Do You Feel Loved, Kitten? [Mafia Romance]

3 - Choosing Her Own Fate

"Listen. In 9 hours we're going to be in Europe. Sicily. Catania. We will eat cannoli and pizza and enjoy life. And oh my God we will see orange trees growing on the side of the road. Lemons!"

"Okay, I get it. We will see lemons" Alex agreed and I think he was touched with my excitement. I had tendency of acting in dramatic way but for some reason Alex was a person who didn't mind. He supported me, laughed with me and even went on a crazy adventures when I needed it. Alex was the best friend in the world.

"Yes but it will be different lemons! It will be Italian lemons"

"Oh wow, okay" Alex smile grew wider. „I'm going to sleep now Lia, please don't talk to strangers about Italian lemons"

"I make no promises"

Three hours later Alex woke up and I guess he had to ask about what the hell am I doing. Hey, I had an epiphany. I will get myself a boyfriend who's not my soul-mate. I will be perfectly happy with a person I will chose for myself. A person I want to be with. Fuck fate.

"What are you doing?"

"I've downloaded dating app on the plane I'm about to meet with someone"

"You're joking right?"

"No"

"Those apps are for people who's mates are dead, seriously ill or abusive. . Not for a person who didn't even got their soulmate-mark yet!"

Ah yes. Any sort of dating behind getting a soulmate-mark was a taboo, it was frowned upon. But only when woke were doing that because of-fucking-course misogyny was a big problem of our society. I couldn't give less of a shit what will people think of me, I'm not living for them. I want to live for myself. The way I want.

"I don't care. I want to date. With a man of my choice"

"And don't you think your mate will be pissed off when he or she will find out you've met with someone on a date?"

"Wow I don't give a shit about my hypothetical soulmate's opinion. I will sure as hell make sure they can't dictate my life"

"But what about you know... your issue with being touched"

I could see Alex was just desperately trying to dissuade me from my idea.

"I mentioned it in my bio. No touching on a first date"

"What about later? At the next date? You really think you can deal with this issue so quickly?"

"Hey, there's something called shock therapy, right? My psychiatrist said some mean things to me and I just want to prove him wrong"

"Prove him wrong?"

"That I will be fine and I will survive without help or a mate. He said I'm stubborn and never listen. So I need to change just out of spite"

"That's sounds like a reasoning a stubborn person would have"

"Shut up"

🌹🌹🌹

We arrived to Catania at 8 pm. We went for a small warm that took us about an hour and then Alex decided he wants to book in to our hotel room while I decided to meet with a guy I was chatting with while I was on the plane.

🌹🌹🌹

My date was late.

Not that I was complaining. The place he invited me to was a rooftop bar with a nice view on the Ionian Sea. I was drinking my aperitif and enjoyed the beautiful landscape when something happened and I've heard gasps and whispered that quickly turned into dead silence. I looked around to see what's going on and then I saw him.

That man was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. And I don't usually fawn over male looks no matter how hot they are.

But here's the kick. Our eyes met. He was looked at me as well and his eyes shined with interested.

He couldn't possibly be interested in me, right?