V

Bella woke alone in her room, it was in the early hours of the morning and her brain refused to let her sleep as it became a flurry of active thoughts. Memories of the past few days flashed before her eyes, from the ice cream spill to the fundraising gig and finally to the night before. She had never been to Punchfest before, however, she had heard about it, and as she remembered Mark's fighting name, it linked her to one single name that made her blood run cold. No longer was her brain choosing to be blissfully ignorant, and thinking everything else a mere coincidence.

The Genovese, Stone cold killer had been big at the time she was still part of AHQ, with that information came more of who his father is and the rest followed and it felt like with every piece of knowledge came a brick heavier than the other, and it kept knocking at her head again and again. Mark was a Genovese, son to the man that had taken everything from her, hence the eyes, and the man she had exposed herself to was his brother, Luka Genovese, although they bore little resemblance to one another, it was obvious who had taken after the man more. And she found the world to be truly too small and the fates to be quite cruel, for out of all the places she could have chosen to travel to, happened to be an apparent home to her nightmare.

Now, how she had come to skip that detail was beyond her. And as she thought of how Emily seemed linked to the family, she couldn't help but wonder if it was all planned, she wondered if whether they had found out who she really was, was this their way of making plans to rid of her? Then again, she figured if they aimed to kill her then she would probably be dead already. Concluding that some bits were out of mere coincidence, she wouldn't let herself be found out by them, and that would come with her keeping her distance from the group, it didn't seem like they liked her anyway. Therefore it wouldn't be hard nor suspicious to keep her distance from them, however, changing room would be what makes it all suspicious, and therefore decided not to.

She let out a tiresome sigh and dragged herself out of bed with the aim to start off her day. Truly not feeling like lectures at all, she didn't care that she might fall behind a bit, for she felt she really needed a time out, and the perfect place that could offer her the sense of control and peace of mind would be the gym. And therefore, most hours of her day were spent in a gym a distance away from the campus, because she didn't want to run into anyone she knew at all.

By the time her feet felt like led and every muscle of her body ached from being so challenged and strained, it was only then she took a shower and she felt ready to face every one again. One thing was clear though, no matter how much she wanted to escape two-faced people, it seemed they were everywhere, everyone was hiding something, whether it be big or small, secrets were a virus that infected everyone one. She hadn't wanted to live so on edge again, questioning every move everyone made, but it seemed she could no longer afford to live otherwise, not if she wanted to survive.

However, she also had an image to keep, and with that came with getting some ice cream, yet to understanding of her obsession with the icy sweetness. When she finally arrived at the dorms, it was Deacon she ran into first as she walked through the quiet hallways.

"Bella, hey, where did you disappear to?" he questioned as he finally caught up with her. Wondering where she had been for he hadn't found her by her room earlier that morning with intent to apologise for his behaviour the day before, nor had he seen her anywhere around campus. The girl simply looked at him, a tight lipped smile that barely seemed genuine, she looked worn out and that prompted him to ask

"Are you okay?" to which she nodded

"I'm fine Deacon, don't worry about it" she said "Don't apologise either, its whatever at this point, whatever you're keeping from me, I know you'll let me know when you're ready to, so forget it, yeah?" she added, facing the young man that looked at her in both concern and uncertainty, not feeling up for any conversation,

"Now, I'm gonna go get myself a much needed nap, cause this kitty cat is tired, see you tomorrow maybe" she said, her tone lighter and more humorous this time, causing the young man to chuckle out of relief, thinking her merely tired and nothing else.

"Alright then, lady Garfield" smiling and all of a sudden feeling like watching the cat movie, she found her mood lifted a bit and she couldn't help but think herself bipolar. With a click of her tongue walking away she said

"That's me" those being her last words, she disappeared into the halls that led to her room.

