A Mafia’s Obsession

The days rolled by like a blur in the Mansion. It had been weeks since Leonardo had put back his cold hearted, vile mask towards Crystal.

Their relationship was now very strained. Leonardo seldomly was around and he when he was around, he avoided and ignored Crystal like a deadly plague.

It all still felt like a bad dream to Crystal. A very bad dream she wished to wake up from.

The sudden change in Leonardo’s attitude was alarming. It shook Crystal to the core, smashing to smithereens any hope she had of actually having a future with Leonardo.

He became more cold to her than he was when she first arrived in the mansion.

Atleast then Leonardo would occasionally demand for her presence in the dinning room and he would always want to keep his steady gaze on her.

But reverse was the case now. He hardly even looked her way talk more of calling her to eat with him.

Though they lived together, they had become strangers to each other. Whenever Leonardo and her would bump by in the hallway, he would stride past her without even giving her a second glance.

Crystal would be left to stare at his tall figure walk away, tears pooling in her eyes and distorting her vision.

It is said that you can see love in someone’s eyes. Whatever emotions and feelings a person has can be deciphered just by staring into their eyes.

But for Crystal, whenever she was opportuned to stare into those cold blue eyes, colder than glaciers, Crystal would see nothing but emptiness in it.

No trace of emotions, no love, hate, anger or resentment, just an empty, hollow shell.

She feared to look his way.

His stare gave her spine chilling dread that would always race through her, reminding her of the fact that he felt nothing towards her again.

The day seemed to drag by quickly today. Well Maya had kept her company–as usual.

Splashes of orange, pink, and red colours decorated the sky, flashing its beautiful shadows over the Constanzo mansion. The sunset was enticing and glorious as Crystal stared at it through her wide open windows.

It was all rosy and salmon-pink, the thin strips of cloud turning shimmering gold with each passing second.

She flopped her head back on the pillows of her bed, eyes staring at the empty ceilings as if the solutions to her and Leonardo’s sour relationship was written on it.

She ate dinner early this night. The only thing she needed now was the sleep which she so believed could take her away from this painful reality and into her dreams.

The soft rays of the now shining moon filtered through the swaying curtains of her window.

Crystal closed her eyes, forcing herself to cave into slumber.

Some few minutes later, she heard the slight twist of her door knob.

Her eyes flew open immedately. What followed next was the heavy thumping of footsteps.

The figure of the sudden intruder, she could not decipher as the person remained in the shadows. The only illuminated part of her room was her bed which was being graced by the luminous beams of the moon.

“Maya?” Crystal called out a little scared with shaky voice.

Like a slithering serpent, Leonardo stepped out from the shadows. He approached her bed, his movements tottering and awkward as if he was trying to keep himself from toppling over.

An almost empty bottle of whiskey was in his one hand, a very small amount of the liquor swirling inside the bottle.

“Crystal”his thick, gruff accented voice called out to her as he stumbled into her curious sight.

Crystal was surprised as hell.

Last time she remembered, Leonardo completely made sure to strain their relationship, breaking the bridge they were trying to form. He never did enter her room for any thing neither did he look her way.

He never bothered her for any thing at all in the mansion. He let her do her thing but kept his distance like she was a leper.

So what was he doing in her room looking slightly drunk?

Leonardo stumbled into her sight, his glazed blue eyes staring down at her trepadised and confused eyes.

Sculling down the remaining contents of the liquor and placing the empty bottle on the vanity table, Leonardo slumped down on Crystal’s bed but he was careful not to hit her in the process.

This was the first time Crystal was seeing Leonardo so unhinged before her eyes.

“What happened to you Leonardo?”She softly asked.

With head downcasted, Leonardo proceeded to speak to her- first thing he had ever said to her since more than three weeks. “It’s all my fault”he slurred in his speech.

Crystal was dazed.

“You took the bullets meant for me. You shouldn’t be in this pain Crystal”he moved his eyes to stare down at her pale face.

Crystal couldn’t believe her ears. Well she shouldn’t be surprised. She knew fully well Leonardo’s world was dangerous.

Still she found it hard to process what Leonardo said.

Someone out there or probably some people literally wanted Leonardo dead.

Her body shivered like she had been doused in cold water.

She made an attempt to sit up but Leonardo inched closer to her. “Don’t do that” he ordered gruffly. Even when tipsy, his voice still commanded authority that one wouldn’t want to dare.

