14. This doesn’t make sense

JESSICA'S POV

We had left the cafe and headed to my house. We were talking about a lot of things, and I must admit this guy is nice. It could be I knew him all my life, and that's how I felt, but I didn't know him at all at this moment and it made me angry I don't remember a great guy like he is. I don't know how to explain what I feel about him, everything is too strange, the only thing I'm clear about is this man attracts me like never before since I can remember and I haven't felt that way with anyone in all this time, everything is too weird, honestly.

Once we get to my building, we head to the elevator when Santi's phone starts ringing and he lets it ring, until it starts ringing again and he decides to answer it. "Yes, she's with me... She said she wanted to get some air for a while... Yes, she's okay... Don't worry little one, I promised you I would take care of her and that's what I'm doing."

"Is it Miky?" I asked and Santi just nodded and I thought it's strange he didn't call me and how come he had Santi's number, but I decided to ignore it. It didn't take him much longer to hang up when the elevator doors opened on the floor.

We went to the apartment; I opened the door and entered without saying a word. I went to the kitchen to get a glass of water and asked him if he wanted anything, but he said no, so I went to the couch and sat on it, which Santi doesn't take long to do.

"What is that important thing you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked with a little curiosity. "You can really have surgery." He said and I rolled my eyes "Like I told you before, I can't. My job doesn't give me the money." I repeated, "That's what you think, but hear me out... I don't know how to tell you this."

"Just say it." I blurted out, "Before all this happened, you were a recognized artist in Europe." He said and I couldn't help but laugh "That doesn't make sense." I responded once I managed to stop laughing "I may not make it, but listen. You had a lot of money. Half of what you earned you donated to NGOs or went to an orphanage to give to children. "You were famous and you have enough money to have surgery."

"That cannot be." I murmured without believing what he's saying, "Yes, yes, it is." Santi insisted, "Since I've been here, no one has recognized me, so it can't be." I responded in denial "Eric did it, but I thought you only looked like her who turns out to be you. Everyone thinks you're… Well, you know what they think, so yes, it may be."

"This has to be a lie... I'm not going to accept the money for surgery if you're hoping to convince me with that." I assured, "But that money is yours." The man insisted and again I denied, "No, my money hardly gives me the care Miky deserves. There's no way I have as much as you say I have."

"You have it, you would just have to come to Italy and I would show it to you. Come to Italy with me, please, Jess." He asked and I quickly denied "I don't do anything in Italy." I said a little more abruptly than I intended, "Of course you do, it's where you have your whole family!!!!" He exclaimed, "Family I don't remember."

"Maledizione Jessica, sei davvero la stessa persona testarda di sempre. (Fuck Jessica, you're really the same stubborn as always.)" he says in a frustrated tone "Sai cosa? Sarà meglio che vada in terrazza prima che tu provi a convincermi, perché davvero non lo farai, hai sprecato tutte le tue energie per niente. (You know what? I better go to the terrace before you try to convince me, because you really won't, you've been wasting all your energy for nothing)"

And with that I went out to the terrace, because to me nothing he said made sense. It didn't take long for Wisky to follow me and I could see Santi is surprised, I have no idea why, but at this moment I couldn't care less.

Once on the terrace, I sat on the armchair there and it didn't take long for Wisky to climb onto my lap. I'm caressing him and it didn't take long for me to fall asleep. When I wake up, I realize it's noon and that Miky is sitting next to me looking at me, which makes me nervous, because when he looks at me like that it's either to tell me something or because he's keeping something he wants to say.

"At least tell me you didn't get mad with Santi." Miky asked, "Why should that happen? I asked, a little annoyed that the first thing he thought is I had done something to upset Santi. "Because we know how bad mood you have when this happens to you." He quickly responded "Is that why you are looking at me like that?"

"No, it's not that." He said quickly "Then blurt out what you want to say?" I asked "It's really her, I mean, it's you." He responded "What are you talking about?" He handed me his phone on which there's a name on the screen: Jessica Leone. And I didn't understand anything, that name doesn't sound familiar to me at all, well, at least the last name.

"What are you trying to prove with this? I don't know that girl." I sincerely said "Look at the pictures." I did it out of curiosity. I don't know what's happening to Miky and why he's showing me this, but when I see the images, I can't believe it. It doesn't make sense for me to appear on the screen at this moment.

