I'm done waiting; she needs to know now. I need her to know….
I was beyond confused. Christian said he was going to marry the only woman he'd ever looked at….. but he admitted to looking at me. He assured me that he'd explain everything once we got back home; I can't imagine what kind of explanation he could give. I can't be who he's talking about… who he's meant the whole time I've known him- that's simply impossible. Eight years? I don't ever remember meeting him eight years ago, and I know I would remember an Adonis like him. No, it can't be me… I can't think of a time when we would have met- either intentionally or unintentionally.
In that moment, I heard some birds chirping in a nearby tree. My foot came to a halt as my head turned to the happy, fluttering creatures. Birds…. I had what's referred to as a Proustian moment right then. I noticed them and was overcome with a familiar emotion, sensation. They looked so happy, so free…. I'd felt that somewhere before while watching birds, but where? What was I thinking of?
"I'm sorry, Miss Steele; you won't be able to have children." That's right! I remember now! It was back in the gynecologist's office at the hospital, when I went in to hear my lab results. I was sitting on the lab table and watching the birds outside after receiving the news…. And just like that, I recalled that I couldn't get pregnant. My hand ran over my stomach overtop my shirt. I can't get pregnant because I got stabbed…. I can't believe I hadn't thought about that in a while now. I was stabbed in the stomach reign…. eight years ago. My eyes peered back over to the joyful birds. Eight years… Back then I jumped in front of that knife to save that guy; I never got a look at his face. But… No, that's also impossible. It would be too much of a coincidence if he were Christian. No… Life doesn't work like that; reality is too random. It can't be Christian; it can't. And even if it was- which I'm sure it's not- that doesn't explain how he would know it was me who took the knife for him. I'm pretty sure he didn't see my face either; my pink hood was up. "Christian has this thing with the color pink." It can't be him- no. Just no…. Life doesn't work that way, right?
I decided to put it out of my head for now. I'll probably never see the man I saved; I'm content with that. I'm sure Christian has another explanation for me; I just have to wait to hear it. This was our first time apart since he arrived. The sun was setting, and we were winding down, sort of. He told me he had some business to take care of for his company. We parted ways, but not before he walked me to my uh, "hotel". He wanted me to stay in my room initially, but I thought it was too early to call it a night. Of course he worried until I informed him I'd be going to another nearby cathedral; I wanted to climb upstairs, which I could do with my museum pass now. Hearing that I was going to a church, he relented and we said goodbye. I then took the busiest route I could find to the very close building.
Ok, so I made many mistakes here and I'm not afraid to admit them. My first mistake was leaving my burner phone at the convent to charge; the battery was dead by then. My second mistake was wearing plastic Hollister sandals- you'll see why these were mistakes later. I got to the relatively empty cathedral; it was near closing time, for the dome anyway. No joke, another nun met me at the front desk. I smiled and presented my museum pass. She proceeded to print me out a ticket and open the heavy-looking iron gate for me. Huh, I wonder if they had trouble with people breaking in here. I went inside, only for the gate to slam shut behind me. I'll confess it made me jump; the nun took off and I realized that the only way to get out of here was to go forward. Let me just say: mistakes were made.
One thing about the evening here was it was hard to see rain clouds quickly come in. By the time I'd climbed the hundredth step- and no, I did not know I was signing on for this- the downpour had begun. Here is a list of my other mistakes: one- coming late when no one else was here; two- being stupid enough not to tell Christian the name of the cathedral I was at; and three- forgetting how slippery medieval polished grey stone can be in water.
No joke, the next hour of my life was one of the scariest. I was alone up in the rooftop of this five-hundred year old place. The halls were like mazes; there were no arrows pointing to which way I should go. And when you reach a dead end, you just come up against this stone brick wall- needless to say, I came to many dead ends. The worst part was when I reached the actual side of the rooftop. It was terrifying. Imagine a very slippery stone floor beneath your feet and all you're wearing is flipflops. There's no guard rail and you are very high up. One wrong move and you'll be falling quite a way. I was so scared at some points that I couldn't move my feet. This was one of the stupidest things I'd ever done, only made worse by the fact that it seemed so harmless before.
When I finally reached the other side of the rooftop, I had to take a breather. It then occurred to me that if I fell or anything happened to me up here, no one would hear me; I was too high up. And I didn't have my phone on me either… Talk about a terrifying situation. This was a whole new kind of danger I wasn't used to, and I was scared- very scared. Meeting him didn't help matters much either.
I remember walking down this weird, winding hallway. On the one side was pure stone bricks, while the other were these wide open gaps on the upper half of the wall- no windows. It seemed to go on forever; I just kept walking and walking. At some point, the combination of water and stone wrecked my sandal; it literally came apart on my foot while I was going. I paused to look down, only to see it falling off; the other wasn't much better. With the world's longest sigh, I rolled my eyes and took off both my sandals. Perfect- now on top of being soaked and frightened, I'm barefoot. I didn't see what more could go wrong. Then I looked forward.
