Elegance with Expense

13. Harsh and Bitter

Giovanni told me that I should probably spend the rest of the night here, I complied as I knew already that he was a heavy sleeper. He fell back asleep in a matter of minutes which benefited me since I wanted to go on a run, It had just turned 5:30am and I figured it would be a good time to get up since I wanted to make something to eat. I still had his crewneck on which was somewhat good and somewhat bad. Good because it covered the bruises and bad because I would most likely get too hot on my run. Regardless, I sneakily tip toed out of the room, not making it very far before I heard a voice.

'Alessa?' I heard from behind me which made me turn quickly. I saw Giovanni, who was wide awake for some reason. Him falling asleep in a few minutes was too good to be true. I awkwardly smiled at him probably looking really suspicious, I mean I was sneaking out of the room at 5:30 in the morning.

'I am only going on a run.' I clarified before he could jump to any conclusions .

'In that case, I'll come with you.' He said a moment after thinking, I thought that he was going to comment on how I shouldn't be doing any physical activity with the state that I am in, but I was glad when he kept silent about it. I nodded and told him that I would be waiting in the kitchen for him.

I walked down the stairs and made my way through the halls to get to the kitchen, the more that I walked around this house, the more I realised how confusing the layout is. I heard some muttering from inside the room but walked in anyway, I saw Vincent and Michele standing by the coffee maker, Vincent was sending a message or an email whilst Michele was speaking in a hushed voice beside him. They always seem to be omnipotent, hence why they are constantly speaking as if they are being listened to.

Neither of them acknowledged me for a while. I did not know if it was because they were unsure of my presence or if they were to engrossed in sharing secrets. I opened the fridge, which seemed to grab their attention, and took out some ingredients to make a normal, healthy breakfast which tasted divine. It consisted of large spinach leaves, avocado, honey and nuts.

'Why are you guys in suits?' I asked them as I washed the spinach, I took out enough for them too since they probably hadn't eaten yet.

'Business calls.' Michele answered as he took a sip of his freshly made coffee.

'At 5:30 in the morning?' I replied unconvinced as I dried the leaves in some paper towels.

'Yes, what are you making?' He asked changing the subject, Vince was still on his phone, he didn't look at me beside that brief glance he shot me when I opened the fridge.

'Try it.' I said as I peeled the skin from the avocados, I took a sharp knife from the stand and rapidly chopped the avocado into dices in a matter of seconds, I am very experienced with knives. Some may find this worrying; some find it impressive. I moved the chopped pieces to the side of the chopping bored and started to assemble the ingredients together into bite sized pieces. First, I grabbed a spinach leaf and added some avocado and nuts, then I drizzled a small amount of honey on the top and folded it into a parcel shape. I repeated this 11 more times until I was left with 12, I put them on a plate and moved It to the side whilst I cleaned up. I washed the knives and chopping board, put away the food and threw away the avocado skin.

I picked one up and put it into my mouth, I made it good this time, the right amount of everything which made the flavours balance out perfectly. I saw Michele looking at the plate and I nodded my head at him, he walked over and took one in his hand, he looked at me once more to double check that he could eat it. He was clearly pleased with the taste and turned to Vince who was still concentrated on that 'important' message.

'Vince, man, you have to try these.' He said as he took another one. Vincent didn't acknowledge Michele's words so I took it upon myself to get him to try it. I took one in my hand just as Gio came into the kitchen with his phone and air pods. He looked at the food I had made, shrugged and plopped one into his mouth, he had an awfully similar reaction to Michele, showing that he also enjoyed it. I walked up the Vince and stood in front of him.