“It’s a pleasure to meet you!”
Luca’s voice seems to bring them back to life, and they finally unfreeze and stand up quickly, coming toward us. “Welcome to London. I’m Leticia, and this is Aurora. Have you had lunch yet?”
I nod, trying to hold back a smile. Luca looks at them as if he’s examining them, and they’re both clearly nervous. “We had brunch.”
“Oh, that’s great; you really should go out and talk; after all, you’re getting married, and you hardly know each other.” Says Aurora, returning to the sofa.
“Aurora!” scolds Leticia.
“What? It’s true!”
Luca rolled his eyes, this being the only sign of annoyance he showed, his face remaining closed and without any show of emotion. “Chiara, shall we start your training?”
“Now? Where?”
“In the other apartment, we have a small gym there!” Luca looks at my friends, then turns his gaze back to me. “I’ll wait for you there!” I nod, watching him turn his back on me and walk out of the apartment.
“He’s weird!” says Aurora, sitting back down on the sofa.
“He’s the future Capo of the Italian mafia; what do you expect? Smiles and flowers, please…”
“You could at least try to be more pleasant; I don’t know…”
I hear in my mind the words Luca said this morning. “He doesn’t have to pretend to be someone else to please me, let alone apologize for being who he is!” I feel them both looking at me, a little surprised. I don’t wait for an answer; I go to my room and put on some black leggings and a short top in the same color, pull my hair up in a high bun, and leave the room.
I walk into the living room and see the girls still sitting on the sofa. I give them a small wave with my hand, which is immediately returned. I leave the apartment and ring the bell on the front door. I’ve never been inside the apartment; Paolo and Francesco spend more time in ours than in theirs. Francesco opens the door, gesturing for me to come in; I look around and let out a small laugh, realizing that it’s definitely a men’s apartment, everything in dark tones, little decoration and dumbbells scattered around the room.
“Luca is on the second door to the right.” I stop inspecting the place and head to the room indicated. I open the door and catch a glimpse of Luca crushing a punching bag; he stops as soon as he hears my footsteps and looks in my direction.
“Do you want to start with knives or combat?”
I look at him, not really knowing what to choose. I notice the well-drawn muscles of his arms and wonder how it is possible for a human being to be so well-built. I awake from my daydream to hear Luca’s footsteps coming toward me. I shrug my shoulders and let him choose the activity, and I can’t stopstaring at him.
“Do you have any experience with knife fighting, or do you know how to use a knife?”
“I only know how to use firearms…”
“Let’s start with the knives.” Luca shows me a wide variety of knives and explains how they work, every detail and every difference between them. I just nod, knowing I’m not retaining much information; I can only look at him. Luca in sportswear is different. He’s always been attractive, but I can see his chiseled muscles and lightly tanned skin more clearly… I inspect his body slowly, noticing all the scars on his exposed skin; I see what looks like a bullet mark on his bicep, two cuts that seem to have been made by a very sharp knife, and a few others that I can’t identify the weapon used to cause them. I think of all the scars his clothes must be hiding, and I feel a slight shiver run through my body, imagining the pain.
“Shall we begin?” Luca hands me a Karambit knife, correcting the way I hold it; I look at him without knowing what to do. Attack me! I freeze looking at him.
“What if I hurt you?”
“Don’t worry, now attack.” I stare at him, still a little uncertain, and throw myself toward him, aiming for his arm.
Luca easily blocks my attack and signals for me to try again. I exam his height and try to attack his leg, taking advantage of my short stature. Luca blocks my attack with his foot, making me drop the knife.
“Hold your weapon; you don’t want to lose it; it’s part of your defense again!”
I pick up the knife from the ground and grip it so tightly that my knuckles lose color. Luca smirks and signals for me to attack him. I launch myself toward his chest and am quickly blocked. I make attack after attack, selecting various parts of my body to attack, which always prove to be failed attempts. I feel tired andfrustrated; I try another attack and don’t even get close to the target; I let my body fall to the ground exhausted, drop the knife at my side, and let out a loud sigh.
“It’s no use, I suck at this!”
“You need training; you’ve never done this before; it’s normal!” He says, offering me his hand to get up off the floor; I ignore him and remain sitting on the cold floor.
“I haven’t even come close to achieving it, and I don’t think that’s going to change!”
“I’m a great fighter. Obviously, you wouldn’t hit me, but not everyone fights like me. The point of these training sessions is to know how to defend yourself.”
