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Chapter 11
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2022-10-16 02:35:54Sunday was a gust of air as the Monday morning's baby sun glistened through her curtains and faint outrage-donned voices pierced through her ears. As unusual as it was, Gianna slipped into her room slippers and headed straight to the origin.
"That is a whole fucking lot down the drain because of your carelessness."
Her father's voice was decipherable the closer she got to the living room. His back and her mother's faced her while the two men she would recognize on close inspection had their heads hung low. She saw her mother soothingly rubbing her father's back as the veins on his neck popped from yelling.
"Whatever kind of pesticide did you purchase? Do I always have to do things on my own? If so then what am I paying you for?"
"Mr. Donovan," the elder of the two men shakily muttered, his mid-bald head exposed from the old burgundy cowboy hat that reverently rested on his dirty khaki jean-dressed thighs. "We've worked for you for as long as I can rem
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"You're awake." Louisa walked in with a tray of a bowl of soup in hand and Petra on her tail. The latter ran to her sister for a teddy hug and never left. "Easy, Petra, else, you might provoke mild itches." Petra gave no mind. Louisa deposited the tray on Gianna's study table. "How are you feeling?" "Better. Come on, Pet, you're strangling me." "Be happy. Because even though you look like a blowfish, I still choose to hug you," she giggled. "A blo—" she quickly ruffled off the bed to her dressing table mirror. The sight was so horrible that she teared up. "Oh my God, I really do look like one." "See?" "Petra, to your room and on your bed," Louisa ordered. The endless mass of energy acquiesced and hopped away after another blowfish stunt. Gianna returned her sad gaze to the mirror; parched and begrudgingly puckered were her lips, her skin decorated in red blotches gave her the impression of a koi fish. The cherry on the cake was her swo
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The only reason why Gianna had a smile on despite the roller coaster events of the recent days was because of Seth. She'd returned his call after Mimie and Kelly had left, blabbed about everything and anything as always, only this time, with a different relationship stand. He listened to her, meticulously, and went as far as acting protective.She felt his steaming rage when she talked about the allergy story and as much as she had never seen him that way, Gianna felt a distinct sense of safety, comfort, and love behind the reaction. The two girls had left her home with a first kiss anticipation for when next she visited the city and an instantaneous letter of summoning in the confinement of her room. And since then, she hadn't stopped thinking about the kiss to come, the fear of fumbling, and the awkwardness after that. Her cheeks heated up. "Why are you red?" Petra asked, her face an inch from Gianna's in observance. "Back off. Little
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"Thanks," She appreciated after Sean's uneasy exit. As eccentric as it was. Grateful, however, pessimistic about the incoming days ahead Gianna wished he never intervened. Adam was there now but he will not keep being there forever. Adam smiled, an act that gave him an 80s movie star resemblance. She blamed Venisa and her soap operas for the attribution and no, she wasn't an enthusiast. She just happened to accidentally peek during a routine or an aimless wander around the house. "But why?" She added. Adam adjusted his glasses further up his nose bridge and shrugged, "I guess I couldn't stand the victimization any longer." "You should not have done it. You don't know what you have gotten yourself into." "Ah, that phrase right there should be in the third person singular, I presume." Gianna squinted her eyes, clueless. "Never mind. It was an improvisational act. Shoot! Now that I think about it, I guess I'm now a participant
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"Why?" Venisa sniffed. "God, why? Damien, why?" When she heard the door shut, she quickly turned to the intruder with a heavy eyeliner smear beneath her eyes. "Oh, Gigi, you won't believe this." "Believe what?" Gianna's mood was bitter. "Hey," Venisa jutted her head further up the sofa. "You look horrible. Did you cry?" Gianna ignored her as she proceeded with her journey to her room. "Wait! Message from your parents: they'll be home late meanwhile, a certain Rigg will be coming by five thirty and they'll want you to give him an envelope from your father's study. Wait," she pondered. "It has a name written on it...what was that again? VIPS? VMIC? VHSP? VF...urgh! Wait..." "I'll find it when I get there," she cut her off. "How are you even so sure there's a V?" "I attributed it to my name. Venisa is pretty...motherfuckers. Oh! I got it. It's VIPM. Yes!" She victoriously fisted the sofa causing Gianna to shake her head. "
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"Anna?" Gianna halted from proceeding further into the campus after shutting her mother's car. "Are you sure you did not see that envelope on your dad's study table?" Louisa asked for the third time that morning since she was sure and certain to have seen Mason leave the file there before hurrying to the McCoy's mansion. "Mum, again, I did not see it. You know it's not the first time dad is so forgetful." She defended. Gianna had switched its position and meticulously hid it amongst a pile of old files on a bookshelf she knew her dad seldom visited judging from its unkempt condition. And unless she had a say in the verdict or was part of it or at least, was told about it, only then will she unmask its hiding spot. She leaned forward so her arms were resting on the opened front seat window. "How very important is that envelope? Never seen either of you so worried sick about something of the sort before." "Never mind," Louisa waved as she started the engine causing Gianna to step bac
