Ch. 141..145: Love Slave to the Mafia Boss's Passion Chapter 141-145

Chapter 141: Final Day

Finally, the final day of the contract arrived. The 30th day of the contract. Since I was looking forward to spending another ’normal day’ with Hayden, I was certainly shocked to find that he was nowhere in sight when I woke up.

"Hayden!" I called his name loudly.

I ran from room to room trying to find him even though I already knew that he was no longer in the penthouse. Did he go out? Will he come back later?

After gathering my wits again, I began acting a little more rationally. First, I should check my phone to see if he called or left a message. Nope. There was no such thing. Now I was very worried. Auntie was also no where in sight.

Is she on sick leave again today…of all days?

Suddenly, I was beginning to panic. I paced back towards my bedroom and that was when I realized that I didn’t check his bedroom. Why didn’t I do that? What is wrong with me?

"Hayden!" I called as I walked along the hallway towards his bedroom.

His name died on my tongue when his bedroom door came into view. I found it difficult to swallow my saliva and my lips suddenly felt very dry. I blinked rapidly, not wanting to accept what I was seeing. There were white and red tape taped all over his bedroom door. The tape said, ’No Entry’.

Is he really…gone?

Suddenly, my hands were shaking like crazy, and I had started reaching into the pocket of my pants for my phone. I fumbled around with the phone in my hand as I tried to find his contact to call him. My breath came in short bursts, and it felt like I was about to have a panic attack. Who knows…maybe I was already going through one.

My phone fell to the floor when I couldn’t control my hands properly and it just slipped from my hand. The crashing sound of the phone hitting the floor brought me back to my senses. What am I doing? I asked myself this question for the millionth time this month. Just what am I doing?

It’s the last day of the contract. Last night we had a romantic dinner together and that was sort of like our farewell party. Although we didn’t end up having any hot sex during the night to complete the loop. No, that’s not the point. The point was, I should have known that this was bound to happen. It didn’t matter if he disappeared this morning, later today or tomorrow.

Sooner or later, Hayden would be gone.

Here I am trying to call him. What would I have said if he picked up the phone?

Ask him where he was and when he was going to come back?

I shook my head madly from side to side to clear my head before I bent down and picked my phone off the floor. Thankfully, I haven’t called him.

Malissa, get a grip.

To top it all off, the doorbell started ringing. I turned around and face the door in a panic. Who could it be? I wasn’t in the mood to receive any guests right now and I had no idea who it was. I marched furiously towards the door and without checking who was in front of the door, I pulled the door wide open in one swift and forceful motion.

"Who are you?" I asked the small team of people who were standing in front of the door.

They were a team of five people and I called them a team because they were wearing the same shirt. Two were women and three were men. Not that any of that mattered.

"Umm…sorry to disturb you miss, but we’ve been hired in to help pack and clear away the stuff in this room…" one of the men said.

"Excuse me? What?" I said, not quite grasping what the man had just said.

They’re movers? Right? They’re here to pack everything.

"As I’ve been trying to explain. We were hired to pack away everything. You know like the furniture and stuff…" the man tried to explain again.

I understood what he was saying but what I didn’t understand was why is this happening so suddenly? Hayden didn’t tell me anything about this.

"I see. Please come in…" I said in a dazed as I stepped aside to let them into the penthouse.

The team entered and started looking around as they figured how to divide and conquer the work at hand.

"Sorry…I’ll pack my own stuff. You know, all stuff in this bedroom here. Please don’t touch it, I’ll clear it out myself. Thank you…" I said as I gesture to my bedroom door.

"Sure, Miss. Noted," the man said.

I watched as the team went about with their work. Not able to take any of this anymore, I decided to hide away in my bedroom until I could pick myself up and figure out my next move. By this point, I was quite certain that Hayden wouldn’t be coming back to this place anymore.

A thought occurred to me, and I headed to the small sitting room. Great. He really just left them here. I looked down at the large trays of jewelry. This is just so ridiculous. I grabbed them and started carrying them to my bedroom.

After three roundtrips, I managed to transport all the jewelry back safely to my bedroom. Now I have to figure out what to do with them. Is there a way for me to send them back to Hayden?

I looked around my bedroom and sighed loudly. It’s only been a month but so much stuff had piled up over this short period of time. Thankfully, I didn’t have a lot of new clothes. I could pack them all away easily if I just focused. The movers had moving boxes that I could use to pack my stuff, that was a relief. The bigger concern was all the art supplies that Hayden had bought for me.

