Leblouche's diary

16. The family reunion (2)

The meeting finally started, Petru and his wife began to greet everyone and check on them. When he came to me, he started a conversation.

"Ah! If it's not my cousin Antonio." he said.

"Petru, Maria (future wife), good evening." I greeted. "What took you so long to get here?"

"We were stuck in traffic, otherwise I see you didn't come empty-handed"

Petru was talking about the bottle of champagne in my hands, I was so busy chatting with the guests that I forgot to put it on the table.

"Hey hey... But what a dimwit I'm being, I'd better put her down otherwise I might make a mistake."

"Let me take care of this bottle, guys, sit down in the dining room, the dishes are coming!" he announced.

It's the first time I've seen Petru so kind to me, it's true that it's a simple gesture of helpfulness, but he's still a little hostile in being so...

I realized that there was someone missing, my little sister Giulia, I asked Felix the reason for her absence.

"Ah yes, she stayed in the US to continue her art studies in California, she couldn't come."

"Mm... It's a shame..." I sighed.

The evening started with traditional dances, I was asked a lot to join them, but being a very bad dancer, especially for these types of dances, I refused.

Then we did Karaoke on songs, of course, Corsican, strangely Félix knew the words by heart of certain songs (especially bawdy ones*) and he sang very well. When I sang one note, everyone laughed, it was humiliating, but I continued anyway.

In short, we did a lot of activity to wait for the meal, because logically, it is better to expend our energy before the meal rather than after. So far, Petru hasn't done anything to humiliate me, but I had a very bad feeling...

"I would like to thank everyone for coming here. I know many of you have come from far and wide, so once again many thanks." Petru said.

Everyone was applauding him, including me, but as they applauded him he looked slyly, I knew he was going to do something sneaky.

"And now, while waiting for the meal, I would like my cousin Antonio to come and play a song on the piano: La campanella!" he announced.

"The campanella!? But he's crazy, it's the most difficult piece of music in the world. I know I'm good at the piano, but not that good!" I thought, panicking.

I asked Petru if I could play another piece of music, he told me I'm a pro at piano so I can handle it, what a bastard...

"Well, I know that if I play the long version I could make too many wrong notes, I'll try to play the short version..."

And so I started to play the piece, I struggled a little, but I caught myself. It's been a long time since I last touched a piano, I guess I haven't lost my skills.

Finally I finish the piece perfectly on a good note. Everyone was applauding me, impressed by my performance.

As I walked towards the dining room, I passed Petru and whispered to him:

"I know what you're trying to do right now Petru, just know that not everything you do will work, so don't look for me or you'll regret it" I warned him.

It's so low of him to humiliate me during the meeting, me who thought he was going to forget our rivalry tonight... So immature.

The meal time having arrived, we got ready to eat, Mamonne suggested that we pray before. But Petru opposed it saying: