We hear the front door open and my heart drops. Adriano's home.
He walks in followed by Vittoria and another girl.
She has, thick long brown hair and siren like green eyes, she also has a lip piercing.
I turn to look at him and Xuan lets go of me.
He looks at the suitcases at the door and back to me.
'Where are you going?' He asks.
'None of your business.' Mimi snaps.
'Don't speak to me like that or-' he snarls.
'Be careful how you word the rest of that sentence Adriano.' Alessandro says.
'Mimi and I are leaving.' I say, grabbing my suitcases.
'Have a safe journey,' Vittoria says walking past us.
'Whose that?' Xuan asks, signalling to the girl.
'I'm Fouzia,' she says sticking out her hand. 'I'm from Egypt.' She smiles.
No body responds.
'She's a friend.' Adriano replies.
'And a new recruit.' Vittoria says.
Terzo, and Alora look at her suspiciously.
I go to leave the house, but Adriano grabs my arm and stops me.
I turn to him and he says nothing.
'I wish you really died.' I mutter. 'It hurt a lot less knowing you were never going to come back.'
He looks shocked, and a little hurt.
I look at the girl who gives me a stiff smile which I return.
I snatch my arm away from him and walk out of the house, followed by Mimi.
Xuan and Alessandro help us bring out our luggage and put them in my white Lamborghini.
'Take care,' Xuan says.
I get into the drivers seat and Mimi gets in next to me and I drive us back to our old house.
We unlock the door and load our luggage's back in.
The house is dusty and dirty so we have to start cleaning it.
Mimi and I take our luggage's back to our own rooms.
It takes me a while to unpack and put everything back where it's supposed to be.
When I'm done, I go downstairs and find Mimi connecting her phone to the speaker.
'Let's play some music while we clean.' She says.
Save your tears by The Weeknd starts playing.
I take the job of hoovering the living room and I do a pretty good job at it.
Unlike the Giovanni's we don't have maids to be doing our cleaning and washing our clothes.
My phone rings and I look down at it.
Mum.
'Hello,' I say answering.
'Dilara I'm waiting for you at Belissime come there now.' She says.
Out of every restaurant she chooses that one.
Just my luck.
'I'll be there in twenty.' I reply.
I end the call and stop hoovering.
'Mimi my mum needs me I'm gonna go meet her!' I yell as I walk up the stairs.
'Ok, have fun!' She replies.
I grab a tight nude dress with a slit in the skirt and a pair of clear block heels.
Knowing my mum she's go crazy if I don't show up looking nice.
After all she is the Audrey Caesar.
I straighten my hair, which is easy since it's still short.
I quickly do my makeup, grab my keys, purse and phone and say bye to Mimi.
I get in my car and drive to Belissime. I neatly park my car and walk in.
I find my mum wearing a velvet, red dress and she's sitting at the table in the corner.
She beckons me towards her.
'Dilara I nearly didn't recognise you without all the hoodies and tracksuits.' She laughs.
I smile stiffly and sit down.
'What have you done with your hair?' She asks.
'I decided it was time for a change.' I reply.
A waiter walks over to us and I look up and see Lorenzo.
He smiles softly at me and I can see that he's tired. Him and Zoya have been working here all day.
'What can I get you?' He asks.
'One Rissoti,' my mum says. 'And a big bottle of red wine.'
'A Ravioli please.' I reply.
Lorenzo writes down our order and walks off.
'Why did you want to meet me?' I ask.
'Your nineteenth birthday is in a couple days,' she says. 'And I wanted to give you something.'
She pushes forward a velvet purple box and I open it up.
Inside is a oval, diamond locket. I open it up and inside is a picture of my mum when she was younger and a baby I'm her arms.
An old man stands behind her, wearing a black suit.
'Your grandfather gave it to me when I was turning 19,' she explains. 'It's a one and only model from Tiffany and Co.'
Mum never talks about her family. It's always just kind of been us. I knew I had a grandfather who was my alive, I just didn't know how he looked.
'Your grandfather was a loyal customer to them.' She says. 'This is a $57k necklace, I hope you take care of it.'
She comes behind me and take the pendant out of the box and puts it around my neck.
It feels cold on my chest.
Lorenzo comes back with our food and drinks and we thank him before he goes back to serve more tables.
I like moments like these with my mum. We never have them, but when we do I make the most of it because I know the next day I won't get a call from her.
'I never wore it so I decided to give it to you,' she says. 'It didn't really suit my aesthetic if you know what I mean.'
'Thank you mum,' I say.
She gives me a smile in response.
We eat our food, catching up with eachother.
'What do you want to do in college?' She asks. 'Your graduation is coming up.'
'I might do something to do with Art,' I reply.
'Well you still have time to apply to colleges.' She says.
I don't think I want to go to graduation. I mean I can't really show my face there, Detective Stevens could show up at any second and I'll be forced to go with him.
'Yeah, I still have time.' I reply.
We finish our food and leave Lorenzo a tip, and pay for our food.
We walk out and mum walks me to my Lamborghini.
'I've seen that you've been using my money wisely.' She says.
'Actually it was a gift.' I reply.
'From that boyfriend of yours?' She asks.
'Not really my boyfriend....' I reply. 'It's complicated.'
I mean Adriano and I were dating but he said that we should take a break.
So we're on a break.
'I never liked him anyway.' She replies, rolling her eyes.
Yeah you already made that clear.
I say goodbye to my mum and get into my car and drive off.
I fiddle with my necklace. It's the only gift she's given me since I was eleven.
I want to treasure it.
*AUTHORS NOTE*
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I personally think that Adriano needs to fix up, but it's sad to know that he thinks his mum and 'girlfriend' get along.
Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Ek31Fe0NnA5PSOm3AeJQx?si=zY98ELn2Q-KrkqBMCjTttA
Instagrams:
@adrian0_giovanni
@dilara_caesar
Have a nice day!