My Artistic Mafia Man

Chapter 26: Blood Graffiti

Chapter 26: Blood Graffiti

Eltan Storm

"Come in."

I stared at Faith who had a blank expression on her face. I kept standing outside, anxiety churning inside my chest from her cold shoulder.

From the moment Faith opened the door for me this afternoon, I couldn't grasp anything from her expressions.

"Eltan? Come in," she repeated.

"Since you're inviting me inside, is it safe to assume that you don't hate me?" I asked reluctantly.

"I will answer your question once you are inside," she told me.

I gulped the lump in my throat and finally stepped on the threshold, closing the door behind me.

"You have bags under your eyes," Faith commented, and I hummed, looking at her carefully. She really wasn't letting anything show on her face; it worried me. "Were you that worried?"

"Yeah," I briefly said and sat on the single couch while she sat on the other one. I was unable to sleep last night due to stress eating me up.

"What did you do this morning?" she asked, and that caught me off-guard. She never asked me that before. "I mean, I'm sure you don't spend your morning sleeping till the afternoon like me." She wasn't looking at me anymore, staring toward the open window, her gaze far away.

I decided to be honest with her since she was asking, so I answered, "I sometimes do that as well when I'm too tired, and Denver always scolds me for not getting enough sleep. But this morning, I was looking over some written reports of some shipments, and there was a meeting with the executives of the gang."

"That's the first time you elaborated. I usually ask how your day was and you just leave it at 'it was normal, it was good,' and I never pried more." She smiled sadly, and I didn't know what to say.

It was silent for a little while before she spoke up again, "I thought a lot ever since I woke up this morning, and it just... it just occurred to me that I never ask you to elaborate about your everyday life. I mean, I don't even know you that well, Eltan. Yes, I know a few things. But the other things? I don't know a bit.

"I don't know the whole of anything. I know about your family situation, but I don't know what they are like. I know you grew up in California, but I don't know which high school you went to, what university you attended, or whether you even went to any of them at all. You don't talk about them, and I don't ever ask. We are lacking so much communication," she vented out. "So it doesn't make sense for me to be mad at you for not telling me you were involved with the mafia. Of course, it is troubling. But I always knew that Lance was in the mafia, so I guess it shouldn't be that surprising for you, either."

She finally looked at me and smiled in a hopeless way. "But honestly speaking, I don't care about that part of you. I just love you."

My heart thumped.

That was her first time telling me that she loved me, not just liked me.

She got up from the couch and came to sit on my lap. I instinctively placed my hands on her waist while she enveloped her arms around my neck.

"I want to get to know you better, Eltan. I don't want to remain in the dark anymore. If you think I'm too much of a scaredy cat, don't please. I will try my best. I will be braver and stronger for you. You won't scare me away, no matter what. So please..." A tear slipped out of her eye.

I rested my forehead against hers. "I'm so sorry, Faith. I didn't know you were feeling like that. I will also do my best to let you get to know me better."

"Thank you, Eltan."

"And I love you, too."

She smiled and kissed me softly. After that, I started by telling her the truth about our trip to New York, spilling the secret of my parents' death and the people who caused it.

###

"Thanks for taking me out to shop today, Eltan," Faith said with a cheerful smile.

My heart felt at ease, seeing her back to normal. "No problem. Do you feel better now?"

"Yes, a lot!"

She got really upset after I told her about how my parents died; she even ended up crying for me, saying she knew how it felt to be all alone in the entire world. After such a heavy conversation, I thought taking her out to do something might lighten up her mood, and it worked. Plus, we got to enjoy a casual date.

"Will you come by the casino tonight?" she inquired, removing her seatbelt.

"Tonight I have an appointment with my family doctor."

Her face turned worried. "Oh, no, are you feeling sick?" She touched my cheek instantly to feel my temperature.

I smiled at her care. "No, I'm fine. It's just a regular checkup." I couldn't tell her about her split personality yet, because she already got burdened with my truth last night. But I had made up my mind to tell her about it in New York.

"Alright. Let me know if there's anything wrong."

"Aye, ma'am."

She chuckled and leaned forward to give me a kiss on the cheek. "Take care."

"You too."

With that, she got out of the car and went inside her apartment complex.

I shook my head, still feeling my chest warm. I always felt good spending time with Faith.

I was about to drive away when my eyes fell on the graffiti on the wall of a building. It wasn't there before yesterday, and this afternoon, I was too anxious to notice it. But how could I have missed it?

With black and red sprays, it was written, "I LOVE YOU!"

"Instead of confessing my love with words, I would be better off writing a graffiti with blood."

Mutiny's words rang in my head.

Wait, that means, this isn't red spray, but blood?

My eyes widened, and I instantly bolted out of the car.

"Faith, wait!" I called out.

Faith stopped in the middle of climbing the stairs and looked at me innocently. "Is there something wrong, Eltan?"

I rushed to her and grabbed her wrist which had bandages wrapped around it, thanks to Mutiny slashing it on the night of kidnapping me.

The bandage seemed normal. What if Mutiny cut some other part of her to draw out more blood? But if that was the case, Faith should have fainted by now due to her anemia—

"Did you finally see my graffiti?"

I flinched at the sudden question and looked up at Faith—no, Mutiny smiling. It only took me a second to get composed and ask her sternly, "Did you use your own blood to draw that graffiti?"

She took a step toward me, bringing her face closer than she needed to, and asked, "What would you do if I said yes?"

I gritted my teeth and pushed her against the wall. "Are you fucking insane?"

"Oh, getting rough with me again? I like that," she snickered.

"Shut up. You are seriously nuts. Why would you use that much blood to write something that stupid?"

"It's not stupid!" she snapped. "I'm just trying to show you that I really love you."

"That's all it's about? Geez, I can't believe you. You are absolutely insane!"

She laughed. "I'm pretty sure you knew that from the very first time we met."

"But still, using up that much blood," I groaned. "You're so stupid. You did all this to make me believe that you love me, but I already believe you."

Her eyes became wide in surprise. "You believe me?"

"Yes."

A big grin took over her face, and at that moment, the last thing I was anticipating was for her to lean forward and press her lips against mine.