Fenriz sat at the neat wooden mahogany table and golden chair with curvy stands in his room. His room was another world entirely, just like a building in another building. It was so big and spacious with a living space enough to contain a pair of one-sitter sofas, a very large leather three-sitter with bronze maid stools in between the furniture, a very spacious bathroom with a sparkling bathtub and a proper drainage system, and a room where his king-sized bed laid, covered with a thick white fluffy blanket and two white pillows.
Having left home for a long time, the mansion maids had made his room dust free upon his arrival. He switched on his laptop and set to begin his work as the heir to the Vladimir Mafia Empire. He has a lot of information to go through to make things right and catch up with the recent activities. After working for an hour on his laptop, he needed to copy the new files onto a flash drive. Opening a cabinet for the device, he caught sight of a framed picture which he brought out with utmost care, almost like it was an egg that needed to be pampered to prevent breakage.
It was a lady’s picture and she seemed to be pregnant in the picture. He trailed his fingers across the picture length and in no time, tears dropped from his eyes. He so much missed the person but has no choice but to swallow it all in. A knock on his door made him hide the picture back hurriedly, locking the cabinet and cleaning his eyes. He couldn’t afford to make anyone see the pictures to prevent untimely destruction.
He walked to the door, pushing it open for the person. It was Elena who stood at his door, dressed in her transparent white nighties with her arms crossed on her body. Fenriz blinked his eyes at her appearance, looking at her from head to toe.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, looking inside his room to check the time on his wall clock. He knew that it was past midnight already, but he needed to be precise.
Elena didn’t reply to him but leaned her body on the door frame, where one of Fenriz’s hands lay with the flash drive in its embrace.
“It’s midnight already, what are you doing here?” he asked again.
“Won’t you show some manners and let me in? Or have you forgotten them where you went?” she whispered, trailing her slender fingers around Fenriz’s face. He opened the door for her and she entered, sitting on a one-sitter. Her fair lap became visible as her silky nighty slid down to her waist.
“What are you doing here? I need an answer this instant!.” Fenriz roared, getting annoyed with her tactics. He knew so well that being in his room was her plan of seducing him, but he wasn’t a bit interested in her. All he did with her during the evening was just a show for everyone to see.
“Is that what you have to say after waiting years for you?” she faked a cry, threatening to raise her wails for other family members to hear. Fenriz huffed at her action and returned to his laptop. He decided to leave her to herself till she gets tired and left.
However, Elena was persistent. She walked over behind him, gripping his shoulders and massaging them soothingly. If it were another person, Fenriz wouldn’t deny the gesture as he would have enjoyed the feeling of such therapy, but not with Elena. He swats her hands away from his shoulder, glaring daggers at her.
“Do you still despise me after these years?” She asked with a frown on her face.
“I never said anything about it, if you feel that’s what it is, so be it” Fenriz typed away on his computer not sparing her a glance.
Elena was Fenriz’s cousin-like sister. She had been living with the Vladimirs ever since her parents’ demise and had spent her childhood with them, learning the mafia ways and traditions as she grew. She attended the same school as Fenriz and the two enjoyed each other’s company so much until Fenriz’s seventeenth birthday when she confessed her feelings to him but got refused and rejected since Fenriz was in love with someone else, his classmate, Ariana. Elena wouldn’t take a ‘no’ for an answer as she was obsessed with Fenriz, and she planned against Ariana, just to gain his attention. On his eighteenth birthday, she got engaged to him with the help of Evelyn, Fenriz’s mother, leaving him with no choice but to make sacrifices just for the safety of himself and Ariana. But he hated being close to her since then.
Just when they got engaged, Collins sent Fenriz on a mission to the Bedouin Country where he was free from her a bit. Months before his return to Italy, she couldn’t take it anymore and travelled over to visit him. He had pacified her with an outing together, and she returned to Italy after seeing him. But now that Fenriz’s mission is over, he was back in her clutches in the presence of his family– just in the presence of his family because whenever they are alone, he shows her hell like the old days.
“Why won’t you just look at me, Fenriz? What happened between us? What happened to us?” she conveyed her sadness to Fenriz.
“Did you just say us?….” Fenriz glared at her, shutting down his laptop and closing it.
“…. Did I hear you say us? Was there ever an us? Me and You? Impossible! And you know it.” he smirked at her, with an eye roll.
“What do you mean by that, Fenriz? Are you saying my years of wait are now a waste?”
“I never sent you to wait for me in the first place. You felt like it, and you waited. Simple!”
“Are you for real? Are you for real, Fenriz?” she asked, waiting for his response which he never gave.
“I will make sure Aunt is aware of this.” she threatened like she always did. Whenever Fenriz didn’t do her bidding, she made sure to report him to his father or mother and he got punished severally for hurting her. Sometimes, he would even think about the possibility that he isn’t their child with the way Elena got favoured over him.
“Suit yourself!” Fenriz said to her surprise.
“What? Suit yourself? Did I hear you right?” she walked over to him angrily as he was now standing in front of his window, staring into the sky with a glass of liquor in his hand and his other hand, tucked into his pants pocket.
“You heard me right, suit yourself.” he ascertained her doubt. He was on the path of changing things in his favour. He was no longer the kid that he was and wouldn’t act like one. Not anymore. He now has things he needed to achieve and protect, but Elena was out of it if she decides not to stay off his lane.
Elena kept mute with her hands still crossed in front of her, staring at Fenriz.
“Something must have changed!” she thought inwardly, to herself.
“Something must have changed. Definitely, he has changed. This is not the Fenriz I know. Like, the hell, he isn’t even scared of me telling his parents. Hope he isn’t going out of my grasp this way. I can’t lose him, I just can’t.”
“Would you like to sleep in here? Or should I leave for you?” Fenriz asked with a bit of a mock tone.
“I bet you, Fenriz. You won’t go scot-free with this. I’ll make sure you’re punished again.” she whispered and turned to exit his room when Reid barged in, startling them.
He looked at their faces one after the other and chuckled. “It seems, you guys are…..”
“Nothing like that” Fenriz interrupted sitting on his sofa.
“I didn’t even complete what I have to say,” Reid said.
“You don’t have to.”
“Is that the way to talk to your uncle?”
“There’s not so much age difference between us for me to call you that,” Fenriz replied sharply without waiting a second. The room went silent as no one said anything after that.
“It seems you became more arrogant during the years.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
Elena hissed at the scene and made to go out but not without receiving a wink and a touch from Reid. An action that made her shiver due to fear. She looked behind her at Fenriz, but it seemed as though he didn’t see them as he continued sipping on his drink with his gaze lowered.
She left and Reid wanted to leave too, but Fenriz stopped him with a question.
“What were you here for?”
“I came to check on you when I heard noises. You know, we have to be on alert.” Reid said freely.
“Really?”
“Of course, What else could it be?” Reid turned around and left, closing the door behind him and Fenriz finally raised his head. A smirk grew on his face, which turned into a wild muffled laugh at the end. He was aware that there was another reason for Reid to barge in his room just anyhow but had no idea what it was. No matter what, he should have knocked. If at all he didn’t knock, there should be worry on his face, but Reid caught sight of another emotion on his face that he couldn’t describe.
Having seen the wink and touch he made with Elena, he understood deep down that something was going on between them and only needed a matter of time before he knows what it is.
He picked up his phone and dialled a number.
“Hey dude,….” he spoke up first. “I need you to do something for me…”
“No problem buddy, shoot.”
“I need you to help me check the status of two youngsters in Bedouin. The details will be sent to your mail,” he said and hung up.