Seven years ago, North Building, Main Department.
"Sir, there is a small girl who wants to meet you. She is claiming that she is your niece." A security guard, guarding the entrance of the boss's room told him.
"Niece? Let her in then." The boss replied.
The door closed and after a few minutes, a small girl with jet-black hair and eyes entered. She was only eight and she came without her parents. It was well-known why she came.
"Aefia? I didn't know you meant it seriously. Does your father know? Maybe your mother?" The boss asked her.
"No. I have thought through the disadvantages you told me about. I am willing to take the risk. I don't really care about my own wellness when it comes to my unborn brother's safety. I had enough with the abuse from a young age. I don't want my little brother to suffer the same fate as me." Aefia replied.
"I understand. But you will be hurt unevenly. And more to that, you are still a kid and you need custody."
"But uncle, you can act as my guardian. This is your industry and I am your wife's brother's daughter. I believe you can work out the way your rules work. I am not asking for much, I am eight and I want to learn self-defense."
"Aefia...I am worried about how you will get here everyday. Your parents will find out somehow."
"Then you can teach me tricks from the first day! That way, I can move without my parents noticing! I don't care about how much trouble I will be in!" Aefia cried. Her two ponytails covered her face.
"Alright. Give me a day, then I will manage a way for you to come here. But you do know that we all are just Mafias. Do you want to be a bad person when you grow up?"
"To be good means to be bad first. A true good person can only emerge from a once bad person, are you truly bad? You kill people, but you kill your enemies only. In this world, everyone is everyone's enemies."
"When it comes to thinking, you always win. You know what Aefia? I have the perfect position for you here in this department. You will be one of my few subordinates."
"Alright!" Aefia skipped around the room in happiness. Her uncle, the boss, carried her on his back and walked downstairs. He bought her chips and candies to finish eating before heading back home.
It was surprising for her uncle to hear such a young child like her wanting to be one of his employees. Her basic skills, like fast thinking and finding missing pieces were perfect for the empty position that has been in that state for years now. With Aefia in his team, cases would be much easier to solve.
"Home is twenty-five minutes far, did you get help from your driver?"
"Yes! He persuaded mom and dad to allow me to go to the brand new amusement park. I will stay there for five minutes before going back home to trick my parents into thinking I really went there. Although yes, I will get my punishment for it, it can't be avoided." Young Aefia explained.
"I will go with you to the amusement park. Then, we can take you back home so your parents don't say anything."
"Well, even if you go with me back home, the fact doesn't change that I won't get my punishment. As I said, it can't be avoided. Even when I die, my parents may hurt my dead body." Aefia looked down.
"You are right. I have seen other parents abuse their child but...," her uncle thought, I have barely seen a biological child get this harshly abused before. Her luck would have been better if she were in a foster home by now. They are less gruesome than her home. No wonder she is worried about her unborn brother.
***
"Boss, the others are waiting in the meeting room." A servant wearing a black suit and sunglasses with an earpiece came by. Aefia's uncle turned around to face the servant.
"Good. Every of my subordinates are there?"
"Yes. Everyone from your personal subordinates."
"Alright, I will come down in a minute." He moved away from the table he was sitting at. While grabbing the coat, he walked towards the door with the servant following him. "Don't follow me," he told the servant.
"But sir..." Aefia's uncle waved him away. "Understood, sir."
After the servant left, he took a turn to head towards his mananger's office. "I want you to design a contract with the following terms. Also can you design a badge too? Make it small enough to fit a child's wrist. We are recruiting a new member soon."
The manager nodded and continued with his work as Aefia's uncle continued on with his walk towards the meeting room. The hallway was made to represent the hallway used in his own mansion. It was full of pictures, one of them was with Aefia.
I don't know how you ended up in this situation. If I knew their scheme earlier, I would have arrived sooner to catch them redhanded but work said otherwise.
He entered the room which was dark with a single light bulb illuminating on top of each of the members' heads. They were each holding a yellow folder with 'confidential' written on it.
"So are we really getting a new member in that specific field of job? It is highly dangerous and it needs intense training and suffering. Not only that, they also need to be highly intelligent." A member spoke.
"Yes, I know all that. Besides, the new member is more competitent then all of you lazy bones combined. With them, the entire company would become highly recognized in a small amount of time." Aefia's uncle replied.
"Wow, I would really like to meet this so-called person in real life. You do know that we all are Mafias here, right?" Another member spoke. There were eight members in total.
"This is my company and I know how well that person would be. I have seen that person grow and suffer since they were born. I don't think there should be anymore unnecessary questions then." He replied.
Just when, the door slammed open and a kid came running in with a servant running behind her. She ran straight to the boss's direction and hugged his leg.
"Kid! I told you the..." The servant said while huffing near the door.
The boss looked down at the kid. Due to the low light, her features were a bit blurry. Her hair outline showed that she was indeed a family member.