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Gianna had planned on walking home and even felt extra glad that Adam requested to tag along. He mentioned occupying the home a couple of blocks away from Mimie's but the town's local who claimed to know a lot about Cold Spring and three-quarters of its inhabitants seemed to not have any idea of the house's occupant. "Well, my aunt and I moved here from California about four days after you." He retorted after Gianna's probe to get to know a little about him. "I guess the news about a family purchasing the historic Vladimir's property overshadowed the mediocre gossip about an ordinary new inhabitant. Plus, we do not mingle a lot." "No wonder," Mimie said. "What about your parents?" Adam shrugged. "They're super busy business folks. I know almost little to nothing about them." He widely grinned. "Crazy right?" Mimie and Gianna said nothing as they all headed toward the campus's gate.From the corner of Gianna's eyes came Sean's same old cold image in the company of his entourage and
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The long-anticipated weekend after a week of depression had arrived with the worst news of the century; there wasn't going to be a visit into the city due to the ongoing job at the McCoy's. Gianna damned.The most heinous part of the whole story was the late arrival of the news. Hadn't it been she'd caught her mother dressed in work clothing about to board her car, Gianna would've been the biggest fool hoping they'll return after one or two things done to embark on their journey. 'Don't expect us till four latest,' her mother had said. Now, besides apologizing to Seth and Julia, what else was she supposed to do till then? Seth. Their first date has been jeopardized. Gianna sighed and cursed the McCoy's project, her parent's career inclusive. "Come play with me, I'm bored," Petra abruptly dawdled into Gianna's room. "Hey, Magpie, don't you know the word knock?" Petra walked on after lashing a carefree excuse. "I'm busy by the way. Go play with Noah or watch a show or something."
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With a gasp, Gianna bellowed, "What the..." But her outburst was cut short for a while at the illuminated image of a mischievously grinning being. "What the hell did you do?" "Gave you a harmless shower." "You ba—" Sean's arm snaked her neck and from the back, he held her neck tightly and pushed her head toward his chest giving onlookers an impression of a profound hug to a returning lover. "Hey, now, hold that damn tongue of yours back, will you?" His voice was a still whisper around his prey's ears as his grip tightened causing her to wince in excruciating pain. "Unless you want me to do it for you my way." "I wasn't supposed to look for you after our last encounter in the sanctuary, remember? but you made me do it. As if that wasn't enough, you got yourself a guarding dog. I want you to get him out of our business and that stupid stammerer too, else they'll get hurt and I want to see you at my lunch table every day from next week. You should be obediently seated before my arri
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It was a tough fight.The basement was unusually overcrowded. No one wanted to miss out on Ring Kong's final fight, especially not with the 'pretty face stranger' involved—as the homeless natives referred to him. The news of Sean confronting Kong had spread like wildfire so much to the entry fee collector's surprise. That night, he'd made more money than he'd ever made in the history of its existence, he was quite a devoted employee: he's been since thirty-five. Now forty-two, single, and searching? Not sure, Strav's excitement was unmatched as he flipped through a stack of bills, outlining the expenditures of his share. He'll finally put his landlord on a door number 38 break, afford a ticket to watch his favorite football team play, get himself a brand-new toaster, and restock his fridge with enough booze to take him through a week or two. Now that sounded like a perfect plan.That very night, Strav had seen faces; ones he'd seen once and never again, ones he'd never seen before, on
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"What are you doing here?"Adam seemed amused by the question. "Talking with you, of course." But there was no linger of humor around Gianna.Adam cleared his throat. "Fine, I'll tell you what, but not here. Unfortunately, I'm yet to get familiar with this place. Plus, it's not appropriate for catch up...care to come over?"What has familiarity got to do with anything? She almost asked. "No.""Come on, Gigi. It's been months since we saw each other, don't you think it'll be the perfect time to catch up? There's a whole lot I need to tell you if it's not your case. So?""Adam I can't. I can't do whatever I want when I want. I owe my uncle and his wife some respect."He held both of her shoulders. "Visiting a long-time-no-see friend for some catching up isn't wrong. Maybe you should let me talk to them, I'll make them understand that I'm absolutely harmless.""Oh my God, no, are you crazy?"Adam shrugged, and with a straight face, he replied, "Guess I am, ever since I met you." "Oh, pl
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"Follow me." Viktor stamped a bill on the bar counter and walked through a cascade of thick wooden-beaded curtains that led to a dimly lit corridor with his friend on his tail. It had doors on either side. He knocked and opened a door that had a man sitting behind a counter. That, with 3 chairs and a TV made up the tiny stale-smelly room. Viktor spoke with him and deposited some bills on the dirty counter. The man hollered something in Russian but Viktor waved it away as he pulled open the floor.It shocked Sean, but what almost knocked the breath out of his chest was what was below. He would never have thought in a thousand years.They were hit first by contesting blows of luminosity and noise from a crowd of not more than a hundred men surrounding a caged boxing-sized ring. Some faces, he'd seen before; they were permanent residents of his different 'homes'. A heated fight was the source of the hollers and tumult. They were so loud that he wondered why he didn't hear them from abov
