He is the eldest son of a Russian mobster and she is the only daughter of a Yakuza boss. He is cunning, ruthless, a born fighter. She likes her knives, but loves her cello even more.
Leonidas and Hana are brought together in marriage to solve the pe...
He didn't know how to explain it either. The nuances of the English language had been difficult for him to grasp when he first learnt it, and now that he had to explain it to her, he found he was rather out of his depth after all.
She frowned as she peeled off the wrapper of her muffin.
'I mean, when I say 'I'm going to bed' it means I'm going to sleep,' she muttered.
'But when you say 'Go to bed with me' it has the intention of inviting the other person to have sex with you,' he explained.
'Then what should I say next time?' she asked hopelessly. 'Come and sleep with me?'
'Just - ' He let out a sigh. Her innocent questions phrased in the most inviting of words were doing odd things to his mind. 'Just say 'Go to sleep'. Don't add 'With me'.'
'Read more,' he chided her.
'I read!' she exclaimed, raising her head.
'English books,' he said.
'But your English books are weird,' she complained in a small voice.
He cast his gaze aside. Right. He remembered peeking over her shoulder one day to find her gaping at a particularly erotic scene to have her throw the novel back at him and scream something about making her read 'this kind of stuff'.
'You should look at the French ones,' he muttered but before she could say anything else, he added, 'I'll choose the less weird books for you.'
~
He was one who showered her with gifts and gave her random hugs, kisses on her forehead, teasing smiles. She knew now that it was his way of expressing affection. She found that she liked it, and it was for the better too because the image of a bumbling Leon reciting love poems made her cringe. Not that she wanted romantic verses being read to her in the first place.
What did people do anyway when a love letter was recited to them? Blush prettily and swoon with their hands clasped to their bosom?
The thought sent a thrill up her spine and she giggled to herself.
But the reason for her to wonder about all these was how she could reciprocate his affection. His birthday was coming and she didn't know how to celebrate for him.
'Hey, do you like parties?' she asked one day.
Her heart went still as he looked up at her, silently chewing his dinner as he considered the question.
'What kind of parties?' he asked.
'Birthday parties,' she muttered, hurrying her attention back to her food.
'Are we invited to a party?'
A few seconds of silence passed as she thought of an answer. It would no longer be a surprise if she revealed it to him, but this was better than not having anything to work with.
'No,' she muttered.
More silence.
Then he stopped short and pointed his spoon at himself.
'My party?' His forehead was creased as if the idea of his own party was foreign to him.
'Maybe,' she mumbled with her face in her bowl.
'Is that what that is for?' he teased, jerking his chin at her. 'That notebook on your lap?'
A hand instinctively went down to the said notebook as her eyes grew wide. She didn't think he'd knew about it.
'Maybe,' she said again.
'Parties are alright, I guess,' he muttered. 'But I'd rather spend time with you. Just the two of us.'
'Oh.' Just the two of them? 'But anyway, what do you want to do? Or what do you want?'
'What do I want?' The amused look was back on his face.
'Mm. What's something that you want but don't have?' she pressed.
'I have everything that I want,' he answered smoothly.
How cocky.
He held out a hand to her.
'Pass me the notebook. And your pen.'
He took them, uncapped the pen, and started writing a list of things in it. Hana tilted her head to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of his neat printing. After a while, he looked up at her and grinned, before handing it back to her.
Below the title head of 'Leon' was a list of items, written in cursive letters that read:
1. Hana
2. Get drunk
3. Hana must practise her Russian-speaking tongue with me
Her eyes widened as she took in his demands, trying to comprehend how anyone could want this for their birthday.
'Are you trying to be funny?' she exclaimed, slamming the book onto the table with a loud thwack. 'This isn't helping!
He swallowed the last of his meal and cleared his dishes from the table. Hana glared at him helplessly.
He shot the list a glance again.
'You can ignore number two. One and three can go together.'
'But that's me!' she cried out, her eyes boring hard at the list. 'You want - ' Me?
Her spoon clattered against the rim of her bowl. Hana ripped the paper out from her notebook and crushed it into a ball, much to his amusement.
~
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On a side note, both school work and placement work are piling up, so do expect infrequent updates!
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