Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
He looked at both of them suspiciously, what was the meaning of that? Why does that look like Rhea was keeping something from him? Is there something he doesn’t know? Why would Rhea keep secrets with Leon? He was her boyfriend, shouldn’t he know everything? Questions filled his head.
“We’re leaving,” He decided right away.
“Huh?” Rhea was startled at how quickly he wanted to get out of here. Well, she had Leon’s number and Rhea had a feeling that she just made a new friend.
“Have a nice day!” Leon shouted after her.
“You too, Leon!” Rhea replied to him, while Luca who was trailing after them glared at him and she frowned at the whole interaction. Have they not worked out their differences yet? She even gave them a chance last night.
Rhea sighed, the attraction between the both of them was real and they would make a nice couple. However, this was her limit and if Leon really wanted Luca, then he had to fight for him.
“This is not the car I came with,” Rhea noticed the new Mercedes-Benz awaiting them when they reached the outside, still in his arms.
“No, it isn’t,” Lukas answered her as one of his men opened the car door and he placed Rhea inside before climbing in after her.
“I ordered them to come with a more spacious one so you could lie down and have a nap before we get home,” Lukas explained to her.
“We”, “Home”, Rhea liked the sound of that. They were going home, it was so sweet… behave, Rhea!
“Come on,” Lukas patted his thigh and Rhea placed her head on it and laid down, stretching out her legs properly.
“This is nice,” Rhea exhaled, “I like this bonding.”
“Umm,” Lukas had to admit that it was kind of nice bickering and talking with her like this. He began to run her hands through her hair, massaging her scalp as Rhea closed her eyes, and enjoyed the treatment.
They stayed that way for a while with her enjoying Lukas’s skillful head messages until her eyes suddenly popped open and she told him,
“Tell me a story,”
“A story?” Lukas was surprised.
“Yeah, a story about your life. Tell me an interesting tale about it that I don’t know,”
“Trust me, Rhea, the story of my life is gory and unhappy. It is not interesting at all,” Lukas refused.
“So you don’t have happy memories?”
“I do, but it’s hard to recover under the piles of shit that has happened to me so far. Moreover, most of my happy stories are related to my mother and I don’t want to talk about her at the moment.” He breathed.
“Oh, so that so,” Rhea bit on her lower lips, disappointed. However, she had to respect his decision and if he wasn’t ready to talk about his mother, then she would let her be.
“Let’s just…” Lukas took a deep breath, “enjoy the silence,” while he was still talking, it suddenly came to her mind.
“Tell me about your first love,”
“What?”
“The first girl you loved before me! Don’t tell me there’s nothing like that, Lukas.” Rhea thought he would have a lot to share with his past reputation.
“No, there’s nothing like….” Lukas trailed off, his brows suddenly arching when he remembered, “Well, there is something.”
Rhea’s face split into a wide smile at the idea of Lukas telling her about her first love. She shifted on Lukas’s thigh so she was staring up at his face when he began.
“Well, I met my first love when I was ten actually…”
“Ooh, it seems someone was never innocent in the first place,” Rhea cheered him and Lukas went red in that face, which was kind of cute honestly. Rhea only wished she had captured that moment with her camera.
“Keep on teasing me and I won’t say the rest,” He warned her.
“Fine, I won’t bother you anymore, cross my loving heart,” She promised him. Rhea then closed her mouth, eager to hear this story about his first love.
Not For The Second Time
“It’s quite funny but I think my first love was a redhead,” Lukas said and Rhea gave him a funny look.
“You think, or are you sure you’re not making up stories about me?” She arched a brow at him.
“No, I’m telling the truth. It’s just that it’s been years since the encounter and I can’t exactly remember what she looks like,” Lukas explained to her that he wasn’t making up any story. This was real.
“Fine, let me hear the rest of it,” Rhea decided to give him a chance. Moreover, why would Lukas create such a fake experience? It was not like him – his pride wouldn’t let him.
“So the story goes like this…” Lukas began, “I kind of ran away from home after my mother died because it became increasingly hard to live with my father, you get the point.” He didn’t go into details. But at that time, he couldn’t stare his father in the face anymore, not after his betrayal.
Rhea knew there was more to the story, however like Lukas said earlier, he didn’t want to talk about his mother. So she didn’t try to manipulate or push him into telling her more.
“I was just a young boy, I think I was ten or going to eleven at that time. What was a clueless young boy doing in a city he had no idea about? I only knew I wanted to get away from my father and anywhere was fine by me. However, I wasn’t prepared for how cruel the world was to orphans. I got lost, not that I knew the way in the first place, I didn’t make any plans for my future, all I took was satisfaction in the fact that Daniel would be worried sick with worry, he just lost his heir.
“I got beaten by bullies and robbed, although I stood my ground, however, they were numerous and I was nothing but a lone wolf. In summary, I slept in the streets and pretty much lived like a beggar until I saw her. The small bold, brave girl was looking for her dog when she found me with him and outrightly flirted with me. Now that I think about it, it’s kind of cute,” Lukas chuckled at the memory without noticing the way Rhea suddenly stiffened.
He went on to say, “She took me in. There was this empty house down her street, she kept me hidden there and brought me food and toys to keep me company. Whenever I smelled, she would sneak me into their house to have a bath with her strawberry-scented soap. It was quite a sweet experience with her, no wonder she’s my first love, “
…..
He sighed, “You could almost say that she was treating me like a -“
“Stray,” Rhea said the first name that came to her mind.
“Exactly, you got it!” Lukas conformed to it, “That’s what she called me. She said I was like a stray dog that had run away from his….”
Lukas paused.
It hit him.
How did Rhea know that?
He froze while Rhea sat up robotically, her brows furrowed in a frown. What was going on here? Both of them didn’t say anything, just lost in their thoughts.
But that was until the haze that had covered Lukas’s memories was lifted and the memories of his first love with her adorable missing teeth and smile somehow merged with the face of the current Rhea sitting right in front of him.