When the universe decides something, it doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing - it will find you anyway.
Maybe Yams saving Blake's life was already written in the stars. After all, Blake happened to be a gynecologist. And at that time, Yams needed a doctor more than anyone else in Malvera.
It had been a month since she discovered she was pregnant.
To hide from the assassins who wanted her dead, she took on a new identity and disappeared into one of Malvera's poorest streets - a place where even gangsters rarely came.
The building she lived in looked like a collapsing ruin from the outside - cracked walls, peeling paint, rusted iron doors. But inside, it was a different world. Someone had transformed the decaying structure into a luxurious secret hotel.
Yams had everything she needed - a cozy bedroom, a small dining room with an attached kitchen, and a bathroom. It was quiet.
Blake visited her once every week. He brought her vitamins, medicines, and the calm assurance of someone who cared. The dynamic between them had shifted - Blake had either forgotten who she was or ignored it because he was completely fascinated by the mysterious woman who had entered his life.
After weeks of quiet friendship, he finally asked,
"So... whose child is it? Mr. Black's?"
Yams stayed silent. Her eyes dropped to the floor.
After a long pause, she spoke - her voice calm, but hollow.
"My mother was a prostitute. She provided pleasure services to others, but she couldn't even remember the face of the man who changed her life. When I was born, she left that profession, but she couldn't find any other job. Then there was a bartender named Steve Calix who helped her and gave her a job at his bar. When I was three years old, my mother married Steve, but that was a mistake. He didn't take care of her, and soon she fell ill. She died when I was just seven. I stayed with Steve.
After Steve's death, I joined the Crimson Hyenas-a gang where even women could be a member."
Blake blinked.
"Crimson Hyenas? Sounds more like a sports team than a gang."
"They're gangsters, not novelists," Yams replied coldly.
Blake smiled.
"Right. Then what happened?"
-------------------------------------------------------------

[Flashback - Three Years Ago]
In the shadow of Malvera Tower, there was a restricted region- a maze of abandoned oil factories. The air smelled like rust and gasoline.
Yams and another Crimson Hyena named Eva had been sent to kill Mr. Morphin - the ruthless owner of one of those factories.
Dozens of guards patrolled the area. Yams slipped past them silently. But Eva... Eva didn't care about stealth. She stepped into the open and shouted a challenge.
Yams clenched her jaw.
"Are you insane, Eva?!"
"I don't need your help!" Eva snapped back.
The fight erupted like lightning. Yams pulled out her Gyuto knife - sleek and deadly - while Eva drew a Nakiri blade, grinning like a maniac.
The guards attacked. Eva was a blur of violence, slicing through men as if she were born for it. Yams fought cleaner, faster - every cut precise, disabling rather than killing.
When the last guard fell, they pushed into the main chamber. Mr. Morphin sat inside - surrounded by nearly a hundred men with kitchen katanas. Some wore the insignia of White Vulture and Badass Mantis - two of the deadliest gangs in Malvera.
Yams scanned the room and whispered,
"Run. Now!"
They sprinted toward the exit. The hundred men followed.
Then Eva stopped. Her eyes burned with madness. She pulled a gun from her boot and shouted,
"I will be the hand of the Crimson Hyenas!"
She opened fire.
"Eva! You fool!" Yams screamed as she kept running.
One of Eva's bullets hit an oil barrel - and the world exploded.
The blast flattened two entire factories. The ground trembled, glass shattered, fire bloomed across the sky. Eva was gone. Eva's recklessness had doomed her-but ironically, she still completed the mission by killing Mr. Morphin. And Yams was thrown into the dirt, her body bleeding, vision fading.
A boy named Adrian Smith, who was passing by, saw her and, though terrified, decided to help. He carried her to his home.
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When she woke up, she was lying under a blanket. She saw Adrian and immediately checked herself to make sure nothing had happened. Adrian said,
"Don't worry. I didn't do anything."
Her eyes snapped open. Adrian stood nearby, nervous but kind.
"Who are you?" she asked sharply.
"Adrian. Adrian Smith. I sell meat." He smiled awkwardly.
Yams tried to get up but winced - a sharp pain ran across her back.
"Can you stitch this wound?"
Adrian froze.
"I... I can't. I can't stand blood."
"You sell meat!" she shouted.
"I only sell it! I don't cut it!"
Yams glared at him.
"Don't be a jerk. Just do it."
Adrian swallowed hard, grabbed a needle, and tried. His hands shook so badly that Yams kept hissing through her teeth,
"Slowly, you jerk!"
Somehow, he finished. When it was done, she slipped on her jacket and headed for the door.
"Hey!" he called after her. "Aren't you forgetting something? A thank you?"
Yams turned slowly, her cold eyes locking onto him.
"You want a thank you?"
She stepped closer - just close enough for him to feel her breath - and stared at him for a long, tense moment. Then she turned and left without another word.
---
A few days later, when Adrian walked into his room, he froze.
Yams was already there - sitting calmly, waiting.
"You again?" he asked.
"I just wanted to talk," she said.
That was how it began. Their quiet conversations - three times a week, every week - two strangers from different worlds, finding something human in the middle of chaos.
---
[Flashback will continue in the next part...]