Lovers by the Leaning Palm

The photograph

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Antonio had been trying to get in touch with Valentino for several minutes, he kept ringing up but his friend was on another call. Elizabeth, a Japanese girl living in Sidney, was wishing him happy birthday. They both were A.C. Milan fans, they only conversed about football topics, she didn't know the guy was attracted by her. Valentino never confessed his crush, the girl was taken, the newly thirty years old Italian guy dreamed of a world where only faithful lovers could have the citizenship. He had just gotten back home after seven years abroad, he had visited and lived in a few countries, he was willing to travel again; three years earlier he had realized to be sensitive to the Asian beauty while dating, eventually, a Thai lady in Melbourne.

Elizabeth went to work, Valentino rang back Antonio and called up a few friends as well to celebrate the special day. He hadn't set up a memorable night, he only took them for a dinner by the seaside.

A stunning girl with almond eyes tasting a glass of red wine was drawing the attention of the birthday guy. She was standing by the bar, she receieved a phone call, she put a purple jacket on then she fled the place.

Alvaro, one of his friends, was baffled by the way Valentino had stared at that mysterious Asian girl; he asked:

"Since when you fancy Asian women?"

'It's been a while"

Alvaro sneered, he would have amazed his friendly English tutor not much later.

They were the following day at Valentino's for a routine English class. Moments before starting Alvaro showed Valentino a photograph sent by Marco, a friend of his who worked as a skipper in the Maldives Islands, Indian Ocean.

The two friends had already decided to go and visit him down there even if Alvaro lately stated that he couldn't have gone anymore for some unknown cause. Valentino was still willing to travel to those stunning islands even though he would have had to go on his own, even if he hadn't met Marco yet. The guy was a traveler, after all, and he had already traveled alone quite a few times. It was still early, anyway, as the original plan was to take off from Rome by the end of the year and no ticket had been bought yet. That afternoon of late June, the tutor and his student were in the dining room. Officially to study, but what was drawing the attention of the duo wasn't the english grammar nor the history of the Great Britain. It was a photograph. A photograph on the Alvaro's mobile phone. The picture depicted an Asian girl in bikini posing on the edge of a swimming pool. According to Valentino, she was neither gorgeous nor she had a great figure but she had four things which made him fall in love with her at first sight: her huge breasts and her lovely brown eyes. He was like stunned, his breath seemed to be taken away by that girl with long dark brown hair and plump lips. The student realized the crush and he urged to warn him about the nature of the owner of those four things. He told him, in fact, that the girl of the photograph wasn't someone to get married with, by asserting that she was actually a slut. Valentino didn't give a crap about what Alvaro declared, he was indeed happier as sentimental commitments were not in his plans.

"Well, when I will go and visit Marco, at least I will know already someone to have fun with" the excited guy replied.

He saved the photograph on his mobile and they resumed studying. After all, they were at Valentino's to study english. There, in the dining room; the place where Valentino saw that girl for the first time.

Lesson over. Valentino was quietly sat on an antique armchair next to the fireplace in the living room. The goal was only one: checking if the mobile number of the girl he had saved was on his WhatsApp or Viber contacts list in order to get in touch with her. His main hope was on Viber as the famous photograph was nothing but the profile picture of that App and it displayed the mobile number too. Nothing. The first verification gave no results at all. Oddly, considering his habits, Valentino didn't delete that Maldivian mobile number. He was days later again on that armchair by the fireplace to look for another contact. While scrolling down the Viber contacts list, he suddenly found the "Maldivian girl". She hadn't been online over the previous five hours.

Several minutes later, she got back online. Thanks to Viber, Valentino could finally get in touch with that girl who made his heart beating fast.