"This village is nice and peaceful, isn't it?" Emilio commented.
"Yeah, it is, Boss," Clark replied.
They were standing on what seemed like a high ground overlooking small houses.
When Emilio's father was alive, he had told him that Cole had settled down in a small village.
Emilio never thought that it would be a place like this.
"It is nice, maybe I can relocate here," he said.
"Give me a cigarette, Clark," Emilio ordered.
Clark took out a cigarette from the bag he was holding and gave one to him.
Emilio put the cigarette in his mouth while Clark lit it up for him.
Just then, in one of the houses there, the door opened and a girl came out.
She was dressed in a nice free gown that stopped at her knees. A scarf was on her head, covering half of her face.
She walked to the garden at the front of the house and started to examine the flowers.
She then came to the fence, held the rails, and closed her eyes, breathing in the flowers' fragrance. A black scarf was covering half of her face.
Emilio took a drag of his cigar, not letting his eyes off the girl.
He had met many beautiful women, even slept with some, but the beauty of the girl he was staring at was different. It was so pure and innocent, a contrast to his dark world.
He felt a sudden strange urge to move towards her and envelop her in a hug.
Just then, a wind came blowing her scarf away. She immediately opened her eyes and started to find it.
Emilio saw the scar on her face, but that didn't make her look less beautiful.
In fact, it made her even more beautiful, and he could not help but feel the urge to want his hands on the scar.
"Is it the new improved cigarette brand?" he asked Clark.
"Yes, Boss," Clark replied, wondering why he was asking that.
This was the third time he was smoking the new improved brand, and he hadn't given any complaints so far.
"I guessed it right. It is really messing with my brain," Emilio said. He was blaming the reason for his sudden strange urge on the cigarette.
All this while, his eyes were still glued to the girl. "Let's go back," he said to Clark.
"Okay, Boss," Clark replied, and they both turned and started to walk away.
They reached Cole's house and saw that everything had been cleared.
Emilio entered the house and gave his men that were in the house another task they would do.
After that, he came out with Clark behind him.
"Let's go," he said to him, and they both walked to his car and entered.
Clark sat at the driver's seat while Emilio sat at the back seat.
"Should we use the North or South Airport, Boss?" Clark asked, starting the car.
"North," Emilio replied.
Clark then drove the car out of the residence, heading straight to the location of the North Airport.
Emilio brought out his tablet and started to examine the assets that Cole had. His men had sent it to him on his request.
"The old fool is poor," he remarked, his face in a scowl.
After he was done, he kept it down and looked out through the window.
Without even trying, his mind went to the scarf girl that he saw earlier. He wished that he had seen her eyes or spoken to her, but that was dangerous.
Even just staring at her was a risk. Enemies are always watching to know where to strike that it will hurt more.
And the Ramirez men are hardcore fans of their women.
"Don't love. It is dangerous to the person that you love. I learnt the hard way, so don't do it," his father had told him.
Emilio had kept that advice till date. His mother had been killed by one of his father's enemies, and it affected the old man so much.
"She is too innocent for my world. I have to let her go. She doesn't need to suffer," he muttered to himself.
When they were ten minutes to the airport, Clark's phone started ringing.
With one hand on the steering wheel, he used the other hand to bring out the phone from his pants pocket.
"Who is that?" Emilio asked.
"Dylan."
"Give it to me."
Clark gave the phone to him, and he answered. "What is it, Dylan?" he asked.
"Hey, pussy, why weren't you answering your phone? I have called you a million times now," Dylan asked from the other side.
It took Clark all of his willpower not to burst out laughing. Poor Dylan thought that he was the one on the phone.
"Dylan, this is Emilio. What is it?" Emilio repeated.
There was a moment of silence as it dawned on Dylan that he had just bought his death ticket.
"Boss, I am really sorry. I didn't know it was you. Please, I thought that it was Clark and—"
"Quit blabbering and tell me why you are calling."
"Okay, Boss. Capo Bill is here," Dylan said.
"Bill? What does he want?"
"No idea, Boss."
"Then ask him, idiot!"
"I did, Boss, but he said that he only wants to talk to you."
"Tell him to relay the information to you and leave. Do you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Sir."
Emilio then ended the call and kept the phone aside.
"Why don't you just take over his empire, Boss?" Clark suggested.
"No, his is an ally," Emilio replied.
"Okay."
They reached the airport and drove inside. It was a private airport owned by Emilio that allowed people with their private jets to land and take off.
The car was parked, and they got out and walked to their jet. They boarded and settled down.
The plane took off, and finally Emilio closed his eyes to rest, drifting to sleep in the process.
---
Back at the village, after she had left the garden, Daisy went straight to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Her grandmother was sleeping, so she decided to make dinner instead of disturbing the poor old woman.
As she cooked, she hummed to one of her favourite songs and imagined how her grandmother would feel if she saw that the food she prepared was her favourite food.
In twenty minutes, she was already done, so she dished the food out into two plates, one for her grandmother and one for her own.
She then carried the two plates and went to her grandmother's room.
"Grandma, are you awake?" she asked, but there was no response.
"Wow, you must be so sleepy," she remarked before she pushed the door with her body and went in.
She went straight to the table in the room and kept the food. She glanced at the bed where her grandmother was lying down and sighed.
She seemed to be still deep in sleep.
"Wake up, Grandma. This food is going to get cold. Don't tell me you didn't hear the smell. It is your favourite food," she said, her face lit up in a smile.
Still no response.
"Well, you can keep pretending till I come back with your night tea," Daisy said and left the room.
Her grandmother had always done this anytime she brought food to her room. The reason was she wanted Daisy to make her some tea before she ate so good.
After a few minutes, Daisy came back to the room expecting to see her grandmother eating at the table because that was how she always did.
But the table was empty. Her grandmother was still lying down on the bed.
Daisy kept the tea on the table and went closer to her.
"Grandma, are you—"
She trailed off after she touched her arm, which was cold, strange because there was a heater in the room.
Ignoring that, she started to call her while shaking her too, but there was no response.
"Grandma!!" She was now getting worried.
Her hand went to her pulse, and her blood ran cold at the discovery she made.
"Grandma," she squeaked and fell on the floor, her world falling with her.
"No, it can't be. This is a bad dream. One that I will wake up from," she whispered to herself.
Tears flowed down her face uncontrollably, her body shivering, her mind a wrecking mess.
As if electrocuted, she sprang up from the floor and went closer to the bed. She started to call her grandmother again and pushed her, begging her to wake up and eat with her.
"Grandma, please wake up, eat your favourite food!!" She cried uncontrollably.
"Noooooooo!"
Her cries attracted some neighbours who rushed into the house to know what was happening.
"What is wrong, Daisy?" Mrs. James asked when she got to the room with her husband and some other people.
"My grandmother, she doesn't want to eat," Daisy sobbed.
Mrs. James went to the bed, her eyes scanning the woman on the bed. It was already obvious. The woman was gone.
"She will wake up, right, Mrs. James?"
She turned to Daisy. "Yes, dear. Let's go to my house. We will come back later," she replied.
She went to her and helped her off the floor and led her out of the room, mouthing to her husband to handle it.
"You will be fine, dear. Everything will be alright," she assured Daisy when they were outside. But Daisy wasn't even listening. Her thoughts were filled with the thought of her grandmother not being able to joke, eat, and do all the things they used to do together again.