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She hoped wrong. Very wrong."Rianna, I got you a seat right next to me, come," Elsa invited."It's Gianna," Gianna gently corrected."It's going to take at least two weeks for her to get your name right. Took her a month to get Tay from Fay right." Tay took the seat behind Gianna's destined chair while Teesha occupied that behind Elsa."Roughly three weeks from Treeshay to Teesha. Can you believe she called me 'Cheat' in French?"Elsa rolled her eyes, "Oh come on now girls, y'all make it seem like I'm a ditz or something."Gianna stifled a giggle."Heard Mr. Stevenson is taking AP Biology this year," Teesha announced."Oh gawd, why me?" Elsa flattened her jaw to the desk with a grimace. "Not Mr. Hot with the bad teaching skills. He gonn' make me hate reproduction, I can feel it deep in my bones. Someone call the academic cops on him.""Is he that bad?" Gianna set her notebook on the desk."Nah, she's simply more attentive to his features than his teachings. And the 'hate' part of the
I love to hate you Chapter 77
It's been a little over sixteen weeks since Sean made the chilly streets and dark alleys of Moscow his home, his bed. His duffle bag, which diligently served as a pillow with what he wore excluded, had nothing more than four pairs of jeans, two tees and a hoodie against the night's blistering cold, his passport, a wallet with a few notes to sustain the little his stomach demanded for another four weeks or so, a cap to shield his face from lingering eyes and UV light, and a pocket knife for precautions. Safe to say the latter never saw the darkness of his duffle bag from the day he purchased it from a local store not too far from the alley he slept in that night. Another one of such assets was a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. The nicotine has helped him a ton lately more than ever before especially with his appetite.Before leaving for the airport in the company of his brothers, he'd left some money he'd worked from Spring's dinner and gathered from debtors to his supportive father
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To new beginnings!To a new whiff of fresh air, a new environment, a new and undoubtedly successful academic year, new school, new projects, new friends? If at all, that brings into the picture new characters to study not forgetting new lecturers to adapt to. The best for the last, new self.Physically not. More of psychological maturity, mistrustfulness, cautiousness, and ardentness in all her endeavors.Gianna got her driving license not too long before the end of summer break and ever since then she has been the 'errand girl' of the family: Sometimes she transported fabrics from suppliers' venue—when they seemed too carried away to supply on time—to her aunt's fashion boutique. Once she'd opted to drive her uncle to a business gathering five minutes away from home when his driver was on sick leave and his assistant was rendering his services to his beloved wife coming in from a fashion week in Paris. He'd denied it at first. Uncle Marley was skeptic on legs when it concerned her uni
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She wasn't a relationship ruiner. Definitely not. To her greatest surprise, she'd stifled back most of her tears and turned to word filter paper. The forty or so minutes spent with Luna were, suffocating, murderous, for the most part because even though she resented the Seth talk—that surprisingly didn't sting as much as when it was all fresh from the oven—she found in Luna a great friendship. Rather unfortunate. Luna insisted they exchanged digits which Gianna did out of pure kindness, not fathoming staying in contact.They had a lot in common; shared almost similar hobbies except yoga and shopping. The latter done when necessary. Movie genres—she never appeared to be a horror, thriller, mystery (HTM) fangirl. Gianna would've bet a pound of flesh on romance and fiction, strictly. Similar food, and even shared DIYs with the most interesting being home remedies for getting rid of menstrual acne in two days. Luna developed an engrossment in the book donation club and planned on doing so
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It's been days since Gianna battled with calling Sean. Such a crazy sensation, but she was determined to take that bold step there and then, in South Beach, Miami.Yes, her parents had made them believe they'd be spending the entire summer with Uncle Marley and his family until they headed to JFK International Airport and boarded a direct flight to Miami. Not to be misunderstood, she was delighted because why not? It was Miami for the sake of Christ, yet disappointed and peeved as she had drafted a hundred and ten ways to boomerang Ace's demonic pranks and found out the initial purpose of the journey respectively. That explained why she was alone with a massive straw beach hat on despite her umbrella's generous spread of shade, laying on her stomach browsing, envying, and babysitting the sister who promised to stay by her 'darling sister's' side because she knew no one else and was too lazy to make friends. Words from the mouth of a Magpie who was currently marathon swimming with a sw
I love to hate you Chapter 73
"Everything checked?""Yup, everything checked," Gianna confirmed after she'd swung the last luggage into the trunk and dusted off her hands. "Great, then we're good to go. Almost." Both Louisa and Gianna settled in, waiting for Mason, Petra, and Noah. Not too long into the wait, the family of five were ready for the city. Ready for the cool vacation air.Songs and games commemorated the journey as it was of the family's habits every time Mason was involved. But at some point, one of them got distracted with a text message.'I miss you already. I don't know how to survive knowing that I won't be seeing you in such a long time.'Gianna rolled her eyes at the level of drama.'I was able to dig into Sean's past as requested and was successful.' Now that skyrocketed Gianna's interest. 'According to medical records, Sean was diagnosed with a chronic kidney disease at age 11 and underwent a kidney transplant a year later. That's about how much I got.''Oh well, thanks.''Three times nothin
