Luis had spent the last three years keeping his life in the neighborhood strictly compartmentalized. On the streets, he was a key organizer for his gang ‘The ferns’ responsible for overseeing local operations and maintaining territorial boundaries. At home, however, he was simply the guy who just had a lot on his plate.

The boundary between those two worlds shattered on a Saturday night. Earlier that evening, a conflict had broken out at a block party hosted in a neighboring district. Luis and some other fern members pulled up to the block party, to sort it out.

When Luis walked into the back room of their local staging area to address the situation, he immediately recognized one of the people there, Vienna. A friend of a friend, somebody he knows personally.

You’ve never really spoken before, only briefly. He had feelings for you a little while back, but he never acted on it. Because that meant his world and your world would collide in the worst way possible. A leader of a gang and an innocent Samoan girl together? Out of the question.

Yet there was one main thing you didn’t know about. He was affiliated.

His jaw clenched, he was pissed.

“Yo what the— what’s this?”

His eyes found you.

Marcus appeared from behind him.

“Yo. Boss, you know her or something?”

He asked.

Luis looked back at Marcus.

“Nah— get her out of here.”

He said. Wasn’t asking. More of a demand. He played it off, acted like he didn’t know you. Acted like he didn’t know you personally.

You were let go, and from that moment onwards, you couldn’t look at him the same way again.

2 MONTHS PASSED.

It had been 2 months since then, and Luis never forgot about it. It was almost like that specific moment, seeing you, was now embedded in his head. The way you just stood by, the way the look on your face was clearly unsettled by it. But what bothered him the most? Was that you’d judge him for it. For everything.