The Chinese Mistress

Prologue-1

Prologue

> And finally >

With these questions in the midst of a restless dream Ivo suddenly sat up in the bed with his eyes wide open and some confusion in his mind. He looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table and saw that it was anyway time to get up and prepare his departure.

He rose quietly so as not to wake Federica. As in the previous night they had made love until late hours he decided that it was preferable to let her sleep, even if she kept doing it when it was his time to leave. He could always say goodbye by means of a message to her cell phone. As he passed the lower part of the bed he saw that a foot of the woman was not covered by the sheets. Instinctively he bent down and kissed it, feeling himself a bit ridiculous for the gesture of tenderness. Then he covered the foot with the blanket.

Ivo washed his face and shaved in silence, then headed to the living room where his suitcase was already half-prepared. He finished placing the things he planned to carry considering that although his stay abroad would be prolonged and the weather variations were large, he would have problems traveling with too bulky a luggage. He finally dressed in jeans and a sports jacket and was pulling on his boots when he instinctively turned his gaze to the bedroom door. In fact a sixth sense had warned him that he was being watched. Seeing her standing in her nightgown watching him produced him a slight alarm and he stood up.

"Where do you think you're going without saying goodbye to me?" She asked with an air that was supposedly offended.

"I did not want to ... wake you ... I ...”

"Are you going to travel to Asia for an indefinite period without even saying goodbye?"

"I ... I'm not very good at goodbyes, I never know what to say.”

"We had the farewell last night. Now you cannot deprive me of every woman´s duty to shed some tears when her man leaves." Saying this Federica had surrounded his waist with her arms and stood on tiptoes trying to reach his lips without succeeding. The young man had to bow his head to consummate the kiss. Guided by custom, his hands slipped inadvertently on the woman's bottom.

"You'll never get on that plane in this way." She said.

In response, he slightly moved the left part of the woman's negligee, revealing a birthmark on her shoulder. It was a rather symmetrical rhombus with an approximate shape of the diamond in poker cards, and its shade was a bit darker than the rest of the woman's very white skin. She had already explained to him that it was a strange characteristic mark exclusive of members of her family that appeared sometimes skipping generations. Her maternal grandmother had had it even though her mother had not. Federica said jokingly that it was an indelible seal of nobility of her lineage.

“You boast of knowing all my body so I'm sure then that you have seen this stain before” She said with a feline gesture. The man kissed the mark and ran his tongue over it.

"You're not going to erase it even if you try."

"I want to get lucky on my trip.”

"Oh! Then it is an amulet, something like rubbing a rabbit's foot.”

By all answer the young man moved away the hair that covered part of her face and they united in a passionate kiss.

He placed the suitcase and the backpack into the trunk of the car and closed it. Then climbed through the passenger's door and fastened the seat belt. Federica was already leaving the building, locking the door behind her. She wore a wide dress that displayed her beautiful silhouette, a real pride at fifty-five. The young man sighed and felt the temptation to abort the journey to stay with the woman of his dreams but the weight of all the preparations made him keep to the fulfillment of the plan. He knew that in China they were waiting for him two days later. Anyway he was counting on Federica to be expecting his return since she too was madly in love with him.

"Go now to China," said the woman. "I do not ask you to remain faithful to me because I know you will not, but I am sure that at the end of the road you will return to me.”

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