There were a bunch of them and it would be a waste to just leave them here.

It would just go to waste so I might as well use it to create some art, right?

 

Chapter 142: Remaining Connection

I never thought that I would spend the last day of the contract packing my things away and clearing thing out from the penthouse. I had always imagined that I would spend the last day with Hayden. Clearly, that was not to be.

By late in the afternoon, I had managed to pack all my stuff and with the mover’s help, I started on my journey back home. Not having a place to stay in the city and no money to rent out a place, I decided to simply go back home. Truthfully, I really missed that place. I left the penthouse keycard on the dining table before leaving and closing the door firmly behind me.

In the end, he didn’t even say goodbye…

He’s such a coward…

…

I arrived back home in the countryside late at night with my life packed up in many boxes. In the end, I had to haul back the expensive jewelry that Hayden left as well. I’ll figure out a way to deal with them later.

It’s only been a month since I left this place but coming back here feels a little strange. To my surprise, the mess that the men in black had made of the place on the day that they took my grandmother and me away was all fixed up. Actually, the place looked restored. The faded paint seemed to have been painted over with new paint. Broken windows and glasses fixed.

The smashed-up furniture had been either fixed or replaced. The place was decently clean as well.

I smiled a little to myself. At least, the mafia cleaned up after their own mess. I hated how they smashed up the place but right now I was thankful that they mended everything because that meant that I didn’t have to come home to a mess. That also meant that I could start settling in without having to clean up late in the night.

After pushing the boxes into the house, I locked the door and that was when the reality of what was going on truly hit me. Hayden is gone and I won’t get to see him ever again. I sat down onto the floor, pulled my knees up and hugged them. I curled up into a ball and just started crying my eyes out.

This is the worst.

Why did things have to end this way between us? The pain tore at me from the inside out. I cried so much that I could hardly breathe. I’m going to look like a huge mess tomorrow, but I didn’t care. Right now, I just needed to let it all out.

Once I used to believe that I would return to my normal and happy life when the contract was over. I looked forward to this day when I would get my freedom back. Now that the day was here, I felt more devastated than I had ever felt before in my life. I felt so lost. It was like I had lost a very important part of myself.

How can all this come to an end when we haven’t even really started?

I didn’t remember much of what happened that night. There was a very high probability that I cried so much that I just fell asleep in the middle of it all. The next morning, I woke up on the floor where I had been sitting and crying the night before. I didn’t dare look in the mirror because I didn’t want to see my swollen eyes, lips and face.

My face ached and I knew without needing to look that it was swollen badly.

A new day had arrived but my grief from yesterday still felt fresh in my heart and mind. I glanced down at my phone and was disappointed that there were no messages or calls from Hayden. But then again, what was I hoping for exactly? There’s no way that he would ever contact me ever again.

I wanted to call him but whenever I reached out for my phone, my hand would shrink back. That was when I realized that I was scared. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to reach him on that number anymore. If I didn’t call, then I could always believe that I still had a way to reach him…

When in reality, I probably didn’t…not anymore…

I wondered what he was doing. I wondered if he thought of me. I wondered if he had moved on with his life like normal.

I wondered so much that I stopped wondering…

…

The next few days flew by in a messy blur. My head felt light and hazy all the time and I was doing things randomly to pass the time. I hated being alone because when I was alone or if I had nothing to do, my mind would wander straight back to Hayden.

I visited my grandmother every day and I spent most of my time with her in her hospital room. My grandmother probably knew that something was wrong, but she didn’t ask me about it. Being in my grandmother’s room always felt bittersweet. I could still see it and I could still smell it…the flower bouquet that Hayden got the florist downstairs to deliver to my grandmother’s hospital room every day.

Although our contract was over, the flowers didn’t stop coming. Just like clockwork, a new bouquet was delivered to my grandmother’s room every morning.

I would take the flower from the florist who delivered it and arrange it in a vase on the windowsill for my grandmother. Sadly, that was the only connection I had left with Hayden. It was the only thing that made me feel that we were still connected.

A week went by like this and unsurprisingly, I never got a call or a message from Hayden. As time went by, I was starting to believe that perhaps I had dreamt about everything that had happened. Perhaps it was all just in my mind all along. Whenever I had that thought, my eyes would fall on the bouquet of flowers and suddenly everything felt real once more.

 

Chapter 143: Must Move On

"I think I’m going to get a job…" I said softly.

"A job? Sounds good…" my grandmother spoke up with interest.

