𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐂𝐎'𝐒 𝐊𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍

➪TWENTY THREE

"Has no one ever told you to never ask about that?" Nicco says as he briefly looks over at me. I sit on the passengers side of his car, the lights glaring through the car and shining down on my legs as we past by.

Suddenly he makes me feel as if I'm far younger than him.

"Why not?" I ask and he shrugs.

"Religion, sports, and politics are topics one may be offended by. Luckily you're with me and I'll tell you" he says, taking his right hand from the wheel and placing it against my thigh.

His touch calms me in a way, but I'm still taken back. He could have just answered my question without saying so much.

"I actually don't have a religion, I'm not religious at all". His answer surprises me a bit. My mother wasn't super religious, but we lived by a God, and we praised him when it was due.

"You don't think there's a God at all?" I ask and he shrugs slyly.

"It's not that. I just don't think of it at all. Maybe there is a God, maybe there isn't, but there isn't one I'll ever praise. If there was a God how come people die everyday from innocent things if he's supposed to protect? Or why did he let Hitler do what he did? Or even Slavery? Years and years of hurt just to say that there is a God? Says who? Who died and came back to tell us that there was a God? When you give me that answer I'll praise him".

His sarcastic tone towards the end makes me laugh a bit. He makes perfect sense, but not going by a single religion seems so wrong to me.

"So are you like..an atheist?" I ask, receiving a simple head shake from him.

"That's what some would say..that I practice atheism, but the truth is that I don't think about God at all. It sounds a bit weird to say since I have a chain with a cross on it, but it's solely for decor purposes."

"But I've heard you say God before" I say and he looks over at me, his eyebrow raised. I nod. "Like 'oh my god' when you're a bit irritated or 'thank God'. I'm sure I've heard it before".

He chuckles lightly. "That's because those sayings are just routed into my brain. It shows emotion when I say those. If I'm angry and I say 'oh my God' it shows that I'm angry. Or if I say 'thank God' it means that I'm relieved. Am I not allowed to use those phrases since I don't believe in a God?" He asks me.

"Kinda" I reply. "You don't hear me saying 'Thank Buddha'. It doesn't sound like I should even be saying it now" I'm not sure if people who praise Gautama Buddha even use that phrase, but I needed it as a reference. You can't really use a saying if you don't go by it.

His lips peel downwards as he nods his head, keeping his eyes on the road ahead. "I can't say that you are wrong. But I will say that it's engraved in my brain and that it would take me a while to stop using it".

"No, I have no problem at all, I'm not offended when you use it, I just wanted to make it make sense to myself. Do you see what I'm saying?" I ask and he nods.

"Oh absolutely. So you're a Christian? Is it by choice?" He asks.

"Yes, and no. But it's not like I'm out in the world trying to find a new religion to live by. I was raised in a semi Christian home. My mother praised God but she wasn't hard on me about doing so. We rarely went to church, only on special events. She rarely even talked about God, I'm guessing it was just what she was taught and she taught me the same" I say.

Nicco nods as he drives his car behind the large building, going to what seems to be only accessed by him as he had to use a special card to let him inside. "So will you teach your kids to be Christian?".

"I think I'll just let them do as they please. Of course if they're really young they'll just follow after what they know, but if when they're older and they want to explore different religions I'll support them the entire way." Nicco looks over at me and for a brief moment and he smiles. "What?" I ask.

He shakes his head, smiling deeper as he starts to park his car. His dimple deepens and it makes his smile as contagious as it's always been. "You have it all figured out."

"Well I would hope so" I say. All this talk about religion makes me sigh. I've never openly talked about this topic to someone who didn't praise the same God as me, but it doesn't make me uneasy.

I hated the people inside the church who would try and recruit others to be Christians and dislike people if they didn't go by their rules and regulations. My God is a forgiving God, so he should be willing to accept everyone as they are. Whether they're from a different religion, way of living, or even the morals they have.

"You have such a beautiful mind, Sienna. It's the one thing I adore most. You're young but you're bright." Nicco puts his car in park before exiting and walking over to open the door for me. I give him a small smile as I step out and the moment he pushes the door closed he pulls me to his side.

His touch is warm, like always. Things have always been warm with Nicco, or should I say steamy? There's never been a cold bone in my body, nothing to ever think about when I'm with Nicco. His palm lies on the very bottom of my back as he guides me towards the elevator. The doors shoot open and we both step inside.

"Did you enjoy dinner with my mother and father?" His voice is somewhere between echoed and muffled since we are inside of the elevator. I look to my side and up at him to see him crack a small smile. "We'll discuss my brother later, but for now I want to hear about how you felt during the dinner" he says.

"They were nice" I reply. He raises an eyebrow and I nod. "They were. Now it's time for you to meet my mother".

He chuckles as he shakes his head. "Darling I've already told you before that I've spoken with your mother before. And she is a sweet woman". Oh yeah. I forgot about the time he told me that he had spoken to her before we even met.

"Well we haven't had dinner yet" I say and he nods.

"So we'll set something up. We can talk after I call Alejandro back and plan something with both of our families. It'll be nice".

X

"Does it hurt when I bend you this way?