Roxana

The light of the dawn reflected in my coffee cup and in his extraordinary black eyes.

When I say extraordinary I mean it and find myself wondering how I didn't notice quite how mesmerizing they were till that brief moment.

I am not sure what exactly is happening to me but we look at each other for what feels like a long while, while  I observe the light-dark stubble on his pleasantly tanned cheeks, the deliciously smooth texture of his skin that looks like silk, the disheveled black hair and his sensual lips that curl into a smile mirroring mine. It is the first time I see him smiling and Jesus Christ what is happening to me? How come I didn't hear him come and why am I acting like an idiot now? He is certainly here because he wants something, not to have a coffee chat.

"W... what can I help you with, sir? Look, if you are here to tell me again that I should not talk to anybody about what happened, there is no need for that. I have worked for prominent people before. Whatever they do is none of my business and as far as I am concerned I was never there."

"Smooth..." he says, smirking. His voice is precisely like that: smooth. "I expected it to be more difficult. I also expect you to take this seriously and these words not to be meaningless."

"I treat everything I do with utmost seriousness. Now it's my turn," I say boldly.

"Excuse me," he counters. His stern expression is lightened up by a wondrous note.

"Can I now ask my questions too?"

"Actually no, not really. You are discouraged to ask questions of any kind but since I am in the rare situation of being surprised, shoot."

"Is your coffee better than mine?"

He looks at me for a few seconds and then his head leans back under muffled laughter.

"I very much hope so. The one the workers drink is usually horrible."

"Hey, no need to be condescending, though this time you are quite right," I answer amused, and stick out a tiny bit of my tongue.

"What is your name, clumsy Swiss girl?"

"Clumsy Swiss girl?"

"That is what Stefano is calling you."

"Oh. I see I have impressed the boss."

"You made an impression on the boss for sure," he says, still smirking.

"Glorious me. Well, I am not Swiss and I usually go by Rox."

"Rocks?" he says, raising both eyebrows and his polished British accent vanishes under the Italian one. "Rocks as in pebbles?"

"Pebbles? No, Rox like in big rocks and Rocky the boxer."

"Certainly..." he reiterates with the same amusement and I feel I am quite happy to have made his acquaintance. He seems to be a nice guy and he speaks English.

But then, out of the blue, the smile and the light in his eyes disappear under a stern expression.

"Ok, Rocks, or whatever your name is, I advise you and emphasize strongly, for you to stay away from Stefano; as far away as possible. If he walks in your direction you run away. If he looks at you, you walk away. If he speaks to you, you fake you don't understand what he is saying and walk away again. Do you understand?"

"Sir, I do understand but, respectfully, you know I cannot do that. Mr. Messina is a very important client of ours; I cannot act rudely toward him. Don't worry, however, because nobody paid me much attention so far so I doubt anybody will from now on."

"Just do what you are told, okay?"

"Relax, my colleague Miss Lange will arrive next week. She usually captures all the attention in a room and is also the project lead. I am sure if Mr. Messina wants to interact with someone from our company it will be her, not me. I appreciate your concern though," I say, slightly irritated by the audacity and plain lack of logic of his speech.

"You have been warned." He states emotionlessly and stands up to leave.

In mere seconds he is on the roof of the building and inside the house. He annoyed me but that was pretty impressive to watch, considering he was wearing a suit. Well hello there, Spiderman.

I can't help it and take out my phone and snap a picture. Luckily he doesn't see me,  because that might make the slightly annoyed guy really annoyed. The photo is great; a guy in a suit climbing a roof under the rise of dawn. What a poetic title I just gave it, right?

I am still a bit annoyed but try to take into account his warning or whatever I can call it. There is no need to get this guy to be pissed at me. I am lucky he didn't tell the boss I watched his merry encounter with the business partners.

Work is so overwhelming at the moment that I don't need additional problems, because this Friday Kary is coming to visit. She texted me yesterday that she found a cheap flight and will stay the weekend.

This makes me happy while other parts of my life make me feel really concerned. Dad didn't come home to sleep again and in the morning he was still missing. Dani called me almost crying and I had to ask him to go to the police station if he would not be home till in the afternoon. The poor boy. I can imagine how they will mock him at the station again. It is the third time he has to do this. The previous times he was laughed at when Dad appeared after a few hours, drunk as can be, vomiting in the main square in Chișinău.

Dad will have to hear me after July. He will have to do therapy regardless of his opinion and I will bring him and Dani over so I can take proper care of both. I feel quite guilty in a way for living so far away and visiting so rarely. In three years I have been home twice, once for grandma's funeral and once when dad was in the hospital again after a brawl.

At five-thirty on Friday I leave with the boys for Taormina. This time I will sleep with Kary in her cheap AirBnB. It is admirable how Kary has adapted to normal life after living twenty-three years in obscene luxury.

"Roxi!" she squeaks, dragging me into a stormy hug when I and Damian meet her at the airport.

"Good to see you," I answer and kiss her cheek.

"Hey Kary, willst du mir mir ausgehen wenn ich das funfzigste Mal frage?/ Hey Kary, will you go out with me if I ask for the fiftieth time?" asks Damien laughing and giving her a fist bump.

