Melina swings the weight between her feet as she tries to summon the courage to knock on Thomas’ room door. She can’t believe she’s scared to even tell him she doesn’t have an outfit for tonight, but you can’t blame her. Thomas gets angry at her even when she does nothing to provoke him. Melina gives up telling him and turns away from the door when it opens, and Thomas walks out. “What are you doing standing in front of my door Melina?” Thomas asks as half of her body still faces his door. Swallowing saliva, she clears her throat before speaking. “Uhmm,” she tries to talk, but her head is suddenly blank, and she has no words. “I don’t speak Uhmm, Melina,” he sounds a little irritated. This is what she’s talking about. She stares at the ground and mutters the words. “I don’t have a dress for tonight.” Melina doesn’t know if he heard her, but she hopes he did. “Look at me when you’re talking to me.” Thomas places his hand on her chin and raises
A big yawn escapes Melina's lips as the car pulls to a stop at a traffic light. She forces her eyes open as her eyelids drop on their own. I don’t understand. I just woke up a few minutes ago. How can I be feeling sleepy again? Melina looks out the window, blinking her eyes to drive the sleep away, when she sees that they have stopped not too far from a pharmacy. Melina remembers she needs tampons. She was going to ask Thomas to get it tomorrow morning, but she has started spotting, so it would be safer to get it now. She’s unsure when her period will begin. Melina takes a deep breath and moves closer to Thomas to ask him if they can stop by the pharmacy so she can get some tampons. "Thomas, can I ask for something?" "Why are you suddenly so close to me, and did you say something?" Thomas looks between their touching thighs and Melina's face. Melina moved closer to him so that Leo and the driver wouldn’t hear her question. She doesn't feel comfortable lettin
Thomas doesn’t let go of Melina’s hand on the ride home. She wishes he would, as the blood is making their hands sticky. Clearing her throat, she looks up at him and tells him about it.“Oh, I totally forgot,” he says, letting go of her hand.“Thank you,” Melina says, looking at her palm filled with Xiao Zhan’s blood. Thank God he’s still alive; even Thomas’ hands are as bloody.“Here,” Thomas says, placing a handkerchief in her hand, but before Melina can touch it, he grabs it and begins to clean the blood off her hands.“Thank you again,” Melina says. Thomas grunts in response before speaking to Jacob.“Find somewhere with a bathroom close by.”“Okay, sir.”“How long?”“What?” Melina asks.“How long have you been having the nightmare?”“Since I left that house,” she says. Thomas hums in response, and a comfortable silence settles between them.Melina suddenly starts feeling sleepy on the way and rests her head on Thomas’ neck. She quickly pulls it away once she realizes what she did
Melina knocks softly on Franky’s door and waits eagerly for her to open it. Franky gasps the second she opens the door. She looks at Melina like she’s a ghost standing in front of her. Melina smiles and pulls her in for a hug. Franky hesitates to hug Melina back for a second but quickly wraps her arms around her and squeezes the life out of her. Tears fill Melina’s eyes as she takes in the scent of Franky, which reminds her of home. Melina has missed her sister a lot. She wishes she would never have to part with her.“Let me take a look at you,” Franky says, pulling away from Melina. She takes a step back and scans her from head to toe. “Thank God you’re fine. I was so worried about you, Mel. Where have you been?”“Italy.”“Italy? What the hell were you doing there, and why didn’t you tell me you were going there? I reported you missing to the police, Mel. A text would have been enough to let me know you were fine.”“I’ll explain everything. Can we go inside and talk?”“Of course, com
Melina walks into the restaurant with Thomas behind her. They make their way to the cashier to place their order.“What can I get for you today, ma’am?” the young girl asks.“I’ll have large fries, two double cheeseburgers, nuggets, popcorn chicken, four wings, and a vanilla milkshake,” Melina says, and the place goes silent. She looks around, puzzled as to why everyone is staring at her like she just ordered food for five people.“That’s quite a lot you ordered for a small woman like you,” Thomas says, tilting his head to the side. Melina was never a big eater, so it’s understandable he is surprised that her appetite has increased.“Is that so? I don’t think so,” Melina says, avoiding eye contact with him. She hopes he doesn’t read too much into it.“Are you sure you can even finish all that you ordered?”“Yes,”B
"Ciao Tom," Aurora greets, hugging Thomas once he gets to her table."How're you doing, Aurora?" Thomas pecks her cheeks before taking his seat across from her."Good, and you?""I'm good. Have you eaten?" Thomas motions to a waiter, who is standing close by to their table."No, but the food can wait. I need to talk to you about something important.""Oh, what's up?" Thomas waves the waiter away and sits up."I wanted to ask, do you think our family can afford to go to war with another Russian gang?""Why are you asking?" Thomas furrows his brows. He didn't expect his sister to say that."Let's say Kirill is having problems with another Russian gang. Will we be able to help if a war breaks out between them?""Unfortunately, we won't.""Really, why?" Aurora appears deeply disappointed, which Thomas finds a little odd given that she hasn't been dating Kirill for long enough to care that much about him.
ThomasThomas takes off his Hermes suit jacket and tosses it onto the couch. He walks to the bar and pours himself a drink. Thomas gestures for the man who looks like he’s about to pee in his pants to approach him. The man trembles with fear as he gets closer to Thomas. Thomas takes a sip of his scotch before reaching into his back pocket for a cigarette. “Light it up for me, Alberto,” Thomas says, holding out his cigarette, but the man is unable to do so because he won’t stop quivering. “Don’t worry, I can do it myself.” Thomas takes the lighter from his hand and lights it himself. “So tell me what happened again,” Thomas says, taking a drag on his cigarette. The man narrates to Thomas what happened in the past few minutes. Once the man is done talking, Thomas puts out his cigarette and finishes his drink in one swing. “Repeat the last sentence, Alberto,” Thomas says, folding his shirt sleeves.“That’s how I lost Miss Melina, sotto capo…” Thomas lands a hard punch on Alberto’s f
Melina gets down from the kitchen stool, swallowing a lump in her throat. She takes a look at James and notices he’s dressed in the Givenchy suit she bought for him before they split. That can’t be a good sign.“James, w-wh-h-a-at are you doing here?”“I heard you were in town, so I thought I’d stop by and say hi,” James says, walking closer to Melina, his scent drifting through her nose. Melina’s brain immediately recalls how she would smell like him for days, despite doing everything she could to scrub his scent off her body. Tears well up in her eyes, remembering why she even had his scent on her body in the first place.“Really? That’s so nice of you,” Melina says, blinking away tears. Her nose stings, telling Melina she’s not doing a good job of suppressing her emotions. It’s hard for Melina because she recalls all the times she cried silently, staring at the ceiling as J