Loving Poppy (ON HOLD)

01. "The Angel and the Devil" Alessandro. His fingers clenched around the the handle of the brief case in anger. His driver Jonathan, was supposed to be here with his car by now. Alessandro checked his golden wrist watch again and his temper flared as the seconds ticked. He hated tardiness. Alessandro had an important conference with the CEO of a big shot company. But due to 'unfavourable circumstances' the CEO could not show up and the meeting was cancelled. He hated when his time was wasted. Since then Alessandro has been like a ticking time bomb. A single mistake would result in someone being killed. Naturally everyone stayed at least a feet away from this volcano named Alessandro. They did not want to be the next name on his to-be-killed list. It was not exactly fun to stand on the sidewalk of New York city. He had a reputation to uphold. He checked his watch again, if he was to stay on this side walk one more minute nothing could stop him from bursting. It was bad enough that people had started to recognise him. If his car doesn't arrive he will be surrounded by paparazzi, and then nothing in this world could save Jonathan, his driver. Suddenly a series of 'tring tring' sounded from his right. A cycle bell. He turned to look just in time something big crashed into his side's. It didn't hurt that much, since he had endured much more fatal wounds in the past but this person was at the wrong place at the wrong time. He clenched his jaw in anger. The infamous Italian capo's patience was being tested today. He unhooked his g*n from his belt loop, that was well hidden under his coat and aimed at the rider of the god forsaken cycle. Ready to kill whoever decided to ruin whatever was left of his day. He was a little surprised to see the little creature, a girl, sprawled on the sidewalk trying to get up. Thick, long brown locks keeping her face hidden in a mysterious way. He tucked his g*n in his belt and bend down to take a look at the little devil. Usually he would have not bothered looking at his prey, but he was not in Italy right now. He had come to New York to attend to his legal business, and did not want the media to smell a commoners murder on him. But he knew that was just an excuse, he wanted to see her face. The girl groaned and lifted her head up and looked at him with a silly expression. He almost stumbled in surprise. He did not expect her to be this beautiful. She was far from a devil. Angel was what she was. The air was knocked out of his lungs as he grasped the beauty of the little angel in front of him. Dark locks were Framing her small, heart shaped face in the most perfect way imaginable, big hazel eyes shining with innocence, thick lashes brushing her cheeks every time she blinked, a dusty pink colour coated her otherwise pale cheeks making her look impossibly cute. Her glossy pink lips were his undoing, he could kiss them everyday. He was tempted to touch her, feel if her lips tasted as good as they looked. "Um can you please help me up?" The angelic voice snapped him out of his daydream. Her voice was like the most soothing tune he had ever heard. He looked at the position the girl was in. The cycle was pressed against her left leg, stopping her from any movement. He gently lifted the pink cycle from her leg and almost cringed at the sight of blood trickling down her leg. It was another unexpected thing, he does not cringe at the sight of blood. He relishes the sight of blood, like a beast. He had seen his enemies bleed to death in front of him and not blink twice. But he wanted to heal her would as soon as possible, not wanting her to loose another drop of her precious blood. He offered her a hand to get up, which she gladly took. "I am so sorry, I did not mean to crash into you. Actually my breaks were not working and I did try to ring that bell but you did not move. I am so sorry-" "Why were you riding this ridiculous cycle if the breaks were failed?" He did not mean to sound harsh but it did not settle well for him to know she was on that death trap when the breaks were not working. She looked down and played with her thumbs and replied in a small voice. "I didn't know they were not working. And because of my height I couldn't stop it manually." He almost felt bad for calling her a little devil a few moments back, he took in her appearance. She was wearing a simple white tee and pink knee length pants. The pants had an ugly red blood stain which reminded him of her wound. "You are hurt." He said, at the exact moment his driver Jonathan had arrive to pick up his boss from the busy streets of New York. "Sir." He held the door open for Alessandro to get inside. Alessandro glared at Jonathan. He was still mad at his driver of 4 years for making him wait but Jonathan couldn't have chosen a better time to show up, so he was going to let this one pass. He turned to the girl, he made a mental note to ask her name later, and saw her examining her leg. "You should come with me, you need medical attention before the wound gets Infected." He said, his tone showed