Chapter 01

I was sitting outside her class, about to fall asleep when She stepped out with a slight frown at the state I was in.

“If you’re tired, you can go home first, I’ll get the driver to send you back,” She said gently with a ghost of a smile. Her smile that was usually reserved for me.

I shook my head.

She nodded, then looked at her watch, “You’re right, it’s only been 5 minutes…” She paused, before saying “Sorry’. She did look guilty, like a child.

She apologised lightly, as she tried to go for more serious expression on her face, “I’ll try harder next time, but you make it so hard by sitting here.”

“But you didn’t have to come out.” I pointed that out. That was the key point. I wanted to see how long she could stand, not seeing me.

“I’m sorry, I’ll try harder. I’ll try to ignore you, as promised,” She said and I nodded my head satisfied as I grabbed my backpack, ready to go home.

She pulled it lightly, “Will I see you tonight?”

I paused for a while, and turned around to give her a hug, “Yes, but, you’ll come find me anyway.”

Whatever my answer was. I left that unspoken.

She let go of me, satisfied as she kissed the top of my head, “You’re mine, Tiff.”

I sighed.

She closed her eyes. “Always.”


~

It wasn’t long, just 5 years. We’ve known each other for 5 years now. It was a weird kind of relationship, the way we started. She was already a top mafia leader who was in-charged of her late dad’s organisation.

The whole scenario sounded very dramatic, but really, it was as simple as that. She had everything, while I had absolutely nothing, but a skyhigh debt left by my parents. They had disappeared, once again, leaving their daughter to clean up the mess.

“You’re telling me that your parents have disappeared?” The debt collector guy asked.

I nodded my head lightly, “Yes. That’s what I’ve said,” I said calmly.

“What?” In comparison, his voice was loud and shrill. It almost hurts to listen to him yell.

“I’ll raise the money as soon as I can, but you’ll have to give me some time,” my voice was even. Yet this was the best I could do. For what else could a child like me possibly do when confronted with a $10,000 debt.

What else could I do, but ask for time?

“Time?” He sniggered and shoved me to the pavement.

“If I gave ‘time’ to everyone, believe me, there wouldn’t be enough time for anyone.”

I saw blood, but it must have been someone else’s. Because all I felt was a certain numbness all over, a slow crippling emotion. It was almost as if I couldn’t decide if I should feel a sense of fear or the impulse to simply give up on my situation.

So, instead, I closed my eyes. 1 second. So that’s how death felt like.

Only to open them when I heard other voices. They sounded afraid.

But first, it was the black limousine that I saw first. It pulled up to the side of my house slowly as a butler rushed to open the door, and then a figure stepped out.

She looked rather like Death, all black, collared shirt, black pants. The only thing that stood at odds with the imagery was her blonde hair all tied up neatly and her incredibly smooth milky complexion.

She looked as emotionless as I felt, when she turned to look at the guy who bowed a ninety-degree bow of respect to her.

It was strange, his behaviour. She appeared not much older than me.

“What’s the matter?” She asked her subordinate, not looking at me one bit.

The guy looked alarmed, “It’s nothing! Nothing that you should be bothered by, Miss. Just a small matter,” he smiled and gestured nervously, and the girl raised her brow at him.

He fell silent, as she bent down beside me, “You’re bleeding,” she said matter of factly.

I felt my forehead, so that’s how blood looks like. Red, it was red and a searing pain came along with it. She narrowed her eyes as she used the cuffs of her sleeves to press it against my forehead.

“And that’s how you stop a bleeding wound,” she said mildly, before I lost any sense of reality.

But that was 5 years ago.

~

Her name’s Tiffany, 18. She was also really pretty, easily the prettiest in a crowd, yet everyone steered clear of her because of Her. The girl who was handed the entire mafia organisation. She had the entire organization in her hands at the age of 18, and was easily the most effective leader that they had seen in awhile.

She was cool, if not ruthless. Smart, if not analytical. Cautious, if not intensely patient with her enemies.

Yuri studied the picture of Tiffany in her study – Her only known weak point. She leaned her head back against her study chair, there was no known picture of Her, since she was careful not to have any pictures of her taken.

The only place that she could possibly catch a glimpse of Her, was to enroll into this school. She sighed, dreading education and its rules.

But, she had to – in order to finish up ‘business’ with Her.

~