DAISY
I couldn't stay in his arm much longer.
He was still passed out on my bed but I couldn't leave without patching up his wound again.
I make my way out and I'm overwhelmed by the mess. He broke whatever came into his sight.
I don't know who that man was, but I knew he got on his nerves. I've never seen him so... angry before. Annoyed, sure.
Putting my hair up in a ponytail, I get to work.
I cleaned all the shattered glass on the floor, fixed up the messed-up couch, and even mopped.
Took me two to three hours to clean everything and he still wasn't up.
♤
Past
The old guy, Bobby, he was nice to us. He bought us snacks, blankets from his house, more toys for Kevin, and comfortable t-shirts for me. I didn't want his pity because I didn't want him to think I owed him anything. But I couldn't refuse either.
Kevin was asleep and Bobby poured me a glass of whiskey, "Here, baby, take this."
"I'm not old enough to drink."
"You're old enough to be locked here but you're not old enough to drink?"
"Listen, I don't want you to get any ideas. Thanks for helping us out but that doesn't mean I owe you shit with my body."
"What?" For a second his expression was confused. Then his blue eyes widened with realization and his cheeks went red, "Oh! Absolutely fucking not!" He keeps the glass back on the table and hides his face behind his hands. I liked his hands. I liked his rings. A skull on his right index, a gold wedding band on his left ring finger, and another ring on his right middle finger- a pink band. And then another on his left index. A lion.
He takes a deep breath and puts a hand on his chest, "Look, I am sorry if I came on to you like that, but I promise my intentions were never that." He chuckles, "Besides, the only person who can keep me satisfied even at his age is my Jenny. I belong wholly to my little sunflower." His accent had a hint of the West.
My cheeks go red now, "Oh. Oh god. I am sorry. I just-" he shakes his head, "Don't apologize, baby girl, it's okay. I'm just hurt that you've never had good people in your life to treat you right before. I know it hurts. But you got me here." I looked over to the newest toys Kevin was gonna get tomorrow, "You shouldn't do this. I don't wanna get you in trouble. That guy, Marcelo, he's a pain in the ass." He nods as he takes a sip of his whiskey. I have no clue how the hell he was in here with us even after hours but I think he had his ways to come and go in this club. As far as I've seen in these three months is that everyone respected him. All the girls were nice to him and he was warm to them. He kept his eye on every girl and made sure they were okay.
Last week, he caught a guy trying to grab one of the girls at the pole and instantly called security.
I didn't know if I could trust him yet.
He fills up another glass, "Here." I set my lips in a thin line and he swatted his hand, "I am a grow-up, and I'm permitting you to drink. So drink! Let yourself loose, otherwise, you're gonna die early and he will be thrown somewhere you don't want him to be." He nudges his chin at Kevin sleeping on the bed, curled up to his little panda toy. I sighed and took the glass but I hesitated. But I took the sip too and almost coughed my lungs out. He chuckles, "Never drink much in your old life, did you? I thought teenagers were supposed to slip booze everywhere." I shake my head and wipe my lips with the back of my sleeve, "My mom was very strict when it came to that. She was strict with drinking, lying, and partying. She knew when I lied and she knew when I was trying to sneak out." Bobby laughed, "Oh, darn. My mother never knew when I was lying when I sneaked out of my room often to have sex with Jenny in the barn behind my house. God bless my mother's soul, she was a little slow with a lot of love to give."
"And your dad?"
"Oh, my father- we used to call him sir, all of us six boys- he was strict. He wanted all of us in the army and all my three little sisters to be married by the age of eighteen. He was a wonderful husband but a terrible father. He hated Jenny because he thought she was too much of a darn coward and too happy for her good." He chuckles again. "I remember when I turned eighteen and fought him because I wanted to marry Jenny. He refused. I ran away with the love of my life."
"And you ever went back?"
"We did. With our baby girl in Jenny's womb. She was seven months pregnant. We turned twenty-one. And I found out that my father died of a heart attack right after I left. My brothers got into a fight and spread out to the corners of the world in anger. My sisters ran away too, and my mother died with heartbreak. I left behind a house full of love and came back to nothing. I never found out where everyone was. I still haven't."
"And your daughter?"
