Ruins of Autumn

43• That Was Close.

    "Ania!"
 
    Visara pulled her by the right arm inside the house as soon as she opened the main door.
 
    "What's wrong?" Anila's heart was heavy with fear of her sister's rush.
 
    Had she seen the video of her and Blerimi that someone had published on the Internet, but she hadn't found out yet? Discovered Amarildo's killer, and now he wanted to hurt them too? Could it be that their father had tried to touch Visara inappropriately?
 
    "If you had come a little earlier, you would have melted from laughter."
 
    Anila realised from Visara's enthusiasm that her suspicions had been wrong and there were no problems.
 
    "Visara, don't ever get so alarmed in front of me!" She closed her eyes, pulled herself together, and went to her room. "You froze my blood!" Anila added, still shaking.
 
    "Okay, now let me tell you what happened." Visara entered Anila's room too.
 
    "I'm changing. Tell me later," she gestured to the open door.
 
    "I don't have time later. I'm leaving"
 
    "Where?" Anila immediately frowned.
 
    "Hanging out with my friends."
 
    "Visara..."
 
    At the last second, she stopped herself from begging Visara to stay at home because she was afraid of losing her, and then there would be nothing left to keep her alive, from telling her that every time she had been out, Anila had waited as if on thorns from anxiety, that she would receive bad news about her, and in those moments she understood how stressed her parents would have been when Anila had lived alone in Tirana, although they had never expressed such concerns to her.
 
    "What?" Visara didn't understand why Anila's eyes were filled with tears.
 
    "The phone will always stay on and be with you everywhere." Anila's commanding gaze became heavy. "Not in the bag and in vibration."
 
    "OK," her sister agreed immediately.
 
    "You will answer as soon as I text or call you."
 
    "Even if I am in an inappropriate moment to answer?" Visara snickered.
 
    "What happened when I wasn't here?" Anila changed the subject.
 
    Visara laughed, remembering that event.
 
    "Flutura, one of our mother's friends, came and talked about a man for you." Visara burst out laughing at Anila's stunned reaction. " 'He lives in America,' she said. 'His name is Elton. He has three sisters, two twenty-seven-year-old twins, and another sister who is twenty-three years old. He's thirty-seven years old, but he looks like he's thirty.' His parents are Flutura's neighbours. Do you know how it came up in the conversation? She asked Mom where you work, and Mom told her that you have a job at the "Bruce & Ashton" company. Flutura said that one of his sisters was going to start working there, too. She had come to Albania with him a week ago."
 
    "And what's there to laugh about?" Anila asked gloomily.
 
    "Mom asked Flutura if Eltoni had asked her to introduce him to someone. Flutura said, 'No. His mother only indicated that he isn't married, but I understood from afar that she was asking me to find him a bride, but she herself couldn't make such a request out loud.' " I could hardly keep myself from laughing. I was also giving her a cup of coffee at that moment." Visara laughed. "Mom said, 'It's not up to us to intervene without the children's saying.' Flutura turned to her and said, 'What are you talking about? Shouldn't we help people get married? No, no. I'm a fair person. I think about doing good for everyone.' Imagine, if Eltoni found out, what conversation has been made about him."
 
    "Where is Flutura's house? Does mom know the address for sure?"
 
    "Why?" Visara found it unusual that Anila was seriously thinking about going out with Eltoni.
 
    "To visit her. We can ask a little about that man."
 
    "Ania, he is thirty-seven years old, and you're twenty-eight," Visara opened her eyes in surprise.
 
    "Nine years difference. Where is the problem?" Anila raised her shoulders, and her sister laughed in disbelief at what she was thinking. "Maybe he is a worthy man for me."
 
    "OK, you know it, but... I don't know. I feel very strange when I think of you marrying this way."
 
    "There's nothing strange about it. Get out now."
 
••••
    Adriana took in the entire new seven-story building of the branch of the company "Bruce & Ashton" in Tirana with a detailed look from the walls to its terrace and then looked at the attendees in the courtyard.
 
