LUCREZIA“Carusso?” My father’s eyes squinted as he stared at the man that just barged right into his mansion without his permission. Father looked angry and felt disrespected at the man’s arrogance. He just went in and surpassed the guards he hired as if he owned the place.I stepped back, distancing myself from the sudden visitor to take a better look on his face. I pushed Letizia further behind me to protect her, an act of instinct.I swallowed hard when the man turned his head to face me. My eyes widened when I recognized his familiar gaze.It was really Pietro Carusso who barged into our mansion unprecedented. What is he doing here?“What are you doing here?” As if my father could read my thoughts, he asked the question at the same time it occurred in my head.Pietro turned his attention back to my father when he heard his question. “I should be the one asking you that, Rocchi. I am not the one who had done something wrong,” Pietro spoke calmly
LUCREZIA“I should talk with her for a moment,” Pietro spoke confidently as he stared at me with intense gaze which I returned with equal fervor gratefully. He wasn’t asking for permission, Pietro just pulled me out of the living room without waiting for anyone’s permission. He pulled me away from my father who looked like he just won the lottery and my sister who looked like she just received a news that stated she was adopted.I looked at her for the last time, I wanted to explain to her. I want to talk to her more than I want to talk to Pietro so I can clear things out with her. Letizia gazes back at me, with her eyes filled with so much emotion that I couldn’t tell the thoughts running in her head. She just found out the secrets that I’ve been hiding from her and she just also realized that I used her so I could sneak out at night and have a date with the Don of the Carusso family. She has the right to be angry at me and feel betrayed by my actions.I
PIETRO“Why did you do that?” Pericles asked me as soon as I got home, I haven’t even taken off my coat yet.I stared at him but didn’t answer his question. I took my time taking off my coat and my watch so I could think of the answer to his question carefully. To be honest, I’m still not sure about the reasons behind my actions. I just know that I had to do it.“Which one were you asking me about? The part when I broke Lucrezia’s heart or the part when I apologized for it and even asked his father’s permission to marry her?” I asked back just to annoy him.Instead of becoming annoyed, Pericles looked at me as if I was a child doing stupid things that an adult can never understand.“Both Pietro. I don’t understand both!” he blurted out like a madman. “The Pietro Carusso that I know always took calculated steps. These… It’s crazy.”“It’s one word to describe it,” I replied nonchalantly as he fusses over it. I just don’t want to think about it and he
LUCREZIAI exhaled loudly as if a heavy boulder of rock is lifted off from my shoulders. I shut my eyes, my hand automatically reaching for my rapid beating heart. I still couldn’t wrap my head around what had just happened. I couldn’t believe that I’m already engaged with Pietro just like that.Last time, we just had a fight and in another spur of the moment, we’re now engaged.I had no idea that this could actually happen in real life. The whole thing wasn’t sweet and romantic as I had hoped for, as any women had hoped for in a marriage proposal. What happened was far from how things are depicted in the movies.The whole thing was a mess and things happened unpredictably. Just when I was ready giving up my love, Pietro swooped in and swept me in his arms.Pietro’s proposal wasn’t any good either. It wasn’t some sort of a dream I had that was fulfilled. He made it clear that our marriage would only be a marriage of convenience.What is marriage without love?I guess I’m about to fin
LUCREZIA“This is my fault isn’t it?” Letizia mumbled beneath her breath and I heard her perfectly fine. “No, it’s not like that,” I immediately regretted my words. I don’t her to feel this way, I don’t want her to blame herself for my decision.Even though one of the reasons why I wanted to marry was to protect her from a loveless marriage, it doesn’t really mattered much because I love Pietro too anyway.I have higher chances of being happy in a married life than Letizia. Life still had too much to offer for her and I can’t rob her of her innocence and freedom when she’s just about to experience life.I noticed how Letizia’s jaw clenched as she fidgeted with her fingers. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled an apology.“Why? This was my decision. I could have chose otherwise but I chose to do this,” I tried to lift up her spirits even though she feels disconnected from me.“If it wasn’t for me, would you have chosen to handle the business instead?” She finall
LUCREZIAI never thought that preparing for an engagement party would be as hectic as preparing for an actual wedding. I wish I was preparing for the wedding day instead. The thought that I will have to do all of this again after our engagement party for the wedding day already makes me feel tired.Don’t get me wrong, I want to get married. I am excited to get married, but preparing for a wedding is something I’m sure that no one would be excited about.It’s a task that is harder than preparing for the bar exams..I wish I could just skip through the preparation process and jump to the day where I’m about to walk down the aisle. However, I couldn’t and I’m stuck in doing all this arduous process.What’s making me feel more angry about this situation was that Pietro was never here to help me with the preparation process. He wasn’t there when we were trying to decide about the theme and motif of our engagement party, he wasn’t there when we are thinking of the design for the invitations
PIETROPericles is driving the car today instead of my usual driver because no one must know the places where I’m going today and the things I have planned to do. As much as possible, no one must know that I’m out in the streets so no one would think anything suspicious. I need to limit my trail especially that I’m going to places that I have no business with, and I have to do things that a person in my position mustn’t do.Pericles knows me, he knows my life and everything that goes within my head even. Hiding secrets from him would be impossible. Luckily, he is my greatest friend and the only person I could fully trust because he knows a lot about me, and he understands me.My phone buzzed in my pocket, even though it’s in silent mode, it rang loudly inside the enclosed vehicle because we were too silent.Pericles glanced at me over his shoulder, distracted by the sound of my phone.I’m sitting at the front seat beside him instead of sitting behind wh
PIETROAndrei… How long was it since I uttered and heard that name?I swallowed hard, my hand curling into a fist, crumpling the straight bill of money that I was holding as I watched the lady write my name on the cup.Andrei, it read.“How about you sir?” The lady asked Pericles beside me interrupting me from my thoughts. I stepped back in short surprise and turned to look at Pericles, pretending that my mind was not distracted for a moment, but judging by the way he looks at me, I know he knew.“Same with him,” Pericles muttered curtly and stared at me with concern.I immediately broke eye contact with him and faced the lady once again not wanting to talk about it.I watched as the lady wrote his name and order on his cup until my gaze landed on my hand curled into a fist, squeezing out the dollar.I relaxed my hand and shifted on my position. I haven’t noticed that I was being too obvious about it.I breathed out softly to calm my nerves as I try to hide the slight disturbance in