583 His Occupation
âIâm back!â
Mimi hollered just as her mother pulled and crushed her into her arms.
âYou are finally home!â Her mother celebrated, the both of them jumping up and up just before her father came into view and she broke out of her motherâs arms to go embrace her father.
âDaddy!â
âMy beautiful daughter!â The man opened his arms and Mimi ran into it, embracing the man tightly. No offense to her mother, but she missed her father so much and she relished his affection knowing that he would be disappointed in her soon.
âVictor!â
Mimiâs eyes popped open at once when she heard her mother and she pulled out of her fatherâs arms.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
âHi Hannah,â Victor flashed his goofy smile at her.
âOh come here, you silly boy!â Hannah embraced him, patting his shoulder, âIâve missed seeing you around when youâre not sneaking into my daughterâs room.â
.....
A shocked silence saturated the place while Victor and Mimiâs jaws nearly dropped to the ground. They turned to Hannah shapely with wide eyes. How did she...? No, no, the proper question should be, she knew all this while?
Victor and Mimi tried to explain at the same time,
âHannah, I-I-I... It wasnât intentional...â
âMother, we were going to tell you ...â
âOh please,â Hannah chortled, flipping her hair dramatically, âBefore I was your mother, I was a young woman too.â She knew all of her adventures.
Mimi pressed her lips together and turned to Victor for answers, not that he had any to offer. He means this wasnât part of the plan. Hannah dropped the bomb on them.
Hannah moved to her husband and placed her head on his shoulder as the man stood straighter, puffing out his chest with pride. His gaze connected with Victorâs, clearing his throat expectantly.
Victor was jostled into action as he stepped forward, hurriedly introducing himself, âIâm Victor Luciano, sir...â He looked at Mimi, âAnd your daughterâs boyfriend.â He thrust out his hand for a handshake.
But the man looked him up and down in an assessing way before finally enveloping his palm firmly.
Ouch, he had a strong grip, Victor noted.
âCall me, Roger,â The man said.
âYep, Roger that.â Victor joked, only to see his expression change and he gulped fearfully. Perhaps, he shouldnât have said that. Some people do not take jokes lightly, right?
What has he done?
Victor slowly looked to Mimi for help but she shook her head, he was on his own.
To their shock, Mimiâs father suddenly burst into loud laughter, patting Victor on his shoulder hard while lost in happiness and Victor tried to keep up cheerfully albeit nervously. He thought Daniel was scary, but it seems there are different versions of scary.
âAye, this lad is a funny one.â Roger was delighted. He pointed to Mimi, âYou did a good job by catching this one, heâs a fine wine and better than the previous flies hovering around you,â
âThey are called ex-boyfriends, father, not flies.â Mimi sighed.
âAlright, no more nit-picking,â Hannah interfered, âI made a lot of food and they are to be eaten by humans, not the damn flies,â
âAnd yet you always tell me to mind my language,â Mimi pointed out the impartiality.
âGet married and you can make your own rules,â Hannah was smug as she led them into the dining room.
âDonât worry, mother, Iâm pregnant. So marriage is a given,â Mimi said of course in her mind. She would break the news to her family after theyâd eaten. That way, her mother wouldnât be able to chase her with a full stomach.
The men were the first to settle down as Mimi helped her mother dish out the food and settled down when they were done.
âBefore we eat, can someone say grace? Anyone?â Hannah looked at him, âVictor?â
âSure,â He smiled.
The whole family held hands as Victor began, âBless this food to our bodies, Lord, and let us hold you in our hearts. In Jesusâ name, we pray, Amen.â
âAmen!â They chorused.
Done, they picked their utensils and dug into their food just as Hannah began with her interrogation,
âI didnât know you were religious?â
âTable manners, Mom.â Mimi reminded her. To be precise, she was trying to save Victor from her intense questioning.
âWe have a guest, itâs right that we keep him entertained,â of course, her father was quick to defend his wife.
With Mimiâs complaint overruled, Hannah turned her whole attention to her future son-in-law. If only she knew that âfutureâ was kind of around the corner.
Seeing her inquisitive look, Victor knew that the woman wanted an answer to her question.
âOh, Iâm catholic. Although, Iâve been backsliding lately, having not gone to church for a while. And yes, that can be rectified,â if thatâs the condition for marrying your daughter, he added in his mind. He would do anything her parents wanted just to marry their daughter.
âOh, Iâm sure, Mimi wouldnât mind accompanying you to the church this Sunday?â Hannah said.
Mimi turned to her, âI do?â
Her mother gave her an impassive expression.
âOf course, I do.â
Mimi wanted to tell her mother not to try so hard in shipping her with Victor, it was already sailing strongly and a new one would be sailing on board nine months later. Not to mention the ship would wreck once they hear of it.
âSo what do you do for a living Victor?â Roger asked him.
Mimi and Victorâs eyes met across the table, tensed, however, he assured her he could take care of it. He is a man and it was his responsibility to take care of situations like this one.
âHonestly, I do a bit of everything, sir.â He answered.
âCare to elaborate,â Roger had his full attention on him this time. If it wasnât for the fact his wife had told him a bit about Victor, he would have thought he was jobless.
Victor scratched the side of his face, how was he going to put this? Well, he had to give the man something.
So he said,
âIâm not trying to boast or anything, but my family is a bit well off [ A known crime family]. My cousin is the CEO
[Mafia Don] and I am his advisor [Consigliere]. Itâs my job to sniff out potential businesses [partners], secure properties [weapons], and follow it up
[Services delivered]. â He gave them a censored version of his occupation.