I Am Your Future

Madonna Ricci was at the bar trying to drink her sorrows away but it wasn't walking. A lot of young men approached the seductive beauty offering to buy her a drink but she always turned them down. 

"Refill." She instructed the bartender and he did as he was told. The bartender seductively smiled at Madonna and hope she would still be around when he ends his shift. The bartender was used to such situations, now and then, a girl would stumble into the bar to drink because of heartbreak or just any shitty reasons. The bartender would always give them a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on, then at the end of it, the girls would warm his bed. He was already making up ways to conquer the beauty before him.

"Rough day?" He asked as he tossed the filled glass of vodka over to Madonna.

"Is it?" Madonna asked and that's the first time the bartender has gotten such a reply. It made him lose words. His sixth sense was warning him to mind his business, that the girl before him was not someone he can deal with. He ignored the warning because the girl before him is too beautiful to just give up on.

"I guess it is, only a rough day would make a girl as pretty as you to visit such a place." He tried to use flattery on Madonna but it didn't work since Madonna was used to such flattery. The bartender was sure that this was the beautiful girl's first time coming to such a bar. The fact she had no idea what to order and always gulped down the drink offered to her was a clear indication that she was a novice.

The bartender watched a lot of guys approach the girl, he was happy when she turned them down. The bartender kept trying to initiate a conversation with the girl but she always ignore him or answer coldly.

"Hi." 

The bartender turned to see a very handsome young man sitting beside the girl. The young man was so handsome that every other man pales in comparison.

"Go away." Madonna said as she had told every other man. The bartender has given up his desires, but he still smiled when the beautiful girl rebuked the handsome man away without batting an eye. 

"I am afraid I can't do that." The handsome man smiled showing a dimple that would charm off the pant of any girl.

"And why is that?" She still didn't look at the stranger beside him.

"Because I am your future." The words of the young man made Madonna look his way.

"The last person I thought was my future, just broke my heart." Madonna stressed the last word as she saw the handsome young man in front of her. 

"Your thought was wrong, mine is not." The young man declared with a firm resolve that would make one think he could see the future.

"And what made you so sure?" Even in her drunken state, she could still say the man sitting before her is the most handsome man she has ever seen.

"Because I always get what I want and I want you." There was a finality in his voice that touched the most feminine part of Madonna. Dante can't believe that meeting Madonna would make him remember his high school days.

"Do my future has a name?" The bartender was surprised that Madonna was still exchanging words with the stranger, he wasn't the only one surprised. He knew that the stranger was a cut above the rest but he never thought Madonna would care to have a conversation with him.

"My bad, my name is Dante Russo."

"Tell me, Dante, what else do you see in the future." Dante looked at the beautiful girl in front of him and wondered how that old devil could give birth to such innocent beauty. 

"I see that you would be able to get me what I want." Dante admitted.

"And what is that?" Madonna was already stupor that she has no control over what she was saying. 

"And I thought you have no interest in men." One of the first men to approach Madonna came over.

"Go away, we are discussing the future." Madonna whispered the last part and Dante was forced to smile. She was so cute that Dante felt a pint of guilt for what he was planning to do.

"And what future might that be?" 

"It doesn't involve you." Madonna replied then leaned closer to Dante and whispered. "Or does it involve him? I don't want it to, I don't like his nose." She thought she was whispering but it was loud enough for the young man to hear. To worsen the situation, Dante let out full-blown laughter.

"No my dear, he is not involved." Madonna smiled and hiccuped. The bartender was surprised at the sudden change of atmosphere, he was beginning to wonder if Dante truly wields a divine power.

"How dare you?" The young man barked and Dante stood up from his chair towering over the man. Whatever he had to say was swallowed as he looked at Dante towering over him. "Be careful lady." He said and scurried off.

"You have firm arms." Madonna grabbed Dante's arms and marveled at the muscle.

"Are you my knight in shining armor?" She asked. Her innocence was like a child and Dante couldn't help but smile warmly at her.

"No, I am actually your Viking in a bloody chainmail." Madonna drew her head back and smile while looking at Dante.

"That's better." Sadness crossed her features and she looked down as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I bet you would leave me like the guy I thought was my future. What's with men and sex." Madonna started complaining.

"We have been dating for years and he had the nerves to cheat on me." She turned over to Dante, do you know what he said when I caught him cheating?" 

"No, do tell."

"Since you refused me sex, I had to satisfy myself elsewhere." Madonna tried her best to mimic a male voice.

"Why did you refuse your boyfriend sex?" 

"I don't want to have sex till I get married?" She answered weakly, she made the decision a long time ago and she has lost all her boyfriends because of that, she was now starting to regret her decision.

"Wait, you mean you are a..."

"Virgin" she completed the statement. She wouldn't normally say it out loud, but because of being drunk and having an attraction toward Dante, she couldn't stop herself.

"Wow." Dante was utterly surprised. There was no way a girl as beautiful as Madonna would still be a virgin in such times. Dante knew she was saying the truth since she was already drunk and had no reason to lie.

"Yes, I am Madonna Ricci by name and I stupidly believe in sex after marriage. My friends would always mock me saying I am trying my best to live up to my name."

"Madonna," Dante called her name as if he was hearing it for the first time. After Roman Ricci kidnapped his girlfriend Sophia, he broke up with Sophia. Sophia accepted as he paid her a huge sum of money for the inconvenience. Dante decided to look for Roman Ricci's only child and pay back what Roman did to him. It took him months to track down Madonna, as she was not in Italy but in New York.

"Yes, it means Virgin Mary." She hiccuped. She wiped off the tears in her eyes.

"So tell me, Viking in a bloody chainmail, what is the future like?" When Dante tracked her down and saw her at the bar, his initial plan was to kidnap her on her way home and send her back to Paris then use her to threaten Roman. But after seeing many guys approaching her she felt she might end up following one of them home and that would complicate things for him so he decided to put an end to it.

"The future is already happening. I would steal you away and lock you up in my castle."

"Isn't that kidnapping?" She whispered with a playful tone.

"In a way yes."

"Well, I don't mind being abducted by such a handsome young man. I would pretend I am Helen of Troy and there would be a war in my name."

"Oh dear, there would definitely be war." Madonna staggered and Dante wrapped his arms around her waist. 

"You can steal me away." Madonna buried her face in Dante's chest and blacked out. Dante waited for a moment before carrying her bridal style out of the bar. The bartender tried to stop them because the bill was yet to be cleared but Anthony stopped him and took care of the bills.

All the men felt powerless as Dante carried away the woman they all had eyes for. They wanted to stop him but something told them that the young man was someone they shouldn't mess with.

"Don't be disheartened, he has such effect on all men." Anthony said to the men in the bar before leaving. His words of encouragement only added more injury to the men's pride.

"Take us to the hotel." Dante instructs the driver. He watched Madonna sleeping soundly beside him using his legs for a pillow.

"When you wake up tomorrow, everything would be different." Dante muttered as he stroked Madonna's raven black hair.