Iris Giorgianni is no ordinary girl. She's living a double life: a neglected daughter at home, but a fighter on the streets. As the leader of The Sangue - one of the most wanted and well-known gangs in London - Iris has a reputation to uphold. Only...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"There's a lot of difference between listening and hearing."
- G. K. Chesterton
THE PROCESS of telling the truth isn't the most important part – it's who you tell it to. Sometimes what you have been hiding for so long may not be as significant when told to someone else. Or, it could be much worse. But the catalyst in that situation is always whoever needs to be told it. Tell it to nobody, and you are the catalyst. The product of your own fear, your own worry. But else it to someone else and that person overrides and becomes the driving force behind it all. They become even more important than the truth itself.
Levi was silent when Iris had explained everything to him. He sat with his eyes gazing at her, calculating, sitting on the ground with one knee up and one arm resting on it. He was mainly still throughout the monologue, but whenever he did move, it would be to change his line of vision, or to frown perhaps. When it got to the worst parts – when she told him the things that even she failed to admit to herself, he barely batted an eye. It was almost as if he'd acknowledged listening as a way of communication in itself; without listening properly he wouldn't be able to empathise or see it her way.
By the time Iris had finished speaking, a wave of tiredness spread over her like a shadow, her mouth aching. She looked to Levi worriedly, her eyes widening, one lip fastened by her front teeth.
For a long, tense minute, Levi was completely frozen, staring down at the earthly dirt as if waiting for her to continue. Then he stood up, stretched, and said, "Okay."
Iris' mouth nearly hit the floor. "Okay? That's all you're going to say? Okay?"
"Sure." He grinned, holding out a hand for her to stand up with, to which she ignored and stood up herself. Shaking his head as his smile widened even further, he began walking towards their activity again. After all, the hour was nearly up and they had wasted a lot of time.
Iris followed reluctantly, groaning at his irritating behaviour. She took her hairband from her wrist and tied up her hair, pulling each dark strand into a tight ponytail that shook and glimmered with every step. "So we're just going to carry on like normal? I just told you some pretty dark shit, Levi."
As they reached the climbing wall, Levi leaned against it leisurely, his face glowing golden with the sunlight. "You want to know what I think?"
"Obviously."
"I think that I underestimated you." He moved towards her, a look pervading his hazel eyes. Was it admiration? Respect? Iris couldn't tell. "And I think I did it a lot. Most people here did. I mean," He laughed, the sound resonating through the air, "you're a gang leader for Gods' sake, someone that has stood up for herself against dangerous people without an ounce of fear. And this whole time, when everyone assumed the worst of you, not once did you gloat about the things you did. Yeah, some of them aren't exactly commendable, but fuck, you don't get to meet someone like that every day."