"Where the fuck did you get this from, Miky?" I asked looking at him "Carla was telling me some things about your life and told me your last name, that you were famous and many more things." He said with a small smile on his face, "I'm not famous." I protested, "Well, dear sister, let me tell you, you are."

"So, what Santi said…" I began, remembering what he told me "What did Santi told you?" my brother asked curiously "He told me something similar to what you just told me, but I didn't believe him…" I muttered the last part "You have to be stubborn as always, right?"

"Did you really expect me to believe what you told me out of the blue? None of this makes sense Miky." I protested, "I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. Now you have enough money to have surgery." He assured, "I'm not planning to have surgery. What if what he told me is not true? I'm not going to let anyone pay for the operation, Miky. Understand it."

"I can understand it to a certain extent. But what they say is true." He insisted, "It doesn't convince me at all." I responded "There's a way to fix that." He answered and I frowned "How?" I asked "Let's go to Italy." He said and now I really wasn't understanding anything "Are you crazy or what?"

"No, I'm not. It's the only way you will realize I'm telling you and what they say is true." He assured and I denied "This is crazy Miky." I murmured, "Do you want me to be happy, Jess?" He asked "Obviously I want it."

"Then would you please accept the offer and go find out if what they say is true or not?" He asked and I sighed, "This isn't fair, Miky." I said with thousands of thoughts running through my mind, "If you don't do it for yourself, at least do it for me." He asked, "But you have school, Miky, your friends, your whole life is here."

"That doesn't matter to me. You shouldn't worry about school, there's less than a week left to finish, and I may miss my friends, but the most important thing in my life is you and Wisky. If something happens to you, they'll send me to the same place Madison is, and I don't want to be there." I wanted Miky to be happy, and I know he's serious at this point. It's the only way to convince myself to do this crazy thing, because I'm really afraid of what I would find there.

"We'll go as soon as you finish classes." I said and it didn't take long for Miky to come towards me and hug me. Sometimes I couldn't believe how enthusiastic he could be, but I loved him so much. At that point I don't see how Wisky gets tense, which makes me turn around and see Carla at the terrace door, who was looking at us with a big smile.

"Then I have to assume you got it, little one." Carla said with a big smile on her face. "Were you behind all this?" I asked, "Obviously, as your best friend, I don't like to see you bad, and now that I've met this little guy, I don't want to see him bad either, so yeah, I was behind all this. But you should come by, Santi won't be long in arriving and I guess this dwarf must be hungry, we didn't have time to eat something on the way."

"Where's Santi?" I asked, frowning. "I really have no idea; he's been weird since we got home. He's taking too long for my liking. I hope he's not doing anything stupid." Carla said in a worried tone. "I don't see him as a person who does stupid things."

"Believe me, he can do anything stupid." He said and I frowned without understanding what she meant "Why? Tell me it's not my fault." I asked "Not because you did something bad or anything but because what happened to you." Carla responded with a shrug. "Why?" I asked, "I'm not the one who has to tell you about that, now let's see if he answers his damn phone."

"Have you called him yet?" I asked, starting to worry about him too. "Yes, and he doesn't answer." She said "Shit…" I murmured and headed to the entrance to grab my jacket and go look for Santi, because if what Carla said was true, I didn't want her to do something stupid because of me. "Where are you going?" Carla asked "I'll be back in a little while. Can you stay and take care of Miky?"

"Sure, but where are you going?" She asked curiously, "To fix something." I responded leaving the apartment. I had no idea where Santi could be, and Los Angeles is big, but something told me he's going to want to be somewhere quiet and alone, so I started searching my head for places fit that description, and soon it became clear. A place occurred to me where I myself sometimes went to rest my mind.

It didn't take me too long to get there and when I arrived there's no one there except one person. I'm sure it's Santi, so I slowly approached him, and ended up sitting on his side looking forward.

"Why don't you want to go to Italy?" He asked and I sighed "It's not that I don't want to." I answered sincerely "So what did you mean before?" He asked, turning to look at me. "What I was referring to before it I didn't mean I don't want to go to Italy. It's the way I react when I feel uncomfortable or something scares me."

"I make you feel uncomfortable…" he said convinced and I denied "No... You do the complete opposite, Santi. With you I feel very comfortable. I don't know, I feel like something united us apart from friendship." I said "What exactly?" He asked, "That's what I'd like to know because I don't have the slightest idea what brought us together. Can't you tell me?"

