How are your family birthdays? You usually have a nice dinner maybe and later a small party? Yeah, that's not the case for us. It's Uncle John's birthday today and it's more like a stakeholder convention instead of a nice family gathering. Investors, top managers and executives were bustling around the halls of Uncle John's mansion and I tried to say hi and engage in superficial small-talk with everyone. That was until my eye caught the latest two arrivals - and I couldn't believe it.
"I know you're invited but what the hell are you doing here?" I hissed at Dean and Kenan, the first carrying a small present box while the second didn't - not to my surprise. "Oh, I got an invite too, don't worry" Kenan replied with a smug grin on his face. He then looked past me and waved at someone behind me, so I turned around to see who it was. Of course, my godmother and her sister - they were giggling there and waving back.
"Are you into MILFs now?" I asked him and crossed my arms. "Are you jealous?" he asked and pinched my cheek, which just made me scoff. "Don't worry, the only one I want to fuck here is you" he whispered in my ear before walking past me, but I grabbed his shirt. What the fuck, everyone here was wearing suits and he showed up the same way as he did for buying a kebab. "I swear, if you embarrass me, I'll behead you personally" I hissed before letting go and pushing him away a bit.
"He's unbelievable!" I told Dean when it was just us two. "It's nice to see you on your toes for a change. Uncle John has very comfortable guest rooms for..." he chuckled. "How would you know?!" I asked confusedly. "Remember your 18th birthday party and your cousin Viola?" he asked back with a smug grin. "Ewww" I just replied and shut my eyes in disgust. He just laughed and put his arm around my shoulder, dragging me along.
But I couldn't concentrate anymore. My eyes drifted to Kenan all the time and who he was talking to, what he was saying - he definitely didn't fit in and also didn't seem to care about wanting to - at least Dean had made an effort and worn his suit, I doubt that Kenan even owned such a thing. At first, he was just talking to Beatrice and her sister, but then he started moving around way too confidently and that made me really nervous. Uncle John was his next victim, as he got interrupted in what seemed an important talk with some fellow CEOs - oh God. My uncle seemed surprised about him showing up, but probably thought that he had been invited by me.
But my attention was torn away by my ex-boyfriend's father Guido as he greeted me friendly, which I reciprocated. It was mostly his crazy third wife with a drinking promblem's fault that she gave birth to his retarded son. We chatted a bit about the government and politics when we were interrupted by- oh my, I had fucking told him to not embarrass me. "Oh, what an honour! I have to admit I'm a Milan fan but you're something special!" Guido said ecstatically and shook hands with him. "Oh, thank you, that's very nice! And you are?" Kenan asked back. "Guido Barilla" he replied friendly.
"Oh, I already met your son then. Not the brightest" Kenan commented and I rolled my eyes. "We can definitely agree on that. Imagine dating Beatrice and you let her go..." Guido sighed and I laughed awkwardly, patting his arm. "Yeah, no, I would never" Kenan replied. Thankfully, Guido was being involved in some other conversation and I grabbed Kenan, dragging him outside.
"Now, what are you really doing here?" I asked through gritted teeth. "Being near you" he shot right out. "Oh my gosh, when will you understand that you have to back off?!" I exclaimed. "Never" he simply replied and shrugged, looking at me innocently. "How can you simply not care about anything?" I asked exasperatedly. "Don't act like you don't like it. I'm exciting for you because you don't hold the reins for once" he said in a challenging tone and I gulped.
"We'll both end up hurt, I can already see it coming" I whispered in a shaky voice. He stepped closer to me and put his hand on my cheek, my body automatically leaning in to his touch. "You have to learn to see me as just Kenan, not the player on your pitch. But I have patience and I want to show you who I really am behind the football jersey" he whispered, his nose softly tracing my cheek and his mouth getting dangerously close to mine.
"Want to get out of here?" he whispered and I quickly nodded, pressing my lips together to stifle a sigh. He grinned and took my hand as we ran through the garden to the back of the house where he had parked his new Jeep he had gotten after making it to the first team. "Big car to fit in your big ego" I teased him and stuck out my tongue as I put on my seatbelt. "And you're a big personality, so you need a guy who matches you, not someone who's a bore" he scoffed and I bit on my lip as it was forming a smile.
"Have you ever been to the Superga?" I asked as he drove out of the estate and shook his head. "Well, it's not really the place for non-Christians" I chuckled. "The view from there onto the city is amazing by night" I said and looked out the window. "Put it in the GPS" he said and pointed at the modern middle console, making me laugh. "You have me, and even though our navigation systems are great, I'm just a tad bit better" I chuckled. "You're right, I won't ever doubt you again" he joked.
It wasn't a long drive, just about twenty minutes as there was little traffic at night, before we arrived at the Basilica on the hilltop. "I can see you're dying to give me a history lesson" he said and laughed as we stood in front of the baroque church, looking down on the city. "Fine, if you're begging for it" I joked and we both laughed. "The French wanted to take over the city and the Duke of Savoy, who ruled here, promised the Mother of God to build a church if she protected the city. It was designed by Juvarra, just like a lot of other churches in Turin and the most of the Savoys are buried here" I explained and started to walk to the rear supporting wall.
"You heard what happened here?" I asked and he nodded. "Yeah, it seems like it's the first thing you learn about the city" he replied and we stood there, looking at the sight of the fatal plane crash that killed the whole Torino squad back in 1949. Even though the Juventini didn't care too much about their rival team, that event left a deep scar in the city.
"You're beautiful" Kenan whispered as we both looked down at the city and wrapped his arms around my shoulders from behind. "Promise we'll make this work?" I asked with a shaky voice. "I promise" he whispered back and kissed my cheek softly.
