Told ya I haven't given up on this yet. I do hope this is better (gramatically as well) than the rather uninspired previous installment.

There are about three chapters left, but who knows when I'll get to them.

Hope you like it,

best,

w.

March

(1)

Home – Last Part

The news of my returning to New York for a few days had indeed spread around.

Judith called me the next morning, hoping to meet up with me. She invited me over to her place, saying she was home alone. I smirked at her choice of words. That had been our code back in high school when we were sleeping together. I didn't know if this time she intentionally used it or not, but I wasn't tempted to find out. I texted her back, saying I already had other plans. Which wasn't a lie, given I was meeting Phillipe.

Lars was waiting on me in front of Plaza. He even opened the door of the cab for me, just like when we were driving in the limo to school with Mia and Lilly. At the sight of his enormous, bulky figure, a very visible gun on the right hip and the overall black attire, the cab driver's eyebrows shot up, and from his eyes I could read he thought I was involved with mafia. I made sure to leave a big tip, but he surely was relieved when he could drive off.

"Michael, how are you?" Lars smiled at me, as always unaware of the impression he made on ill-informed people around him.

"Alright," I said. "You? How are you, Lars?"

Lars and I had gotten well on pretty much since the get-go. Truthfully, I don't know why. If anything, he should have been extra suspicious of me, as he instantaneously saw through me, knowing I had a thing for Mia. Instead of telling me off, citing both her age and her royal status as the absolute demolition of my feeling for her, he not only gave me a chance, but in a way even supported me. Once Mia and I got together, he was one of the few that never made me feel unworthy of me. His job as a bodyguard was to protect her, and he skillfully deduced that my feelings were of no threat to her. If anything, I loved her too much, and out of care sometimes somehow ended up hurting her.

"I am fine," he said, and then paused, as if knowing my question wasn't aimed only at him. "Things are very well, you should know that."

"Okay," I nodded. "Thank you. It's nice to know. You wouldn't have any idea why Phillipe asked to see me, would you?"

"To talk," he simply said as we walked to the elevator. "I wouldn't worry about it too much, if I were you."

He walked with me to the room of Mia's father. On the way he told me an amusing story of how he and Wahim decided to participate in the next Movember, and were currently contemplating getting a head start.

"I do worry about Clarisse's opinion, though," he sighed.

"Why? I know she's not a fan of facial hair, but I am sure she cannot tell you not to have mustache," I laughed.

"The guy who worked for Phillipe before me," Lars said, "had a punk band. He never mentioned it on the job or anything, but when Clarisse found out about it, she sacked him before the day ended. Because, you know, she only listens to cabaret music. Even though he never played or even talked about his music. Mustache, on the other hand, she would be staring at constantly."

"But I thought you worked for Phillipe?"

"Keep thinking that if it makes you feel better," he said just as we reached Phillipe's room. He knocked, and Phillipe's calm, assured voice invited me in.

He sat behind a long desk. I couldn't help but to notice how his personality was written all over the desk. Both were tidy, he in his expensive-looking suit that seemed to have just gotten back from the dry-cleaners, and the desk without a single pen lying around and with every paper in their respective folder.

When our eyes met, he got up to greet me.

"Michael, hello," he said, looking genuinely happy to see me. But when it came to Mia's family, it wasn't Phillipe who disliked me.

"Alright, thank you, you?"

"Same old same old," he laughed and invited me to sit down. As I did, he pulled a tray I hadn't seen earlier closer. It had a bottle and two glasses on. "It's cognac," he informed me. "I know you are not 21 yet, but I figured what the hell."

He poured us drinks, and I took a sip, just to be polite. Phillipe's eyes were fixated on me, not moving away even for a split second. I tried to maintain my composure, but years in politics left him with a piercing stare, even if completely unintentionally.

"So how's work?" he asked.

"It's coming along nicely."

"Japan, if I am not mistaken, right? Such a fascinating country. Culture, people. A great experience."

"To be honest, most of what I see is the insides of the lab," I laughed.

"Yes, well, before you left, Mia told me you were off to construct some sort of a surgical robot. But I have to admit, I didn't understand just how ambitious your project was until I read a little bit on the subject."

"Ambitious, maybe, but today's technology is more advanced than you might think. All the necessary components already exist, it is just a matter of putting them together."

"Still, given your age, I think it is a marvelous achievement, even if in the end it does not end up working as well as all hope."

"Thank you, Phillipe."

"It does, however, make me wonder what drives a twenty-year-old to try to achieve something the most renowned scientists if more than twice his age are still struggling with."

"I don't think your age should be, or maybe even is, a factor in making an idea into a reality. Vision and determination do not come with age; I'd say they come with personality," I argued.

"I agree, Michael, and having read your magazine back in the day, always thought you were definitely a character capable of great things, but potentially revolutionary medical equipment is a big leap forward from opposing Microsoft. Even in terms of gained respect and acceptance."

He poured some more drink in his glass before continuing.

"Look, Michael, like I said, I always thought highly of you. Not just as far as your academic achievements were concerned, I always admired your personality, from intelligence, demeanor, to the way you cared about my daughter."

"Thank you."

