The Blind/Gangster

Chapter Five

Eunice Mariano

Mollie and I went to the cafeteria to have our lunch. It is a big cafeteria, but the number of students coming in and out is too large compared to the available seats inside. But, at least we managed to get inside and stand in the line.

"Can I ask you a question?" Mollie asked.

"Sure."

"What happened yesterday at the gym?" I looked at her.

"Justin didn't tell you?"

"No."

"Just a little trouble with the gym rats," I answered and looked around.

"How little is this problem?" Mollie asked, while furrowing her brows.

"Well..." I said and was about to explain everything, when someone suddenly grabbed my hair from behind. Mollie gasped and was shocked.

"Yasmin!" Mollie screamed. I smirked and sighed, then grabbed Yasmin's hand on my head. Yasmin tried to pull me back and down. I tried to resist the pull, and squeezed her hand.

"Ah!" Yasmin shouted out in pain and pulled even harder. Because of that, I lost my balance and fell onto the ground while still holding onto Yasmin's hand. She tried pulling away from my grip, but I didn't let her go and looked at her in the eyes, glaring and cursing her. "Let go of me!" She screamed in my face. I was about to punch her in the face, but a hand grabbed my hand and stopped me. And another hand pulled Yasmin away from me.

"Eunice!" Zulius shouted, holding my hand and pulling me away from Yasmin. Zulius pulled me up and helped me get on my feet. "What is happening here?" He asked me and looked at Yasmin getting held back by Justin. Justin wrapped his arms around Yasmin's waist to prevent Yasmin from getting away. But when they both saw Zulius, both of them were shocked, and they paused, looking at us.

"Zulius," both Justin and Yasmin whispered.

"Justin," Zulius whispered.

"Justin, you can let go of me now." Yasmin said, irritated, and struggling out of Justin's hand. Justin then let her go and walked to me.

"You too can let go now, Zulius," I whispered. Zulius then let go of my hand.

"Are you hurt?" Justin asked and held my hand.

"Yeah," I answered. Justin looked at me from head to toe to look for a scratch or something. But he didn't find anything, so he looked at me confused.

"Where?" Zulius asked.

"Here," I answered and pointed at my tummy.

"Did she punch you?" Justin asked and touched my belly, and then it rumbled.

"No. I'm starving to death," I answered, and tapped away Justin's hand. Zulius laughed, and Justin sighed.

"You are something, Eunice," Justin said. I looked up at him and he shook his head with a smirk on his face. "Anyways, we should go before you go crazy with hungryness. Where is Mollie?" Justin asked, and looked around to search for his sister.

I also looked around, but we just couldn't seem to find any shadow of Mollie, but then I noticed Zulius, who was still standing next to me, glaring at Justin.

"Oh. I get it." I said. Justin looked at me.

"What?"

"Mollie's hiding."

"Why?"

"Because she has a crush on Zulius," I answered. Zulius turned to me confused.

"What?" Zulius asked.

"Mollie, has a crush on you, Zulius," I said to him.

"I think he knows," said Justin, and pulled me away from Zulius. "A lot of girls on this campus are crushing on them, Eunice,"

"Yeah." I responded and shrugged my shoulders. "Except for me," I added. Zulius clenched his fists and looked at Justin's hand.

"Does that mean you like Justin?" Zulius asked. I furrowed my brow due to confusion, and looked at Justin, who was staring at me with a dumbfounded look.

"What the hell is wrong with you man? Are you mad?" Justin asked and then pulled me to walk away from Zulius. I looked back and saw the glare Zulius was giving at Justin.

Zulius's friend walked up to him while they shook their heads. "Find someone you can play with, Zulius, not someone who will play you." Dovan said to Zulius. Zulius then sighed and they walked out.

We walked around and found Mollie at a table located in the corner area of the cafeteria. We sat with her and we all ate with our atmosphere covered in awkward silence.

"Why was Zulius trying to kill me with his sight?" Justin asked me.

"Ah. I think he is jealous of you," I answered.

"Yeah. I noticed that, but I'm not sure why."

"Because Zulius and Eunice had a past," Mollie answered, looking down at her food.

"Past? What do you mean past? Like a relationship? The high-ranking gangster Zulius is our cousin's ex?"

"You don't have to put it that way, Justin. It was a long time ago. We were young and stupid to think that we loved each other."

"Two years ago was not that long ago, Eunice," Mollie said.

"Well. It is for me, since many things have already happened," I said, and sighed.

