Soon February came in a flash, as did Valentine's Day. As he had promised, Dino "became friends" with Emilio, although it was more like they acted friendly when Rosetta was around, and then they would be rivals again if it was just the two of them.
In fact, Emilio wasn't just his rival, but now he was officially Dino's rival in gaining Rosetta's love. And the both of them were planning on declaring their love today – Valentine's Day.
"Just you wait Cavallone," Emilio stated that morning, bursting with confidence. "Before the day is over Rosetta will be mine."
"Well before then I will have told her." Dino blurted out with not much confidence but anger instead.
"Better hurry up then." His bespectacled rival commented as he pat Dino's back once and left before flashing a teasing smirk at the young Cavallone.
'Ugh…I'm never going to be able to win Rosetta's affections before Emilio does…' he thought as he rested his head against his locker with a thunk. 'And all I've thought of was this.'
He then went fishing through his messy backpack and pulled out a small black box with a letter attached to it. Inside the box was a simple little trinket – a little rose preserved in a small glass tube linked to a necklace. It wasn't much, but it was a literal meaning for Rosetta's name*. As for the letter, it enclosed all of Dino's secret feelings for Rosetta.
He hoped that she would like it, but Dino was worried that she might end up with Emilio in the end. Still, he had to get his feelings across, and that meant giving his present to her in person…
"H-Hey there Rosetta!" he greeted awkwardly before the start of their first class. Inside he was thinking, 'Rgh, that was too much! Now she's gonna start suspecting me!'
Fortunately for him, Rosetta only heard his greeting and didn't happen to see his overly cheerful smile. Nonetheless, she turned to him with a heart melting smile and replied with, "Good morning Dino! I thought you were going to be late when you told me to go ahead."
"Yeah well…I was just…finishing up an essay for…something." The young Cavallone stated in response, pausing occasionally to continue his made up on the spot story. "Sorry for worrying you." – he paused for a moment, thinking now was the time to give her his gift – "Um, Rosetta?"
"Yes Dino?" she stated with slight confusion and curiosity.
He started to say something, but it got caught in his throat and he stayed like that for a while. Finally he managed to utter, "You…uh…You look nice today," right before the bell rang and he looked down at his desk in shame.
'I can't!' he thought with his eyes clenched firmly shut. 'I can't do it!'
All day, Dino tried to present Rosetta with his gift, but constantly failed, over and over again. Surprisingly, Emilio held off on declaring his love each time they were in the same class as him, probably because he was super confident that he was going to have Rosetta at his side by the end of the day.
But there was something unexpected that none of them even saw coming…
It was lunch time, and Dino and Rosetta were having lunch with Squalo – a very rare occasion – when Emilio walked up to their table with a grave expression on his face.
"Rosetta, my father would like to speak with you." He said as the three sitting exchanged questioning looks. Finally, she stood and so did Dino, as he intended to accompany her, but Emilio stopped him.
"He would like to speak with her alone." Emilio continued firmly.
For a silent moment, Dino narrowed his eyes at his rival, and then relaxed before sitting back down. As the two boys watched her follow Emilio into the building, the young Cavallone asked, "What do you think the principal needs to talk to her about?"
"I don't know." Squalo answered seriously. "But it can only be bad news, with the way the principal's son looked…"
Meanwhile, Rosetta was getting a little anxious on their walk to see Emilio's father. She had never been to an office on any occasion, but she knew this time, it had to be bad. The grim expression on Emilio's face said it all. She hadn't done anything against the rules, so she knew she wasn't in trouble.
So why was she being called?
Rosetta sighed and knew that could only be answered when she was sitting face to face with the principal…
When she walked through the door opened for her by Emilio, she was surprised at who she saw in the office.
"Uncle Antonio?!" Rosetta exclaimed, now standing before him. "What are you doing here?!"
"As your family member, he too is entitled to the information I am about to disclose to you." The gruff voice of the principal made it's way to Rosetta's ears and she turned to the reigning authority of the school.
He was very tall, taller than even her uncle and his build was quite broad despite the lifestyle he led, sitting nearly all day and straightening out delinquents. He had the same dark hair as Emilio with streaks of greying hair throughout but his eyes were a striking silver white color that seemed to pierce into your very soul. Despite the grave look on his face, Rosetta could pick out the laugh lines that she saw branching from the corners of his eyes. He wore a simple dark grey suit with a deep red button up shirt and he had a silver colored tie around his neck.
"Please close the door Emilio." He stated simply as his son did so.
Once they were all standing in the quiet office for what seemed like forever, Rosetta broke the silence by asking, "What did you call Uncle Antonio and me in for, Mr. Alfieri?"
"Unfortunately it's not good news, I fear," the principal stated seriously as Rosetta tensed up. "Just an hour ago we received a report that the whole of the inner circle of the Mezzanotte famiglia…has been slaughtered…"
"What?!" Rosetta uttered with a shocked expression much the same as her Uncle's beside her. "No, this can't be! You lie!"
"I would never lie…" Mr. Alfieri explained as he loosened his tie and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt. Pulling it down and revealing his tattooed Mezzanotte mark, he finished his sentence, "…to one of my own."
Gazing at the tattoo, the tears started to flow down Rosetta's cheeks in rivers as she broke down and started to sob. Emilio stared down at the ground with his eyebrows knitted together in frustration from his place by the door while Antonio helped Rosetta into a seat and Mr. Alfieri righted his shirt and tie.
