Chapter 5

The old man came back with money in his hands. He puts it on the counter with a smile on his face.

“Here, your money,”

“Thank you, Uncle Woo!” Melody grins. The amount of money she gets makes her satisfied.

The old man chuckles, “You welcome, sweetheart. Anyway, why are you selling this phone? I can see it as a brand-new”

Melody stops her action on counting the money.

“Besides, this phone is expensive you know? I mean, it is the latest one. It surprised me a young person like you sell this phone,” Uncle Woo asks.

“Um...yeah. I’m not a fan of expensive stuff, mister,” Melody chuckles awkwardly.

Of course, she wouldn’t say it belonged to someone else and she steals it. This old man, the owner of this mobile store saw her like an innocent little girl. She wouldn’t destroyed that thought from him.

“You are so weird, Melody,” he chuckles. “I never met someone like you.”

“Yeah, I am weird,” she rubbing her neck.

“It has been so long I never met you, sweetheart. Have you been busy?” Uncle Woo questioned in curiosity. Usually, almost every day Melody will stop by this shop to hang out with him.

“Um...yeah, kinda busy...working,” she smiles, hiding the truth.

Uncle Woo smiles at her. He ruffles her hair, “Such a good little girl, aren’t you? If your father is still alive, I bet he will be proud of you.”

His words give a pang of guilt and sadness in her. Proud of her? She doesn’t think he will be proud to see his daughter working as a pick-pocket. Just to survive.

“You are right. Dad might be...proud of me,” she smiles a bit.

“Oh well, is that amount enough? I can add more if you want,” he leans on the counter with a gentle smile.

“I’m fine with this amount. It’s more than enough,” Melody slid the money in her pocket. “Thank you for buying the phone, Uncle Woo.”

The old man chuckles and nods, “No problem, sweetheart.”

Melody waves at him before walks out of the mobile store. She breathed in and exhaled heavily. Anyone would judge the way she tries to survive but this is the only she can do.

Get a job? Frank will beat the shit out of her. She tried at the end, but the result was not good.

Melody sighs. She lifted her gaze and found a car with a group of men in suits. She furrows her eyebrows as she sees a familiar face. Her eyes squint and then gasps.

“That guy...” she mumbles.

Matthew talking with other guys. Melody gulps and slowly turns around to sneak away. She carefully sneaks away but she accidentally bumps on the trash bin. The sounds make those men turn their attention.

The man turned around and met her gaze. Soon, their eyes met, Melody stunned. She felt everything freeze around her.

Matthew’s eyes wide open, “You...You are the scout girl!!”

“Um, hello,” she giggles in nervous.

“More like...a pick-pocket scout girl,” Matthew glares at him. He towers over her, tapping his shoes, “It a coincidence to meet you here, huh.”

Melody scratching her head, “I—I guess so...”

“I wonder if you forgotten something...” Matthew steps closer to her.

There’s a pause for a moment. Then, Melody abruptly pointed behind him, “What’s that!?”

Matthew and the guards turn to where she points but see nothing. He frowns and turns to her, “There’s nothing—”

Melody’s figure is gone. He turned his head and saw her running away. Matthew’s jaw dropped as he couldn’t believe he had been tricked by this girl again.

“Get her!!” he yells.

Damian closed the file and tossed it on the desk. He exhaled heavily and leaned his head on the chair with his eyes closed.

“Nothing catches your attention?” Victor chuckles to see the frustrated expression on Damian’s face.

“No. Is this the only it?” he asks with a hope there’s more.

“I’m sorry but that’s the only mafia clan that has daughters,” Victor sits on the couch.

Damian grunts, “Great. Don’t make me kidnapped someone.”

“Hm. You look like you have the potential to do that,” his friend jokes.

“I will if I’m desperate,” Damian firmly speaks.

Victor just shakes his head and continues organising the file. He knows his friend might do that for his sake. It’s not like he can say anything about it.

“This deal is so stupid. Sometimes I wonder who made this tradition. I mean...why can’t you just hand down the throne to the next generation without any requirement!?” Damian complaining.

