Interested In Me?

After what feels like forever, Stefano walks out of the office; he says his final goodbye to the man before walking back into the restaurant, with me following behind. While we are walking out, the most embarrassing thing in my life happens. My stomach makes the noise, the noise that tells the whole world you are hungry, and it’s loud. Oh my God, why did you decide to embarrass me like this? I say to my stomach, but it only growls more. I turn to Stefano, for the first time in my life, I think he is smiling or trying to hold his laugh.

“Are you hungry?” Stefano asks with the same beautiful expression on his face. He has never smiled before; it makes him look more attractive than ever. He should smile more often.

“No, I am not,” I say, trying to deny the growling sound from my stomach, but my stomach betrays me again.

“I think your stomach begs to defer,” Stefano says, smirking, loving the fact that I am embarrassing myself.

“Okay, yes, I am,” I say in a whisper, feeling very embarrassed to confirm the sounds my stomach is making.

“We can eat before we go.”

“Thank you.”

We find a table in the restaurant, and I waste no time ordering food. Stefano and I have never eaten together and I must say it feels very awkward. I don’t know what to talk about or if he would even be interested in anything I say. I decide to use my phone and wait for my food. While we are eating, Stefano speaks up.

“I realized you have a certain interest in cars,” Stefano says, looking at my phone where I am scrolling through snapchat. I am watching Supercar Blondie, she makes impressive car review videos. I am surprised he is talking about it. I was expecting him to tell me about something business-related, as that is the only conversation, we ever have.

“Yes, I do. I really love cars.”

“I didn’t peg you for that type of woman.”

“A lot of people don’t.”

“That’s good, what type of cars do you like,” he says, staring at me. I wonder why he is staring. He is looking very interested in what I am saying.

“I don’t really have a preference; I just love any car that looks good to me.”

“That’s nice.”

“I wanted to ask you why you gave the keys to your Pagani Huayra to me for the day?”

“No reason.”

“Really,” I say, not believing him

“Yes, no reason at all, Andrea.”

“Alright”

Later in the evening after work, we visit the warehouse in California for the Costanzo mafia family. We are here to discuss who might be responsible for our attack.

Samuel parks the car and opens the door for Stefano. We step out of the car and walk into the warehouse. We walk straight to the meeting room, where we meet a few other guys who have been helping with the investigation. Stefano usually comes alone for these meetings and tells me all the necessary information later. When he was injured last time; I had to attend the meetings in his place, I was also handling his mafia business, which explains why I was really exhausted from working in his place and taking care of him.

Once we are seated, the secretary starts speaking.

“Mr. Costanzo, we did like you asked, and tried to find anyone related to the Kazan gang. So far, we were only able to find a person who is a distant relative to the former gang leader,” Helen says, who is the secretary, she is different from the one who works at the office. Helen only works for the mafia.

“Tell me everything about this person.”

“Irina Petrova, 26 years old, not married, she lives in America, to be precise, Miami,” Helen says, placing her picture on the projector screen.

“Is she related to any of my father’s enemies?” I ask, if she is staying in Miami, she might know my family. This could cause her to hate my family and want to kill me.

“No, she is not.”

“How close was she with people from the Kazan gang,” Stefano asks.

“From all the information I have found, she doesn’t even know she is related to the former leader of the gang.”

“Alright, where is she right now?”

“She is currently visiting a friend in Italy.”

“Send me all her travel details. I want to know where she is staying and who she intends to meet. I want to know everything you can get.” Stefano says, standing up to leave.

“Okay, sir,” she says.

“Once you have more information, let me know,” Stefano says walking out of the meeting room, with me following behind.

I just finished eating dinner and I am making some popcorn to eat while watching a movie in the living room. Stefano is already seated in the living room with his laptop and a few papers in front of him. It hasn’t been long since he got back from work and I can’t believe he is still working. He works too much.

“Do you mind if I watch TV?” I ask, taking my seat on the couch, not too far away from Stefano.

“No, I don’t.”

I am about to play the movie when my phone starts ringing. Santiago is calling, he is in Mexico, so I quickly answer.

“Hi Brother,” I say, excited to be hearing from him

“Hello little Sis, how are you doing.”

“I am good, how is everyone? I hope Abuela is feeling better.”

I was so sad I wasn’t able to fly to Mexico last time.

“Yes, she is, she wishes you could come by and see her, but she understands why you can’t.”

“Is she close by so that I could speak to her”

“Yes, hold on a minute,” Santiago says changing the call from a voice call to a video call.

“Es esa mi angelita (Is that my little angel)” Abuela says once she sees me.

“Sí abuela, cómo te sientes? Mejor espero (Yes grandma, how are you feeling. Better I hope).”

“I am doing fine, Mi Angel; how are you doing? Your mother told me what happened to you on your way to the airport. Any luck finding out who is responsible?”

My mother doesn’t come from a mafia family, but her mother knows what my father does. My mother is the only child of her parents, and her father is dead. Abuela was never meant to find out, but life has a way of telling your secrets. At first, she wasn’t happy about it, but she knew how much my father loved my mom, so she accepted him for who he is.

“I am doing fine, and so far, we are not sure who is responsible, I am sure We will find out soon.”

“That’s good, my Dear, only come to see me when you have caught the people who wants to hurt mi Angel.”

“Yes, Abuela, I love you.”

“I Love you too, my dear,” she says hanging up the phone.

After I hang up the phone, I play a horror movie, one of my favorite genres. I love the feeling of getting scared and the suspense that horror movies have. I am watching the “Conjuring” while watching the film, a scary part comes up. I unexpectedly grab the closest throw pillow beside me or so I thought. My throw pillow feels hard and firm for some odd reason. I look to see what I am holding, I grabbed Stefano’s arm, which explains why my throw pillow felt hard. I slowly remove my hand from his arms while I look up at his face. I expect to see him looking at me angrily, but he isn’t. The usual angry blaze in his eyes is gone and he is just staring back at me.

“I am so sorry,” I say while still staring into his eyes. I drop my eyes from his and look at his face.

Stefano is indeed a handsome man; his face is so well structured I am confused as to how he is human. He is as gorgeous as a Greek god. Now, I remember why I had a crush on him, and I have to make sure that doesn’t happen again. I might say it was a little crush, but I know better than anyone what I felt for him years ago, my heart isn’t ready to go through that again, I better be careful.