Lost Lombardi

Chapter 8

While Dino was talking with Naldo and Abel, Rocco approached them with a woman. She was wearing a red gown, and she had brown hair. She looked beautiful and young.

"This is Dino. Dino, this is my wife, Katia. She's a beauty queen," Rocco said, looking at his wife with pride, and Katia gave a proud smile.

"Hi!" Dino said.

"So, how do you feel about coming home?" Katia asked with a musical voice.

Dino didn't know how to answer that question, but he saw Katia and Rocco looking at him, waiting for an answer.

"Feels good," he finally said, and they looked satisfied with his answer. Katia looked at Rocco and smiled.

"So, did you meet my daughters?" Katia said, smiling, and Rocco's face changed.

"And our son?" he added, and Dino saw Katia's smile fade away.

"Yeah, your son," Katia said.

"Our son," Rocco snapped, and Katia rolled her eyes.

"What's going on?" Dino asked because he was curious about what was happening and wanted to mock them. Dino was not happy about how they were treating him. They behaved as if Dino knew everything, but no one took even a moment to talk with him and explain things clearly. Even Pietro, his father, didn't even face him properly.

Katia looked at Dino with surprise. Dino felt happy about the effect his disrespect had on them. That's what he wanted. "It's a personal thing," Katia said.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know that," Dino said, and Rocco gave him a strange stare.

"Well, Helio is my son. My first marriage son," Rocco said, giving more weight to 'my'. "Katia is my second wife," Rocco added.

"Oh, I see. So you divorced your first wife after you met Katia?" Dino asked casually, and Rocco's face changed.

"Didn't they teach you any manners?" Rocco asked angrily.

"No one taught me anything," Dino said.

"Oh, I see that," Rocco said, staring at Dino's eyes. "I'll keep that in mind," Rocco added, and to be honest, Dino felt a little scared of Rocco for the way he said that.

"Anyway, those are my two daughters in the red dresses. They are 14 years old," Katia said, rolling her eyes and leaving. Dino realized that he had upset her.

"That's my son, Helio," Rocco showed a boy who looked rebellious like Rocco.

"Abel said it was a shame that my father had me before he married," Dino said to Rocco.

"Yes, it is. We don't do that kind of stuff in our family," Rocco said.

"But you divorced your wife and married someone else," Dino said, and Rocco looked at Dino angrily.

"Is this how you usually talk with adults?" Rocco asked angrily.

"I guess so," Dino said, realizing this was how he talked with the Johnsons when they tried to bully him.

Rocco stared at Dino for a few seconds with a disgusted expression. "You better not talk with Don in the same manner then," Rocco said.

"You mean with my grandfather," Dino asked.

"Yes, your grandfather," Rocco said.

"Where were you all when I was in Johnson's house like a bastard?" Dino asked, and Rocco's angry expression shifted to an uncomfortable one.

"It's a long story. Pietro must talk with you about it," Rocco said. His tone was calmer than before, like he understood Dino's frustration.

"But he doesn't talk with me," Dino complained. He sounded frustrated.

"Give him some time," Rocco said.

"Hasn't he been like 16 years already?" Dino asked. Rocco didn't know what to say.

"Be patient," Rocco said and left Dino alone.

Dino had to meet different relatives from time to time. Some of them were friendly, and some were not. However, there were not many close relatives. Dino was angry because he had to be there without enough information about his life. Dino saw Pietro was with a woman and guessed she couldn't be his mother. If she is his mother, Pietro would have introduced her to Dino. Dino felt like Pietro was deliberately ignoring him, and he felt upset. So Dino went outside.

It was around 7 pm, so the sky was dark. There were lights here and there in the garden, so it was not entirely in darkness. Dino sat on a bench in the garden, not wanting to join his family and relatives he met today for the first time. Dino felt lost and didn't know where he belonged. Dino felt lonely as if the world had abandoned him. He always had this feeling, even when he was with the Johnsons. He was still suffering from the same feeling, and it made him anxious and sad.

Dino's cousins were not that friendly with him. They chatted and laughed among themselves but didn't bother to include Dino. Dino was a total outsider. The only relation he had was that they shared the same blood. Dino didn't feel welcome. At the same time, he couldn't run away either. Dino stayed outside with a heavy heart. He knew dinner would be at 7:30 pm. He decided not to go inside until 7:30. He didn't want to sleep hungry. Sometimes, the Johnsons punished Dino by not giving him dinner on some occasions.

In those days, Dino didn't have a good night's sleep. He didn't want to face something like that here, either.

They said the party was for Dino's homecoming. But no one cared about him. Everyone treated him as if he didn't exist. Before the party started, Dino thought being invisible was good. However, when they treated him that way, he felt more miserable. Dino didn't know what to do. When living with the Johnsons, Dino's coping mechanism was to study whenever he felt down like this. It always worked. So Dino stood up from the bench, sneaked inside again, and went to his room to study.