Chapter 1
It was a sunny day in Veliky Novgorod where a family of four was living in a mansion, the father Ivan was reading the daily newspaper while the mother Alyona was braiding her daughter's hair, The daughter's name was Kristina and she was the youngest daughter, and out playing in the field was their oldest son Dimitri. it was a perfect day for the Petrov family, but it all ended so soon for the family.
problem was that the father was the boss of the Russian mob. The boss of the Spanish mob José Garcia wanted his cut in the Wilson corporation Ivan had a third share of the company. José wanted a place in the corporation, the "corporation" was a hidden drug business that was disguised as a soda and candy company. but the others laughed at him, jose wasn't that big at the time. At the same time, Ivan was well known amongst other mobsters, hell ivan was known for being cold and extremely smart since he was a young adult, probably even in his early teens, he took leadership at 18 after his father was killed, making him the main leader in the Russian mob. the other mobsters told him if he could take down Ivan Petrov maybe they would let him take his place.
jose had spent a long time training, fighting, and learning from the others, and when a few months passed, he had a perfect plan in his eyes, but For Jose's plan to work, he needed insistence because the Russian mob was more substantial than his team could handle. he heard of a group ivan had known since before Ivan was ever a leader, he felt like if maybe he had them they'd know his weaknesses.
so, he goes to Baek-Hyun the owner of a vast shady private military company, Baek-Hyun takes some time to consider jose's offer, and then he decides to send a team with his son Jae-Hyun,
Jae-Hyun's squad was the strongest Baek-Hyun could offer. Jae-hun was initially hesitant because he knew Ivan, he knew the Petrov family well, and he felt like he was betraying them.
after another several months of planning, the Jae-hyun squad and the Spanish mob enter the Petrov mansion, They corner the family, since ivan had kids he's gone soft, caring, uncold, his mind scattered, which would he save? his wife and unborn child? his kids? all? or none?, Ivan tried to give them a chance to escape but Jose found them, shooting Ivan in the leg, and then the stomach, ivan's wife tried screaming for help, which annoyed jose, making him kill her too, Jose, Jae-hyun's team only keeps the place guarded, jae-hyun couldn't stand watching Ivan and his family die, it destroyed him hearing everything. Jose's team made all the merciless killings, Jose and his team killed the entire Petrov family by shooting them to death, or so they thought?, Jose ordered the Jae-Hyun squad to search for any possible survivors, as Jae-hyun's team slowly entered one of the bedrooms they heard rustling from the closet, jae-hyun opened the closet and they soon discovered Dmitri hiding in a closet. Jae-Hun saw so much of Ivan in him, making him tear up, knowing his friend is now dead, he thought maybe if he took Dimitri and raised him he'd be making up to his betryal.
It's been 9 years since the Petrov massacre. Dimitri started working in a local café to afford to live in his small apartment due to Jae-Hyun's mysterious disappearance 3 years ago, it happened so suddenly, dimitri woke up one day to find nothing but a note with the words "Sorry" written, nothing else, not even a goodbye. today It was a regular shift at the café, making drinks, packing deliveries, etc, around an hour before closing, around the time the cafe would have very few costumers, a young woman around his age came in asking for the cafe's special latte, Dimitri gulped because he only started working in the café for two weeks and he hasn't learned to do latte art, this specific café was known for its latte art and due to the fact that it was around closing time, he was the only one working there. Dmitri tried his best to make a latte but it wasn't great, the milk was burned, the coffee wasn't made properly and the latte art let's say wasn't what you imagine latte art to look like. And he already took so long making this one that he didn't have time to make another and other customers were waiting. So, he decided to serve the horrible latte, The girl giggled but thanked Dimitri, Dimitri became embarrassed that she was thankful for him bringing her a terrible latte, and then he recognized her from school, she was one of the well-known students, known for her kindness and care, her name was Lilly, he got embarrassed that this pretty girl was seeing him in this state, messy hair, tired eyes, messy clothes with some coffee and milk spille on them, hell he was working in a damned cafe to afford to live considering his gardian walked out.
She asked him what time he gets out of work, and he told her gets out at 9, Lilly smiled an waited till he clocked out of work and they decided to go to the park, they talked for hours, about the school, their parents, cringy moments and things teenagers would talk about.
after hours of talking and walking around the city, Dimitri walked the Lilly home and she gave him her number.
