Hiraeth

BONUS CHAPTER I

a/n: from the moment I first thought about this character, I knew people would either hate or love him. hopefully you do like me and not only love him but also wish he could [censored] me ;)

ZACHARY
𖤐

When I was younger I used to envy those kids who'd travel to a different place every holiday. Wishing that, one day, that could be me.

What they don't tell you is, the longer you wait the less probably it is to happen. That's why I decided to put my job life on hold and follow the dream I always had.

Surely, in my mind I'd be doing this with either Knox or Nova. Maybe both of them. However, it becomes a little harder when you're the only single one out of the three.

So I put only big boy hat and made the decision to come alone. Never in my life, did I regret something so much. From the moment I got on that plane, I knew, I was fucked.

Not sure what was the first giveaway. Either the three, yes three, babies crying the whole flight or maybe the fact that my food fell onto the floor. Having to wait four hours after landing wasn't great either.

I can say I'm not off to a great start, but I've been listening to a therapeutic podcast and one of the first things I have to learn is to keep my chill. Have patience and good things will come. Fucking hope so.

Now is probably a good time to mention that I didn't even know where I landed in until five minutes ago. Yeah, I dumbly went with Devon's advice to get one of those ghost tickets. Where you don't know your final location until you arrive.

Don't get me wrong, when I saw it was Italy I definitely felt a rush of relief fall through me. Then at the same time, it shouldn't. Italy is only good in two case scenarios: you're here with your lover, you're here with friends. If you haven't noticed my case is fucking neither.

Deep breaths. I swear I don't know where Nova found this podcast but right now is doing shit. Ignoring the fact that I'm not being too cooperative, obviously.

Pushing my bags forward, I succeed at calling an Uber. Jeez, even something as simple as that is a goddamn accomplishment right now.

I read the name of the hotel I was directed to and give the driver the correct indications. Just missing one or two important points, but we get there anyway. Maybe not as fast, but what it matters is that not longer than thirty minutes later I'm facing the entrance of my hotel.

It's pretty fancy so Italy has gained a few points. Then again, going through all this trouble and ending up not having a good place to stay would be just plain rude.

Anyway, snapping myself back into reality I decide to stop standing in the middle of the street like a total idiot and walk inside. The door is one of those round things, which ends up pissing me off as well. Not that it's much of shock.

As I glance around and slowly move to the reception, I realise this must be where all the business people stay at. Good. Less probabilities of unwanted hotel-mates. Like huge families with annoying ass kids. I can never be around those. It physically scars me.

"Good evening, sir..." the receptionist looks up at me with a welcoming smile.

"Zachary Scott, I have a suite under my name." reaching for my wallet, I prepare myself to give her any documents she might need.