    She had told her two peer friends that she was going to attend the next event at that company, as she was planning to work there, and she had come with both of them that day to listen to the administrator's presentation of another new product that had just been introduced in the market by the company and the work that was offered as a distributor. 
 
    Klejana had told her that she knew what the company was about and that kind of work didn't seem worthy to her, but to accompany Adriana, she had decided to go, while Megiona had asked to join them to pass the time.
 
    "I know this woman," Klejana said, and she gestured from the entrance of the open gate. "She works here on the Emerald Manager level as a distributor."
 
    Adriana looked without any particular interest at the person in question wearing black jeans, a shirt, and trainers, her dark brown hair parted in the middle and loose, as she walked towards the main door of the building and turned her head dismissively at Megiona, who was using her phone.
 
    "Her name is Anila Idrizaj," Klejana added, brushing her light yellow hair in a ponytail on the top of her head.
 
    She saw that her baby pink slacks looked fine, along with the short-sleeved half shirt in the same colour she had, and Adriana stared at her, shocked as if she had just received a slap in the face.
 
    She immediately recced at Anila and remembered Marinela Huba's words two years ago about a certain Anila Idrizaj, who had been in a relationship with Blerim Agolli, had found out that he had wanted to use her and that she had broken up with him. Adriana had also searched for her and found only one Instagram account in her name. The girl she had seen there had given her the impression of an energetic person with a pleasant beauty, was positive and sociable, while now the same woman who was passing by had a sharp gaze as the blade of a sword and walked straight and unbothered by the presence of the surrounding others.
 
    She avoided looking as soon as Anila's eyes settled on her. Adriana focused on Megiona, who was reading aloud another meme on the phone, and looked again at Anila near the entrance to the building when she was talking to some other women.
 
    She couldn't work there if Anila did too. What if she found out what Adriana had told Blerimi and Leonora about her?
 
    She had to leave that place immediately.
 
    "There is news: 'After fifty years, the end of the world will come'," Megiona read on her phone. "And someone has commented, 'Let it come. Albanians don't mind. We're a hundred years behind.' " Klejana laughed lightly, while Megiona laughed loudly as if she wanted to have the attention of the others nearby, and she succeeded.
 
    Adriana saw that Anila also looked at their group and critically judged Megiona's tactless behaviour, the dark red tank top with only straps and a very open neckline, which she had worn together with very short white jeans and trainers of the same colour.
 
    "Meg, keep your voice down," asked Adriana gently. "You're interrupting other people's conversations. Someone might come and ask us to leave."
 
    "Why should we leave? We're not killing anyone," she said hysterically. "We're just having a good time, and that's it. I don't think they have called us here to cry."
 
    Adriana noticed that Anila was ready to scold Megiona.
 
    "Listen to this meme," she asked and laughed out loud again, running her hand through her curly honey hair colour.
 
    Adriana's throat tightened when she saw Anila walking towards them with a severely reproachful look, as if she had planned to break Megiona in half, and she did not doubt if she had enough strength for such an act.
 
    "Meg!" Adriana hurried to warn her friend.
 
    "What?" Megiona asked, annoyed, but when she was about to hear the answer, she was interrupted by Anila's hand placed on her right arm.
 
    "Miss. Is there a problem here? Are you not feeling well?" Anila demanded strictly.
 
    "No..." Megiona said, confused by her heavy staring gaze.
 
    "You're disturbing other people with your noisy behaviour," Anila informed her in a harsh tone of voice. "If you can't respect ethics, by considering the feelings of the others around you, you're free to leave. Do you understand me?"
 
    She waited to receive Megiona's answer but focused her harsh gaze on the young man further away, who didn't look more than twenty-five years old, had black jeans, a white blouse, and white trainers, had black, short hair, and chestnut eyes, and was contemplating Megiona's whole body, clearly expressing his thoughts by using a sly smirk and intimate gaze on her, that he had a feverish desire to spend a night with her, and it didn't matter if Megiona wanted to or not.
 
    Anila kept her eyes fixed on the stranger to get his attention, and when she succeeded, she gave a savage look to him to know what problem he had and why he was looking at Megiona like that.
 
