With All My Love And More

I cannot stay unobtrusive

© 2024 [CCBubs]

This morning, I woke up in my Milan apartment room to the smell of the leftover Italian food from Lomi Lounge. The food was amazing and the atmosphere much needed, especially after the awkward ride with Giovanni yesterday. After he had divulged what he really meant by asking me who hurt me, I went silent. Part of it due to embarrassment. Part of it due to stubbornness. I didn't want to share with him, much like with most people I have met. Once I went silent, Giovanni followed after. He was very much a scorned man for the rest of the car ride. When the car arrived at Lomi Lounge, Giovanni didn't get out to meet Leonardo. I didn't bother to ask him to come with me. I knew I didn't have the right anymore. I made him upset, just like I always do with men, because I'm a selfish brat.

I can't believe I ruined this.

People were already taking pictures and shouting Giovanni's name, having recognized the cars already, the locals and tourists were in a frenzy. Giovanni ordered the guards to help me get out of the car. When I looked back to him, his gaze was straight ahead. No longer was Giovanni gazing at me, and I felt a sense of regret. I had his gaze for the past two days we spent together and never appreciated it. Now, I won't have it again.

"Bye, Gio," I whispered, so softly, not for him, but really for me. The guards opened my door blocking the flashing phone lights. The moment my feet hit the ground, I swore I heard his faint response of a goodbye before the car door was closed behind me. When I found my way to Leonardo, he was flabbergasted by the scene. He didn't have any words, or rather didn't get a chance to have any. The guard ordered for a private section for Leonado and I to get away from the looming crowd. Of course the orders of the royal guards were quick to be answered with a table and two chairs in the back corner surrounded by shelves and shelves of wines and twinkling lights.

I had thought for a moment Giovanni would come to fact check Leonardo, but when the guards took a photo of Leonardo as well as asking for his i.d., which he complied to immediately, I knew Giovanni was fact checking. He just wasn't going to do it himself, not anymore. Or maybe, he was never going to do it himself. After all, that would be an inconvenience. He wouldn't go out of his way for little old me. Not a chance. Not a dream. Never.

Who do I think I am?

This is not some fairytale.

I am not Cinderella.

Far from it.

All Leonardo wanted to talk about was the King, and unfortunately, I didn't want to talk about Giovanni and I. I didn't think it would be right to talk about someone so private. Leonardo, after some time, understood. He too was embarrassed for having fanboyed, but I reassured him Giovanni had that way with people. He and I talked about ourselves and I told him of all the places I had visited in the time spent. After discussing the days that did include Giovanni, I had realized that beautiful time spent together really was only two days. It felt like a lifetime.

2 days.

Only 2 days.

And yet it felt like 20 years of bliss.

I wonder what that means?

Surely, it must mean something.

Leonardo went over the itinerary for the next day, but all I could think of was Giovanni. I knew by that time, he should be in his helicopter flying back to his palace, regaining his real life. After all, he is not a tour guide.

He is a King.

A very powerful King in fact.

Now, I am sitting on the balcony of my Milan apartment. I was hoping to find Giovanni standing on the road calling out to me, much like he did back in Venice, but unfortunately there was no sign of him. A fear crept inside of me. The fear that perhaps that would be the last time I would ever see him face to face. I would be the norm now, restricted to only seeing him through a television screen or amongst thousands of people in a crowd looking upon him.