For the past thirty minutes they just sat at the table, trying to avoid each other's eyes. Jasmine fumbled with her phone. Marcelo had two but couldn't focus on anything other than the beauty in front of his eyes. And when she'll look back, he'd turn his eyes away. He got frustrated with the silence and decided to force up a conversation,
"So, tell me a little about yourself chicca?"
"Uhm! What?" She wasn't expecting he would start up a conversation.
"Dios!" He rolled his eyes, "Just tell me about you. This silence is uncomfortable and I hate it." Marcelo grumbled,
"You! It's like you don't know how to tolerate people. You're so grumpy."
"I am just not a tolerant person and this..." He scowls and scans the ice cream shop where they sat, "this place is not my setting."
"You said I should take you to my favourite place; well, here we are."
"I only said that because I though you would take us to somewhere cool."
"If by cool you mean a club, then no thank you." Jasmine frowned, and turned back to her phone. This was not going the way she'd expected it to and she was starting to regret coming. She thought of bailing out then looked up at his charming brown eyes that bore annoyance,
Dang it! Why does he have to be so cute?? She mentally slapped herself for staring directly into his irresistible eyes.
"What do you want to know?" She asked him, staring down at her almost empty ice cream cup,
"Anything!" Marcelo replied with a shrugged.
"OK. My name is hades and I'm the god of the underworld who is going to hunt your dreams at night if you don't give her your ice cream." He frowned at first, the chuckled at his realisation of the joke.
"You can have it all Chicca." He pushed the cup towards her, but pulled it back when she attempted grabbing it, "but only if you tell me real things about you"
"Deal." She seized the cup from his hold, "well I'm third in four kids of my parents. My big brother stays abroad with his own family. My older sister is still figuring out what to do with her life while partying all night, sleeping all day and failing all her classes. The little one is a devilish minion who keeps buying our mother's favour by ratting out all our secrets."
"Wow! And what are you in all that?"
"I'm that kid that almost goes by unnoticed but can change the course of the family in a snap." A wide smile flashed across Marcelo's face as he watched her make different expressions with every word she uttered.
"And your dad in all this?" He asked,
"He died." Jasmine's shrugged, very undisturbed by her confession.
"What happened?" His question took her by surprise. Most of the time, people just pitied that fact and apologized when they'd done nothing wrong. The act always raged her but she fought to keep her annoyance under control. For the very first time, someone was more interested in knowing her story than pitying her fatherlessness.
"He drowned. At sea. We found his corpse three days later. It was unrecognisable."
"Was he the only one?"
"No. They were others. Some survived. Others just didn't-" she sucked in a sob and blink harshly away the tears, "they just died and he was amongst."
The atmosphere fell a dead and yet comfortable silence. It was like the world outside had fallen silent as well. That was until Marcelo decided to break through the dead air,
"My father didn't kill my mother but somehow was involved in her death." Marcelo's revelation somehow released a little of Jasmine's nerves as she felt like her pain was been shared and no longer weighed as heavy,
"I don't understand,"
"Of course not; no one ever did. But he remarried and his second wife brought with her own daughter. They both made me what I am today. If not for them, I'd be lost."
"They seem like nice people."
"They are. But one of them is no more." He said so like it was just a friendly 'hi' to ones neighbors. Marcelo stared intensely at Jasmine, reading in her confused state. He stood up and let out a hand,
"Are we leaving already?" She asked. He just rolled his eyes and sighed,
"You're going to have to learn to pick up clues Chicca. I can't keep spelling it out for you all the time." Jasmine arched a brow upwards, "yes, yes! We're leaving. Now take my hand and get up." She hesitated, "unless you want me to say it writing."
"No thanks." She answered with an amused frown then shot up, ignoring his hand. They got back into the car and drove off.
Their drive was a silent one. Marcelo drove them back up to the resort. Once they stopped safely inside the gates, Marcelo turned to stare at the girl seated by his side. She was already unbuckling her seatbelt. She stepped out the car before he could and waited for him. Her actions just amused him as he cut off the engines and stepped out.
"OK. It seems like we're done right? I'll have to start going home now."
