Loving Marcello

Chapter Pre-Twelve

I sit down in the guest room Marie escorted me to. She told me she'd be back in no time, but it's been 5 minutes and I'm impatient and cold.

I get up and swing the door open, meeting Marcellos tall frame.

"Nice of you to make an appearance." I huff.

He doesn't give me a response, instead, his eyes scan my wet clothes.

I notice the clothing in his hand, "Please tell me that you brought that for me."

"Yes, I figured you wouldn't like sleeping in that." He gestured to my still soaked form.

"Sleeping? As in sleeping here? Can I not go back to the hotel?" I question.

"No, it's dangerous to drive in this weather." He responds shortly. "Now get changed into dry clothing. Marie will be up to inform you when dinner is ready."

"Marcello?" I call out before he can turn around.

"Hm?" His eyes scan mine, analyzing.

"Even if you act like a dick while helping me, thank you. For the clothes and everything y'know." My appreciation turns into embarassment. I don't know why I find it hard to thank him.

It seems to also catch him off guard. A small smile hints at the corners of his lips, but he catches himself and regains a neutral expression. "No problem. I'll leave you to get dressed now."

With that said, he closes the door behind him.

I blink, still processing. He showed just a little bit of humanity for 2 seconds. A smile on his face is much better than the scary hard look he always sports.

The rain pounds against the roof, catching my attention once more.

I peer out the blinds, catching sight of hectic rain and wind blowing dangerously.

I blow out a breath in annoyance. I thought the weather here was supposed to be warm and uneventful.

I quickly dress into the set of clothes Marcello brought me. A large black T-shirt and a baggy pair of sweatpants. It's not hard to tell who these clothes belong to.

Just as I finish rolling up the sweats to adjust to my shorter legs, a knock sounds at my door.

I open it, revealing Marie in a dry version of the clothing she previously had on.

"Would you like to come down for dinner?" She offers.

"Hell yea, I'm starving." I step out of the room and let her take me to the dining area.

"The weather radar says that this storm may last a couple days." Marie pipes up.

"Days?!" I exclaim, shocked, "I thought Rome was supposed to have good weather."

"The weather is normally nice, but sometimes we can have storms that last for days. It usually doesn't happen, but when it does, it can be bad." She explains with a frown.

"Well, it looks like I'm gonna be stuck here for a little bit then, doesn't it?"