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ngela felt the cold winter air colliding with her body as she began to walk faster, through the narrow street and past the abandoned buildings. The last time she was here, her hand was held in his, and she felt warmth washing over her body. This time around, her heart felt heavy as she pushed through past the buildings until her eyes landed on a sign that was glistening across the street.
The pizza place...
She tucked her hands into the pocket of her coat as she rushed towards the building. It was empty once again, and the sound of the bell went off as soon as she made her way inside. Her eyes landed on the same old lady with light silver hair behind the counter. She rushed towards the counter, and there was a shy smile pasted across the woman's face as she spoke up in a warm and welcoming tone.
"I thought I wouldn't see you again, dear."
Angela smiled the best she could; she leaned over the counter and spoke up in a low tone.
"I know it may be too much to ask for, but could you maybe give him a call and...?"
Angela wasn't done speaking yet when the woman smiled; she waved her hands in the air as if she was asking Angela to stop talking. She shook the girl's words out of sight as she pointed towards the outdated-looking cell phone in her hands as she spoke up in her shaky voice filled with excitement.
"Go take a seat; I will get the order started and have your man by your side in no time."
Angela felt her cheeks slowly turning pink. She felt a wave of anxiety as she turned to the woman and spoke.
“What if he doesn’t show up?”
The woman raised her eyebrows, and suddenly a look of anger washed over her face; she spoke in a mocking tone.
"Take a seat, dear; I will see to it that he shows up."
Angela thanked the woman and made her way over to the corner table by the window where she had sat with David on the other side. She sighed. With each second that passed, she felt more nervous. She was almost so sure that he wouldn't show up she was lost in her thoughts. She replayed the memories in the back of her mind, the way the girl with the light pink hair had told her to back off.
Angela felt her whole body freezing when she heard the little bell above the door ringing. The sound spread through the restaurant and she froze up; she didn't want to turn around because she was afraid of what she would see on the other side. She saw a glimpse of the old woman's face from the corner of her eye. The woman winked, and it confirmed her suspicions. Before she even had the chance to register what was going on, the smell of familiar cologne filled the area around her. It was strong, and it was pushing her back to the memory from the rooftop, the first time she had seen him.
“I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”
The words just fell from her mouth without even thinking twice.
“I didn’t think you would come.”
She looked up, and there he was.
He stood by the table with a dark-colored winter coat placed on his shoulders. His cheeks were flushed, and his eyes looked distant, like he was lost in his thoughts. She took a deep breath as she looked up at him and spoke in a gentle tone; she was trying to avoid his gaze. She knew there was a lot between them that had still not been resolved as she tried her best to remain calm.
He spoke up immediately without even taking a single second.
"It's you; I could never leave you hanging."
Angela gulped; she felt the same shock of emotion rushing through her veins, but she knew she had to stop it and get to the point; she kept telling herself that there was still no proof that he was innocent.
Angela sighed as she dismissed what he had said, even though his words had a great effect on her, she wasn't willing to show it just yet.
"There was a girl, she came to visit me, and she said that you didn't have anything to do with..."
Before she could go on, she had to stop herself; a plate of pizza was placed before her. As the old man backed away, David made sure to thank him. He turned back to her, and his eyes landed directly on her. Her heart skipped a beat when her eyes met his; the golden-brown color seemed to be a weakness. David gestured towards the seat on the opposite side of the table and spoke gently.
“May I?
Angela nodded her head; her eyes were glued to him. She watched as he carefully shrugged off the winter coat from his shoulders and sat down close to her. Her breath hitched as he placed his hand on the surface of the glass table, and Angela fought the urge to hold his hand; she shrugged the thought out of her mind, and she was brought back to the given moment when he spoke up again.
“Is there a specific reason you called me here?”
Angela gulped; she placed both her hands on the surface of the large glass table as she spoke.
“The girl with the pink hair, who is she? Did you send her?”
David's eyes widened. He pulled away from her, and the words fell from his mouth; she could tell he hadn't even thought it over as the concern was visible by the look on his face.
“May? She came to see you?”
Angela was glad she could finally put a name to the face. Angela nodded her head as she spoke.
"The girl kept insisting for me to pull the case away. She said that you didn't do anything. You admitted it to me, didn't you?"
David turned away from her as if he didn't even want to look at her anymore; he seemed distracted and lost in his thoughts like he wasn't focused at all. She watched as his chest heaved up and down; he folded his arms over his chest and spoke in a low tone.
"The story is long and complicated; that day when you came to my office, I begged you to stay so I could explain it all to you, but you refused to stay. By the time it hit me, what you were about to do, you had already done it."
He trailed off. He still wasn't looking at her, and it had started to bother her. She shook her head as the anger spread through her body mixed with confusion.
"What is that supposed to mean? David, we're talking about a murder here; an innocent boy's life was taken."
She noticed that he still wasn't looking her in the eyes. She took a deep breath. She was starting to get angered by his behavior, and she spoke up out of anger right away.
“David, why won’t you look at me?”
She was suddenly shaken by his behavior; he abruptly stood up and grabbed his coat; his eyes were still glued to the ground, and this time, he spoke in a rushed tone.
"Get up; let's go for a walk."
She had a feeling that he wasn't going to take no for an answer, so she grabbed her own coat from the back of the chair. David waved at the woman behind the counter, and he rushed towards the door. Angela tried her best to keep up with him. She followed him, and as soon as they made their way out into the street, she felt a wave of cold air colliding with her skin. She shivered, but she tried her best not to show it.
