"Being a hero doesn't mean you're invincible, it just means that you're brave enough to stand up and do what's needed."
-Rick Riodan-
***
Warm puff of breath gathered in the air as he exhaled his first breath in Moscow. The first thing he saw as soon as he left the airport was the vast amount of snow gathered on the side of the road.
People around him were mostly wearing fur coats or a thick layer of winter coat. He wondered why he thought visiting the place in winter was a great idea. Yet there he was, dragging his luggage to find the nearest taxi.
Damian had a high expectation for the next week. He did not know what made him decide to visit the city after all these years, he had never been a fan of the colder weather and always preferred to stay in the warm.
Perhaps it was due to his change of perspective toward the world, after hitting his 30's, he had tried to be more open toward the possibilities in life which he had actualized by traveling all around the world for the past three years.
Damian has stepped his foot on most part of Asia and several regions of Europe, but for some reasons he had never visited Russia before.
He had to admit, it was a bit different than what he had expected. Much colder than his initial thought, that was so sure, but he was wrapped in three layers of winter outfit, so he would be just fine.
After fetching a ride, he gave the address to the driver as he fastened his seat belt, enjoying the drive in peace. Thanks to the advancement of technology, he did not have to book a hotel during his stay.
Instead, he was renting an apartment in the middle of the city which would be much more reasonable than spending a week in a hotel without actually staying in the hotel the vast majority of the time.
Looking outside the window, he caught his own reflection on the car's window, which encouraged him to reflect on himself.
For the past four years, Damian had tremendously changed both physical and personality wise, to the point where he could no longer recognize his old self had someone shown him a picture.
Mentally, he had definitely matured, he used to think of the world in a narrow way, where there was only one fixed solution to everything while ignoring other possibilities, but there had been many things over the course of the years that changed him.
The robbery incident he experienced a few years back made him learn martial arts as well as street fighting techniques, both had influenced his mental growth, as the body and mind are connected. It also came as a package with a workout routine which had built and shaped his body for the better.
Damian was a lot more muscular and ripped. His shoulder had slightly broadened and he developed a six pack, though he was not as muscular as Jordan, he had what women would call "a desirable body" for men. Just the perfect in between skinny and massive.
His physical change was so drastic that most of his old outfits had become too skimpy for him to wear, furthermore, as of lately, he had been gravitating more toward simplicity, which made him wear mostly black from head to toe. He also underwent a lasik surgery just like his sister Scarlett to maximize his efficiency during his training.
Beside physical training, the change in his diet and routine had also made an impact on his facial appearance, he was a bit more youthful despite being thirty.
Most would say he looked better than he was four years ago, though he was not as chiseled as Carter nor as smoldering as Enrique, but Damian was definitely a hunk in his own way.
Career wise, he was promoted as a Tech Engineer Specialist, as well as the second person in command on the technological and cyber security section of the company he worked for, which was not all that surprising considering his work ethics and history.
On the flip side, he had become busier than ever. Therefore when he had the chance to take vacations, he ensured he would enjoy it to the fullest.
Overall, he was content with his current life, but there was still something missing, like a part of his purpose has not been achieved yet, and he did not know what it was. Traveling had become a great source of escape from his city life, and more often than not, he would intentionally seek out more daring adventures such as skiing or sky diving, just for the sake of feeling alive.
It was a way for him to get out of his comfort zone and broke his shell, because he suddenly realized that life was so much more than sitting in front of a computer typing codes all day.
While technology has become a huge part of human lives, the experience of living itself mostly happened outside the technological realm. Yet there was still that one thing in the back of his head that still bothered him but he could not wrap his fingers around it.
Oh well, might as well just forget it.
The taxi arrived in front of the building, he paid and went inside to the lobby, he dialed the host of the place and waited in the lobby as he went down.
After five minutes, a middle aged man approached him and both exchanged a handshake, he led him to the tenth floor where his room would be located, as well as giving a brief tour of the place before handing the key over to him.
It was not that big but it was comfortable and cozy enough for him to stay for a few days. It had a full functioning kitchen, a clean bathroom with a shower, a living room which double as a dining room and a bedroom with deluxe sized bed.
After fifteen minutes, the host eventually left him alone. The first thing he did was to unbox his luggage, he placed all of his clothes on the wardrobe, taking out the basic hygiene products, as well as taking out his shoes and cologne.
After unpacking everything, he took a seat on the bed and pulled out a note from his pocket filled with the places he wanted to visit. It was quite tight and jam packed, he might need to adjust them later, but first, he needed to buy some groceries.
