Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.
by Songs of Solomon: 8 vs 7
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Enrico stepped onto the terrace, his eyes searching around for nothing in particular. The breeze was cool, even while the sun set. Slowly turning around to view his surroundings, Enrico realised he had never been here before. Nothing seemed familiar, but how he got there was what put him in a puzzle. Why was he here? One look around and he was able to understand that he stood on the terrace of a really tall building. The sky seemed touchable.
Enrico stood still for a moment with his brows slightly furrowed in confusion. He heard a strange sound and slightly shifted his eyes to the direction the sound came from. He noticed a black bird; a crow to be precise, on the ground. It did nothing except stare. No perching. No movement. Enrico furrowed his brows further at the thought of a crow being there of all places. He couldn't take his eyes off it. A part of him eager to know what it might do next. Suddenly, it flapped its wings and flew away. Enrico's eyes followed it all the way, but suddenly stopped on something else. Narrowing his eyes, a little to decipher the figure a little farther from him.
Enrico's eyes slowly widened with shock drawn across his face, as he eventually realised who the figure was.
"Kiana?" He asked in a whisper, a little unsure of his conclusion. She stood right on the edge of the building. A step backward and she was sure to meet her death. The craziest part was that she looked nothing like herself. She just stood there, staring back at him, with a blank expression on her face.
"Kiana." He pronounced once more, his voice a little shaky due to the thought of what could happen. Suddenly, tears began to trickle down her cheeks. Her lips began to quiver. The expression on her face became filled with fear. Enrico watched, as she slowly stretched out her right hand to him.
"Help me." She pronounced almost in a whisper, as she slowly leaned backwards.
"Kiana!" Enrico exclaimed at the top of his voice as he noticed her movement and ran, as fast as he could, in an attempt to catch up with her, but he was too late. She had fallen off the edge before he could get to her.
Immediately, Enrico opened his eyes in a gasp. His eyes lurked around, a little unsure of his environment, while he kept panting. He only calmed down a bit after realising he was back to reality. It had all been a dream. As Enrico managed to sit up on the bed, he could feel his heart beating so loudly. Little drops of sweat trickled down his face all the way from his forehead. He wouldn't deny the fact that he was soaked in fear at the moment. It had all seemed so real to him; Kiana falling off that edge and him unable to catch her. Her death had seemed so real. Enrico ran a hand through his hair, as confusion filled him. He couldn't understand why he had such a dream. He had never had such before, especially which includes Kiana dying.
Death.
He didn't want to think of that word. It sent cold icy shivers down his spine. The dream had been absurd to him. Yes, he might have been mad at her due to the past, but he would never wish to end her life. He cared way too much for her. Some people would say dreams are a vision of the future or an unexplainable event and some others might not think so. Right now, Enrico was stuck in between. He didn't know what to believe. Was Kiana in any danger? Perhaps, that danger didn't actually mean death. Perhaps, it was something else, something he couldn't figure out.
He let out a loud sigh as he shut his eyes for a moment and leaned his head backwards. A past image of Kiana in his arms flashed across his mind and he immediately opened his eyes.
That's right. Kiana was here.
Enrico recalled, then searched the room with his eyes for any sign of her, but none could be seen, so he let out another sigh. Obviously, she had left, while he was still asleep. Honestly, Enrico wasn't going to blame his actions on the drugs he took or on the fact that he was ill. He had craved to have her in his arms for so long that when he saw an actual opportunity to do so and not be rebuked, he took it. He recalled feeling so safe and peaceful, something he hadn't felt in a long time. If only he could have that for eternity. Suddenly, he heard a sound and immediately turned his head in the direction it was coming from. He needed to have a look, so he got off the bed then took hold of his glasses by the bedside table and put it on. He buried both hands into the kangaroo sized pocket of his sweatshirt and walked further towards the exit out of his room. He came to a standstill by the rail, as he noticed his mother walking towards the living room. Enrico let out a tiresome sigh, while just staring at her. How she got in on her own wasn't even the least bit on his mind. After all, this was Giulia Edoardo Vos. Nothing was impossible for her.
His brows slightly furrowed as he watched her quickly walking up to Kiana right after sighting her walk out of her room. Enrico noticed just how Kiana had come to a standstill. She didn't seem surprised one bit to see his mother. Enrico walked past the rail and began to take gentle steps down, while his eyes remained on them. He couldn't hear a word his mother said, but he knew she said something as her lips moved. He came to a standstill just right after he got off the last staircase. His eyes shifted to Kiana expecting to at least hear something on her part, but she said nothing. She stared for a while before slightly looking down, anywhere else but on his mother. His brows furrowed deeper. Could his mum have said something hurtful to her? The thought alone got him rallied up.
