We got out of the restaurant after we finished eating. We drove back to school and when Clark parked the car on the lot, he turned to me.

“Thanks for coming with me,” Clark said while stretching. “I’ve been busy with a lot of things that I forgot to eat a meal like that.”

I smiled.

“It’s nothing.”

He peeked outside the window as if he was looking for something or someone.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Nothing, just making sure.”

He bent over to reach over for the door handle on my side. I swore my heart almost stopped after feeling his body pressed against mine.

“I’ll see you later then, Drew. Stay safe, okay?” he said as he pushed the car door open.

I furrowed my brows at him.

“Huh? Are you not going with me? Don’t you still have classes?”

Clark smirked before saying, “I have things to take care of.”

--

I walked back to my classroom in silence.

Clark Roman, huh?

He comes off as a charming and friendly guy but there’s something about him that was screaming danger and mystery.

I entered my room and sat on my usual desk, ignoring the stares from my classmate. I’m aware why they were looking at me like that but right now, I’m too busy thinking about Clark.

The teacher entered the classroom, greeted us and began teaching another boring topic about Science. I took the opportunity to look Clark up on social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram but so far, I haven’t found him yet.

Was he using a different name?

Or was he the type of person that’s not into trivial things like that?

Was he a recluse?

Hmmmm.

I put my phone down, smiling to myself at the memory of eating with Clark.

I hope I don’t mess up this one.

--

It was lunch time but I wasn’t feeling hungry because I already ate. Valery asked me to come with her to the cafeteria and I did since she hates eating alone in a crowded place. Even though I wasn’t hungry, I bought myself a salad.

While eating and having a conversation with Valery, I noticed a man, probably around in his 30’s walking towards me. His eyes were fixated on me and it was as if he was planning something bad. His hands were tucked inside his coat pockets while marching to my direction.

I ignored him, thinking that he might be someone visiting the school or something.

Continuing to eat my salad, a gunshot echoed inside the whole dining hall and everyone panicked. Some screamed and gasped, standing up as the man who I just saw a while ago dropped down on the floor, blood pooling underneath his head.

“O-oh my god!”

“What the fuck happened?!”

My blood grew cold at the sight of a dead body in front of me. Everyone inside the hall ran out, obviously scared that someone had died in our school.

I sat still on my chair, not moving.

“D-did you see that?!” Valery asked, trembling from fear.

When I didn’t answer, she snapped her head at me and slapped me on the face to wake me up.

“What’re you doing! Let’s go!”

Valery dragged me out of the cafeteria. The guards were quick to respond. They barged inside the cafeteria with their guns out while the school staff evacuated the students to a safe place. It was chaotic, with lots of hysterical screaming and crying.

I didn’t know what to do. Everything happened too fast.

It wasn’t my first time to see a dead body but witnessing someone alive being killed in front of me.

I felt my stomach curled in disgust.

I hold onto my mouth to stop myself from throwing up.

Valery too was shocked with what happened. Her face was white as a sheet and she was just holding me with a shaking grip.

All of a sudden, men in black made their way through the crowd, pushing all the students out of their way to get to me.

I didn’t recognized who they were but their eyes were on me.

“Turquoise is in the vicinity,” I heard one of them say. “Secure the boss at all cost.”

Three guys grabbed me, pulling and pushing me. They were shoving the students away as they dragged me out of the corridor.

“W-wait, what’re you doing?!” I tried asking but it was futile.

“Bring the flight down,” another one said through the earpiece.

“What in the -- !”

A black van stopped in front of us. The door slid open and four more guys were waiting inside. They pulled me inside and someone quickly closed the door and drove away.

I was sitting on the middle of two big men clad in black suits and sunglasses. I was feeling terrified. I didn’t know what was happening and to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were kidnapping me. Given the circumstances of what my family’s business was, being kidnapped was not far from reality.

I stayed still, heart pounding out of my chest.

Fuck, I think I’m going to die today.

My eyes widened when I realized they were taking me back to my house. The gates opened and the driver drove the van inside.

“Wait what the…?”

The vehicle’s door opened and another set of men in black greeted me. I made a face when I saw them.

What in the world’s happening?!

They all looked identical, it was creeping me out.

“Who are you?!” I asked, furrowing my brows in pure confusion.

“Good afternoon, sir Drew. We were notified that an assassination was about to happen in your school this morning. We tried to prevent it but it seems like one of the assassins was not caught, hence the shooting that happened in your school cafeteria,” the man in the middle said.

He appeared tall and muscular and something about him was making me shudder in fear.

I stared at him in disbelief.

“You’ve lost me at the good afternoon part,” I said.

“We’re the special security service that your father hired to keep you safe.”

I stared at him even more.

“What?”

“In short, we’re here to protect you at all cost.”

I stared at him even longer than before.

“I really want to say I understand but I really don’t.”

The man doesn’t seemed to be irritated at how slow I was.

“Your father hired us to keep you safe, sir Drew. Rest assured, we are the best of the best. You have nothing to fear. As long as he’s in our side,” he said.

“My dad never gives me any security before. Why now?”

I couldn’t see his eyes behind the dark-tinted sunglasses but I know he was looking at me.

“Because your life is in danger.”

“Why?”

“The war of the families are starting and it’s not like before, sir Drew.”

He leaned closer at me and I instinctively backed away. This man, he’s scary in all sorts and ways.

“...huh?”

“Because this is the war of the heirs.”

--

I rushed to my father’s office, not even bothering to knock on the door. As soon as I got inside, I saw Nikita and my dad making out on the top of the table.