That was when I realized that I must have spoken my thoughts out loud. Seeing my grandmother’s reaction convinced me that it was probably the right course of action for me right now. If Hayden had moved on already, then I should do the same as well. I can’t wallow in here all my life after all.

"I should start seriously job hunting…" I said with a smile.

"What job are there for art students?" my grandmother asked.

"Well, I still have some university projects so I guess all I can do is some parttime work," I said.

Good question. I haven’t graduated yet either and I wasn’t famous or anything like that. If I relied on just selling my painting, I probably wouldn’t be able to make ends meet. Plus, I didn’t feel motivated or in the mood to create any good artwork right now.

"I’m not sure actually but I’ll try looking…" I replied honestly.

"Good luck, Lisa. You can do it!" my grandmother said encouragingly.

It always felt great to have at least one person cheering you on. A smile touched my lips and I started to feel like life hadn’t completely lost its color.

"By the way, I moved back home…you know, because the contract is over so I’m free now," I told my grandmother.

It had been over for a while now, but I just hadn’t brought it up to her. Now that I’ve comes to terms with it somewhat, I felt like I should tell her that I’ve moved out from the penthouse that I was living in with Hayden.

"Oh…isn’t it far for you to travel here then?" my grandmother asked.

It was indeed quite far but since I didn’t have much to do right now, I didn’t mind burning hours during transportation. Actually, the ride here and back felt quite peaceful for me, and it served as a good time for me to think a little about my future and what I wanted to do with my life.

"I don’t have any money right now so maybe I’ll start looking for a cheap apartment around here when I get a job…" I said.

"I have some money saved up. You can use it. I would prefer if you were close by. Why don’t you go and look for a place?" my grandmother quickly suggested.

I had no idea that she had money saved up. Even if she did, I was sure that it wasn’t a whole lot. What she said made sense though. Due to her current condition, it might be better if I lived nearby instead of a few hours away.

"Ok. I’ll take you up on that. Of course, I’ll definitely pay you back when I get my paycheck!" I said with determination.

"Don’t worry so much about that…" my grandmother said followed by a soft laugh.

…

I busied myself during the following few days finding a cheap apartment. At the budget that I had in mind, there wasn’t a lot of options so picking a place out didn’t take that long. After signing a short-term contract, I moved into a small apartment that wasn’t too far away from the hospital.

Moving into a new place made me feel like I had started moving on with my life. Perhaps, this was the right direction for me after all. I would be completely lying if I said that I didn’t miss Hayden like crazy. However, instead of daydreaming and thinking about him all the time like the first week of being apart, I only thought of him when I was free.

Some time though, he would randomly pop into my head, and I would experience an intense flow of emotion that would make my chest feel very tight.

Sometime at night when I was all alone in my tiny apartment, I would look out of the window and stare up at the sky while I thought about Hayden and how he was doing. I guess in the end there were many mysteries that I never unraveled about him. Sadly, those mysteries will probably remain mysteries forever for me now. There was no way that I could discover any truth behind them now.

I was still hopeless when it came to job hunting though. Finding a parttime job when you’re only an art student was really hard. Instead of waiting tables, I wanted a job that had something to do with art so that it would help my career progress as well. That was the part that made it difficult. I knew that I was being picky about it, but I just couldn’t give it up.

"What about the exhibition? Are you up for it?" Jenny asked through the phone.

Until she brought it up, I had honestly forgotten about it. At first, I didn’t want to do it and had decided against it. However, now I was experiencing a change of heart.

’Do you think that I should join the exhibition?’ I asked as I glanced over at Hayden

’I think you should,’ he replied, sounding very certain.

I recalled Hayden’s reply when I asked him if I should join the exhibition. I guess, I might as well give it a shot. After all, I had a lot of art supplies that a certain someone had bought for me. Might as well put that to good use.

"Yes, I am. Let’s do it!" I said enthusiastically.

"Wow! That’s great. Let’s do it! We’ll make it a success. Leave choosing the venue to the professor and me," Jenny said happily.

We talked for a bit about random stuff before she hung up. I lay in bed that night thinking that I had made good progress in life. The exhibition was in three months, so I still had plenty of time to decide what I wanted to put on display and then of course, I had to work on producing them.

That night for the first time in a long while, I went to sleep with a smile on my lips. I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed from a night of undisturbed sleep. For some reason, I had a feeling that something good was going to happen today.

 

Chapter 144: First Step Forward

"Excuse me. Are you open?" I asked softly as I poked my head in the door.

