~Beneath The Surface~

Passage 6 ~ Amelia

I take Luca's hand in mine and tug him towards the car. "Lia, what are you doing?"

"Well, it's your birthday in two days, and since Sungjin will be back in time for it, you'll probably spend it with him rather than me," I pout, quickly changing my expression. "So I decided to take you out for the day! What better present than spending quality time with yours truly?" I tuck my hair behind my ear and smile innocently, knowing he'll refuse to accompany me.

"Sometimes I think you forget that I work full-time...for your father" he says as he prepares to leave.

"Well, your job is to take me wherever I want, whenever I want, and right now I want you to take me, to take you out" I say yet he seems unbothered. "Plus, I've previously discussed it with my father, who replied, 'Of course, dear, he deserves some time to himself, he's always so uptight.'" I exaggerate my impression of my father (and I lied about the last statement, don't tell anyone), but it works.

"Fine, where are we going?" he replies, sighing in defeat.

I squeal with joy and leap up to give him a hug; despite his irritation, he still embraces me.

I let go of him after a few seconds and dash to the car. "Get in loser, we're going shopping" I smugly tell him as he slips into the driver's seat.

"I swear, sometimes I forget you're a grown adult." He says under his breath, but loud enough for me to hear

"Hey! I heard that!" I gasped as I punched his arm, but he didn't even flinch.

He says, "I know."

How impolite of him. "I'll let you off this time because it's almost your birthday and I'm a nice person and a good human being and a great friend" I smile as I cross my arms.

"Sure you are" he says sarcastically, but I could tell he was trying to keep a smile from appearing on his face.

Aha! I've always known he loved me back; he simply doesn't express it.

I switch on the radio, but quickly remove the aux wire and attach it to my phone. BTS songs begin to blast from the speakers. I start singing out of tune at the top of my lungs. Luca chuckles, most likely at my poor singing, but I continue to yell the lyrics.

——————-

The car comes to a halt, and I hurriedly unbuckle my seatbelt and step out, followed by Luca. "So, where are we heading now?"

"I know today is all about you, but I'm starving, so let's eat first." I don't wait for him to react before grabbing his hand and dragging him away...I turn my eyes to Luca for a second, and the next thing I know, I've crashed into something, causing me to stagger backwards into Luca, who instantly placed his hands on my shoulders to prevent me from falling. I was on the borderline of having a heart attack. I ran into a man who didn't appear to be much older than myself, but he is noticeably taller. He looks at me, perplexed.

"I'm sorry sir, I wasn't watching where I was going," I say, but he doesn't answer and doesn't even look at me. His gaze shifts towards something behind me. "Hello? Do you speak Italian, sir?" Again, no response; he simply squints his eyes and maintains a stiff posture.

When I turn back, I see Luca staring at the Asian guy with a puzzled expression on his face. "Perhaps you speak English..." Finally, he returns his attention with a raised brow. "No? Perhaps Korean?" I enquire. His face changes to one of amusement.

He smiles and said, "How about all three?My name is Gabriel" he says, holding out his hand for me to shake, which I do. I can't stop thinking about how much bigger his hands are than mine.

"My name is Amelia Di-"

"Mendez! Her name is Amelia Mendez" Luca replies, cutting me short. I almost forgot about it. What would I do if Luca wasn't around?

"How about you?" asks the stranger
"Luca Marcello"

Then I notice that our hands are still clasped together. He smirks as I instantly draw away uncomfortably. The two men exchange a few things that I don't hear because I'm concentrating on examining the strangers' appearance. If I'm being honest, he's extremely attractive.

"Well, I have to meet someone now, see you around?" I nod, and then he walks away.

That was...intriguing. "Weird" I murmur, thinking aloud.

"What's weird? Is it because you couldn't take your eyes away from him?"

"Says you!" I punch his arm. "You had the appearance of a sea fish. Did you know who he was?"

With a straight expression, he responds, "No."

"Well, let's go eat, I'm hungry"

He rolls his eyes and says, "You're always hungry."

——————————
A/N
The main characters have had their first encounter, nothing major but the best is yet to come 😉