Xuan beckons me to the seat next to him. I go and sit there.
'How you holding up?' He asks. 'Are you still ok?'
'Yup,' I reply, stuffing my face with strawberries.
'What are you gonna do today?' He asks.
'I want to get a tattoo, but I can't exactly drive there.' I sigh.
'I'll drive you,' Xuan says.
'Really?' I ask, not hiding the tone of surprise.
'Yeah, the mood in this house is kind of depressing anyways.' He puts out his cigarette. 'And didn't you say I should try be less selfish?'
He stands up and I follow him.
'We'll be back soon.' I say to everyone.
'Don't do anything Stupid,' Zoya says.
'Or illegal,' Lorenzo adds.
'I won't be the one cleaning up your mess Xuan,' Alora says.
'We're going to be absolutely fine.' He sighs.
He grabs my arm and we walk out of the house together.
We walk towards his silver Mercedes and get inside. Xuan drives us to the tattoo parlour.
'What are you getting?' He asks as we walk inside.
'Nothing with any value to you,' I reply. Xuan shrugs and sits down in one of the chairs.
'How can I help you?' The tattoo woman asks.
'I'd like to get a tattoo,' I reply.
'What one?' She asks.
I take a piece of paper from the desk and write something down.
'Are you sure that's what you want?' She asks concerned.
'Yeah,' I reply. 'It has a lot of sentimental value to me.'
The woman nods and takes me to the tattoo chair. I roll up the sleeve of my hoodie and extend my arm out.
After a while she's finally done with the tattoo. She puts some gauze on it and wraps it up. It'll take three days to heal.
I pay the woman and walk back to Xuan.
'Can I see what you got?' He asks.
I show him my arm, and on my wrist are the words;
'Brick by brick - A'
'That's the weirdest tattoo I've ever seen,' he says as we walk out of the parlour.
'I like it a lot.' I reply with a small smile.
'Can we grab something from Starbucks before we go home?' I ask.
'Yeah, why not,' he sighs.
We walk into the store and I order my usual Caramel Frappe with extra caffeine and Xuan orders Macha tea and a bottle of water.
'What's up with you and Alora?' I asks as the man prepares our drinks.
'Nothing,' he replies.
'Come on,' I say. 'You'd have to be blind not to notice the tension between you two.'
'Fine, there's something,' he sighs rubbing his forehead.
We get our drinks and go sit at a table.
'A couple years ago, Alora and I met at a mission.' Xuan explains.
'She was working for this mafia and I was working for the enemy, our plan was to take out Adriano and I was used.' He says. 'I had to win over Alora until I was able to assassinate him.'
'And what did you do?' I ask.
'I started dating Alora and fell in love with her during the months of planning for Adriano's death.' He sighs. 'When it came down to the day he had to die, I didn't have it in me because I knew it would hurt Alora.'
He pauses and runs a hand through his messy hair. He takes a deep breath and continues.
'At the end of the day, it was never going to work out and I was heavily reminded of that.' He says. 'I had to do what needed to be done and then forget about her.'
'The mission went south and of course it failed. I lost my family's appreciation for me and Alora's trust and love all in the same day.' He sighs.
'Wow...' I breathe. 'I didn't know it was so.... complicated.'
'But now I'm trying to win her back, I will do everything to win her back.' He laughs.
'That's really sweet,' I reply.
'It's the least I can do after nearly killing someone whose like a brother to her.' He says.
We finish our drinks and get up to leave. When we exit Starbucks we bump into two familiar people.
'Look who it is,' Zoe says. 'And she's with her new boy toy.'
If Zoe appearing Isn't bad enough she's joined by her older brother Raphael.
He gives me a soft smile which I return.
'Are you deaf?' Zoe snaps.
'Oh fuck off blondie.' I roll my eyes. I'm not in the mood for this.
'Is Adriano not good enough for the rich bitch anymore?' She asks innocently. 'This new boy is really good looking though,' she winks at him.
Xuan gives her a disgusted look, as if she was something he found under his shoe.
'Zoe that's enough.' Raphael says.
'Oh shut up.' She snaps. 'What cat got your tongue?' She asks pushing me.
My back hits Xuan's front.
That's it.
I launch at her. I pull her hair and start punching her face. She's screaming and clawing at my arms.
I pull her head up and bring it down on my knee. I hear the bones in her nose crack.
'I guess Daddy's gonna have to pay for your nose job.' I snarl.
She tires to make a grab for my hair but doesn't realise that it's not long anymore so she misses.
I put her in a headlock and floor her.
Xuan grabs me and Raphael put his hands out to stop me. I push them both away and sit on Zoe.
My knee hurts, but I ignore it.
I start punching her so hard, releasing all my built up emotions over the last couple days. Xuan grabs me again and drags me off her.
'You're fucking insane.' Zoe slurs as Raphael helps her up.
Blood gushes down her face. One of her eyes is completely purple.
'I keep telling you not to test me.' I snap.
'We need to get you to a hospital,' Raphael says.
He looks at me and awkwardly smiles.
'It was nice seeing you again.' He says.
'You too,' I reply.
He walks off with Zoe, who's struggling to stay upright.
'Mum told you that your mouth would get you into serious trouble one day,' He sighs.
'You are crazy,' Xuan laughs finally letting go of me. 'Now I see why you're Adriano's type.'
My face drops and I look down at my bruised knuckles.
'I'm sorry,' Xuan says, realising why I'm upset. 'Let's get you home and cleaned up.'
We walk back to his car and he drives us home.
*AUTHORS NOTE*
What do you guys think of Xuan so far? I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Instagrams:
@adrian0_giovanni
@dilara_caesar
Have a nice day!