Hey Sunshine

It's Not Even the Wedding

AS THE FAKE CEREMONY HAPPENED, Wylan quietly played his flute in the background and tried to ignore Jesper's various advances/facial features/being in general. He watched a tall woman (who was somehow larger than Bollinger??? How did that even happen?) walk down an aisle with a massive smile on her face, despite it not being real. Bollinger smiled just as widely on the other end, the both of them exchanging adoring expressions.

Wylan winced and looked at Sergie who was watching the (fake) proceedings with a heartbreaking expression.

Slowly panning out, he watched silently with the rest of the Ketterdam Mafia as Jesper held out a box of rings and Gretina slowly slid a ring up Bollinger's finger. Bollinger did the same and finally they kissed lightly.

Wylan swallowed and looked back at Sergie, who's expression hadn't changed. Quietly he moved himself from the corner of the room to one of the back pews where he quietly watched the rest of the proceedings happen. A few moments later Jesper joined him as the wedding planner began talking them through what happened next.

"What happened to Sergie is really sad," Wylan whispered turning his head to see Jesper-

-who was apparently now a heavily muscled six feet tall woman with killer shark eyes and went by the name Oksanochka the last time he had seen her.

"Fuck."

Oksanochka turned her head to Wylan and pursed her lips. "I know what Sergie is going through," she said quietly in return. "It isn't a secret to me."

Wylan nodded, trying to hide the rush of fear in his veins. "Ah. So do you run this gang or...?"

She shook her head. "I run this gang directly, but there's a bigger mafia we're apart of. We're just this branch of it."

Wylan had no idea if regular mafias worked like this, but he didn't want to question anything when a woman with a (probable) gun on her was right next to him.

"So Sergie told you?" she said quietly, in a tone that told him it wasn't a question. "He's a heartbroken man."

Wylan nodded again. "Yeah," he said quietly. Didn't mafia etiquette dictate that they all had to be super tough all the time? He didn't mention the fact that Sergie had cried on his shoulder, figuring it would mess with his image.

Oksanochka nodded before sighing heavily. "Oh these people," she said quietly. "When I joined a gang, I didn't expect to love them all by the time I was done."

"You're retiring?" he asked, scanning her face. She didn't look very old - maybe hitting thirty or a little over - but she was still far younger than his father. She smiled a little, a strange smile that made her look a little less human than she already did.

"In my business," she said lowly, "nobody really stays a long time. We all go after a while. We are all eventually too old for the job."

Wylan swallowed at that, remembering some of the stuff the mafia did in their free time. "Yeah," he said quietly. "That makes sense."

She let out a long sigh as she scanned the quiet room once again. "I'm going to have to tell everybody in this room eventually," she said slowly, exhaling as if it pained her. "Gretina and Bollinger will be the new heads of this branch."

Wylan stayed quiet, not sure if she wanted him to say anything. Privately he thought she sounded much more like an age old grandmother than a mafia branch owner, but then again, this mafia didn't really fit any of the regular stereotypes.

"I'm sure they'll understand," he finally said after a couple beats of silence.

Oksanochka shot him a small smile, a real one. It was so different to the figure he had first met. "Maybe in a while. Stay with him alright?"

"Who?"

"Sergie," she patted his arm. "He's a good man. Maybe a little too volatile, but he's got a big heart."

Wylan's throat dried. "Um, Oksanochka, madame, um I hate to tell you but I'm-"

"You really like Jesper?" she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice. "I'm aware. Just stay friends with Sergie. He's a good man."

Wylan nodded dully, fully intending on staying in contact with Sergie even after the wedding.

"And with Jesper too. You really like that boy."

She was gone before Wylan could come up with a response, but then again, he figured later, that there wouldn't really be one even if she had stayed.