Aurora

The truth

His dark hair was slightly wet, sticking to his face and little droplet trickling down the sides of his face. He was fully dressed but he always managed to look so good in anything he wore, even if he didn't put any effort into it. It was expected for him to be wearing a black sweater, but it made it difficult for her to focus if he wore such tight fitting tops that outlined his muscles and gorgeous figure.

She snapped out of her daze when the fridge door had shut closed, and he walked over to her with a water bottle in his hand.

Her only mission now was to not lose focus, no matter how handsome he looked. 

She watched him nervously as he took a seat opposite her, settling down and taking a moment to gather his thoughts. She mentally calmed herself, taking a moment to get herself together as well.

"I know you must have a lot of questions but there is something you should know first."

She slowly gave him a nod, preparing herself for what he was about to say to her.

Matteo inhaled deeply, looking as if he was in an inner battle with himself. She however waited patiently for him to collect himself and speak.

"Y-you don't have-"

"I am not a good person, agnellino."

She shut her mouth quickly the moment he cut her off.

"I have a dangerous lifestyle and it involves the previous events that you have encountered."

She winced as she recalled the vivid images that popped up in her head where she had almost witnessed a crime scene.

He sighed. "I have done a lot of bad things in the past, and even in the present. I have killed people, hurt people and I have done even worse than that. There may be no simple way to say this to you, and your attitude might change toward me which is something I would understand."

"W-what is it?" she asked, her voice quivering.

He looked at her and holding her gaze he answered, "I am in the mafia."

She tilted her head slightly, looking at him with curious eyes when he mentioned the peculiar word "mafia". He must have noticed her questionable stare because he furrowed his brows.

"You do not know what that is?" he asked.

She shook her head.

He didn't say anything for a while but continued to stare at her, as if studying her which made her squirm in her seat. He must have thought she was stupid for not knowing what that word meant but her vocabulary was limited. There were many things she did not know and she couldn't help it since she was not exposed to the news or books from the library.

Matteo spoke again. "The mafia is an organization made up of members that partake in illegal activities."

"Like a g-gangster?"

Even though she did not have that much knowledge, she was equipped enough to know what a local gangster is. There has always been bad men on the corner of her workplace and Aunt Jocelyne would always warn Aurora about the "gangsters" who would hurt someone like Aurora.

All she knew that a gangster was someone so did bad things and also killed people. That was according to Aunt Jocelyne though.

"Sí, a gangster."

Her eyes widened. "Y-you're a gangster?" she gasped.

"Not particularly. I don't associate myself with that term."

"Then what are you exactly?" she asked.

"Capo. I am the leader of the mafia, Aurora."

She heard Reggie call him that a few times and always wondered what that name meant. She thought it must have been a nickname for him, or he didn't like his name being said by the others. She didn't know that it was used in another language to say that he was the boss.

She felt even more frightened to sit in his presence. She felt a sudden pressure and oozing dominance from him when she peered at him. There was now a title for him and a different image portrayed of the man she now lived with. He was not the Matteo who offered her a place to stay, but he was now the Matteo that was the leader of a mafia.

When she looked at Matteo now, there was a horrifying image of him being a cold hearted killer with no sense of humanity in him. Her heart picked up its face as she realized that she was in the home of a man who killed at least a dozen people, and is likely to commit crimes that she wouldn't dare think about. Ice cold rivers of pure fear ran through her veins at the new sight of the man who was the leader of a gang.

He must have noticed her trembling slightly because for a split second she saw a flicker of concern in his eyes. "You are afraid." he said.

She looked down at her hands, which was shaking a bit. "You scare me." she said softly.

Matteo was silent only for a few seconds before the words left his mouth, baffling Aurora and maybe even himself.

"I would never hurt you." he said, instead of his voice being rough it was more calm than other times. It was said in a gentle way as if saying this with purposeful affection.

Her heart fluttered at his words.

She believed him because Matteo always sounded truthful. He portrayed himself as a man who was void of lies and was only programmed to speak when necessary and to only speak the truth. It was one of the things she for some reason admired about him.

She liked that about him.

She bit her lip. "But you hurt other people." she whispered.

"It is what I do."

"It doesn't make it right for you to kill innocent people." she raised her voice a bit.

"Innocent? You think the people I kill are innocent?"

She didn't answer him.

"The mafia is not a fucking game where I would go ahead and kill random people whenever I please. I conflict pain on the people who deserve it, I hurt those who have wronged me and I kill those who have dared cross me."

She flinched when he raised his voice at her.

"You might think that what I do is for fun and something that I enjoy, but you're not completely off the mark with that one. Whatever it is I do, it's for a reason."

"What was the reason that you almost killed Chandler?" she felt a bit of anger in her bubble, and didn't seem to notice that for one in her life she hadn't stuttered.

"What?" he asked.

"Why did you almost kill him? Since what you do has a reason."

The two stared at each other, Aurora staring at Matteo with hard eyes. He looked at her with a look she couldn't decipher but it did not seem like one of anger. It was as if he didn't know what to say to her, and didn't have an answer to her question.

Matteo stood up from his seat, making Aurora want to tell at him to give her an answer first. She hadn't even questioned him like she wanted to since she took time to process the information that he had thrown at her, but this was something she had to know.

She wanted the truth behind his hatred towards Chandler and she had to know it now.

He picked up his water bottle, walking around the kitchen counter to exit the room. However when he shortened the distance between the two of them, he stopped right next to her. His eyes did not meet hers as he stared ahead of him.

"I don't know myself." he replied, and left the room.

I uploaded as soon as I could guys and I finally didn't take so long. I hope you're proud of me ;)

Don't forget to vote and comment <3 I love you guys.