"Oh yes, how can I help you?" a middle-aged woman replied politely.

"Umm…this place just recently opened, right? I saw the sign outside that you’re looking for art teachers…" I said hesitantly.

"That’s right. We’re a new art school for kids that just opened in this area. We have other branches, but this is our newest branch," the kind-looking lady replied.

"Are you still looking for art teachers?" I asked, not daring to get my hopes up.

"Of course. Are you interested?" she asked.

"Yes, I am. You see, I’m an art student in my final year and I’m looking for a parttime job," I replied.

"Do you have any teaching experience or experience working with kids?" she inquired.

"Umm…not really. I’ve taught some of my juniors before but that’s about it," I replied honestly.

"I see. Well, that’s not really a problem. If you can drop by to drop your resume here with your portfolio, then I can process your application for you. Would that work?" the lady offered.

"Of course. I live around here so I’ll make sure to drop it off here tomorrow. Is that, ok?" I asked before smiling at her.

"Yup. Thank you!" she replied enthusiastically.

"Thank you very much. I’ll see you tomorrow then," I thanked her leaving.

Taking some risk paid off very well today. I haven’t landed a job yet but for the first time I had found a job opportunity that fit with what I was looking for. A part time job that was related to art. On top of that, I would get to teach children. It should be a lot of fun. This should help energize me and keep my mind off Hayden too.

I realized that I haven’t asked her for the pay but that didn’t worry me much because I wasn’t looking to make loads of money or anything like that. Later that evening after coming back from visiting my grandmother, I started updating my resume and compiling an updated version of my portfolio. Unless they’re looking for someone super advanced, my portfolio should be sufficient to land me the job.

However, my lack of experience in teaching and dealing with small kids might get in the way.

…

The next morning, I headed over to the newly opened art school to drop off my resume and portfolio. Since I was too focused and excited about inquiring about the job yesterday, I didn’t have time to appreciate just how colorful the school was. Whoever designed and decorated it had a good sense of artistic style.

The bright colors mixed with attractive cartoon characters would surely attract the attention of children. It was quite early in the morning and the school was quiet.

"Excuse me," I said when I pushed opened the door and entered.

A moment later, the same woman that I met yesterday came out from the back to greet me. She smiled at me, and I was sure that she recognized me immediately.

"Hi. I’m here to submit my resume and portfolio for consideration," I said as I handed her the documents.

"Thank you. You’re here so early. Would you mind if I take a look?" the woman asked.

"Not at all, please take a look," I said before smiling at her.

The woman turned the pages of my portfolio as her eyes scanned the pictures inside of my artworks. I’ve made sure to include work using various techniques to my favorite works. The main idea was to show that I had the skill in various techniques and can use many tools and medium to produce art.

"Wow. You’re a very accomplished art student. I can tell from your work that you love art a lot," she said as she admired photos of my work.

"I do…" I replied honestly.

"Why do you want to teach here? Do you think you’ll like working with the kids?" she asked.

"To be honest, I’ve never taught art to kids before. However, I’ve taught art to high school students and some university students, and I did enjoy the experience of grooming them and watching how their talents blossomed. It’s always interesting to see how the students develop their own style or their own take on art," I said, reflecting on how I felt when I’ve taught students in the past.

"I see. Interesting. Here’s some details about the job and the rate that we pay. If you’re still interested, can you please fill in the application form and sign at the dotted line at the very bottom?" the woman instructed.

"Of course. Thank you very much," I said as I took the papers from her.

Surprisingly the rate that the school offered was quite high. With this rate, I can cover the rent for my room with ease and have enough money left to get by. Paying back grandma shouldn’t be too hard at this rate. Then I can go back and focus on graduating and the exhibition as well.

After filling up the application form, I thanked the lady and headed off. According to her someone will be in touch to arrange for an interview. Things were looking up for me and I headed to the hospital with a spring in my steps.

A few days later, I had my job interview at the school and was immediately offered a job as a teacher there. I would be in charge of the water painting class as a start. The class had around ten students right now, but the school was expecting more students to join in. After signing the job contract, I headed to the hospital to let my grandmother know immediately.

"I got a job!" I announced proudly when I arrived at my grandmother’s hospital room.

"Wow! Really? Congratulations, Lisa!" my grandmother cried out in excitement.

I bent down and hugged her to me. That was when I realized that she had gotten thinner. Her body felt so small and frail in my arms that I was scared of breaking her with my hug. Carefully, I loosened my arms from around her body and smiled at her instead.

