The Blind/Gangster

Chapter Seven

Eunice Mariano

When we got home, a package arrived under my name. It was an envelope. I received it and immediately opened it inside my room. It has papers inside, a land title under my name, a note of the address and pictures of the land, and a debit card under my name.

"Hmm." I said, looking at the address of the land mother bought for me. Then I sat beside the telephone and dialed her number.

[Hello]

"Do you happen to know some architects here?"

[I am investing in one, but I do know that a lot of great architects study in your school.]

"Who?"

[Do you know the kid, Montiverdi?]

"Dovan? He's an architect?"

[His whole family are architects. Three generations of architects.]

"I don't care. I want to know if there are others, or if there some who are second best maybe?"

[His grandfather is the best, his father is the second best, and he is the third best. The competition only runs inside the family.]

I sighed. "Then forget it."

[Why? He seemed like a good kid, he had good grades, and he is in the same class as you.]

"Mom, what are you doing? Are you doing a background check on him?"

[No.] She answered and I heard a clicking sound from the other line. [Let me talk to him then.]

"And then what?"

[You can tell him the details of your house.] She answered. I paused, thinking. [Is that good for you? Or should I just pick an existing layout?]

"No. It's okay. Talk to Montiverdi." I said, and shut the phone down.

The next day, we arrived at our first subject, and Dovan was already in the room.

"What is that for?" Zulius asked Dovan.

"It's a blueprint," Dovan answered.

"Yeah. I know, but for what?"

"A floorplan."

"Of what?"

"A house?"

"For?"

"A client."

"You two really have a serious problem with your conversations," Nixon said while shaking his head, watching the two have their daily stupid conversation.

"Dovan always answers with only one word."

"Because you asked something answerable by a word."

"And there you go again." Nixon said, and saw us sitting at the back of their seats. "Zulius, Eunice and Mollie are here. You didn't even notice." Nixon said, and both Zulius and Dovan stopped talking and looked at us.

"Eunice. Hi. " Zulius greeted me.

"Say hi to Mollie too. Did you know she's my cousin too? Because she is Justin's younger sister," I asked.

"Hi. Mollie. I didn't know Justin was your brother. Well, we really don't care who the family of our enemy is, as long as the enemy is acknowledged, nothing else matters." Zulius explained.

"Yeah. I noticed." Mollie replied and looked down.

"So you all three lived together?" Dovan asked me.

"Yeah." I answered, Dovan looked at me for a moment and then looked away, took his blueprints and walked up to me.

"Can I talk to you about your house?" Dovan asked me. Zulius stood up and walked up to Dovan, looking confused.

"House? Why do you want to talk to her about her house?" Zulius asked. Dovan kept his eyes on me.

"What about it?"

"I need the details about the specifics,"

"You're going to let Dovan design your house?" Zulius asked me.

"Okay, we can talk about it later," I answered.

"Where? Where are you planning to build this house?" Zulius asked.

"In our subdivision," Jovan answered. I was shocked, so I looked at him confused. "I'm busy later, I need to know everything now."

"What do you want me to do? List everything down for you?" I asked and furrowed my brows at him.

"No, I want you to tell me one by one the specifics," he answered. I paused for a second.

"Do you have a pen?" I asked.

"No."

"Then how should we do it?"

"Why don't you go up to the roof and talk about it?" Mollie suggested. "The class will start any time soon."

"Great idea," Dovan said, and smiled at Mollie.

"No, bad idea." Zulius said and eyed Dovan. "Dude,"

"What? This is a paid service, so I need to do this."

"Yeah, but still, you alone with my ex-girlfriend is really not a good picture I'm seeing," Zulius whispered.

"Then don't picture it." Dovan said, and grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. When we got out, Dovan stopped puling me in front of the staircase. He looked down at me and smirked. "What do you think you are doing?" He asked. I looked up at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you making Zulius look so much more pathetic than he already is?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"You know exactly what I mean," he said and grabbed my arms, tight. I smirked and flexed my arms.

"He deserves it, and he knows that." I said and struggled out of his grip. He let go of my arms and noticed the force I put to remove his hand from my arms.

"You are messing with my friend." He said, gritting his teeth.

"I am messing with my ex-boyfriend."

"You lied about your cousin in front of me and Zulius."

"That's not really my fault."

