"If Boss finds about it, we are going to be yelled at!" Art panicked, his eyes scanning the blood shed in front of him.

After the boss of the Italian mafia left leaving Revans's men to take care of the people sent by Bernardii's, the damage control a.k.a Art, Switch znd Xandra were dispatched.

Of course, it wasn't good.

"Geez look at how brutally this one was stabbed, ouch" Switch said, nudging the corpse at her feet with her dark heavy boots.

"Boss was right, Bernardii's men are beasts aren't they?"

"Guys look here" Xander shouted from a distance from the parking lot, waving a black shiny object and the duo immediately rushed over to her.

"A phone?" Art chuckled, his brown eyes lighting up with excitement as he took the device into his own gloved hands.

"I guess the beasts aren't that brainy" Xander laughed, placing her hands on her waist, clearly satisfied by her discovery.

Unlike the others, this was the first time she was sent to do the damage control.

"Switch, what can we get out of this?" Art waved the phone infront of her face and she brushed back her honey hair, squinting her eyes at the black phone.

"The last calls, her locations and yeah, her family details" she said after a while.

"Then get it. He would like to know where the attackers came from and of course-"

"-where the Family is hiding" Switch finished for him and immediately sat down on the cold concrete, taking her small pink laptop out of her bag and connecting it to the device.

The night was cold, if not chilly and Art suddenly felt a shiver run down his spine.

Of course his boss had to send him.

"Did he contact you? We don't know where he is and he might be dead for all we know Art" Xander asked, walking over to him and he shifted nervously.

Revans told him not to reveal the identity of the Italian boss but it felt wrong lying to his friends.

"Uh-he is alive" he blurted out avoiding her gaze and turned to Switch, who was clicking away on the computer.

"You don't have to lie Art, we all know he told you to not to tell us. Just tell us if he is safe or not." Xander sighed crossing her arms when her eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of movement behind her friend.

"Guys! Guards up!" she immediately whispered and her friends looked at each other alarmed.

She sensed something was wrong and with Xander, her senses were rarely wrong.

"Switch how much more time do you need to track it?" Art asked, drawing out his gun and she mumbled 'twenny'.

"Okay" he whispered, standing back to back with Xander covering Switch, their weapons drawn, waiting for the attackers.

After ten mintues when no movement was seen, he relaxed , putting away his gun but Xandra remained as alert as ever, poised on her toes, looking out for even the slightest movements.

"Xandra, relax" Art said after a few more mintues of peace and she nodded, putting away her weapon.

"Okay so, this phone belonged to someone named Chelsea and the last number she called was an unregistered sim....probably destroyed after its use. The signals trace from Blue Springs to the north of the city" Switch snapped her laptop shut, clearly satisfied of her research.

"Transfer it to boss as soon as possible"

"Already did" she smirked, cracking her fingers and getting up when when someone started clapping behind them.

At once the trio drew out their weapons, but before they could use it, were disarmed.

'Why is every good thing followed by a bad one?' Switch thought as two men pulled her and Xandra's arms behind their backs.

"Take us to Revans and don't deny we know you work for him" a man in black suit told Art in a heavily accented voice, but his attention was fixed on his friends in the grip of the five men around him.

"Okay" Art replied and before the man could blink, a bullet was through his head.

"Nice one Art" Switch giggled as Xandra shot the men behind her with their own guns she sneaked away.

"Wow Xandra pulled an UNO reverse on them!" Switch laughed as the men holding her released her, and ran away.

"Do we kill them?"

"No, let them go... boss hates killing innocent people" Xandra murmured.

"He is calling!" Art jumped up as his phone screen lit up.

"Answer it!" Xandra rushed forward, eager to hear the voice of the man she loved, eager to hear that he was alright but only some distant moans greeted her.

She counted till ten in her mind to calm herself down, to not to cry but failed as a tear rolled down her cheek.

It wasn't like she was dating him anyway then why was it so painful?

"He will call us back. Atleast he is alive" Art awkwardly said after the call ended abruptly.

He nudged Switch with his elbow to say something and she immediately caught on, "Y-yeah I am glad he is alright".

"I want to go home now" Xandra muttered softly before she slipped back her hoodie to reveal her soft golden brown hair and her freckled cheeks.

"Sandy, wait" Switch called out but the girl walked away.

"See you at campus" Xandra mumbled as hot tears started running down her face.

The feeling of being defeated, of losing to someone, of being unworthy of him, I hated it all.

Four years since I had known him...four years of one sided affection but the farthest we had gone was a kiss.

I tried to be happy for him when I saw his new roommate flirting with him but even the thought of Vesper being with someone else made my skin burn with jealousy and hatred.

Anyone who has been in love with someone for years, unable for the feelings to manifest into something bigger knows this feeling.

I kicked a pebble on the pavement and turned into an unknown street when I bumped into someone.

"Ouch!" I yelped, as I landed on my butt and the tall figure quickly apologized crouching down in front of me.

"Hey beautiful are you okay?" he asked me and I nodded.

He had deep brown eyes with golden specks and a long mullet kind of hair, resembling a webtoon character way more than a real human.

"Yes" I whimpered as he took my hand and pulled me up.

"What is a pretty girl like you doing out so late at night?"

I could lie to him but his voice was so soft and comforting that I suddenly felt like completely breaking down infront of this stranger.

"Nothi-" my voice broke as a small sob left my lips, then another and another.

"Hey, are you alright sweetheart?" he hugged me and I buried my head into his chest.

"Wh-why is love so painf-ful?" I cried and he patted my back, calming me down, muttering soothing words in my ear as his hand stroked my hair.

I didn't even know this guy and yet here I was crying into his jacket.

Amazing.

🔥🔥🔥

"What's your name?" he asked me as we sat down on a bench in the park.

"It's Alexandera but you can call me Sandy" I said, taking a sip of the coke in my hand.

"My name is Eric, nice to meet you Sandy. Even if you completely ruined my jacket with snot and tears" he teased and I looked away embarrassed.

"I thought you looked familiar, you are an influencer aren't you?" he asked after a while and I saw him scrolling through my instagram profile on his phone.

"Yeah...not really polite to stalk someone on socials when they are right beside you" I murmured and he reddened.

"Oh I-I was" he blushed and put his phone away.

My phone rang and saw seven missed calls from Arlo and Twenty from Sam but being the depressed human I was, I hit ignore once again and put it in my pocket.

"Hey I don't mean to intrude but why are you not picking up their calls? I mean they seem like your friends?"

"They are my friends but I just don't want to talk right now" I whispered before throwing the can of soda in the dustbin and walking away from this stranger.

Something didn't feel alright.

###

A/n: 21Aug2022
Ooof, I am down with fever and I am pulling an all nighter on a school night...yikes.

An update as promised!!!

Thanks for reading!!!!

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