There was a man there- standing right in front of me. It was so sudden and unexpected that I didn't reaction immediately; we just looked at each other in silence. He was…. oh god, how does one describe him? Maybe an example will help. If you've ever read the manga "Cantarella" he looked just like Chiaro with a cloak on. That's right- he wore a damn cloak! Short blonde hair peering out from under the dark hood; very pale skin, and these silver eyes. He was beautiful! Though also had this aura of danger and blood about him. It was so crazy… this was something straight out of a movie. You can't make this shit up.
This mystery man was the first person I'd seen up here; he wasn't all wet like me however. His eyes trailed from my face, to my sandals in my hand, back up to my face. Embarrassment suddenly overcame me. Oh right! This is a church, and here I am walking around barefoot. But he didn't address it… he didn't say anything. He merely stared at me with these unwavering eyes. When the awkwardness was too much for me to handle, I cracked a grin and rubbed the back of my neck with my free hand. "Uh, I was just trying to find my way out of here."
He didn't respond for a minute. Then I watched in horror as he came over to take my hand. His silver eyes shown down upon me as he stood close. "Follow me," he instructed. "U-uh, ok?" Thinking he may work here, I didn't see why I shouldn't; though he didn't have to hold my hand. But unlike Christian, this guy did intimidate me. He really intimidated me, if I'm honest. He gently lead me down the hall to his stone staircase covered from the rain; it was descending, thank god.
While on our way down, I examined the back of the guy's head. Why is he wearing a cloak of all things? It's weird… "Do you work here?" I finally had the courage to ask. "No," short, simple, and to the point. Alrightly then. "Do you come here often? You seem to know your way around." "I'm familiar with the city," I heard his Italian accent that time. So he's Italian then? I'm not surprised; but that still doesn't explain the cloak. Was he trying to be invisible or something?
The church bells rang, catching me by surprise. I flinched and we paused for a moment as I gazed all around us. "It's already that late? They're closing already?" I hadn't realized how long I was lost for. Cloak man peered back at me over his shoulder. "Come, we still have a way to go." "Uh, ok?" I mean he's gotten us this hard currently. While walking, I wanted to make small talk, just to banish the uncomfortable silence.
"S-so, are you from Florence?" "I'm Italian, yes." Well, I could figure out that much. Still, I tried to be polite. "You're lucky; this is a beautiful country." He didn't say anything, continuing to guide me down by the hand. I forced myself to say more; the quiet was making me nervous. "W-what do you? For a living, I mean…" God, Ana; try not to sound so idiotic next time, I inwardly winced. "I'm a specialist of sorts." "Oh! That's cool. What's your trade?" Once again, no reply; though I did notice his grip on my hand tighten.
I didn't bother trying to talk after that; I just endured the silence. When we reached the bottom, I was surprised to see him pick the lock open. He… he broke in here, didn't he? He pushed the heavy gate open for me, letting me through first. Once outside- finally- he turned to face me, locking eyes with mine. This suddenness alarmed me, and my whole body stiffened up. But he, on the other hand… He looked to be studying me, memorizing me… for some reason. His thin, expressionless lips parted a sliver.
"U-uh, w-well thank you for helping me out there," it too effort to grin; cloak man didn't mirror my face. "How long are you in Italy for?" Wow! Such a direct and inappropriate question. My hand lifted up to my chest a bit afraid. "Um, I-I leave tomorrow," I don't know why I answered honestly. Seems kind of stupid looking back. To my utter shock, he nodded understandably. "Good, the sooner you get back, the better."
"E-Excuse me?!" I asked completely affronted. Why kind of comment was that? To my surprise again, he didn't seem fazed by my reaction literally at all. His face and eyes didn't move an inch. "You don't know me, do you?" "N-no? Should I?" "My name's Giordano. Do not worry, Miss Steele; I will watch over you whenever you're in Florence." "How… how do you know my name?!" My mouth dropped to the floor. Who….. Who was this man? A stalker or something? I was right to think he's dangerous- like super dangerous. Still, he didn't move an inch; just kept his stare glued firmly onto me.
"You have nothing to worry about from me, Anastasia; you or your father. I have refused Lincoln's offer." Lincoln? Who the hell is Lincoln? I don't know any Lincolns. My eyes widened as he quite unexpectedly took a step towards me. His hand reached out for mine; I felt him put something in my palm- what felt like an envelope. "Do not open this until you are home safe; understand?" "I…" I couldn't finish my sentence. What the hell is going on? Just who is this guy? And how does he know who I am? I don't understand….. Then he leaned back to look me right in the face; the slightest hint of a smile blossomed in the far corner of his lips. "Yes, I knew from the moment I saw you- you are no target of mine." "T-target? Target for what?" What does he mean by "target"? Like a drug target or something?
You can't imagine how wide my eyes grew when he brought his head closer to mine. While my eyes were gigantic, his were shut. "Let's never meet again," he said before he…. he kissed my forehead! This creep had the audacity to kiss my forehead! But that wasn't the end of it. Then resting our foreheads together, he said to me:
"I almost killed Jack when he asked me."