◆ MILES ◆
Brichese, Italy
"Where you at?"
"Somewhere you never been. What's up?"
"
◇ KEL ◇ New York “What do you mean, you're not sure?” My mother's voice barely drifted past her soft-spoken motherly tone, but her focused brown eyes and scrunched brows were enough to raise the barometer in the room—not that this cheap apartment unit had one. I glanced down and put my phone away. My mom didn't need to see the pitiful numbers on the screen displaying my current bank balance. Shrinking and just hanging by a thread—pretty much like my confidence. I almost failed a class again…something I didn’t want to tell my mother, but something I knew she definitely wanted to know. “Just one year left, Mykaela. Then you're off
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◇ KEL ◇ 2 new notifications - "M. C. Falco (account number: **** 4096 ***) sent $45,000 to your account **** 7894 **. Transaction completed today at 14:30." - "M. C. Falco (account number: **** 4096 ***) sent $45,000 to your account **** 7894 **. Transaction completed today at 14:37." - Holy guacamole. 90 thousand dollars? Was this an error? The first time was shocking enough that I had to read the notifications twice. Disbelief made me doubt the whole thing. Then I logged in to check my bank account. Crap. It wasn't a mistake. He actually sent me money. Almost a hundred thousand dollars. For what? Why send me this much money? Struggling for immediate answers, I checked the descriptions and my emails. Odd. Miles didn't send any. The only message he included in the fund transfer transactions was: "Pay him back now" That's it. No other messages. The shock just turned into utter confusion as I kept staring at the total amount and the unbelievable number of zeros o
◇ KEL ◇"Cosa vuoi mangiare?""Huh?" As I tried to catch my breath after another long lap, I held onto the edge of the pool while Enzo stood idly next to me.His slight frown preceded a quick sigh, and he shook his head at the numbers on his phone screen. It was his stopwatch. He was timing my laps; he knew I hadn't had time to work on my cardio for months now because of med school and everything else. "You put in another twelve seconds.""Sorry." I took deep, noisy breaths as I loosened my ponytail. My chest felt like it would explode any second now. I tilted my head and tried to lessen my loud intakes of breath.Sunset now dappled the clear sky with pale hues of orange, and if I wasn't burning calories for the past half hour, by now I'd be shivering and covered up with a robe and a thick towel. The pool was almost empty. We could do laps without bothering the kids playing on the shallow end, right on the arc-shaped stairs."Want pasta? Some steak? Salad?" Enzo glanced at me befo
◇ KEL ◇ "Did you like the food?" "Yeah." I got up from my seat and put on a smile. "Thank you for dinner." "Sure. You need to go home now?" "Uh...no. Not really," I replied to the guy standing next to me. The question surprised me as we walked side by side back to the hotel lobby. It was almost empty, save for the receptionists and the poker-faced security personnel guarding the front entrance. Like the spacious hotel rooms, the decor looked elegant, clean, and filled with relaxing earth colors. Some golden streaks here and there. "I'll drive you back to your place," Enzo said. His warm breath smelled of wine now. Like me, he was wearing a plain shirt and dark-colored boardshorts. Mine were shorter, though. "Thanks. I'll help you pack first," I suggested. We were both tired from swimming, but the least I could do in return was help him with his luggage. He mentioned he was exhausted and sleepy, basically in no mood to pack for his flight back to Italy tomorrow. It kind of r
◇ KEL◇ To my utter disadvantage, his simple greeting caused my heart to do backflips in my chest, and I almost cracked a smile. But, no―I wouldn't take it easy on him. I'd give him a dose of his own medicine first...maybe even leave him standing on my parents' front porch just for snubbing me the past weeks. So he was too busy to return my calls and reply to my texts, but not too busy to fly all the way out here just to bring me cake and a bouquet? "Glad you didn't forget," I muttered. The posy of tulips, roses, and sunflowers sat quietly on the pink cake box. Okay. So he hadn't forgotten my top three favorites. "Sorry I didn't catch the party." Miles handed me the flowers and held the cake box with one arm. Indeed he was hours late for my luncheon party, but at least he took the time to be here and bring me birthday gifts. I stopped pretending to be busy smelling the roses. I tilted my head to regard him. Although the part
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◇ KEL◇ 12:35AM In the quiet of my own room, the moment my brain just gave up and stopped processing the glossary terms in my new Pharmacology book, I heard my phone beep. New message? I glanced at my nightstand clock. Well past midnight. Probably just Gaia, texting me goodnight. I had asked Gaia to come over again to keep me calm and semi-normal. Unfortunately, my best friend wanted me to deal with Miles on my own. "Just play his game," was Gaia's poor advice for me. "And tell him you don't need him, or his filthy rich family and shady connections." Out of burning curiosity and anxiety, I got up from my desk to check my phone. My heart jumped when I read his alias on the screen. Yep. I had to use aliases now—actually his request. "Still up?" his text read. "So now you feel like texting me?" For a long minute or two, I just stared at his message. The diminutive voices in my