All I Asked. | Chapter I
All I Asked.
“Transportation was slow, and so was communication. All the time you had then, was only enough for you to fall in deep love, once.”
— — Author.
I
It was the third year. The third year after I met Owen. The third year at Florence, Owen’s hometown.
It was almost the end of the year, the town was covered with white snow. Florence was always freezing at this time of the year, crystal flakes were falling from the sky, falling onto the windows, making a frost which would then melt and fall like raindrops, falling into people’s heart, giving them a tiny taste of shiver.
As usual, I was preparing dinner in our apartment.(to be accurate, our basement, not only because Owen and I were too poor to rent a proper house, but also our relationship must be underground.) However, dinner that day was a little bit special, since it was Christmas.
This year’s Christmas, I planned something special for him — a record player, the one with the color of chocolate, the one which he dreamed about for months. I remember every time we walked pass the display window of the sonic store upstairs, he was always staring at this player, like a kid desiring a magical unicorn.
I bought the player with all the savings I had, yesterday, the day before Christmas. I went upstairs into the store while Owen was working. The store was owned by a graceful old lady, Mrs. Isabelle. When I was paying, she asked me who was it for.
“My girlfriend,” I answered.
“Oh, you two must be a perfect match, Merry Christmas!” She said.
I said it was for my girlfriend in order to save my life, cause being a queer then, was a serious problem. It was almost the end of the 1860’s, Italy was trying to unify as a nation. The king had just promulgated a series of new constitutions which basically prohibited anything that seemed weird to him. All the restrictions tangled me and most of the citizens up with a team I would like to call “the men in black.” These men gathered around Florence, and all the other big cities in Italy, looking for any “crimes” they could find. As they would say, “it’s for the unity of our nation.”
I went downstairs, I placed the player on our bedside table, it was too big for me to wrap it up.
When I was imagining Owen’s face after he got this surprise, I heard a door slam, he was home.
“Is dinner ready?Your sweetie is starving!” He always acts spoilt in front of me.
“Coming!” I hurried out of the kitchen with the last dish of our Christmas dinner in my hand.
It was a lovely dinner, he bought a bottle of wine from the local store, we both got a bit tipsy.
“Guess what I’ve got for you this Christmas?” I asked with a mysterious voice.
“Anything from you will be a surprise for me, honey,” he hugged me.
I told him to close his eyes, and once he opened his eyes again, the record player was placing on the dinner table, playing his favorite song.
I could see the happiness and the touched feelings in his eyes. He had such beautiful eyes, the color of china blue.
After a moment of silence, he started to speak.
“How much did it cost you?” He asked with a trembling voice.
“Merry Christmas.” I replied.
When the song reached to its climax, he kissed me on my lips. What I wasn’t expecting is that he held out a ring, and asked if I would share the rest my life with him. He was on his knees, and I was in a mixed feeling of happiness and surprise.
“Daniel, if there was one thing I couldn’t live without, it would definitely be you. We’ve been together for 3 years. I know sometimes I make mistakes, but we… ummm… we made it! Yeah… we made it! To our third year anniversary!” I could tell from his voice that he was a bit nervous.
“I could still recall our first Christmas, the day we met each other. Thinking about it now, and thinking of us, thinking that we have overcome all those difficulties in all these years! And conquered them. To me, among all those things that would be the hardest to live without, you would come first.” He repeated the sentence again.
“So… ummm… would you like to… ummm… share the rest of your life with me?…”
He was about 6.5 feet tall, and it was the first time I saw him acting like a timid rabbit. His body was shaking, and I couldn’t believe it was him doing that since he wasn’t really a romantic person.
It was a surprise.
All the moments we shared together cast quickly through my mind like a romance movie, all those unforgettable moments of happiness, and sometimes sadness and anger. With scalding tears bursting out, I had my answer.
“Of course, Yes! I would! Yes! Yes! Yes!” I was choked with the tears of happiness.
Even though the snow was fluttering outside, covering up the town, the fire in our heart was flickering, embracing each other with a nice comfy, cozy taste of love and beloved.
…
The second he stood up, a crowd of men in black uniforms burst into our basement. They pulled us apart, covered Owen’s eyes with a black bag and kicked him on his stomach. Owen pushed me away and shouted: “Run, run...”
We both knew what was happening then, and we both knew it would happen eventually, it was just a matter of time.
To be continued.
All I Asked. |Every Friday 21:00 | See You Then.
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