"There! That's perfect!" Melanie walked over toward me and held up a board in her hand before smiling, "Do you like it?"

"Ah- That's actually not how you spell my name." I said chuckling and she paused, "Oh wait... really?"

I nodded. "My name's spelled J-E-Y-R-I, but it's pronounced like Heidi... so I can see why you wrote it wrong-"

"Wow, I was way off..." She said, pursing her lips. "You must go through a handful getting coffee at Starbucks, huh?" She chuckled and erased the board, "It's okay though, I can just rewrite it."

Hey, blame my parents...

As the day progressed, I was focusing so much into trying to understand what Melanie was saying because I was trying to distract from the fact that a man was standing in the corner of the store just leaning up against the wall.

"Umm... Melanie-" I whispered, cutting her off, "Do you know him?" I glanced over at him and she passed before turning around. She let out a big sigh and as she turned to face his direction, he walked up to her.

My eyes widened as he lifted her chin with his thumb and moved his face closer to hers. "Hello beautiful."

"What are you doing here?" She asked pushing him off and he stuffed his hands in his pockets, "Looking at the flowers."

He plucked out from one of the pots and held it up before giving it to her, "For you..."

She looked down at it then back up at him, "That means you hate me, and that'll be five dollars." She said holding out her hand.

"Wha-"

"Pay up."

He smirked and pulled his wallet out his pocket before taking a hundred-dollar bill and placing it in her hands. Wow. Melanie didn't seem at all impressed though, she just sighed and shook her head, "You need to stop coming here for no reason, I'm working."

"Then be my date then!"

"No."

"Come on, don't be like that." He said grabbing her and I don't know what clicked in me but I found myself speaking before I could even think, "She said she doesn't want to so let go of her."

He paused and looked at me, like he couldn't believe I just spoke, then he laughed and let go. "Ah, what the fuck Mel? My bad, didn't mean to scare your friend."Mel? Oh, do they know each other?

Melanie smiled at me, "It's okay Jeyri, this is Matteo. He's my...well..."

He pulled her close to him and brought her face up before kissing her. He turned back to me and winked, "I'm her boyfriend."

"Oh?" Now I feel embarrassed. "I thought you were a stalker of some sorts."

She shook her head and moved away from him, "Nope, he just keeps asking me to be his date to some classy party or whatever and I keep telling him I'm not cut out for stuff like that."

"Yes. Would you rather me take another woman?" He asked. "I mean-" He paused mid-sentence as his phone rang and let out a sigh before picking up.

I slowly took in his appearance and looked between him and Melanie. He was much taller than her and definitely more built. Their eyes were both the same color though, I wonder what flower she says for him.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard him speaking on the phone and a familiar name caught my ear.

"Tell Gio he's ruining my moment here!" Gio? Well... He is wearing a suit similar to Gio's, I should have connected the dots... I guess that explains why Melanie wasn't afraid of him.

When he hung up the phone and turned to her, "Aight I gotta go baby, they're working my ass off." He leaned in and kissed her before walking toward the exit, "Oh, nice to meet ya Jeyri." He said waving as he left.

"Sorry about that." She said scratching her head after he left. She didn't seem to address the fact that he was just talking to Giovanni and I mean it was really none of my business but I got curious.

"Melanie."

"You can call me Mel, but yeah?"

"You're not afraid of them? I mean the whole Mafia thing?"

She paused then smiled, "Well, I was but... I know Matteo would never hurt me, ever. I trust him. And I know his friends would never hurt me because he protects me. They all do... He's done a lot to help me, not just money-wise but so many other things... He helped me finish school and everything. I owe so much to him. Yeah... I love him."

"Even if he kills people?"

She looked up and sighed, "That's kind of scary isn't it? Death... Every day it feels like I'm reminded of it. It's something I think about often but not just because of Matteo... The number of orders I get from people's loved ones trying to pay respects to the sick or the dead... I get to hear what feelings they want to convey and it makes feel awful sometimes but at the same time I think I've grown numb to it... You just get used to it..."

Her voice sounded distant when she said that, like she was deep in thought about something and as much as I wanted to know why I knew if I decided to pry any further it would be overstepping a line. It didn't seem like something she wanted to talk about... I kind of felt bad for asking.

When I didn't say anything, she clapped her hands and jumped up, "Well, you didn't ask me all that! I'm sorry for going on like that, I get stuck in thoughts sometimes..." The bells jingled again and another customer walked in, she pushed me behind the register and winked at me, "Go, go...Now you can try out on your own."

"Oh, okay." I flashed my best smile toward the guy that walked in and clasped my hands together just like I saw Melanie do.

"Welcome!"

He had a hood on and he kept his gaze down for a while then he looked up at me. I got an eerie feeling coming from him, like I met him somewhere but I shrugged it off, "What can I get for you?"

"I want a rose." He said in a low voice. "Just one..."

"O-okay."

When he paid for it, his hand brushed over mine as I handed him his change and he grabbed it, making me frown. "Let go of me." He kept mumbling something over and over under his breath and I tried pulling my hand out my grip but he held tighter.

"Hey! Let her go." Melanie said, coming up to him. She shoved him away from the counter and my eyes widened as she pulled a small pistol out from her bag, "Get out. Now."

He let go of me and smiled before walking off, "Ci vediamo presto." (See you soon)

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Word count: 1090

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