The Red Nights

Andre knocked on the door three times and a few moments later the door got opened, he entered in slowly and timidly. He saw a young girl walking her back facing him, he guessed that she's the one who opened the door for him, she went to throw herself on a couch on the side and at the way she let out a long and loud sigh it seemed that she was very annoyed for some reasons.

"Am I bothering?" Andre was still standing in front of the door as if he was waiting for some sort of permission to fully step in.

Lina, who was sitting at the very back of the room meters away in front of Andre, put down papers she was holding to look at the young man.

"Hmm? Come in, take a seat, why are you standing there like that?" She waved her hand as to tell him to approach.

The latter two small steps forward, "well it just looks like I am interrupting something", he said while glancing at the young girl who was laying on the couch, her head in the direction of where Andre was standing, she had her arms crossed on her ċhėst, with one leg on top of the other and was harboring an angry face while staring at Lina.

Lina followed the direction of where he was looking and after she understood that he was talking about her, she exclaimed while pointing to Dana, "oh! You mean her", she waved her hand while adding, "don't worry about her, I just had to calm her a little bit since she started to act like a spoiled child. Come, have a seat".

Andre nodded and went to sit on the couch in front of the one Dana was laying on.

"You're the one treating me like a criminal! Why can't you let me go my... friends?" she blushed as she said that last word, "You've never done the for Matteo, he's free to go anywhere he wants every time he wants, that's unfair!" She complained loudly.

Lina tilted slightly her head toward the young girl, raised her two eyebrows, and pointed discreetly her hands at her while looking at Andre as to tell him "look! That's what I mean by 'acting like a spoiled child'".

"Listen Dana", Lina sighed, now looking at her, "you are the one who came to us looking for protection and you still didn't even reveal to us whom we must protect you from, so unless you feel like talking..." she paused and stared at her as if she was waiting for her to talk but Dana just looked away embarrassed, Lina sighed a bit disappointed as if she was expecting that and continued, "we have to keep an eye on you. We already let you once go see your "friends" but we can't let you do that consistently".

Dana opened her mouth as if she had more to complain but no word came out, she closed her mouth and bowed her head after she found no better argument to oppose her, so she just decided to quietly accept her defeat for the time being.

A moment of silence passed, Lina was studying the documents she had in hand while Dana was still sulking on her corner, Andre stared at her and somehow felt sympathy for her, he knew how it felt like to be sometimes lonely and looking for some freedom, so he got an idea.

He rose his hand and coughed twice to catch Lina's attention, the latter put down the papers she was holding on the desk and nodded at him to hear him out.

"Hum, I was thinking that if it's too dangerous for her to go around by herself why not appointing me to watch over her?"

Lina frowned and even Dana looked confused too, wondering why was he making such a suggestion when the two of them didn't even know each other.

"What do you have in mind?" Lina said while staring at him as if she was trying to read his thoughts.

The young man pointed in Dana's direction while looking at Lina, "the kid looks very bored and lonely staying here or at home every day-"

"I'm not a kid!" The latter shouted looking pissed.

"She clearly misses her playing with her friends so why not letting her go and give me the task to watch over her"

Lina put her elbow on the desk and leaned on her hand and though she didn't agree yet she somehow seemed interested so Andre wasn't discouraged. .

"So? Can you really do that?" Lina had a small enigmatic smirk on her face and Andre didn't know if she was mocking him or testing him.

He just decided to speak out his mind and see what she would say later.

"Thanks to Volga's training I became quite proficient with firearms moreover I'm probably the only one guy in this town who doesn't have a proper job so, besides the training sessions with Jamal, I'm free all day so I can watch over her any time without a problem".

"Hmm" Lina then turned slightly her head toward Dana, her smirk still stuck on her face, and asked her, "and you? Are you fine letting this grown man follow you around from behind everywhere you go?"

"Don't say it like that, it sounds creepy" Dana spat while making an annoyed grimace.

Lina noticed that Andre looked quite uncomfortable and quickly tried to calm him, saying that she was just joking and he shouldn't take that personally. [I need to remember to go easy on this one] she thought while still staring at the young man, making sure he was not affected anymore by what she just said.

"Anyway, it's fine for me" Dana declared, catching the attention of the two people, "the deal sounds good, as long as I can move on my own that's fine for me".

Lina tapped on the table with the palm of her hands and declared enthusiastically, "then that's settled! You can come to pick my beautiful daughter at any time you want, but dare to lay a finger on her and you will regret it. I'll castrate you".

"I-" Andre had his mouth opened without any sound coming out.

"Don't mind her, she's obviously just teasing you" Dana said to him after seeing his speechless and confused expression on his face, she turned toward Lina, "can't you be serious for a moment? You clearly making him uncomfortable with your lame jokes".