"And you are trying to seduce me."

"Trust me. I'm not trying to do anything to you."

"Stop playing with me."

"I am actually trying to do business here."

"Sure. Fine. You are on your own. From here, you should go alone. I will wait for you on the rooftop." He said and suddenly ran up the stairs and didn't even look back at me.

I was dumbfounded by his childishness. I breathed in deeply, trying not to run after him to kill him, and just walked up the stairs calmly, with my hands clenched hard. I reached the rooftop, Dovan was sitting on a chair, waiting with a smirk on his face. I closed my eyes hard not to see his scornful look and walked up straight to him. I don't care if he thinks otherwise that I am not blind.

"Let's start," he said and cleared his throat. I started telling him all the details I wanted for my house, walking back and forth and encircling him while he was sitting on his chair in front of a long table, being comfortable. "You are making me dizzy," he said while he was looking down at his blueprint.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked and stopped walking in front of him, and looked down.

"Sit down." He said and pulled a chair and put it behind me.

"You are overly committed to this," I said and sat down, watching him go back to his chair.

"And you are too blind to have this kind of a big house," Dovan said, and continued drawing lines. I watched him, I looked at his face, and saw how happy he was doing something like that. I couldn't help but smile at seeing his face with joy. "It's a good thing you are blind, because if you were not, I would think you are looking at me right now." Dovan said and took a glance at me.

I nodded. "I know right," I whispered, not removing my eyes from him. He sighed, stopped what he was doing and stood up to lean forward to me. I kept my stance, I felt his warm breath on my cheeks, and I could smell his perfume.

"I wonder how you would see me." He whispered and backed a little to look at my lips. I suddenly felt hot, I gasped in nervousness and swallowed my thoughts.

"What are you thinking right now?" I asked in a hushed voice. He breathed in deep.

"Nothing," he answered. I looked at his lips.

"Are you done?" I asked and clenched my fist under the table.

He smirked and backed down and sat on his chair. "Yeah. What's next?" He asked with a sigh.

I paused for a second. "What the hell is wrong with this man?" I asked in my mind. Then he looked at me, so I turned to his print. "Okay. Let's do the second floor." I said and started giving him the details and specifics. We stayed on the rooftop for hours. Every detail had to be said by me and then he would put it in the print, so all in all, we took almost three subjects just to finish it. We had nothing else to talk about after what happened.

"Are you hungry?" He asked as he rolled his prints.

"Is it lunch time?" I asked.

"Yup."

"Wow. That almost feels like forever." I said and stood up from my seat.

"Let's go," Dovan said and held my hand.

"Where?"

"Cafeteria."

"Why?"

"You're hungry, right?" He asked.

"Yeah. But you didn't have to take me there."

"I'm not really asking." He says and pulled me to walk with him.

"And I don't really need your help," I said, and pulled my hand away from him.

"Like I said, I'm not asking." He said and grabbed my hand again, but this time, he held it tighter.

"Why is everyone trying to grip me like that?" I asked in my mind and just went with Dovan as we got to the cafeteria, holding hands and waving them to get everybody's attention.

"What is the meaning of this?" Zulius asked, as the three of them walked over to us. "Why are you holding Eunice's hands?"

"She's blind, Zulius. Don't be jealous about it."

"Okay. Then, you can let go now." Zulius said.

"I agree," I said, and pulled my hand hard away from Dovan. He looked at me angry and furrowing his brow.

"Why did you pull?"

"Dovan, you are flirting with my ex-girlfriend," Zulius said.

"Yeah. I know. That she is your ex." Dovan said to his friend and smirked.

"Are you fighting in front of me?" I asked them.

"No. They're not." Nixon said and tapped them both on their shoulders.

"Okay. Because I'm hungry," I said, and walked first. Zulius sighed, and Dovan walked to hold my hand. "Why would you say something like that to your friend? I thought you didn't like seeing him looking pathetic?"

"I am doing this to not make him look more pathetic."

"I don't understand."

"I know that you were pushing your cousin to Zulius, so I am here to help you, and this blueprint is a great excuse for that."

"I don't need you to do something like that."

"Making Zulius move on, on your own, will be hard, so you will need me,"

"I'm not really going to talk about this with you, and I am not into it either."

"I'm going to do what I have to do." He said, and intertwined his fingers into mine.

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