Promises | ✔️

Chapter 26: A Second Promise

After about 10 minutes - with me yelling at Damien for making me walk in sandals and him offering to carry me on his back, but I said no because I was in a dress - we finally made it to the spot.

"Wow." I was awed at the sight in front of me. It was a big open field, which I hadn't expected in the area of New York we were in. We had walked on a dirt trail, and I should have realized as we became far away from the buildings. It was dark outside, but the full moon, stars, and distant city lights illuminated the landscape.

Damien walked ahead towards a tree and I followed behind him. We were standing under a weeping willow tree.

"Come on." He sat on the ground and gestured for me to sit next to him.

I hesitantly approached him and sat down next to him, both of us leaning against the tree. I made sure to pull my dress down as much as it could go.

"This is a nice spot." I turned to tell him, but he was already looking at me.

"When we were younger, my mom used to bring Violet and me here. It was a break from my dad." Damien looked down at the ground. "But, I don't think she remembers this spot anymore."

"I'm sorry about your mom. She sounds like such a great woman."

"She is." A small smile crept onto his face.

"Tell me about her."

Damien looked off to the field in front of us. "She was the best mom. She was an ER nurse so she had these crazy shifts, but she always made sure to either be there when Violet and I woke up or when we were going to bed. But when my dad lost his job, he started doing drugs. He always came home high, and he refused to look for a new job. My mom had to start working more to keep up with the bills, so I barely saw her. My dad used to always yell at her for never being at home. She tried to not fight with him in front of us, but sometimes it was inevitable. He caused her so much pain. It wasn't until I was in middle school that I realized all the happiness and light in her was gone. All because of him. My dad left right around that time too."

Damien looked down at the ground and started plucking the grass.

"She was so pretty, though. She is still pretty. Violet got most of her looks, except one thing." He paused. "Her smile. Everyone says I got her smile

I smiled and gently grabbed his face to look at me. "And it's beautiful."

Damien took my hand from his face and brought it down on his leg. He started tracing little shapes on my palm.

"And then she started losing her memory when I was in high school. First, it was just little things, like forgetting to lock the front door. Then, it got more serious. She forgot where she was driving. Or she didn't recognize our friends. She had to quit her job and she stayed home most of the time. By my senior year, I was taking care of everything. I bought groceries and paid bills. After I graduated, I joined the gang. The old leader was also one of our family friends who helped during the tough time and he took me under his wing. He trained me how to fight. When he passed due to cancer, I took the title of gang leader because he specifically wrote so in his will. There weren't that many people in the gang back then, but over the years we got more and now here we are."

Suddenly, he looked up at me, still holding my hand. "What happened at the dinner?"

I was caught off guard by the question. "Oh. I was talking to Marcus and Chuck. Apparently, he's building a new hotel close by. He even had the audacity to offer me a job." I felt Damien's grip on my hand tighten. "I didn't want to be there anymore, so I...yeah."

All of a sudden, a drop of water fell on my forehead. I looked up and another one fell as I wiped the first one away. Slowly, more started falling.