"Mum." He called and Giulia's eyes slowly widened at the sound of her son's voice. She panicked for a minute and quickly calculated acting naturally in her mind, before turning her head to him. Kiana looked up to him as well. Enrico shifted his eyes away from his mum and unto Kiana, who kept eye contact with him for a moment, then eventually looked away as guilt filled her.
"Enrico, my son." She called out with a sad expression drawn across her face, as she quickly walked up to him. She looked him up and down, then placed a hand on his forehead, to which Enrico quickly tilted his head away from her, but she wouldn't give up as she kept fussing over him, even though he tried his best to stop her.
"I can't believe you're ill. I've warned you several times, Enrico, to take better care of yourself but you never listen... Why didn't you call for me? You know I would leave every other thing and rush to you..."
"How did you get in here?" He asked, interrupting any other thing she had in mind to say. Her actions had been irritating him.
She stared at him for a moment before letting out a sigh, her hand falling right back to her side. Enrico shifted his eyes to Kiana once more, but she wasn't looking back. Immediately, he got an idea as to the reply to his question.
Giulia raised her other hand in which she held a package. A wide smile drew up on her face.
"Look, I made you your favourite dish. I'm sure you've missed my cooking..."
"Kiana gave you the password, didn't she?" Enrico interrupted once more, whilst his eyes still remained on Kiana. Kiana didn't want to look up to him. She wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
Giulia sighed as she shifted her eyes away from her son. Fear gripped her once more. A moment later, she shifted them right back to him and that's when she noticed his eyes weren't on her. Giulia thought quickly on what to say to save herself.
"Ki-Kiana?" She asked, pretentiously confused. Enrico shifted his eyes back to his mother and stared at her for a moment with slightly seized up brows.
"Ah, that's right. I never introduced her to you in the past." Enrico stated, before walking past his mother and up to Kiana. Giulia's eyes followed her son. Kiana blinked several times to try and control her fast beating heart. Enrico took out his right hand from the pocket he buried it in and immediately placed it around Kiana's shoulders, much to her dismay. Immediately, she looked up to him.
"This is Kiana Stuart." He quoted before looking down to her. Their eyes met and Kiana kept staring, eyes slightly widened in curiosity of what was going to come next. He noticed that one fact and a mischievous grin surfaced on his face.
"My girlfriend." He added and both Giulia and Kiana's eyes really widened, with surprise drawn across their faces. Kiana slightly opened her mouth in awe, really hoping a word would come through and save her this ordeal.
"Uh... No... No, I'm not his..." Enrico drew her closer to him with his hand on the other side of her shoulder. The act alone caused her to lose whatever she was about to say.
"Oh, come on, Kiana. There's no need for us to hide our relationship anymore. My mum's here. She has to know the truth." Enrico stated, a twinkle of mischievousness encoded within his eyes.
Kiana shook her head in disagreement as she shifted her eyes to his mother, while she tried her best to free herself from his hold, but Enrico wouldn't let her. He shifted his eyes to his mother as well.
Giulia just stared at them, a little dumbfounded.
"It's good you're here, so listen up. Kiana's my girlfriend and she, now, lives here as well. You, walking in here whenever you feel like, would be interrupting our private time together, so just stop."
"Why are you lying?" Kiana asked him between gritted teeth. Her brows furrowed deep and anger displayed on her face.
"There's no need for you to get groceries, someone to clean the place up, cook or set me up on any kind of date." Enrico continued, disregarding the fact that Kiana just spoke. He wouldn't let her out of his sight either. Staring directly into his mother's eyes, he spoke up.
"Kiana is my woman." He added, a sudden tone of seriousness laced on his words. The sentence alone caught both Giulia and Kiana off guard. Slowly, she stopped struggling to get free from him and found herself staring up at his face. Her heart raced rapidly and it didn't help matters as silence fell upon them.
Giulia stared at her son. A wave of disappointment washed over her. Confusion filled her. She had so many questions to ask, but all would lead to exposing the real truth. The real truth that she had kept from him all these years. Her hand folded into a tight fist causing her nails to dig painfully into her palm.
How's this possible?
That was the one question she had swinging on her mind at that moment. She had done so much. She had made sure to never let this day come, but now, there it was. Her worst nightmare. Kiana had been absent from their lives all these years, but when she walked back into their lives or when they actually became a couple was what remained a mystery to her. Too confused, shattered, vexed and disappointed to speak up, Giulia walked right past them, towards the main exit out of the penthouse. She was gone.
Kiana swallowed hard as she had noticed Giulia had left. The misunderstanding was going to cost her a lot. Enrico let out a silent sigh right after his mother was gone. He looked anywhere else but at Kiana at the moment. Perhaps, he was too harsh on his mother, but he had to be. He really didn't want her walking in whenever she felt like it. There really was a reason he moved out of their home, in the first place.
Enrico drew up a cocky smile before looking down at Kiana.
"Do you really want to be my woman?" He posed the unexpected question and that was all it took to snap her out of whatever trance she might have been in.