The Devoted Gentleman (EDITING)

Chapter 31

After announcing declaring their relationship informally, Valentino held nothing back when it came down to his affection and admiration to Valeria. He did not care anymore about what people would say about it and he certainly did not care if their families were upset about it because it was not him who started everything. It was Alessio who ruined his chance with her in the first place. He only took advantage of the situation to acquire something he had wanted for so long. One way he was going to prove it was to bring her on an opera date in Teatro dell'Opera on an eventful night where a lot of prestigious people from Italy would come to attend which he was sure some would recognize them. Valeria thought he must have lost his mind, but at the same time she trusted him and sooner or later, they needed to make their relationship public anyway since people would find out about it on their own even if they did not announce it, so to avoid any scandal and accusations it was better for them to make the first move.

Valeria was getting ready in her room, she pulled out a royal purple long backless gown that hugged her curve beautifully. It was not too revealing but it was slightly different from the overly modest style she usually went for. Just the perfect balance between elegance and seduction. For the first time in a while she straightened her hair instead of styling her natural wavy hair since she wanted to play up her look. She did look slightly different with straight hair, but it was not terrible at all, she still looked charming both ways. Her eyes were polished in a neutral cream and dark brown shade, her cheek was blushing and her lips was painted a soft nude with a hint of brown.

She looked absolutely stunning that night and as she put on her black stiletto, she was sure Valentino would think so to. Of course like usual, she never left the house without spraying a statement scent. Her choice for the night was a blend of patchouli, vanilla and musk with honey. She smells both romantic, dark and delicious. With a confident smile on her face, she walked out of her apartment and went to the lobby where Valentino was already waiting for her. He looked equally handsome in his black custom tailored suit, but it was Valentino. He could wear nothing and still looked like he put on an effort.

At the sight of her, Valentino was bewitched, her beauty and allure captivated him, he could not help but wonder what he had done to deserve such a goddess by his side? Of course, he had made himself worthy for her. As he held out his hand toward her, a proud liberating smile escaped his lips.

"Are you ready?" he asked, she had never been more ready. It was time she went out from the pit of despair into a new life. She had had enough of hiding behind the shadows and she certainly no longer cared about what anyone else think. For she had the people whom she loved by her side, and connected to her faith, she also believed her Father in heaven would watch over her. No matter how people would react to it, she was ready.

They arrived at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma twenty minutes before the performance would start. It meant there were already a good number of people inside the room, and most of the time, during the waiting period, people would not really care what the other people were doing. In the twenty first century, some of them would even pull out their phone and check what others were doing on social media. The force of habit had spread even to the high society. But when Valeria walked alongside Valentino as they tried to find their seats, people were paying attention. Especially those who knew them. It was quite hard not to, as they stood up among other couples. Of course, whispers were inevitable, but they did not care. As he led her to their seat, he kissed her hand before sitting down.

Valentino had purposely reserved the seat beside them as well, yes, it might sound like a money waster move, but he did not care, he wanted to be seated with Valeria without the disruption of anyone. There were still some time before the performance started. He turned to her and asked her how she was feeling, since they had made their appearance public. She smiled at him and gently touched his cheek.

"I have never felt more out of my shell and this excites me" she retreated her hand but before she could place it back down, he took her wrist and gently kissed it. The minor love gesture was seen by at least ten people. After that, there was no more going back. It was only a matter of time before the whole family found out about it as well.

The performance of the day was a musical performance on a classic story. Yes, everyone could have access to endless amount of music and entertainment online but there was nothing quite like experiencing a musical performance live, whoever said they prefer a digital performance which they could easily unwind haven't truly known the beauty of live performance.

As it started Valeria was paying close attention to the performance, she always loved how natural but dramatic everything was, when people were playing on the stage, smeties she wondered, what were they actually thinking? Were they just memorizing the lines give to them or were they fully embodied their characters. Sometimes she also wondered when actors were playing as certain characters, was it possible for them to be fully consumed in it. What happened when the costumes were off? They would return to their normal unscripted life. Perhaps that was why she loved and appreciated theatre and musical play so much, because it gave people the opportunity to distract themselves from the reality out there and just enjoy a scripted life for a brief moment while for the audience, it also works as a great entertainment and distraction to forget their problems for a little while.

Valentino was enjoying the theatre play but he was not as immersed in it as Valeria was, he wondered what he should do instead of just sitting there, so he thought of something else. He slowly reached out his hand to touch hers, which startled her a bit, diverting her attention from the play to him, they stared at each other for a few seconds, saying nothing before she flashed a smile at him and closed her fingers in between his. They kept their hands entwined. Before with Alessio, she could barely felt any sort of public physical affection, he was always someone who liked to keep PDA to the minimum and back then she understood, because they were raised rather conservatively, of course when they were walking sometimes they would hold hands and once in a while they would kiss in public, but still, he made sure there were as little eyes as possible, at first she thought it was a sign of respect, but at that point she realized it was because he never even had any sort of affection to her in the first place. A woman could easily tell the difference between a man who truly loved her and the one who was just using her for political, business and sexual purpose once she had tasted both.

The performance eventually came to an end. They walked out of the theatre room and noticed some stares directed at them. Guess they just needed to get used to it from tehn on, at least temporarily. He held her hand and led her outside. He was planning to invite her on a dinner date as well since the evening had not gone too late. But right then Valentino's phone suddenly rang. He excused himself a bit to pick it up.

"Hello, what is it papa?" it was a call from Gianluca. His father rarely called him on most occasions, so it was a surprise that the old man even remembered his second son existed.

"You have to come to the hospital right now, I'll send you the address" he sounded worried and panicked at the same time, two emotions he had rarely ever spotted on his stoic father. Looked like things were serious.

"Your mother, she's ill" Valentino nearly dropped his phone, good thing his grasp on the device was quite tight. Valeria came over to him as soon as she spotted his facial expression. She asked him what was wrong. He turned to him with a fallen expression.

"My mom is in the hospital. She fell ill. I am so sorry, Valeria. But I guess this is the end of our date this evening. I need to visit her" he felt guilty for not being able to bring her out for dinner.

"But allow me to at least drive you back home, I don't want you to go home on your own" she nodded. Besides the distance between her apartment and the hospital was not that large. However, when they were in the car, she kept on observing Valentino's behavior and he looked awfully worried the whole time.

She did not know what it was but a gloomy thought suddenly came over her mind. One she had put off for so long in the back of her mind.

"Was it really a good idea to let everyone know of our relationship?"