“You complaining like a girl, right now,” his friend chuckles. “Anyway, what about your phone? Do you still want to go find that girl?”

Damian taps his finger on the desk. His gazes on the computer screen with red dote beeping. It is the sign where his phone is.

“No need to rush. It’s not like I can’t find it,” he speaks nonchalantly.

“But what if you can’t find that girl?” Victor questioned.

Damian rolls his eyes, “I don’t care about her. I will let her off the hook just this time. But if I found her, I will give a great lesson.”

Victor just nods. He is about to pick up the pile of files when one file slips away. He furrows his eyebrows and picks it up.

“Have you checked this?” he handed it over to Damian. “The clan is not high-rank but he got a daughter.”

Damian’s eyes scanned the detail. “Hm, I might miss look this one.”

“So, how about it?”

“Interesting...” a smirk tugged on his lips, “I’m sure he will agree to this marriage.”

“Why are you so confirm about it?” Victor arches his eyebrows.

“This mafia clan is low-rank. Of course, he will agree to cooperate with someone powerful like me,” Damian grins.

What he said is true. A lot of mafia clans have been dying to cooperate and have a relationship with Damian’s mafia clan. It is one of the high-rank clans. Victor chuckles and picks up the pile of the file before going to the shelf to put it back.

“What if his daughter is a bitch? I mean...a slut?” he raises a random question.

“Please don’t make me think twice about this marriage again, Vic. I’m sick of it,” Damian replied, as he continued doing his work.

“I’m just asking. Well, I can’t imagine you have a woman stick by your side,” Victor chuckles.

Damian just rolls his eyes. He glances at his watch and notices something is off, “Where is Matthew? I told him to do one simple task and he already took more than an hour to handle it.”

“Since you bring him up, I just realised I didn’t see him,” Victor said. “What task did you ask him to do?”

“Just a simple one. I told him to go check the store that own the debt with me. The owner wants to pay so I ask him to go collect it,” he explains. Damian grabs his phone to see if Matthew text him or not.

“Maybe he—”

Before Victor could finish the sentence, the door slammed open. Both of them move their gazes to the door, only to see Matthew standing there looking out of breath. His hair was damp with sweat.

He walks toward the couch and flops himself on it. Victor and Damian exchange looks in confusion.

“What is wrong with you?” Victor frowns.

“L—Let...me...take a...b—breath first...” Matthew waved his hand.

Damian sighs and shakes his head, “I just ask you to go collect the debt. I didn’t you play tag with the owner.”

“I didn’t!” he exclaims.

“Then? Explain why you took it so long. The store is just 15 minutes from here,” Damian said nonchalantly.

“And also explain why you look so out of breath and sweating. Please don’t tell me you just finished fucking,” Victor makes a face.

“Gosh, please...” Matthew grunts, “Stop seeing bad things about me! I never fuck around!”

“Yeah, definitely you are,”

Both of them reply making Matthew roll his eyes. He sat up, and leaned his back on the couch, “Anyway, I try to catch the Melody girl that steals our things!”

“Melody? Oh, that scout girl?” Victor asks.

“Yes! We bump into each other just now. I should have grabbed and dragged her here!!” he speaks in frustration.

“You met her, huh? She managed to escape?” Damian arches his eyebrows.

Matthew sighs, “Sadly, yes.”

“You got a lot of guards with you—how did she manage to escape? All of you are high training yet...a girl managed to escape?” Victor speaks with a hint of amusement.

“It's a mistake okay!!”

“Don’t tell me she tricked you again,” he grins mischievously.

“I—I...”

Victor burst into laughter as he finally got the answer. Matthew just huffs in annoyance with a hint of flustered.

“You got played again!!” he laughs so hard.

“Shut the fuck up!!” Matthew scowls.

Damian who watches just keeps quiet. Despite of angry with that strange girl, he felt amused. No one dared to do that to his clan member. Most people avoid getting into trouble with them and yet...

He smirks.

“We will go find her tonight,”

Victor and Matthew stop their act, looking at him with stunned.