Heaven [Book 3]

[1.] That Was The Start Of My New Life

He lived in a modest double storey house. It was white on the inside which had always been his favourite colour. There were a few pictures on the wall, all of them featuring me. There were two bathrooms and three bedrooms, ready for my visit.

"Is this temporary?" He asks me. I bite my lip as I think about it for a moment.

Would I be ready to go back after everything that happened? I had trusted Leon despite my better judgement and it resulted in the shattering of my heart. I had also believed that Ludmila, as my best friend, would never want to see me hurt but I guess I was wrong.

I needed to start over. Even if it meant starting from the bottom for my career, finding a new hobby and finding new friends.

"No, it is permanent," I say firmly. He has trouble containing his smile.

I told him everything. Once he made me a cup of tea he demanded to know what spurred this life changing decision of mine. He wanted to know why Leon wasn't with me or at least Ludmila. I couldn't lie to him, and besides I didn't need to.

Finally telling somebody seemed to give me a bit of closure. It allowed to me finally accept what happened even if I was totally dejected by it. I had to learn to let go of what happened and leave it in the past.

Where it belongs.

And that was the start of my new life.

Four years ago.

It went pretty well considering the circumstances. I got a new number and only loaded my parents' numbers (and later new friends and colleagues). Thanks to my reputation as a lawyer in Buenos Aires it was not hard to find a job and now I had a senior partner position.

I decided to stop there. I loved managing my firm before but now I didn't want the stress. Rome was supposed to be my relaxing and refreshing life. Without the pressure of heading an entire firm I had a lot more free time.

I never even noticed that I had never actually had the time to establish a proper hobby. I found photography alluring. My favourite part was developing photographs from negatives. Watching it form before my very eyes gave me a sense of pride.

Christian adored my hobby (because of my sheer happiness thanks to it) and my creations. We hung my photos around the house, hanging around or in frames. My favourites were in my room and his. Those were the pictures of mainly us.

But there was another album that was filled with pictures. These were old, they depicted a life that I left behind. When I lived under a pretense that I was happy, that there were people who loved me.

I kept under a floorboard in my house along with the clothes I wore the day I arrived in Buenos Aires and various other tokens of four years ago. I tried not to look at it too often because it only made me feel dejected.

I would miss Ludmila, her enthusiasm and bubbly personality. I would miss Diego who gave some of the best hugs. And I would miss Leon, the first person I ever truly fell in love with but also one of my closest friends.

I never imagined that I would be able to create something in Rome. After all that I had achieved, found and lost in Buenos Aires it seemed like nothing would ever come close. But it did, in fact it even slightly surpassed what I had.

Here it was the simplicity that I enjoyed. I didn't have the highest job but I was happy and I looked forward to going to work everyday. I had friends. I had a very close one whom I may even consider calling a best friend although we would never have the same kind of connection that I had with Leon and Ludmila.

I was with my father again. We tried to make up for lost time. Even if we just sat together and watched a movie it meant something because we never always had the chance during my childhood. We talked about everything and anything. I could definitely call him my best friend.