The woman's name was Agata. We walked through a restaurant into the kitchen and up some stairs into an office overlooking Juliet's balcony.
It was a small, modern-looking office filled with desks and filing cabinets and computers. Three friendly-looking women and a handsome guy looked up as Agata and I walked in.
"Ladies and gentleman, this is Brandy," introduced Agata. "These are the Secretaries of Juliet and the only guy over there is the Secretary of Romeo. We respond to the letters Juliet receives from around the world. We personally answer each of these letters," Agata explained.
"You mean you respond to these sack-loads of letters every day?"
"Veramente mi amore," said a kindly looking woman in her fifties. She got up from her desk and approached me. "Buon giorno, mi chiamo Clotilde. We have fifteen self-appointed secretaries here but only 5 are present today. Our ages span from twenty to sixty with a mix of marital statuses and occupations that range from ballet teacher, young student, psychologist, translator, to interior designer," added Clotilde while pointing each and every one of them and lastly to herself.
A pretty girl stood up and walked towards Agata to collect the letters. "Ciao, mi chiamo Elena. Some secretaries come to the club once or twice a week," she said. As far as I could remember she is the ballet teacher. "Some every day; some once in a while and reply to the letters at home, but we all do it for free."
"Free?"
"We're all volunteers. The city pays for stamps and paper, promoting its identity as the hometown of Romeo and Juliet is not a bad thing for tourism but the secretaries work free," said the only guy in the group and flashed a wide smile. He is the psychologist.
"Hey Brandy, I like you to meet my brother. His name is Ivo. He is a psychologist and a professor at Università degli Studi di Verona. He is still single. He's volunteering because he's having a case study about woman behavior when it comes to-"
"Agata stai zitto !" He turned to look at me and apologized for her younger sister. "Piacere di conoscerla."
I was blown away not due to his smile or his accent. It's because of the selflessness of these people. They offer advice, support, and a listening ear for anyone who needs to talk about love.
I couldn't do that. If I were to write a column for an advice I should be paid or else I'm not going to respond to anything.
I need to work for a living, for my mom. Medicare picked up the cost of most of her nursing home care but it's the most expensive type of long-term care facility. The maintenance for continued medication was not covered by her insurance.
"Membership is open to anyone interested in becoming a secretary. There is a testing period in which the elder secretaries check on and advise newer ones. Hi, I'm Genoveva. Pleased to meet you Brandy," the translator among the group said.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure she doesn't need any testing period. She's a love advice columnist she told me," Agata announced to them.
Great! I told myself and inwardly rolled my eyes. I gave them an unsure smile and nodded.
"Would you like to help?" asked Ivo.
"S-sure why not," I agreed, rather hesitantly.
"You can sit here if you want," Ivo offered me a seat beside him which was unfortunately the only unoccupied seat there.
I reluctantly sat down, opened the first letter and began to read. What a vacation, work away from work, I told myself. I shook my mind away from the thought in an effort to not offend the secretaries. "I didn't know Romeo has a secretary, too."
"Well, since this is letters to Juliet, I'd still have to keep up the tradition signing it as 'From Juliet' or 'Love, Juliet'," Ivo explained.
"That's cool."
"I don't mind being a Romeo in disguise. I'm learning and enjoying at the same time," he added.
They all smiled at me and started reading and answering as many letters as they could.
"Do you specialize in certain relationship problems?"
"Unlike what was told in the movie, actually we don't try to specialize at any area. People don't look for a technical answer," Clotilde explained. "You have to be a sensitive, empathetic, open-hearted person, and always bear in mind that you write on behalf of Juliet, who has become the universal symbol of romantic love because she was a strong, brave, and passionate young girl."
"I guess this would be FUN then. Actually my pen name is Juliet." All their eyes went wide looking at me.
"Oh, Juliet sent you to us. Maybe you'll be the answer to our prayers," Agata said.
"Huh?" I asked bewildered.