Lina mimicked a shocked expression, she put her hand on her ċhėst and gasped, pretending that she got hurt by her comment, "excuse me?! How dare you, you meanie little brat, my jokes are the best and I don't allow you to disrespect them".

She left her desk and as she was walking towards her Dana instinctively back off but the couch was not that long and she quickly got cornered, Lina extended her hand and she started pinching her nose. "That's what you get when you disrespect the best side of my personality".

Andre stood up with the intent to try to calm her down when he suddenly heard knocking on the door, he just had the time to turn his head that he saw Jamal, Natasha, and Carla coming in.

Natasha was clinging onto Jamal's arm, shaking him a little bit from time to time while she seemed to be begging him and insisting on something.

"Come on! Why won't you let me, I already ȧssure you I can?"

Lina stopped all her movements, Dana was holding her hand with both hands and trying to take it off her nose when she noticed that she stopped pressing the young girl started wondering why Lina suddenly froze, she saw her slowly turning her head toward the group who just arrived, [what's with her?] She thought but once she turned to look at them, as well, she figured.

"You!" Lina shouted while pointing the finger at Natasha, she walked closer to her, "you've got some nerves to dare to flirt with my lover in my office. You look very comfortable holding his arm like that".

Jamal and Natasha glanced at each other, at first seeming clueless, then they glanced at Natasha's hands wrapped around Jamal's arm and they finally understood. Natasha quickly pulled out her hands and Jamal even took a step on the side away from her, Lina stared at both of them for a moment before she went to fill  the space between the two of them

She passed one arm around Jamal on her left and the other one around Natasha on her right, "so? What naughty stuff were you talking about?"

"Why does it always have to be naughty with you" Natasha sighed, she pointed at Jamal with a tilt of the head, "he never let me drive when we're together though I have already promised him I can".

Lina smirked, "hmm? So you want to be the driver when you are together, you want to be the one to give a ride huh? So bold... for a damn vir-"

Natasha blocked her mouth, stopping her from saying more than she should, she got her face closer to her and whispered, "if you're not going to help me just shut up".

Only when Lina nodded that she pulled out her hand, "jeez, you're so dramatic, though I could help you with it. Anyway!" She quickly shouted as she saw Natasha starting to get angry, she turned on her left to ask Jamal why wouldn't he let her drive for once, "I have already taught her and you know that I let her sometimes use my car".

He scratched the back of his head and confessed, "it's not for a particular reason... it's just that I would not feel comfortable sitting on the passenger seat while she drives".

"But you find no problem when it's Lina or Volga" Natasha complained.

"Yeah, but... but for them it's different".

"How so?"

Meanwhile, Carla went to have a seat next to Dana as she knew that would continue for some more time, the two of them noticed the weird reaction Andre had as he was staring at the other three people arguing so the two of them went on telling that it happened a lot and that he would quickly get used to it.

"Ah" Lina exclaimed as if she just realized something, Natasha asked her what was it and she said, "it's because Volga and I are older than and also because I'm his girlfriend thus he can show us some parts of his personality he doesn't show you", she looked at Jamal with a teasing smile as she added, "it seems that he still wants to play the alpha male in front you".

Natasha didn't understand right away what Lina was trying to say, she leaned forward a little bit to look at Jamal and the latter seemed to avoid her sight, however, he looked kind of embarrassed while he was staring at Lina.

"Now talking about it..." Lina continued but now directly talking to Jamal, "haven't you once told me that you had a thing for younger women too?"

The latter immediately growled to make her stop, he was at his limit and couldn't take it anymore, as expected, Lina always knew where to put the finger to make him yield.

"That's enough, I give up" he shoved his hand into his pocket, took out what seemed to be the key of his car, and threw it at Natasha, "do what you want" then he moved away looking quite frustrated but mostly embarrassed.

Natasha put a kiss on Lina's cheek, "you're the best" before she started to observe, in her hands, the prize she just won.

Lina smiled proudly, "so... this being done, how about you let me take your v-"

"Shut up" Natasha coldly said while still staring at the keys.

With a smile fixed on her face, she carried the key like a trophy and went to have a seat on the same couch as Andre.

When Lina returned to her desk Jamal looked at Andre and asked, "weren't you supposed to come with Matteo? Where is he?"

"He found me in the apartment when I went to take a bath and change myself after bringing your vehicle to your residence as Volga had told me. He told me to come here because apparently you and Lina had an important task for me".

"That's all?" Andre turned his head on the side and saw Lina looking surprised and confused, "since when did that boy become so unnecessarily enigmatic?"

"He's surely taking that from you" Natasha declared while she was busy putting the key in her pocket.