"I really wish you would remember that." He responded, shrugging his shoulders, "The problem is I don't remember. I'm tired of trying to remember things, because nothing comes to mind." I protested, "I'm sure you'll get it back." He said completely convinced, "Well, I'm not so convinced." I admitted, "I trust you; I know you will remember."

"I hope so. Now tell me what you are doing here." I asked "I needed to think." He responded, shrugging his shoulders. "You wouldn't be thinking about doing something stupid, would you?" I asked, worried he's going to do it. "You sound like Carla." He said, letting out a light laugh. "You can say I heard her say you did something stupid from time to time, although I find it hard to believe it."

"Well, she's right, I tend to do stupid things." He responded "Well you shouldn't. She was worried about you because you weren't answering your phone. I must admit when she said it, I was worried too." I admitted "Did you worry about me?" Santi asked with a shine I had never seen in his eyes. "Obviously I do, as I already told you, with you I feel very comfortable and I trust you like I have never done."

"Then I'll try not to worry you." He said with a small smile appearing on his face "I appreciated that. By the way, I'm going to Italy." I said with a small smile starting to form on my face "What?" He whispered "Yeah. I can't say no to Miky when he asks me the way he did."

"Are you seriously going to go to Italy?" He asked as if he didn't believe it. "Yes, isn't that what you wanted?" I asked, frowning and trying to understand what's happening. "Well, yes, I'm very happy. I'll start preparing everything. When do you want to leave?" He asked "Miky will finish school next week."

"Do you think we go next week?" He asked, the smile growing on my face. "I would like to fix a few things before we leave." I answered truthfully "How long will it take you?" He asked curiously. "I don't know."

"Well, when you finish fixing your things, let me know and I'll fix everything." He said with a big smile on his face "Thank you Santi." I thanked "Why?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "For doing everything you're doing for me and putting up with my bad mood." I responded "It's nothing I haven't endured before. I must admit I missed it."

"How so?" I asked, still confused "Like I told you, you're the most important person in my life. But let's go to your apartment before Carla kills me for not answering the phone." He said laughing, "Will you stay to eat?" I asked "We don't want to bother you." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You won't, besides, it's the least I can offer you after all."

"Okay, I'll accept, but not because you owe us, but because I will show you my culinary arts." He said with a big smile on his face "I miss your culinary arts." I said and at this moment I don't know why the hell I said that, but Santi's face is one of total astonishment and with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that." I said, looking away. "No, you don't have to apologize."

"Yeah, I have, I can see you're going to cry." I responded, "But it's joy." He assured "Why?" I asked curiously. "Because it reminded me of a conversation we had before you came to Los Angeles." He said "Good or bad?" I questioned "All conversations were good with you."

"I doubt it, I'm bad at talking, and considering my mood, not all conversations are good." I answered, "We may have argued and everything, but I still love you as much or more than before." He responded, "I guess I should be happy about that."

At that moment Santi's phone starts ringing, he looks at it and puts it back in his pocket. "We better go to your apartment before Carla calls the police and starts looking for us all over Los Angeles." He said laughing "Come on, Miky must be wondering where I went."

"They don't know you're here?" He asked "They have no idea, I told them I was going out, because I really had no idea where to find you." I said, shrugging my shoulders. "But you found me." He noted "Yes, an intuition. Why did you come here?"

"Every time we told you told me this was a great park where it's quiet and helped you think. Since I've been here, I've looked for this park because it reminded me of you." He admitted, "I'm flattered." I admitted, "Well you shouldn't, because it's the truth. Now let's go, because Carla will really kill me if I don't make it soon in your apartment."

"Can you go ahead?" I asked "I can do it, what are you going to do?" He questioned "I have to go somewhere before I go to the apartment." I said "I can accompany you if you want." He responded, putting his hands in his pocket "Thank you for offering, but I don't want Carla to kill you. Plus, it's not too far from the apartment."

"Okay, are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" He asked "No need, thanks anyway." I thanked "It's nothing." We continued walking until we reached my building, I approached him and gave him a kiss, too close to the lips I must admit, but when I separated, I saw that big smile on his face, I would do it again without hesitation.

I started walking again to go to the orphanage where Madison would be, that girl had made a place in my heart. She's a couple of years older than Miky, but it didn't matter to me, one thing more than clear to me was I won't leave her here, I loved her too much to leave her alone, because of her age, it's difficult for her to be adopted, which I couldn't I understand, because she's a great girl, so I would do everything necessary to adopt her, because something told me I wouldn't return to Los Angeles for a long time.