Cenzo

Chapter 11

I was sitting in Namdo Aunties Restaurant with Vincenzo and Mr Hong to have treat ourselves, more like Mr Hong, to some rich authentic rice wine. (At least that's what it says on the bottle).

"I'd stay strong, but days like this get to me." Mr Hong said after taking a shot of the alcohol. "I mean,when these jerks torture my girl. No matter how much I scold her, she's my precious little girl. How dare they?"

"She'll get through it. Ms Hong is strong." Vincenzo said pouring him another drink.

"He's right. She was a power house in college." I said smiling nostalgically, remembering the carnage Hong Chayoung left in her wake. "She would beat anybody's ass just to get what she wants. And she didn't care if you were a professor or the fucking headmaster of the school." I finished with a reassuring smile. He nodded proudly and turned his gaze towards Vincenzo.

"Aren't you truly the strong one?" He asked him, his words a little slurred due to the extensive amount of alcohol he consumed before.

"I'm not that strong or good for that matter." He responded his gaze downcast.

"Weak people don't go to their mom's trial if they were abandoned." Mr Hong retorted knowingly.

"I only went to see how miserable she was." Vincenzo said as he threw the rice wine back, since his poker face was wavering.

"Do you mean that?" Mr Hong asked searching his face for any signs of a lie.

"Yes." He responded once he regained his composure. "Don't give Ms Hong a reason to check how miserable you are."

"You're telling me to stop fighting Babel because I'll be miserable." Mr Hong said angrily. " I'll will keep fighting them and I have more power to fight."

"And that power will put you in more danger, won't it." Vincenzo asked picking up his chopsticks to place meat strips on Mr Hong's plate. "I don't like that you're the only ones exposed to all those risks. I want you to take the cowards way out this time."

"For me, running away isn't the cowards way out, it's putting other people in danger. Okay?" He said leaving no room for argument.

"Then if running away isn't cowardly for you, why don't you talk to Cha-young?" I asked making him look at me. "If putting peoples life in danger is cowardly to you, what about Cha-young's feelings?" I said looking him dead in the eye.

"You know me Mr Hong. You know that I don't like getting into other peoples personal lives and I might dislike Cha-young at the moment, but I will not sit here and let your relationship just wither away into nothingness." I said still looking at him with an emotionless face. "Talk to her, let her see your point of view, make her understand what you did and why you did it."

"She might be an adult, but she still has it in her mind from a young age that you didn't love her mom enough to even be there for her when she died. She's clearly giving you chances to explain your side of the story but you keep shutting her out. All I'm saying is talk to her before you loose the chance to talk to her again." I finished patting him on the shoulder as he nodded.

I took a shot of the alcohol and looked at Vincenzo. He locked eyes with me and nodded approvingly with a little smile.

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We were still sitting at the restaurant because it was raining while Mr Hong continued to take drink after drink.

"Here's a thing. Jackie Chan, I love his movies. Why? He wins not because he's a master of martial arts, but because he never gives up." Mr Hong said excitedly. "Even if he messes up, he tries again for 10 or 100 times. He keeps trying until he gets it right. I'm going for a smoke." He suddenly said walking out, while Vincenzo and I nodded.

I was pouring myself a drink when Vincenzo spoke.

"I never took you for such an intellectual person." He asked as I was drinking from my cup thing. I raised an eyebrow at him over the cup.

"Oh yeah? What did you take me for then?" I asked curiously.

"A dumb hot jock." He said casually. I snorted loudly and looked at him smirking. He must've not meant to say that out loud because his eyes started widening.

"I mean- I-I - No" he started stammering. I waved him off with my hand half heartedly.

"It's fine, no need to explain yourself." I said still smirking. He nodded and returned to pouring his drink. He was taking a sip before I asked."So, you think I'm hot?" While smirking and leaning my chin on the palm of my hand. He choked a little and glared at me. He was about to bitch slap me on the side of my head before we saw Mr Hong's phone go off.

Vincenzo looked at the person's name that was calling on the phone then glanced out the window at Mr Hong and scoffed. We let it ring out before I decided to ask.

"Should we pick it up? What if it's important?" Looking at Vincenzo. He picked up the phone and contemplated on whether he should answer or not before putting the phone back in it original spot. "So that a no? Okay"

Then Mr Hong walked back into the restaurant. He sat down before Vincenzo asked.

"Mr Hong. Are you hiding something from me?"

"I am." Mr Hong said. "My sincerity which no one knows about." Then he started speaking in Italian.

"It takes a devil to drive another devil" That's the only Italian proverb I know. Remember what I told you? Only monsters can beat monsters, but I can't be a monster, I wish a real monster would appear and deal with all these evil men, whether it's legal or not." He said to Vincenzo laughing.

"But that's not possible in real life." He said sadly. "Mr Cassano, you can't be that monster right?" He said putting his head down.

"Someone has been calling you."Vincenzo said after their staring sesh. I swear it's so intense, the fucking tension was making me choke.

"What? Who?" He asked.

"RDU. RDU was. Isn't that the researcher?" Vincenzo asked looking really hurt. Mr Hong was trying to call back the person when I saw a truck coming towards us. It all happened so fast I didn't even realize when I sprung up from my seat, shouting to Mr Hong to watch out, and pulled Vincenzo to my chest, covering him with my body so I could take most of the damage. I rolled around the floor before settling on my back.

I was discombobulated for a minute, my ears ringing, but I was still aware of my surroundings. I felt a weight on top of me and looked down seeing Vincenzo lying on my chest with a couple of bruises, from what I could see, unconscious. I then looked across the room for to see if Mr Hong was alright, but I saw him laying there unconscious-or at least I hoped he was. I was so out of it I didn't even realize that my head was bleeding.

I tried to call out for him or reach out for him, anything but my eyes started dropping and I tried to keep them open but then everything went black.

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