SURRENDER - Mafia Romance

• CHAPTER 2 •

    No matter how many tears I shed, how many screams I allowed myself to let out, how many punches against the wall, my pain didn't die down. Not even a little. I wasn't sure how I survived the night. My eyelids refused to close for even a few seconds. I kept staring at the ceiling, feeling like I was paralyzed. I felt like I was going to wake up and realize that this was a nightmare.

But that never happened, rather the morning arrived and the sun lit my room up from behind the curtains. I dragged myself out of bed and forced myself to get dressed and drive all the way to where the funeral was.

People filled the room, and the noises were loud but I couldn't hear anything. The funeral was great sorrow. In moments like this, filled with raw pain, when it feels like screams in silent anguish, there are the memories of the good times that come as a blossoming spring meadow. The moments that make the tears combined with a smile and the pain is the absence of happiness. My eyes were forced to look at where my father was laying, believing that at any moment, he would open his eyes and walk out and go home with me. The memories were hunting me to the point that I was trying to just find a small memory that made me angry with him just so it eases my pain a little but my brain refused to do so. As if these bad memories of him were erased and all I could see were flashbacks of the best times I had with him.

I got carried away with time and didn't notice that my cheeks were wet until the whispering of the people around me got louder. It woke me up and drew me back to the painful reality. I scanned the room and saw that everyone was looking at the door behind me and leaning in to whisper some more. I frowned and turned to look at what stole everyone's attention. A bunch of men in black were standing in a perfect triangle right in front of the door. I looked back at the people in the room and kept wondering who they were and why people were acting so oddly seeing them. I shook these thoughts to the back of my head and got up to thank them for coming.

"Hello, I am Frank's daughter, T-..." I offered my hand and started to introduce myself to the center of their triangle, but he cut my words.

"Talia Fernandez." He continued my name for me. I raised my eyebrow but brushed it off.

"How do you know my father?"

"We work with him in his company." He coldly replied. I nodded and looked away. I started wondering about the future of the company but the men standing in front of me interrupted, "I am not sure if he ever mentioned my name, but I am Ace."

My heart dropped. I stared into his blue eyes for a few seconds before being interrupted by the man behind him, "and I'm Joe, short for Jooheon, you know, Jooheon Kim" he smiled and offered me his hand, but my full focus was on Ace. Ace gave him a warning look making Jooheon's smile to disappear and making him take his hand back.

"You're...my father told me about you. He told me to find you...on his last breath." I wasn't sure if I was telling him or reminding myself.

He nodded as if he expected what I just told him.

"Why did he do that? Why did he tell me to find you?"

"I am the one who will protect you." He simply said, confusing me even more.

"Protect me?"

He nodded once. He was so strange, so cold and so silent. Even his expressions weren't welcoming to me. He dug his hand into his long black coat and stared across the room. I looked to where he was looking and his eyes were focused on my father.

"Protect me from what?"

He didn't answer me for a few seconds. His blue eyes collected tears but refused to let them down.