"What she meant is that letters penned by men are increasing. Most letters are sent through regular mail, but the club now receives e-mails," Ivo answered and I noticed him turned to glare at Agata.
"Listen to this letter," said Genoveva and started reading the letter out loud.
Dear Juliet,
I know you get millions of letters with love problems written from around the world. I write today to ask you for strength. I met Christian in my first year in college. He was tall, dark, and handsome. Modesty aside, people also find me equally attractive but it wasn't our looks that drew us together. He was rumored to be gay but I never bothered to ask. We were good friends who enjoyed each other's company and that was what mattered. We were teased as being sweethearts which was a ridiculous idea until I woke up one morning, having feelings for him. I told him about my feelings. His passiveness had left me lost with false assumptions. We drifted apart; it was inevitable. Yet despite the changes, I still loved Christian. I wanted to be with him but I never learned to forgive him for not appreciating me and for being selfish to express his feelings. I love him, Juliet, but I hate him for not loving me back. I tried to get back the old bond between us but he kept himself busy instead. I'm a mess. Please, only you can understand my problem.
Love,
Kyla
They all sighed, feeling a sense of pity for Kyla.
"Would you like to answer this one?" Genoveva asked.
"Me?"
"Let's say by now we are pretty expert. After 15-20 years we are able to manage this phenomenon but it is also true that sometimes a particularly difficult letter arrives and then we speak among ourselves," said Clotilde.
"Okay, I'll give it a try." I took the letter and started scribbling my response.
Dear Kyla,
When we decide to love, we give our best to let the person know we mean our intentions. We invest our time, effort, and emotions into a relationship which we hope would give us a decent return on our investment. But, does true love really work this way? Love, in its real sense is unconditional. We do not share this emotion to gain something in return.
Love is not what keeps you thinking about Christian. It is your wounded ego that makes you want him more. It is not love that you feel for him. More than anything else, it is not what you have given him that bothers you. It is what he failed to give you back that you were more concerned about. Love, for you, is not a necessity to give but a desire to fulfill a need. It is selfish in a way. But we all make the mistake of expecting too much from other people.
It is true that there will always be a burning desire to fulfill a need when we begin to love someone. We should remember that true love means giving unselfishly. It calls for sacrifice to make others happy. When we have found the key to loving unconditionally, that will be the time when we will find our caring and affection being returned not out of an obligation, but out of love itself in a mutual and unselfish desire to be one with us in a life shared forever in happiness.
Love,
Juliet
The letters had been read and sorted. The Secretaries composed their responses all by hand. Hopefully I won't mess up, I am not that good at writing by hand. I always do it on my laptop.
The night of responding to tons of letters was over at last. I massaged my cramped hand from all the writing.
"Thanks for being with us today, Brandy," Agata beamed as she looked at her brother. "Ivo will walk you to your hotel."
"Yes, of course," Ivo cooed as he nodded his head.
"No it's okay. The hotel is just next to Juliet's house. I can manage."
"No, no, no," said Clotilde. "Primitivo here will walk you to your hotel, mio amore."
"Cloti! Ivo will do," he protested. We all laughed at his embarrassment.
I couldn't refuse anymore.
The walk to the hotel felt somehow weird. We talked about nonsense just to kill the time.
"So why are you here?" Ivo finally asked a sensible question.
"To have sex with an Italian," I said in my usual blunt manner. "...aside from the fact that my brother Carl is getting married to an Italian girl this Friday."
He was momentarily taken aback; he grinned at me and shook his head.
"What? Why? I'm just being true to myself. You, tell me, why are you actually here? I know for a fact that you're having this case study but -"
I nearly fell over. Ivo had to catch me from falling to the pavement making our faces only inches away from each other. I could smell his sweet breath and my lips began to quiver.
"To get laid," he replied.
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A/N: What do you think about this chapter? I would love to hear your comments! I hope your enjoying the letters. Thanks for reading!