Chapter 5: The Ferocious Mafia King 1.

Elizabeth’s POV

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The desperate plea in Angie’s low voice has me itching with discomfort. I might not know who they are but, seeing how Angie’s bedroom looks, how she looks and the clothes she wears...I know she’s living a privileged life as I had prayed. So why, what’s with this mulling unease inside of me?

“Angie” My lips move a crack, my attitude turning dismal and wary but Angie shakes her head and attempts to pull me to my feet as she frowns disapprovingly.

“You were the one who had made them promise to look after me. Like it or not, I’m dragging you down with me. Quit building walls around yourself, when you keep hiding in there like a coward, how can you ever come to learn of the good hearts out there?”

And she succeeds when her words puncture me like an onslaught of small rocks. ‘Oh Beth, how many times has Angie scolded you today?’ At this rate, doesn’t she seem to be the mature one between us? I bite the corner of my mouth with guilt and remorse as I’m taken away by the angry Angie.

We arrive at a warm living room, thanks to the crackling fireplace and I stiffen reflexively when I see a middle-aged man rising from an armchair and a woman sitting on a two-seater coffee sofa. In turmoil, I glance at Angie who now parts her lips to speak.

“Mom, dad, this is Elizabeth and she would like to show her gratitude for permitting her to live with us” Angie speaks in a deliberate tone, stepping back after she’s done and edging me forward to indeed do what she just said.

Shifting my shaky gaze between them, noticing the warm expressions on their faces that illuminates their earnest and true intentions in contrast to all the adults I’ve ever known so far...I don’t know what to do as my unease coats me like a heavy blanket.

No one ever looked at me with such sincere eyes, no one cared for me and my needs, my relatives kicked me away and the adults at the orphanage weren’t nice to me either. The only form of kindness and care I ever received, was from my deceased parents.

My vision blurs over and I flinch, making out two figures approaching me and I hear a woman’s voice. “Oh dear, you don’t have to force yourself. Angie already told us about it...we know how hard it’s been on you, so you can take as much time as you need”.

When others had said these same words, with the same sympathy and concern, it had only spiked my hatred and anger...yet, I can feel it deep within me. I know she’s genuine and it breaks my heart as I let a sob out my wobbling lips, fisting my hands at my side and trembling haplessly.

“H-how can you be so nice...to me w-without knowing who I am? Angie isn’t even your child...yet you cared for her so much and agree to take me in. Is it out of p-pity...is it because you feel it’s a task you just have to carry out...”

“...how can love just sprout like that when you’re only strangers?” I find myself so desperate and envious to know why to know what brings these people together like this. This isn’t something anyone can pull off so easily. To act like a perfect family with so much love. Tell me what keeps this going.

I hear a soft low hum and feel hands on my shoulders. Blinking rapidly, I manage to clear my vision to see a smiling face with soft brown eyes staring at me with such effusing kindness, and my chest constricts tightly.

Angie’s foster mother parts her smiling lips to say to me, “It’s because we’re a family, and that basis alone, creates a bond much stronger than any other relationship out there”.

Ah...this is it? It’s so simple and yet...my tears sting my eyes as I bite my lower lip, water pooling in my orbs as I look to the man standing beside me who nods softly at me.

“You people...are so amazing.” That’s the only audible thing that leaves my lips as I break into sobs, mourning for my heart, my soul, and my life. No words are said but with just as trivial as a hug from her, all that longing and empty pain begins to patch and heal up.

“You’re welcome, Elizabeth.”

~

I don’t know how long I cried, but Angie’s foster parents expressed so much warmth and care that filled up my long years of deprivation. And just like Angie had advised, little by little, I can unwind the distrust and peel down my sky-high walls.

“You don’t have to sound that way, he was only trying to be nice but you kept pushing him away. What was the guy to do when you adamantly chose to remain obstinate?” Angie explodes into laughter, wringing a frown onto my face as I grit at her with annoyance.

She had been all wails after I had begun to cry in her foster mother’s arms. The girl even resorted to apologizing for forcing me to go down with her and at that point, I had laughed through my cries at her messy face. ‘Really, I should ease my defense from time to time’.

