I Would Die as a Mafia

He paused for a while. “What about them?”

“Are they naturally like that?”

“Yes…”

“Why?”

That’s when Cj got confused. He tilted his head to one side. “May I ask first, why? You can ask those questions to your classmates just like before.”

“I was about to do that. But you’re the first one who appeared in front of me. And I think…if you’re the president of this strange university…you should be informed about the students studying here. Perhaps you know something more than what they know?”

He didn’t speak right away. He thought Cheska sees him as a Mafia—which is true. For a short time, he got nervous.

“I see no more reasons for their horrible actions aside from arrogance. The founders of the three worlds are actually from the Mafia World.”

She didn’t respond to it but her eyes remained on him. Cj suddenly felt uncomfortable. Is she in a daze? Or…thinking?

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Cheska looked away. “I’m actually waiting for another reason. What I heard was really absurd.”

“Absurd?”

“I would somehow understand it if they’re on the same bloodline as the founders. I even doubt they relatives with them,” she said almost chuckling. “They think highly of themselves when in fact, they have no contributions from the war that occurred a couple of decades ago. I hope I’m mistaken.”

“They must have caused you a great nuisance. I can tell it from your choice of words.”

“I hate them,” she said with a smile. “I hate Mafias.”

That caught him off guard. That unanticipated honesty made his lips parted.

Cheska said that without even averting her gaze from him. She said that with a smile on her face.

As a Mafia...he felt something stabbed his heart. That’s his sister speaking and she just spoke that she hates people like him.

“Why?”

“I don’t like how they move, how they act, and how they think. That’s why I’m thinking…perhaps I hate their existence.”

“Mafias are the ones who gave peace—”

“That peace is pointless if they’re using that against the people lower than them,” she countered strictly. “The accomplishment they keep boasting about to the whole world is nothing to me. If they only let the weaker live alone and be in real peace I would give them my full respect.”

“But not all the Mafias are like that,” he defended.

Cheska only sighed to it. Sure, there will always be someone different from the rest.

She just can't contain her feelings anymore. She hates it. She hates how the current Mafias keep using the decades-ago-accomplishment of the past Mafias to disparage the Commoners.

“I’ll tell you something,” said Cj calling out Cheska’s attention. She returned her eyes to him. “but you shall not tell this to anyone even to Brittany.”

“I won’t,” she assured ignoring her wonder. Cj looks dead serious—it’s written all over his face. It’s like he’s about to speak something really controversial that could shake her soul.

“The Mafia World is actually in chaos now. No one knows it aside from the people living on it. The problem is serious that the mistress had to step down from her throne. This chaos is causing the Mafias to act according to their will. This chaos is the cause of rebellions."

Well, that’s indeed controversial.

“How did you…know that?”

“I just heard it from the students while I was roaming around.”

Her eyes blinked repeatedly then averted her gaze from him, silently processing the information she heard.

That did shake her soul. Who would have thought something is happening in the Mafia World?

It must be really serious that their leader had to step down.

One world is in chaos but no one knows it except for them.

Worlds aren’t really allowed to collide. No one knows what’s happening in one world aside from people living in it.

That universal rule is now slowly convincing her of its authenticity. She didn’t believe it ever since she felt the inconsistency of peace between the three worlds.

It’s just hard to believe in one rule if the others seem not real at all.

“Abdication is necessary if the leader failed to do his duty,” she said after a long silence. “Just what did the mistress do to step down? And turn the people into rebellious ones?”

“I’m sure the mistress didn’t do anything.”

“Then she shouldn’t have left her throne? If the people are in chaos, that’s when they need their leader the most.”

That made Cj sighed. At least someone thinks the same way as him.

True, if the people are getting out of control, that’s when they need someone who can shape the chaos to peace. However, the situation in Mafia World is different. They’re in chaos because of the mistress herself.

She is the problem.

And as a leader, his mom gave them what they want after almost a decade of fighting for it.

Yes, she’s been fighting for her title for almost a decade.

When he finally calmed after his fight with his own father, that's when he only realized how long it has been. Her mother has been fighting for her title, for what is right for a very long time.

She’s been fighting for it until she just suddenly realized that a fight isn’t the answer until it consumed all of her courage.

“I have a rhetorical question for you.”

Cheska looked at him in confusion, wondering how they did end up in the question and answer portion.

“If you would be given a chance to rule the Mafia World, what will you do?”

“I will refuse it. That’s a big responsibility.”

That made his eyes widened. She didn’t think of it through. She instantly answered it right after he spoke that question.

She answered it while looking into his eyes. Again.

“Refuse…it?”

“Yes.”

He averted his gaze. At some point, he’s disappointed. He’s expecting a decent and noble answer.

His sister always answers his question in that way before she left their lives. She always answers their rhetorical questions in the most unimaginable way.

Her answers are always making them speechless. That’s why they know…they know Cheska Lee is perfectly fit to become the mistress of the Mafia World.

Perhaps that’s not really her?

It’s that even a proper and enough basis to assume she’s not his sister?

Perhaps she answered him like that because of what Lorenzo and Alexandra did to her? Perhaps it’s because she’s being too emotional towards Mafias? That her perspective has changed because of the circumstances?

He wants to hope more. He doesn’t want to drop the idea that the girl sitting in front of him is indeed his sister.

He wants to believe that’s her. He doesn’t want to let go of that—

“But if I am born as a Mafia, I won’t refuse it.”

His eyes quickly returned to her.

“If I am born as a Mafia then it is my duty and my responsibility to do something to my world. If I would be given a chance to rule it I will accept it without hesitation,” she went on. “I will use that opportunity to make things right. To change the Mafias and stop them from disparaging the Commoners.”

“You’re not…going to refuse it...?"

“If I am a Mafia, why would I? It’s like abandoning half of myself. It’s like abandoning who I truly am, leaving what I am made of,” she answered straightly. “If I am born as a Mafia, I would live as a Mafia, I would act as a Mafia and I would die as a Mafia.”

Cj failed to control his emotions. A relief smile plastered on his lips while looking at his sister.

That was close. He’s almost convinced that he’s looking again for nothing. She got him really nervous.

But now? He’s happy. He’s relieved. That he wants to hug her tightly and tell her how much he misses her.

But he can’t. Cheska would only see him as a crazy pervert guy. She might avoid him if he won’t control himself. There’s a right time for the truth.

There will always be.

Cheska’s brows furrowed when she saw something strange. Her eyes squinted. She’s sure she’s seeing the right thing. Her vision is perfectly clear.

“Are you…crying?”

Cj came back to his senses. He touched his cheeks. That’s when he only felt its dampness. He cursed inside his mind. He may have stopped himself from leaving his seat but he failed to control his emotional personality.

He only stopped scolding himself when Cheska suddenly chuckled.

“You’re a crybaby, president!”