Eating out in a restaurant everyday just did not sit well with him. Unlike his sister Scarlett who made and spent money like no one else, he was a bit more calculative and responsible with his earnings, even after having his salary increased to 250K per year, he was still careful with his lifestyle.
The market was not that far away from where he was staying, instead of fetching himself another ride, he chose to walk and took a walk around the place, really taking his time to see what the place had to offer.
As he was picking an apple from the stall, a brief thought entered his mind, it was about one of his habit, he was not sure what it was but he had always fancied flea and street market over giant chain markets, perhaps that was simply because he loved supporting the local economy wherever he traveled.
Despite the extremely cold weather and temperature, which came as a consequence for visiting the country in January, the market was still filled with people of all ages.
It was not deserted by any means. He could hear the stall owners promoting their merchandise in Russian. He learned a little bit of the language prior to his visit so he could grasp some basic understanding of what they were saying.
With the help of his digital translators he could make the transactions smoothly. By the end of his tour, his bags were filled with some fruits, vegetables, starches, lean meat, sauce and spices for him to cook later on. His arms were full of groceries but it felt oddly satisfying.
It's funny how the smallest things you do in life make you feel so much more put together after doing it.
After he exited the market, he mapped out the way back, and to get back to the place he had to walk through a side road where there was an alley in the middle of two buildings, though he felt a strange sense of déjà vu when he saw it from afar, he was not really thinking much about it.
But then, as if being pulled in by a mysterious force, he accidentally turned his head around right when he passed the alley, where he saw a crowd which appeared to be some sort of gangsters, but when he looked closer, he could see another figure that looked like she was out of place.
It was a woman whose face he could not see very clearly from where he was standing, but it did not take him long to read the situation.
The woman was in danger.
He had to think for a second whether he wanted to help her or not, but he was reminded of himself in the past when he was going through the terrible experience. It made him empathize with the stranger. In a snap of a finger, he placed down his groceries on the side of the street before walking in to the alley.
Don't seek trouble
I am totally seeking trouble right now
"Leave her alone." he shouted in English, the group which consisted of five grown men immediately turned their head around to see who it was who dared to disturb their little play.
They thought it was the police but when the spotted Damian they were laughing their ass off. From his accent alone they could tell he was a foreigner, but the handsome look on his face made them look down on him even more.
"This American wants to play hero." they mocked in Russian. What they had not realized while they were talking was that Damian was analyzing their bodies to predict their strength. Three of those men were shorter and more slender than Damian while two were bigger than him. He knew exactly what he needed to do with them.
"We'll show him some lessons." the larger man who seemed to be the leader began to charge on him, he was a bit sloppy in his move and it was easy for Damian to avoid his jab. It appeared to him that his main strength was located in his arms, while his chest was left unguarded most of the time.
He noted it and made a mental calculation. After dodging his punches several times, Damian threw a punch in his chest, which seemed to really hit him.
So that's his weak spot.
Watching their leader being punched by this pretty man was a huge offense to them, therefore, they went to charge him at the same time. Most of them still used their bare hands, the smaller ones mostly utilized their legs to create long distance attack, but Damian had practiced years to deal with situations like that.
This time, he did not simply dodge the attacks on him, he baited them to hit each other, when two of them tried to punch him at the same time, he took a step back to avoid their hit range, and thanks to the natural law of speed, they ended up punching each other.
Of course, he did not just avoid them. When one of them pulled out a knife to stab him, he swiftly caught his wrist and jumped to his shoulder, clenching his neck tightly with his arms while hitting his pulse, forcing him to drop the knife, at the same time, another one was marching at him bare handed, he kicked him on the stomach, dropping him straight to the ground.
The fight lasted for around ten minutes before most of them fell to the ground. A few years ago he would have never imagined he would end up like that. To be honest, it felt quite refreshing in the darkest way possible.
After he was sure it was over, he took several shallow breaths as he watched them fell unconscious to the ground. He had made sure to hit their weak spots, as Jordan would say, and because he thought it was over, he lowered his guard, but when he turned around, one of the man stood up in an instant with the knife on his hand, he marched toward him with the speed of a lightning.
Damian swiftly turned around but was dumb founded when he found the man on the ground with his wrist locked down by the woman he just saved. She kicked him on the back of his head, a vital spot and practically made him unconscious.
What just happened?
