A few moments of silence passed, neither of them asleep. Then Aki spoke.

“Kelsi?”

“Yeah.”

“What happened to you?” he asked quietly.

Kelsi didn’t answer. She turned her head sideways to peer at Aki on the couch. He was lying down on his side, looking at her. She quickly turned back and stared at the ceiling.

She didn’t want to relive the ordeal she went through. Just thinking about it made her feel afraid and depressed again, she felt a tightness on her chest and her palms started to sweat. But she knew she had to tell Aki. She at least owes him that, for all the kindness he had shown her.

Kelsi sighed and began her story.

“I’m from Salvadora,” she started. “It’s a town somewhere far away from here.”

Aki grunted to show he was listening.

“I lived with my grandfather, but he recently passed away. On the night of his memorial service, someone broke into our house while I was alone and kidnapped me.”

As soon as Kelsi started talking, she couldn’t stop. It’s as if the more she talked, the less weight she felt on her chest. Kelsi recounted everything — from the fight she had with her uncle and how she had woken up alone. How she tried to hide from the intruder unsuccessfully and how they had forcefully taken her, tied her up and blindfolded her. How she was brought to this city and how she luckily escaped when her kidnappers got into that unexpected gunfight. How she ran and ran until she somehow ended up in that park.

“And that’s where you found me,” Kelsi finished. “You know the rest.”

She wiped the tears that were steadily flowing on her face. She didn’t know when, but at some point in her story, she must have started crying. She was emotionally drained. She felt like she had gone through the entire thing all over again, but it did make her feel a little bit better after she had eventually said it out loud.

Aki got up and sat beside her on the bed. He gave her a box of tissues, which Kelsi accepted gratefully. She sat up and blew her nose. Aki placed a hand on her back in a reassuring manner, but he didn’t say anything.

When her sniffles had subsided, Kelsi wiped the last of her tears and looked up at Aki. He was trying to keep his face look neutral as he stared ahead, but he was clenching his jaw and his eyes were burning with rage.

“Aki?” Kelsi said softly.

Aki seemed to snap out of whatever he was thinking and looked at her. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them, his face looked more relaxed. However, he wasn’t able to fully control his voice when he spoke.

“Who were they?”

“Who?”

“The people who did this to you.” He was barely able to keep his voice from shaking in anger.

“I don’t know! I told you, they were wearing masks,” Kelsi answered.

“What did they look like? What were they wearing then?”

“I don’t know, they were wearing balaclavas or ski masks. I couldn’t even see the color of their hair. The guy that took me was tall and big… and they were wearing all black, I think.”

“That’s not really helping, Kelsi,” Aki growled. “There must be something you can remember, something distinct. Try to think.”

Kelsi wrinkled her forehead as she searched her memory for anything that stood out.

“It was a black van… the one with a sliding door to the side,” Kelsi said thoughtfully. “Oh! And I heard the driver call the other kidnapper, B. They were supposed to drop a package, I assume they were referring to me, to someone else in that little alley, but something went wrong. I think the other car that pulled up wasn’t their contact.”

Kelsi shivered at the memory. “I don’t know what else to tell you, Aki.”

“Okay…” he said, “A man called B. We’ll start with that.”

“What do you mean? Are you going to try and find them?” Kelsi asked, dumbfounded. “No, no, no. Those people are dangerous, Aki! Just let it be okay? It’s over now,” she pleaded.

“Dangerous, huh,” he said under his breath.

“What?”

“Nothing. Let’s get you back to bed. We’ll talk some more tomorrow.”

Kelsi suspiciously looked at Aki. “Aki —“

“Go to sleep, Kelsi. You had a rough day,” Aki said, his voice now softer. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”

Kelsi was still glaring at Aki when she noticed the sky outside the window. The rain had stopped at last and the clouds had cleared away. The sky was starting to turn light, into a dull shade of orange-pink.

“It’s dawn,” Kelsi said. “What time is it?”

“Almost five,” Aki responded as he checked his watch.

Kelsi gave a small, resentful laugh.

“What?”

“It’s actually tomorrow now. It’s my birthday. How fun,” she said sarcastically.

“What?” Aki repeated, his jaw dropped open.

“I just turned eighteen. Best birthday ever, right?” Kelsi muttered bitterly.

She looked at Aki’s shocked expression and laughed, genuinely this time. Kelsi crawled back under the sheets, feeling a lot lighter.

“But seriously,” she said as she turned to her side to look at Aki. “I couldn’t imagine what would’ve happened if I hadn’t met you. Thank you for saving my life, Aki. It’s the best birthday present ever,” she said sincerely. “Really.”

Apparently, he’s not good with compliments, Kelsi thought, since Aki still looked stunned and was at a loss for words.

“Happy birthday,” Aki finally mumbled self-consciously as he stood up and pulled the curtains over the window to block out the incoming light, before lying back down on the couch.

“Thank you,” Kelsi replied.

She smiled to herself as she curled comfortably under the sheets. She didn’t know what the future held, she didn’t know what would happen to her from now on. But at that moment, she knew she was safe and that she had found someone she could trust. There was still hope.

I’ll figure it out tomorrow, she thought sleepily.

Not long after she closed her eyes, she soon fell into a fitful sleep.