I should have seen it coming, but I was scared to make a prediction and confirm my suspicions. Mirabel had just realized my feelings and our relationship was about to collapse forever.

Maybe that was for the best. I would gain the reputation that I deserved and she would no longer be the potential target of criticism and rumors that could harm her.

"Mirabel… Uh… Ehm…"

"Bruno, what did you want to talk to me about?"

She was very serious; so much so that it scared me. It was as if her life depended on my response.

"I just wanted to tell you that… we can't keep meeting in… you know, in the tunnel."

"What?!"

"People are starting to think weird things and I don't want them to…"

"Weird things…"

"Understand me."

"I don't know if I want to."

"I guess you don't. I get it."

"You get it?! You don't get a damn shit!"

"Mir…"

"What does that bed mean, Bruno?! Why is it here?! Why is it so big?! Why can't you sleep when you use it?! If your room responds to your wishes, why am I there?"

"I… I can't, I…"

"Bruno…"

Suddenly her tone softened and her gaze became almost pleading.

"Bruno, what do you feel about me?"

I bowed my head to the ground, pressed my lips together, and let out all the air at once. It was the moment of the coup de grace. The final goodbye.

"Mirabel, I'm sorry. I know you're going to find this disgusting and totally inappropriate, and I know it will never be and I have to get it out of me, but… I don't know how!"

"What it?"

"Mirabel I… I'm in love with you."

Her eyes widened at the same time as her lips, her fists clenched and she walked toward me with a firm step. I closed my eyes waiting for the slap. Mirabel was sweet and understanding, but that was probably beyond any kind of understanding: I had betrayed her trust; I had slept with her, twice! I couldn't blame her…

And then, as I was expecting, her hands found my face, but not in the way I thought they would. Her fingers delicately brushed my cheeks, passed through my neck until they tangled in my hair, and pulled me down; and, like a soft bath of life, her lips reached mine and pressed them with the sweetest of caresses.

Impossible. That was a dream; it had to be. Surely I had fallen asleep in that huge bed designed to share my nights with her and had inevitably fallen into the most beautiful, soft, and comforting of dreams.

But then, she slowly withdrew her lips, letting me feel the great emptiness they left behind, and pierced my soul with that crystalline look of happiness. It couldn't be a dream. Not even the most privileged of minds could create something so beautiful.

"I love you, Bruno. I am also in love with you."

Really? Was there really anyone in the world capable of loving me? That way? Someone who never judged me, someone who I opened my heart to and showed myself in the most pathetic and vulnerable way… the only person who had ever gotten to know me… the only person I wanted to get to know me. That imposing, kind, tender, brave, understanding, funny, and full of energy woman… Did she love me?

I knew I shouldn't, but I was the one who lunged at her that time. I took her body gently but eagerly between mine and let my lips cover every inch of hers as our curls played against each other and her soft cheeks hugged my nose.

That feeling was the most spectacular thing I had ever felt. My guts did a thousand turns; my heart, our breaths, shook; and my hands ran over her back pressing her against my body; giving me the privilege of feeling her in corners where no one had ever been able to touch.

She let herself be carried away by the passion with hunger and strength, but full of peace, as if I were giving her the world and the life and, the only way to stay calm, was to never let me go. Full of life, full of light, full of excitement, and with a lifetime ahead. When she was just sixteen years old, with a fifty-one man, with her uncle… in his room, in the house of the family... the family she loves more than anything and the one I was threatening to push her away from.

What had I done? What she clung to, what was giving us life, could never be. The moment I thought would never come had come: the day to say no to that crystalline gaze.