Chapter - 8

"Hey, Tri, you comin' tonight?" As they made their way down the corridor from Trinity's apartment, a voice which she recognized as Nigel's asked.

Dmitri turned at the sound of the voice to see a guy who looked to be in his early twenties staring at Trinity with a dazzling smile on his face. 

Much to his annoyance Trinity flashed him a full blown grin ,"Do you even have to ask? Course I am!"

The guy laughed and nothing irritated him more than that obnoxious laugh of his, "Gee, my bad."

"So going out on a date?" The brown haired boy asked, gesturing to Dmitri, a teasing glint in his hazel eyes.

"Yes." Trinity squeaked, her cheeks turning a light shade of red.

Clearing her throat, she continued, "Nigel this is Dmitri and Dmitri, this is Nigel, my neighbor." 

"Hey man." Nigel greeted, doing that bro hug thing that Trinity never seemed to understand.

"Hey." Dmitri murmured, not liking the boy one bit, even though he hadn't done anything to him.

"Take care of her if you want your jewels intact." Nigel threatened lightly, though Trinity knew he was serious. He was protective of her like that.

"Sure, man." Dimitri laughed despite himself. "You don't have anything to worry about there." He added, looking at Trinity with concern evident in his dark eyes.

Satisfied with his response, Nigel nodded and Trinity couldn't help but notice the knowing glint in her friend's eye. She had known Nigel long enough to know that that look meant that he had seen something which she had somehow failed to notice and she furrowed her eyebrows at him, the question clear in her violet eyes. Nigel just shook his head at her with a wink and staggered off, looking pleased with himself. 

Just before he left, he turned and said, "You two make an amazing couple." He hollered, winking as he left.

It was then that Dimitri noticed the slight limp in his step. Trinity turned to look at Dimitri, still confused by Nigel's suspicious behavior only to notice Dimitri staring at Nigel's retreating figure.

"He's got a tin leg. Was in a especially bad car crash three years back and they had to take out his leg. I met him at the hospital a few days after his accident and well, let's just say he's one of the strongest person I've met." Trinity explained with a small but fond smile as she recalled the day they had first met. 

She was volunteering at the hospital that day when she had seen him trying to walk on his own when that artificial leg was first put in. He was learning to balance his weight and was about to fall face first onto the floor when she caught him. He had been devastated after his accident, it was written all over his face when he had given her a small thank you and a barely there smile. She had straight away told him that there was no need to thank her and that she was there for him.

That one sentence had meant more to him than anything else especially when he hadn't had a family to begin with and all his so called friends had abandoned him the moment they came to know that he was now crippled for life. In a moment of complete and utter weakness he had broken down right there in the hospital's hallway and while that had been something he had needed to do at that moment, now it had become a distant memory which they would have a good laugh about every once in a while.

"Oh." Was all Dmitri could say, too stunned to say anything else. The way that man carried himself, never in a million years could Dmitri have guessed that one of his legs were missing. He suddenly felt guilty for not liking him when he hadn't done anything remotely bad to him, other than threaten him, for his friend's sake that is. 

"We should get going, shouldn't we?" Trinity asked.

"Yes, we should." He replied and they left once she had looped her arm through his proffered one.

As they were walking down the stairs, since the elevator was out of order, they saw an old lady with graying hair and thick rimmed glasses perched upon her nose coming up the stairs with a small bag in her hands.

"Oh, hello, Trinity dear. I was just coming up to see you." The old lady said, smiling kindly up at her and as much as Dmitri wanted to leave the apartment without any further ado, he just couldn't bring himself to be annoyed at the old lady for delaying their departure.

"Going out on a date, are you?" She was quick to ask upon noticing Dmitri standing beside her, making Trinity's cheeks go crimson as she blushed.

"Yes, I am. This is Dimitri and Dmitri, this is Mrs Murphy. She is the owner of the diner I used to work at and she lives two doors down my apartment." She introduced and Dmitri couldn't help but notice the slightly panicked look in her violet eyes.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Murphy." Dmitri extended his hand, confused at Trinity's strange behavior.

"Likewise, dear." She shook his hand with a small smile. 

"What was it that you wanted, Mrs Murphy?" Trinity asked politely, though the tone of her voice told Dmitri that she already knew what the lady was going to say and she wasn't really looking forward to it.

