His face was tired and clearly broken to pieces because of the hangover of the previous night and Luca peeping through the light of the room. Colin's eyes widened and he stared at Chiara, his lips still glued to hers. She assumed the same panicked expression and believed it would be the end.
"What the fuck is going on here ?!" The paralyzed boy exclaimed closing the door behind his shoulders "Dad .. Chiara .. but .."
The two got out of bed in a hurry, Chiara's face was red and she was starting to sweat, what could she say to him? Here, she had fooled another one. But no, she loved Colin, and although Luca had been a great friend and comfort to her, her heart belonged only to one person.
"Luca .. listen ..." Colin said approaching the boy as calmly as possible.
"Shut up, I understand." The boy sobbed. They had stabbed him straight to the heart, on both sides, that of the affections for his father and that of the love for the girl.
"I thought I was important for you, at least a bit, but I was wrong, damn wrong, I trusted ..." He could not finish the sentence, he burst into a desperate cry. Colin and Chiara looked at him sadly. A tear came down the girl's cheek because she realized she had behaved like a monster. But what should she do? To continue to meet with the man she secretly loved while simultaneously kissing the other without any feelings? Obviously things had to go like this. Luca got out of the room, slamming the door and this time Colin did not move a little to stop him.
"I behaved like shit" Chiara sobbed with one arm over her eyes to hide her tears.
"Me too ... We should have told him everything from the beginning, now he'll tell Livia, and besides losing my family I'll lose you too ..." he cried too, and took the desperate girl into his arms. She did not hesitate. She wet his shirt with the big tears falling continuously.
"Listen, how about I'll go talk to him now ... I know it won't help, but maybe I could try ..."
"Not yet, wait a little, so maybe he will calm down, and you will have more chances to succeed." Colin always looked down, ashamed as never before for disappointing his son. Chiara looked at him with her eyes still red and wet, forced to smile and took his face in her hands.
"Hey, we will succeed, Luca is intelligent, he will understand, he will understand that we love each other and that it is impossible for us to stay apart, he is just terribly upset and confused, so trust me, everything will settle down." And she gave him a light kiss on the forehead.
Colin cried even more, squeezed her tight and rested his face on her shoulder, whispering an "I trust you" suffocated by sobs.
She comforted him, until he stopped crying.
"You looked like a little boy," said the girl to play cool, though she was still terribly upset. He smiled at her.
"You too, you know, but when you cry you're even more beautiful." He says to her.
The girl blushed and got closer to give him a long, sincere kiss on his wet lips.
"Thanks for always being next to me, an old man like me needs it every now and then ..." Colin told her, parting from her lips.
Chiara slapped him on the back of the head, decidedly but not exaggerated.
"Never say it again ... that you're old, I mean, I've chosen you for who you are, not for how you ought to be, you're perfect like this and you have no idea how crazy you make me." He smiled at her and his eyes lit up.
"I really think so, I didn't just make it up."
"It's incredible, you know, you're so young and ... you're already so determined ... I do not know what to say, except that I would always keep you by my side." And he kissed her.
Their souls were like tornados in a city of straw. All the emotions ran together hand in hand between their kisses.
The sun went down, and Colin was taking a shower. Chiara had remained alone on the bed and was starting to get bored, so she quietly left the room to go to talk to Luca. Giulia and Clara had returned to their families for New Year's Eve, as well as most of the students. But better that way, she would not have liked to tell them about what have happened. She went down to the garden and there she found Luca, sitting on a bench in the dimming sunlight. She sighed and decided to approach him.
"Hey ..." she whispered, sitting next to him "have you been here for long?"
He did not answer and dodged. Chiara looked down. They remained silent for five minutes, then the determined girl told him:
"Listen, I know how you feel, it's difficult and I know that too, but understand me, it's impossible for us to stay apart and stop loving each other ... For months we try, but it's impossible, you'll think I'm too young or I do not know, but this time love has won ... and as far as we go, well .. I do not want you to think that I wanted to use you, in fact, I liked you and so much... but we were not made for each other ... do you understand? Try to answer me Luca, try at least. "
He sighed and turned to face her.
"You listen to me now, I'm angry and disappointed at the same time, and I'm confused, I do not understand anything, Dad is cheating on mum, you are betraying me, but at the same time you betrayed him too, since you loved me too a bit.. I do not know what to do now, forgive you for something hard to bear or make this fact weigh in. But what I cannot understand is why you did not tell me right away, so I avoided falling in love with you and understand better the story of dad, I'm sorry, but now I think I should go." And having said that, he got up from the bench leaving the girl alone, in the light of a ray of sunshine that had not yet set. She stared at the emptiness, thinking and reconnecting everything he had heard. When the bright, white full moon raised, she decided to get up and go back to the room. Colin was waiting, anxiously sitting on the bed. As soon as he saw her he jumped up.
"Have you been to Luca?"
"Yes, but it did not go very well," she said, "He does not know whether to forgive us or consider what happened." I cannot blame him." The girl was very serious, and Colin noticed that.
"Are you nervous because it went wrong?" he asks her.
"No. Only that ... it's all so difficult, damn it, I think he took it too badly, we'll never get out of it."
Colin approached her and put his hands on her shoulders.
"We'll get out of it. You told me so. Do not be discouraged like that. "He started to kiss her, but she moved away.
"Sorry, but now I'm not in the mood ... I'm both physically and morally destroyed ... let's go to sleep, what you say ...?"
Colin smiled at her and nodded.
Chiara did not close her eyes all night, being in the grip of terrible thoughts and nightmares. She was afraid of losing Colin permanently because of Luca's confusion. She got up from bed at about two in the morning and sat down on the large window sill and looked out of the window overlooking the moonlit garden. She decided she would call her aunt the next day. Maybe she could help her. She stayed awake until dawn, when the first rays of sunlight peeked into the room. She began to look at Colin, who was asleep, so beautiful and ... perfect. She did not resist and approached him to kiss his cheek. He woke up immediately.
"Good morning beautiful sleepyhead ..." said the girl caressing his tired face.
"Good morning ... why did you get up last night?" He asked her in a low voice.
"Too many thoughts and nightmares... but if you saw me, you were obviously awake too."
"Yes, same reason, but I found a way, we must tell Livia too, and Matteo, to forget about it."
"No Colin, no ..." she said lowering her head.
"Do you prefer break up?" He asked, widening his eyes. He meant it as a rhetorical question.
Chiara raised her head with tears in her eyes.
"I do not know, I'd like to talk to my aunt first."
Colin was speechless. Never would he have expected such an answer, but he kept calm and simply nodded.
So when the sun was high, Chiara took the phone and dialed the number.
"Aunt..."
"Hey, how are you?"
"Eh... bad."
"Why?"
She told her about what have happened, without neglecting any detail.
"And you would like to leave Colin?! What you care most about?" The surprised aunt exclaimed.
"Aunt ..." she sobbed "I do not know, but everything would settle ... that is, Livia would know nothing, as well as Matthew, and Luca would be fine, it will take a while, but everything will be as before."
"But Chiara!"
"Sorry aunt, but they knocked on the door, I'll call you as soon as I can ..."
She did not have time to hang up that Colin burst into the room. He looked at her, he was very serious and had swollen eyes. He had something really important to say to her. She read it on his face.