    He stepped back, focused on the conversation among his group of friends, and Anila rolled her eyes in annoyance at the negative energy she received from him.
 
    She glanced dismissively to her left and froze when she met Sidorel Nura's gaze on her, the meaning of which she immediately knew was that he liked the way she had behaved a little while ago with Megiona, and that man. He had been attracted to her energy of strength, a quality that had made her look even more beautiful than she was.
 
    She instantly broke the gaze between them and headed towards Ilirjana and Sonilda. She hadn't felt at all comfortable with herself when she had been rude and therefore had left a bitter impression on Megiona and the two girls with her, but Sidoreli's wordless compliment had managed to make her feel positive about the type that she was.
 
    Megiona furrowed her brows indignantly at Anila's arrogant rebuke a moment ago and gave her a judgmental look.
 
    "How arrogant the employees are here!" she remarked. "Diana, don't even think about being a customer." She angrily advised her friend, who swept her long, straight black hair behind her back. "This is my suggestion; you do as you wish."
 
    "You're right. I'm not liking this place either." Adriana thought to take advantage of the opportunity so that no one would suspect why she did not want to work in the same environment as Anila Idrizaj.
 
    "Let's leave, then, if you want. I only came here for you," said Klejana, and the three of them headed for the exit.
 
    Megiona looked at Anila once more to know if she had noticed her departure and felt bad, that she was losing a potential client in the future, that who knows how negatively she would speak about the company and this would affect its image badly, but Anila seemed totally unaffected by what had happened just before, as she was standing alone at the edge of the courtyard looking away to the west.
 
    Anila checked the watch on her left hand and calculated when the event would end, wanting to return home as soon as possible.
 
    "Until now, I thought you had a personal hatred towards me for the tattoos."
 
    Sidoreli's voice behind her managed to turn her face back and look at her colleague as he approached her.
 
    "But when I saw you criticising the girl who had a tattoo behind her left arm, I understood that it's a general hatred." He kept the teasing smile on his face despite her unwelcoming gaze. "I didn't notice her tattoo because I was looking at her and thinking inappropriate things," he explained. "But because you approached her, that's why she got my attention."
 
    Anila chuckled. "It's a wonder how you assume you're that important to make me care what you think."
 
    Sidoreli chuckled at her irony. "I admit that I have flattered myself a little since you have called me 'sun'."
 
    "When have I called you 'sun'?" She immediately attacked him. "I have said that you think you are a sun and have the obsession that the rest of us should think the same as well."
 
    "I don't know what you're talking about. I only see someone in front of me who is such a star," he complimented her, and Anila looked at him mysteriously to find out why he had chosen her and to make Arbeta jealous.
 
    Usually, the reason why a man flirts with a woman is either because he has finally found the courage to talk to her after he has doubted his self-worth, whether he is interesting enough to get her attention, or because the woman has given him the impression that she is naive and easily manipulated, considering her soft behaviour or the physical appearance of a fragile person who can be controlled without difficulty.
 
    Had he created such feelings about her? Did Sidoreli think that he could win her with two or three teasing words and then very easily throw her away from his life?
 
    Perhaps her physical appearance would have prompted Sidoreli to think so, although Visara often asked Anila not to terrorise people with the heavy stern look she cast, as if they were all evil because, for manners, he would have realised a little while ago, when she had been talking to Megiona, what kind of person she seemed to be—someone who chose arguing instead of calm communication and didn't think at all about the agreement for peace when deciding between the latter and war.
 
    "Whereas I see a very annoying person in front of me, and that's why I'm leaving," Anila said emphatically.
 
    "No, I'm leaving." Sidoreli stopped her and turned to his friends.
 
    She eyed him, flummoxed by the conversation that had just ended and the blurred sensations caused by him.
 
    She was surprised that she didn't feel any fear towards Sidoreli that he could hurt her, as she felt towards the others. She could stay with him for hours without having the intention of running away from him as soon as possible.
 
    But staying away from Sidoreli was the right thing to do. Anila couldn't risk making anyone a comfort zone, only to have her soul ruined by the loss of that person, even more than it already was.