enigma | reus

17.

MARCO | The Discovery
"Neither the love nor the lovers are blind. They both, my darling, have the finest of visions."

—

"I talked to Julian today." Romessa glanced up at me as she chopped an onion, adorably wearing a pair of ridiculous looking swim goggles we'd found in my linen closet to protect her eyes. We were making ourselves an early dinner; I had an interview in two hours, but it was only around four in the afternoon.

I myself was cutting carrots, though I set the knife down when she spoke, gazing at her from across the kitchen island. "Oh?"

"Yeah," Romessa responded, her cheeks pink. "At the shops."

"And?"

Romessa handed me a flat look; probably due to my lack of comprehensive questions, which was a bad habit I possessed. "And, he wants to hang out with me soon."

"Tell him you aren't interested," I responded, with a dismissive shrug.

"But—" Romessa paused. "But I can't. Julian is friends with Kai, who sees Gianna all the time. Certainly he'd say something to her. Then they'd wonder why I sneak out all the time if I'm not seeing Julian anymore."

I bit my lip. "You're right," I spoke. "But I don't know, Romessa. It seems dangerous."

"Oh," Romessa grinned at me, finally removing those silly goggles from her eyes to unveil her gorgeous face. "Don't tell me you're jealous of little Julian."

"He's not little. He's 23. That's five years older than you," I moved to be on the same side of her. "And I am not jealous. I just know him, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"But I won't get hurt," responded Romessa, gazing up at me with shiny dark eyes. "I won't let him close enough."

I kissed Romessa's forehead. That was easier said than done; especially with someone like Julian. "I trust you not to do anything silly. Just focus on him not catching us," I stated, moving back to my side of the island to continue cutting the carrots.

We fell into silence for a few moments, nothing but the music from my phone playing through my Alexa device. I glanced at Romessa. She wore one of my old jerseys, the goggles back on her eyes, as she danced a little bit to whatever song I'd let her play from my phone. It was crazy to think about how just a few weeks ago, she'd been no one to me but my mother's step-niece. Even after interacting with her a few times, I couldn't have imagined that one day I'd be making dinner with Romessa instead of her and my mother; wearing nothing but joggers, her in nothing but my shirt.

My thoughts were interrupted by my phone ringing, which disturbed Romessa as well as she set her knife down. Quickly, I told my Alexa to answer the phone—thinking it was my mother, or Mats—but found myself surprised as Scarlett's voice sounded, speaking to me in German. "Guten tag, Marco. Can you please watch Lucia tonight?"

I felt my lips part. "Tonight?"

"More like now," responded Scarlett. "Just for an hour or two."

"Scarlett, I'm busy. You can't just call and ask me to babysit when you decide—"

"Babysit? She's your daughter. I thought you'd want to see her, but I guess you're right, it's better for me to call the sitter. You're doing a great job of redeeming yourself, by the way. I'm sure you'll win custody."

I felt my heart drop. "Custody?! Scarlett, you can't be serious."

"I can drop Lucia off in ten minutes, or you can see her in court. The choice is yours."