"Nur wenn dir plötzlich Brüste wachsen, Damian. Schön dich zu sehen, Mann!/ Only if you suddenly grow boobs, Damian. Good to see you, man."

This is probably literally the fiftieth time Damian tries to hit on Kary. He stopped taking it seriously after the tenth, but it stayed a joke of theirs.  I cannot blame him when I see Kary, who is wearing khaki tight jeans and a white fitted shirt-blouse which is making her tanned skin glow.

She didn't lose the sense of style that often accompanies old money even if she is now shopping fast fashion.

Kary does hard-core investigative journalism. She is very good at it and the three languages she is fluent in are a big plus. She is also an activist and supports relentless the defense of LGBTQ and women's rights in the Middle East. Occasionally, she poses as a poster child for her cause: the disowned, disgraced, gay daughter of a petroleum mogul. This is amazing and bitterly needed, but the price to pay is also high.

We take a walk in town and around six we get to our room. Kary plans to go out this evening while I will be working.

"Rox, stop working. Seriously, woman, you have not seen me in three weeks and now you ignore me. I want to hear everything about your new job."

Kary gives me a fake irritated frown and closes the lid of my laptop.

"I am stressed." I sigh.

"I know. You have been stressed since I met you. This is your natural state."

"Well yeah.."

Kary smiles more sympathetically.

"Why now? Tell me about your life."

"Well, I struggle to keep up with the demands of the job. Next week I will have to interview contractors and I have the feeling the excellent ones, that have experience with this type of buildings in this particular area, don't speak a word of English. I should learn Italian but every evening after work I just fall asleep while trying to learn a few words. Christian is flying in next Friday because the client has an inauguration party. He said we will have breakfast, only the two of us."

"Damn. Maybe you can finally confess your love and get over it. And about the workers, just take the best one regardless of the language. You will find someone to translate for you."

"Who? The holy spirit of google? I think an Italian stonemason in his sixties will not appreciate the gesture. Besides Tomaso, who is the chief of staff or the boss, the boss himself, and the boy from security who really likes doing parkour, there is nobody."

"Well, obviously not the boss unless he offers but one of the other dudes. Ask the younger one."

"I can't. He is cranky. At first, I thought we could become friends but then he held a quite condescending sermon about how I should not get too close to the boss and I guess with that our friendship was quite short-lived."

I deliberately leave out the part where he shoves me out the back door of the garden after I had been an accidental voyeur at the gathering of his boss.

"Meh. I do wonder though why this concern about interacting with the boss. Did something happen?"

There you have the journalist in Kary. I tell her about our nocturnal encounter and she seems intrigued.

"Okay, so this guy does have a reason for acting like this."

"Huh?"

"Seriously, Rox? Apparently, the Italian hunk has the hots for you. I mean Italians are indeed very affectionate in general but a semi-erotic kiss on the cheek only indicates that he harbors a desire, conscious or not, for you to lick his lollipop."

I laugh out loud at her metaphor.

"Ya' think?"

"I do. But I wouldn't get involved in that. It's unlikely to be something serious."

"No. I was not even thinking that. I don't shit where I eat."

"Well unless it's Christian. Now that I think off, after the project is done you can indulge in a fling with the Italian variety."

"Be serious. That will be in two years. I hope to be gone in a few months. But tell me about you. How is your mom?"

"As good as she can be in the given situation. They are in Zürich. I went there last week but didn't manage to see Mom. I saw Said though. He looks so grown up. I can barely recognize my baby brother in the man I met."

"I can relate. Dani is taller than me now and he is only fifteen."

"Said is also towering over me and is now quite muscular, has grown a stubble, and looks like an Emirati businessman. It made me happy and sad to see him; happy because he has grown into a fine man and sad because he is still under Dad's very strict influence. If I did not know the family you would be marrying into I would have suggested you date him."

"Bitch, it's your baby brother. I am a dinosaur compared to him."

"He is twenty-four, just one year younger than you."

"Damn."

"Yeah, I miss him and Mom. And dad seems to have welcomed another daughter this year."

"Oh. Not sure what to say."

"Nothing. I pity her. I want to hope that she is straight and submissive so that her life will not be miserable, but deep down I want her to be gay too and for dad to choke on it. Does that make me a bad person?"

"A bit, but I understand," I answer truthfully.

"Do you want me to leave a dress here for you?" asks Kary changing the subject.

"For what?"

"In case you have to attend that party so that Lisa does not make fun of you again."

"Hmm no."

"Bah, I will do it anyway. You can return it when we meet again."

I just shrug and thank her.

Having Kary around this weekend makes me very happy. The next work week goes by swiftly while I am swallowed by work and the usual anxiety.

Dad appeared again before Dani could go to the police, beaten up by who knows who, because he didn't want to tell us no matter how much we pressured him.

Surprisingly, this Friday Tomaso brought by a bag of coffee, saying he cannot have the one I offer him daily anymore and that it's on the house. I thank him genuinely.

It is noticeable that something has been going on for days now in the mansion. Many cars come and go and bring stuff. The party must be quite a big deal but Kary was wrong, I was not invited.

"Roxane!"

I startle when I hear Christian's voice and lift my gaze to meet his green eyes.

They are still as beautiful as I remember them.