Monday comes around and Dmitri wakes up, groaning, he hasn't slept at all last night, working while going to school, was so hard for him, to come back to an empty space no "hey hun i made dinner" or "welcome home son". he sighed and went to the bathroom, washing his tired face in hope he'd wake up a little more, then he goes to the kitchen to make breakfast, which was just bread considering he can't afford to buy food at the moment. then he heads to school where he sees Lilly talking to a bunch of students, lilly is talking to one of the more popular kids at school but she still notices and she waves at him with a smile on her face, so naturally he waves back. Dmitri didn't have many friends at school but he had one friend he met in sixth grade his name was Peter, and Peter would often sleep at Dmitri's house because Peter would constantly fight with his stepdad, after his dad passed he's been bitter about the word "Dad", he'd tense slightly at the mention. Peter had chemistry for the first period and Dmitri had physics so they each went to their classes, Dmitri shared a couple of classes with Lilly so they started to work together on projects and help each other with homework.
they became good friends over time. the three of them formed a group. They went rollerblading, helped each other on dates even went to the fair together. The year soon ended and summer vacation started.
Dmitri was sitting on the couch eating popcorn when he heard a knock, he got up and opened the door, a couple was standing on the other side of the door, the woman said: "hi I am Karen Miller and this is my husband Philip miller, we just moved next door". Dmitri welcomed them and the woman invited him over for dinner.
Dmitri got dressed and went to their apartment it smelled comforting, like a memory he had long forgotten. Mr. Miller greeted Dmitri, their youngest, who was playing some sort of video game on the couch while the mother and the daughter were setting the table. Mrs. Miller noticed Dmitri and greeted him with a big smile and a warm hug as she introduced him to her kids, Her daughter's name was Sarah and her son's name was Carl They sat down to eat.
Mr. Miller whispered to his daughter to put away her phone but she ignored him. Mrs. Miller made a load of delicacies, meatloaf, mashed potatoes with a side of gravy, And a Caesar salad, The meal was delicious, and he felt nostalgic but he didn't know what he was nostalgic for, was it the food? or the way the table was set? or was it the feeling of sitting down with a family and enjoying a warm homecooked meal? he didn't know which one but it felt nice.
Mrs.Miller asked Dmitri what age he was, he responded: "I'm 17 and am a junior in high school", The mother replied: "My daughter Sarah is your age". Sarah then shifted her focus from her phone to Dmitri "What school do you go to?" she asked the boy
"Englewood High School", he answered.
"My daughter is going to that school this year, what a coincidence!" Mrs. Miller commented. "I will try my best to help Sarah get settled in," Dmitri said in a friendly way. The mother looked relieved to know her daughter won't have a hard time at school. Dinner wrapped up and Dmitri was about to go home when he was stopped by Sarah, she handed him her number and didn't say a word to him, she ran back home looking flustered.
Soon Saturday arrived and he wasn't working so he texted his friends asking to go to the park and they all agreed.
while Dimitri was getting dressed, he remembered that his neighbor Sarah probably felt lonely, she just moved in, so he decided to invite Sarah.
Dmitri knocks on the miller's door and Mrs. Miller greets him with a warm smile he asks where Sarah is. Mrs. Miller says she's getting ready and thanks the boy for inviting Sarah. The boy smiled and replied that it was nothing.
Sarah gets out of her room smiling at Dmitri. Dmitri asked her if she was ready, she agreed and they arrived at the park.
Peter greeted him with a special handshake that the both of them invented, and Lilly hugged him. They both noticed the stranger standing next to him and asked him who this was, he answered that it was his neighbor and her name was Sarah, They both welcomed her into the group and Lilly was holding a basket full of all sorts of things. "Hey, this thing is heavy are you guys going to help or what?" Lilly ranted, They all helped to lay the picnic and it looked something out of an 80s movie.
They sat down, it was a fantastic evening. turns out Sarah loved the same show that Lilly is obsessed with, none of the others watched it because it ran for 11 seasons and they both had the attention span of a goldfish That's how Lilly explained it to Sarah. Sarah and Lilly both spent all evening talking about it Lilly decided to add Sarah to the group chat. This means that you're a part of the group now. Lilly declared. The sun had set and They all went home. Sarah thanked Dmitriy for the lovely evening. Dmitriy smiled at Sarah and he chuckled good night.
{ chapter end }