ROSALINE
I sat nervously in the restaurant, waiting for Rick to get here. I had called him earlier and his words had been very brief, stern and almost snobbish.
I asked him to meet up and he had responded with a simple okay and 'okay' was also the response when I sent him the location of the restaurant.
There was no point in lying to Rick. I just had to tell him clearly and I was pretty sure he would come to understand things. He always understood me and this time would be no different.
I heard footsteps and I raised my gaze up from my fiddling fingers to see Rick walking into the VIP section, to me. He was dressed casually with a deep frown on his face.
"Rick" I called and smiled at him but my warm smile wasn't reciprocated at all.
He sat opposite me and dropped his phone on the table.
"You wanted to see me" his words remained brief.
"Rick? Are you mad about last night?" I asked softly. He had all rights to be mad and angry at me after all, I had left without telling him a thing.
"I am really sorry about last night. I actually..."
"You actually had a nice time with your uncle" he cut me off and my heart skipped beats.
"Uhm.... You... You saw us?" I asked a question with an obvious answer.
"Of course I did. You both were in the fucking park, kissing. Of course I saw both of you and I was sure quite a handful of others saw you both too" anger found its way to his earlier expressionless face.
"Rick, I am... I am really sorry that I just left without letting you know I was leaving. I should have at least told you and not just..."
"Is that what this is fucking about, Rosa?" He groaned and gritted his teeth.
He looked so angry, way angrier than the day he had found out about Russo and I.
"That..."
"What exactly happened last night?" He demanded to know and I sighed softly.
"I love Russo" I blurted the words out and I saw Rick freeze for the next few seconds before he shook his head in disbelief.
"Rosa, you are... Fuck! Fine!"
"That's very false but why would you think you love him?" He questioned and I arched my brows.
"My feelings are not false. And think? No, I don't just think I love him, I know I do love him. I love Russo and... And that's why I could not handle being apart from him." I let him know and I could see the anger increasing evidently.
"You can handle being apart from him! You can!"
"Oh fuck! Oh no!" Rick threw his head back and ran his hands through his hair, pulling at it hard before looking at me.
"You should never have let him speak to you last night! What the fuck did he say to you?!" He demanded to know and Rick was starting to not be the Rick I knew. But last night had been my fault and so I couldn't get mad at him.
"He didn't speak to me first, Rick. I spoke to him and I did so because I love him. I... I need Russo like I need life." I tried to let Rick understand my emotions, to make him understand what I was feeling.
"And he? Does he love you too?" Rick questioned.
A small smile appeared at the corner of my lips but I forced it away.
"Yes, he loves me too" I said the words.
Rick glared at me. Full time glared at me with anger written boldly on his face.
"This is bullshit!" He raised his voice and hit his fist against the table between us, making me flinch at the sudden slam.
My body tensed for a few seconds before I calmed myself down.
"Bullshit? My... My feelings are bullshit?" I asked him
"You are in love with your fucking uncle and you think it's okay?! You are fucking your uncle and you think it is anything but bullshit?!"
"We are not blood related! He was adopted into the family and we have no blood relations!" I explained.
"Doesn't change the fucking fact that you guys are still family!"
"Rick!" I raised my voice back at him.
"Why the hell are you raising your voice at me?" I asked him, shooting up from my seat.
"You... You are disgusting, Rosaline. You and your uncle are disgusting..." I grabbed the glass of water on the table and splashed it on his face.
"How... How can you call me disgusting?" I asked, feeling hurt.
"Because that's exactly what you are right now! I thought I could redeem you, help you see what is right but it is obvious that you are far too deep in this mistake." He shook his head.
"Call it a mistake, call it disgusting but I won't leave Russo this time and you are only right about one thing, I am far too deep in this but guess what? I want to remain far too deep forever. I... I value our friendship but like I said before, a relationship would never work out between the both of us and if you valued our friendship, you... You would value my feelings, my happiness but you didn't... This... This friendship just might be getting really close to the end, Rick" I finished my words and turned, walking out of the VIP section.
My head throbbed with slight headache and even though I was really putting up a brave font right now, I was breaking apart inside.
Rick had been my friend for so many years and it hurt to hear him say those words to me. It hurt to hear him talk to me that way, it hurt to hear him call my feelings disgusting.
I walked into my car and leaned my head against the steering wheel. I remained in that position for minutes, trying to keep my pains in check and trying to assure myself somehow that Rick didn't mean those words and that he was just angry for now and he would be calm in no time.
But I knew, deep inside me that I was wrong and that our friendship would never remain the same anymore. It had not been the same these past few weeks but obviously, it was now going to be even worse.
I felt the urge to call Melinda and talk to her but I fought back the urge. How would I explain what happened to Melinda?
I had to keep this a secret until I knew what exactly Russo was going to do about our relationship, about us.
RUSSO EL MASSIMO
"Wow, so you both are really together now?" Diego asked, surprise written on his face.
"Well, I haven't asked her out yet but I have told her about my feelings for her." I shrugged my shoulders slightly.
"That was one very...." Diego shook his head lightly as he looked at me from the other side of my desk.
"One very wild confession. I already knew you were in love with her right from the issue with Rio but confessing your feelings to her, Russo? Wouldn't it have been better for you to have kept it to yourself? How do you plan on being with her? I mean, you both are not blood related so a marriage might eventually work out with some paperworks but the scandal would be huge." Diego reflected my concerns.
Of course I had no concern about the scandal on my part. It would most likely affect the company's stock for a while but in a short period of time, the stock would be stabilized. And fuck whatever anyone would say about my fucking life. It would not concern me so much to have the internet rave about how I was some sort of pervert.
But Cara... I would not be able to stand the backlash she would receive if we decided to face things head on. I could endure whatever shit would happen but heavens knew I wouldn't be able to do so much to endure shit if it came by hurting Cara.
"Think about things carefully, Russo. Make up your mind that you actually want to go through this. And put into consideration that unlike other times, you won't be the only one going this alone. Decide if you want to put Rosaline through this too."