Emilia: Finding My Forever

48|Ball- Part 1

I wiped my eyes and retouched any makeup which was smudged before going downstairs.

I'm not going to let him know how much I missed him. I'm not going to let him know all the tears I cried. I'm not going to let him know all the sleep I lost.

I'm going to act like I never missed him.

"I'm ready."

...

"Don't cry again Emilia," my papá warned me. "His people can use it as a weakness against him."

"Don't cry, got it," I repeated under my breath.

I took a deep breath before stepping out of the vehicle.

"Stay strong Emmy!" My mom smiled at me and I smiled back.

I walked closer to the building before I halted.

My heart started beating out of my chest as I saw him pacing back and forth, in front of the building, with a bouquet in his hand.

I looked back to see if my parents were still there.

Was it too late to run away?

I looked back at him and he had now seen me.

He raised his hand and waved to me.

I hesitated before waving back to him.

Stay strong, Emilia.

I began walking weakly towards him.

When I reached he handed me the bouquet. "Hi."

"Hi," I awkwardly answered as I took the bouquet.

He scratched his head. "You seemed to have liked them the last time so I just thought maybe you will like these too."

"Thank you Santo," I told him. "How have you been?"

He cleared his throat. "Great, I've been enjoying the silence at home and been having a blast."

Ouch.

"How about you?" He asked like he didn't care which hurt me a little.

"It was great too. I went shopping and to parties the whole time," I lied.

I couldn't even leave my bed without crying.

"Well, I'm glad that we both enjoyed ourselves," he said with gritted teeth.

I faked a smile too. "So much fun."

"Maybe you leaving was the best thing for us," he said and this one really hurt me.

"Yeah maybe," I said as I held back my tears. "Why don't we go inside?"

He held the door open for me. "After you."

He started introducing me to various members of his mafia.

I didn't want to be here.

I didn't want to walk around, faking smiles, and acting like I cared how rich everyone was.

I wanted to go home and cry again.

We finally got some peace as we stood up in a corner.

"Oh Santo," I said to grab his attention.

He turned to me. "Yes?"

"Thank you," I told him as I held his hand.

"For what?" He asked looking down on our intertwined hands but had no objections.

"For turning in my essay," I told him. "Professor Kate called me last week and she said I'll be graduating."

His eyes widened before he hugged me. "That's great Emilia!"

I hugged him back. "You didn't have to do that. I know how uncomfortable my essay made you feel and I'm so sorry I did something like that."

We released from our hug.

"Emilia," he said as he took at me seriously. "I actually want to talk to you about that."

I started to get scared. His body was tensed.

Were we about to have another argument?

"I read it," he said and my heartbeat continued to accelerate. "Come to the bathroom with me and I'll show you how it made me feel."

"What?" I asked him before he wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Emilia, there's something I want to tell you," he said as he started to look nervous.

Seeing Santo of all people look nervous made me feel worse.

"Emilia I-"

"Emilia?" I heard a familiar voice say before I turned around.

My eyes widened. "Anthony?"

"Holy shit, it is you!" He said as rushed to me.

Santo immediately let go of my waist.

"I thought you were dead," I said as I hugged him.

Was this destiny? Did destiny return my forever?

"It's kind of a long story," he said as we released from our hug.

I turned to Santo who looked extremely pissed right now.

"Santo, what were you going to tell me?" I asked him.

"Emilia, we need to talk about this now in private," he said sternly.

I nodded. "Okay."

Dante walked up to us. "Santo I would like you to meet Mr. Comiso."

Santo ignored him as he turned back to me. "Not right now, there's something I need to tell Emilia."

"Santo, that can wait. You need to tend to business now."

"I don't care," Santo continued as he held my hand. "I need to tell her."

"Santo, this is the man who helps to wash your money. If you keep blowing him off, he'll think you have a problem with him."

Santo let go of my hand before letting out a heavy sigh.

"Santo, just tell me what it is," I asked him.

"Forget it," he said before he walked away with Dante.