Blaze woke up to laughter and people speaking in Spanish. The familiar face of a young girl sitting beside his bed was the first thing he saw. She now wore a jersey jacket over her frilly dress and was smirking at him.
“¡Por fin te has despertado!” (You’re finally awake!)
“Are you disappointed? Did you want me to sleep forever?”
The young girl’s eyes widened. “You understand Spanish?”
“No.”
“But you answered me.”
“Yeah because…” Blaze himself was surprised but he couldn’t deny that he somehow understood her.
Everyone in the room fell silent, save for the local TV news reporting about a shooting incident in Intramuros’ streets earlier that day.
The young girl turned to about a dozen men who were crowding the room. They were the men in tuxedos who had grabbed her at the festival. “How long do all of you intend to stay?”
“Tu hermano quería que nos quedáramos en caso de que te volvieras a meter en problemas,” (Your brother wanted us to stay in case you got in trouble again) said one of the guys, while all the others agreed. They probably would have kept going if they had not been interrupted by the young girl’s loud voice.
“Tell this to Cidro, if he really wants me to stop running into trouble, then he should stop making enemies instead of having you lot guard me! How could he dare think that I’d be safe and happy—?”
“This is bad!” one of the men said, dashing for the door. Everyone else followed.
“Let’s escape before our ears start aching,” Blaze heard another say before everyone got out of the room.
The girl crossed her arms. “What? The nerve of these guys…” She followed them out of the door. “Go to hell!” she shouted, then returned to the room only after being scolded by a nurse.
Sure enough, the men who left proved themselves correct. A few minutes later, Blaze’s ears were ringing from the young girl's incessant talk about her family, her troubles, and practically everything there was to know about her.
Listening to her made him chuckle though. He usually found talkative girls annoying, but strangely enough, he was fine with this girl. However, thanks to all the information she had told him, he wished he had left her alone after all.
Why, why? Out of all the rich girls to save, why a mafia boss’ daughter?
The young girl sighed. “I don’t want to have anything to do with my brother anymore. That’s why I decided to live here in the Philippines. But that idiot followed me, bringing all his idiot men and enemies along with him. I hope that once I get to Cebu he’ll leave me alone. You see, we have a different father, and my mom’s first husband is my brother’s father. My mom supports my brother and her previous husbands.” She paused and shook her head. “But my dad doesn’t support my mom and brother's illegal activities which is why my parents divorced.”
“Uh.” Blaze nodded unenthusiastically. If his entire body hadn’t been aching from all the beating he had taken, he would have loved to escape from there. It was no use staying by this girl's side. Rather than reward him, her family would just beat him up even more if he tried to ask for compensation. Blaze sighed inwardly. Good thing he wouldn’t be paying for the hospital fees. Anyway, he still had the wallets he had stolen plus the one he owned. It was the first thing the girl who continued to blabber in front of him showed Blaze after her bodyguards left.
“Ah!” the girl shouted. “How could I forget something so important?” She stood up, placed her hand on her chest, and recited her kilometer-long name, “I’m Luella Marie Gonzalez Mondragon. Lu, for short.”
Wow, even her last name sounds like a mafia name.
Luella smiled proudly. “You probably don’t know it, but I’m the daughter of Dragon Merchandise’s CEO. That’s why, for attempting to save me, you…” Luella tilted her head to the side. “What’s your name?”
“Number Three.”
“You, Number Three—what kind of name is that?”
Blaze kept quiet. He never thought introducing himself to someone would hurt him. It was probably due to the fact that he had never really needed to say his name before. Each time he was asked, he would just invent a name, but Luella had made him forget.
“Anyway, Number Three, for your bravery, you will be rewarded with a job! So you won’t have to go and pick—”
“No thanks. I have no plan to work for the mafia.” Blaze turned his back on Luella and for the first time told someone everything about his past. “For that reason I can’t—”
The sobbing behind him made him turn around, and it shocked him to see Luella drying her tears with the sleeve of her jacket.
Luella patted his shoulders. “Don’t worry, Number Three. My dad isn’t with the mafia. Dragon Merchandise is a legit business. We have products all over the Philippines. We even have import-export transactions to Spain. I’m sure my dad will be more than willing to help you.”
“Oh.” Blaze’s mind immediately raced, thinking of all the possibilities and fortune that could fall into his hands if he played his cards right. Blaze smiled gently, cleverly hiding his real intention. “In that case… I’ll leave myself in your hands, miss.”
“Call me Lu.”
“Not a chance.”
“Why?”
“Ella suits a little girl better.”
Luella frowned. “Would you stop talking to me like I’m a kid? Otherwise I’ll punch you!”
Blaze laughed. “Please don’t. I already received enough punches. Besides, what’s wrong with calling a little girl a little girl?”
“I’m fifteen!”
Blaze’s eyes widened. He had been sure Luella was about ten or eleven years old. She had a flat chest. But if she was fifteen, even better. Blaze took Luella’s hand and kissed the back of it. “Sorry, I didn’t realize. You’re just so cute I thought you were much younger.”
Luella pulled her hand back, blushing all the way to her ears as she cleared her throat. “Fine, call me Ella. But—” she pointed at him “—you can’t keep using Number Three. Before we go and meet my dad you need a new name. So start thinking of a name that you want to be registered as.” Luella’s face mellowed. “That name will mark your new start.”
“Then why don’t you give me one, Ella?”
Luella flashed him a bold smile. “Blaze! Just like a burning flame, burn your past away and live a new life from now on as Blaze Romano.” And so, from that day on, Number Three became known as Blaze Romano.