Expecting to still find it empty, she was disappointed to find that not being the case when she found Emily standing near her bed, seeming as if she had just arrived herself. She held a bouquet of sunflowers and was reading the note with a frown, and she couldn't help but think Aren't girls supposed to be happy when receiving flowers or something?

"Hi" she offered out the greeting, barely glancing her way and dropped her bag on her own bed, only to walk toward her closet to retrieve a cardigan sweater for she was starting to feel chilly from the overcast weather. Emily simply raised her head up and looked at her, and really looked at her, furrowing her brows in confusion she asked

"What?" to which Emily held out the flowers and note card toward her

"Tell me Bella, how do you know Luka?" she questioned. Bella took the flowers and notecard only to read the contents of it, and she couldn't help but wonder how Emily even knew Luka's handwriting seeing that the man simply signed it off with an –L at the end rather than his name.

"I don't" Bella gave the short reply, however, she couldn't keep her heart from skipping a beat when she saw the ticket inside the note, a ticket she had tried with all her might to get a few months ago, and there it was, now in the palm of her hand.

Although she had decided she wanted nothing to do with the man, she thought she would be stupid not to take advantage of the gift, for it was just that, right? a mere gift. Despite questioning why his attention was all of a sudden on her and why he sent her said gifts.

"What do you mean you don't, that doesn't say you don't" the girl just about confronted Bella in a manner she didn't really appreciate, as she motioned for the flowers and card, and Bella's inky black pools clashed with hazel honey eyes that seemed to be more bitter at the moment, and Bella saw it then, clear jealousy, bright as day that she couldn't help but chuckle, and humourlessly so.

"Don't worry Emily, I really don't know the man, nor do I intend to, so you can calm your jitters" she couldn't help the void in her tone as she spat the words out, handing the flowers toward the young woman before her, that although seemed conflicted, squinted her eyes in suspicion

"Here, you can keep them" when Emily made no move to take them, Bella simply walked toward the small bin at the corner of their room and simply discarded them. She heard Emily scoff out as if in disbelief of what she had just done, as if appalled, and Bella in that moment had no energy to care. For she would not be roped back into the life of gangs and Mafias again, and if this Luka thought mere gifts would sway her, she thought the man had another thing coming. Although she had planned to keep up her image of being sweet and innocent and the type to giggle at being given flowers, or crack a smile at the words he wrote, she felt too drained. HE lived in the city, and that alone was enough to haunt her even when she was awake, and his son sending her flowers wasn't helping.

She wore the cardigan she had discarded on her bed and decided to take a nap before she would get ready for the concert. A nap that was a mere two hours of restless sleep before she woke feeling even more tired than she had been, she was starting to think that perhaps this city was no longer good for her, perhaps she could up and leave without a trace, start afresh in some remote little town in the middle of nowhere this time.

She noticed that Emily was no longer in their room when she woke up, and atop her bed side cabinet was a vase filled with sunflowers. She found she felt nothing as she looked at them, seeming happier than the approaching gloomy night in all their yellow cheer, she hoped it would rain pour in thunder and lightning, for she loved it like that. Love it when the skies raged as if aiming to destroy the world in her stead, for all the pain it had caused for her.

By the time seven pm struck, she was all elegance and beauty with her hair tumbling down her back, two braids that began from the middle of her temple only to go separate ways finally meeting at the back in a single braid, she had small butterfly earrings, a black dress that polled down to the point it teased the floor, hiding the black sneakers she wore beneath, for she really didn't feel like torturing her feet any more than she already had earlier that day. And to finish it off she wore crisp white cashmere coat, one she would have had in a yellow colour, however, something had kept her from doing so, for it felt she would have been exposing much.

She merely took a few money notes she would need for the cab as well as dinner, for she was now only feeling the brunt of having skipped both breakfast and lunch. Locking her door, it seemed the day would bare one more surprise when she walked toward the parking lot expecting to find a yellow cab waiting for her only to also find that there was also a familiar sleek black car, the suited man just about exiting and seeming with intent to head her way.