𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉 [english]

4.

Since that afternoon, a couple of weeks passed. Matthew's company continued there, because when he accompanied Sofía he left his phone number written down on the last page of the notebook.

They chatted almost every day. Their chats were very trivial, although sometimes they talked about more specific topics: how Matthew had been doing at work, or Sofía shared interesting facts about insects. Matthew hated them, but he knew that she loved them, so he always listened to her. In addition, he had to admit that there was data that seemed very interesting to him. Sometimes he was really impressed; the largest known butterfly is in New Guinea. It is the Ornithoptera Alexandrae, it can measure up to 31 centimeters. Also the females are bigger than the males! Matthew remembered that fact in particular, because he had felt quite disturbed when he imagined having a butterfly of such a size in front of him.

He had insisted that they meet again. Sofia had given a thousand excuses to reject him. She did want to see him, but the truth was that during those weeks, in addition to Matthew's company, she had been accompanied by those strong pains that came and went, and that despite the medicine she was taking she couldn't make them go away completely. Until that day.

Sofia received another invitation, and this time, she was glad to accept. She had been locked up in her boarding house, so she was really glad to be able to go out for a while, and also to be accompanied.

She met Matthew in the the square, on the same bench from that time.

"I hope we don't see any grasshoppers today." Sofia teased without malice, to which Matthew laughed.

They decided to talk there for a moment. It was amazing how in just a short time, they had managed to get along very well.

They liked the little they knew about each other. Matthew was happy, and Sofía, she just... She gave off a happiness that she had not felt for a long time. She didn't know until that moment how much she needed someone else's company.

During all the time they had been chatting, Sofía asked about another tattoo, but Matthew had refused to tell her. When we meet again in person I'll tell you, he had said.

"Well, now we're here. Tell me about that tattoo…” she asked excitedly.

Matthew smiled. "It's true… I owed it to you, I almost forgot… Well, she's Rome. I found it on one of my trips, when I traveled to Rome, obviously. She was a stray dog and I adopted her. I thought for a long time about a name and since nothing came to my mind, I named her like that. And it was the perfect name. I always felt a bit silly for not thinking of calling her like that from the start." He laughed and then sighed. "How I miss her..." he said rather to himself, looking at his tattoo.

"I'm sorry…" she was hurry to apologize.

"You shouldn't apologize. I'm done with the phase of crying every time I remember her. She lived a lot on the street, and the truth is that I feel good to have been able to give her a good life during the time she had left. It was a great travel mate… We had a good time. I'm sure she's fine now".

"Sure she is." Sofia said smiling as she watched the boy look up at the sky.

Then she thought about how much she had wanted a pet. It wasn't possible for her since sometimes she felt too weak to take care of or play with an animal. She liked bugs, yes, but she also wanted to have a puppy or kitten that she could cuddle with.

At that moment she wasn't that weak anymore, but she knew she wouldn't be like this for long. She didn't want to adopt an animal that would miss her when she was gone. She wasn't going to make anyone suffer.

"Are you OK?" The boy's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah... I was just thinking..."

"About what?" he asked curiously, but then he apologized for intruding.

"It's just that I always wanted to have a pet. And due to different circumstances I have not been able to" she explained clearly omitting some details.

"Well, as soon as you can, you should have one." He said excitedly, and she only gave a small smile. "It's the best, really".

"Can you tell me about Rome?" she asked with some hope.

"About the trip, the dog, or both?" he laughed.

"Both" Sofia replied.

There were so many things she couldn't do. Many of those things, the boy had already done. He had traveled a lot, he knew many places, he had experienced many things that Sofia couldn't even imagine. She liked his company. And she also liked the idea of being able to have the sensation of living those experiences through Matthew's.

"Well, she was beautiful. She liked to play, there was a stuffed animal that she loved. Although she didn't like people very much... Surely because of some trauma she had left from when she was on the streets. There were few people she allowed to get closer. Just some of my friends …I think she would have liked you".

"Oh really?" she asked excitedly and he nodded.

So the talk went on for hours. Matthew had been asked about his pet and he just couldn't stop talking. The girl thought that he looked like a proud father of his kid, and that caused her immense tenderness.

She was delighted with Matthew.