Luca’s POV
I was in a zoom call with multiple owners of some huge companies outside of Italy and the meeting was starting to get tiring since I’ve been sitting in a spot and talking about one topic for almost an hour at this point. I started to massage my forehead with my forehead as I made sure to listen to all what one of the people here in the zoom call had started to say. I darted my gaze sideways and picked up a bottle of water in order to dry my parched throat. Before I could completely lift the bottle of water up to my lips, my phone started to ring to my annoyance.
I started to ask myself why I forgot to silence my phone before this zoom meeting had started as I reached towards the spot where I had picked up the bottle of water from, and the first thing I did was to click on the side of the phone to instantly silence the phone, and as I was about to cancel the call, I stopped at the last moment and hovered my thumb over the red button which would end the call as soon as I tap on it.
What had made me pause was the fact that it was an unknown number that had been the one to call me right now, but that wasn’t the actual reason to why I had paused, it was because the first three digits of the number was stored in my heart, and I’d be able to even remember it in my dream due to how embedded inside of my head.
I glanced up from my phone and focused my gaze back on the MacBook screen when one of the ceos had called my name to ask me if I’ve just heard what he had said, and then I proceeded to apologize to them because I had been carried away by that incoming call that has ended up stop ringing on its own.
My heart was racing and my brain had started to rack after that phone call and I started to get really impatient to end the zoom call, because I was starting to come to over a hundred conclusions all at once, and my brain was starting to overheat as well.
I breathed out a small sound and tried to focus on what was being discussed on the zoom call, but after trying for over twenty minutes and still being completely unable to concentrate, I breathed out a small sigh before asking them if they’d like to reschedule the meeting because something urgent had suddenly come up at this point. They agreed and after exchanging a few more words with them and being unable to wait until they’ve all logged out of the call since I was the one who hosted the call, I was literally the first person to log out of the call and I slammed the laptop shut in the next instant before leaning forward a little and cradling my head in my hands as I felt my heartbeat start to get ever faster and faster as the seconds slowly went by.
As if sensing that I wasn’t on a zoom call anymore, the phone started to ring almost immediately, and I felt my heartbeat fasten in the next moment as I slowly lifted my head up and stared down at the phone, noticing instantly that it was the number which had called me previously that was currently calling me, and I slowly reached for my phone and picked it up, bringing it upwards to my face as I stared intently at the unknown number like I’d suddenly figure out who the person calling my phone at the moment was.
A part of me was already imagining that it was a call that was going to hold really bad news, perhaps to come tell me that… he’s dead.
Or perhaps, I was just being unnecessarily paranoid.
That wasn’t enough to shake off that thought away from my body and before I could decide to accept the call, it stopped ringing and I puffed out a deep breath in the next second. I was about to return the call in the next moment, but stopped because the phone started to ring once again with that same number.
I decided to stop coming to a thousand conclusions at once and just accept the call, because I wasn’t completely sure about what it was that I had been thinking about.
I pressed the call lightly against my ear as soon as I had accepted the call and then I remained silent, waiting for the person on the other side of the phone to start to speak.
“Spaghetti curls?” The voice sounded tentative, quiet and almost unsure as it poured into my ear and I felt my heart cease to work for a few moments after that, as I absorbed the familiar voice which I had missed oh so much and haven’t been able to hear in freaking years.
“Armani?” I replied into the phone after a few minutes had passed, and that was when I heard the voice on the other side of the phone puffed out a deep breath before a laugh which was almost watery poured out of his mouth, drifting straight into my ear.
“It’s me, Luca.” His voice which was now louder than it was before, and even more familiar and firm, mixed with a little bit of laughter poured into my ear and I felt my chest start to constrict once again, as I suddenly found it hard to breathe in that moment.
I couldn’t believe it, it felt so unreal.
Never in the whole of today did I imagine that I’d be talking to my kid brother of all people.
“Fuck, Armani, I’ve missed you so much.” I breathed out earnestly, feeling my heart still tightening inside of my chest as I spoke those words to him, and with the way his voice sounded as he started to speak once again, I’d say he was on the verge of tears.
“I’ve missed you more, so much more, Luca.”