Mi Corazón

Chapter 1- Lovino

Chapter 1- Lovino's POV

I awoke with a start to the sound of what seemed to be a blaring siren. I slowly opened my eyes and stared up at my bedroom ceiling which was white apart from the thin slithers of golden sunlight which crept round the top and sides of the curtains and cast themselves across my bedroom. As my senses adjusted, I figured out that the loud noise was not a siren, but the constant beeping of my alarm clock. Grunting, I propped himself up on my elbow and squinted hard at the clock. I couldn't quite make out the tiny lit-up digits so I wiped the sleep from my eyes and blinked a few times to clear my vision. Was that... eight? Nine? I could just make it out... 9:30. Nine-thirty in the morning. It took a moment for my brain to process....

SHIT!

I practically flew out of bed, tossing the duvet aside and spitting rapid-fire curse words at my stupid alarm clock. I jumped into my black work trousers and slung on myndisgusting purple-pink uniform shirt. The first two socks I found weren't a matching pair but I pulled them on anyway along with the first two shoes I found in the cupboard (which also happened to be odd).

"I'm gonna be late for work because my bitch-ass alarm clock didn't fucking wake me up on time!" I muttered angrily to myself. It was stupid but I lived alone so there was nobody there to hear me. I completely ignored my shoelaces and shirt buttons  as I sprinted outside to my car, locking the front door behind me. The car was small and rounded and green; green was my favourite colour after all.

It was a Monday morning and the streets of Salento were bustling with people and the roads were jammed with commuters. I hated commuters. Technically I was a commuter but that wasn't the point. I just hated crowds and big groups of people. And small groups of people. And people in general.

Frustrated, I slammed his fist down on the steering wheel horn, frightening the life out of some inncocent pedestrians.
I checked the clock on the dashboard.
9:37am
Work started at 9:00am sharp. I'd missed it by 37 minutes! Thirty-seven!

My job as a waiter was in a small restaurant by the sea in the town of Salento, Italy. It was a beautiful place but a shitty job with shitty pay and shitty hours.
Okay... 9-5 wasn't really that bad... but I could've gotten way better!
A little click came from the console as another minute passed on the clock, making me 38 minutes late for work.

"MOVE" I cried out in despair, freely pummelling my car horn to get the people infront of me to GET A FUCKING MOVE ON! To be fair, the traffic lights were red so they could hardly go anywhere.
"Calmati! Calmati!" Came the reply from the guy in the car infront.
"Dio Mio! Il semaforo è verde ora! Taci e guida!" I yelled, slamming my foot down on the acceleration pedal as soon as there was space infront of me to do so. God, I hated traffic. Especially when I was now 39 fucking minutes late for work!

I arrived at the restaurant at forty minutes past nine, breathing a sigh of releif when I was informed that the manager wasn't in. Oh shit, my shirt! My shoes! I quickly buttonned up my ugly-ass shirt and tied my laces before starting work. I'd never admit it to anyone but I rather loved the restaurant. It was a small cosy restaurant on the sea front and when I say the sea front, I mean literally right infront of the sea. The room with all the seating in it had only three walls, so sea views were guaranteed. In fact, the diners who sat furthest from the door of the restuarant had the best view as the tables were positioned exactly where the wall should be. Two legs of the table on the restaurant floor, two legs fractionally submerged in soft golden sand. I'd've loved to eat on the sea front with no distractions but the sound of the waves crashing and the beautiful Italian sunset. But alas the reataurant was expensive to eat at and not generous at all to its employees, so I could never afford it. It wasn't really any different to any other posh restaurant, but for me who had almost nothing to look forward to in my shitty, boring life, it was the most amazing place I knew.

I was snapped out of my blissful daydream by someone calling me over so I made my way begrudgingly to their table to take their order on my tiny notepad- another monotonous day at the restaurant.

I know it sounds really wierd but I saw my entire life in a dull grey haze. I got frustrated and angry and happy and sad but I knew that none of it mattered. What did anything matter when every day I did the same boring shit and in the end it's all for nothing. But I had to pretend to care; play the façade of living a 'normal adult life', paying bills and going to work and garden parties with horrible boring people I couldn't  stand. Grey alarm clocks and grey traffic lights and grey cars and grey tarmac.
Because that's just life. And that's all you're gonna get.

At that moment I thought that maybe it was time to just accept the truth, that maybe nothing good in this world would ever come my way.

But then it did.

Something good caught my eye. It was bright, a new kind of brightness that I'd never before seen in my dull grey world. Colour lept to fill the room as my eyes continued to rest upon perhaps the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen. About 5,000 tiny butterflies made a home in my abdomen. It took my breath away.

This thing of beauty was sat at table 5. He had shaggy brown hair, tanned skin and an illuminating smile. The most beautiful thing by far was his pair of dazzling yet soft green eyes. Green- by far my favourite colour. But the one thing I loved most about this man's eyes?

The fact that they were staring right back at me.

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Hey! Here are a couple of translations for you in case you don't speak Italian. Sorry if they're not completely correct- I don't speak Italian either.

Calmati! - Calm down!

Dio Mio! Il semaforo è verde ora! Taci e guida! - Oh my God! The lights are green now! Shut up and drive!