CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER ONE
Keira looked over at Cristiano in the airplane seat beside her. Despite the long, wearying journey, he looked as beautiful as ever; with his dark hair, olive skin, and chiseled jawline. In fact, Keira thought he looked even more beautiful than normal, if such a thing were possible, because of the way his eyes were huge and sparkling with excitement. Through the window, far below them, the lights of New York City at night glistened.
“The roads are so straight,” Cristiano murmured, his expression one of awe. “Like a grid. But what is that gap?”
She glanced down at the large, dark rectangle he was pointing at. “That’s Central Park.”
Cristiano looked awed. “Oh, I get it. Central. Because it’s in the center.”
Keira laughed at his childlike wonder. “Pretty much.”
As the plane continued to shed altitude, Cristiano went back to gazing out the window.
“The buildings are so high,” he murmured aloud.
Keira giggled and ran her thumb across the back of his hand. Their hands had been interlinked throughout the entire flight, all the way from Verona, Italy, to New York City, and Keira had zero intention of letting go anytime soon.
As the plane descended further through the clouds, their view of the magnificent city below grew sharper. Everything began zooming into focus as they got closer and closer to touch down; until they could make out individual taxis speeding along the roads, then the street lamps glowing yellow in the darkness, then the brighter lights of the airport. Finally, with a thud and squeal of tires, the plane was on the runway, juddering along whilst shedding speed until it was slow enough to taxi towards the terminal.
“We’re here,” Keira beamed to Cristiano.
He nodded, his expression eager. “I cannot quite believe it,” he muttered.
“Honestly, neither can I!” Keira replied.
Her last minute decision to invite Cristiano home with her had been, well, slightly ludicrous. But at no point throughout the flight had she felt as if she’d made the wrong decision, or acted in haste. It felt so right to have Cristiano beside her.
At last the aircraft slowed to a halt and the seatbelt sign flicked off. They stood in unison, Cristiano collecting his small leather satchel from beneath his seat; the only bag he’d brought with him. Keira picked up her purse, then they filed off the aircraft with the rest of the passengers.
Keira revelled in the sensation of stretching her legs properly for the first time in hours. Spending the best part of day on an airplane was becoming far too regular an occurrence for her, though she wouldn’t trade her job for the world. How many people would kill to spend three weeks touring Italy for work? She knew she was lucky to be a travel writer, and Viatorum, the magazine she wrote for, was becoming so much more than just a job to her. She had friends there -- like Nina, the editor, and Elliot, her boss -- not to mention a purpose. The opportunities Viatorum had given her were like dreams come true.
But it was during the last trip to Italy that she had gained much more than just another published piece to her name. There, she had found love with Cristiano.
As they waited at the baggage claim for her large traveling case, she could feel Cristiano’s eagerness to get out of the airport and start exploring the city. She could appreciate his impatience. She felt it too.
Finally, her case appeared on the carousel. Like the gentleman he always was, Cristiano took it upon himself to collect it, then insisted on wheeling it on her behalf.
They exited the airport in a hurry, filled with anticipation and excitement.
They took the subway to the part of town where Bryn’s apartment was located, and headed up the steps towards the exit. The air was very cold, and Keira could feel a blast of icy air swirl down towards them. Cristiano heaved her case up the steps for her, then stopped on the sidewalk, placing the case beside her. Keira had never felt so excited at the prospect of doing laundry before, but the thought of cleaning and unpacking her luggage seemed suddenly very appealing!
The sidewalks pulsed with energy, filled with busy people hurrying through life. Cristiano looked bemused by the sight, as though he simply could not understand why anyone needed to walk so fast.
As they began to walk the couple of streets between the subway station and Bryn’s apartment, Cristiano looked around himself, wide-eyed with wonder. Keira found his childlike enthusiasm charming, and wondered whether she had made it look quite so endearing when they’d been on their whistle-stop tour of Italy.
“There is so much of it,” he said to Keira. “Building after building after building! It is enormous!” But then he began to shiver and his teeth chattered as he spoke. “Is it always this cold?”
Cristiano was dressed in one of his swanky Italian suits, gorgeous but entirely impractical. He started rubbing his arms. She rubbed them too, trying to warm him up through the thin fabric.
“Only at this time of year,” she told him. “We ought to buy you a better coat.” She gestured to the closest high street clothes store. It was a big outlet store selling cut price, end of line stock. “We can find something for you from here.”
By Cristiano’s expression, Keira could tell he was less than impressed with her choice!
“I would rather wait and find a proper store,” he explained. “I can cope with being cold for a little while longer.”
“You’d prefer to freeze than appear even temporarily unstylish?” Keira mocked him.
“Of course,” Cristiano replied, with a smirk.
But no sooner had the words left his mouth then a large gust of icy November wind rushed past them. Keira shivered, folding her arms tightly about her, then looked at Cristiano.
“Poor thing,” she said, laughing. “You’re not in Italy anymore!”
Cristiano relented quickly, and she steered him into the brightly lit store. He perused the racks of garishly colored wind breakers looking less than thrilled. So much for their days of fine Italian designer clothes shopping, Keira thought.
Finally, he found a quilted black jacket -- a cheap knock off version of the sort of thing a fashionable Italian man might wear -- and purchased that.
“Ten dollars,” he said, shaking his head. “It will fall apart within a week.”
“It only needs to last you until we find the nearest Gucci,” she joked.
They continued on, turning the corner onto Bryn’s street and walking its length before drawing to a halt outside the shabby brownstone apartment. It was boasting fresh graffiti, recently broken railings and numerous dead plants.
“So this is it?” Cristiano asked, looking up at the tall apartment block ahead of him.
To say he looked unimpressed was an understatement. His expectations must have been dashed by the shabby neighborhood Bryn lived in. He was probably feeling similar to how she had when she found herself in Naples.
She hoped he wasn’t too disappointed, because things were only going to get weirder from this point onwards.
“My sister’s a bit… well… let’s just say crazy,” she warned him. “You might want to brace yourself.”
Cristiano laughed, clearly thinking she was making another one of her jokes.
‘Poor boy,’ Keira thought. ‘He has no idea what he’s in for!’