He took the kid outside in bright light and looked down. It was his niece, Aefia. Her hair was black with redish ends. Her hair was pulled down and wet with sticky dried places too. She looked up at her uncle.
"I told you...it can't be avoided. I ran here. I got lost and ran with the full power of my memory. Mom and dad had locked me in my room. I escaped through the window." Aefia spoke. She looked up.
Blood fell from her forehead to the end of her face and wet her dress's collar. She was badly injured, as it showed. "You ran here! You are only eight!"
Her uncle carried her on his back and gathered his bodyguards to accompany him to the nearest hospital. My brother and sister-in-law are both mad to the depths of their brains.
Meanwhile, back at the Main Department's meeting rooms, the members were sent back to their individual missions while the boss was away. "He says we aren't competitive enough, and he runs behind a young girl who simply barges into this room." The members laughed among themselves.
***
"Does it hurt?" Her uncle asked her after the operation was complete. There were in total four wounds with each wound needing at least five stitches.
"It doesn't. I have gone through it so many times that it has become a new norm for me." The young Aefia smiled back. Her black hair was still slick with dried blood.
"If I go and talk to your parents, will it work? Or you can stay with your cousins for tonight."
"I don't prefer either. But I can't tell you to not do what you want. You are an adult and my senior and I should listen and respect my seniors. I can't tell them what to do."
"But that is simply trapping you from showing your true talents. You are in fact a brilliant child and at your age, no child would have the courage to run to a Mafia's headquarters with a wound. By the way, how did you climb down the eleventh floor?"
"I hoped out of my window and landed in the extra piece of extended floor right outside of the window. I was terrified at first. Then I started to walk to my right while leaning against the wall and flattening my both hands against it.
"Then I climbed onto the corridor to the elevator and took the elevator downstairs where I hid behind a tall man and got away."
"That's...you could have killed yourself!" Her uncle scolded her.
"But how else would I have been able to get here to get help from you?" Aefia remained smiling. Seeing her uncle's worried face, she neutralized her expression. "You are the only family member who seems to know me well and are not jealous of my statues. You may be a well-known bad guy to the others, but you are a kind enough to bring me to the hospital."
I have my reasons. I have a huge secret that the whole family has kept from you. But I doubt you already know. And I will also tell you someday.
"I am sorry for running into your meeting room today. I am sincerely sorry." Aefia said while walking away from her uncle, uncertain of where to go.
"Aefia, do you know where you are going?" Her uncle asked while following her.
"I have three places in mind. One is the streets, I rather not go home if I fear of my parents finding out. Two is home, if I want to give it a try." Aefia paused.
"And the third?" Her uncle asked.
"To another life. If I somehow end up in an accident on my way home." Aefia stopped and looked down.
Her uncle thought for a while. In order to consider Aefia for the position he had in mind, he would need to test her. "So if you want to carry out option two, what would you do? I will help you if you want. Actually, don't tell me, show me."
Aefia nodded while walking towards a chatting doctor. She tugged at his sleeve, causing his attention to drift to her. The doctor looked down. "Hi, you are that patient from a few minutes ago. Is there any sort of pain?"
"First of all, thank you for your help. Secondly, can you remove the stitches and bandages?" Aefia asked.
The doctor was taken aback. He looked at her uncle who came along with her. Her uncle nodded as a sign of approval. "Well, sure. But it will hurt even more." The doctor lead the young Aefia back to the operation theatre.
***
The door bell rang at Aefia's place while her mom was cleaning up the house. They made sure there was no speck of red left. The door bell rang vigorously as if a police was outside.
Aefia's mom dropped the mop and ran to the door. She thought of what Aefia was up to and decided to open the door. "Sir, no one.." she stopped talking when she saw who it was.
"I am so sorry brother, I just didn't think anyone would come at this hour unless it was a police." Aefia's mom started speaking in panic.
"Oh it's ok, it's nine only, you and my brother-in-law would always have guest at this hour." Aefia's uncle replied.
"No, it's also Sunday night, no one comes at this hour on this day."
"Oh, but we family members do."
"No I mean.."
"Anyway, I wanted to meet my niece and you both of course."
"Sure, you should come in," Aefia's mom panicked further. She opened the door wider and her uncle entered while walking straight to the direction of Aefia's room.
"Oh she is sleeping, please don't enter!"
"I am the boss of a Mafia group, no one tells me to stop." Her uncle gave a frightening look at her mom. Her mom didn't intervene any further.
Her uncle knocked at the door but Aefia didn't open it. The door was locked and he used a lockpick to open it. Inside, Aefia was sitting on the floor in a pool of blood with her face down.
She was too tired to continue so she fit in as sleeping into the act. She was indeed clever and knew how to adapt changes into situations in a matter of seconds. And her changes made the work easier.
"So you are telling me, she is sleeping? She is only eight and she is already into self-harm?" Her uncle asked.
"Self-harm?" Her mom went to take a look. There was a knife right beside where Aefia was sitting. Her mom was shocked and barged into the room.