RETURN OF THE LEGENDARY CASSIAN MARKAVELLI

" Can't believe what the country is turning into. How can a whole country president be found guilty of money laundering. What happened to the people's trust???" Two strangers said, clutching onto a newspaper as they walked past Cassian.

" Lol. You find that shocking. Wait till you read this. A company CEO has recently been jailed for the murder of his father over inheritance rights. How ridiculous! " the other said showing his newspaper.

Cassian Markavelli watched them walk off. He had just finished begging for alms on the street corner, the usual spot he’d taken to begging for the past two years.

His hands were shaking, still holding the meager coins he had been gifted, but there was a slight smile at the side of his lips.

Today had been better than most other days, the sun had been kind, the people a little less heartless and he’d made more coins today than the last three days combined which in reality simply meant he got pitied more.

He had a stuttering disorder that impaired his speech and due to this, people who knew him nicknamed him the ghost begger.

He wondered what he did different today.

Maybe they never listened to the way he spoke, but they listened to his eyes. His eyes had a way of pulling them in. And his limping leg must have made them feel sorry for him.

He clutched his crutch in his right hand, tapping it against the cracked pavement as he limped down the road.

It was late at night and he had to get home fast before Veronica fell asleep.

His limp was getting worse again, but he managed to endure the pain that arrived with every step he took.

His clothes were a mess.

Torn jeans, a dirty jacket, hair unkempt and sticking out in every direction.

There was a dirty umbrella hung around his waist.

People avoided him like he was some kind of disease, and frankly, he didn’t care.

They stared. Some whispered. Others didn’t bother whispering.

" What! Get away from here!!! " One woman screamed at him.

“Disgusting.”

“He should be locked up somewhere.”

“Smells like a dead rat.”

" Get yourself some bath, dude!" One guy moved away from the sidewalk, glaring at him as if he was diseased.

He didn’t speak. He couldn’t, not without struggling. The words were always stuck somewhere between his throat and his lungs, like glass in his windpipe. He tried once to explain himself to a stranger. That stranger laughed, then spat in his direction.

He kept walking.

As he walked, he still stretched out his bowl, in case some of them reconsidered and gave him something.

Someone was kind enough to drop a coin in his bowl.

Before his stutter allowed him to say thank you, the stranger already left.

He smiled to himself.

The heavens must be really watching over him today.

He continued limping using his other hand to cling tightly to the small bag hung over his shoulder while using the crutch to take slow walks.

The bag contained a chilled soda, a pack of chocolate biscuits and the prettiest rose from the flower stall across the street.

The petals were soft and pink, and it nearly cost him nearly half of what he'd made but he didn't care.

Tomorrow was Veronica's birthday and since he made more than usual today, he had decided to get her these to celebrate her.

He smiled to himself and urged himself to walk faster, ignoring the stares he got from passerby.

He smiled as he remembered how they met.

It had rained that night. Not a soft drizzle, but the kind of heavy, pounding storm that made the gutters overflow and soaked your bones in minutes.

Cassian sat at the corner of Silverline Street, resting his back against the wall of a closed pharmacy, drenched to the bone.

His ragged hoodie did nothing to keep him dry. People walked past. Some spared him a glance. Most didn’t.

Except her.

A woman in a long coat, holding a large black umbrella. Her heels clicked gently against the wet sidewalk as she walked over to him.

She didn’t ask the usual questions. Didn’t offer a coin out of pity. Instead, she crouched until they were eye to eye

His eyes went to her designer heels and knew she was no ordinary lady.

“You’ll freeze to death out here,” she said, invading his thoughts.

Cassian glanced up, blinking through the rain.

" At this rate, I'm certain you might find yourself at the hospital tomorrow morning which I'm sure you don't have the money for" She smiled genuinely while staring at him with pitiful eyes

He blinked.

A woman so elegant, poised, the kind who didn’t belong on streets like this was smiling at him.

He had expected she would drop some money and walk off but what she did next surprised him.

She stood up, took off her coat and draped it gently over his shoulders. The gesture shocked him.

He blinked in disbelief.

Then she placed an umbrella in his trembling hands, and gave him a look so warm it pumped something in his chest.

He was more than stunned. No one had ever treated him like way.

He felt like crying.

" W-Why a-are-you helping-g me-me? " He managed to ask

She just laughed.

Her laugh was so soft and it rang in his ears for seconds.

She didn't mind if she was in the rain, getting drenched or beaten.

She tucked her hair behind her ear and glared at him with smiling eyes.

Her clothes were already soaked but she didn't care.

" What’s your name?” she asked.

“C-Cassian,” he stammered.

She smiled lightly.

“Cassian. I’ll remember that.” she stood, letting the rain fall freely on her.

“See you around,” she said with a wink, then walked off in the rain like she was born for it.

She got into a sleek black car and drove off.

That moment, that one act of kindness, hit something inside of him.

That was the day Cassian Markavelli knew he had fallen in love.