Entangled in the Mafia Affair (One Shot)

Chapter 7

0730 – 04 | 26 | 20XX

JAMESON SPHERE

CORTEX OPERATIONS

DIAMOND DIVISION, SECTOR 42

I woke to the steady rhythm of Grand's heartbeat.

Carefully, I shifted on the bed and eased in the comfort of his embrace—a short-lived feat where I was nestled in the coziness of his arms and nothing separated us in this moment of bareness.

I lifted my head and stared at his face.

Grand was a rare kind of beauty. In this peaceful sliver of time, I let myself drown in the familiarity of those tousled golden hair accentuated brightly in the slice of light escaping through the blinds. I smiled as he snored lightly through his nose, his thin red lips parted slightly as it always did when he was sleeping.

As much as I missed the days when it was just all about us, I don't think I was ready to get back with him. Yet, at this moment, I would trade everything to return back to a time when everything fell into place. Grand loving me just as I loved him—no remorse, only pure bliss.

While tracing the splotched-shaped birthmark in the middle of his torso, right on the pit of stomach, I remembered the first time we met.

He had been a scrawny twelve-year old boy who came from Sector 30—a city downwardly lateral to the Capital which was Sector 36. The sector from where Grand came from was rich, heavily manifested from the way that he moved and the clothes that he wore—leather vest and boots of high quality, the latest smart watch, and he had that air of princely elegance around him.

At that time, when we first looked at each other, I was sweaty and battered-looking after a gruesome sparring with Master Shu. I was wearing my training clothes—hair tied on a pony tail, a white tank top drenched in sweat paired with black leggings. When Grand saw me beside his father, Commander of Battles Vladimir Arthur Buenavista, he eyed me with a judging stare.

His eyes assessed me from head to toe, and I didn't stop myself from rolling my eyes at him, and sneered, "You look like a fine lady yourself, little man."

Master Shu and the Commander of Battles stopped talking at my remark, and turned their attention to me.

At my retort, Grand blushed. Then, his father laughed. "I think they'll just get along very well, Arnold."

Master Shu just placed his arms on my shoulder, eyes crinkled in a harmless smile. But later that night, he made me do a 25-meter tumbling in the Training Arena ten times. The following morning when I woke, it had felt like someone crumpled my thigh and arm muscles.

After that first encounter, I never saw Grand for a while. Yet, I was curious about the wealthy boy with gangly limbs who wore large-rimmed eyeglasses. I had never forgotten his hair which reminded me of sunshine—strands of sunlight woven like a crown atop his head.

So, I sought him.

And listened to talks about the new kid in the Edwards' Sphere of Sector 11. I listened to how they talked about how the wealthy boy would thrive in the life of one of the Aileron Cities—poor cities of Proxima Nova. They talked about him, alienated him.

At that moment, I felt a surge of interest about this boy whom no one had ever encountered. They said he kept to himself because he didn't want to talk to people like us. They spread word that he was elitist, and wouldn't associate himself with people who lived in Sector 11.