"No, don't thank me, it would be obvious to any hillbilly," he dismissed me. "A father can only dream about his daughter having luck of finding someone like you. That is all I ever wanted for Mia. I know there are people, my mother especially, that believe Mia should only be with someone of her social status, but frankly, I am not as rooted in 19th century beliefs like my mother. For me, the matter of you having a proper name was never important. I am sorry if I ever made you think otherwise."

"You didn't, Phillipe," I assured him.

"Yeah, well, I think my mother more than just compensated," he sighed. "Anyway, my point is, I wouldn't care if you were just a student, later on working for some computer company or something. I wouldn't think any less of you. But your determination to go as far as making a surgical robot, something that will change the history of medicine, well, I have to admit you left me speechless, Michael. I don't know how things are currently between my daughter and you, and I have no doubt she is the dark as far as your inner motives for going to Japan for so long are, but I want you to know that I appreciate what you are doing, a lot. You don't have to prove yourself to me. Maybe the world thinks otherwise, maybe even you think like you have to, but for me, just the respect you have shown for Mia is enough."

"It means a lot to me that you think this way," I said with a lump in my throat.

"I am sorry we haven't had a chance to talk earlier. But I believe you needed to cool off your head a bit."

"Yeah, things are much clearer now."

"Good. So I can expect you to see more of you at our dreadful family dinners in Genovia?" he smiled.

"I certainly hope this will be the case," I said.

"Well, I for one have no doubt."

But that wasn't the end of my encounters with Mia's family.

I was at the airport, waiting to board the plane back to Tokyo.

"Well, well, well," I heard someone say. The voice sounded rather familiar, so I turned around to see who it was.

I saw two guys coming closer to me. The first one was wearing gold pants, an Aloha shirt and a pink derby hat. He had a half-full cocktail glass in his hands, and truthfully, he didn't even look sober.

It was René, one of Mia's cousins.

The other wore leather pants in the color of lime, a slightly darker denim jacket and a yellow T-shirt. He kept pushing his sunglasses further up his nose, though to me it looked like they already reached the desired position. It was Sebastiano, Mia's other cousin.

"Isn't this Michael, Mia's Michael!" René said, actually embracing me. "You have no idea how happy we are to see you, aren't we, Seb?"

"Cert," Sebastiano nodded.

"Fancy a drink, Michael?" René said in a voice similar to the one Clarisse usually used when playing a role of the hostess.

"No, thanks, I am just about to board the plane."

"You going to Japan! How is that magnificent robot coming along?"

"Okay," I said, still baffled both by their outfits and the situation as a whole. I never really talked to either of them, with the exception of that time my beloved sister played strip blowing with some of the European royals. Mia always complained about them, but in their colorful attire and an obvious drunken state, I found them to be hilarious.

"You have no idea how happy that makes me feel, mate!" René sang, then clearing his throat as if trying to sound more serious. "You know, there's usually three of us, but one got stuck babysitting. With his girlfriend. Which he met via an online dating service. Dating Agency Mandy, maybe you heard."

"Shhh!" Sebastiano tried to shush him very indiscreetly.

"What?" René argued. "They are a completely respectable – or is it reputable? - agency. Not like one of those where they hook you up with the girl that claims to be pregnant with you the following week, even though you took extra precautions, as you have been falsely accused before, by a very persistent and creative lady that doesn't let anything go to waste, much like that guy in TV that drinks his own urine. I mean, Mandy has the best screening system, I tell you."

I admit, I had no idea what to say to all that. But I did look around, just to see if there were any TV crews nearby.

"Anyway," he went on, "I would just like to say in the name of all three of us, that we wish you good luck with your robot, though we don't really understand what it is, heck, I don't think even Mia does, but anyway, we are talking about a girl here that doesn't even know how to make a proper cosmo, but, where was I? Oh, right, yeah, we are totally cheering for you, mate! All the way! We are really on your side, you know, no matter what Clarisse says, but she also totally dislikes me wearing this shirt which is like totally awesome, as she hates pretty much everything without diamonds and purple. But I say life shines brighter than diamonds. And why choose only one color, when you can wear all of them at the same time! Are you sure you don't want a drink or two? Because it is totally on me. Well, on Harry, because I have his credit card, but he totally wouldn't mind. Because we are such big fans. Oh, and just so you know, we are totally watching over Mia for you. So, don't worry, we are taking real good care of her. So you can be at ease about that, and just focus on the robot. Which is like so the coolest thing ever."

I was quite sorry that my flight was called then. Of course it took me five minutes to actually get to the gate, as René and Sebastiano insisted on takin pictures with me, right there, in the middle of the terminal. It made some tourists from Germany even think I was some kind of a celebrity, as they approached us, asking if they too could take a picture with me. I hurried to explain that it was a, well, somewhat of a family thing, but René completely dismissed my words, chatting to them in German, making them think I was god knows what kind of a superstar.

Still, as I walked away, glancing over my shoulder to see the two goofballs one more time, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was now, in a way, part of Mia's, yes, completely crazy family. She seemed to be the only one not to be aware of it yet.

But I was sure that too was soon to change.

To Be Continued.

Broughttoyouby:::winter.