Death And Love Poems (2) Mafia Romance

50. I can't help it

Marco

In any other circumstance, I would be sure that Yamato would win the staring contest but meeting Grampa who wants this time to appear as a menace, makes me doubt this.

He seemed ok with everything before I left for Brazil. Not delighted but accepting and I felt also an ounce of respect from him because I made and stood by my own choice. What the fuck changed?

"Well, if the house of Yoshida doesn't want to stay in our estate I take it as a sign of distrust and that's not a good premise for an impending wedding. Tell him that," he says in Italian. He could speak to him directly in English but doesn't to irk him, and me, and assert dominance.

"Yamato has gone through five assassination attempts before the age of twenty. There are reasons why he doesn't sleep in places he doesn't know."

"But this is not any place. This is where his sister is going to live."

"Grampa, you don't do sleepovers either..."

"Yes, but, I am an old man, have arthritis and such... It's difficult." He manages to say it with a straight face.

"Hitomi is staying here. It's her who matters. Let it go. Please."

"But she is not a capo. She can be viewed as expendable. Kamikaze and all that... You know."

"Come on... Don't be like this; it's my engagement day. Lorenzo, please don't make it more difficult than it needs to be. You just want to stir havoc, admit it. I told you, I am not changing my mind, so I would prefer your support..."

In the end, he gives in but now Hitomi is irritated. Strangely, Yamato isn't. He understands.

"He is a pain."

"Just sometimes. And you must admit that without him we wouldn't be standing here."

Something in my mind whispers that without fortune and power, I wouldn't be of interest to her and that is mean. It is indeed so that these things matter to her but only because she was raised with the wish, bordering on obsession to please her family.

"I need to talk to Yamato. See you at the party? Like this, you will be surprised by my sexy dress."

I want to ask why I can't come but it would only complicate a complicated day for nothing, so I just kiss her and agree.

Surprisingly, I am left alone with my thoughts before the party. That's not good. Alex said I should stay put. Everybody with half a brain would say I should stay put, so I do what a normal person with a tendency towards bad decisions would do. I google Thiago Mendes da Rocha and recent news.

Roxi's boyfriend is sort of famous. There are several articles in Portuguese about the big drug bust. He is pictured as a hero, I mean fair enough, but there are no words about her. Why? She was there too. A kidnapped foreign citizen. The press must ask questions unless they were bribed preemptively which is admittedly smart.

Then there is one... Video?! On national TV where she is very obviously pictured. I put the volume up. It's a masked campaign interview. Thiago absorbed all the questions though some are addressed to both. Not sure if that is smart or he is being a jerk. The interview lasts half an hour. I should do something better with my life. I should get dressed for the party but I keep staring at her. She looks uncomfortable and sad, at least to my biased eyes.

And then the TV anchor asks her explicitly a question. My Portuguese knowledge comes mostly from Spanish, meaning I understand a lot but can't speak a great deal, but she is doing a rather good job answering the questions in a language she is learning for barely a year.