Limerenza

Chapter 2: The Turning Point

In full rehearsal, we are preparing for the first edition of Festi'Core Di Balagna. A new music festival that brings together the best internationally renowned artists as well as young talents this summer. Stella and I decided to embark on the adventure, it is also the love for our traditional Corsican songs that makes us inseparable from the height of our twenty-six years in addition to having grown up together. An ancestral tradition that we share, whether on the terrace of a village café or in bars during the evenings where the paghjella brings us together men and women, for improvised songs during village festivals or in the heart of the churches of Balagne.

Today we sang at the small chapel of Notre Dame de la Serra. It is dominated by the imposing statue in the courtyard, from the top of its rock. It is said in the legend, that if you come there with the love of your life, you will live a wonderful story. I also like the place, we have a view of the entire bay of Calvi and the Réginu valley all the way to Lumio.

Stella raises her arms to the sky as she passes through the door, taking a deep breath of air while stretching and turns around to face me, the sparkling eyes that I know only too well.

- Well tonight, I want us to go out to unwind a little and this time don't argue! The decision is made! So we'll head to Closer.

- Oh you know, relaxing with a few drops of lavender essential oil in the bath with a book is also relaxing...

As if I hadn't told her anything, she starts walking again, I follow her closely when she suddenly turns around again almost bumping into herself "

- I'm warning you, I'll come get ready with you tonight to avoid your excuse of falling asleep at eight o'clock!"

Sometimes when she decides something it's hard to resist her. I like her determination to get what she wants and since I don't go out often, she allows herself to break the rhythm that I impose on myself, to the point of playing with the beating of my heart, my breathing and my well-defined sleep cycle in the blink of an eye. But I let her do it, because she makes me feel good, she is my source of life, otherwise this one would seem monotonous.

But I remain doubtful, this kind of evening is not always my cup of tea and crowded places in a small space sometimes make me suffocate... Anything and everything can happen during these evenings... There is a dress code if I am not mistaken for each evening of this club. As often, when she achieves her ends, most often her victory is determined by a compromise or... blackmail.

– Well, since you're forcing me to go out, you're going to come with me this afternoon for the family meal that's planned at my father's. I had him last Saturday, he's forcing me a bit, so I'm taking yours as a backup and you don't object either!

Playing with her pendant that is personal and unique, she widens her big green eyes because she knows what meals mean at our house... Joyful discussions that lead to discord, then the tension rises, causing arguments and finally, everyone kisses after having found a good understanding until the next meal. But her tenacity in showing her joy of life during conversations and her ability to advantageously divert tensions are really appreciated by my family. Everyone adores her. After all, her father was a faithful friend of mine, he died when she was just like me, six years old. My father always took care of her like his child, remaining a little in her shadow, like an oath, to watch over her as well as her little brother who was barely two years old. I am grateful to have him close to me since then. He always makes sure that Stella, her brother and her mother do not lack anything. It reminds me that I have not seen Rafaellu for a while.

We take our things and head to the family estate which is surrounded by woods and maquis in the mountains and the river nearby, which delights us when the summer heat is unbearable. We pass through the large gate before following the sloping, rocky path, shaded by old oaks and pines, we only go there in 4x4 to access the estate which is high up, a deliberate complexity of my father who forced us all to have an all-terrain vehicle... at least, no worries about doing the desert of agriates in the summer.