“You’re making me into the bad guy, I was only being cautious. What’s so wrong with trying to know someone before I can choose to trust them?” I retort but Angie’s no longer taking me seriously. Arguing about that Chris guy gives me a rattling migraine.

It’s not like I hate him or anything, but his guts irk me. He’s always trying to be the smug, smart, and cool one and I can’t help my twitching annoyance. Pissed at everything, I begin to march forward, deserting her behind in my frisk steps down the night street.

“AHHH!!”

An arresting scream defuses into the cold night, electrifying me with its blasting alarm and stilling me in place with eyes enlarging. ‘No...it can’t be. Vaguely, sparse memories from nine years ago are brought to life, chaotically zipping around my mind until a jerking jab invades in, pushing me physically and mentally out of my shock.

“H-help me...d-don’t let them g-get me...Pl-please...”

Sobbing excruciatingly, clutching my coat in an iron shaky grip, drilling their head into my chest. The terrific fear encasing this stranger desperately seeking my help from an unknown pursuer...I blink many times as if trying to come to terms that what I just saw is only a memory and this person clinging onto me so dependently, isn’t a figment from that past.

“Beth, did you hear that just now- Huh? Who is this?” Angie appears next to me, already inspecting who this stranger is when angry loud voices and hurrying feet start to surface from a corner ahead I suspect this person came running from.

Angie looks away in the direction the noise is coming from and looks back at me with tension, “Beth, snap out of it. I think whoever they are, must be after this lady. We need to hide somewhere, quick!”

She wastes no second as she grabs us both and begins to run into an alley I never noticed. Angie plunges us into a dim narrow space in haste and I finally gather the strength to speak. “Hey, where are you taking us? Don’t we just have to hide and wait till they’re gone?”

Gosh, it’s so unpleasant in here. Despite the sudden inconvenience, however, this stranger clutches direly onto me. I don’t know if it’s their sudden instinct or poor sense of danger that they choose to trust a stranger they don’t even know to protect them from an impending one.

Don’t they care to know if I might turn out to be one of their pursuers? Do people just go around trusting whoever they see so blindly?

“Like they’d just ignore obvious places like this and walk by casually. Be realistic, Beth. This place leads onto the open street and is close to a bus stand. We can escape that way” Angie responds hastily, leaving me in a bind. It’s not just this stranger, even Angie as well. I really can’t understand them.

Soon enough, we’re revealed onto the street and Angie pulls us, running from an unknown danger and right to the bus stand a few feet up ahead. All three of us slum down on the seat heavily.

Panting, Angie speaks, “Okay...I believe we should’ve completely avoided any encounter with them...so, can you tell us who you are now?”

I look down to see their trembling arms beginning to calm and loosen. Patiently, I and Angie stare at the person who begins to pull off the dark hood from their head to reveal the face of a woman. She looks so young and her flawless fair face is ruined with tears and smearing mascara. Her brown locks stick here and there on her wet face as she sniffles, looking at us with relief.

“I-I’m sorry...to have suddenly jumped on you like that...t-thanks for saving me...” Her voice is so airy and strained from the screaming and running. She looks spooked, now I feel so bad for her.

Just because I had shut my heart and refused people from coming in, it doesn’t mean there are people out there like I am. This person had trusted me, although blindly but...it led her to safety. As crucial as it is and despite my obstinate denial, maybe people do need one another to live. Just maybe.

“It’s okay, we’re just glad we could-"

“Elaine!”

A voice interrupts us and the girl visibly goes frozen from the call, making me jitter in fear they’ve caught up to us but she suddenly breaks into fresh tears of elation and leaves my side in haste to meet...trailing my gaze along her gait, I’m stunned to see who he is that receives her in an affectionate embrace.

“B-Beth...”

Then a rattling voice comes crawling into my ear, accompanied by a weak tug that pulls me to see Angie looking aghast and desperate to breathe. This is odd. I grab her hands and ask worriedly, “Angie, what’s wrong? I don’t think they’re the ones after her”.

“N-no...h-he’s even much worse...he’s Vyin, the ferocious Mafia king” She rattles in a near-deathly voice and I blink.