21st Century Girl [Dio X Reader]

Chapter Eight

Once again, Dio is on Y/n's mind as she makes her way to work. She had fallen asleep as she drank with him a week ago, but he didn't wake her. When her eyes flickered open, the sky was turning purple and she was completely slumped against him with her arm running across his lap. He teased her, but still walked her all the way back to her apartment. After she woke up, he only touched her once to place a kiss on her knuckles as they said their goodbyes.

It would be a lie to say that she didn't enjoy the night, but she can't shake the off feeling about the whole thing. The way Dio looked up at her from the edge of the river, the scent of alcohol that lingered on his clothes before she passed him the bottle, and his ability to polish off the bottle of whiskey with ease... Although she hopes she's wrong, Y/n can't help but think that something bad had happened.

"I'm here," Y/n enters the bookstore with a sheepish smile on her face. It falls when she sees Taylor pacing the room, a letter clenched between her fingers.

Taylor lifts her head up like a deer caught in the headlights. Before Y/n can ask what's wrong, Taylor hustles her to the register and shoves the paper into her hands. "It's from Dio."

Dear Y/n,

You mentioned that you thought I was avoiding you when we met a week ago, so I decided to let you know properly this time. I finished holding my father's funeral and will be returning to school today to finish the semester. After that, I'll be moving in with an acquaintance of my father that lives in Liverpool. By carriage, it's a weeklong trip going one way. I'm sure you've guessed it by now, but I won't be seeing you for a long time.

If we ever meet again by chance, let's play another game of chess. You know what I'll say when I win.

Until then.

Dio Brando

Taylor reads the question that Y/n fails to voice, pulling the girl into a rare hug. "He came by in a rush on a carriage and dropped it off at the crack of dawn." Taylor bites her lip. The girl is limp in her arms. "He's already gone."

He's already gone.

Those words echoed through her head for the remainder of the week. They hadn't known each other long and hardly spent more than a few hours together. Yet even when she realized she was never going to see her 21st century family again, she didn't feel this empty. Is it because she is the one that was left behind? Or that he didn't even give her an address so she could meet him once more. 'I want to see you again.' The chess game... he promised it in his letter but...

He's already gone.

Y/n feels herself spiraling into confusion. She buries her head into her hands. "What is wrong with me?"

"Mm, I dunno. I'd probably say you're malnourished." An upbeat voice invades here ear.

"What?"

The boy peaking over her shoulder puts one hand on his hip and points the other at Y/n's arm as it stretches up to shelf a book. "Look at how bony you are.* You're obviously not getting enough to eat."

Y/n cocks snd eyebrow at the boy, forgetting that she's at work and nearly slaps him across his face. Luckily, before her malicious intent is noticed, the blue haired boy's father rushes from around a bookshelf. "Johnathan! You apologize this instant!" The son looks just like his father, but is so carefree that it's almost hard to believe they're related. "I can't believe you would say something so rude to a young lady!"

The boy slouches a whine raising out of his lips. "She asked me though! I thought gentlemen didn't lie!"

Gentleman my ass. Y/n shoves the remainder of books into the bookshelf more than ready to get away from the pair. Only, when the father sees that he's getting no where with his stubborn brat and that Y/n is about to leave, he calls out to her. "Miss," he grabs his son by his ear and forces him to bow. "Please excuse my son and his crude behavior." The boy squirms beneath his father's hold who promptly twists his ear in the opposite direction, earning a loud series of 'ow's. "I apologize on his behalf as his father. I've failed at educating him properly."

"Dad..." tears line the kid's eyes despite him being a bit taller than Y/n when at his full height. The pair are both dressed better than the mannequins at the fanciest boutiques in town with their finely pressed suits complete with bright cravats and white collared shirts. "I'm sorry miss," the boy sulks beneath his father's wing. "I didn't mean to insult you. I'm trying to become the perfect gentleman so I swear on my honor that I'll give you a better answer next time!"

"Right..." The boy puckers up so quickly that Y/n finds herself at a loss as to how to react to his change in attitude. His father doesn't seem to know any better and rubs his temples. "I wasn't speaking to you in the first place, so next time, why not start with saying hello?"

Y/n was just trying to be nice to the customers that she and the storefront rely on for food, but the pair in front of her seem to take her simple words to the next level. "Oh! So that's how I should approach the new kid when he arrives right?"

The irritation only grows on his father's face. He doesn't even acknowledge the words that come out of his child's mouth. "Miss, do you happen to know where the books on mannerisms are? It seems we will need to purchase everything from the basics."

"Of course, right this way sir." Y/n puts on her customer service smile and motions for the man to follow her. After introducing three different series of books on manners and the pros and cons of each one, the father makes his choice and the kid disappears to go find something more interesting to do. "Can I interest you in anything else?"

"Yes," the man sighs for what must be the umpteenth time since he and his son have entered the store. "I am taking in another child and heard that he likes books so I was looking for enough to fill two bookshelves." Y/n could hear Taylor choke on tea at the sound of a huge order, but Y/n pretends that she can't. "He is around your age and attends the academy, so something a bit more rigorous than what my son can handle will be good."

"In that case do you happen to know what he's studying?" Aside from receiving her paycheck, picking out books for others is one of Y/n's favorite things to do, next to actually reading books of course. With academy students, there are typically two types. The artsy types generally prefer more fiction and works of literary excellence, where as the more practical ones tend to read more debates of policy and philosophy as well as journals on various current topics. If she had to guess which Dio belonged, she would definitely say the latter.

"I believe his focus is on economics at the moment."

"Perfect." Titles already begin to pop up in Y/n's head. "Feel free to take a break at the seating area or browse the shelves. I'll pick out around a hundred and fifty or so books and give you the list for you to approve. We can have you place the order today and deliver them to your mansio- home for an additional fee."

"That is fine, but why a hundred and fifty?"

"He will probably be able to fit two hundred or so books on his shelves, but he may enjoy building his collection with time so I figured it might help to leave some space." Y/n curses herself. With how rich they look, if they wanted more space they could probably by another house, let alone another bookshelf. "Shall I search for two hundred instead?"

The older man smiles. Living with his brat of a child and without his wife for many years, he forgot how considerate others can be. "No, one hundred fifty is just fine."

*In this, Y/n has been struggling on a very limited number of meals for three years, so this is written to imagine normal you minus some plumpness. (You're free to imagine however you want though!) Y/n will be returning to her normal weight in the story soon, so please be patient with me. \>~</💕

TO BE CONTINUED...