Chapter 47 Dreaming
When I open my eyes, Dante is nowhere in sight. The side of the bed where he was lying is empty and has been tidied up. I can't help but frown at it. Did I fall asleep again after I cried? Seems like that's the case. This sucks. Now my eyes are so puffy and uncomfortable. I hope my father won't know anything about it once he's back.
Wait a second. What time is it? Please don't say that my father is already back and punishing Dante at this moment. I want to be wrong so badly, but it could be a possibility, and I hate that. I don't want that to be true.
"You're awake."
My gaze moves towards the door, and my eyes widen as I find Dante walking towards me. He's already dressed in his usual work attire: black trousers and a neat black button-up. His hair is styled in a slick back style. A style that he always does after he washes his hair. Despite how fine he looks, my anxiety won't subside. He might be putting up a face and acting like everything is fine.
"Where were you?" I ask as I push myself to sit and lean against the headboard. Dante shrugs as he takes a seat next to me.
"I just took a shower in my room," Dante says.
Yes. I can see that very clearly, Dante. What I'm wondering is the other thing. I want to know if my father beat you up or gave you a worse punishment earlier. Even if I ask, the chance of him telling me about it is very, very slim.
"Has my father come back?" I ask. My heart pounds in my chest as I anxiously wait for his answer. Dante shakes his head.
"No. He said he'll be back by noon. He has more things to discuss with Fabio and Mariano," Dante says.
"Oh. Okay."
Thank goodness. That means he's fine. My father didn't catch Dante and me sleeping next to each other in the same bed. We're so lucky today. If my father got back early, he would've caught us sleeping together. That'd drive him mad and made him punish Dante again. Yes, he's only been beating Dante up as a punishment, but in the future, I'm afraid it'll be so much worse than that. I should keep my distance from Dante. It's for his sake. I can't let him get punished again because of me. As much as I like his company, it's better for us not be too close to each other. It's too risky. I don't want Dante to get hurt again.
"Uh, is he okay?" I ask.
Even though I'm dreading my father's return, I'm still worried about his condition. If something happens to him, then I'll be their next victim, as well as Dante. I can't let the Ricci and the Romanos get to us before we prepare ourselves. Unfortunately, time's always ticking, and they won't give us any time to get ready. So, whether we're ready or not, they're going to attack us anyway.
"Yeah. He's fine. Our men have been watching over him. They also managed to get a look into the warehouse, and they found Giovanni still alive, but badly wounded. From what it seems, your father and Fabio have roughed him up and used sharp weapons to wound him. By the time they got to him, he had been bleeding heavily with none of Fabio's men helping him. So, we don't think he'd survived the torture. I'm still waiting for the update now, whether he's still alive or not," Dante explains.
Giovanni is dying? We can't let him die just yet. His death could be used by Fabio against my father. He shouldn't have come with Fabio to torture Giovanni last night. Not only will his death cause a toll on my father, but it will also possibly ruin our family business, whether legal or illegal.
"This is bad. Fabio could use Giovanni's death to frame my father. If he got caught, then everything would go downhill from here and so on," I say.
"Nothing's going to happen. I'll make sure of it. He'll be fine, and you'll be fine too," Dante says.
"Okay. Thank you," I say.
His words of reassurance don't calm the storm of anxiety inside me. I know he's capable of making the right decisions and protecting us, but we're up against two families now. Not just one. Now that the Ricci are also our enemies, we have no one else we can trust. We're on our own now.
Let's change our topic of conversation now. I don't want to worry myself and get myself sick again. I need to calm the fuck down and believe that everything is going to be okay. We can fight the Ricci and the Romanos, but we must fight them one by one, not at once. We'll figure out a plan later. For now, I don't want to think about them. I want to enjoy the rest of my time alone with Dante before my father comes back.
"Anyway, did something happen while I was asleep? My eyes and face are so puffy like I've been crying for hours," I say as I rub my heavy eyes.
I should be pretending to sleep after I finished crying, not actually falling asleep. If I did that, my eyes and face wouldn't be as puffy as they are right now. It's too late to do all the tricks to make the puffiness disappear now that the puffiness already set in. I hope my father won't ask me too many questions about it. I'll just say I cried in my sleep and that's it. I won't say anything else.
A wince then escapes me as I feel a sharp pain in my head. The pain lingers while I stay there in silence with my eyes shut tight and my hand gripping onto my head where the pain is. Not long, I feel my abdomen hurting and burning from the inside.
Shit. Am I having my period right now? You have to be joking. Thank goodness I already put on a pad before sleep, or else this bed would have a puddle of blood by now.
"Are you okay?" Dante asks.
"My head hurts, and my stomach hurts," I say as I grip my head and curl up on my side. Gosh, I hate period cramps. I only get it once in a while, but when I get it, it feels like I'm getting stabbed countless times. Shit hurts so freaking badly. Thankfully, it always disappears once I take one or two painkiller tablets.
"How bad?" Dante asks.
"I don't know. Uh, 6 out of ten, maybe?" I say, wincing again as I feel the pain pierces through my head once again.
"That bad? Wait a minute. I'll get you some water and painkillers," Dante says.
"Okay," I say.
I hear Dante shuffling away from the bed and to the bathroom. After a moment, I hear his footsteps approaching me. The bed moves slightly as Dante sits on it. When I open my eyes, I see him with a glass of water and painkiller tablets.
"Here's the painkiller and water. Take it now," Dante says.