"No wait!" Marcelo said as he grabbed her gently by the arm. Yes, she had been a big bowl of unpleasant attitude all day but somehow, everything she did just stirred up strange emotions and needs inside him. All the time, he had just wanted to grabbed her by the waste and kiss her like there was no tomorrow. By caution not to drive her away or push her too far, his frustration from holding back gave him too an attitude. "Listen! I know it didn't quite go as I had hoped; but I'm happy you came and stuck with me till now."
"I had no choice, did I?" Jasmine mumbled,
"Yes you had a choice. You could have just said no, not come back here and then that's it. But-" he tucked her small choco-dark hands into his, "you came, you stuck with me, and I'm considering forgiving you."
"Forgiving me?"
"For breaking my nose and making inhale the horrible smell of ice cream all day." He gave her a cocky but yet mischievous grin,
"But-" she started, "But this was supposed to be for my-"
"Assolutamente no principessa." He cut her through, "Venire!" Marcelo said and dragged her to the back of the car,
(No way princess/come)"Stop speaking in tongues," Jasmine grumbled, following him, her back hunched up, "What now Marcelo?"
"You're going to help me carry the bags inside. Last thing, I promise."
Jasmine's thoughts flew to that morning,
"If I wanted to do something bad to you...I'll be taking you to my room." Immediately her mind shifted to the present moment. Shaking her head horizontally, she blurted,
"I'm not going into your room Marcelo."
Marcelo who had been busy emptying carefully his booth of all the stuff they'd bought, suddenly he stopped and turned his focus on her,
"What?" He asked,
"I'm not helping you. I'm not going into your room. I'm going home." Marcelo rubbed the side of his right eye, the slid his hand through his hair, exasperated.
"What now Jasmine?"
"Have you forgotten what you told me this morning?" Marcelo's mental clocks started ticking, in search for meaning. Jasmine noticed. She realised he had no idea of what she meant,"You told me to harm me, you'd have to take me to your room." She felt she had been to close too this stranger in one day and if she stepped into an intimate setting with him; her mind did dramatic hand fanning.
Marcelo stared carefully at her, trying to read her face and decipher her thoughts. Clearly, he knew she was intimidated by his presence but he felt the was more.
"Close your eyes Jasmine?"
"What?"
"You trust me don't you?"
Just met you twice but somehow yes I do. She told herself mentally, "yes!"
"Then close your eyes."
She closed her eyes and waited. Marcelo's eyes didn't even blink for a moment. As he took in her vulnerability at that moment, her innocence, her beauty; a familiar uncomfortable feeling stirred up in his pants. He let out a heavy breath,
"se solo tu sapessi cose che mi fai!" In a slow movement, he brought his lips down to hers, circling his arm around her waist.
Nothing ever scared Jasmine as what she felt in that moment, when Marcelo kissed the life out of her lips. As she laid there on her bed, in the middle of the night, unable to sleep, her mind knotted hard on the memory: his touch; how his hands moved over her body, across her skin, gently caressing every spot he touched in the most erotic manner ever. The possessiveness of his lips against hers; never leaving her a second of control. It was all him. Even when she'd been so weak in her knees that she couldn't stand, he'd been her pillar: taking her small frame up to meet his movements, his demands. God! If not for the fact that she could still hear herself think, she would have been helpless in stopping him from taking her right there.Now she wondered: "what will he be thinking of me?" What will he be thinking of her? Because she'd discarded him horribly when she'd felt his hands slipping under her shirt. It felt good! Really
"Hello to you too Marcelo. Could you move your car? I'm trying to get a taxi." Jasmine faked a smile. It wasn't entirely fake. She was thrilled to see him again but she didn't have to make it obvious, did she?"but I am offering you a ride, aren't I?" Marcelo brought off his eyes a pair of dark sunshades."Thank you but no thank you.""Oh andiamo Jasmine! Don't be like that. I'll just take you home. If you say no, I'll follow you to your house anyway.""what? You're crazy! Get out of my way Mars;""Mars? Look at that! You already found me a cute nickname too. adoro.""Not amused! Get out of my way Marcelo, my mother's waiting for me at home." Jasmine grumbled. She already felt super embarrassed about her appearance and now he wasn't really given her breathing space."I'm serious. You can be stubborn about but it won't change a single thing."