"Its obvious, isn't it? I wanted ask why, exactly, did you quit your job at the diner?" Mrs Murphy asked, her wrinkled forehead creasing some more as she frowned.

Trinity stiffened beside him at her question and Dmitri turned to look at her, the question clear in his eyes as he struggled to understand her weird behavior. She pleaded with her eyes for him to get her out of this situation and though he gave her a confused look, he complied.

"Excuse me Mrs Murphy, but if you don't mind, can we please talk about this some other time? We are getting late for our reservation here." Dmitri said with an apologetic smile.

"Oh, well in that case I wouldn't keep you, go right ahead. But come talk to me once you're back, okay?" Mrs Murphy asked, looked at Trinity with pleading eyes.

"Sure Mrs Murphy." Trinity said with what she thought was a smile but judging from Dmitri's expression she was almost positive that it had come out as more of a grimace.

Bidding goodbye to the old lady, they both hurried down the stairs to Dmitri's car. It was only once Trinity was buckled in did she breathe a sigh of relief.

"So, what exactly was that?" Dmitri asked as he started driving, unable to hide his curiosity any longer.

"Take a left here." She said instead.

Doing as she said, he shot her a look which told her that she wasn't going to get out of this. Sighing, she gave in and said," I used to work at her diner as a waitress but day before yesterday, I quit the job."

"Why?"

"Her grandson, Jimmy, he is the one who usually runs the diner since she's too old to do everything on her own. He, well, he-" She trailed off, squirming uncomfortably.

"He what, milaya?" Dmitri prodded, not liking where this was going.

"He tried to rape me." She finally confessed in not more than a whisper but Dmitri heard it, quite clearly in fact.

"Chto, chert voz'mi? Etot sukin syn!" Trinity watched as Dmitri slammed the brakes and muttered furiously under his breath in a language she didn't understand, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel in anger.

"Where is that diner?! I'll fucking kill that bastard!" He seethed through clenched teeth, trying in vain to reign in his temper. The mere thought of anyone so much as laying a finger on Trinity made his blood boil and he could think of a million ways to kill that sneaky son of a bitch who thought that he could try to do that to his Trinity. 

Trinity watched as Dmitri ran his hands through his hair a few times, taking deep breaths as he did so. 

"I'll fucking kill him!" He repeated angrily. "Tell me where he is!" He demanded, turning to his side to face Trinity.

Scared at the unmasked fury blazing in his dark eyes, Trinity leaned back in her seat as much as she could, memories she'd rather forget came rushing back to her and she couldn't help the low whimper that escaped her throat. The fear was as clear as day in her violet eyes and nothing hurt Dmitri more than the fact that he was the reason she was scared as of now. 

Cursing himself internally for losing his calm like that, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He schooled his features expertly and when he opened his eyes, his face was void of all emotions, giving nothing away. 

"Did you inform the police?" His voice was eerily calm as he asked her this which made a shiver run down her spine.

Swallowing hard, she gave a monosyllabic reply,"No."

"Why?" He looked genuinely curious as he asked this but the muscle ticking in his jaw was a clear indication of the storm brewing within. Dmitri knew that Trinity was no fool so it was clear to him that there must have been a reason that she hadn't reported the sleazy bastard to the police. Though that didn't mean that he wasn't angry. He was livid, more so than before now that he knew that the little piece of shit was still roaming about freely. 

Mustering up all her courage, she spoke, glad to notice that her voice didn't waver once as she explained, "Mrs Murphy is a kind woman. If Jimmy went to jail, she'd be devastated and I don't want that. Besides, he's the only person she has left and I can't take that away from her."

"So you let him get away with it?" Dmitri exploded, his voice laced with indignation, more shocked than angry this time. The guy tried to rape her and she was letting him go just like that! Was the girl out of her ever loving mind?!

Trinity surprised him by laughing. "Of course not. I gave him a black eye and a few bruised ribs. The guy could barely walk when I was done with him. Besides, he should've known better than to come at me, especially when he was well aware of the fact that I'm a karate expert." 

"You don't look like you know karate." He stated looking almost amused now. He couldn't quite wrap his head around the fact that Trinity had actually hurt someone.

"Wanna try me?" Came her prompt reply.

"No." He laughed and just like that all his anger evaporated but that didn't mean he was going to let this Jimmy guy go just like that. Nope, not at all.