"He still loves you, though," Mollie whispered.

"And he is jealous of your cousin," said Justin, with a smirk on his face. "Think about it, once he knew that we're related, he would be disgusted thinking about how he acted." He said, laughing. I shook my head and sighed again due to his stupidity, and rolled my eyes. "But if he is dead serious about his obsession with you, I am as good as dead to be one of his competitors, at least in his thoughts." Justin whispered.

"Stop, Justin. Surely, he would get the news that we are cousins." I said.

"Okay." He said and sighed. We then ate in another awkward silence, and went home straight right after.

Hours passed. Night came, and I was bored again. Couldn't sleep, so I got out of bed, wore a hoodie, and I carefully went out of the house. It's already the middle of the night, but who cares? I'm still adjusting to this independently migrating here. I walked in the darkness, cars passed, cold wind blew, and I saw a convenience store right up ahead.

"I want to kill someone." I whispered, and sighed. I looked around before crossing the street and then I saw someone running away from someone.

"Stop him!"

"Why?" I asked.

"He's a thief!" he answered. When the thief got closer, I stretched my legs and tripped him over. He fell on the ground and rolled over twice.

"Ow!" He groaned.

"Sorry." I said sarcastically.

"What's your problem?!" He screamed and got up to hit me with his gun. I smirked and was about to punch him in his face, but someone beat me for it. The thief immediately lost consciousness and fell to the ground. So I eased up, sighed, and looked at the man.

"Thieves on this day never learn their lessons." Dovan said, and picked up a woman's bag from the thief. "And this bag happens to be my mother's." He said and turned to me.

"Okay." I said and turned around to walk away from him, but he grabbed my hand.

"It's late," Dovan said.

"Yeah. I know." I said, and looked at his hand.

"Why are you still outside?" He asked and looked around. I looked up at him and he looked at me. "Who are you here with?"

"Who are you?" I asked back with sarcasm, asking him how dare he talk to me, after what happened earlier at school.

"I'm sorry, it's me, Dovan Montiverdi, Zulius's friend." He introduced him. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Can you please let go of my hand?" I asked, annoyed at him.

"They said you were blind. How did you get this far?" He asked again and pulled me closer to him. He stared into my eyes. I breathed in deeply to prevent myself from not being mesmerized by his eyes, then I cleared my throat.

"Justin was with me, but he forgot to bring his wallet with him, so he asked me to wait there." I lied, pointing at the convenience store.

"A late night date?" He asked with a smirk. I giggled.

"Date?" I asked, smiling at his ridiculousness.

"He forgot his wallet, left you here, late at night, you are blind, and you are so far away from home,"

"Ah. Yeah."

"That almost sounded a lie, but sure like. .." He said and leaned forward to get his face closer to mine. "It almost made me think you are not really blind."

"Let go of me now, will you? And get away from me, I can feel your breath." I asked again, looking at him blankly and not moving an inch.

"How will you go back?" He asked and stepped back. "You know what? Why don't you let me? I'll walk you back home."

"I don't need your help."

"Sure you do. Now, tell me where you live?" He said, then put his arms on my shoulders, and pulled me to walk with him.

"Do you know where Justin's house is?" I asked. He stopped walking and looked at me.

"You live together now?"

"Yeah."

"He's a gangster."

"Sure."

"You're blind."

"And?"

"You're weak."

"The only thing I can't do is see." I said and smirked.

"Yeah. And that makes everything worse," he said. I removed his hand on my shoulders and started walking on my own.

"What do you want to do about it?" I asked. He paused, watching me walk on my own. I tried walking backwards, but because of some unbelievable circumstances, I tripped, and Dovan caught me. "What is happening?" I asked, sighing, looking dead at the stars.

"You happen to be blind, walking backwards, who stupidly think you can walk back home on your own." Explained Dovan, and helped me stand up again.

"I can't believe myself," I said and looked down.

"Let's go. You need to go home. It's already late." Dovan said, and pulled me to walk with him. I walked with him unwillingly, and he pulled me until we got to the front of Mollie's house.

"I can't believe you know where he lives," I said.

"I can't believe you are allowed to live with him."

"Eh. Man and woman, what could possibly go wrong?" I said with a smirk.

"Everything." He answered and pushed me gently up the stairs. "Get inside."

I sighed, and walked inside quietly. I peeked in the window and waited for him to get lost, then I went inside my room, to feel dissatisfaction about not killing anyone tonight.

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