Ruins of Autumn

5• Careful, Blerim!

    Anila smiled at her reflected self on the glass wall and, with the highest state of optimism, entered the bar.
 
    Blerimi immediately stood up from the table where he had been waiting for her when he noticed Anila approaching him and put on a mask of happiness at seeing her.
 
    "I'm doubting that pink is your favourite colour," he referred to her short summer dress in wild rose colour that Anila had combined that day with white trainers.
 
    "How did you find out?" she asked, surprised, and they both smiled. "I came as soon as I could," Anila said, while kissing him on the cheek before sitting down in front of him and brushing the loose hair from her right shoulder behind her back. "I'm going to tell you an epic story about what happened to me today." Anila promised an unusual storytelling, and Blerimi used all his strength of the stability of calm not to vent in annoyance and in the desire to disappear from her sight. He leaned his back on the chair and crossed his arms in front of her.
 
    It was so difficult to stick to the plan when Anila's existence only reminded him of the fact that Xhuliana was no longer, and Blerimi wanted the cause of her loss to have the same end.
 
    He hadn't thought that it was going to be that difficult and would succeed in a short amount of time, but now that he was living the plan, looking at Anila and listening to her talking, without thinking that he was in front of Amarildo Idrizaj's sister, what he had done to Xhuliana, how he had used her, how much their mother had suffered from the loss of her daughter, how the world of both of them had turned upside down after her death, how much he had hated her for abandoning him, for not thinking at all, how he would go on without her, and how much he had been poisoned by hatred for Amarildo, when he had discovered what misfortune Anila's brother had caused to his family, was agonising.
 
    "This happens to me often," Anila laughed. "When I'm on a bus, I don't look around at all to see if there is someone I know nearby. I go straight to a seat and stay in my own world."
 
    Her lips formed a straight line when she saw that he wasn't paying attention to her, and she looked at him worriedly for a moment. Had he heard what she had said? Had she spoken too much, and Blerimi was annoyed?
 
    "What about you, Blerim? Has this ever happened to you?"
 
    Maybe she was wrong, and he was paying attention, just without looking her in the eye, not that he wasn't enjoying the conversation.
 
    Blerimi raised his direct, hateful gaze upon her, and Anila was startled, her heart strangled with terror by the fear of the danger that she saw in his eyes.
 
    "No," he smiled lightly, and softened his harsh look.
 
    The vibration of his phone interrupted his attempt to fix the mistake he had just made, removing his mask and hiding his desire to speak openly with her.
 
    Anila took deep breaths over and over with her stomach churning and waited for him to put down the phone and go back to being polite, calm, and showing interest in her by flirting and expressing romantic feelings through his eyes.
 
    Why had he looked at her that way? Was he hiding something from her?
 
    Was... was he the enemy, which she didn't know she had?
 
    Life until those moments had only seemed like a summer season, with warm sun and a field of flowers to her. Was that feeling, in fact, just a delirium dream? Anila had actually fallen in the winter, wearing the colour of innocence, not at all prepared for war with the proper shield, and threatened to be sacrificed? She couldn't see the surrounding danger because she was asleep, hypnotised by the mirage of a perfect life, and if she didn't wake up in time, she would never be able to escape the winter that easily?
 
    "It was Albioni." Blerimi put the switched-off phone on the table and looked at Anila with a mask of happiness, thanks to the moments they were living together. "The man who was at the table with me that day, we met at the bar in May. We're friends."
 
    His warm and deep gaze swayed her from misunderstanding. Perhaps he had had a tiring day at work or had a disagreement with someone and had inadvertently expressed that feeling to her for a moment. This happened to everyone; sometimes they gave up the struggle of fighting to keep everything inside them so as not to disrupt the routine of the everyday lives of others. He deserved to be understood.
 
    "The enemy that you don't know, you may have?" she asked and Blerimi laughed.
 
    "Maybe. We're not close friends like you and your cousin are."
 
    "What's his last name? Maybe I know him."
 
    "Huba."
 
    Anila sat in silence for a few moments.
 
    "No," she accompanied the answer with a shake of her head as a sign of denial. "I haven't heard of it before. What about that woman?"
 
    "Denada, my cousin."
 
    "It seemed to me that she recognised me."
 
    "Why do you think that?"
 
    That was why she wanted them to leave the bar as soon as possible. So that he wouldn't face Anila.
 
    He felt terribly sorry for Xhuliana's best friend, who was still carrying a heavy weight of guilt on her back, and he hoped that when she found out that Xhuliana's revenge had been taken, Denada would be relieved a little. 
 
    "My friend, Brunilda, noticed that, and she told me. I was distracted by someone else."
 
    "Oh, yeah?" he smirked, guessing, from her teasing look, that she meant him. "And as a sign of revenge, you also distracted him."
 
    "I'm not sure about that. Have I distracted him?" She narrowed her eyes flirtatiously.
 
    "All my attention is yours."
 
    Anila showed the emotions felt by his answer using the blushed cheekbones of her face, the brighter gaze, and the pronounced arching of her lips.
 
    "Blerim."
 
    They both turned their heads in the direction where they had heard a woman's voice and got up from the table.
 
