Gonna by reposting all of my recent works that I've shared on A03. Since I might as well be updating the stuff I do here. For the record, I'm no longer bothered to try requesting for new fandom categories here because the last time I did I no longer receive any response indicating that my request has been accepted/included.

So for any new updates on the available categories that may be opened in the future, do tell me if they updated so I can reassign the related fics to the proper categories.

Famiglia

o

o

He wasn't planning to stay long in this god-forsaken place. He definitely wasn't planning to cosy up to anyone in this Geumga Plaza.

All he wanted... was to recover the gold that was hidden underneath the lot that currently served as a Buddhist temple at the Geumga Plaza and he hoped to be able to do that without any unnecessary and bothersome casualties, which would've made it even more troublesome JUST to recover the said gold stash. And then he'll live the rest of his life elsewhere, without care about whatever the rest of the world would be doing. He's certainly wasn't planning to get close to anyone from the plaza, much less acting like some do-gooder adults scolding kids from doing bad things or pretending to be some benevolent saint or righteous lawyer.

Yet this old guy... this Hong Yu-chan old man! Why couldn't he stop himself from worrying about this old man?

"May I ask you something? What's the story behind your law firm's name?"

"I don't defend my clients. I become their last straw, their 'jipuragi'. When they don't have anyone to lean on, they can still grab onto me. I'm their last straw."

He never intended to get himself deeply involved with anyone when he came to this country. He just wanted to finish his business here, and set out on a totally different life elsewhere and live a carefree life! He already had enough of this country anyway, ever since the first day he stepped into this Republic of Korea and get robbed without any warning. Why would he want to have anything to do with anyone here... when almost every single bad memories he had ever experienced had happened while he was in this country?

"If she was on the final stage... she must've been in a lot of pain, right?"

"If you were curious, you should've asked your mom yourself."

He hasn't planned to start caring about anyone... much less this old lawyer who also happened to be the same public defender that tried to help his mother find justice. It's wasn't also because of his mother. Like who would want to care about the mother who had abandoned him as a child, much less someone who didn't even want to be helped? Who would want to care about someone who worried more about his mother's wellbeing than he was?

But he was still annoyed. Because seeing Lawyer Hong recklessly diving into danger bothered him a lot!

And as much as he didn't want to think about it, day by day... Lawyer Hong kept reminding him of things about a certain someone whom he didn't want to think too much now. Because it still hurt him so much. To remember.

Why did Lawyer Hong have to have so much similarity to that person? To his 'Papa'?

"Vincenzo. While I may not be as good to you as Marco and his wife ever did, I'll try to take responsibility and raise you as one of my own. Will you come home with me?"

"...together, we should be able to overcome this sadness..."

"Remember Vincenzo... even if you and I lived this kind of life, there are certain values that we must uphold. The other family may not hold the same values as us... but we shall not lose ours in favour of some short-lived glory. It's what makes us... the Cassano family who we are."

He had almost forgotten everything about his old life, all of the memories he had when he was still a child. But there was one memory that he couldn't quite erase from his mind. Ever.

The day when he was left at the Gudam church by his mother when he was little. Back then, before leaving... his mother made a promise to him that she would come back for him later on. So he should wait for her until then. He had trusted those words! But his mother never came back.

He had waited for his mother ever since that day. He had prayed in the church for his mother to come back for him. But the prayers weren't answered. And one day, a nun brought over an Italian couple to meet him. They wanted to take him as their adopted son. Funny, wasn't it? Why would he be adopted by some strangers? When he still had a mother who should come back for him.

The couple kept trying to convince him to go home with them. Despite how many times he told them that he wanted to wait for his mother. But then the nun told him that his mother had let go of her parental rights over him. So that was why he had lived at the orphanage next to the church since then. Yet, that Italian couple had taken a liking to him and wanted to shower him with love the way his mother could not give him any longer.

In the end, he decided to follow the couple back to Italy. Because his mother never came back since. The couple that took him in, had given him a new name.

Vincenzo.

Vincenzo Cassano. It was the name that his foster father, Marco Cassano had chosen for him.

Ever since then, the only family he ever considered to be his own had been of Marco and his wife. And later on, after Marco and his wife met an untimely death, he was taken in by Fabio Cassano. Those three people, as well as the Cassano Famiglia... were the only ones he would ever consider to be a part of his family.

Yet later, Mr Hong Yu-chan came into his life.

xxx

The truck hit them without a warning. Something like this... wasn't quite uncommon, or unfamiliar to him back in Italy. Such a ruse was something... that even he had done towards a rival family in the past.

Yet, he never thought that he would be caught unawares in this very situation in Korea now.

As his consciousness started to fade, Vincenzo struggled to move as he tried to see if he could find any sign of Lawyer Hong alive somewhere. And he saw him. He could faintly see the old man on the other side of the truck. But the man wasn't moving.

Please be alive! Please... don't die!

This can't happen. This can't happen to him now! He already suffered the loss of his 'Papa' not so long ago—he can't... lose yet another of 'his' person now.

He cannot lose another person whom he only just started to become closer to. He doesn't want—

—he didn't want to lose anyone anymore now. Someone... whom he could consider...

A part of his family.