Chapter 3

It was silent the entire way back to the apartment.

I felt absent-minded.

I bumped my knee against the shoe cabinet, and the pain made my eyes tear up.

In the end, I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“You’re going to Sicilia?” I asked Leonardo.

“I’m not certain. It depends on my father’s arrangements.”

He crouched down and gently rubbed my knee, coaxing me softly.

“No matter what, it’s just for a year. It’s not like I’m staying in Enotria and never coming back.

“Violet, we got through four years of long distance, didn’t we?”

Four years of long distance, and Leonardo said it as if it had been easy.

However, my ticket holder was stuffed full, packed with all the tickets from my trips back and forth between Hill Valley and Mayruelle over the years.

What about him?

I could count the number of times he took the initiative to visit me at school on one hand.

When I came to Mayruelle just to be closer to him, he was preparing to go to Sicilia.

While I was buying furniture for our home and planning our future, he was studying the distribution of family powers in Sicilia.

I looked at him, smiling through tears. “You’re already preparing to go to Sicilia with Katrina. What makes you think I’ll wait for you?”

He frowned slightly.

“Violet, I don’t understand why you’ve always held such hostility toward Katrina.

“This is a rare opportunity. I’m going to Sicilia because of family matters, not because of her. Besides, she and I are just friends. I don’t know why you keep thinking I’d cheat with her.

“When we were younger, you even helped others deliver love letters to me. Why are you so sensitive, suspicious, and unreasonable now?”

My emotions ignited instantly.

I shouted at him, almost hysterically, “Back then, I was just your friend. Now I’m your girlfriend. How is that the same?”

Leonardo looked at me calmly for a long time.

“I’ve been thinking these past few days that perhaps we’re not suited to be a couple. Maybe we’re better off as friends.”

His voice grew colder little by little.

“I’ve already been very tired lately with family matters. I don’t want to argue with you over this.

“Let’s take a break. We can both calm down for a while.”

Just like that, Leonardo broke up with me unilaterally.

In the first month after the breakup, every day felt gray.

A physical tightness in my chest and heartache made it hard to eat. It felt like the air was filled with onions, making my nose sting and my eyes want to tear up.

I didn’t dare check social media and avoided all gatherings and parties.

I cut off every channel through which I might hear news about Leonardo.

Until one day, my mom called. “Sweetheart, did you receive the Parma ham and salami I had sent over?”

Looking at the half-meter-tall box by my feet, I felt a headache coming on. “Mom, it’s too much. I can’t finish it. Don’t send so much next time.”

“If you can’t finish it, give some to Leonardo. Don’t you live pretty close to him?”

At the mention of Leonardo, my mom suddenly became talkative.

“I heard from Mrs. Vitale that Leonardo has a girlfriend now. Do you know about this?”

“They say she’s the principessa of the Castellano family. Pretty, tall, and slim, she’s a lively one.

“When are you going to bring a boyfriend home?”

I don’t even remember how I ended the call.

At one in the morning, it was as if I’d lost my mind. I grabbed a bag of salami and went straight to find Leonardo.

After not seeing him for a month, he had a new haircut, still looking polished and handsome as ever.

“Don’t listen to my mom’s nonsense. Katrina just happened to be going to Hill Valley with friends, so I acted as a guide for half a day.”

Leonardo seemed to have expected that this misunderstanding would reach me. He had also expected that I wouldn’t be able to hold back and would come to him, asking to get back together.

When he took off his coat and draped it over my shoulders, I wrapped my arms around his waist and spoke softly in his arms.

“You’re right. It’s only a year.”

As soon as we entered the apartment, Leonardo pushed me against the wall and kissed me impatiently.

By the latter half of the night, we had used up the entire box of protection in the bedside drawer.

After Leonardo fell asleep, I looked at him. The confusion in my eyes gradually faded into calm.

Over the years of long distance, we had argued many times, big and small.

Leonardo seemed used to me being the one to give in first.

However, this time, I wasn’t trying to save our fragile relationship. I was preparing myself to leave him completely.

I quietly got out of bed. Then I replied to the message my dad had sent me.

[Violet, my dear, are you really leaving your mother and me to go to Sampa alone?]

[Yes, Dad.]