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
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
"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
It was an uneventful Saturday afternoon that Gianna decided to sneak out of home in her parent's absence. Her mum had left for the city and her dad had gone downtown to present some designs to a client. She was left with the elder sister's responsibility to look after Petra, her annoying little sister. From previous encounters, both parents won't be home until forty minutes to dinner time. Latest, thirty minutes. So she had two sweet hours, as seldom, to wander around the estate. Rather unfortunate than fortunate that Venisa didn't report to work as she will have to deal with Petra. "Where are you going?" Petra appeared behind a frozen Gianna when she was two feet away from the door. In her hand was her favorite brown teddy bear their father had offered to her on her seventh birthday. When Gianna had pended the book she was pretentiously reading, to give her father the impression of a studious teen before he left, Petra was locked up in her room. Probably indulged in her convention
"Has he told you yet?" Julia asked, roaming around her room in search of her earphones. "Urgh! I flung that thing somewhere here. How I wish it had a mouth." "Nope." Gianna frowned at the zits on her face as portrayed by her reflection more than she did about Seth's slow pace. Julia paused from ransacking a pile of clothes on her bed that has been there from the previous day in her search for clothes to put on for school. "Are you serious?" She asked, overwhelmed. Gianna, who thought the mirror didn't reflect her actual expression, turned to her friend with a straight face. "Okay, but it's been what? Six months? And he still hasn't said it? Goodness, how do you even cope with that? If you weren't giving him the green light I would've put all blame on you. What is wrong wi—" Julia's eyes widened in realization. "What?" The brunette in sleek ponytail settled on a small clothes-free area that was left of her bed. "The new girl offering Maths. She enrolled two months ago," she sounded
"Seat belts, ladies," Their father—Mason—reminded them.Gianna loved it when he drove them to school a lot more than when Louisa did. Reason being that, with him, they could crack jokes, sing, and even play games on their way to school. But with their red-haired sweet mother, it wasn't the case. All she wanted to hear were their heartbeats and breathing.Mason adjusted the rearview mirror to have a better view of his princesses from time to time as he drove.The aura in the car was beginning to grow to become like that in their mother's presence and oddly enough, Gianna found it convenient as she tapped away on her phone. Even Petra the Magpie hadn't questions to ask today as she was as well busy with her little iPad."Knock! knock!""Who's there?" They absentmindedly replied, still gadget dedicated."So,""So, who?""So, don't leave me alone," He singsonged a popular king of pop's song while nodding his head to an imaginary beat resulting in a car suffocated with laughter."Oh my God
"Are you nervous?" Her mum quizzed as she smoothened Gianna's hair in front of her vanity mirror into a successful high messy bun after a failed attempt."A little.""It's normal, with time you'll feel at ease." there was silence during the process of mascara and gloss application which spared Gianna some wondering time. "There you go." Her mother smiled at her unbelievable creation. "You look gorgeous, honey. Come on, serve me a hot twirl."Gianna did as was told with a pleasant smile, her lovely illusion-neckline cocktail robe twirling in the process. It was her favorite shade; Turquoise as her mother knew it. When she sat down once again with her smile drooped on the sides, she looked at her mother and asked,"What if he Isn't my first?""I don't remember you to have two daddies. Or is there a part of your existence I'm missing?" She rhetorically quizzed earning a chuckle from her daughter. "What I'm trying to say is, he's the first
"Dad!""What? I mind. I won't pretend to not. So who is it?"Gianna huffed. "No one."Mason pressured her with his narrow eyes. "I'm not lying." She looked at him in the eyes to prove it."Is someone planning to?"As instantly as possible, Gianna diverted her stare to her half-eaten meal. "No.""Gianna?" Mason singsonged but his daughter only incessantly stuffed her mouth with more salmon and tomatoes. "You'll end up choking, darling. Who is it?" Gianna carefully chewed per minute. "Oh wait, let me take a guess. It's Seth, isn't it?"She said nothing."I knew it!" He settled a fisted hand on his lips. "You're inviting him home for dinner any of these days.""Da—" with wide eyes, Gianna swallowed first, drank some water, and went on, "dad! He's not even made a move yet and possibly might not.""He better not." Gianna frowned. Mason knew he was going too far with the protective card. Not the way he and Louisa had planned. At that rate, he'll only end up scaring her from opening up to ei