"Okay," I say.
Dante puts his hands on each of my sides and pulls me up, helping to get into a sitting position. Once I'm already seated, he hands me the glass of water and one tablet of painkiller. Without waiting any longer, I put the medicine in my mouth and gulp down the entire glass of water. After I'm done, Dante helps me lie back down.
Even though my eyes are hurting when I move them, I still look up at Dante. His frown is apparent as he stares at me with worry. Not the kind of worry you show at a friend, but the type of worry you show towards someone you love. With his eyes staring deeply into my eyes, Dante continues to frown at me while he's trying to figure out what to do next.
"Just lie down for now, okay? Let me know if it gets worse. I'll let the kitchen staff know to bring your breakfast up here," Dante says.
"Okay. Thank you," I say.
I lie there in silence, not knowing what to do. Dante stays there next to me, checking his phone once in a while, probably waiting for news about the Ricci and the Romanos. To distract myself from the pain and cramps, I decided to talk to Dante about my fake dream from earlier, hoping it would give him a hint that I remembered about what we were talking about.
"You know what? I just had the weirdest dream," I say.
Dante visibly freezes for a second, and then he turns to me, acting like he's curious when he already knows what I'm talking about. I hold myself back from smiling and act embarrassed instead. I can't let him know I know his secrets just yet. I just want to see his reaction.
"What dream?" Dante asks.
"I'm not telling you anything. It's embarrassing," I say.
"Alright. Fine. I'm not gonna force you to tell me," Dante says, shrugging his shoulders. That's kind of a relief to know that Dante won't force me to tell him about it. However, I still need to know what he'll do if he finds out I know what he was saying to me earlier. Even though I tell him it's a dream, he knows very well that it's not. That's the truth. The reality.
"Just so you know, you were in the dream," I say.
Dante raises his eyebrows, getting even more curious than before. Despite how calm he looks, I can see it in his eyes that he's a bit anxious. Even though he seems a little anxious, he's also calm at the same time, as if he's expecting me to know about the conversation. Did he actually know I was pretending to be asleep earlier? God. I hope not. If he knows, then I failed in being discreet, and my acting is absolute shit.
"Is it a good thing or?" Dante asks.
"It's good, but not at the same time, to be honest. You were saying so many things to me, and some of them were bad," I say, frowning as I remember Dante telling me that my father has been abusing me for having a close relationship with me.
"What kind of things? Did I do something to you?" Dante says.
"No. You didn't. You said lots of stuff, though, and they felt and sounded so real. The dream was so vivid. It feels as though the dream is trying to tell me something," I say.
Dante nods solemnly, probably thinking about how to respond to what I've just said. He seems oddly calm. No panic. Not even a look of surprise. He just looks at peace. What is he thinking about now?
"Well, I read somewhere on the internet that vivid dreams could tell you about something that might happen in the future. Let's say it's some sort of precognition," Dante says.
So, if I catch his words correctly, Dante actually wants me to believe that my "dream" is true. I guess he really wants me to know the truth. He's just not ready yet to admit everything to me right to my face. That's why he's more comfortable saying those things while I was asleep. I hope the time will come when he finally says everything to me. Every little detail about what has happened and his feelings towards me. Everything. I want him to tell me about everything and leave nothing out. I don't want secrets anymore. I don't want him to leave anything unsaid.
"Really? I never thought you would believe in such superstition," I say.
"I don't really believe it, but it's hard not to believe it at the same time. I've had dreams that turned out to be a reality. So, I don't think it hurts to believe it. If it doesn't happen, so be it. You can just take your dreams as a precaution for the future. You'll never know if it will truly happen or not, but it's better to be careful than ignore it," Dante says, shrugging.
Interesting. Dante's right. It's better to take things as a sign than ignore them, but at the same time, we can't be too obsessed with the signs. It'll only make you anxious about the future and not live in the moment, and think about what's happening right at this exact moment. Being too obsessed with signs could be debilitating and ruin your life. So, I think it's better to take things as a warning and a hope, but don't let it dictate your life.
"What were your dreams about?" I ask.
"I won't tell you," Dante says, sending me a look. Well, I didn't say anything about my "dream" to him, so it's understandable if he won't say anything about his dream to me.
"Fair enough," I say.
A few knocks on my bedroom door make me stare at the door. Dante, however, immediately gets on his feet and approaches the door. Who could that be? Oh. It must be my breakfast.
When the door swings open, I see Mariana with a tray full of food and a glass of what I guess is strawberry juice. Despite the pain in my head and lower abdomen, I can't help but stare at the food hungrily as I push myself to sit.
"Here. Now go eat and finish them," Dante says. He gently puts the tray of food on the nightstand, and I stare at my options. Waffles, pastries, and bacon with toasts and scrambled eggs. Which one should I eat first? It's odd that I feel so hungry right now. I've eaten a lot already last night, but now, I feel hungry as if I haven't eaten in days.
Wait. Where's Dante's food? Has he eaten already? He probably did. I'm still going to ask him about that, though.
"How about you?" I ask.
"I've eaten mine earlier after I showered," Dante says.
"Oh. Okay."
With the plate of waffles on my lap, I begin to eat my first plate of breakfast. I continue to eat everything until there's nothing left on the plates. After I finish eating, the pain comes back again, but less painful than it was before. I guess the painkiller is starting to work. Hopefully, it'll be enough to make the pain in my head and stomach go away.