Il Più Grande Amore (The Greatest Love)

Part II: 𝚀𝚞𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚊 𝙸𝚗 𝙲𝚞𝚒 𝙶𝚕𝚒 𝙷𝚘 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚘 (𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘛𝘰 𝘏𝘪𝘮)

Growing up, I always believed that my parents' love story is one for the books. A story that I'd like to tell the world someday. To witness the sincerity of my dad towards my mom is the environment I have lived in for the past 30 years and even though marriage is far from what I plan to do in the next five years, I know deep in my heart that if the universe permits, I'd like to have what my parents have. 

Fate is a four-letter word that holds deep impact to everyone. A word that carries so much more than what it means. Fate is like a story written in the stars, but it can be as tricky as it can be and a lot painful when encountered.

In my whole career, I never witnessed such an encounter as I genuinely marked the best story, I could possibly write is the one my dad repeatedly tells me, their love story. Not until my eyes saw how cruel fate is and the scars it left to this star-crossed lovers more than 30 years ago.

I could barely hold my Iced Americano; my hands were shaking and cold sweats dripping at my back. It felt like everything I thought was there actually went missing all these years and it slowly unfolds today right in front of me in just a matter of seconds.

Unhurriedly walking towards their direction, I began to see the tears in my mother's eyes. No words could ever describe how heart wrenching this reunion is. For the first time in my life, I finally saw true emotions coming out from her through her eyes. The man who caused it all gave my mom a soft stare as he slowly closed the gap between them.

"Buon Giorno, Mademoiselle." He said as soon as his feet came an inch away from her.

My mom smiled at him with precious tears in her eyes; I felt my heart sink watching her smile like that for the first time. I started to build up questions, why does fate have to be this cruel?
I couldn't watch; not that it feels like we're fooling dad, but it feels a little less sad if I could set my eyes on something else; I gave them the time that they need to cover the years that were lost.

Not too long, we had our small introduction. He was so soft and kind towards me and If I haven't said this yet, I will forever tell everyone how great his name is, let alone himself. They spent the whole time together talking about things, people only both of them knew and even watching the sunset together while I was very far from them, avoiding being the distraction of their reunion.

The whole duration of our vacation was a breath of fresh air, it's a different city with people I don't see every day back home. But if I were to choose the best part of this trip that would be our last day in Valleta, because that day I grabbed my chance, that day is the one where I talked to him.

"Malta is such a magical place and I just realized it now." I told him as we sat in unison on our chairs.  He took a sip on his espresso before going into the flow of our conversation.

"This place is really magical yet full of mystery." He said.

"Beautiful things most likely bring mysterious vibes."

He looked at me once again with his soft gaze that could even melt my eyes. 

"I am amazed how well you were raised."

"Not to brag, but I get that a lot and I owe it to my parents for always looking after me."

He nodded twice implying a positive response to what I just said.

"It feels a little strange to be sitting next to you."

"Why is that?"