    Anila didn't recognise the brunette wearing red trousers and a snow-white blouse with an open neckline, who shook Blerimi's hand while smiling at him.
 
    "How are you?"
 
    "Good," he replied. "You?"
 
    "Great. I just returned to Albania with Agustini. We'll stay here for a few days. We're also going to meet some of the friends we had in high school. Denada told me that she wouldn't be able to come. She didn't say the reason, but I suspect that it's because of Granit Vitori. He'll be there, too. Do you know if they still talk to each other? I didn't ask her on the phone."
 
    "Denada hadn't told me that I could discuss with others her personal life; therefore, I don't have any comment."
 
    Marinela hid her embarrassment that she had seemed like a negative and malicious person through gossiping by slightly raising her head as a sign of understanding Blerimi's response.
 
    "This is Marinela," he introduced her to Anila. "Albioni's sister-in-law."
 
    Anila gave Marinela the classic polite and sweet smile of a stranger, accompanied by a positive and gentle look, so that she would feel comfortable in her presence and receive only good vibes, to think that ahead of her was a righteous woman, and Blerimi would feel proud that he was dating such a person.
 
    "Anila Idrizaj," she introduced herself while extending her hand to her, and Marinela accepted it, overcome by the effect of the received energy, exactly as the woman in front of her had wanted.
 
    "Nice to meet you," Marinela smiled while admiring her warm, brown eyes, cute face with sweetly soft facial features, and the light smile of an extrovert. 'What a good and beautiful person she is,' Marinela said those words in silence through the look she gave to Blerimi, and he, being aware that he was under the gaze of Anila, smiled, being aware of that fact for Anila, to make Amarildo's sister think that he felt very lucky to have her in his life.
 
    The three of them were calling that meeting between them a coincidence. They weren't thinking about it so deeply as to doubt if one of the many philosophical quotes of life regarding the key moments in the present was becoming a reality for them in those moments. They would understand later why they had experienced that day in that certain way and not otherwise.
 
    We meet someone, we consider that moment very ordinary and easily make it a part of our past, without realising at all that nothing will be the same in our life, only because we met that one person.
 
    "I thought about greeting you since you were here," said Marinela to Blerimi. "I'm not holding you anymore. I have to leave for Saranda."
 
    "Thanks for stopping by."
 
    "Not at all," she smiled, and she shook hands with both of them. "Have a nice day."
 
    They waited until Marinela left the bar and then sat down at their table again.
 
    "Who is Granit Vitori?" Anila asked. "Your friend?"
 
    "No, I don't know him personally," Blerimi said.
 
••••
    "Ania. Mom says that dinner is ready."
 
    Anila's sister, Visara, pushed the door of her slowly.
 
    "I'm coming," Anila put in her dark red wardrobe—the black blouse with white dandelions—that she wouldn't wear for some time.
 
    Her sister entered the room and stared at Anila while she put more clothes in the wardrobe. Visara had a lighter hazel colour of hair and eyes and seemed more introverted and insecure, whereas Anila looked full of confidence.
 
    Anila's phone on the bed lit up with a WhatsApp video call.
 
    "It's Amarildo," Visara said, and they both got comfortable at the head of the bed before answering.
 
    They immediately smiled at their brother as soon as his face, with short dark hair and light brown eyes, appeared on the screen.
 
    "Are you in Elbasan, Ania?" he asked in surprise when he also saw Visara with her head resting on their sister's right shoulder. "Or is Sara at your house?"
 
    "I came to Elbasan today," explained Anila.
 
    "Ah, very good. How are you doing?"
 
    "Great," she answered happily.
 
    "Okay," replied Visara with less enthusiasm.
 
    "What's wrong, little sister?" Amarildo asked teasingly.
 
    Visara resented the term 'little' and always demanded to be called 'second sister'.
 
    "Nothing, she's just acting," Anila replied instead of her.
 
    "Sara, what is it?" He changed the tone of his playful voice to a harsh one. "Are you in trouble?"
 
    "No. I just spoke calmly."
 
    "Oh, OK. So... anything new, Ania?"
 
    She understood instantly what her brother meant and nodded happily.
 
    "I'm dating someone."
 
    "Is that so?" Amarildo smiled. "Who is he? Do we know him?"
 
    "I'm not sure."
 
    "What's his name?" Visara asked.
 
    "His name is B..."
 
    "Wait. Hold on a second."
 
    Amarildo turned off the microphone and left the phone. His sisters stood silently waiting for him.
 
    "What's the matter?" Anila asked when he returned two minutes later.
 
    "I have to go. We'll talk about this when I come to Albania."
 
    "When are you coming?" Anila and Visara asked both at the same time, surprised and happy by the news. Amarildo hadn't been in Albania for three years.
 
    "For Mom's birthday in November, but don't tell her yet. I want to surprise her."
 
    "OK," Visara showed her enthusiasm more this time.
 
    "When I'm there, we will talk. Okay, Ania?" He meant for the person with whom his sister was hanging out.
 
    "Okay," she agreed.
 
    Her brother had always respected the blood relationship with her, supported her every step of the way, and proved to her that she could completely trust him with every secret.
 
    "Two or three days before, I will come," Amarildo told them of his plan. "Mom's birthday is on November 17th. I'll be in Albania on November 15th or 14th."