A Calamitous Predicament

Setback?

Enzo and I decided to go on a trail. We walked around a bunch of kids playing soccer. "oh here comes the ball." I warn Enzo when I see the soccer ball coming his way.

He stops the ball and just as he was going to pass it back, one of the boys says something. "don't worry old man, I'll come get the ball." Enzo turns to me in amusement while the other boys laugh while one of them comes to get the ball.

When the boy comes to us, neither one of us say anything. "Didn't want you to pull anything." The boy was about 8 years old but he talked with a smirk on his face, fearlessly. The boy takes the ball but then turns his eyes to me, "you're a little cutie." The boy gives me a wink as my smile widens in amusement and I give Enzo another look.

I crouch down to the boy's level, "what's your name little fella?" His face drops when I call him 'little fella' but within a quick second he was sporting a grin, "I might be short but I'm not little." I gasp in horror when I realize what he was hinting at. Looking up at Enzo, he's trying to hide a smile.

I give the little boy a small push on the forehead as I get up, "go play." He leaves but not without giving me a wink. "I don't want to talk about it." I say without even looking at Enzo because I know he's going to say something. He just laughs.

"Anyway, how's the business doing?" I ask. I haven't been able to do too much work recently and I only look at the financial side so I don't know if there is any conflict. I turn to Enzo when I hear him sigh, "there's something going on but we can't seem to figure it out exactly."

"Okay tell me. Maybe you could use another perspective." I offer help. I know he's a bit hesitant on telling me. Probably doesn't want me to worry but if I can help, why not. After a few seconds of silence, he nods his head, "it's weird. When we talk to some of our suppliers, they seem a little off. It's very faint but their behavior has changed a little." I hum in understanding.

"Let me guess you already have people keeping an eye on them but no avail?" Enzo once again nods his head. "We even tried to hack their computers to get security footage or any of their records but we can't get any of it without alerting them. Our team is still working on it but we don't know how long it will take." He runs a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Don't worry too much about it. I'm sure you guys will figure it out." I try to give him reassurance that everything will be okay but deep down even I know something's up.

The trail was short and it soon came to an end. As we made our way back to the car Enzo called Pietro and asked if he wanted to join us for dinner, to which he said yes so we are currently driving to a restaurant nearby.

When we reached the restaurant, we found Pietro already waiting for us. When he spots us coming he immediately stands up and opens his arms for me. Without a second thought I walk right into his arms.

"How are you?" He looks down at me with a lot of concern. I suppress my emotions and nod my head as we pull away, "I'm good. Better now." I say turning to Enzo towards the end. In response he just rubs my head causing me to flick his hand and fixing my hair. Enzo and Pietro chuckle at my reaction.

As we sat down, a waitress came and gave us the menus. Since none of us are indecisive, we quickly ordered and sent the menus back. "So, what did you guys do today?" Pietro asks. Enzo and I both smile wide at today's memories.

Before Enzo could answer, I jump to it, "we went to the park and we watched little kids fall." The moment those words left my mouth Pietro looks at us horrified. "What the hell is wrong with you two?" Enzo and I start laughing at his reaction.

Enzo shrugs it off, "it's fun. You should join us next time. Trust me you would love it." Enzo says. "Oh, and Val has a new boyfriend." A smirk played on Enzo's face as he raised his eyebrows up and down. Pietro turns to me with the same smile and raises his eyebrows.