The Fire Unleashed ✔

20. Monotony Is Exciting

I woke up the next day with renewed energy. Though, the bruises and bluish-black spots that adorned my body told an awfully distinct story about last night, the talk I had with Paul had eventually pulled me out of the abyss I had created for myself.

Looking at the first rays of the sun peeking out shyly from behind the thick canopy of clouds and hearing the incessant pleasant chirping of birds as they went about their day regardless of the harsh weather of early November in New York, gave me life as I started my day with a morning jog around the neighborhood. One of the good things about going out early in the morning was the serene atmosphere all around. Significant absence of vehicles, humans and their various businesses left the streets devoid of substances that upped the level of irritation in me. The empty streets of mornings in New York were a boon to me, and thus, I never missed visiting them.

The day was pretty basic after that - the same hectic day in the hotel's office and then heading over to the clubs to handle the other business. But as I shuffled from one job onto the other, I realized that sometimes this monotony is also exciting. You don't need to have something extraordinary happening in your life everyday, as that too puts you out of your comfort zone and has you questioning your actions.

This routine life that I had created for myself, or rather, this job had created for me, did me good on days when I didn't want to think about other things. Now that some time had passed since the incident in Italy, things were slowly getting back to normal. Bria had finally recovered physically, but had still been mentally disturbed because of our failure. It took Luca and I a lot of efforts to mollify her and she did finally realize that it was no good whining over the past.

Since that day, she asked for some space from both of us and said she would spend some time alone travelling. Luca let her go because he felt like she needed it. Maybe she really did need it, since everyone has different ways to cope with difficult times.

Suddenly, the office phone rang and closed the gigantic folder of my thoughts as I returned to the worldly problems once again.

"Yes Stella?"

I picked up the call made by my secretary.

"Sir, Miss Marino has arrived just now, and she wishes to see you for a bit."

The robot-like voice of my secretary sounded in my office, informing me about a very indispensable news, something I've been waiting for some weeks now. Immediately, I answered,

"Let her in."

"Okay sir."

A minute later, the door opened abruptly to reveal.... a blonde lady? Who was she? She definitely didn't look like Bria. Was my secretary confused or drunk in the middle of the day? Bria was a pretty brunette, with chocolate brown eyes and...

What?! She was Bria Marino? My childhood friend?

I couldn't believe my eyes. Finding the girl standing in a corner with a smirk on her face but not uttering a word was unnerving too, but all my instincts told me she was indeed Bria.

"You're Bria? Really?"

I asked her, not even bothering to hide my bemusion and displeasure at her antics. Was this what she wanted to take a break for?

She laughed impishly, as if she was revelling in my discomfort. 'Wait till Luca sees you like this!' I thought to myself with a victorious grin. Luca had always preferred to take blondes to his bed rather than brunettes, a reason for which he never allowed his baby sister to dye her hair blonde, but she had gone and done the exact same thing she was forbidden to do. 'Oh Bria, you're in big trouble tonight.'

"Why Tigey, you don't like it?"

She asked me as if talking to a child, which made me smirk again.

"You thought your fratello wasn't serious about this, huh? You're not gonna be let off the hook this time. This time, the shit's real."

(Fratello - Brother)

The smile left her face in a jiffy which made me think if she had suffered some serious damage to her brains in the brawl. How could she forget about it?

"But Tiger, it's not fair. I wanna be able to do whatever I want, why does he get to have a say which color should I dye my hair? It was an impulse, and I can't take it back now."

She pouted and whined like a 5 years old girl, but it wasn't having any effect on me. Seeing that, she changed her tactic and said something completely out of the ordinary.

"Okay but, how about you help me? I just want you to take my side and stop brother from being too angry ok?"

"And why would I do that? Do I get something out of it?"

If she wanted to make a bargain, then so be it.

"Yes, I will set you up with my new friend that I made. Now please say yes."

She was practically begging at this point but I couldn't register any of that. All I could hear was that she would set me up on another blind date with one of her friends, which would leave me being awkward and them being embarrassed. The stress of all this was too much to take in, and so before I answered Bria, I lit a cigarette to calm my nerves.

"Okay now why are you smoking in the office? Can't you do this later when we aren't talking about my very important problem?"

"No. No talking about your matters, because they never end well. You know what you're saying right? This is seriously going to not end well for me."

I said, still a little bit apprehensive about it. It wasn't that I had never dated girls before. It was just that I wasn't comfortable in dating and being with just one girl, and so I never payed attention to any girl for more than a night. It was all a waste of time and a huge distraction, and so I didn't want any of it in my life. However, Bria had other plans and this was her 1000th setting for me. She just didn't understand that al of them would end the same way.

But I couldn't stand the way she was looking at me and so I decided to comply with her request.

"Alright then, tell me the date and day. I'll be there."

"Yay!!"

As she rejoiced and as I looked at her silliness fondly thinking it would all be over soon, I didn't realize what kind of a tornado I had invited voluntarily. And what shape and type it would take, only time could tell.

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