Leonardo then reached out his arm to tuck a loose strand of hair from her face to her ear. He was being so gentle with her that she felt it was a dream.

A dream that was too good to actually be true.

She stared into his eyes, those cold orbs held a million emotions locked within them. She winced the moment Leonardo caressed her bandaged shoulder.

“Have you found out who did it?”she inquired.

He shook his head at her. “But when I do, God helps him or her”he savagely replied.

“Leonardo you look stressed. You should go sleep” Crystal said after studying his facial features.

“Why are you here anyways?”She blurted out to her own surprise. That question had been living free rent in her head the moment he walked into her room.

“What are you doing in my room talking to me? I thought you left me. You should have sent Maya. She always keeps me company”Crystal spat without no iota of fear in her.

If Leonardo thought he could dissapear for days then suddenly show up acting all nice towards her and expecting her to welcome him back into her life and heart with open arms then he was definitely wrong.

“I am not leaving you Crystal” his voice sounding serious.

Crystal gave a false, painful chuckle. “Well you did. You abandoned me for days, gave me a shitty attitude, pushed me away from you and ignored me like a plague. You banned me from even stepping outside the doors of the mansion. And all these are coming from someone who eagerly confessed that he loved me. Do you think love is a joke huh!?”

All the built up emotions that had been stored within her over the weeks, Crystal let them all out.

Anger and resentment flashed like lightening inside her eyes as her chest began heaving up and down repeatedly.

“Fucking talk! Do you think love involves ignoring the one you claim to love? Treating them like they committed a grevious sin whereas they did nothing?! Huh? Leonardo that is not love. You don’t only talk about love, you display it too in your actions. The time I needed you the most, you abandoned me. You shoved me aside like I was trash and treated me like you hated me and now you think you can just come back and sweet talk me and I’ll stupidly accept you and welcome you back? Well you are wrong!”Crystal seethed with rage dancing in her eyes for Leonardo.

Leonardo let her pour out her emotions to him. He knew the steps he took definitely caused her pain but it wasn’t just her that felt pain.

He felt it too. Staying away from her had to be the hardest thing for him to ever have done.

Seeing her pained stare when ever they crossed paths in the hallway was too much for him to bear.

Love was indeed so powerful. It had brought him to his knees.

“I know how you feel Crystal. I had to distance myself away from you to protect you”Leonardo explained.

“W-what?”

“Yes Crystal”he softly replied, caressing her blonde locks that dangled across her shoulders.

“I was scared of loosing you. This is making the second time Crystal. First you fell ill and now you got shot. All because of me. I had to protect you. Keeping my distance away from you and acting cold hearted again was the only way I could get you to obey my orders and stay within the mansion. If I told you softly I knew somehow you would have still broken my rules. I was just scared. Maybe my method was bad but I had good intentions. And I’m deeply sorry for not coming to check upon you. Crystal I love you. Through out these weeks I’ve been working, trying to trace who was responsible for your shooting. Crystal I care about you so deeply. More than you can ever know. I would never stop caring”

An unsettling silence settled into the room.

Crystal felt tongue tied. His words felt so deep and sincere. She could barely even react. She just stared open mouthed at him.

Leonardo watched her for some minutes before he began to move away.

“Don’t go please” Crystal pleaded, breaking the awkward silence between them as she held on to the edges of his sleeve making him abruptly stop.

She thought she could shun him off but maybe she was wrong. Seeing him so vulnerable, sincere and pained got her heart shattering.

This was the Leonardo she knew and wanted.

She didn’t want to be left alone. She had missed his company so badly.

Leonardo laid on the bed without any hesitation. He wasn’t a man to cave into people’s desires but for Crystal, he didn’t mind worshipping the very ground she walked on.

Crystal succumbed into his embrace, doused in the placid moment and savouring the feeling.

Leonardo inched closer to her face until she could smell the burning alcohol that scented all over his face.

But she didn’t mind. Whenever he stared at her this way, she found it hard to think of him as such a vile, selfish and evil person. Now he was coming completely undone in her stare.

They both captured each other’s gaze, their heart beat syncing and breath mingling. Her lips parted and her head inched closer towards his.

Anticipating something dangerous and frightening, their lips locked with each other. Time freezed in a moment for both of them.

They were blind, blind to everything that was happening around them but their passionate and lustful kiss.

Crystal’s one hand caressed under his well defined cheekbones, feeling his skin under the pads of her fingers.

Their lips moved with so much passion and craving for each other with neither of them wanting to pull out.