La Rosa Gialla

Chapter 24

March 2024

I parked my Golf in front of the building in which, according to the previously sent instructions, Charles' apartment was located. Since I was already wearing my running gear, I just sent him a message that he could come outside. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and the temperature reached twenty degrees. While I was enjoying the beautiful weather, I heard the door slam behind me and someone's hand landed on my shoulder. "Ciao!" Charles grinned. He was wearing white shorts and a tight gray long-sleeved functional shirt. It hugged his firm stomach and pectoral muscles very nicely. Before he could realize how I was staring at him, I greeted him back and cleared my throat. "So what now, trainer? What's the plan?" he asked. "We'll do a quick warm-up and then we'll do a twenty-kilometer run, through..."

"Wait. 20 kilometers? Isn't that a bit much?"

"I thought 10 wouldn't be enough."

"I'm not going to die while running. I still have to do the gym," he lamented.

"Alright then. Well, a ten-kilometer run then. You pussy," I grinned at him. He stuck his tongue out at me, but then he started to stretch his legs according to what I was doing. You'd think he'd have a set routine, but it looked like he was happy to be led.

By the time we got back to Charles's apartment, he wasn't even sweating, just breathing a little faster. I, on the other hand, was probably out of shape because the sweat stuck my t-shirt to my back and I felt my face burning. "Shall we go upstairs to change and then head straight to the gym?" Charles asked and I just nodded as I still couldn't catch my breath. His pace almost killed me.

After entering his apartment, I was surprised by the incredible order in all the rooms. "There's the other bedroom, you can change there," he pointed to the closed door at the end of the hall. I opened it and entered the room, where I quickly took off my sweaty clothes and changed into dry ones. Within a few minutes, I went out again and stopped in the living room. All the equipment was very modern and light, but everything together felt so strangely cozy and homely. I sat down on the cream couch and looked around the room when a large photo of Charles on stage at Monza caught my attention. I smiled as I remembered the race. "Monza 2019," I heard behind me and I turned around in shock. "I know," I smirked at Charlie, who was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. "I was there," I added quietly, but loud enough for him to hear. "What?" he asked in disbelief, sitting down next to me. "It was more of a coincidence than a plan. But yes, I was there," I kept smiling.

"I thought that back then you wanted to be as far away from me as possible..."

"Even though we didn't talk, I was really, really proud of you."

"I missed you, Adri," Charles whispered, his gaze slipping to my lips for a second.

"Me too, Charlie," I whispered and did the only thing that made sense to me at that moment. I leaned closer to him and hugged him. With all my power and emotions. Like I should never let him go. And I hoped that from that hug he felt what I could not yet put into words.

After this special intimate moment, we moved to a nearby gym, in which there was only the owner except for the two of us. I was a little suspicious of Charles if by chance he had rented the entire space just for himself. I felt quite useless. Charles worked out on his own, and I only occasionally warned him to straighten his back or elbows and occasionally reassured him when he was lifting a barbell. Otherwise, I got to watch how the individual muscles on his body tensed and to practice the Latin names of said muscles. And the rest of the time I just stared as if Charles was some stupidly attractive antique statue of incalculable value. I watched the beads of sweat run down his forehead and the back of his neck, how he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw when he had to exert more effort, and how he stuck out the tip of his tongue when he concentrated. I'd bet my shoes that my pupils were heart-shaped and I was red behind my ears.

Charles insisted that the bathroom here was, in his words, "pretty disgusting" and that we would only shower at his place. I didn't protest, because I didn't have the slightest problem with the fact that I would be able to look at his messy wet hair and red cheeks, which were still glistening with drops of sweat, for a few more minutes. I know it sounds a little repulsive, but Charles was anything but repulsive. He could never be repulsive.

I took the last set of clean clothes from my bag and went into the bathroom where Charles had sent me first. I quickly rinsed off, looked at myself in the mirror in horror and washed off all the remains of the mascara. Sighing, I turned back to tell Charlie it was his turn. In between the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, I looked at the books he had lined up in the small bookcase and I highly doubted that he had ever held any of them in his hands. I was just examining the cover of a French book, the title of which I couldn't make out, when the bathroom door flew open and Charles appeared behind it with only a white towel wrapped around his waist.

As a teenager, I saw him shirtless many times. So why did his body still affect me like this? I felt my neck and my stomach tighten. My fingertips tingled strangely as if they were begging me to touch him for God's sake. "I forgot my clean clothes..." he explained and was about to leave for his bedroom when I yelled, "Wait!" What got into me? Should I really take it into my own hands and finally do what I've wanted for so many years? Okay. Fine. I'm doing it!

"Wait," I said a little more calmly and he turned back to face me. I moved closer to him and took a shaky breath. He knew what I was up to. I saw it in his eyes. In those beautiful, ever-changing eyes. I was already standing so close to him that I could feel the heat radiating from him. I saw him swallow and run his tongue over his lips almost imperceptibly. I pulled myself up onto my tiptoes and wrapped my arms around his neck. He cupped my face in his hands and finally crossed the remaining millimeters that separated our lips.

It was a kiss I had never experienced before. It felt like that kiss made the whole world suddenly make sense, everything suddenly lit up in brighter colors and dazzling fireworks exploded in every cell of my body. So this is how it feels when the love of your life finally kisses you? 

Yey! Finally! They finally kissed! 😁
I really like this chapter, hope you do too 😁😊
-B. ❤