"Life is beautiful not because of the things we see or do. Life is beautiful because of the people we meet."-Simon Sinek-***What had just happened?Damian was speechless, he had never seen a lady looking like her did something like that before. He had to admit it got his heartbeat pacened up a bit when he saw her badass fighting style. There was a strange chemical reaction in his stomach, one he did not quite comprehend just yet."What a bunch of animals!" she cursed as she hit his neck. Unlike Damian who tried to avoid the vital spots, she did not even hesitate or flinch when she smashed their face to the ground. The woman was pissed, her eyes w
"Good manners do more for a man than good looks." -E.W. Howe- *** Damian was seated in a study chair in the living room writing down some notes of his activities for the next day. Everything was planned. We would spend his entire day exploring the Red Square, just to see if it was really as fascinating as people claimed it to be, everything was listed in a rough outline but he had a pretty good picture of what his day would be. After that, he went to the kitchen to make some dinner. The menu for the day was steamed vegetables with boiled chicken with a little bit of chili sauce. Not the most flavorful dish, but most importantly, it was healthy. He had been paying a lot of attention to his health since he realized he was not very young anymore, at least he thought he was not.
"When all the dust is settled and all the crowds are gone, the things that matter are faith, family and friends." -Barbara Bush- *** "Xenia, do not touch it, that's for your brother." Scarlett was putting some icing on the rest of cupcakes in the kitchen when her eldest daughter decided to sneaked her way in, making an attempt to steal another cupcake from the counter. Of course, Scarlett could tell without looking since she had developed sharper senses since giving birth. When she turned her body around to place the tray on the counter, the little girl looked up at her mother with a pout on her face, her big hazel eyes gleamed in anger when her tiny arms retreated in defeat. In her toddler mind, she thought her mother was being unfair, why did her brother get to have it when she could not? Yes, Scarlett had given her one earlier, but one was not enough. The cupcake was so tiny she was able to finish it in four
"Romantic love is mental illness. But it's a pleasurable one. It's a drug. It distorts reality and that's the point of it. It would be impossible to fall in love with someone that you really saw." -Fran Lebowitz- *** "Good morning, are you ready to go out?" Damian woke up to the knocking sound from his door, while he had set his alarm to eight, at exactly 7A.M Lana was already disturbing him with her early chirp. He was still dressed in his black t-shirt and shorts when she was already all dressed up in a complete winter outerwear. It was typical in Russia during winter to wear layers upon layers of outfit to ensure maximum warmth during the extreme cold, so he could only imagine how long it took for her to get dressed, which meant she had woken up so early in the morning. He had not e
"Caring, about people, about things, about life is an act of maturity." -Tracy McMillan- *** That morning Damian woke up with a throbbing head, his body was shaking, freezing, he was feeling unwell for some reason without any idea why. The night before he was completely fine, though he was having more fatigue than usual, but he did not feel any symptoms of illness. Yes, he did remove his winter hat yesterday a few times because they were scratching his head, but he never thought the cold he felt for only a few minutes could make such an impact on his body. As he slowly tried to open his eyes, he took a seat on the edge of his bed and felt his body burning up, he touched his forehead and found his temperature rising. His nose was slightly clogged and his throat was dry.
"Never love for me, only obsession."-Carrie Fisher-***"Oh, god, yes..." The moaning escaped her lips as he rode her like a cowboy. The dimly lighted room casted shadow upon part of their sweaty bodies as the raven haired woman clenched her fist on the sheet like her life depended on it. He was not holding himself back either, he had both of his hands on her breast as a support. Both were in tremendous pleasure when there was suddenly a knock on the door."Fuck, I have told them not to disturb me." He groaned as he pulled himself out from her."Who dared to disturb me?" He shouted. From the other side of the room, Dimitri was standing with his phone. He knew exactly what his boss was doing inside. Vincent had hired another high class prostitute to please him like he always did every single week. This time he had a low class model as his companion and they had been fuckin
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety."-Benjamin Franklin-***"You will be back to US tomorrow, right?" she asked him as they were walking down the Gorky Park, it would be his last destination in Moscow. They were passing by the ice skating rink, silently watching as people skated around with nothing but smiles and giggles on their face. The sky was getting slightly dark and they knew that soon they would have to go back."Yes, work will start soon." He replied briefly. She had gotten used to his cold attitude, which she found was mostly due to his introverted nature. Lana did not mind it at all, in fact she thought it was quite charismatic in a different directionThe two had spent so much time together
"You can't master your future if you are a slave to your past."-Unknown-***Lana was smuggling her way into the airplane as the passengers started to enter one by one. She did not want to admit it but she really hated flying. Slowly, she turned to find her seat which was located in the middle of the row. Both her and Damian had booked themselves tickets with seats number beside each other. Hers was supposedly in the middle of the three row seat, but instead she picked the seat near the window, gaining herself gazes of displease from Damian."What? You can surely take the middle seat, can't you?" she grinned made him unable to get mad. Something about the way she smiled was magical. It was almost as if she knew she could get whatever she want with that sweet yet wicked smile of hers.Definitely a fox.