off his authority, as if his appearance was not enough, which left no room for argument. He watched as those pretty hazel eyes turned wide at his proposal. "No no it's okay. I don't want to be a bother. It's just a small cut." She tried to explain and muster up a small hesitant smile. Alessandro could tell that she was nervous. He made her nervous. He understood that she did not want to go to an unknown place with an unknown person. "Then let me drop you home. Your cycle is as good as trash and you are injured." His soft tone surprised his staff, who were waiting nearby for their boss to leave, and made them blink and rub their eyes, checking whether their boss was actually being polite or all three of them were hallucinating at the same time. "I don't know you. And won't you know my address then? Will you stock me later?" She asked innocently and tilted her head to the right. He wanted to laugh at her silly choice of words but held it in. The first thing he noticed is that she did not know him, the infamous Mafia boss and business tycoon Alessandro Rossini was hidden from the petite girl and he wanted to keep it that way. "No miss. I can assure you there will be no stalking. I will drop you off at your home perfect safe. That's it." He explained and gestured her to get in the black SUV. He was very amused by the girl. "This is your car? It's very pretty and big." She commented and nodded in appreciation. Almost like approving his choice of cars. "Yes. I am glad you like it." He said with a small amused smile. She blushed and reluctantly placed her foot in but retrieved it back in a hurry making Alessandro frown. "What about my bike!?" She asked as she eyed the bike discarded at the far corner with a small pout. "That will be delivered at your home after it is fixed. Don't worry." Seemingly satisfied at his reply she stepped into the large vehicle and sat on the far corner while Alessandro took his seat besides her. The car was cozy and her figure looked even smaller while sitting next to Alessandro's huge body. The car ride was filled with silence other than her giving directions to her home to Jonathan. "What is your name?" He finally asked. It had been bugging him to know her name. He wanted to put a name to the beautiful face. "Oh I am being so terribly rude today!" She slapped her hand on her forehead and tsked. Could she be any more cuter? He wanted to shoot himself for thinking that. What had happened to the deadly dangerous capo? Where did this soft side come from? "I am Poppy. Poppy Sanderson. Nice to meet you." She held out her small hand for him to shake and he took it gladly, eager to touch those delicate hands. 'they are so soft.' he thought. "Alessandro. Alessandro Rossini. It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Sanderson." He introduced himself like he always did, excluding the pleasure part, it was not always a pleasure to meet the people who he associated with. "You can call me Poppy Mr Rossini." She said with a small shy smile and a hint of blush on her cheeks. "Then you must call me Alessandro. If we are being informal then it should be both ways Poppy." He replied. Jonathan almost crashed into another car on the road when he heard his boss's words. Never did he think he would live to see this day. His boss being a gentleman to people who are not his family. Soon enough they reached their destination and Poppy gave Alessandro a big happy smile. "Thank you so much Alessandro. Bye bye." She shook his hand once again and got out off the huge vehicle. She waved at him one last time before taking small steps in the direction of her house. The route to her house was printed in his memory. He wanted to know her more and in order to do that he will have to do some digging. He had just closed the door when a knock came from the other side of the window. He rolled the tinted window down to see Poppy standing there with her signature shy smile, meeting his eyes only for a second and going back to the ground. "I thought you went inside." He said surprised at her presence here rather than in her home. Does she need anything? Is she not well? Questions flooded in his mind. "Oh I was but I thought it would be so rude of me if I didn't invite you for a cup of tea. After all you did help me and also gave me a lift." She smiled her beautiful smile that almost melted his senses into a puddle of mush. "Are you sure? After all I am a stranger." As much as he wanted to spend time with the tiny girl, he did not want to intrude. Again the thoughts made him want to shoot his leg, the capo was never like this! "I know your name. You are not a stranger. Come on in. Mom is not home anyway." She said innocently and gestured with her hands for him to follow. Alessandro got out of the car, not before leaving his g*n safely tucked under the plush seat of his car. He cannot be Seen with the deadly weapon here in her presence. He turn around to his driver. "Stay here Jonathan." He glared at his driver. He did not want him running away to god knows where. Although he was glad he was late, he met Poppy.