 

Chapter 145: The Exhibition

**Three months later**

After three months of working hard on various fronts and trying to get my new life under control, the day of the exhibition finally arrived. Throughout the past three months I’ve been keeping myself busy by juggling my parttime teaching job, my university project, prepping for the art exhibition and spending time visiting my grandmother in the hospital.

I woke up extra early today to ensure that I had enough time to do any last-minute preparation for the exhibition. After all the hard work that I put in, I was sure that I did my best and now all I had to do was pray for the best. I got up from bed, showered and put on a nice burgundy dress that I had saved up to purchase so that I could wear it to the exhibition.

It wasn’t rare for artists to get some commission or land jobs at their own exhibition, so I had to dress up for that.

I put on my dress and applied some light make up before checking my reflection in the mirror. Guess this will do for the day. Glancing a little to the side of my dressing table, my eyes focused on the photos that I took together with Hayden that day that we went to the amusement park together. We looked so happy together and it made my heart ache a little at the memory.

It all seemed like a lifetime ago.

I still miss you…

By this time, I had already come to terms with the fact that I probably won’t ever see Hayden again. He’s no longer a part of my life and I wasn’t a part of his either. Just like how we lived in different worlds before we met, we have now returned to our own worlds. Never will our paths ever cross again.

I no longer cried my eyes out late at night whenever I look at the photos that we took together at the amusement part that day. Everything about him, the times that we spent together and the memories that we created together had all become precious memories in my mind that I would treasure.

I look back at them with a smile while I felt thankful that once I got to share a part of my life with him, no matter how short our time together was.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I grabbed my bag and hurried to the door. I put in the effort to wake up early, so I can’t be late. Now isn’t the time to daydream. After arriving super early at the exhibition, walked around with Jenny checking that everything was in place.

"I think everything is ok. Sorry, Jenny, I need to go now. I need to pick my grandmother up from the hospital," I said, sounding apologetic.

"So, the doctors allowed her to come?" Jenny asked in surprise.

"Yes. They finally did. It’s amazing, at first, I couldn’t believe it. However, she can’t be out for long, so I was thinking of bringing her here before the exhibition starts," I explained quickly.

"Wow. Sounds like a plan. You go ahead. I’ll do another round just to be safe," Jenny said before smiling encouragingly at me.

"Thanks, Jenny," I said before smiling at her.

…

A week before this I told my grandmother about the exhibition again and she got very stubborn about wanting to come and see it in person. Although I told her that I could take photos to show her later or that we could do a video call while I was there, she had turned down all the options that I suggested. She was adamant about coming to see it in person.

"It’s like your graduation project. How can I miss it?" she said.

"It’s not entirely up to me, you know? We need permission from the doctor," I reminded her.

"Then let’s get permission," she said like it was no big deal.

"We can try…" I said followed by a sigh.

"I’ll convince them. I feel so fit. There’s no reason for them to keep me from going," my grandmother said firmly.

"If you say so…" I replied.

To my surprise, somehow, my grandmother managed to convince her doctor to let her go out for a short while on the day of my exhibition. However, I wasn’t allowed to bring her out without a nurse, and she had to be in her wheelchair the whole time. Those two conditions did not hold my grandmother back and now here she is with me and the nurse at the exhibition hall.

"Wow! This place is huge. Congratulations, Lisa, you’re like an established artist now," my grandmother said as her eyes took in the large hall.

"Not really…but thanks, grandma," I replied, feeling a little shy at her compliment.

I showed her around as the nurse slowly pushed her wheelchair along. The theme of my exhibition was ’precious memories’ and it combined various paintings in both water and oil colors that reflected precious memories from various phases of my life.

Of course, the key painting that I wanted to show my grandmother is the painting of her that I had finally completed for both my university project before and had added more finishing touches to make it exhibition ready.

"This is the star of this whole exhibition," I proudly declared as I waved my warms to bring her attention to the painting that I painted of her.

"Wow. It’s changed from the last time that I saw it. It looks…prettier…brighter? I’m not sure but it definitely looks much better than before," my grandmother said as her eyes sparkled.

I watched her smiling face as she stared up at the painting displayed on the white wall. She was right, the painting was brighter now because of some new colors that I added to it to make her standout more from the background.

"Do you like it?" I asked.

"I love it, Malissa. You’re so talented. I’m so happy that I came to see your exhibition. I’m so proud of you…" my grandmother said before her voiced cracked a little and she started to sob silently.