The best things about Jasmine's mother's job was her night shifts seemed to always fall when she needed them to fall. Like tonight when she was having her very first romantic date with Marcelo. It was also very favourable that her big sister had no plans on going out: then the little devilish little sister was definitely rattling them both out. But now with one person around, they could cover for the other.Jasmine was more worried about her outfit. She'd gone through her suitcases like a million times since she got home from the market. She'd finally settled for a white dress borrowed from her sister, paired with her favourite blue jacket to keep out the chill of the night.She didn't exactly tell Jessie where she was off to but did tell her it was a date. She left the house about fifteen minutes after her mother, hop into a taxi and left.She arrived the resort a few minutes later than the set time. He was alrea
The things she had been told as a kid, the things she had been trained and taught were wrong, Jasmine laid naked in Marcello's arm, snoring softly, sleeping soundly; she'd just lost her virginity and it still hadn't kicked into her brain that it wasn't what she'd been taught. She was still living the fantasy of being in the arms of a man like Marcello.But Marcello laid awake, wondering, pondering; what the hell had just happened? It was like he was in a trans and could only hear and, obey a single voice. She said 'take me to your room' and he couldn't find any reason to deny her. He really did want her but for some reason, he thought it'd have been better if he'd said no; if he had just denied her. He never had this problem and gutly feeling with his other gazillion women. His guts were telling him that what he'd let happen should never have happened. But it already had happened and Marcelo knew he couldn't go back.
Only two things ran through Marcelo's mind after he'd dropped Jasmine off and talked to Serena. As soon as possible had to get as far away from the area as possible; for his life and hers. He wasn't quite sure if he really had been traced already but he knew he couldn't take any chances. He had to leave and no one had to know: not even Jasmine..................Two days had gone by since Marcelo dropped her off and never texted or called her back. Jasmine focused her eyes on the message that had alerted on her phone. A bank alert of twenty-five thousand dollars deposited into her account that same night she'd seen him last. There was a grand total of fourteen million, eight hundred and four thousand, nine hundred and two (14,804,902) CFA in her account including the five hundred thousand francs she had received from her brother to process her documents for a passpo
Inside a full packed clubhouse, still trying to go undercover, Marcelo forced himself through the crowd, limping, his entire lefthand locked in a cask, a mask and his over grown hair covering his face, space left only for his eyes to see. He followed the familiar corridors of the back setting of the club, now his club. Inside his final destination, he limped himself over to a seat, behind which stood a girl in a black hoodie and ripped skinny jeans. Everyone else just watched in utter silence as he descended onto his throne.He made it! Under rough circumstances but still; he was now the leader of a mob; not just any; the biggest, baddest and most dangerous.For everything he'd been through as a fugitive, Marcelo swore to be soulless during his reign. He would strike fear into the souls of his enemies just by the mention of his name. He would become their nightmare: starting with the two people who had contributed in his hell experience.
(Fives years later)Five years.Five years? Yes! Five years! Jasmine reflected on the changes that had transpired in her life these past five years. She was a completely different person than the naive teenager she had been five years ago. Now she was an entrepreneurial woman raising her digits daily through her own braids brand she called; Raldine, after her mother. She hadn't seen any member of her family ever since she'd ran away from home, ran away from Cameroon, started her life; alone; with the money Marcello had left her as consolation; and, with her baby boy.Yes. Money wasn't the only thing Marcello had left her. He had scarred her for life: but he had also given the most precious gift she had; a baby boy she named Mars. He was almost five years old and while his mama hustled, he stayed home with his aunty Aisha. Aisha was ano
"Let me out of here please!""I promise I didn't see anything!""I have a son! Please let me go to him!"Jasmine screamed and screamed at the top of her lungs. She was feeling claustrophobic inside the cell they'd thrown her in. The only thing she could think about was her little Mars; what would happen to him: no mother, no father, no relatives; of Aisha was there but he wasn't supposed to be her responsibility. Aisha was already doing so much for her.She was going to relentlessly bang on the door until someone got her out."Can we kill her already?" Nikolai asked Serena. Her head was pressed hard against a table while her palms clasped both her ears. "Shut up bitch!" Serena yelled at the top of her lungs."We should just kill her!" Nikolai insisted. But he wasn't helping Serena's dilemma. Killing the girl wasn't her trouble; she