A beautiful moon up high in the sky with whispers of a gentle breeze that will blow every now and then, the residents of Westeriu were preparing to turn in for the night, ready to caught up with their sleep and sweet dreams.
Although some parts of the city were asleep, there was one particular place that was still awake in the night. And that was the small bookstore that located in the middle of the town. The small building was painted with beige colour while the roof was in brown colour. The bookstore was filled with massive bookshelves, they were filled with numerous types of books, thick and thin, you named it.
"Sherry can you stop reading the book? You are clearly taking advantage of your job just to read for free." A voice of a man said, he pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh escaped from his lips, obviously getting used with my personality.
Such a stingy man. I crossed my legs under the table, one arm resting on my desk while my hand held the book, and a pensive look reflected on my face as my gaze focused on the words in front of me right now. "I'm getting at the best part right now, Lionel," I said, letting him know that I don't want to be disturbed at the moment.
However, a peaceful moment will not last forever when I tried to flip the paper to another page, the book suddenly went out from my grip. My eyebrows knitted together in confusion when I finally noticed a familiar longer fingers held the cover of the book.
"You're kidding me." Sighing and sitting upright, I decided to look up and met with Lionel's eyes that were staring at me and a playful smirk played over his lips.
I swear this guy really loves to ruin my reading mode.
Lionel Maverick was a good (not) friend of mine, handsome, smart and super annoying, for sure. This man stood tall, 5'9" compared to me who was only 5' 4". We both met under the bridge 5 years ago when I was 17 while he was 19, at that time I was been kicked out from my own house because of my bad grades and Lionel who was such an angel agreed to let me work in his bookstore. Since I couldn't continue my study anymore, I chose to work to make a living instead of sleeping like a lazy human being in the house.
"What's with the sudden grumpy look?" He asked, closing the book and put it on top of the shelf, out of my reach.
"You know the reason, Lionel Maverick." Crossing my arms above my chest to show my disapproval look.
He shrugged both of his shoulders, acting like it was not his fault. "Anyway quit with your sulking, we have to arrange the new books that just came today." He said, walking to the counter and lifting the heavy boxes.
I stood up and decided to help him, after all this is my task as a worker here. "By the way, do you want to have a dinner with me later?" Lionel questioned as he put the books into the shelf.
"It's 11 pm right now. Who will have dinner at this time?"
"Me, duh. Who else?"
I rolled my eyes because of his answer. "I can't today. My parents told me after I'm done with work I have to go home, no excuses."
"Your parents are crazy, really. They kicked you out before and then took you back in, because of what? Money, money, money. I swear sometimes I really want to put commonsense inside their small brains."
"Pfft. You would not dare to do that."
He looked at me and raised one of his eyebrows. "Oho? Are you challenging me right now?"
I gulped and cleared my throat, choosing to change the topic. "Anyway I heard that there is a new mafia gang that has arrived in the city. The people keep talking about it since this morning."
"Oh yeah? I also heard from the uncle across from our bookstore, saying that this mafia group is really cruel."
"It's a group of mafia. What do you expect they to behave? A saint? If I'm not mistaken the name of the gang is Cookish? Wait I think it's Covish?"
"It's Coolish Gang." A deep voice said from behind both of us. Shocked, Lionel and I decided to turn around after hearing an unfamiliar sound inside the bookstore.
My eyes widen up as if they could come out from their sockets any moment when I saw a guy stood in front of us, wearing an expensive formal suits with some red colour spots on his white shirt and there was also small trail of blood on the ground.
Wait..Blood?
"Hey, does your dumb bookstore sell any books on crime and punishment?" He asked.
Wow..How rude this man is. Though his face is attractive, his personality is sure so nasty.
"Hello? Does your cheap bookstore sell any books on crime and punishment?" He repeated for the second time, thinking we couldn't hear him just now.
Lionel who was slowly started to get irritated with the way the man insulted his beloved bookstore finally walked to him, bravely and confidently. But before he could lift his hand, ready to give the big punch. The man was quick to take an action and pointed his glaring gun to both of us.
"You dare to punch me then ready to meet each other in heaven."
....Lionel Maverick....We sure are digging our own grave tonight....