Once Rosetta had stopped sobbing and calmed down, the principal decided to continue with his report. "Of course the fact that they've been slaughtered isn't entirely true. They haven't recovered the bodies yet." He explained, earning a gasp of surprise from the two of them. "All they've found was blood everywhere and a house in ruins. My deepest condolences, Miss Mezzanotte, but we must move on to other matters." – he paused as she lifted her head and nodded with tears still in her eyes – "Those investigating in this case cannot go on with it until you are present."
"So you want us to go and head the investigation?" Antonio asked casually.
"In a word, yes," Mr. Alfieri replied before shifting his gaze to Rosetta. "Although it is purely your choice of whether to go or not, Miss Mezzanotte."
All was silent for a moment while everyone gazed to the only living Mezzanotte by blood.
Finally she stood and said with determination, "I'll do it," – she turned to her uncle – "Uncle Antonio, we'll be leaving right away, but I must do something first…"
A few minutes later, Rosetta was standing at the front gate with Emilio, a sleek black sports car on standby with Antonio waiting inside.
"You don't want to say good-bye to Cavallone?" Emilio asked even though he didn't want to.
"No, it would be too hard for me to say goodbye to him now." Rosetta replied solemnly before handing an envelope to him. "Could you give this to him though? It will let him know at least where I've gone…"
Emilio accepted the letter hesitantly before he raised his face to meet Rosetta's gaze.
For a moment the two stayed like that, until Emilio uttered suddenly, "Rosetta. I-I'll always be here, should you need anything. Anything at all." – he paused with pursed lips – "Up…Up until now I didn't want to join my father in serving my duty to the Mezzanotte family, but…but meeting you has changed that…because…because I love you Rosetta Mezzanotte!"
Instantly red flared up on Rosetta cheeks as her eyes widened in shock, but all that changed quickly when sadness crept on her face and she looked away.
"I'm…I'm really quite flattered Emilio," she said in response before meeting his eyes once more. "But my heart…It belongs to someone else…I'm sorry."
He quickly deflated, but caught himself before he lost it and turned away from her while asking, "I'm guessing that someone else is Cavallone then?"
"Y-Yes." Rosetta uttered as the blush found its way to her cheeks once more.
"Don't worry. I'll give him the letter," Emilio interrupted her before she could apologize again. "You should go now. I hope you find out what really happened to your family…"
Rosetta nodded in agreement before heading to the car. As soon as she placed her hand on the handle, she heard her name being called by Emilio. She turned to see an angered and yet determined look on his face.
"Rosetta!" he called out again. "I'm promising you that I'll become even cooler than Cavallone so that you can't help but fall in love with me!"
Rosetta flashed a smile in his direction before opening the car door and climbing in. She gave one last wave to the school, Emilio, and her friends before leaving, not sure if she when she was going to return…
The last bell of the day had rung and Emilio ended up finding himself standing before one of the trash bins in the hallway, holding Rosetta's letter for Dino above it. He tried to let go of it, but his hand wouldn't respond. He paused for a moment, and then attempted to throw it in, but he froze with his arm raised above his head. He brought his arm down, glaring at the letter and growling inwardly before stomping off to find the person whom the letter was addressed to.
After a minute or so, he found the young Cavallone standing before his locker, glancing down the hallways and looking for his friend.
Just gazing at the male who had gained Rosetta's affections wordlessly had made Emilio's blood boil. But for a moment he wondered; had Dino known that she returned his love?
'Probably not,' he thought. 'But who cares? All I'm here to do is deliver the letter and be done with it.'
By this time, most of the students had evacuated the halls in a rush to get home to get ready for their dates, so Emilio had no trouble stalking up to Dino and slapping the letter to his rival's chest.
Emilio let go of it and strolled away, saying as he started to leave, "That's from Rosetta. You should probably read it when you get home…"
"Where is she?" he heard his rival ask.
"She's long gone by now," he answered. "But the letter should tell you everything you need to know…"
Emilio then turned the corner, leaving a slightly confused Dino to gaze at the letter questioningly before rushing home to read Rosetta's letter as soon as possible…
If Reborn had scheduled some type of after school training, nothing was told to Dino and he didn't see any evidence that his home tutor was nearby as he ran as fast as he could to his room. Closing the door behind him and dropping his backpack haphazardly on the floor, he scaled his room in the few steps it took to his desk. He quickly opened the envelope and sat down to read the contents of the letter written in Rosetta's script…
To my dear friend Dino,
It pains me to say that I cannot reveal all to you, but I can tell you that something horrible has befallen my close family. Unfortunately I have been called to help unravel the mystery, and I don't know when I will be returning, but I can promise you that I will come back someday. Even though I won't be here for every step you take to becoming a boss, I just hope that you continue on that path and don't let anyone put you down. I know you will be a wonderful boss someday and I hope to see that in the near future. Give Squalo and Reborn all the best.
I wish you all the best, Rosetta
The letter was short, and it didn't give that much in where Rosetta was and what she was doing, but Dino somehow knew that she would keep her word, and that they would someday see each other again. He didn't know how long it would be, but he would be there to welcome her back with open arms. And then he would tell her the feelings he had for her…
*Rosetta means little rose in Italian, hence the little rose in the glass tube on the necklace that Dino was going to give her.
And that concludes the past portion of the fanfic! Don't worry, it's not over yet! I did want to submit this on Valentine's day, but due to the plans I have and the fact that I already had this chapter all written out, I'm just gonna submit it today. Chapters should be coming out at least every week or every other week now that I have more planned in my head, so expect at least one or two more chapters this month before I take a break.
In the meantime, enjoy, fave, follow and review if you choose!