EDITED: 20th March 2019.

Brooklyn.

He freezes at my question, his entire posture tensing. I become all the more curious at his reaction, my eyes darting between his clenching and unclenching fists.

"You said you'd tell me anything I wanted to know," I say, in case he wanted to back out and he sighs loudly.

He walks to the window and looks out, his eyes hazy as if thinking about a memory.

"Diavolo means...Devil in Italian. My parents named me so with the intention of me becoming a monster. That's why I hate my name, cause it is a reminder of who I have become. My full name is Diavolo Devin Francesco. I preferred being called Devin, but no one has called me that since years."

"Devin..." I whisper out in a small voice and his gaze shifts to me. He looked so much in pain and that honestly broke my heart.

Underneath the ruthless man lays a broken boy.

I clear my throat to say something, anything but nothing comes out of my mouth. He stares at me but then sighs and looks out the window.

Our eyes meet and we stare at each other again, neither of us refusing to break the eye contact before he gives up and without any word makes his way upstairs.

Underneath the ruthless man lay a broken boy.

---

The next morning, I wake up feeling gloomy. Taking a shower and doing my daily routine, I walk out of the room to the kitchen only to find Devin making pancakes.

I admit I might have stood at the door and watched his muscles work for a bit but hey, in my defense he is just too easy on the eyes.

I clear my throat in hopes of getting some reply or greeting from him but I get nothing.

"Good morning," I say and take a seat on the countertop.

No reply.

"Where is Peggy?" I try again but still no luck.

I feel anger rushing in me by his childish behavior and I will myself to calm down and handle this like any mature, rational person would.

"Why are you acting like this?" I say and he turns back, places a plate full of pancakes in front of me but doesn't reply.

So I leave it at that and make no more attempts to get him to talk to me.

---

It's been two days and Diavolo or should I say Devin hasn't talked to me. It's like he is avoiding me, whenever our eyes meet and I am about to make conversation, he turns and walks the other way. It is so annoying and I understand why he is doing so but I have had enough.

So today I had decided when I saw him, I would corner him before he even got the chance to slip away.

I silently ate the oatmeal I had prepared for myself, waiting for Devin to come downstairs. Once the bowl was empty, I got up putting it in the dishwasher then I felt him. I felt him before I saw him. His intimidating presence could burst the whole room.

I turned around and saw he was trying to avoid my eyes, as usual. I rolled my eyes as he walked to the fridge and got out some eggs, no doubt to himself an omelet since he gave Peggy and the maids a holiday today. Again.

I stood in front of the stove, blocking it as he came towards it making him sigh but he still didn't look at me.

"Devin, please look at me," I whisper to him and he hesitantly looks up. I saw all the emotions in his eyes for the first time ever, he allowed himself to show his feelings to me and I couldn't be any happier.

His eyes that were always hard and cold were glistening with pain and hurt. Pain from being abused for so long, hurt from never feeling the parental love a child should receive from their parents.

My heart ached for him. For how broken he might have been in his past, for how broken he still is. For how he tried to hide every emotion of his beneath a hard facade knowing if he opened up he would get hurt.

I hugged him, the tightest I could. I poured all my emotions, into this one hug. I didn't pity him, no. It pained me to see him like this. It made me angry at his parents. It made me sad how he had no one to find comfort him. He was alone but now he had me and I would not leave. Not willingly anyway.

"I don't need your pity, Brooklyn." He whispered into the crook of my neck and I immediately shook my head.

"I don't pity you, Devin. It makes me upset how much you have suffered. Alone. With no one to hug you. With no shoulder to cry on. And I want you to know that I am here now and I am not leaving." I said and he just squeezed me tighter as if to say thank you.

I don't know how long we stayed in each other's arms but what I do know is that this broken man in my arms made me feel something. Something which I only realized now.

I like him.

When we finally pulled away, our feelings for each other were heightened. At least for me, they were. I saw him in a new light, I didn't see him as the mafia boss he was or the monster everyone thought he was. No, I saw him as the little boy who had no love growing up. Who had no one to guide him in the right path.

He cleared his throat, bringing me out of my thoughts,

"So--uh--I won't beat around the bush but I really really like you, Brooklyn. I will understand if you don't feel the same way. It's oka--"

I cut him off by placing my lips on his, making him immediately wrap his arms around my waist bringing me closer. We shared a passionate kiss before I reluctantly pulled away,

"I really really like you too, Devin," I said, biting my lips to stifle a giggle. I was just so happy.

I knew he wasn't perfect; he had his flaws, he made mistakes. But I did too. And that didn't make us any less human.

He might not be perfect, but he was perfect for me.

He smiled, more like grinned widely making me grin right back at him. He then leaned in, our foreheads touching.

"I love the sound of my name on your lips." He said with his eyes closed and I didn't reply, just locked my arms around his neck as his were still around my waist.

After a while, his eyes opened and he smiled cheekily.

"So fancy a date?"

×××××



a u t h o r' s n o t e:

hey guys and yes I AM ALIVE! so my exams finished last sunday and i am over the freaking moon.

my next classes start from april 4th and my results come out 24th march. fingers crossed for good marks lol.

but too off topic here, this chapter took me a lot of time because there was so much emotion in it and i wanted every single one to be detailed and shown in this chapter. i hope the wait was worth it.

next update will be published friday or saturday or sunday idk. we will see.

also are you shocked? Diavolo is actually Devin. but he will always be our Diavolo no matter what.

p.s: Diavolo grinning at the top is legit EVERYTHING!

thanks for reading guys and also thanks once again for the amazing amount of views. :)

VOTE. COMMENT. SHARE.

much love,