Lina stuttered a little bit, clearly, Natasha's comment took her off guard what surprised Andre since he never thought it could happen to her from the image he had of her, nevertheless, she quickly collected herself and responded, boasting that her enigmatic side was not unnecessary for her since it was part of her character, "and also, who could have thought that I would have that much influence on him".

"Well, I'm sure either Jamal or I could have guessed that", Natasha shrugged, she was leaning forward, her elbows on her thɨġhs while her head was resting on her both hands, "but now you know it maybe you should put a stop on your unfunny dirty jokes before he starts copying that side of your character too".

"Anyway!" Lina tapped on her table once and as she was eager to change the topic, she looked at Andre with a forced smile, not convincing at all, and asked, "where is he now?"

"He left before me. He said he had other things to take care of".

"Nothing else?" Lina's voice sounded desperate.

Andre shook his head and Natasha slowly turned towards her friend with a mocking smirk on her face, she was resolved to not let any room to breathe, "truly, that kid is becoming more and more unnecessarily enigmatic".

Lina silently lifted up some documents and hid her face behind, acting like she still had work to do.

Jamal wondered why Volga was still not there yet, while Natasha was still teasing Lina about the bad influence she had on Matteo, one half an hour passed before the latter arrived accompanied by Volga.

"What took you so long?" Jamal asked the boy while inviting both him and Volga to sit for a bit on the couch.

"I just had some business I needed to take care of", Matteo waved his hand as to say it was nothing important.

"Just talk!" Lina suddenly stood up and shouted, running out of patience.

Matteo startled, shocked by her reaction, he wondered why was so worked up, he took a glance at the side and saw Natasha giggling in silence one hand covering her, he deduced that they just got out from another one of their long series of argument which, this time, Lina seemed to have lost.

Matteo sighed, "remember when you told me to go to the dojo to inform Jamal's students that the session was canceled for the day?" She nodded and then he added, "they didn't want to listen and said that they could just train by themselves if Jamal couldn't make it".

"I wonder from whom did they take this habit of always acting so stubbornly and never listen to the instructions?" Lina said loud while moving her sight to Natasha, Matteo didn't understand everything but at her little smile, which seemed to him to be the occasion she was looking since all this time to get back to her.

Natasha stopped laughing and her smile disappeared, Matteo quickly carried on as he didn't want to see them starting another argument. "I left them there and went back to the apartment to give Andre the message to come here and decided to go back to the gym to try to convince them again, on the way back I ran into Volga, and after I explained to her everything she proposed to go there with me. She decided to replace Jamal and give them a short training session"

Volga continued, "after I made them sweat enough they finally got satisfied, everyone went back home. Matteo accompanied me to my apartment so I could prepare myself and here we are".

When Jamal thanked her, she revealed a proud smile as she replied, "it was my pŀėȧsurė. It reminded me of the old days when I used to haze the newcomers of my unit" she seemed to be lost in her souvenirs for a moment as she let out an evil laugh before she sighed, "what a time".

Everyone was staring at her with worried or scared eyes. Jamal suddenly turned to Matteo sounding concerned, "are my students okay?"

"I heard many of them saying they will be absent tomorrow". Volga laughed again, a bit louder than before while everyone kept the same worried gazes at her.

Lina coughed, "well, why don't we get going already. Everyone is here we wouldn't want to waste any more time," she said with a shaking smile.

Dana raised her hand and pointed at herself as to ask what she would do about her.

"You're coming too. I need to get you some new clothes" Lina wanted to add another one of her special comments but after taking a glance at Natasha and crossing sight with her, she immediately changed her mind.

The latter stood up and enthusiastically pulled out from her pocket the key of Jamal's car, showed it off before she shouted "alright let's go!"

However, she then turned her head and saw Lina closing one of the drawers of her desk and handing the key of her car to Jamal and her good mood suddenly dropped. "What are you doing?"

Lina pointed at Jamal with her thumb "we are taking my car and he's driving".

"What? That's not what we agreed".

Lina waved her index from left to right while clicking her tongue, "we agreed to let you drive, but you gotta wait some more 5 years before I let you give a ride to my man".

Natasha lowered her head looking disappointed but as Lina was already heading to the door while pulling Dana and Matteo by their arms, Jamal walked by Natasha and whispered to her that she could still have the chance to show him her driver skills on the way back, the young woman rose her head to look at him with eyes seeming to say that she was looking forward to it. Jamal smiled and winked at her before she went to follow Lina.

When Andre went to ask Volga if he could go with her, Natasha looked at Carla, passed one arm around hers, and declared, "well, I guess it's going to be only you and me for this time".

"Try to not look too much disappointed on the road otherwise you will hurt my feelings" the latter replied, referring to the fact she initially wanted to go with Jamal.

Natasha hugged her, "come on, what are you saying now? As if I would ever be disappointed to be with you" she began to pull her toward the exit as almost everyone was already out while telling her to hurry up.