"Oh," sadness spread itself in his eyes, "My baby girl, Jade, died when she was three. She had a little hole in her heart. She died in my arms because she couldn't breathe." Tears well in his eyes but they do not fall. He sniffs and I sympathize, "I'm sorry." He smiles, "Don't be. My little angel is in heaven waiting for me." He takes out his wallet and shows me a picture of a two-year-old. She smiled while snuggling in Jenny's arms, chocolate all over her face and hands. Her eyes were green.
"I'm sorry that I came to you with a whole different meaning. I can't help myself. I saw your face, your eyes especially, and I just thought it was my baby. She would've been your age by now if she were alive, god bless her little soul."
He takes a deep breath, "Well, enough about me. Let's talk about you." I shrug, "Like what?" He quirks a brow, "Like that scar on your thigh. I know Zane did not do that. Was it your daddy?" I shake my head, "God no! My dad died when my mom was pregnant with Kevin. I was eleven."
"Oh, you poor thing, must've been hard."
"Yeah. It was okay, though. My mom was so strong."
I looked down at my lap, in a dilemma of not knowing if I should share more and lay myself bare. But he shared so much with me. Even a picture of his daughter. "She got remarried when I was fifteen."
"Was he a good guy?"
"At first, we loved him. But slowly, as I grew up, I felt like I was being groomed by him instead of being loved. My mother found out so she kept us away from him."
"Divorce?"
"No, just made us keep our distance from him. She couldn't go through the heartbreak of losing her second love. But she had a bad habit of drinking. She got drunk one night and she didn't wake up the next day. A heart attack. She died seven months ago. Kevin called the ambulance. I was at school and he was at work." Tears start dripping down in my hands as I look up at Bobby. He points his thumb at a sleeping Kevin and I almost laugh at how his eyes were popped at the sound of a toddler calling the ambulance. "Yeah. Him. He's special. Learned all his spelling by the age of five."
"Well, I'll be damned." He lets out a laugh. "He's a good kid. He listens. He's patient." I nod without hesitation. He looks at me as if he wants me to continue talking. I took a deep breath, "Right after the funeral," I took another breath, "We came home, that man was passed out drunk on the stairs. I tried to help him up but he..." I shook my head because I couldn't talk more about it. Bobby somehow gets it, "He tried to touch you, didn't he?" I nod with my gaze down at my lap. Tears stinging my eyes as I try to hold them back, "He- he tried to t-take... h-he- I can't do this." I shake my head feeling the tears drip down my cheek. I never told this to anyone. Kevin witnessed but I never could tell anyone this. No one would listen. No one would believe it. Bobby holds my hand and a tear slips right on the back of his tan finger, "Come on, baby girl. You gotta talk. Otherwise, it will hurt even more."
"He- he t-tried to pull me in his b-bedroom. He tried to tear all my c-clothes off. And when I pushed him hard- I kicked him hard enough that he collided with the dresser," I looked at Bobby and his jaw was clenched. I kept going, "he grabbed me and pushed me down on the small coffee t-table. It shattered under my weight but, obviously, that wasn't enough. He grabbed one of the large shattered glass," the tears wouldn't stop. The pain wouldn't stop. I burst out crying, "he lifted my dress and stabbed me. He dragged it down to my knee." I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth so Kevin wouldn't wake up as I was a crying mess.
Bobby pulled me in his arms and I let him. He smelled like tobacco and spice.
I cried on his chest, "I don't wanna be here. I wanna go home. I wanna get my baby brother to safety. I want- I miss my mom, Bobby. I miss her so much. She protected me from that monster for years only to go and leave me at his mercy."
"I know, baby. I know it hurts. There's no way out in this club, whatever deal Zane makes it's always iron-clad. But I know one thing." He lifts my head and wipes my tears away with his thumb. "Fear fucks up everything." His eyes sternly looked into mine as if teaching me a valuable lesson, "You're closed in a box, you need to learn to live in that goddamn box. Because the more you struggle, the more it will close down on you. You need to learn to make it your home and you need to learn to be happy in it. Make this box your own and find a solution. It will take time, but there's always a solution."
"You want me to be a stripper?"
"I want you to be the best fucking stripper this club has ever seen, baby. Be the best that even Zane overlooks the little rules you'll break. Make this club your bitch."
"Bobby, a stripper-"
"There's no shame in being one. All these girls in here are trying to survive. Do you think a girl likes whoring herself to the hungry wolves? No girl does. Be a survivor, Daisy."
