𝐶𝑂𝑅𝑅𝑈𝑃𝑇𝐼𝑂𝑁 𝑂𝐹 𝐻𝐸𝑅

𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐭

Magnolia stared at Kian as he spoke to her in a hushed tone, her worries slowly becoming ones that were not only being controlled with her anxiety, but now reality.

Her favourite brand of Greek yogurt was no longer in stock. Quite frankly, she felt stuck. She favoured the one she bought every time she went for the food shop, and whenever Kian went to the shop, he would make sure to get her two big tubs. Now that they were discontinuing, it meant she had to move on to the next brand.

Kian decided to hide the fact that his sister is up to something and potentially growing suspicious — he watched her dance around the kitchen in effort to make their dinner, he knew she was sad about the Greek yogurt but the information he kept hidden would've caused more turmoil in her mood.

Kian was restless after visiting his sister; he felt lost and confused as to what made Magnolia so alluring to his sister — granted, she is a beautiful woman who knows her way around life, but she's the opposite of all the women his whore of a sister has been connected with. She's partially innocent, cautious and timid — she wants nothing to do with anything that Kian involved himself in.

They barely show up together in public to protect her.

Although the Mafia life doesn't follow him as much, the part of owning businesses and showing up to designer shops in flashy cars, it's rather the spotlight of being a celebrity and the fact that Magnolia herself doesn't like to be in pictures, it clashes. He often wished to be able to read minds, just to venture into his best friends and see what exactly terrifies her about the Mafia. In reality, she should have no fear, because Kian would protect her; though the was never fully understood or internalised, and he could tell by the way she'd brush it off and change topic.

He rarely brought it up, but when he did, he always noticed the energy shifting: her facial features growing more soft; the fear in her livid eyes whenever it was mentioned; the way her leg would jerk or tremble from anxiety; and sometimes, he noticed her chest and breathing become heavier.

"Why did you leave earlier?" Magnolia interrupted his racing thoughts and question, internally sighing at the fact he had to lie to her.

But now he had to think hard for an excuse, because he knew if he said something crazy then she wouldn't believe it. "Booty call: this woman's husband left him; she wanted some company. Figured I'd be nice and take her out, then have sex later." He lord straight through his straight, white teeth, his lips pursing and he closed his eyes, head dropping. "Poor woman..."

Magnolia cringed, shaking her head to express disapproval at Kian. She diced the rest of the peppers quickly and threw them into the pan, turning around to face her depressed friend and waving the knife at him. "You do not do it with women who have just left their husbands! They're emotional and not in the right state of mind, gosh, where do you meet these women?!" She exclaimed, her brows furrowing at the thought oh how possible he has crossed paths with these women.