“Dad!” I screamed his name.

He quickly pushed Nikita off of him, flustered that he got caught with his mistress.

“D-Drew…what the hell…?! Don’t you know how to knock?!”

I ran towards him, slamming my hands so hard on the table only to gasp out loud from the pain. I swished my hands in air until the burning pain disappeared.

Nikita walked towards me to inspect my reddening hands.

“Are you okay?” she inquired.

I nodded, foolishly grinning at her.

“I’m fine, thanks.”

I shifted my attention to dad who was now lighting a cigarette.

“Why are you giving me bodyguards?! And what’s this war of the heirs bullshit?!” I screamed at his face.

Dad sighed.

“Everyone is getting desperate to get the Pakhan’s position, Drew. Our group is one of the powerful families meaning a lot of people are going to target us. We can’t let our guard down. I’ve come so far, this is not the time the back down,” he explained.

I narrowed my eyes at him. I understand where he’s going but somehow, I couldn’t appreciate the fact that my life’s going to go fucking bananas again because of what our business was.

Dad straightened his shirt and looked straight into my eyes.

“We’re going to take some precautions, Drew.”

I stared back at him.

“And what’s that?”

“You’re going to stop going to school.”

The moment he said that, I felt my blood run cold in despair.

“No!” I barked, glaring hard at my dad. “You can’t do this to me! I don’t wanna stop going to school!”

Dad wasn’t taken aback with my sudden outburst.

“If you’re so worried about your education, I can get you home-schooled and…”

I slammed my hands on the table again only to feel the burning pain coming back. Nevertheless, I ignored it.

“I don’t wanna stop going to school! You can’t!

“Why are you so worried about it? You don’t even need to study because you’re already going to take over the group,” dad reasoned out.

I shook my head and clenched my fists.

As much as I wanted to tell dad that I have no intentions of taking over the Orlov group, I knew he’s not going to accept it. He would only make my life even harder if I go against this orders.

Nikita was just silently watching from the sidelines.

“I don’t wanna quit school!”

I didn’t want to let the Mafia ruin that normal life I always wanted to have.

The door opened and we all looked who entered the room. It was none other than my mom. There was coldness in her eyes as she looked at my dad without any sort of emotions.

“Let him continue going to school,” she said.

Dad furrowed his brows at mom.

“Why?”

The awkward air in the room made me sweat. Mom and dad have always been on each others throat ever since the beginning of time. I don’t ever remember them having any sweet moments even when I was still a kid. They were always fighting and disagreeing and it was exhausting to see them like that. I didn’t understand why they don’t just file a divorced if they hated each other with so much passion. The two of them were aware that they were cheating with each other but it doesn’t seemed like they mind.

“Don’t drag Drew down with you, Timofei,” she answered.

I widened my eyes at her in disbelief.

“You’re aware of our situation, aren’t you?” dad asked.

He walked towards mom and sensing that were about to bicker again, I looked at Nikita for help. She looked back at me and gave me a tired smile.

“Yes, I’m aware. That’s why you hired him to protect Drew, didn’t you?” mom answered, eyes still reflecting coldness and detachment. “What’s the point of hiring bodyguards to protect Drew?”

It took dad a minute to answer. He sighed out loud before looking back at me.

“Okay, I won’t pull you out of school but you have to promise me to stay out of trouble, Drew. Don’t bring too much attention, understand?”

I blinked at him.

Well, that was easy.

“Uhh, sure,” I said.

Mom looked at me and finally, a smile appeared on her poker face. She didn’t say anything else and just went out of the room, leaving the three of us alone.

Dad scoffed but there was a smile on his face as well.

“I can never win against that woman,” he whispered to himself.

He faced Nikita.

“Come on, I still have a meeting with the Alexei.”

Nikita nodded.

“Okay. I’ll ask for Tim to get ready.”

She got out of the room to talk to dad’s driver.

“Don’t forget our deal, Drew,” dad said once Nikita got out. “Be careful from now on.”

I inwardly sighed.

“Yeah, I understand.”

--

I got back to my room, feeling spent and depressed.

I remember the time when we were just a small group in the Mafia. No one paid any attention to us because we’re nothing but small fries. Dad dealt with the usual stuff, operating drug dens, scamming, police corruption and other small things that small groups like us do. Over time, we grew big. More members came to join us and we got involved with the bigger family groups in Russia. Fifteen years in the business and we earned our name as one of the most powerful Mafia group in the country.

And of course, our lives became even more dangerous thanks to that. A lot of leaders wanted to be like Mikhail who managed to unify all the groups into one. What he did was no joke and it’s almost impossible for other people to imitate it. Nevertheless, they didn’t give up because being the Pakhan would ensure power and money.

Dad wanted to be the leader of all the groups but it’s not only him who had that goal. Almost all the groups that got separated after Mikhail’s death wanted his position. Fifteen years had passed and they were still fighting over the throne of being the Pakhan of the Russian Mafia.

It’s almost scary how everyone would go so far, even as to killing their closest allies just to get the position.

I threw myself on top of the bed, sighing in exhaustion.

I didn’t want to be the part of the Mafia.

All I wanted was to live peacefully, away from the chaos, the murders, the violence.

I buried my face on the pillow.

I suddenly thought of Clark. His view of the world was so innocent. I’m sure he grew up in an serene environment.

I envied him.

He wasn’t bothered about my sexuality even though majority of the population here condemned people like me.

My cheeks flushed as Clark’s smiling face kept appearing in my head.

I want to see him.

I took my phone out and sighed again.

I’ll ask his number tomorrow.

--