A Mob Boss's Honour

51. Portrait

Eden opened her eyes to find that it was still dark out there. She had slept only a couple of hours and it was way too early in the morning. She had been dreaming of her home when she had been sleeping. Noe she found herself back in her hotel room.

It was way too early to get up and go for breakfast. But she did not feel like going back to sleep. She instead got dressed and decided to go for a walk around the hotel. As she was walking in the corridors and different sections, she was thinking of her talk with Luigi the night before. They had an argument. A big argument. She had initiated the argument. She had walked away from him and had asked for Luigi to give her space. Maybe she had gone too far. Maybe. But how far was too far? Boundaries and limits did not mean much to her. Not any more. Ever she had become immersed into the secrets of the criminal underground, the rules that she had known did not make much sense. This world had other rules.

As she was walking around, Eden decided to go to where she had last had an argument with Luigi. They had that argument in one of the TV rooms that was nice and cosy. The place was quite far out and no one really used it except for her and Luigi. She thought maybe sitting in that room could help her clear her head. Now after her few hours of sleep she was feelings doubts about her judgement. She felt she was right to argue with Luigi as her concerns and complaints were valid. But  she felt she had been too harsh to Luigi and needed to apologise. Luigi had been good to her. He deserved better treatment. He had been very calm and reasonable during their argument. She had not expected that from him. He was an arrogant jock but he cared for her and respected her feelings.

As Eden entered the TV room she froze at the door. Luigi was there. He seemed to be sleeping on a couch right in front of the fireplace and close to a dimly lit lamp. Hadn't he gone to his bedroom to sleep last night? She walked slowly towards him. She saw how innocent looking he was when he slept. She couldn't help smile. His face looked like an angel. Too bad he was a jock.

Eden's eyes wandered to what was on the floor next to the couch. It was a clipboard that was face down. There was a pencil next to it. She slowly leaned down and picked up the clipboard. At seeing what was on the clipboard her breath hitched in her throat. She looked at the paper with a mixture of shock and awe. It was a portrait. A magnificent drawing of her. The drawing was her mirror image... Could Luigi draw so well? He did not even study art in school... She knew it was his drawing. She recognised his hand writing next to the drawing. It was a quote from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream "The course of true love never did run smooth." She was so touched. But she felt guilt too. She had started an argument and had made him feel this way.

Luigi's sleepy voice startled her "Eden?" His sudden voice made her drop the clipboard.

Eden looked at Luigi as he rubbed his eyes "What are you doing here?"

She looked at Luigi and hesitated and then said "Erm... Maybe we can talk... About last night... Do you want to?"

Luigi looked at his watch and then at Eden "You want to argue more? Is this round two?... Isn't it abit too early in the morning for arguments... Go to bed Eden... You will have plenty of time to argue with me later..."

Eden said quickly "No. No. I don't want to argue... I want to apologise actually. I am sorry about last night... Maybe I was out of order... I went too far... I shouldn't have shouted at you..."

Luigi looked at Eden with a surprise look in his eyes while laying down on the coach. He did not expect her to apologise. He said "You don't have to apologise Eden... Now go back to sleep..." He then closed his eyes "We can argue later..."

Eden said "I dont want to argue. I just want to talk... Either way I cant sleep... I was walking around the hotel to kill some time and then saw you here..." She bent down and picked up the clipboard "I did not know you drew... Why didn't I ever notice?"