Oblivion

Chapter Twenty - We don't talk anymore

Third Person

Riccardo was torn whether he should knock on the wooden door or not. His brother had ended the call, he had already heard that much, and that was his only excuse not to do it. Finally he took a deep breath, raised his fist and knocked. It took maybe two seconds before the door opened and a surprised Vito looked at him.

"Riccardo, what can I do for you?" he asked, stepping aside and motioning for him to come in. The last time Riccardo had tried to talk to him alone had been so long ago that Vito wasn't even sure what the reason was.

"I won't be a bother for long, I-" Riccardo began, still unsure what he wanted to say and how.

"- You're not disturbing me. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's important to you, so it's important to me," Vito interrupted him and quickly went to the desk to put his cell phone on silent mode. "Would you like something to drink? There are drinks in the fridge."

Riccardo looked around the office confused. It looked the same as it had when his father used it. Even the ugly picture was still hanging on the wall. "Where's the fridge here?"

"In the left wooden cupboard behind you. Is it about Matteo?"

To Riccardo's surprise, there really was a refrigerator filled with various drinks. 'No alcohol, of course.', he thought as he grabbed a cola and a water for Vito. As if his stuffy brother would drink alcohol. The only thing he ever saw his brother drink was water and black coffee. Vito had already sat down on the sofa and gratefully accepted the bottle of water. He looked expectantly at his younger brother, who sat down on the armchair next to him. He first took a sip before answering. "No, it's about the girl."

"You mean Josephine? What about her?" Vito couldn't imagine that she could have done anything to upset Riccardo so much that he wanted to talk to him about it. On the other hand, in his experience, it didn't take too much to upset Riccardo.

"There's something strange about her. Don't you think?" Vito didn't answer, but gestured for him to continue speaking as he leaned back. "I don't think she's telling us everything."

Riccardo had expected Vito to defend her immediately, but to his surprise he didn't. "You'll be right about that."

"But how is that supposed to work? She can't expect to become part of this family without having to tell us the truth! How can we trust her at all?" the younger brother exploded.

"Again, you're right about that too. But I would like to ask you something: what reason does she have to trust us?" Vito looked at him, but Riccardo couldn't think of a sensible answer. His first thought was that she had come to them, not the other way, but he saw for himself how weak the argument was. "You see. Trust isn't given, it's only earned. I can't imagine what it's like to come into a strange family after the death of your parents and even less can I imagine what it must be like to live on the street. And on both counts, I'm very happy that I don't have to. Maybe she will open up when she feels safe here, but that would surprise me very much."

"Bullshit, she's definitely safe here!"

"But two weeks isn't enough to make up for six years, and maybe it never will be enough. That doesn't mean you shouldn't at least try."

The leather beneath Riccardo creaked as he unconsciously leaned forward and removed his arms from the backrest. "I don't think that's fair to Matteo. You can't expect him to just accept it."

"It's not fair to you either and I apologize for that. I didn't think about what that meant for both of you and I should have." Vito apologized and had to admit that he had taken the two of them into consideration had really neglected. He had allowed himself to be guided too much by Domenico, who thought they could handle it.