She had barely made her way out on the open road when she stopped in her steps; David turned around; he came face-to-face with her and she almost knocked into him, but she tried her best to keep her distance. She was shocked by the way he suddenly stopped; her eyes landed on him, and her breath hitched.
He reached for a thick woolen scarf around his neck and carefully wrapped it around hers. His hands tugged at her body, and as she was pulled closer to him, he whispered under his breath so close to him as he spoke.
“So you don’t end up freezing out here.”
For a moment, she felt as if the same old David was back; she watched the empathy flashing across his eyes, and her breath hitched. She was so close to him there were merely a few inches between the two of them. She cleared her throat, and both of them were pulled back to the current moment.
David pulled his eyes away from her and began to walk towards the narrow street ahead. For a moment, there was silence between them. She waited; she felt like there was no room for her to say anything; the weight was falling upon David's shoulders. After a few moments, he finally spoke up.
"Look, I know that right now, you have no reason to believe me or even think of trusting me, but the fact that you are here gives me hope. Maybe, just maybe, you will want to hear me out."
He turned to face her from the corner of his eyes, and Angela nodded her head as she spoke up.
"I had a feeling from the start that there was something off about the whole case. David, I really want to believe you're innocent, but you need to tell me the whole story; by that, I mean everything."
She was firm with her words; she wanted him to know that the time for playing around and giving her half of the truth was over; it was now time to be honest with her.
Angela was being as serious as she possibly could be, but she felt her breath hitch, and she forgot what she was even talking about when something out of the ordinary happened; she felt David's hand slowly slipping into hers, and his grip tightened as their fingers were now intertwined. Angela gulped as she looked up and her eyes met with his, and this time he had a softer look written across his face. He seemed calmer.
They were walking across the street under the soft glow of the streetlights, and she heard him draw in a deep breath, and she waited for him to exhale. After which, he began to speak, and she paid full attention to what he was saying, almost afraid of what she was about to find out.
"As you may already know, I'm not really someone who had a fancy upbringing or childhood; I'm not someone with parents who handed everything to me or spoon-fed me. I had to grow up on my own in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in all of Brooklyn so far."
He paused for a moment to take another breath, and Angela stayed silent. There was really nothing to find on David's childhood in the press, but from what she had heard so far, it seemed that he had spent a lot of time in foster homes. Angela didn't dare touch the subject; instead, she walked alongside him quietly, waiting until he finally began to speak up once again.
"May, the girl who went knocking on your door, was my foster sister, the only family I have, actually. She's a kid, but she's been through a lot, and she is definitely tougher than she looks."
Angela nodded her head; being a lawyer, she was good at reading people, and May seemed like someone who was good at keeping a poker face when needed. A gush of cold air collided with their bodies, and Angela shivered a little again; she felt his hand tightening into hers, and it was almost like his touch was enough to bring her instant warmth. A few seconds passed in silence until he began to speak again.
"I met May when I was just fourteen; she was around nine at the time. The foster parents weren't great, but we had worse before them, so we weren't complaining. Things seemed fine until one day, May accidentally walked into a meeting she was supposed to be far from. Our foster dad was involved in gangs, drugs, the black market, and anything illegal; you name it."
Angela gulped; she could sense the pain lingering at the end of his tone; with each word he spoke, she could tell just how hard it was for him to open up in the first place. She kept her focus on him as he continued to speak after a short pause.
"When the person he was trading with saw her by the door, he wanted her gone. The foster parents promised they would send her away, maybe to another house, but the gang wasn't really satisfied with the promise."
“I could tell just by the way the deal was made; I was a child, but it was no secret that I had grown up on the streets; I could see trouble before it even arrived."
He stopped on his way in the middle of the sidewalk, and Angela knew he was close to breaking down. He looked away from her, but his body was practically shaking; she gently rested her hand upon the small of his back; his eyes remained glued to the stone pathway as he spoke in a mere whisper.
"I'm sorry, it's just I don't think I have ever really told anyone any of this out loud."
Angela felt a small fraction of her heart practically breaking at his words. She took a deep breath and kept her hand on the small of his back as she spoke in the gentlest manner she possibly could.
"Hey, David, it's okay. You can take your time. There's no rush. And I know it's hard to believe this right now, but you can trust me."
He squeezed his eyes shut, and she knew that it was hard for him to go on. Angela's eyes landed on a bench across the street with the warm glow of the streetlight above glowing directly onto the bench. She took him by the arm as she pointed towards the bench and spoke up in a slight whisper.
"Let's go have a seat and talk about this; how does that sound?"
He seemed to be distant once again like he was lost in his thought or memories. He offered her a slight nod, and it was enough for her she began to pull him across the street slowly.
The streetlight above them was flickering slowly; the light-yellow shade of warmth was falling upon them. There they sat next to each other with merely a few inches between the two of them. Angela was fighting the urge to reach over and grab his hand. Instead, she just gently rubbed his back with her palm as he continued to speak.
"I had to protect her, Angela; she was the only family I had at the time. I knew I had to do something. I couldn't just let them take her away."
He drifted off once again, his voice was filled to the brim with emotion, and Angela felt her heart skipping a beat. She turned to face him even though his eyes were fixated on the ground. She spoke up out of worry.
“David? What did you do?”
