Chapter 8
Six months quickly passed, and Nicola was on his break again. It had been exactly one year since we met.
The hostel had seen many new faces come and go, but some familiar ones still appeared now and then. Occasionally, returning guests would introduce us as the owners, and while I never confirmed nor denied it, over time, we just accepted the relationship. Nicola was truly a reassuring man, and even though I wasn’t entirely ready, I didn’t want to hurt him. We maintained a tacit understanding while staying busy with the hostel.
Just before Christmas, I received a call from home. My younger brother was getting married.
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It wasn’t my parents who called, but my aunt. She told me that they regretted their past actions and thought they shouldn’t have treated me that way. Now, they wanted to repair the relationship during the wedding.
I wasn’t sure how to respond. Broken relationships are never truly mended, and family ties can be like that too. Over the past year, I hadn’t contacted them at all. I didn’t need to, and it didn’t matter anymore.
I didn’t wa
to attend, but then I thought – I had nothing to hide, and it would be interesting to see how they planned to repair the relationship.
Nicola came up behind me and hugged me, asking, “When are you leaving? I’ll go with you.”
“Okay.”
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On the wedding day, Nicola and I dressed up and attended the ceremony. My parents seemed a bit awkward when they saw
me, unsure how to approach me. It was a crowded event, and things were chaotic, so by the end, we hadn’t exchanged a single word.
At the wedding, I ran into my best friend,Sarah. She quietly leaned over to tell me that she’d just found out Lucas had married the girl he had cheated on me with. The girl was the daughter of Lucas’s boss, and after the wedding, apparently, the girl would tell him where to go, and he wouldn’t dare to go anywhere else. Thinking back on my relationship with Lucas, it really felt like a case of “one thing controlling the other.”
After the banquet, Nicola and I were about to leave. While changing clothes, I found a
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stiff card inside my jacket. I pulled it out and saw that it was a bank card. It seemed like my parents had slipped it in when I wasn’t paying attention.
I had drunk a little, and the alcohol made me a bit light–headed. I thought back to the day Nicola and I met, when I had taken him to the same bank. We used the same ATM, and I entered
e password my mother had
once told me. This time, the password was
correct.
The card balance was 200,000.
Nicola looked at me with concern, but when he saw me smile, he seemed confused.
“Nicola, let’s go back to D City tomorrow,” I said, slipping the card back into my pocket.
Why wouldn’t I take the money that was
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rightfully mine? Finding 200,000 after it had been lost made me feel so happy.
Nicola nodded and draped his suit jacket
over my shoulders. “I’ll buy the tickets soon. Don’t catch a cold.”
I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then turned and ran.
Nicola blushed from the surprise kiss -it was the first time we had such a physical interaction. Once he regained his composure, he saw I had already run far ahead and quickly chased after me. “Amelia, slow down! Don’t fall!”
I waved at him from ahead.
The sky was clear and the weather was perfect.
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