“Take off your shoes, let’s go. You’ll stay in Gabriella’s room until we decide what to do.”


    “I want to go to Edinburgh.”


    Vico takes my suitcases and carries them to the room.


    “I understand, but we can’t do it today,” he objects, “in a day or two, once we have the tickets. Mom, of course, will sort things out with the apartment where you lived, but do you at least know where you’ll go when you arrive?”


    “I’ll rent a room in a hotel, and then I’ll find a new place to live.”


    “Is your conflict with your family that strong?”


    “Oh, you don’t know, I’m from a small town. And I don’t want to go there right away, so I’ll spend the night in a hotel. I have a childhood friend. If I need something, I’ll ask him for help.”


    “A friend, but not your parents.”


    “I don’t know who my parents are,” I finally say sadly.


    I haven’t been able to talk to anyone openly for a long time. Well, yes, Peter. But he has his own life, I can’t bother him. And I would never dare say anything to John. We don’t have such a good relationship. Besides, I love him, but I don’t really know anything about him. Would such an arrogant person listen to how I feel? Yes, he showed attention to me. And I even liked it, but he did it for himself, not for me. He just wanted to laugh at me.


    “I’m sorry,” Vico breaks me out of my depressive thoughts, “I’m sorry I asked you about this.”


    “No, it’s fine. I grew up in a foster family. And they treated me well, but everything changed when I overheard my grandmother talking to her grandson. We had a complicated relationship.”


    The whole family knew about it, but they didn’t tell me. At first it was offensive, then I rethought it and realized that I can’t abuse their feelings and finances if I have no connection to this family except for the documented connection. I would like to pay them back. I don’t think that until then things will get better for me, even if they don’t think so.


    Vico listens attentively.


    “You say grandmother and grandson... Do you mean brother on paper?”


    “Yes, but for me he is something more. By saying that he is my brother, I create a barrier and forbid myself to feel anything for him. Although we do not have common blood, I cannot say that society will like it. But I cannot refuse John either, although he is a rather complex and closed person. I cannot be sure that I have any significance for him.”


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    “Listen,” Viko takes me by the chin and looks with his dark eyes into mine, without taking his eyes off, “you reason very maturely for your age, although outwardly you look very fragile and defenseless. I like your principles. And I am sure that you will succeed. But you need to come to an agreement with yourself. Thank you for sharing with me, I appreciate it. We have not communicated for long, but I am starting to like you. And as a woman too. No, I didn’t fall in love, but you touched something in me. You can be proud of yourself. No one has ever managed to do that before.”


    “Sorry,” I say, embarrassed.


    “Don’t worry about me. I’ll just be your friend, and you can always turn to us if you ever come again. And I’m sure it will happen. It will definitely happen.”


    “Thank you, Vico.”


    “Well, don’t cry, don’t cry...”


    We are sitting on the floor in his room. He hugs me and tries to calm me down. But the tears are in no hurry to stop.


    In the evening, we gathered for our last dinner together. Gabriella is silent and dejectedly pokes her food with a fork.


    “Don’t be upset,” Celeste tells her, “You will continue to communicate, but at a distance. Christina needs to go to her family in Scotland.”


    “Yes,” I’m sitting next to her and stroking her head, “we will definitely see each other soon.”


    “You will come back, right?”


    “Of course, I will come back someday. But I don’t know when that will be, so we will contact each other by video and continue your lessons.”


    “Okay,” Gabriella says capriciously.


    After dinner, I don’t linger and go to rest. Little Gabriella follows my example. She is so cute. I close my eyes but can’t fall asleep and just toss and turn in bed. After an hour or maybe two, I finally fall asleep.


    JOHN.


    Kate left yesterday, and now I’m alone in my apartment again, able to reflect on myself and my bachelor life. Perhaps being alone isn’t so bad… sometimes. A message from an unknown number on Whatsapp. Who could it be? I open it out of curiosity. There’s a photo of Christina. But it was clearly taken by someone from across the street.


    “Maybe she asked someone? But she looks too natural. Oh, John, why do you care? You haven’t seen her for a long time, just admire her,” I say to myself.


    After a while, another message. When I open it, there’s a link to her Instagram profile. There are only a few posts, and they are recent. So she created it recently. She seems to be doing well there without me.


    Maybe I should fly to Rome and find her? Why did Peter say she was coming soon? It doesn’t look like she’s going. She’s doing well there.


    “Okay, I’ll think about it tomorrow.”


    I take a sip of whiskey and put the bottle back in the fridge. Time for bed.


    CHRISTINA.


    “Signora, thank you for everything. And thank you for helping me now. You can send my boxes later by delivery. I’ll let you know when I’m settled, so it has somewhere to deliver. I’m glad I met you all and spent some time here.”


    “Write when you land, so we don’t worry,” Celeste hugs me and secretly tries to wipe away a stingy tear.


    “I’ll definitely let you know, don’t worry,” I say.


    “It’s time to go, otherwise we’ll be late,” Vico volunteered to walk me to the airport, and now he’s waiting for Celeste and I to finally say goodbye.


    He takes one of my suitcases and goes to the elevator. I follow him and at the same time wave to Celeste, and she waves to me.