"There are only two types of women, goddesses and doormats." -Pablo Picasso- *** Phoebe's P.O.V "What the hell is going on here?" My head turns to the voice from the stairs and I see his gray eyes piercing through me. He approaches all of us and both Ivan and Nikolai looks away, and he approaches me and examine my face, gosh, my face must be bruised and now I pretty much look like a mess. But then again, why should I care? "Who did that?" He asks me as he slowly reaches out his hand to touch my face and he looks at Ivan and Nikolai and shouts again. "Who the hell did this !?" His voice startles me and it makes me back away from him a little bit, and then he looks back at me and he stands up. "Don't make me repeat this again." He grits in a low, deadly tone. Why does he even care? It shouldn't be a reason for him to get mad, because after all, who am I but a mere hostage? "It was me." Ivan finally says admiringly, and with that, he approaches him and before I can even blink an eye, Edgar punches him and Ivan falls to the ground and I think he hits his back. I try to cover my mouth in shock. I know I am supposed to get used to this here but still, I can't still witness fights like this without feeling surprised. "Why are you mad!?" Ivan speaks in a loud tone as if he is trying to defend himself and those words only bring out Edgar's anger even more but before he could throw another punch, Nikolai tries to hold him back, because we all know that Edgar has little control over his own power and they obviously don't want one of their precious inner members to get in the hospital thanks to the leader. "Hey, Edgar! Calm down!" Edgar seriously tries to escape Nikolai, and he is one big man, and I'm sure holding him back takes a lot of energy. "Edgar." I know I am doing such a risky thing right now, but I can't watch this any longer and I approach him and slowly put my arms around his waist into his chest area, I know exactly I have no such strength to stop him, but I really hope that he will just stop all of this fuss. Because it's my fault after all. I close my eyes in case if he shoves me back, but surprisingly, I don't feel my own body getting slammed back, so I gather the courage to open my eyes, and I see Edgar stops. He literally stands silent, and I'm not sure what kind of expression he has on, but whatever it is, I'm glad that he stops moving around. When I realize it, everyone in the room is staring at us, even Matvey and Viktor are staring at us now, I'm not sure when they even came in this room, but it's probably because they heard the noises. Oh god, I am literally hugging him from the back and everyone is staring at me right now. This is embarrassing for heaven's sake. I try to remove my hands from his waist, but it seems like he wouldn't allow me as he slowly puts his hand above mine preventing me from removing them. I am pretty sure everyone in the room are looking at us with a strange expression, how can they not? Even I am confused by this. "Edgar, what are you doing?" I ask him which seems to bring him back to his senses and he releases my hand. Okay, that was definitely weird, I seriously didn't expect that kind of behavior. "Let's get some breakfast." he says out of nowhere as he begins walking away to the dining table. Ivan who has been sitting on the floor this whole time begins standing up and he glares at me as he starts to walk behind Edgar. "How did you do that?" Nikolai suddenly approaches me. "Do what?" I ask him in confusion, and he examine my face to make sure that I am not lying. He then sighs and look at me with a gentle expression. "Earlier, he calmed down when you hug him, how do you do that?" "It wasn't my intention." I tell him truthfully. "But yes, that was pretty amazing." "No, please, it makes me feel dumb to even talk about it." The rest of the boys begin walking to the dining room as if nothing happened, I mean they must have gotten used to such scenes, they don't even bother with it anymore. They don't even comment on it. "I think we should get breakfast." I tell Nikolai as I begin walking to the dining room as soon as the boys disappear from the sight. "I think you are special." Nikolai says as he walks beside me. "What exactly makes you think that?" "No one ever dared to act like that to him, in fact, I was kind of scared when you approached him so suddenly like that. Edgar hates to be touched by women other than when he, you know, have sex, I thought he would push you away violently, but no, he didn't." "Please, why don't you stop talking about it?" "Hey, I think you are on his soft spot, I really do think so." "No thanks." I murmur slowly and Nikolai remains silent as we arrive for breakfast. "Who's hungry?" *** All of us get in the car, we decided to take two cars instead of one, simply because we have six people and it will get cramped. of course, like any other stereotypical stories, I always have to end up in the same car with this mafia leader. Like how come no one think that it's weird? This whole situation is just weird if you think about it logically. Seated in a fancy car with a mafia leader and his second in command, after being kidnapped and put in a basement for a few days, suddenly got a luxurious room within a day, and stuck a country away from home. What are the odds of the occasion to happen to an ordinary woman like me? My life is a roller coaster tale. "Mind if I ask something?" "Sure, what is it?" Nikolai says as he looks at me from the car mirror. "Why do all of us have to tag along, I mean, it was Chantelle who wanted to go, just wondering..." "Well, it's complicated, we are like a team so if one of us is witnessed by the enemy in public, then it will be a great problem, so all of us need to be together to prevent anyone from our group getting hurt." Nikolai explains calmly. "How complicated." I murmur. Nikolai laughs and turns his back to face me. "Yes, our lives are indeed, complicated." *** We arrive at the mall and quickly split up. Viktor is obviously going with Chantelle. Matvey, Ivan, and Nikolai, they prefer to go exploring on their own way and for some reason, I have to be stuck with Edgar. I feel a bit awkward because no matter what, this man beside me is a ruthless man to those who knows him, I mean it's all about perspective, but still, he, himself, defines himself as a cold man. "Well, I don't know where to go really." I tell him truthfully trying to break the silence between us. "Let's just take a walk around." He says and he begins walking in a quick pace, which makes me feel a bit out of breath simply from trying to follow his pace. "Slow down a bit, will you?" I tell him as I try to catch my breath as I walk and he stops. I think that he stops because I asked him to slow down, but no. Oh I was wrong. He freezes and he has an expression filled with so much hatred as he stares at the fifty something man standing not so far away from him, holding a black haired beauty. The man notices Edgar's stare and walk to approach him, Edgar clenches his fist and the man smiles at him as he puts his arms around the woman. "Oh, look who decided to show up here, little Edgar, son of-" "Cut the crap, Pietro." Edgar threatens in a low dangerous tone, making the man laugh in amusement. "Oh my gosh, where did your manner go? You don't even call me uncle anymore, did it get washed away with the death of your father, well, you had no manner to begin with." This man looks like he is provoking him, and Edgar tries his best to not explode right here in public. "Too bad, you can't shoot me right now as we are in public, aren't we? I know how much you wish to shoot me or slit my throat with a good, sharp, blade." "I don't want to cause trouble right now." He continues in the same, deadly tone. Just who is this man exactly? "Of course you don't, you don't want to scare my new woman away, look, isn't she a beauty? Say hello Fae." He talks to the woman as if she is some kind of toy or something. "What are you even doing in here, Pietro?" "Why? Am I not allowed to? Especially after some eats sneaked into my headquarter in Russia and stole some guns." Edgar's eyes are burning with anger, this man is really out of the line, how can he be so horrible? Suddenly, his eyes notice me and he has a mischievous grin on his face. "My, who might the red headed beauty be?" He tries to come near me but Edgar grabs my hand and shield me from the front. "Oh, could it be? My, I didn't expect this." He says as he chuckles, and it sounds like a devil's small laughter. "Well, I guess I shouldn't waste anymore of my precious time, see you later, boy." He waves to us for the last time as he grabs the woman's shoulder and drag her away until they are no longer at sight, I look at Edgar and he seriously looks like he is about to kill someone, his expression is so scary I can't help but to feel frightened. But even still, I can't help to wonder how this man can handle such an insult, what kind of training did he go into? I realize that he still holds my hand, it's warm, and for some reason, I don't want to let it go.