NIGHTMARE

chapter 36

Y/n's POV.

Breakfast and Italian cuisine were two of the few things for which I would literally sell my soul to the devil.

If I had come to Italy in better circumstances than what I had, I would never go back to Japan, solely because of the food here.

This morning, Mikey, who, might I add, has a major and underappreciated talent for cooking, made a buffet-style breakfast for any member of the Bonten who wanted to be up and out of bed at eight thirty in the morning.

And this man catered for everyone; there was enough food to feed a small-scale army here.

We were lucky that the kitchen was the size of a small house by itself.

I admired him for it, Mikey. Just over twenty-four hours ago, he had been shot and stitched back together; now, as if to make up for the inconveniences caused to his men, he was making them a full-scale breakfast.

I turned to Mikey, who still stood at the kitchen bench, serving up food for his men. I approached him from behind, tapping him gently on the shoulder. He jumped slightly but twisted around to face me, raising his eyebrows as if prompting me to continue.

"What do you want me to get you?" I asked, smiling.

"Have you eaten?" he returned a question. I shook my head and smiled, putting my hands on my hips and gazing up at the roof.

"You don't get to answer my questions with more of your own," I told him, nudging his shoulder softly and mirroring his facial expression, raising my eyebrows as well.

"Guess what?" he repressed a smirk, "I just did." He gave me a slight nudge back.

"Fine, no, I haven't yet; I was waiting for you," I told him, smirking annoyingly. "Now back to my question: what do you want me to get you?"

"Nothing; you get something for yourself, and I'll join you when I'm done here," he told another man, loading his plate up with food.

"No offense, but you're crippled." I looked him up and down.

"I don't understand how you can do anything by yourself," I told him.

"Watch me," he said, balanced on his crutches, picking up a plate and tongs, trying to learn to walk forward.

I let out a snicker as he tried to prove me wrong, evidently failing.

In his efforts, he dropped the tongs, and I caught them, surprising myself slightly with my reflexes.

"You're making my head hurt; please let me help." I laughed, and he smirked and handed me the plate reluctantly.

"I don't want you to go losing too many brain cells," he said, making a smart remark back at me.

I scoffed and turned my shoulder on him, serving up a plate of food for him.

"Where do you want to sit?" I asked him as he hobbled around the bench on the crutches. He shrugged, looking around the room for a spare seat, but none could be seen.

"Do you want to go out the back?" he asked. I gave a slight smile and nodded.

"Outside sounds good." I pulled together my own plate of food and followed him through the compound and out to the back garden.

Once out the door, I put the plates down on a table and observed the beauty around me: gardens, rainbows of different flowers, trees with healthy, bright green leaves—this place had it all.

"Would you go get Bonten's executives and higher-ups?" Mikey turned to me, sighing, "They look like a lost puppy in there."

A small snicker escaped my lips, but I nodded, going back inside to search for Bonten's higher-ups.