I turn my head to look at Kevin but Bobby grabs my jaw and makes me look back at him, "No. You will survive for yourself, Daisy. Not him. For yourself or you will lose." I sniff, "I need to take care of him too."
"No."
"I have to."
"Honey, survive for yourself."
"But I can't just-"
"Let him come with me. I don't live far from here. Let the boy stay with me and Jenny. I would love to take you in too but Zane is possessive about his girls. You're gonna be here for another month until Zane knows that you're staying and surviving. Then he'll move you up to the dorms where you will share rooms with the other girls. That's how you'll know you got in."
"And what if he doesn't?"
"Don't make yourself think that. You need to survive for yourself and your mama. The only person you should trust is yourself."
♤
Present
I had just finished cleaning the island when I heard him walking down the stairs. He looks all over and I don't miss the clench of his jaw. "Daisy, I don't want you cleaning up my mess." I suck my teeth, "A thank you would be nice right now." He scoffs and shakes his head.
I don't know but I think he's acting like the kiss didn't happen and I don't wanna be the first to point it out.
"Did you have a good sleep?" I had to ask. I had to say something. He nods, "Yeah. When did you leave?"
"Oh, I left right after you fell asleep." Then I add with guilt, "Twenty minutes after actually."
He clears his throat and walks to the fridge to get himself a bottle of water. He takes large gulps and I watch his throat work, his eyes closed.
"So are we gonna talk about what happened?" He chokes and coughs loudly, patting his chest in a frenzy and my eyebrows go up. "About- about what?"
My heart sank to my stomach in a matter of seconds.
"About... who they were. The people that were here." I couldn't do it. I couldn't say it out loud. He nodded again and made his way close to me, and I made a show of cleaning the island and took three steps back, "So who were they?" I don't miss the clench of his fist at his side. Was it because I took steps back or was it because he hated that man?
"That man was my brother." I stop and my eyes go wide, "What the fuck do you mean your brother?" He shrugs, "My brother."
Then I realized. The eyes were quite similar as well as the shape of their faces.
The guilt on Carmelo's face made me realize another thing, "He was the one behind the explosion, wasn't he?"
"Also the attack on you."
"The bullet?"
"Yup."
I put my hands on my head as I tried to make sense of this shit. If he's getting targeted by his brother that means I am dead meat soon. As much as I was scared, I was pissed. "What the fuck is going on?" He sighs, his voice still calm, "Daisy, look-" I shake my head, "Oh no. Don't you Daisy me! Who the fuck was he?" Woojin doesn't even attempt to answer. "Who the fuck are you? Is he the reason you're hiding?" He nods. I blow, "Fucking speak! Who the fuck are you?" His voice comes out exhausted, "It's not that easy."
"Enlighten me. Go on."
He takes a deep breath. "My family... they're not-"
"Normal people? Yeah, I already know that."
He takes in a deep breath and then a second. What was so hard for him to talk about?
"Carmelo is a name that I gave to myself. To other people I'm not even Woojin, it's just Carmelo. The only reason you know my real name is because Kevin found out." I raise a brow but he continues, "I do my business anonymously with everyone. Helps me keep a low profile. My real name is Yang Woojin. I'm the first son of the Yang mafia. My family deals in trafficking; girls, drugs, weapons- you name it and we have business in it. We're the strongest mafia out through South Korea, and we even dabble a bit in the North too."
This shouldn't come to me as a shock, but I can't help it. I can't help but look at him differently now. Last night he was the sweetest man, holding me close. And today, I just know that if I piss him off, I might get my head blown up by his brother.
I nibble my bottom lip, "I feel like there's more you have to say than just that." He nods as if I said the right thing. "They found me. And they want me back home by the end of the week." I scoff and shrug, "So? You don't have to go if you don't want to." He rolls his shoulder, and stretches his neck left and right until we hear a pop. "That's the thing. If I don't go, the next thing they blow up won't be just a car. It would be this house with you and me inside it."
"I feel like I'm gonna be dragged now."
"We're going to Seoul next week."
"I don't have a passport."
"I'll take care of it."
"I don't wanna go."
"You don't have a choice, sweetheart."
Fuck. My. Life.
♤ ♤ ♤ ♤ ♤
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Love, Hope
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